For Sunday the 7th of June - 9:00 am

This Sunday we will be celebrating a festival called ‘Trinity Sunday’. At this festival we will celebrate a mysterious reality: the reality that God is one, but that God is not alone; the reality that the one God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

As we celebrate this mysterious reality, we will meditate on the way that God our Father leads us by the Holy Spirit to place our trust in Jesus Christ. We will meditate on the way that God shares his glory with us, by leading us to share in his own eternal life.

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

God’s peace to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 31st of May - 9:00 am

Bendigo Lutheran Church

There’s nothing quite like coming home, especially when we are welcomed back by people who know us well, who love us, and who share a history of joys and sorrows with us. The experience of homecoming in such a situation can give us a deep sense of peace and security, and can be one of the great joys of life. It can also be a clue to what our life with God is about.

This Sunday we will be celebrating the festival of Pentecost – we will be celebrating the life of the Holy Spirit in the Church. As we meditate on the Bible readings for the day, we will consider how the Holy Spirit brings home God’s mercy and love into our hearts, and how the Holy Spirit brings us to our true and lasting home with God our Father.

This Sunday we will meet at 9:00am. In our service a number of people will be welcomed to First Communion; to membership in the congregation; and to serve as acolytes. Our Sunday school will meet at about 9:45am.

God’s peace to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 24th of May - 10:00am

If we hear the word 'holy' we can associate it with 'goodness' or even 'morality'. We can think a holy person is someone who is especially good - or we can even think a holy person is someone who is stuck up and thinks that they are better than others.

This Sunday we will be hearing a reading from the Bible where Jesus talks about holiness. As we think through Jesus' teaching, we will consider how God makes us holy by giving us his word. We will also consider how holiness is more than morality, and how God calls us to be people who do not glorify ourselves, but God.

This Sunday we will be meeting at 10:00am for a service with Holy Communion. The Sunday School will be meeting at about 10:45am.

God's peace to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Wednesday the 20th of May - 7:00pm

We'll be having an Ascesion Vespers service this Wednesday at 7:00pm.

For Sunday the 17th of May - 9:00 am

It’s a curious fact that the things in life that are really good for us can be difficult to pursue - at least at first. For example: we all know that the activities of eating well and exercising regularly not only are good for our health, but also can contribute to our happiness in life. Yet starting a diet and sticking to it, or starting an exercise regimen and persevering can seem to take super human strength. It can take years of self-discipline before a healthy way of living comes naturally.

This week we will be hearing teaching from the Bible about God’s commands – especially about the command to love each other. This command can seem like a real burden, and it can seem harder to keep than a strict diet. Yet as we think though Jesus’ teaching we will consider how God gives us the freedom to love each other by showing us his love. We will consider how God moves us from being people who fear what is good, to be people who freely live out God’s love and peace.

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

God’s peace to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 10th of May - 10:00 am

Most people pray at some time. Most people also sometimes doubt whether God actually hears their prayers, or whether He cares about them at all. In fact most people, caught between the desire to pray and doubt about prayer, find it very difficult to persevere in a disciplined life of prayer.

This week we will be hearing a reading from the Bible in which Jesus gives us encouragement to pray. As we think through what Jesus says, we will consider how God gives us His Word so that we may become the sort of people who can pray well. We will consider how God gives us the freedom to pray wisely as people who love God, ourselves, and others.

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

God’s peace to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 3rd of May - 9:00 am

‘The Lord is my Shepherd’ is one of the most familiar hymns sung in churches and at funerals. The imagery is memorable, especially for rural Australians who are used to seeing sheep grazing (even if they are not so used to seeing Shepherds at work).

This week we will be singing ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’, and we will be hearing a reading from the Bible where Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd. As we think through the imagery and the teaching of the hymn and the reading, we will consider how God leads us in life. We will consider how God is with us even in the dark places of life, so that we do not need to be overcome with fear or anxiety.

This week we will be meeting together for a Lay Reading service at 9:00 am.

God’s peace to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 26th of April - 10:00 am

Because so many of the Christians in Australia come from a European background, it can sometimes be easy to forget that Christianity did not begin in Europe. In fact, of course, Christianity began in Israel, Jesus and the first Christians were Jewish, and more than half of the Bible was first written in Hebrew, the traditional language of the Jews.

