Sunday 29 November 9am

Sometimes it’s easy to drift in life – to live without any thought to the future, and without any concern regarding the consequences of the choices we make. The problem when we live this way is that reality can hit hard – we can suddenly find ourselves without the strength and resources we need to live with any happiness or hope.

This Sunday we will be hearing teaching from Jesus, were he warns his followers to be on guard, and to prepare for difficult times. As we think through Jesus’ teaching, we will consider how God gives us the strength to order our lives well, and to live prepared for what the future may bring.

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 blessings to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

Sunday 22 November 10am

It’s very easy to become cynical when listening to people who exercise authority. Whether it’s listening to parents, parliamentarians, teachers, law enforcers, or ministers of religion, the default mode of many people with experience of life is to be suspicious of the talk, and to watch the actions.

This Sunday we will be hearing a reading from the Bible that centers on Jesus’ ability to speak the truth in love. As we think through what the Bible says, we will consider how Jesus backed up his words of forgiveness and mercy with actions self-sacrificial love. We will consider how Jesus exercised rightly ordered authority in what he said and what he did.

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

God’s blessings to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

Sunday 15 November 9am

We human beings are creatures of habit: we find it easy and natural to fall into routines that shape not only what we do, but also what we say and think. While some habits, such as exercise, can help us live well, others are not so helpful. Bad habits – especially bad habits in the way that we talk with other people – can take the joy out of life.

This Sunday we will be hearing a reading from the Bible that encourages us to develop good habits. As we think through what the Bible teaches, we will consider how God gives us the freedom to speak well to each other by speaking his peace and forgiveness to us in Christ.

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 blessings to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday 8 November - 10:00 am

One of the tasks of life is to distinguish between appearance and reality. This is especially important when it comes to relationships with other people. If we simply trust other people by the front they put on, we can quickly find ourselves defrauded. This can leave us bitter about life, and hate-filled towards other people.

This Sunday we will be listening to teaching from Jesus where he gives us warning about too easily trusting appearances. As we think through Jesus’ teaching, we will consider how God gives us the freedom to see reality by uncovering the false front that we ourselves put on. We will consider how God, through forgiving our own frail attempts at deception, gives us freedom to love ourselves and others with wisdom.

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

God’s blessings to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday 1 November - 9:00 am

This week we will be celebrating All Saints.

For Sunday the 25th of October - 10:00 am Reformation Day and Church Shared Meal

It’s one thing to know about God, it’s another to know God. Although anyone can know something about God by considering nature, reading books, and talking with other people, it’s only possible to know God coming into a close relationship with him.

This Sunday we will be hearing a reading from the Bible that talks about knowing God. As we think through this reading, we will consider how God leads us to know him by forgiving our sins. We will consider how we come into a close relationship with God primarily by trusting that in Christ Jesus we have God’s mercy, grace, and peace.

This Sunday we will meet at 10:00am for a service with Holy Communion. We will be celebrating the way that God constantly reforms the church by giving people the gift of faith. This Sunday there will be a shared meal after the church service.

God’s blessings to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 18th of October - 9:00 am

It’s not uncommon to find people who use their positions of authority to feather their own nests. In government and in the church, in sports clubs and in families, in business and in health care, people can be tempted to use the power they have to get their own way, and to further their own interests.

This Sunday we will be hearing a reading from the Bible that deals with the temptation to abuse authority in the church. As we listen to this reading, we will consider how Jesus gives us a good example of the right exercise of authority. We will consider how Jesus uses his authority to save us from the tyranny of sin and death.

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 blessings to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 11th of October - 10:00 am

Most of the time it’s difficult to welcome a close scrutiny of our lives: whether it’s an audit of our financial situation by an accountant, or a physical check up at the doctor, we can become uneasy about what might be revealed. This unease can turn into fear when it comes to the spiritual realm: having a guilty conscience can make us too scared to approach God with any confidence at all.

This Sunday we will be hearing a passage from the Bible that helps us when we are afraid of God. We will hear how Jesus has suffered the same sort of temptations that we face, and that he is able to sympathize with us. We will hear that it is Jesus who can give us the help that we need in approaching God with confidence, so that we can ask for all that we need to have joy in life.

This Sunday we will be meeting at 10:00 am for a service with Holy Communion. There will be an unveiling of a plaque commemorating the old Lutheran Church in Bendigo at 9:45 am.

