ST.MARY’S KANGAROO POINT E BULLETIN

December 24, 2009

Greetings from Fr. Stephen

Dear Friends one and all,

It is a delight to be sending Christmas Greetings to you all on this Eve of Christmas 2009. From Wendy and myself, may the joy of Christ’s birth fill your hearts and inspire you to renewed faith and belonging in the Body of Christ as we head into an exciting New Year.

With the opening of the new Parklands next to the Church, there is new history unfolding before us and within us. This is the stimulus for Mission and presenting the Christian message of hope, joy and peace – not just at Christmas, but year round, every year. St. Mary’s should be open to all each day. To do that we need you and your colleagues to be a part of the “Friends of St. Mary’s” so that we can watch over our treasure and guide people around its beauty. The possibilities are endless – commercially, spiritually, in mission, in the Arts, entertainment and of course – in Worship. This is a time to engage and re-engage God and our Lord Jesus Christ. This is an opportunity to explore our own spirituality, belief systems, commitment in stewardship of time and energy and financial support. It is time to turn inadequate budget deficits into abundance for the mission and work of Christ’s church.

If you have been married in St. Mary’s, your parents and grandparents before you; if you have had children baptised here, this is the year for us to find an invigorated involvement in St. Mary’s. As never before, we need you to come forward for your faith and your church of choice – not just for the rites of passage and the occasional visit or anniversary. Christ invites you to renewed life in him. In his name, I am inviting you to step out in exploration of the Christian life and life within the community at St. Mary’s.

One little area could be in family worship. We have explored a Family Service at 11.00 am on Sunday mornings. This has failed to capture a congregation. Hence, it is being withdrawn as of this date. (Baptisms will still be offered at that time – but there will be adjustments to how that process will happen in the future as well.)

Instead, I am seeking interest and commitment to a Saturday night service – probably at 6.30 pm. The format of this service will be similar to that which was offered throughout 2009 at 11.00 am – geared to people unfamiliar with worship and churchianity. The music will be simple and the service short with high involvement from children. If you are interested – please email us or make phone contact in January. Because we have lost Rev’d Jane, I can only offer this service if we have a highly committed team of people who will take responsibility for it. We need musical people, folk to set up, read readings, organise social aspects of this service and a whole raft of things that need to be if this venture is to get legs.

There are other ideas and plans for the Church after the opening of the Parkland and I ask you to follow them up and help where you can.

Please read carefully the plans for the Park Opening Day – Open Day at St. Mary’s. I am personally inviting you and your extended family and friends to ‘hoarde’ the church site and parklands on that day. Please imagine the pleasure people will get from seeing St. Mary’s for the first time and hearing fine music and relaxing in the environment with food, drink and entertainment.

However, as the Rector – Director of the day on January 24, I need help – Financial Help. We need at least $7,000 to cover essential costs ranging from hire of equipment, people costs, security, and a host of things needed for the day to be successful on our side of the fence. If you or your family or business can assist us raise the float for these expenses, can please let us know or forward us your contribution to the “The Wardens Account – St. Mary’s Kangaroo Point”.

I hope to see you in Church to worship the Christchild. If not, because you are sick or away on holidays, I look forward to hearing from you about helping on January 24 & seeing you and your family and friends on the day of Park opening at St. Mary’s from 9.00 am till 6.00 pm.

Yours in Christ

Fr. Stephen

MINISTRY AT ST MARY’S IN 2010 AND BEYOND

It is with sadness that we say farewell to the Reverend Jane Mitchell who has been our Non-Stipendiary Assistant Curate for the past two years. Jane is off to her own parish of Moggill – Mt. Crosby (part time as she remains the Administrator of the Brookfield Centre.)

One of the things we are learning more and more about is how to embrace the Laity in ministry. Some churches are used to having a high degree of Lay ministry in their worship, mission and ministry. At St. Mary’s we do pretty well. Alas some of us are getting older and some folk have retired from their tasks and others have moved away in retirement and relocation.

The Rector is looking for new members of the Teams who Read the Readings at Services and Altar Servers – who assist the Priest and Liturgical Assistants at worship. At the formal service at 9.00 am., these Server wear white Albs. In future less formal worship, these robes might not be worn. They carry the Cross, light the candles, bring the bread and wine to the Priest from the People, assist in the preparation of these things for the Eucharist and help tidy up after the service. Servers can be as young as 8/9 years and as old as……

We need more Liturgical Assistants. These are people over the age of 18, who help Serve at the Altar, but also assist in the administration of the Holy Communion – usually the Chalice with the sacramental wine. There are other tasks they undertake. We need at least six more of these people, preferably more.

We need Pastoral Care Team members to assist at St. Vincent’s and Marycrest on our day – Tuesday. These folk should do an introductory course in Pastoral Care (offered at St. Vincent’s. They have to be nominated by the Rector and approved by the Hospital. We need four more of these people.

We need people to assist with the care and collection of the offerings at services. These people need to be able to stay after the service and count the money and ensure its safety. Two people always have to count together for security reasons. We need eight more or these people at least. Please talk to Trevor Barrell, Andrew Guthrie, or Peter Harris.

We desperately need more people to assist with the Cleaning tasks of the buildings. Presently we have three people and the task is too much for them. We need people to clean the Toilets almost daily and the church is always dusty by nature of its age. We need ten more people on roster for this important task. Please talk to Andrew Guthrie, Dawn Harrison or Pauline Jackal.

We have one person mowing the grass. We need another four or five people. Please see Peter Evans.

We need one or two persons every day in the Church to act as Hospitality Guides. These people would watch over the church whilst it is open from 9.00 am till 5.00 pm each weekday and Saturday mornings. This requires a huge team of helpers and needs to be organised by the “Friends of St. Mary’s”. We need 20 or 30 people to be available for this vital and new ministry at St. Mary’s after the Park is opened on January 24.

As we engage the future, there is a real need for us all to see the needs and the potential of St. Mary’s in a new light. All of us can make a contribution. All of us can consider being on a roster to do some small task. If all are pitching in, we can make a huge difference.

We want to attract the Tourist Coaches that come along River Terrace and will now be unloading their passengers at the forecourt of the new Parkland. We want these people to make their way through the park to the Viewing Platform and then come into the Church to explore (and spend). It is a new era. How we live with this park is a challenge we have not known before. I can ask and ask again for you all to consider how you can make a contribution as we embrace our future.

Fr. Stephen

Found in the Archives
"Santa Stephen" circa 1983

With best wishes
Fr. Stephen Redhead
Rev'd. Jane, Mitchell
ans all at St. Mary's