Author: Tim Watson Page 16 of 17

Update after an extraordinary week

On March 26, 2020

It’s been an extraordinary week. For my part, I feel a tremendous sense of joy and gratitude for our Holy Cross community at this time, as we seek to be faithful to God’s calling in these changing circumstances.

1. Sunday worship online
Following a successful trial service on 22 March, we will now be running a weekly online Sunday service using Zoom. To join us in worship, simply go to the website on Sunday morning any time after 9am, and click on the Zoom link to join the meeting – the service will start officially at 9.30am.

A few things you might want to bear in mind:

BE AWARE that you are attending a public service, so please give some thought to how others will see and hear you (for example, is your camera pointing up your nose, or at the ceiling?!?)
If you don’t want to be seen, then please turn off your own video. You may also wish to set a photograph as a “virtual background” in Zoom Preferences.
If your home environment is noisy, or if you are going to make some noise yourself (for example: take a phone call, boil a kettle, talk to a family member), then please turn off your own microphone.

2. Church building & grounds
Following the most recent government advice, Holy Cross and St Margaret’s church buildings have been closed to the public as of 23 March. All official church business (worship, small groups, meetings) will be moving online. Following advice from the ACT Government and the Diocese, Tuckerbox will be continuing at present, as it is to be regarded as an “essential service”. Tuckerbox operations will be reviewed on a weekly basis as the situation evolves.

3. Pastoral care
Parish Council has set up a new Pastoral Care Group (currently comprising the Rector, Justin Combs, Trish Stoddart, and Michelle Shepherdson), which met for the first time on Tuesday 24 March. Please feel free to contact any of us with your needs, ideas or suggestions.

4. Gatherings at home
On Tuesday 24 March the Prime Minister gave the following detailed advice about home visits:

“Visits to your premises, to your house, to your residence, should be kept to a minimum and with very small numbers of guests. We don’t want to be overly specific about that. We want Australians to exercise their common sense.” (Full transcript at https://www.pm.gov.au/media/press-conference-australian-parliament-house-5)

Members of the Holy Cross family should follow the most up-to-date Government advice when deciding if it is appropriate to meet in very small numbers, for example to take part in a Zoom service if you have no home internet connection. If you’d like to discuss this, please call the Rector.

5. Prayer at home
At our online service on Sunday, I proposed that Holy Cross adopt the icon of “The Proclamation of the Kingdom” by Kaspars and Ruta Poikans as a focus for our prayers during the COVID-19 epidemic. This icon is a meditation on three Bible stories: Jesus preaching from the boat, Jesus calming the storm, and the miraculous catch of fish. It also evokes the image of the Church as a boat, with Christ in our midst, the Holy Spirit as the wind, and the Cross as the mast.

I also want to encourage you all to set up a permanent prayer corner in your home. You might want to include:

a comfortable chair
candles
Bible
icon
prayer diary
bible notes
finger labyrinth
prayer beads
music player
anything else that helps you to pray

Finally, don’t forget there is a free Epray app (available for Android and iOS), which allows you to pray Morning and Evening Prayer at home. The Holy Cross parish code is 6806, and you can download the app here.

Please be assured of my prayers and blessings for you all, as we move together into a new season of “doing church differently”.

God bless, Tim

Sunday Worship Online

By Tim Watson

On March 21, 2020

In Worship

Holy Cross is worshipping online on Sunday 22 March at 9.30am, using Zoom video conferencing. This is our first attempt at using Zoom for worship, so you will be able to connect from 9.00am, which gives you 30 minutes to sort out any connection problems before the service begins.

Even if you have never used Zoom before, it is simple for you to attend:

click on the web link (after 9.00am on Sunday) – https://zoom.us/j/5675297261
if you do not already have the Zoom app, you will be prompted to download and install it (this is normally quick and easy)
join the meeting

There is no separate Kids Church provision today, though we hope to have something in place by next week – for today, you’ll find a colouring page and a word search below which you can download and print at home.

We will be in touch with members of the Holy Cross church family in the next few days, to see how you are and keep you informed. Please stay in touch, look for updates, and be assured of our prayers for you!

Tuckerbox update in the context of coronavirus

By Tim Watson

On March 21, 2020

In News, Tuckerbox

Saturday 21 March 2020

Holy Cross Tuckerbox is working hard to adapt to the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 epidemic. We want to continue to provide food to those who need it, while also ensuring that everyone is kept safe, and that the risk of infection is kept to a minimum. These are challenging times and we are all in this together, so we ask you to be understanding and patient in the days and weeks ahead.

Regular information updates will be available on:
• Holy Cross web site – www.holycrosshackett.org.au
• Holy Cross Facebook page – @holycrosshackett
• Tuckerbox Facebook page – @HolyCrossTuckerbox

You can also contact us here:
• email – tuckerbox@holycrosshackett.org.au
• phone – 0490 336409 (Rector: Rev Tim Watson)

Please be assured that all the members of the Holy Cross church family will be praying for you and your loved ones in the weeks ahead.

