FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER 2026

The last couple of months have been busy and joyous for the parish with the commissioning of Fr Ted Starr and his family, Jen and Charles, as well as the Christmas family services. We are so blessed to welcome them to our community.

Thank you to all our Parish family for your generosity and support during the changes that occurred in the last six months of 2025. We are awaiting the structural engineer’s report before we can move forward with the rectory repairs. All previous Parish and rectory maintenance has been completed. The mulch pile in the front carpark came from the removal of the paperbark trees and will be used by the gardening volunteer team.

The Parish AGM is on Sunday Febrary15 after the 9:00am service. Nomination forms are at the white table and annual reports will soon follow.

Fr Ted takes Holy Communion every Tuesday and Thursday at 8:00am and every Wednesday at 10:00am. All are welcome to join him in the side chapel. Ash Wednesday will soon be here and during Lent Fr Ted is commencing Bible study of the book of ROMANS on Tuesday mornings and Thursday evenings. Please see sign sheet on the white table for more information.

If you are unable to attend church and would like to receive Holy Communion at home, our team would happily visit you. Please contact Liz Peters 040 084 4946.

Our wonderful Zoom broadcaster, Gordon, will be away for a month so Zoom will be suspended from Sunday January 25 until Sunday February 22. Zoom contacts are 548747 and ID 3284928300. Safe travels Gordon.

Anglicare are settling in with new social services and Fr Ted and the executive met with Chris, Erin and other staff members in mid-January.

The recycling area is temporarily closed and it will be relocated elsewhere in the church grounds. In the meantime, please hang on to the items. It’s a good little fundraiser,

February will begin with all our groups gathering after the summer break. Friendship and Craft Group 1st and 3rd Thursday 9:30am, 3rd Monday for Mothers’ Union 9:30am, 3rd Wednesday for Ladies Guild 11am, 4th Wednesday for Holy Communion 10am followed by Caring and Sharing. The Growth Committee will also start planning the Parish activities for the year.

The Floral and Art Festival is June 19, 20 and 21, this year. The theme is “A Picture Paints 1000 Words”. The festival organisation will commence with “lift/shift/push/shove” on Sunday June 14 after the 9:00am service. Artists’ exhibitions, potters, jewellery, cards, raffle stalls, floral installations and the plants area will be setting up each day that week until Opening Night on Thursday June 18 at 6:00pm when Bishop Sarah Plowman will bless the Festival. Our patronal festival service will be taken by the Bishop at 9:00am Sunday June 20. Pull down will be Monday June 22 at 4:00pm to replace furniture and have the church shipshape. Please diary note these dates.

The plant stall “home planting” was so successful last year and it’s not too early to start encouraging those cuttings and seeds to flourish. Pots will be found at the back of the deck.

If you have changes or updates of your contact information, please contact your Care and Connect Team member. Please continue to pray for our Parish family and especially for Fr Ted as he settles into his ministry at St Peter’s.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

The Second Sunday after Epiphany

Almighty God,

by whose grace alone we are accepted

and called to your service:

strengthen us by your Holy Spirit

and make us worthy of our calling;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

February Approaches!

Much work has been happening this month to prepare another year of ministry in the parish. Please do update your calendar with everything that will be going on. (Continued on back page.)

Stay In Touch

Father Ted Starr - Priest-in-Charge - 0451 929 180

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

Readings

The Second Sunday after Epiphany

Isaiah 49:1-7 - Psalm 40:1-14

1 Corinthians 1:1-9 - John 1:29-42

Giving

Offering - 704 901 - 0000 0780

Building Fund - 704 901 - 0001 4767

AGM is coming up! Thank you for your prompt reporting. AGM will be held Sunday, February 15 after the second service, 10:30am.

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 Kimber, Alex, Ann, Daniel, Lois, Barbara, Helena, Ian, Maggie, Dave, Uncle Peter, Chris, Bill Tattam, Jeff Byrne, Karne, Ika, Aaron, Joanne, Grace and Faith. Please contact Fr Ted to be on this list.

Those whose year’s mind occurs at this time:

Walter (Buck) Rogers and Iris Stephens. Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them.

The Week Ahead

Tues, 20 Jan - Holy Communion - 8:00 am

Wed, 21 Jan - Agnes, martyr at Rome, virgin - (d. 304) - 10:00am

Sun, 25 Jan - Holy Communion with thanksgiving and prayers for the nation of Australia - 7:00am - 9:00am

Notices

Thursday Fellowship returns 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 returns every third Wednesday from 11am.

 Talent Table returns every last Sunday after the second service.

Bible Study begins again in February on Tuesdays at 9am and Thursdays at 7pm. All materials supplied, but if you would like a study to take home with you, please update the sign-on sheet at the back of the church. They are $25 each.

Recycling is currently on pause as we look for an alternative storage solution. Please keep an eye out for when we resume this fundraiser.  Mother’s Union returns every third Monday at 9:30am.

Breakfast Club is asking for donations of towels, either new or second hand. Bring them to church, or donate direct, Cnr Portwood St & Oxley Ave.

The Baptism of Our Lord

“I Love The Trinity”

During my time in formation, I came across a little book called “The Forgotten Trinity”. The author, who spent a lot of time in formal debates defending the Trinity, begins by talking about how much he loves the Trinity. It sounds odd – we Christians are happy to say that we love Jesus; or that we love our heavenly Father; or even that we love the Holy Spirit. But to say “I love the Trinity”? I don’t think I’ve ever seen that on a bumper sticker.

God willing, I will spend a little bit of time each week going through one of our foundational Anglican documents: the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion. We have it at the back of our prayer book, but it really should be at the front. They aren’t binding to us Anglicans in the same way as, say, the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church, or the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith. (We Anglicans always like to leave the door open for more questions.) But the Articles do give us a reference point, to make sure we are keeping within the boundaries of orthodox belief. (There is a saying that G. K. Chesterton may have said: “Don't open your mind so much your brain falls out.”)

And so let us spend a little time with these Articles, to help us understand better what it means to be a follower of the Lord Jesus in the Anglican tradition.

Article 1

Of Faith in the Holy Trinity.

There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker, and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

The Articles start at the beginning. Consider St Paul in the eleventh chapter of his Epistle to the church in Rome, as he has gone through the great mystery of God’s work in bringing together people from all over the world into his kingdom:

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
    or who has been his counsellor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to him
    that he might be repaid?”

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

The apostle is in absolute awe. He has taught something about what God has done, and it has led him to reflect on God himself, and that reflection has left him sitting back, speechless.

The doctrine of the Trinity is not a dry, mathematical equation for us to figure out. It is more like when you were a child and looked up, and up, and up, until the world got dizzy. (I remember visiting Sydney as a child, and almost falling over backwards as I tried to find the top of the skyscrapers in the CBD.)

What is more mysterious about God? That he is One Being and Three Persons at the same time? Or that he is the Maker, and Preserver, of all things both visible and invisible? Whenever we stop and think about God, we eventually end up in the same place as St Paul: sitting back in awe and wonder, speechless.

The further we look up at God, the dizzier we get at the absolute impressive majesty of his splendour. More than that, we see the results of his existence everywhere. In things like storms and waves, yes, but also in human smiles and simple acts of loving-kindness.

What about God do you love? Where do you see examples of his impressive majesty in your daily life?