This Sunday we will be hearing a reading from the Bible that deals with the Jewish origins of Christianity. As we think through what this means for us in Bendigo now, we will consider how the life, death, and resurrection of the Jesus gives us a ‘key’ to understand the Bible. We will also consider how God calls people from all nations to turn away from sin, and to receive forgiveness in Jesus’ name.

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

God’s peace to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 19th of April - 9:00 am

One of the great teachings of Christianity is that God loves all people, and that God calls his people to show self-sacrificial love for others. One of the great tragedies of Christianity is that no Christian has been able to live this calling perfectly. Every Christian is to some extent a hypocrite – holding to a high ideal, but failing to live up to it in reality.

This Sunday we will be hearing a reading from the Bible that deals with this situation. As we think through what the Bible says, we will consider how God calls his people to acknowledge both the high ideals of Christian life, and the sad reality of sin. We will consider how God frees his people from despair by giving them the gift of humility: the gift of acknowledging that with Christ there is forgiveness.

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

God’s peace to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

Easter Times

Tuesday the 7th of April 7:30pm Tenebrae – Psalms and Darkness

Thursday the 9th of April 7:30pm Maundy Thursday

Friday the 10th of April 9:00am (Castlemaine 11:00am) Good Friday

Sunday the 12th of April 10:00am (Castlemaine 8:00am) Easter Sunday

Easter Message

It can be easy to get down in life, to give up being thoughtful about other people, and to care only about ourselves. Living this way doesn’t bring much joy, but it can seem unrealistic to hope for any other way.

One of the things we celebrate at Easter is the way that God brings hope out of such situations of despair, and so gives us the gift of joy in life.

On the first ‘Good Friday’ – the day of Jesus’ crucifixion - it seemed as if the forces of despair, and even of death, had won another victory. But on the first Easter Sunday – the day of Jesus’ resurrection – God showed that compassion and love cannot be held down by death. Jesus’ life of hope and love was vindicated in his victory over the grave.

Even today anyone can trust this message, and experience the power of God to bring hope and joy to situations of despair.

As our congregation celebrates the death and the resurrection of Christ, we will pray for all the people of this community – that God will bless all with the gift of hope.

God’s blessings to you!

For Sunday the 5th of April - 9:00 am - Remember the end of Daylight Savings!

Sometimes it’s possible to get the idea that compassion is only an emotional response to seeing a person in need. Sometimes we can forget that to experience compassion is to take some share in the sufferings of others, and to help them carry their burden.

This Sunday we will be hearing a reading from the Bible about the compassion of Christ. We will be hearing how Jesus showed true compassion by sharing our suffering – even to the point of dying on a cross. As we think though what this means, we will consider how God leads us to show true compassion to others. We will consider how God, in leading us to share in the sufferings of others, most mysteriously gives us life to the full.

This Sunday we will be meeting at 9:00am for a service with Holy Communion. There will be a children’s procession with palms as we celebrate Palm Sunday.

God’s peace to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 29th of March - 9:00 am

In life, many people can get to know about us: our doctors can get to know about our health; our accountants can get to know about our finances; our mechanics can get to know about the cars we drive. But it is only the people who live with us and love us who can properly get to know us. This is because it is only in the interplay of love, of forgiveness, of reconciliation, and of shared suffering that we truly get to know other people.

This Sunday we will be hearing from the Bible about how we get to know God. While we can learn many things about God both from studying the world and from listening to God’s word, it is only in receiving God’s forgiveness in Christ that we get to know God. And it is only in receiving God’s forgiveness that we are free to show real love for others.

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

God’s peace to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor.

For Sunday the 22nd of March - 10:00 am

Most of us have an inbuilt desire not simply to set ourselves apart from others, but to think that we are somehow superior. For example: most of us don’t need too much prompting in conversation to talk about ourselves in a flattering way, but to view the words and actions of others as evidence of their ignorance, stupidity, or even of their  downright evil motivations.

 

This Sunday we will listen to a reading from the Bible that deals with this human desire to be boastful. As we think through what the Bible says, we will consider how God frees us from useless boasting by giving us the gift of faith – a gift that we receive not because we are somehow superior to others, but because God is gracious and good.

