Daylight Saving starts on Sunday October 5th

Daylight saving is kicking in and you need to put your clocks forward one hour before going to bed on Saturday 4th October. If you don't believe me check out the official website.

Huge THANK YOU to Jono for finishing of the painting

Jono came over to the church this afternoon and spent about 8 hours finishing off all the painting in blokes toilets. They are now ready to use! When you see him give him a pat on the shoulder.

Splash Family BBQ & Movie night

Everyone and anyone is invited to the BBQ and movie night we are having this Friday night (19th Sep). We will be starting a bit early at 6pm. Bring $4 per person for food. The movie is a really fun one called 'The Emperors New Groove'. Look forward to seeing you there.

Reaching the next generation

A couple of weeks ago I was at the Ministry Training and Development conference and Mark Driscoll gave his thoughts on what we need to do to help reach the next generation. He ended up talking about our diocese in general and some of the things we do in it. Here is one of the two talks he gave:

Peter O'Brien introduces Philippians

For those wanting to get stuck into Philippians here is a introduction to the letter from Dr Peter O'Brien.

Safe Ministry Day on Saturday Nov 1

Helen has been doing a bit of research and it seems that on Saturday Nov 1st there will be a big Safe Ministry Training event in at the Cathedral. Put the date in your diary if you are not up-to-date with your training. We'll get more information out once it become available.

When does a church organ make the front page of the Herald?

The music at the Cathedral seems of be of interest to all Sydneysiders given that this article made the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald today. How many people in Sydney really care? My estimate is that it is in the order of 0.0002% of Sydney's population.

What 97% of Sydney like to do is put down preachers of the gospel. That's why it makes the front page.

Sunday's Talk on Grief

I know that a few people missed yesterday's talk on grief. Unfortunately the recording didn't come out and so I've posted the full text here. I know it won't fit on a iPod or be quite the same as hearing the message, but I hope it is helpful.

Church BBQ shifts to Carnival of the Cultures

We have got permission from Ashfield Council to have a food stall at Carnival of the Cultures on 12th Oct. We are going to 'shift' our church BBQ from 21st Sep to that date.

We need a few people to become JPs

We are often needing various documents signed by a Justice of the Peace and we really need a few people to become JPs soon. Follow this link to the Lawlink website for more information.

The danger of Koorong catalogues

I got another Koorong catalogue in the mail today and it is scary stuff. Firstly was "Daniel's Diet" 10-day detox plan, then NT Wright's commentary series (because it mixes so much good with the bad), and then Rob Bell's Nooma DVD's which are often just false teaching with a sugar coating. I remember that it was Jesus who warned us...."Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves." Matthew 7:15

Societas on sale

The annual magazine of the students at Moore College will be on sale at church on Sunday. The cost is $7.

Total Church - chapter 3 - social involvement

Thanks to Kerryn for this summary....

Jesus and his care for the poor is the basis for this chapter. We see this in examples from Luke’s gospel, including the ‘lost parables’ (Luke 15) and numerous occasions of Jesus eating with the outcasts of society. The authors point out that Jesus is accused of being ‘a friend of sinners and tax collectors’. When we think of social action we often think of ‘doing something for’ the poor, rather than including them in community with us. Jesus didn’t just heal people, but ate and drank with them, he treated them as friends.

The authors then bring our attention to the imbalance we often see in western churches. They argue that Evangelicalism is most successful amongst the well educated middle to upper classes of society, and that the way we run our churches is targeted toward this group. For example, we may assume a level of literacy or education which can prevent some people from being as involved or encouraged during our meetings together.

The authors also spoke of the separation that often exists between evangelism and social action, because we place an emphasis on one over the other. They suggest that we need to remember that the most loving thing we can do for the poor is proclaim the gospel to them, but it is by no means the only loving thing we can do. They claim: ‘The best thing we can do for the poor is offer them a place of welcome and community. Our first priority in social involvement is to be the church, a community of welcome to, and inclusion of, the marginalised.’

Some thoughts for discussion:

1. Do you think the church in the west failing to reach the poor and marginalised in society? Why do you think this is/ is not the case?

2. In this chapter the authors assert that social involvement and evangelism are separate activities, but they are inseparable from each other - is this a fair distinction to make?

3. I was slightly disappointed at the lack of practical examples of this chapter - can we think of any practical examples that we could put into place within our church?

Gambling links

Just a few links to things things on gambling....

Statistics on Gambling from the ABS

Video on pokies...