Stewards of God’s Creation

There are many resources that can be found on the Season for Creation 2021 Website. https://seasonofcreation.org/   There are suggestions to encourage sustainable living, and making lifestyle changes on an individual level. You could even calculate your carbon footprint using an online ecological footprint calculator https://footprintcalculator.org  like I did last week.  Some local links have also been provided in this week’s Focus to help us all with recycling. 

Some other suggestions include engaging your local ecology through an Earth Examen. An examen is a way of beholding an object or being present in prayerful wonder. Through a series of questions, you are invited to reflect on God’s presence and the goodness of that which you behold. During this Season of Creation, consider contemplating a part of your local ecology. This is an exercise that you can choose to do alone, or with a group. Pick a natural or agricultural place to contemplate. A forest. A river. A city street with a natural area. An urban park. A farmer’s field. A hilltop. Find a comfortable place to rest in or near this place. Enter into prayer in whatever way is natural to you. Invite Holy Wisdom to open the eyes of your heart. When you are ready, use theresource guide to help you in this spiritual practice. It can be located in the Guide on the Season of Creation Celebration Guide website using the website address above. 

As we all know, prayer is a powerful experience and tool that we can use to raise awareness at this time about God’s creation and I encourage you to pray the following prayer this week as it ties in with our theme for this week ‘Need not Greed’. 

A prayer from the Season of Creation Resources. 

Oh God of creatures small and great

We are full of worries and cares

Yet you called us to follow you

To the hidden and distant places

So that we might care for others

You shower us with love and abundance

Yet daily we fret it will be all lost

We count, store up and hoard things

Help us to share your generosity

We want to be genuinely grateful

As we fall to see how love has redeemed us 

We keep that love for ourselves as if

You don’t have an endless supply for all

Help us to follow you here and now

Help us to care for the most vulnerable

Give us that love that casts out fear

Set us on the blessing road of your servants. 

Amen. 

Blessings Rev. Erika

Welcome Gary Tognola

I am pleased to let you know that the Archbishop indicated his intention to ordain Gary Tognola and appoint him as the Assistant Curate in our parish. This appointment comes with the usual provisos that he completes his current study successfully. Gary has been most recently placed at the parish of East Redlands. I met with Gary this week to begin our discussions regarding this appointment and know that he is pretty excited to have been placed here at Mt Gravatt. Gary will officially start following his ordination on 4 December.

Gary writes,

"The foundation of my faith was laid at an early age in the community of St Peters at Wynnum. My working background has been in retail and most recently in wholesale distribution. I have an eclectic taste in music, love to read and write poetry, and finding quiet spaces in nature to connect with God. I was a Tae Kwon Do instructor and was a pastoral carer at the Mission to Seafarer Brisbane (pre-Covid). I have been married to Janelle for twenty-seven years. We have three children, Courtney (17) Rebecca (22) (with her husband Adrian, who is expecting our first grandchild) and our eldest, Stephanie (25), (with her partner James). A growing family with which I try to spend as much time as I can."

Please keep Gary, Janelle and their family in your prayers as they make this significant transition.  You may wish to keep the ordination date in your diaries so we can support him by being present in the Cathedral for this event.

The coming year is shaping to be very significant in the life of this church. It will have been 125 years since the first "Divine Service" was held in the newly constructed church in Mt Gravatt. You are probably also aware that we intend to enter into a period of discernment to prepare an updated Mission Action Plan for our church. We are planning various activities as part of this process, including prayer, workshops, teaching and research. We hope to present a completed MAP late in 2022.  

To kick off this time of discernment will be two important whole of parish events.  On Sunday, 21 November, we will be joined by Bishop John Roundhill at all services that day.  In this way, we can begin our Mission Action Planning with prayer and worship as we commit ourselves to it with God's help.  On Saturday, 27 November,  the Archbishop of Brisbane, Phillip Aspinall, will lead a morning workshop helping us engage in the Mission and Vision of the Anglican Church of Southern Queensland.  This workshop will be followed by a lunch which is an excellent opportunity for us to celebrate together in ways that we have found difficult in 2021.

God's Peace

Charleville Visit

You may be aware of the "Covenant Relationship" made between our Parish and the western Parish of Charleville. This relationship has a long history and is renewed every five years by the Clergy and wardens of each Parish. It was last renewed in March of 2020. In this Covenant, we committed to a relationship of mutual support for our shared worship and mission and developing relationships between our people.

