Our parish community enjoyed a wonderful day of fruit picking, bringing families, friends and fellow parishioners together for a day of laughter, connection and fellowship.
Away from the busyness of everyday life, it was a beautiful opportunity for young and old to spend time together, enjoy God's creation and strengthen the bonds that make our church community so special.
Reflecting on the day, Father Luke shared the words of Psalm 133:1:
Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.
Psalm 133:1
He reflected that the day was a special opportunity to put these words into practice, celebrating the joy of coming together as one church family.
A big thank you to all the servants who worked behind the scenes to organise such a wonderful day. Your time, effort and dedication made it possible for our community to share in these special moments. As Father Luke said, "Thanks to all the servants who organised this amazing day for us, may God reward you!"
We are grateful for the memories made, the friendships strengthened and the fellowship shared. We look forward to many more opportunities to grow together as a parish family.
Praying on Sunday
Fr Luke and Fr Elijah
This week at St John's
Sun
Divine Liturgy and Kids Liturgy (ages 5+), 8:30am The Way: coffee and a chat about our faith, 11 to 11:45am
Tue
Kids Soccer, 4:30pm
Wed
Early Liturgy, 5 to 7am
Thu
Morning Liturgy, 8:30 to 10am Mothers Meeting, every second Thursday Kids Karate (ages 4+), 6 to 7:30pm English Classes, 6:30 to 7:30pm Tasbeha, 6:30pm
Fr Jonathan · Homily on the Feast of St Luke · The widow's son raised, Luke 7 · 8 min read
The miracle we heard about today is one of the greatest miracles performed by our Lord Jesus Christ. It is important to understand that this was not an ordinary miracle.
St Luke is the only Evangelist who recorded this particular miracle, because he recognised something very special about it. The young man was very young. He was his mother's only son, which made the loss even more devastating. And his mother was a widow. She had already lost her husband and now she had lost her only son.
The young man had already been declared dead, prepared for burial, wrapped in cloth and carried out of the city towards the tomb. The story appeared to be finished. There was no hope.
We may lose confidence in ourselves, but we should never lose confidence in God.
Three things to remember
Never lose hope. Even when we struggle with sin or weakness, we must never lose hope in God.
The Lord has compassion on you. Even when nobody else understands what you are going through, He knows exactly what is in your heart.
He has promised us resurrection. Death is not the end of our story. It is the beginning of eternal life with Him.
For those working through excessive kilograms of peaches! Engy Guirgis kindly shared this recipe in the Women of St John's chat. You can cut the sugar out or halve it, and peel the fruit if you want.
Method
Blitz the sugar in the blender until finely powdered.
Add the peeled lemon and the 300g of fruit.
Blend until smooth.
Add the 1kg of ice.
Blend to a smooth sorbet, scraping down the sides now and then.
Serve immediately and enjoy!
Building
Our new church is taking shape
A kids church, new Sunday School rooms, a mothers room and a library. Gifts to the Building Fund are tax-deductible, and your prayers help just as much.
