Baptismal Remembrance
(Trinity Sunday)
15 June 2014
We especially welcome family, witnesses and friends of Harry Terrance Mulroyan and Nikita Rose Zonneveld, who this morning are to be baptised into God's Holy Family.
BAPTISMAL REMEMBRANCE:
We return to our Baptism because that's where St. Paul begins by the power of the Holy Spirit in Romans 6: 3
"Do you not know that all of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus have been baptised into His death?"
In Baptism, God applies Christ's death to us so that we receive the benefits of Christ's sacrifice. It is Holy Baptism that connects us directly with Christ's work of salvation. Christ paid the penalty for our sin by giving up His life into death. His death was on the cross; ours was in Baptism, which gives us the benefits of His work on the cross -forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Jesus' work is applied to you and me in Baptism so that we also die to sin and are buried with Christ. As Jesus was buried by the earth in His burial, we are buried in baptismal water. We died with Christ so that we might live with Him. Baptism unites us with Jesus' death and burial so that we will also be united to His resurrection and life.
Final Reminder of 175th Anniversary of Lutheran schooling - Celebration Dinner - Saturday 21st June and Combined service at GLC on Sunday 22nd June 2014
As mentioned previously, Geelong Lutheran College and St John's Lutheran School are holding a dinner at 6.30 pm on Saturday June 21, 2014 at the Hopetoun Room, The Pier, Geelong. Tickets will be $55 per head for a 2 course meal and complimentary drink. Any enquiries to Marian at G.L.C., phone 5264 1038 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
There will also be a Greater Geelong combined service at GLC, 2-38 Burvilles Road, Mt Duneed on Sunday 22nd June at 9.30am.
If anyone can provide, or are in need of transport, please contact Phil Ward on 52 215466. We meet at 'Our Redeemer' at 8.45 am. for car pooling.
Some information slips are still available from the church front foyer to take home. That morning, a lay reading worship service will also be held at 'Our Redeemer'.
Further reminder of upcoming camps at Araluen and Tandara:
* Araluen 500 Cards Camp 2014:
raluen 500 camp from Friday 11th to Sunday 13th July. Please see notice board near kitchen for details/application form.
* Christian Life Weeks - Tandara:
CLW camps for youth 13 to 18 years at Tandara Lutheran Camp, Hall's Gap - 30th June to 4th July, 22nd to 26th September and 29th September to 3rd October 2014.
For those interested, parents / campers letters and registration forms are available from the church front foyer.
* Family Camp - Tandara:
Family Camp at Tandara Lutheran Camp, Hall's Gap, theme 'Amazing Love' for all ages, from 11th to 13th July, 2014.
Full details of what's on offer, cost together with registration forms are available from the church front foyer. Registration closes 30th June.
'Our Redeemer' North Geelong - Please keep in touch!
As congregation members, we are family. We have concern for one another. We are here to support each other in faith and life.
But sometimes we don't know for whom we need to care and pray, or why you may be absent from us for a time.
So we have a request. If you are ill and unable to be with us for a time, or if you are going away, or know you will be absent from services for a number of weeks, please let us know.
A quick phone call or email to the church office or pastor is all it takes.
Your notification will only be made public if you want it to (e.g. a request for prayer in a time of illness, or for safe travel).
Otherwise we will just appreciate knowing what's up and if we need to care for you in any way.
¯ THIS MORNING'S SONG'S OF PRAISE:
40, 4, 43, 155, 421, 301(V 1, 2), 522, 349.
FIRST BIBLE READING:
Genesis 1:1-2:4a
'The Triune God creates the world through his word.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty,darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
And God said, "Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so.God called the vault "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
And God said, "Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky." So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day
he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it
holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.
SECOND BIBLE READING:
2 Corinthians,13, 11-14
'Blessing in the name of the Triune God'. (RSV);
Finally, brethren, farewell. Mend your ways, heed my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
GOSPEL READING:
Matthew 2: 16-20
'The great commission' (GNB);
The eleven disciples went to the hill in Galilee where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him, even though some of them doubted.
Jesus drew near and said to them, 'I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptise them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age'.
NOTES ON THE READINGS:
GENESIS 1: 1 - 2:4a
'In the beginning God created' depicts the earth in its earliest created form, verses 1,2, not in its completed perfection (the process of which occupies the rest of the chapter). God confirmed this by his cessation from this work and his seventh day rest. The description of creation, with specific details of all that God brought into being out of nothing are itemised under the headings of the six days. While opinion is divided as to whether the days are meant to be arranged chronologically or according to differential topics, our interpretation needs always to be guided by how the remainder of Scripture treats these chapters. On Trinity Sunday this reading points to the mysterious all-powerful transcendent ownership of God over the whole creation and our consequent responsibility towards it.
2 CORINTHIANS 13:11-13(14):
Christians, bonded together by saving faith in their Lord Jesus Christ, are to live and work together in peace and love. Where harmony and agreement are the shared outcome of faith, God can dwell in its midst. The trinitarian blessing with which Paul closes this letter presupposes that the grace which took Christ to the cross for all sinners truly introduces the love of God into hearts and lives. The Holy Spirit has brought this about by the work that establishes a fellowship between Christians, truly the work of God.
Bible readings for Sunday 22nd June 2014:
Genesis 21: 8-21, Romans 6: 1b -11, Matthew 10: 24 - 39.
Announcements:
1. This week in the Lord's Service -15th - 22nd June
Parents please note: No Sunday School this morning - next on Sunday 3rd August.
Tuesday - 12.30 pm - Kaffeestunde.
N.B. As Pastor Lester will be away with CEP (17- 19th June) there will be no church or home study on 'A Hearing Heart' this Wednesday. Studies will resume on Wednesday 25th June - 11.00 am at the
church and 7.30 pm at the home of Phil and Dorothea Worpel, 235 Scenic Road, Highton.
Saturday - 10.00 am - 11.00 am - 'Sing - along' time. 11.00 am to 12 noon - Choir practice.
Next Sunday - 9.30 am - Public Divine service - (Non Holy- Communion).
Coming up for your diary:
Friday 27th June - 6.30 pm - YPQ&A.
Thursday 10th July - 10.30 am - Ladies Fellowship
Tuesday 15th July - 12.30 pm - Kaffeestunde
Tuesday 29th July - 7.00 pm - Church Council.
Tuesday 6th August - 7.30 pm - Deacons.
Sunday 10th August - (A/W) - Half-Yearly meeting.