God’s blessings to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

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

For Sunday the 30th of August - 9:00 am

Sometimes we can do things – or have things done to us – that don’t make us feel so much guilty or ashamed as ‘dirty’. When we feel this way, it can be difficult to deal with: we want to be made clean, but we don’t know how.

This Sunday we will be hearing teaching that comes from Jesus that deals with this reality. Jesus talked about the evil intentions of the human heart – intentions that lead to actions that ‘defile’. He also provided a way for people to be made clean by God, so that they could live life to the full.

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

God’s blessings to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

The congregation meeting decided that service times are remaining as normal: 9am on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays; 10am on the 2nd and 4th Sundays.

For Sunday the 23rd of August - 10:00 am

One of the great gifts that Jesus gave the church is the Lord’s Supper. To look at the Lord’s Supper doesn’t seem like much: a few prayers over some bread and wine. But as we listen to Jesus’ words, ‘this is my body; this is my blood, given and shed for the forgiveness of sins’, then we can start to understand the power that is at work in this simple rite.

This Sunday we will be thinking through some of Jesus’ teaching on the Lord’s Supper. As we listen again to Jesus’ words we will consider how God draws us together to gives us forgiveness; we will consider how God draws us together to grow us in love for each other and for all people.

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

God’s blessings to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

This Sunday there will be a discussion/vote regarding church times.

For Sunday the 16th of August - 9:00 am

It can be easy to worry about the future, without giving too much thought about how we live day to day. But wisdom comes in taking care of how we live each day, and entrusting or future into God’s hands.

This Sunday we will be hearing a reading from the Bible that is an invitation to receive the way of life that wisdom gives. As we think through what this means, we will consider how God shares his wisdom with us by forgiving our sins, and so giving us hope for whatever life brings.

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

God’s blessings to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

The vote concerning church times has been postponed until the 23rd of August

For Sunday the 9th of August - 10:00 am - Vote

In life we naturally imitate the people that we spend time with. Our accent, our mannerisms, even the behavior that we find acceptable or unacceptable is shaped by the people who are close to us.

This Sunday we will be hearing a reading from the Bible that talks about imitating God. As we think through this reading, we will consider how spending time with God shapes us to be people who do not let anger rule us, who speak the truth, who work honestly, and who are ready to forgive.

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

This Sunday there will be a vote after the service about proposed changes to the service times.

God’s blessings to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

For Sunday the 2nd of August - 9:00 am

Sometimes in life we work out how to act by the job we have to do: when we are students we learn the school rules by listening to the teacher and our fellow students; when we are in a sports team we learn our part in the game by talking with the coach and the other team members; and when we are in the workforce we learn our role in the business by talking with our boss and our fellow work mates.

In the church we learn how to act by listening to the calling that God has given us, and by living at peace with each other.

This Sunday we will be listening to a reading from the Bible that talks about how God has called Christian people to live at peace and in unity. As we think through what this reading means, we will consider how God gives us the strength to live in humility and patience.

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

God’s peace to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

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

Two basic questions can reveal a lot about what we hold as most important in life. The first is: What do we crave? The second is: What do we fear? Thinking seriously about what we crave and what we fear can reveal that we hold things like the approval of others, or financial security, as the be all and end all of life; but are things like human approval or financial security of ultimate importance?

This Sunday we will be hearing readings from the Bible that teach about the way God deals with our cravings and fears. As we think through these readings we will consider how God leads us to fear and love Him above all else, and so gives us freedom and joy that is unending.

This Sunday we will be meeting at 10:00 am for a service with Holy Communion, during which we will be celebrating a First Communion. Our Sunday school will meet at about 10:45am.

God’s blessings to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor

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

When we are tired and worn out, we can want to escape the demands and responsibilities of everyday life. Especially when we experience constant contact with people who demand our attention, we can feel the strong desire to get away from it all.

This Sunday we will be hearing a reading from the Bible that talks about the desire that Jesus and his companions felt to get away on their own. We will also hear that even as Jesus retreated from public life, he was moved with compassion to help people in need. As we think through Jesus’ actions, we will consider how God continues to show compassion to us, and we will explore ways that we can share Jesus’ compassion with others.

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 blessing to you,

Fraser Pearce, Pastor