Bishop Tim – Page 19 – Saint Uriel's Mission

Nearly there

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Here at the rectory, we have our heads down planning workshops and courses for 2010, rethinking the way we run services and scheming new ideas to connect with the community and be of service.

The core of the community is you, and we want to make sure that we’ve done our best to include your wisdom in our thinking.

I mentioned the annual survey in last week’s newsletter and a huge thank you to the people who have spent a few minutes completing it. This second letter is to encourage you, if you had planned to send us some feedback, to take a moment and fill out the survey now. We’re in the final stages of planning the year and we really want to include your thoughts in the plan.

Click here to complete the survey

I’m excited about our plans so far. I hope that when we have a chance to share them with you that you will be too.

Please continue your prayers and gifts in support of the people of Haiti this week and throughout the coming weeks. We have all, I suspect, wept watching the news more than once, but weeping doesn’t bring clean water or antibiotics.

My blessings, as always, on your journey wherever this email finds you.

Father Tim+

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Haiti

I’m not telling you anything you haven’t already heard. I’m writing to you because I’m conscious of my own tendency to get a kind of fatigue about humanitarian disasters in other countries and because I want to shake myself, I’m also going to try to shake you.

The news programs tell us of the scale of the earthquake in Haiti. They talk about how much suffering there is. One important part of that is how rickety civil society in Haiti was prior to the disaster. Haiti was the target of a lot of international relief in any case so they’re in an awful situation to cope with what’s just happened.

The results of a desperately exploitative colonial past, economic boycotts and successive dictatorships have left the island barely able to sustain itself in the best of times. And now this. So there’s a desperate, practical, humanitarian need for immediate, large-scale help.

The spiritual context for taking action is, to me, founded in the understanding that we are one human people, not separate. My devotion must be to my neighbour, as dear to me as my own soul. This isn’t a logical argument about why you should act, it is simply the spiritual fact of the matter – one we work hard to remain blind to because it is so terribly inconvenient, unwelcome and expensive.

I believe that choosing to act on behalf of another, especially another I do not know and will never meet, is a way of asserting to myself, to my logical mind, this eternal truth of non-separateness. A decision to give in a situation like this, or even to give to someone on the street who asks, made consciously, resonates through my being beyond my rational capacities and tells all of Me the truth. I am not helping "them" I am helping "us".

So, with that as context, please consider doing something to help those who are already on the ground in Haiti. If you already support a charity who has a Haiti appeal, consider giving a little more. If you don’t here’s some suggestions.

Save The Children
UNICEF
Red Crescent/Red Cross

But don’t just send money, pray too. Pray for those of us in Haiti. Pray for us who have lost our parents. Pray for us who have lost our children, our sisters and brothers, husbands and wives. Pray for us in our need. Pray for our comfort and care and health and courage and will.

May the Unknown Father rain down loving-kindness and strength upon the people of Haiti and may the souls of all the faithful departed forever rest in peace.

Father Tim+

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Happy New Year

So a hello and best wishes in the afterfeast of Epiphany. I trust everyone made it through the trials of Christmas and the ordeal of New Year’s Eve unscathed.

I’m writing for a few reasons. The first is to wish you and yours many blessings for 2010. Lots of people seem to have had a challenging year last year, so there are some reasons to hope for a lighter load in 2010. May all your wishes be granted, just as they are.

The second is to let you know that there aren’t any public services through January. People are on holidays and busy and I wanted some time to rest and rethink the way Saint Uriel’s fits together and works together to foster the growth of gnosis and fellowship in Sydney. A small group of us are working on a strategy for the year with a few new ideas which we hope you’ll like. I’ll send an email with details of all that as soon as we’re done – it will include a service schedule for at least the next six months.

This leads me to the third thing – we’d like your help with the strategy we’re putting together. We’ve put together a short survey (4 questions) which I’d like to ask you to fill in. We’re interested in your opinion especially if you’re not a regular at the weekly services and super-especially if you’ve never attended an event.

If you can spare us 10 minutes to fill this out, it would really help us in planning to better meet the needs of the Sydney community this year. It’s anonymous (unless you want to fill in your name).

View Survey
(or cut and paste this URL http://surveys.polldaddy.com/s/32A96ABA2DEB6258/ into your browser)

So, please watch this space! Some new ideas, different plans and interesting events are coming in 2010 and we can’t wait to tell you about them.

With love,

Father Tim+

Advent Eucharist

Hi folks,

I’ve just returned from spending an inspiring week in Melbourne at the Parliament of the World’s Religions – the largest interfaith gathering in the world. I had the opportunity to meet local and international people from a huge range of other religious groups, to practice explaining what the AJC is about and to hear about the core ideas, practices and beliefs of other religions.

Parliament was not just a huge encounter group for the religious, it hosted provocative sessions about groups working within and between traditions on social change: alleviating poverty, addressing indigenous disadvantage, creating sustainable communities and fostering peace. The Dalai Lama challenged all delegates to go home and use the energy we gathered over the week to create real change in our communities. As His Holiness said, “Good to talk, better to act!”

After such an inspiring week, I feel full of ideas about how to bring our work at St Uriel’s into the world in more direct and useful ways. Johannite spirituality is by nature both contemplative and active in the same breath and I believe that our work needs to take a more radical, active, participatory turn over the next few months.

Watch this space – or better, let me know ways you might like to get involved – in social action, in deepening your spiritual practice, in sharing our spiritual tradition with those who might benefit from it.

The community meets on Sunday for the first service in a few weeks. Join us if you can withstand a mad priest raving about his crazy week in Melbourne amongst the other mad people!

My blessings on your journey.

Tim+

Readings for the week

Service – 6pm
The service this Sunday will be a “Sophianic Eucharist”. The service praises Sophia or Holy Wisdom as the immanent, feminine face of the Divine and celebrates the sacred marriage between the immanent and transcendent aspects of Spirit. The service features prayer and chant and the sharing of the Body and the Blood in the form of bread and wine.

Sophia Café – 7pm
Sophia Café follows the service – stay around for tea, snacks and conversation. Each week starts with a short talk by someone from the community followed by open discussion.

Topic: “Three Shapes of the First Thought” from the Nag Hammadi library

The congregation at St Uriel’s meets every Sunday at 6pm at:
The Unitarian Centre
15 Francis St
Darlinghurst, NSW
Map

Rector: Father Tim Mansfield
email blog

Apostolic Johannite Church

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Parish of St Uriel the Archangel

5a Lilydale St

Marrickville, NSW 2204

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Services through to January

Sisters and Brothers,

Sunday services will be a little patchy between now and January, so I wanted to let you know what I’m planning, starting with this Sunday.

Sun 29 Nov
This Sunday I’m running a full day on Centering Prayer in Camperdown finishing with a Eucharist service.

If you’d like to come to this, there is still time to book at the event web page

As a consequence, there will be no service at Francis St on Sunday evening.

Sun 6 Dec
The following week, I will be attending the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne and so there will be no service that Sunday.

Sun 13 Dec
There will be a Sophianic Eucharist at 15 Francis St as usual.

Sun 20 Dec
We have been invited to join with the Unitarian Church for lunch and the Builders of the Adytum for a Christmas service and supper. I will not be celebrating a Eucharist on this day, but I will be at 15 Francis St all day and I encourage you to come and join in.

10.30am Unitarian Candle Service with music
11.30am Unitarian’s Xmas lunch – all welcome
1.30pm Any St Uriel’s members welcome to join me for a beer and a chat or a wander through the parks.
6pm Back to 15 Francis St to help BOTA set up for their service
7pm BOTA Kabbalistic Summer Solstice Service
7.45pm Supper with BOTA folks

All in all a fun day. If you’ve got time to come to any of that I’d love company and a chance to see you before you head off for the season.

Thu 24 Dec
Saint Uriel’s Xmas Eve
For any people still in Sydney, I’d like to hold an evening service around 7pm followed by a potluck supper. If you’ll been around and you’d like to come, please drop me an email.

This will be a home service somewhere in the Inner West.

And from then, we will be taking a break until mid-January when people are back from holidays. I’ll send an email to let you know when things are started up again.

I hope to see you over the next month, but if we don’t meet each other before the Festival of the Incarnation, may you have a blessed and safe Christmas and may you notice the Divine dropping you a sly wink from in amongst all the glittery tat of Xmas.

With love,

Tim+

The congregation at St Uriel’s meets on Sundays at 6pm at:
The Unitarian Centre
15 Francis St
Darlinghurst, NSW
Map

Rector: Father Tim Mansfield
email blog

Apostolic Johannite Church

You’re receiving emails from us because you signed up to receive announcements of services at the Parish of St Uriel in Sydney, Australia.

Unsubscribe <<Email Address>> from this list.

Our mailing address is:

Parish of St Uriel the Archangel

5a Lilydale St

Marrickville, NSW 2204

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