 

This Sunday we will be meeting at 10:00 am for a service with Holy Communion. Sunday school will be meeting at about 10:45 am, and First Communion Instruction will meet at about 11:15 am.

 

God’s peace to you,

 

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 15th of March - 9:00 am

Laws can be funny things. On the one hand, they can be a drag – they can hold us back from doing what we’d really like to do. On the other hand, they can be very helpful – they can make it easier to live together in a community, and can protect us from violence and the loss of property.

 

This Sunday we will be hearing the laws that God gave his chosen people. As we think through what the ‘Ten Commandments’ have to say to us today, we will consider how God’s laws can be both a heavy burden and also a path to freedom. We will also consider how Jesus’ forgiveness changes our hearts so that we become people who love each other, and so who spontaneously do what the law requires.

 

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

 

God’s peace to you,

 

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 8th of March - 10:00 am

Shame is one of the great motivating forces in life. The words we use, the clothes we wear, and the things we do are all more or less calculated to make us fit in, and to ensure that we don’t attract the critical attention of other people. In fact, most of us would rather do something that we believe is wrong, than suffer the humiliation of appearing stupid, or ugly, or weak, or poor in the eyes of other people.

 

This Sunday we are going to hear a reading from the Bible where Jesus talks about the shameful death that he would suffer, and where he calls those who would follow him to share his shame. As we think through this reading, we will consider how what is shameful in the eyes of the world is transformed by God’s love into something beautiful.

 

This Sunday we will be meeting at 10:00 a.m. for a service with Holy Communion. The Sunday school will be meeting at about 10:45 a.m.

 

God’s peace to you,

 

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 1st of March - 9:00 am

No matter how much we value our independence, it’s also natural to want to belong, and to want to have a place where we feel at home. But it’s not always possible to find a place where we are loved, where can learn to forgive and be forgiven, and where we can be challenged to use our unique gifts for the benefit of others.

This Sunday we will listen to a part of the Bible that teaches about baptism. As we reflect on this teaching, we will consider God joins us into his family, the church, through the gift of baptism. We will consider how God, through baptism, provides us with a true home, where we may receive his love and forgiveness.

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

God’s peace to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 22nd of February - 10:00am

Encouragement for a challenging journey

Life issues are often challenging -  bushfires, drought, finances, health, relationships are all current challenges for people around us.   Biblical leaders also faced challenging issues.  A unique meeting of Moses, Elijah and Jesus, three leaders who experienced major challenges, is reported in the Gospel for Transfiguration Sunday.  God the Father’s encouragement on that occasion provides help for us also as we face life’s challenges.  Hearing the Father, listening to Jesus, and receiving Jesus' comforting and strengthening company on our journey all provide much-needed help.

 

For Sunday the 15th of February - 9:00 am

When we see athletes competing in a final, we see the end result of sometimes years of hard discipline and training. When we see an athlete win a great victory, we know that lots of hard work went into making the victory a reality.

This Sunday we will be hearing a reading from the Bible that uses the imagery of athletes competing against each other. As we think about this imagery, we will consider how God is training us to live lives of great service and love toward each other. We will consider how God gives us ways to discipline our lives, so that we miss out on nothing of lasting value.

This Sunday we will be meeting for a service with communion at 9:00 am. We will be remembering in prayer the needs of our city, and especially the needs of those people who have suffered loss because of the fires.

God’s peace to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 8th of February - 10:00 am (AGM Sunday)

All of us at some stage face the temptation to give up:  to give up on friendships, to give up on marriage, to give up on God, to give up even in life. When we are tempted to give up, it can be of little help to be told that we should try harder to persevere. After all, when we are weak we don’t need advice, we need strength.

This Sunday we will be hearing a passage from Isaiah 40 talks about the reality of human weakness in the face of struggle, but that also talks about the fact that God has the strength to carry us through the difficult times. As we think through what the Bible says, we will think about practical ways that we can trust God in life, and so experience God’s help when we are weak.

This Sunday we will be meeting at 10:00 am for a service with Holy Communion. The Sunday school will meet at about 10:45 am. The AGM will be held after the service.

God’s peace to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor