No 5 – March 2010

Crows Nest Uniting Church

Cnr Shirley Road & Nicholson Street, Crows Nest

From Michael’s desk—Celebrating Easter every year?

Christmas seems not so long ago and already Easter is approaching. That sense of time moving too fast is creeping up on me again. I suppose we could put that down to the speed with which life in society moves these days. And there would be some truth in that.

This year I also find myself thinking some other thoughts about these all too rapid transitions. How can we move from Christmas, the celebration of Jesus’ birth, to Easter, the marking of his death, in such a short space of time? That is just a little over 3 months within which to comprehend the span of an extraordinary life. (It’s taken me perhaps 50 years to have a good understanding of my own life, let alone someone else’s!)

Has it ever struck you that there is something unusual about this limited time frame? Or, perhaps, like me for some years, it was simply the way things went; the rhythms of the church’s year.

The church divides the year into different seasons and so marks the significant events in Jesus’ life every year. I suppose the theory in so doing was to allow Christian people to engage and meditate regularly on what is considered most important. But there are unintended consequences in organising the year in this way. Each year Jesus is born and he dies. Every year he is born and he dies. Very little changes. We know the stories pretty well. We know what to expect. We know the way the story concludes, especially at Easter time.

The resurrection, for example, becomes part of a predictable rhythm and pattern. But I want to assert that whatever the resurrection does mean, viewing it as so predictable and expected is hardly in keeping with the tenor of the gospel narratives. I think of the resurrection as disruptive, unimaginable and unique.

Moreover, given that Jesus is born and dies every year in the church, there is little space or opportunity given to grow up with him, so to speak. We mark our own lives and the lives of those we love much differently. We do grow with them. It is a slow process and we don’t know what the next step will be, let alone the end point.

So, a strange thought enters my mind: what would happen if the church marked Jesus’ birth, say once every seven years, and marked his death and resurrection once at the end of that seven year period? I think we may begin to think of Jesus differently, perhaps more humanly and perhaps with more links to the reality of the lives we lead.

Don’t worry; I don’t have the authority to change the lectionary and liturgical calendar! It’s one of those thoughts that sort of crept up on me. If you have a response let me know.

Church Council—Looking ahead to 2010

At our Church Council discussion in February we brainstormed about the year ahead. We now ask that you look at our goals. If one or more of the goals interests you, please contact the leaders assigned to that goal to express your interest.

1. Welcoming (Bessie)

How do we make the outside of the church as welcoming as the community on the inside?

-Perhaps have morning tea on the lawn outside

(Bessie will look at putting pot plants at the front of the church)

2. Public Profile (Paul, Sally)

How do we lift our profile as a church community that is different, i.e. open-minded & progressive?

-Advertising in the Mosman Daily

-Consulting with people in cong’n who are in marketing (MB)

-Fair trade fair (SYB)

-Events/ speakers

-Podcasts of homilies/ website

-An overarching strategy

3. Multiculturalism (Cheryl)

Sharing stories of people within the congregation, in worship, in the newsletter, to develop deeper understanding

4. Celebrating the Generations (Deb, Jenny)

Acknowledging that we are a community composed of 4 different generations, as a month long worship focus

ChatRoom Outreach—Sally Yabsley-Bell

I’d like to tell you about some of the outreach our church undertakes in the community.

ChatRoom playgroup has operated in Waverton church hall for almost 3 years now. It runs on a Tuesday and Thursday morning for about 2 hours, from 10 am to 12 noon. (Deb Lee started the ChatRoom program several years ago.) It continues to be an affordable, friendly place for local families to bring their under 5-year old children for a play, some toast, a chance to catch up with friends and a chance to talk to and meet other local families.

I am so happy to see new families join our outreach every few weeks. Waverton community seems to have a high turnover of families from overseas. These families come to Australia for a couple of years to work and then move on. This demographic makes our outreach even more important in the community. I am able to see these new families meet each other and share helpful information about the local area (such as good parks, places to shop, playgroups and where swimming lessons are available).

People generally come for a few weeks before they start to ask questions like, ‘Why do we run this playgroup?’ I am very proud to say that I am the Family Worker at Crows Nest Uniting Church and that we see this as an important outreach to the Waverton community. Following this introduction, I can let the parents know that I have a background in nursing. This helps a lot of the mothers feel that our playgroup is a safe environment where they can ask questions about parenting and their children’s health issues. I have held talks about introducing solid foods, addressing sleep problems and behavioural changes of 2-year olds. Our regular parents are also happy to share their insights, making this an encouraging environment for all to ask questions about their children.

