CHURCH NEWS  

Monday 14th April
3 pm Final Lent Study
6 pm Meditation

Tuesday 15th April
4.30 pm Final Lent Study
6 pm Meditation

Wednesday 16th April
5 pm Hyden Easter Service
6 pm Meditation

Maundy Thursday, 17th April - Service of Foot Washing
10 am RAAFA MS
6 pm Christ’s Church

Good Friday, 18th April
8 am Solemn Good Friday

Saturday 19th April
11.30 pm Service of Light

Easter Day 20th April
7 am Holy Communion
8.15 am Holy Communion
10am Holy Communion

The parish office will be unattended from mid-morning on Wednesday, 16th April, and the church will be closed from midday on that day as Fr Ian and Wendy will be travelling to Hyden.

The parish office may be unattended on the morning of Thursda,y 17th April.

The parish office will be closed on Friday the 18th, Monday the 21st and Friday the 25th of April due to public holidays.

The church will be closed on Monday, the 21st and Frida,y the 25th of April.

There will not be a 10 am service on the 25th.

As the OP Shop will be closed on Good Friday, someone will be outside between 0900 to 1030 on Friday, 18 April.

Anyone wishing to collect some bread may do so between those times.

There will be no bread available on Friday, 25th April, Anzac Day.

We will be holding our monthly garage sale on the morning of Saturday, 19th April at the Anglican Community Centre.

Our choir would dearly love to have some additional voices to help the faithful few available. If you are interested, please come on Saturday 9 am for the practice. Kindly contact Karen Reeves

0438 085 042 if you have any questions.

We need people willing to assist with morning teas after the 8.15 am service on an on-going basis to support Shirley in this ministry.

Our Autumn Fete will be held on Saturday, 3rd May in the grounds of the church.

Sign up sheets to volunteer to assist at the fete are at the back of the church. We need coordinators for the White Elephant Stall . We also need a team of willing workers to set up very early in the morning and volunteers to assist with all our stalls: books, crafts, toys, jewellery, plants, tools, electronics, clothing, cakes and produce, raffle, white elephant, BBQ, Devonshire teas, worker refreshments,

Raffle tickets are now available. Please take a book if you are able. Donations of new items for prizes and non-perishable food for our gourmet hamper are now being collected. There is a basket under the pigeon holes at the back of the church for you to place your donations.

Now is the time to start looking at what you might be able to donate to our many stalls. We will receive donations of items into the Ken Barrett Room from Tuesday, 29th April.

Would you like some help preparing your Advanced Care Plan? Palliative Care WA are offering 1:1 sessions at the church. Please let the office know if you would like to book.

Hope25 is an initiative of the Anglican Church of Australia. It is an opportunity for us to share the hope we have in Jesus. Every parish is being asked to commit to doing (at least) one thing to help share the hope we have in Jesus during this season, from Easter Day (April 20, 2025) to Pentecost Sunday (June 8, 2025). Parishes can choose what they do.

Where do we obtain more information?

The best place to go is the Hope25 website, with all kinds of ideas, information, help and videos. The website address is just below. Please copy into your browser, or ask someone to do this for you: www.hope25.com.au
How do we prepare?

A number of our parishes are following the Hope25 Lent course written by all the Bishops in Australia. It is not too late to obtain a digital copy from this site: Hope25 Lenten Studies 2025 eBook by - EPUB | Rakuten Kobo Australia Alternatively, you can listen in to the daily reading with Canon Karen Cave at St. John’s, Albany and Morning Prayer at 8 am for 8.20 am via the Anglican Parish Albany Facebook stream, or later anytime on the online church link on the diocesan website, or via the Anglican Diocese Bunbury online Facebook site.

The new Anglican Mothers’ Union Australia Handbook has this helpful advice,e particularly for leaders, with a general application: “Be prepared to talk about your faith and engage with others to share theirs. Stay in touch with God through Holy Communion, the Scriptures, group and private prayer and quiet times. As you grow in faith, you will be strengthened and encouraged.”

I am anxious about inviting others or sharing my faith.

