Notices — The Epiphany of Our Lord — Sunday 2nd January 2022

NOTICES:

 

Happy birth­day to: Tiffany Chiew; Esth­er Kumar; Andrew Reddy; Jo Middleton; Ron­ald Clarke; Andrew Pat­ter­son; and Her Majesty (Wordsworth and Maskell Pipe Organ).

 

 

TONIGHT — The 6pm ser­vice has been can­celled for Janu­ary only.

 

Fr Jeff will be on hol­i­days from 3^rd Janu­ary to 17^th Janu­ary 2020.  Dur­ing this peri­od Fr John Hawkins will be tak­ing our Sunday Ser­vices and Fr Philip Brad­ford, our Wed­nes­day services.

 

Par­ish Office and the Opshop will be closed from 23^rd Dec 2021 to 3^rd Jan 2022.  They will reopen on Tues­day 4^th Janu­ary 2022.

 

Sat­urday 12th Feb­ru­ary 2022 — War­dens Din­ner “Under the Stars” Will be a catered din­ner, $20pp with tick­ets on sale in New Year.

 

ST PAUL’S PANTRY needs food, health and clean­ing items: A bas­ket is in the church foy­er for dona­tions.  Please keep your dona­tions to rel­at­ively small items like pack­ets of noodles, microwaved rice, small tins of baked beans etc these are the most needed.

 

Food for our worms – Please note that while Fr Jeff and Michelle are on hol­i­days do not bring food for the par­ish worm farms.  Please DO NOT leave the mater­i­al at the front door as there will be no one to collect.

 

Pray­ers for the sick: Maria Ser­afin; Andy Ser­afin; Maryrose Crowth­er; and Joan Dale.

 

Anniversar­ies of the Depar­ted: Lil Ket­tlewell; Peter Middleton; and Zena Thorton.

 

Long Term Pas­tor­al Pray­er list: Pau­line Newell; Beth Arm­strong; Lyn Car­ring­ton; Steph­en Thur­ley; Shir­ley, Bar­bara & Jade Allen; Rhi­an­non Henry-Edwards; Marissa; Jude, Isla, Meg & Al Don­nell; and Grace & Han­nah Ashton; and Andrew Hiro Itadani.

 

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Weekly Inter­ces­sions for our Com­munity:

Sunday: Stu­art Veitch, Jo Bur­ton & Laurence; Janet Walms­ley; Bp Ron­ald & Katie Wil­li­ams; and Sally Woellner.

Monday: Nadia Wheat­ley; Janet Wid­mer; Kay, Nata­sha & Tim Younie.

Tues­day: Shir­ley Allen, Bar­bara & Jade; Beth Arm­strong; Tony Brownlow.

Wed­nes­day: Jen­nifer, Peter, Elise & Blake B.; Fr John & Joanne Bowen.

Thursday: Fr Philip & Rose­mary Brad­ford; and Les & Lyn Carrington.

Fri­day: We pray for Fr John Bunyan’s pas­tor­al care min­istry at Bank­stown Hos­pit­al and all those he min­is­ters to.

Sat­urday: Dear lov­ing Fath­er, please deliv­er us from the coronavir­us and lim­it its impact on Aus­tralia and the world. In your mercy bring a swift end to this crisis.  Please pro­tect with your lov­ing care those we love — our fam­il­ies, friends and neigh­bours.  Let your fath­erly hand guide, shel­ter and strengthen them.  Cast out all anxious fears and doubts.  Give us an increas­ing trust in you and fill our hearts and minds with your peace.  We pray for those around the world now strug­gling with vari­ous COVID stains.  Heal and com­fort those who are sick and suf­fer­ing.  Pro­tect and guide the health pro­fes­sion­als who are at the front line.  Please give wis­dom and cour­age to those who bear respons­ib­il­ity for con­front­ing this chal­lenge. We ask these things through the power­ful name of Jesus.  Amen.

 

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Read­ings for Next Sunday — The Bap­tism of our Lord:  First Read­ing: Isai­ah 43.1–7; Psalm: 29; Second Read­ing: Acts 8.14–17; and Gos­pel: Luke 3.15–22

 

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Dis­cus­sion Ques­tions from WorkingPreacher.org

1. Some­times God’s people become light for one anoth­er. Who can you be light for this week? (Isai­ah 60:1)
2. How do you have “bold­ness and con­fid­ence” in God? (Eph 3:12)
3. In what ways are Herod and Jesus very dif­fer­ent kings? (Matt 2:1–12)

This week’s Reflect & Con­nect ques­tions writ­ten by Julie Sevig.

 

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Why is it called “Epi­phany”?

“Epi­phany” comes from the Greek epi­phaneia, mean­ing “mani­fest­a­tion” or “appear­ance.”  In 2 Timothy 1:9–10, the word is used to refer to the mani­fest­a­tion of Jesus Christ:

This grace was giv­en us in Christ Jesus before the begin­ning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appear­ing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus, who has des­troyed death and has brought life and immor­tal­ity to light through the gos­pel (NIV).

Epi­phany refers to the appear­ance of Jesus Christ as the saviour of the world—of Israel and the Gen­tiles.  For this reas­on, Epi­phany is com­monly asso­ci­ated with the vis­it­a­tion of the Magi (or “wise men”), who were almost cer­tainly Gen­tiles, in Mat­thew 2:1–12.

The Church has long viewed the Magi find­ing Jesus (thanks to the lead­ing light of a star) as a ful­fil­ment of the proph­ecy of Isai­ah 60:1–3, par­tic­u­larly verse 3:

Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has ris­en upon you. For dark­ness shall cov­er the earth, and thick dark­ness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.
Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the bright­ness of your dawn.

From: https://anglicancompass.com/epiphany-and-epiphanytide-a-rookie-anglican-guide/

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