While I am on maternity leave, Linda McLennan will be looking after ChatRoom. I wish her all the best and ask that you support her. She is representing Crows Nest Uniting Church, a community that I am very proud to represent.

Sunday School—Deb Lee

Well, after a few weeks of holidays when a variety of Sunday School leaders led the group (thanks for everyone's help with this!), here we are settling into the period of Lent.  There is no pressure on the children to try and give anything up, but we have already talked a lot about temptation and the idea of giving up something which we really like.  We are planning a piece of group artwork to be ready by Easter that we hope to feature in the kid's area at the back of church.

Michael has suggested that we might consider giving ourselves a name other than, "Sunday School". I think this would be a lovely idea, so please feel free to offer up any suggestions you might have or may have heard of from other churches. Then, the kids can have plenty of ideas to choose from as well as, hopefully, plenty of their own.  Watch this space!

We have welcomed two new children into our group;  Mila and Alina come along with their mum Irina, they all seem to have boundless energy! We can always make more room for more children, so a big welcome to them!

Max Sandow and new pedal board for organ

At a splendid musical service on Sunday 21 March, Alison Sandow unveiled a plaque in memory of her late husband, Max. The plaque celebrated the Sandow family’s generous gift of a new organ pedal board and oak organ stool. The pedal board and stool completed the work on the restoration of the pipe organ, begun under Max’s enthusiastic support some years ago. The plaque reads:

To commemorate the life of Maxwell Sandow AM, a new organ pedal board was installed in January 2010.

Max loved this church and its music.

This plaque was unveiled by Alison Sandow on 21 March 2010.

The guest organist at the service was Peter Jewkes, Organist at Christ Church St Laurence in Sydney. Peter is one of Australia’s leading organists, and was also the organ builder who carried out the original renovations and installed the new pedal board. Peter played pieces by Bach, Parry and Lemmens, chosen to demonstrate the capacities of the organ and its pedal board. Peter Butt played an arrangement of “The Girl from Ipanema”, one of Max’s favourite pieces. The Church’s singing group, Chorus Nidi, also sang three pieces specially selected for the occasion.

Kids out the back—Lin Gourlay

Term 1 is nearly over! The Preschool year started well with Joy telling us that her new little ones have settled in with no tears or tantrums. Joy says it’s the best year yet! That’s saying something after 20+ years of teaching!

The bad news is that we have 7 vacancies at last count. This will be a problem for our budget if we cannot fill these vacancies this year. Our waiting list is very small also. This problems seems to be a result of long day care competition in the area. Other preschools are suffering from the same vacancy rates.

So, if you know of anyone looking for an excellent preschool education for their child, please let them know about our wonderful preschool. See the advertisement on page 8.

The Preschool turns 40 this year, so we plan to have a celebration during the year. We’d like the congregation to be involved. More news soon!

Nine steps to becoming a welcoming congregation

1. You only get one chance to make that first impression. Make it a good one!

2. Treat visitors as honoured guests, not intruders.

3. Remember that the environment and the people are strange to newcomers. They may be feeling very apprehensive especially if they come to morning tea after church.

4. Members must go out of their way to speak with strangers. Be prepared to chat with them for quite some time. Look after them, and introduce them around. The brief “hello, nice to see you” is not enough. Don’t leave them stranded.

5. Take the newcomer at their pace. Be warm but not pushy.

6. Wear your name tag—you might know everyone but visitors don’t.

7. Don’t leave it all to someone else. If everyone leaves it to someone else, your visitor will be left unwelcomed.

8. The warm welcome is just the start. Make sure you continue on in days and weeks to come.

9. Remember that people visit churches for all sorts of reasons but they stay mainly for one reason—relationships.

(Taken from “Insights”, February 2010)

Useful information

Church website: http://cnuca.royroyes.net

Church office: Administrator: Joyce Lum — ph: 9439 6033

email: crnestuc@bigpond.net.au

Joyce’s office hours: Tues & Fri, 9.30– 2.00

Minister: Rev Michael Barnes — ph: 9439 5851

email: mbarnes1@primusonline.com.au

Family Outreach Worker: Sally Yabsley Bell, ph: mob 0402 572 060 email: sally@broomball.com.au

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Cnr. Shirley Rd & Nicholson St

Crows Nest

Children: 3-5 yrs

Days: Mon-Fri

Operates within school term

Hrs: 9.00am to 3.00pm

Enrolments: 9439 2247