It is a bit scary talking to others about our faith or considering inviting them to something. It helps if we think in advance about why we have the faith we do and can express that simply. Building friendships, personally inviting people, being generous and hospitable and holding enjoyable events all help.

Our mission giving for April will be directed to the Diocesan Mission—Bunbury.
This ministry offers support to those living east of Albany Highway who are unable to have regular priests in their parishes.

Following the success of our November 2024 workshop, we will be hosting a second Advanced Care Planning Workshop presented by Palliative Care WA in the church on Tuesday, 8th April, at 10 am for a 10.30 am start (finish at 1 pm).

Bookings are essential. Once again there will be a limit of 50 attendees, so please register at the parish office as soon as you can and let others know about this opportunity.

Would you like some help preparing your Advanced Care Plan? Palliative Care WA are offering 1:1 sessions with people who have attended a community workshop. Appointments are available at the church on the last Friday of each month. Bookings are essential.

Lent began on Ash Wednesday, 5th March.

During Lent you may notice some changes in our services:

The opening prayer and the Prayer of Approach are only said by the Celebrant

We will use the colour violet, or purple, to mark the penitential season of Lent

We will remove all floral arrangements, and these will return on Easter Sunday

We will use an order of service that does not have the Greeting of the Peace

We will not have sung responses at our 8.15 am service

We will not sing or say the Gloria

There is no dismissal at the end of the service

This year our parish is undertaking the Hope25 Lenten Study. In addition to our regular study groups the parish is running two studies, on Monday at 3 pm and Tuesday at 6 pm.

We welcome Michelle as a new student in the diocesan ordination discernment program. Michelle worships at our Friday 10 am service and has started assisting with our Saturday 5 pm service as a part of our sanctuary team roster.

We have been having difficulty sending messages to bigpond.com addresses. Initially, we received a delayed delivery message, and some of these were forwarded later. In a few instances, we are receiving failure notices. We will endeavour to make phone contact with anyone for whom we receive failure notices to let you know of the situation.

A new edition of our prayer diary has been published and is available at the back of the church under the noticeboard. Please take one if you would like to make use of our prayer diary in your personal prayer life.

Bishop Ian will visit our parish on Sunday, June 8th, as part of our Hope25 celebrations. If you or someone you know is interested in adult baptism and/or confirmation, please speak to Canon Ian. We have several potential candidates who will be baptized and/or confirmed by Bishop Ian on this day.

Our Autumn Fete will be held on Saturday 3rd May. It is not too early to start thinking about where you might be able to offer your services this year to help out if you can.

We need a team of willing workers to set up very early in the morning and volunteers to assist with all our stalls: books, crafts, toys, jewellery, plants, tools, electronics, clothing, cakes and produce, raffle, white elephant, BBQ, Devonshire teas, worker refreshments. It is also not too early to start looking at what you might be able to donate to our many stalls.

If you have not been involved in one of our fetes before and would like to know more about how they come about and opportunities to be involved, please feel free to contact our office.

Canon Ian is currently experience a period of ill health, which he is working with his doctors to address. As a result there will be times when he is away from the parish, sometimes at short notice. Please pray for Ian at this time.

We welcome Bishop Ian to our parish this Sunday to celebrate and preach at our 8.15 am and 10 am services, and to chair our Annual Meeting of Parishioners.

We welcome Rev Kerry to our parish as she commences her ministry as Deacon with us. Rev Kerry will be working part time in the parish, assisting in pastoral care and joining our service rosters.

Bishop Ian will visit our parish on Sunday, June 8th, as part of our Hope25 celebrations. If you or someone you know is interested in adult baptism and/or confirmation, please speak to Canon Ian. We have several potential candidates who will be baptized and/or confirmed by Bishop Ian on this day.

We congratulate Rev’d Kerry, Janis and Stephanie who attended the three day training in Perth last weekend and are now qualified as Godly Play storytellers.

Canon Ian is currently experiencing a period of ill health, which he is working with his doctors to address. As a result, there will be times when he is away from the parish, sometimes at short notice. Please pray for Ian at this time.