Since last March, there has been a change of Clergy in both parishes and the pandemic. I will be travelling with Bp Cameron Venables on the 3rd & 4th of October to Roma, Charleville and Augathella to celebrate with these communities.

I hope this will be part of our broader conversation about how we can partner in God's mission and how this Covenant fits into the action planning we are undertaking over the next year.  

Here is a reminder of the wording of the Covenant;

We, the Clergy and churchwardens, on behalf of the Faith Communities of Mt Gravatt and Charleville do covenant ourselves in Twinning Relationship and herby commit ourselves to:

• Pray daily for the ministries of each other's Parish and life together;

• Exchange visits annually, without onerous expectations, for the purpose of establishing:

• A sharing in Christian Faith and Worship;

• An understanding and empathy in daily living;

• Clergy support, including the invitation from time to time to preach or celebrate the sacraments; and

• Valued friendship

In Addition, the Parishioners at Mt Gravatt offer hospitality to :

• Parishioners, and supporting family members from Charleville, referred for medical treatment in the Princess Alexandra (P.A) and Mater Hospitals; and

• Review this Covenant after a period of five years commencing from the date of signing.

Welcome Susan!

I am very pleased to announce that we will welcome a new staff member to St Bart's this week.  Susan Pietsch will begin as the Administration Officer for the parish, and I look forward to welcoming her. The role of Administration Officer is new to St Bart's but is reflective of the ministry support needs we require now and into the future.  

Some of her roles will remain familiar to us as Susan becomes our church's welcoming face and voice in the office during the week. Susan will generally be present at the church Tuesday to Thursday, including the regular office hours of 9 am - 1 pm.  

We are thrilled that Susan brings a broad range of skills and experience working with churches and supporting mission and ministry. She most notably brings the skills we need to help transition our practices to meet the increasing load of administration, compliance, and communication in a digital world.  This part of her role will significantly reduce the burden on the clergy and complement the current media position.  I believe that Susan will also provide our long-serving volunteer administrator Amy Fussell with the opportunity to reduce her weekly time commitment while continuing her vital participation as Treasurer and leading our pastoral care team.

At this stage, Susan's contract is until Christmas, by which time we hope to be in a better position to determine our overall staff and ministry needs into 2022.  I encourage you to introduce yourself to Susan when the opportunity arises and keep her in your prayers.

God's Peace,
Michael Stalley

We’re Adapting Well

We have made it a priority to do what we can to adapt quickly to changing circumstances.  The last time we had to lock down, we only had 24 hours notice before our Church services.  I get a little nervous every time an active case appears on the news in Queensland.  We are increasing our capacity to respond to the various needs of being "The Anglican Church in Mt Gravatt."  This response is all the more challenging when we have such a diverse church.  Can I assure you that we keep in mind the needs of those who have limited access to the internet or email for each technological response we are undertaking? I would even suggest that this technology will make possible a spectrum of responses in communication, care, and worship.

One of these responses has been to develop our meeting room to facilitate hybrid gatherings, meetings, bible studies and worship.  This last week, we gathered ten people face-to-face and five online for the latest Mission 360 Workshop.  I know that some of those online would not have been able to attend if this option was unavailable.  This improved room means we can quickly move into this online environment with minimal setup.  I expect this facility will be used daily in our church and allow for greater use by the wider church.  Importantly we will soon have the ability to include more isolated church members to join the worship and other events simply using their home telephone.

You may be aware that this meeting room has become a convenient place to archive files and store library books.  The library has played a role in the faith life of this church but of recent times seen little use.  I am very grateful to the many who had donated books and volunteered to maintain the library over the years.  To help us make the most of that space for our current needs, we are working towards removing the bookshelves and find alternate storage and disposal of material stored here.  The library books have been boxed and are currently in the hall meeting room.  Over the next few weeks, we will make them available to the congregation to take for your use.  After this period, we will donate to a suitable charitable organisation that holds second-hand bookstalls.

Be assured we remain committed to providing resources and material to support lifelong faith formation in our parish.  To find ways to "Know Christ and make Christ known."

God Bless,

The Rev’d Michael Stalley