“Doing church differently”

By Tim Watson

On March 19, 2020

In Events and activities, News, Notices, Rector's blog, Worship

Dear friends of Holy Cross,

The Bishop has announced that all public worship in the Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn will cease as of this Sunday. You can read his announcement here: https://anglicancg.org.au/cessation-of-services/

We are looking at a number of alternative ways in which we can pray and worship together, including:

online services (using Zoom)
opening the church for private prayer
household liturgies (including kid-friendly ones!) for you to use at home

Parish Council is meeting this Saturday to make more plans, and we’ll update you again soon.

I spoke to Bishop Mark today and he informed me that welfare services such as Tuckerbox should continue at present, as they have a crucial role in meeting the needs of some of the most vulnerable people in our society. Tuckerbox will therefore be taking place this Saturday, and we will be putting in place some strict hygiene protocols to ensure that this is done safely.

One final thing: Sunday 22 March is Mothering Sunday, the middle Sunday in Lent, and Iris usually makes us a simnel cake for morning tea. This year, I suggest that those of us who are able to do so take part in a Holy Cross Simnel Cake Competition – if you’d like to have a go, why not bake one this week and email me the photo so we can post the results on the web site? We’ll ask Iris to judge the entries and award an appropriate prize! Recipes can be found here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/simnel_cake

Keep well, keep in touch, and remember: Christ is still risen!

God bless, Tim Watson (Rector)

Lent Activities at Holy Cross

By Tim Watson

On February 20, 2020

In Cooperative partnership, Events and activities, News, Notices

Lent is fast approaching – it’s a season when all of us are called to set aside time (through prayer, fellowship, and study) to draw closer to Jesus. Here are some of the Lent activities that you are welcome to take part in over the coming weeks.

Lent Groups

– We are joining with friends from other local churches to study the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent book “Saying Yes to Life”, by eco-theologian Ruth Valerio: https://spckpublishing.co.uk/saying-yes-to-life Groups meet on Monday eve, Tuesday eve, and Wednesday lunchtime. Email the Rector if you want to sign up.

– Chris Lockley from St Margaret’s is leading a Lent course looking at Celtic Spirituality, meeting on Thursdays at 1.30pm.

Events and services

Tue 25 Feb, 5.30-7pm: Shrove Tuesday Pancake Party in the Annex
– All welcome, especially families with children!

Wed 26 Feb, 10am and 6pm: Ash Wednesday Eucharist
– A solemn and beautiful service with imposition of ashes, to mark the entry into Lent

Sun 1 Mar, 9.30am and 11am: Joint Service with St Margaret’s and Launch of Carbon Action Project
– A very significant initiative in the life of both our churches, enabling us all to practice what we preach as stewards of God’s good creation.

Tues 10 Mar, 10am-3pm: Lent Quiet Day in the Annex
– Led by Rev Joan Smith

For more information on any of these, please email the Rector.

The language of worship #2

By Tim Watson

On November 5, 2019

In Music, Rector's blog, Worship

Singers and music director with Tim Watson outside at Holy Cross St Margaret's church yard

This week I am exploring the second in an occasional series entitled “The Language of Worship”. At Holy Cross we are blessed with a Christian heritage of words and music written over more than 1000 years. Learning more about the songs we sing helps us to appreciate the diversity of God’s abundant creativity, in which we all share.

“All Creatures Of Our God and King“, based on the 13th century hymn Laudato sia Dio mio Signore by Francis of Assisi (written in Italian at a time when most church worship was in Latin), was written by English Anglican priest William Henry Draper for a children’s Pentecost service in about 1910. The chorale tune was published by German Jesuit Friedrich Spee in 1623, and re-harmonised for the English Hymnal in 1906 by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

“O Thou Who Camest From Above“, a hymn to the Holy Spirit, is one of 6,500(!) hymns written by Charles Wesley (1707-1788), Anglican priest and co-founder of Methodism with his brother John Wesley. The tune “Hereford” was written many years later by his grandson Samuel Sebastian Wesley, an Anglican organist and composer. Charles Wesley had a remarkable gift of putting deep theological truths into memorable poetry, at a time when many Christians were illiterate: Methodists learned theology by singing it.

Tim Watson and music director Susan Reid at organ in front of gathered crowd

Geoff Bullock, an ABC cameraman from Sydney, experienced a powerful conversion in 1978 and co-founded Hills Christian Life Centre (later Hillsong) in 1983, where he wrote “The Power of Your Love (I)“. Bullock left Hillsong after burnout and marriage breakdown in the 1990s. He subsequently published “The Power of Your Love (II)“, changing the lyrics to emphasise God’s gracious and unmerited forgiveness, and this is the version we’re singing today.

Melbourne vicar Elizabeth J. Smith (b.1956) is known for her modern hymns with inclusive language. She says she wrote “God gives us a future” as a curate, partly out of frustration at congregation members who were reluctant to learn new songs! The jaunty tune “Camberwell” is by English Anglican priest John Brierley, a member of the “20th Century Church Light Music Group” in the 1950s (along with Patrick Appleford, the author of “Living Lord”).

