Sunday, July 12, 2026
O Lord, we beseech you,
mercifully to receive the prayers of your people
who call upon you,
and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do,
and also may have grace and power
faithfully to fulil them;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Stay In Touch
Father Ted Starr - Priest-in-Charge - 0451 929 180 - edward.starr@anglicanchurchsq.org.au
Mrs Liz Peters - Rector’s Warden - 0400 844 946
Mrs Gail Symons - People’s Warden - 0409 618 511
Mr Tony Hughes - People’s Warden - 0468 764 009
Zoom Church - 328 492 8300 - 548 747
Readings
for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Genesis 25:19-34
Psalm 119:105-112
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-23
Giving
Offering - 704 901 - 0000 0780
Building Fund - 704 901 - 0001 4767
Other Stewardship
Cards are on sale at the back of the church.
For Your Prayers
We ask of your goodness, Lord, to comfort and sustain all who in this transitory life are in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity, and especially Shirley and Alan Kimber, Rosina, Ann, Barbara, Kevin, Ian, Uncle Peter, Chris, Bill Tattam, Jeff Byrne, Karne, Greg, Aaron, Joanne, Grace and Faith, Beryl Old, Fr David, Nina, Sophie, Lesley, Helena, Claire, Melissa Cameron, Shakiraia and Kristy. Please contact Fr Ted to be on this list.
We also give thanks for those whose year’s mind occurs at this time, and amongst them Dudley Kurkowski, Rod Louke and Bill Stephens. Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them.
Mission and Outreach
Meals for Woody Point Special School are on again. Please label your meal with title, ingredients and date cooked, then freeze it, and bring it to church on Sunday. Meal containers are on the back table. Alternatively, give a monetary donation or supermarket gift card. For more information on both of these ministries, contact Elizabeth on 0404 080 861.
Please pray for the next season of mission and outreach. Please pray for the Parish Council and other lay leaders in our church who are discerning where God is leading us to serve our community. Please also pray for the upcoming Spirited Generosity Morning, 11am, Saturday, July 18. Please reflect on your own gifts and experiences and bring them to this day of arish-wide discernment.
Ministry During the Week
Mother’s Union meets at a new time: Third Wednesdays at 9am.
Thursday Fellowship: every first and third Thursday from 9:30am to 11:30am. All welcome for a cuppa and a chat. Bring your craft to work on or just enjoy the company.
Caring and Sharing: every fourth Wednesday after Holy Communion.
Talent Table: after many years of faithful service, the Ladies Guild will be redirecting their efforts. Talent Table is now on indefinite leave. We give thanks to God for all the work the Guild has done in supporting our Parish and pray for his blessing on them.
Bible Study: Tuesdays at 9am and Thursdays at 7pm. All welcome; all materials supplied.
Beaumont Aged Care: Holy Communion every third Friday at 10:30am.
Recycling has resumed in the new location: the small white shed at the back of the property. Any questions call Elizabeth Melvin on 0404 080 861
The Week Ahead
Tues, 14 July
8:00 am - Holy Communion
9:30 am - Bible Study
Wed, 15 July
9:00 am - Mother’s Union
10:00 am - Holy Communion
Thu, 16 July
9:30 am - Friendship and Craft
6:30 pm - Evensong
7:00 pm - Bible Study
Fri, 17 July
10:30 am - Holy Communion at Beaumont
5:30 pm - Investiture Ceremony for the Order of St John Hospitaller at St John’s Cathedral
Sat, 18 July
11:00 am - Spirited Generosity
Sun, 19 July
7:00 & 9:00 am - Holy Communion for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Spirited Generosity, 11am, 18/07/26
The Parish Council has been praying and discerning over a document titled “Spirited Generosity”. The document describes Spirited Generosity as “a wholehearted, faith-led way of giving and sharing within Anglican churches. It’s about offering your time, abilities, and resources as a response to God’s overflowing grace, and doing so with purpose, joy, and care for others.” The first key theme grounds this movement in the heart of what it means to be Anglican: “Stewardship begins with the belief that all things belong to God. It calls us to care for creation and each other as an act of worship.”
You may have been engaging with the call over the past several weeks to pray and discern where God might be leading us as a parish. This document has been discerned as a tool for us to use in order to hear God’s call, and to follow it.
You are therefore warmly encouraged to attend a whole-of-parish gathering, where the Parish Council will present Spirited Generosity, as well as the current financial situation of the parish. In doing this, we pray that God might use our time together to inspire us with a direction to follow, and the grace to do so.
Please mark in your diary 11am on Saturday, July 18. We will gather, hear, discuss, ask, pray, and eat together as God’s people in this place, listening for his call, and seeking to follow it together.
Prayer Space with Leisa
This simple prayer has become a cherished part of my own daily routine. Taking a few moments each evening to give the day back to God has brought me peace, helped quiet my mind, and reminded me that he is always in control. It is my hope that this prayer will resonate with you as it has with me, and that you too may find comfort, rest, and peace in God’s loving care. “Give it to God and go to sleep”
Loving God,
As this days draws to a close, I place it into your loving hands.
Thank you for the blessings I have received, the people I have encountered, and the ways you have been present with me throughout this day. Forgive me where I have fallen short, and help me to learn from the joys and challenges of today.
Where there is worry, I choose to trust you. Where there is disappointment, I place it before you. Where there is uncertainty, I rest in the knowledge that you are already preparing the way ahead.
As I lay down to sleep, quiet my mind, calm my heart, and fill me with your peace. Renew my body, refresh my spirit, and grant me restful sleep, knowing that I am safe in your loving care.
Watch over those whom I love, bless those who are lonely, suffering, or afraid tonight, and surround them with your comfort and hope.
Into your hands, O Lord, I commend this day, trusting that your love never fails and that your mercies will be new again in the morning.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Article 20: Of The Authority Of The Church
The Church hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies, and authority in Controversies of Faith: And yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain anything that is contrary to God's Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another. Wherefore, although the Church be a witness and a keeper of holy Writ, yet, as it ought not to decree anything against the same, so besides the same ought it not to enforce anything to be believed for necessity of Salvation.
Usually when a group of men take power, they do all that they can to keep that power. But in the case of the English Reformation, there was a radical undercurrent pushing power away from themselves (this wasn’t always the case, but we get a sense of it in today’s Article). “The Church hath power”, the Article triumphantly begins – but only insofar as they wield that power in line with God’s Word. They take the Holy Scriptures and place it above themselves, as the ultimate authority by which anyone can claim power of their own. It is, in one way, radically democratic: everyone is on the same playing field under Scripture. At the same time, it is supremely absolutist: nothing the Church does may contradict Scripture. We are bound, completely submissive, to God in his revealed Word. One challenge I find as a preacher, and I would encourage you to pursue as a fellow pilgrim, is to reflect on the middle bit, about how we may not “so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another”. This is the line that denies our liberty to “pick and choose” which bits of the Bible we like, and which bits we don’t. The Bible is in perfect harmony with itself; if we find that isn’t the case, then we must keep studying and praying until we find out how it works together. It might take a lot of time and energy! But it is worth it, since it is the highest revelation of God he has given to us.