Skip to main content

Welcome to a new world

So much has changed in the world we know in the last 10 days. We have gone from a normally functioning society to one where we are told to stay home indoors for the foreseeable future to reduce the spread of corona virus. Our country is slowly being locked down. Tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs. Share markets and investments have crashed. Streets and stations are eerily quiet. The footy has been cancelled for months. Supermarkets are calm again – although many shelves remain empty. There is a feeling of grimness and heaviness that we all feel. These are serious days.

The church is affected just like every other group. Our Sunday services at Croydon North and Croydon will no longer be happening. Groups such as Playgroup, weekly Tuesday community lunches, Evening Fellowship, Drop-In, the Pastoral Care service have all been postponed until further notice. Funerals, if required, will be limited to ten people. Weddings to just five people. We are working with Maroondah Council to see if we can keep Helping Hand open with a new set of younger volunteers.

What all this illustrates is how fragile our society really is. So much of what we rely on day to day has been cancelled or taken away. So in times like this, where do we turn to for hope and reassurance? One passage that I’ve been reflecting on this week is Philippians 4:4-7, where Paul is encouraging the church community not to turn inward and not to lose hope. He reminds them that God is always near and that when we feel anxious or worried we are urged to pray and make our requests known to God. This helps lift the burdens we are carrying. Mysteriously, in exchange we will receive God’s deep and enduring peace in our hearts.

For the next several weeks or months – however long these restrictions last – a weekly resource for worship at home will be prepared and emailed out/delivered on a Friday. Messages from previous Sunday’s can be found on the Croydon website to download (PDF) and read. News from the community will also be circulated. If you have a good news story to share, an encouragement, or a need for prayer, please contact Peter Mallen or Peter Mitchell in the Croydon office and we will include these as part of our weekly church@home. Hopefully you will also receive a friendly phone call from a member of the congregation. You are of course encouraged to keep in touch with your friends and family by phone or Skype or Facebook Messenger or whatever technology you feel comfortable with.

Click here for worship@home resources for 29 March 2020 (63 downloads)

This week for the Exploring faith group we trialled a video conferencing app called Zoom so we can meet together from the comfort and safety of our own homes. We will also be using this app for future Church Council meetings. We are exploring various options for how we might record the whole or parts of a worship service and upload to the Croydon Uniting Church website (https://croydon.unitingchurch.org.au/).

Through these days, remember that we are not alone because Jesus has promised to be with us always (Matt 28:20). We also have the support of each other. So stay strong and remember to be kind and loving towards others.

Rev Dr Peter Mallen

A few light-hearted insights from Facebook this week …

From a UCA church noticeboard:
Dear God, Can we reboot 2020? It has a virus that is shutting everything down.

For the first time in history, we can save the human race by laying down in front of the TV and doing nothing. Let’s not screw this up!

Day 5 of social distancing: Struck up a conversation with a spider today. She seems nice. She’s a web designer …

I just asked a six year old if he understands why there is no school today. Serious as heck answer: because they are out of toilet paper.

Church@home, From the Minister

A Prayer for a Pandemic

May we who are merely inconvenienced
remember those whose lives are at stake.
May we who have no risk factors
remember those who are most vulnerable.
May we who have the luxury of working from home
remember those who must choose between
preserving their health or making their rent.
May we who have the flexibility
to care for our own children when their schools close
remember those who have no options.
May we who have to cancel our trips
remember those who have no safe place to go.
May we who are losing our margin money
in the tumult of the economic market
remember those who have no margin at all.
May we who settle in for a quarantine at home
remember those who have no home.
As fear grips our country,
let us choose love.
During this time when we cannot physically
wrap our arms around each other,
let us yet find ways to be the loving embrace of God
to our neighbours.
Amen
(Source: Queensland Churches Together)

From the Minister

Are you listening? Are you following?

This week we bring our series on the Sermon on the Mount to a close as we explore Matthew chapter 7. The most memorable verse in this section is verse 12 – the so-called ‘golden rule’ – that reads ‘Do to others as you would have them do to you’. This simple and positive statement provides a summary of the sermon as a whole and links back to Jesus’ earlier calls to live out what he says.

This ‘rule’ is not actually a rule at all, but rather is about priorities and heart attitudes that lead onto actions. If our heart is concerned with status or wealth-seeking, or having power over others, or anger when our demands and wants are not met, then we will struggle to live in the way Jesus intends. However if we focus on generosity, compassion, justice and mercy then our lives will reflect the way of Jesus.

Lest we despair of ever reaching this high calling, it’s worth remembering that to have any hope of walking this road, we are reliant on God’s grace, God’s love and God’s empowering along the way. And the support and encouragement of fellow travellers. May this call both inspire us to action and also compel us to seek the help of God’s Spirit and one another.

From the Minister,

What do you treasure?

This week we are continuing to explore the challenging message from the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew lists two particular challenges in chapter 6 that may prevent us from whole-heartedly following the ways of God. They are worrying what other people may think of us (6:1-18) and the lure of material possessions (6:19-34).

We may not often pause to recognise it, but we live in an extremely materialistic culture and have money and possessions beyond the imagination of most of the writers of the NT. Jesus warns us that these material blessings are a direct threat and competitor to our devotion to God. Our hearts are beholden to what we treasure.

One definition of what we treasure is what we could not bear to lose. So I wonder how we might cope with losing everything we own (as many families experienced during the bushfires over summer). Ultimately it’s a matter of trust – do we really trust that God will somehow provide what we need (our ‘daily bread’)? If the answer is yes, then we can hold lightly to our possessions. If the answer is no, then perhaps we do treasure what we own more than our relationship with God.

From the Minister