Rev Tim Watson plays guitar with people singing

The Language of Worship

By Tim Watson

On September 28, 2019

In Rector's blog

Group of people singing from a song sheet

Today I’m beginning an occasional series: “The Language of Worship”. At Holy Cross, we come from diverse backgrounds – and often have strong views about words and music! So the hymns and songs we use in worship reflect not just our diversity, but the diversity of the Kingdom of Heaven with its “treasures old and new” (Matthew 13.52). By finding out more about who actually wrote the songs we sing, and why, we learn more about the wonderful variety of the body of Christ – and more about the God we worship. “I will sing with the Spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding.” (1 Cor 14.15)

“All my hope on God is founded” was written by the great German Calvinist hymnwriter Joachim Leander in 1680, and translated into English in 1899 by Robert Bridges, an Anglican choirmaster and future Poet Laureate. Today we’re using the modernised version from the Australian hymn book Together in Song. The tune Michael was written (over breakfast!) by Herbert Howells in 1930, and named for his son who died tragically young.

“I heard the voice of Jesus say” is a 19th century hymn by Scottish Free Church minister Horatius Bonar, set to an old English folk song, Dives and Lazarus, which Ralph Vaughan Williams heard in a pub in the village of Kingsfold in Sussex, and published as a hymn tune in the 1906 English Hymnal.

“Give thanks” is the only published song by Henry Smith, written for a church in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1978 as a response to having become blind: “let the weak say I am strong, let the poor say I am rich …”.

Karen Lafferty was a nightclub entertainer who wrote “Seek ye first” in 1971 after attending a church bible study on Matthew 6.33, and now runs Musicians for Mission, an international ministry of Youth With A Mission based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Synod “together on the way”

By Tim Watson

On September 9, 2019

In Rector's blog

I have been away in Goulburn this weekend, along with our parish representatives Caity Cameron, Kirsty Baker, and Richard Stoddart, for the annual Synod of the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn. Synods (from the Greek sun-hodos: “together on the way”) are a really important time in the life of an Anglican Diocese, providing an opportunity for representatives of all the different ministry units – parishes, chaplaincies, schools, and diocesan services – to gather for three days of prayer and fellowship.

No doubt at this Synod there were discussions and debates, sometimes even fiery ones. Because one of the glories of the Anglican Church is its polyphonic – sometimes even dissonant! – synodal character. And this is a good thing: God did not make us uniform, but gloriously diverse, and there is plenty of Biblical precedent for passionate conversations between brothers and sisters in Christ (Acts 15, Galatians 2 …).

But the heart of any Synod is our unity in Christ, whose Body we are. And the really special thing about a Diocesan Synod is that it provides an opportunity to come together across our local parish boundaries, to give thanks for God’s faithfulness to God’s church, and listen together to the Holy Spirit as we discern the future into which God is leading us: “together on the way”.

So please pray for our bishops as they lead us in carrying out the deliberations of Synod, and for all Synod members, that they may be faithful to Christ who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Two hands locked in a handshake during a greeting of the peace in church

Feedback from “Better Together”

By Tim Watson

On August 18, 2019

In Cooperative partnership, Events and activities, History, News

On Sunday 11 August, thirty members of Holy Cross Anglican Church and St Margaret’s Uniting Church met together for a 2-hour workshop, to give thanks for our cooperative partnership over more than 50 years, and discern how the Holy Spirit is calling us into a shared future. Special thanks to Pastor Ken Perrin from Ainslie Church of Christ for facilitating our discussion with grace and wisdom!

Check out the feedback from our discussion, and please do email the Rector with any comments – we’d love to have your input into this ongoing conversation.

Feedback from “Christians Born in the 21st Century”

By Tim Watson

On August 5, 2019

In Events and activities, News, Youth Ministry

More than twenty Holy Cross members, aged between 8 and 80, met on Sunday 4 August for two hours of prayer, reflection and vision casting, to explore together how God is calling us to develop our ministry with children, youth and families. We were expertly facilitated by Andrew Edwards and Ben Paton (co-directors of Synergy, the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn’s youth ministry), with help from Karen Baron from ACT Christian Education In Schools, and some excellent input from our very own Kids Church, youth and parents.

Key points from our discussion includes:

younger and older Christians often have the same spiritual needs
relationships are more important than programmes
mentoring is of real value, both for younger and older Christians
rather than inventing new activities, it’s often better to re-think and re-purpose existing activities
young people need rest at weekends, and 9am on Sunday is not a very attractive time for them, though those who make the effort tell us that they find it really worthwhile
young Christians need contact with adult Christians who are not their parents!
youth ministry is a “whole church” activity and responsibility, though it can benefit from expert facilitation (of the kind that Synergy can provide)

Check out the photos below to see more details of our discussion – and please do contact the Rector if you have any comments / questions.