For Sunday the 4th of October - 9:00 am

Most people like to go to weddings, and to hear the bride and groom publicly promise to love each other faithfully as long as they both shall live. Even though we live in a world where many marriages end in divorce, the great hope with which most marriages begin is a sign of the joy and celebration that human love can bring.

This Sunday we will be hearing teaching from Jesus about marriage. Jesus was both a soft-hearted romantic and a hard-headed realist, and he knew that although a husband and wife can grow in love and commitment to each other, it is only God who can keep marriages together through the tough times.

As we listen to Jesus’ teaching, ‘What God has joined together, let no one separate’, we will consider how God helps us as married or as single people, to honour marriage in our world.

This Sunday we will meet at 9:00 am for a service with Holy Communion.

God’s blessing to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 27th of September - 10:00 am

When we are sick, it’s natural for us to experience a sense of isolation. If the sickness we experience is chronic, then it can be easy for us to fall into bitterness and despair, or to let the symptoms of our sickness dominate our thoughts and our conversation.

This Sunday we will be hearing from the Bible about what positive things we can do when we are sick. We will be hearing how God calls us from isolation back into community especially through the gift of prayer – both our own prayer to God, and the prayers of others on our behalf. As we listen to this teaching, we will consider how God lifts us out of despair and gives us the freedom to rejoice even in sickness.

This Sunday we will be meeting at 10:00 am for a service with Holy Communion. The Sunday school is in recess over the holidays.

God’s blessings to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 20th of September - 9:00 am

Although we don’t like it when other people boast, it can be easy enough for us to boast if we are given the opportunity; and although we don’t like it when other people exclude us, it can be easy enough for us to exclude others – especially if they are poor or ignorant or powerless – especially if they are children.

This Sunday we will be hearing readings from the Bible that deal with our natural propensity to boast and to exclude the powerless. As we listen to these readings, we consider how God changes our hearts by bringing us into his family through the forgiveness Christ gives. We will consider how God frees us to welcome the little ones, and so to welcome God himself.

This Sunday we will be meeting at 9:00 am for a service with Holy Communion.

God’s blessings to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 13th of September - 10:00 am

Although it’s easy to speak, it’s not always easy to say things that are helpful or encouraging to other people. In fact, especially if we are feeling insecure about our own place in the world, we can find it next to impossible to give compliments or praise with any degree of sincerity.

This Sunday we will be hearing a reading from the Bible that teaches about the way we should talk to others. As we listen to this teaching we will consider the way that God, by speaking his word of grace in Christ Jesus, frees us to be people who can give genuine praise and encouragement to others.

This Sunday we will meet at 10:00 am for a service with Holy Communion. The Sunday school will meet at about 10:45 am.

God’s blessings to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 6th of September - 9:00 am

Bendigo Lutheran Church

In life in can be easy for us to look up to rich people – to see them as somehow better than the common run of humanity, and to show them a deference and respect that borders on the servile. On the other hand it can be easy for us to look down on the poor – to see them as somehow worse than other people, and to treat them with a disdain and contempt that borders on the arrogant.

This Sunday we will be hearing a reading from the Bible that gives us a different way of looking at people. Instead of treating the rich with favoritism, and the poor with judgment, God calls us to show love for all people – and to give practical help to those whose need is greatest. As we think through this teaching, we will consider how God treats us generously by giving us grace in our need.

This Sunday we will meet at 9:00am for a service with Holy Communion. The Sunday school will meet at about 9:45am.

God’s blessing to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor