Merredin Uniting Church

We didn’t have a Newsletter this week because of the special service with Sing Australia at the High School. And what a great service that was, it was so good to have so many voices and to meet so many new people. During the service I used a flashlight and a mirror to show how Jesus is the Light of the world and how He can at the same time say that WE are the light of the world. He is the flashlight (so to speak) which shines in our heart and we need to reflect that Light to the world (like a mirror). If our back is to Jesus, we will not reflect the Light. And we need to angle ourselves in such a way that His Light reflects from us to others. While I was telling the story, I was shining the flashlight into the mirror and moving the reflection across the congregation. I had no particular focus but one lady came to me afterwards to say that when the light flashed into her eyes she felt that God was looking at her. She had lapsed from faith and felt far from God for many years but now felt renewed and had now committed herself to a journey of rediscovering her walk with the Lord. The Lord surely works in mysterious ways!

There is a very real lesson for us. In life we will cross paths with many people, sometimes just for a fleeting moment and we must make the best use of those moments to let the Light of Christ reflect from us to them. That doesn’t necessarily mean the overwhelming push of the Gospel, most often it is just being the Christ Light in that situation, with a hand of care and a voice of love. Use every moment that you have, develop a lifestyle of being a mirror for Jesus to shine His light into people’s lives.

At Moorditj Mia we had a lovely service led by Val Tengval. Before the service I had helped a very confused lady to a seat and helped her to settle in, then at the start of the service, one of the gentlemen asked Val to come over to him – “what’s this all about,” he asked. Val told him that it was a church service. “But I’m a heathen,” he responded. Val was very gentle with him and the service continued. The last hymn was “Jesus loves me.” I looked across at the room and here was my confused old lady with her eyes suddenly lit up from the darkness, singing with all her heart. Here was our “heathen” singing a song of faith remembered from his childhood, and singing as if this was his new creed – Jesus loves me!!! My heart just choked up inside of me and I had to fight back the tears. God is truly amazing.

Hello all, here are some of the photos from the Sing Australia service at the high school today. A great time was had by all.

Hello all,

Just a quick reminder that the church service will be at the Merredin Senior High School this week. We are meeting in the Performance Arts Centre (PAC) at 9.00am. The choir from Sing Australia will be with us for this service.

You can find the PAC on the railway side of the school. Entry can be made from the Throssle Rd side and parking is available in the carpark near the basketball/tennis courts.

This promises to be a great service. Hope to see you all there. Visitors are more than welcome to join us for this service too.

God’s Richest Blessings,

Dave Q

Hello all,

Here is a copy of the Volunteer Commitment Form that was in last Sunday’s newsletter.

If you are interested in being involved in an area of service in our church, please fill out the form and place it in the box located on the table in the church foyer.

Once all the forms have been collated, David will contact you to see about placing you on the roster.

You can download the form by clicking here – Commitment Form 2010.

God’s Richest Blessings,

Dave Q

Just a reminder that this Sunday the 15th of November there will be no service at the Merredin Church or at Bruce Rock. Instead we will have a service at Merredin Senior High School in the Performing Arts Centre at 9am where we will be joined by 77 folk from the National Sing Australia Group and the local group as well.

Sing Australia Pty Ltd was established in 1985 by Colin Slater OAM, an accomplished singer and singing teacher, to promote singing, Australian compositions and Australian artists. High among the organisation’s priorities has been the encouragement of people to sing using a unique style of teaching for large groups.

Sing Australia community singing groups do not require people to audition or to attend regularly. They are groups that offer the opportunity to learn songs – be it in unison or in parts. The concept also accepts that not everyone can read music, not everyone can sing in tune, and not everyone has yet made contact with their singing voice.

Sing Australia also performs regular concerts and has a very extensive repertoire and there are songs for every occasion in their songbooks. Songs like Amazing Grace, Hallelujah Chorus (The Messiah), Oh what a beautiful morning, Hey Jude, That’s What Friends Are For and Aussie favourite Waltzing Matilda are all part of their song list.

We would love to have you come along this Sunday for the special event. The Performing Arts Centre is located on the railway side of the high school and can be accessed from Throssle Road. Parking is available right outside the door next to the Tennis/Basketball courts on Throssle Road. The event starts at 9.00am.

See you there!