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140A William St Bathurst

Rev. Claire Wright

Ministers’ Blog – 26 March 2020

‘Out of the depths we cry’ (Psalm 130)

We prayed the words together, at our last face-to-face gathering for worship in the church on Sunday 22nd March.

Out of the depths we cry to you, O Lord.
Lord, hear our voice!
Let your ears be attentive to the voice of our supplications!
Lord, hear the cry of our hearts!

We wait for the Lord; our souls wait:
And in God’s Word we hope.
Our souls wait for the Lord, more than those who watch for the morning;
More than those who watch for the morning.

O people of God, hope in the Lord!
For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
And with God is great power to redeem.

Lent is traditionally a time to rediscover or hone our spiritual disciplines: those intentional practices that mould us in the cruciform – cross-shaped – way of Christ.

Fasting, prayer and giving are the three traditional Lenten disciplines. Today’s reading suggests another: the discipline of waiting. Waiting in hope. Holding in tension the cry from the depths – the heart-cry of guilt, or grief, or danger, or doubt, or loneliness, or pain, or injustice – with the fragile, life-giving cry of faith and trust. Because with the Lord there is steadfast love; with God, there is great power to redeem.

Who has not tossed and turned, or paced the floor, or pressed their forehead against the window pane, through hour after hour of darkness, longing for the first hint of pre-dawn glow to signal that the long night is finally over?

In so many matters of human brokenness – even as we do our best to love and help and support each other and our neighbour – there is nothing we can really do but wait, in hope, for God’s redemptive intervention.

And so it is in this time of coronavirus (COVID-19)… Our souls wait…

In this Sunday’s Gospel reading (John 11: 1-45) restoration and renewal flood a tomb with in-breaking light. ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ is the cry… And our souls wait, with a new hope. God is with us. Resurrection happens.

And faintly now, from the deepest darkness ahead of us on our Lenten journey, there echoes the deepest of all cries from the depths: a cry from a cross: ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ – ‘My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?’

With the Lord there is steadfast love; with God, there is great power to redeem. Not despite the cry of Jesus Christ crucified, but because of it.

Our souls wait with the deepest of all hope… We wait for the morning, knowing that the Sun will rise.
[Adapted by permission from a reflection originally written by Rev. Claire Wright for this week’s With Love to the World, Vol 16. No 2. www.withlovetotheworld.org.au]

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Pastoral Letter from our Minister, Rev. Claire Wright

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

As we are all aware, our society and our church are being deeply impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. As members of the wider community, and as the body of Christ called to exercise love for our neighbours, we are committed to participating in our community in wise, faithful and responsible ways. We have our part to play – both in slowing and limiting the spread of the disease, and in helping everyone to learn new ways of continuing to connect with God, connect with people, and connect with community, in a time of emotional, physical and financial stress. Fortunately, we have extraordinary resources to face troubled times – in God, in one another, and in the excellent guidance given by Synod and Presbytery, health authorities and government.

At our meeting of March 16, Church Council appointed a Coronavirus Response Team (Rev. Claire and Sharynne and David) to decide and manage our church’s response to the virus. Over the last 48 hours, we have been able to develop what we think is a positive and hopeful first plan of response – at least to things as they stand today. The Synod and Presbytery have advised us strongly to stop all face-to-face meetings and gatherings – and we have had to make some painful decisions about this. But we have also focused on ensuring that we can continue to connect people with God, connect people with people, and connect people with community.

The important ingredients of the plan, for everyone to note, are:

(a) We will be holding services this Sunday (subject to strict infection protocols) for those who wish to gather, in order to offer pastoral support and equipping with resources for the immediate future. (Please bring a hat, as morning tea – again with strict protocols – will be in the open Courtyard.)

(b) From then on, we will be stopping all gatherings for worship until further notice – but providing a range of resources for maintaining pastoral care, social connection, worship/devotion (including Easter services) and welfare activity. In addition to the Response Team (planning, information and resources), we have a Pastoral Response Group (Rev. David Wrightson and Ellie) to co-ordinate pastoral contact and care, and a Welfare Response Group (Julie and Sharynne) to co-ordinate practical helps. Information packs will be available on Sunday – and then from the Website and by email – or by mail or delivery if necessary. No-one will be left isolated or left behind if we can help it – and if we all work together to connect with and look after each other.

(c) All social/study/activity groups are being asked to suspend ‘in-person’ meetings/gatherings – and to maintain contact and activity in other ways (with lots of help from us).

Please make sure that we have your best up-to-date contact details (especially email, if possible). If you would like help with getting on-line – or setting up and using ‘virtual’ meeting tools – let us know.

We have opened a dedicated email addressBUCconnect@gmail.com – for all questions, suggestions, offers or requests for help (etc) at this time. Our website will also be a central hub for information about what’s going on – and to access weekly resources for worship and devotions. Our weekly Newsletter will be emailed as usual for prayers, prayer requests, devotionals and updates: please get on Ruth’s mailing list, if you aren’t already on it.

‘Physical distance – social connection’ is our rallying cry for the moment. I warmly encourage each of us to take responsibility for ‘being a neighbour’ at this time: using the phone, post, internet and other resources to reach out to one another; to ask ‘how are you going?’; to share bible readings, prayers and prayer requests; to generally BE CHURCH – be the presence of Christ – to each other, and others. This is our calling, our strength and our comfort. Again: no-one will be left isolated or left behind if we can help it – and if we all work together to connect with and look after each other.

And please remember: we are a people of hope! The God who has never failed us yet will surely not fail us now. Our strength is in Christ, and in each other, as we walk this journey together.

God bless you. God bless us all.

Claire


Click here for a copy of the Pastoral letter to the congregation 20 Mar 2020

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The season of Epiphany

Ordinary objects can be transformed and transfigured by light. I pondered this, with a smile, when I caught sight of this bright flash of colour, touching some of the things at the bottom of our stairway.

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Blue Christmas service

In December, as one of our services in the run-up to Christmas at Bathurst Uniting, we held a Blue Christmas service. A service for people doing it tough at a time of year which is otherwise so relentlessly jolly. For people grieving the loss of a loved one; facing an empty chair at the Christmas table; stressed or distressed by having to put on a ‘happy face’ for the holidays – and frankly, just not up to singing ‘Joy to the World!’ one more time… At our Blue Christmas service, we prayed together, and sat together, and wept together. We acknowledged that the story of the birth of Christ has its dark places, as well as its light ones: places of fear and loss, disruption and danger. We acknowledged that at the heart of the Christmas story is not an escape from this world, in all its pain and struggle, its questions and cries – but God coming into it. Not a promise that all will be well, but that God will be with us in the midst.

‘They will call him Emmanuel – which means, ‘God with us.’…

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