Melton Uniting Church in Melton, Victoria | Religious organisation

Melton Uniting Church

Locality: Melton, Victoria

Phone: 9746 0488

Address: 15-17 Yuille Street 3337 Melton, VIC, Australia

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24.01.2022 An encouraging read from Chicago's Willow Creek's Pastor: "I am a firm believer that God often uses small, seemingly insignificant means to do some of His most powerful work in people’s livesso much so I try to never underestimate the power of the simple things. Years ago, I was helping out at a large Christian conference. One of my jobs was to pick the speakers up at the airport, get them to the conference, and then get them back to the airport when they were done. Now, th...Continue reading

23.01.2022 Worship URL for Sunday 25 October https://youtu.be/BnMkBiuTZYk?list=UU6F1Kwn26rWUPzja_vc79ig

22.01.2022 SUNDAY 25 OCTOBER: Getting Ready for Good NewsIgnition. The other week, the church’s mower was taken from the container in readiness to do the grounds. Tyres pumped up, filled with fuel, oil checked and it was time to start it. But not a peep when the key was turned. The battery was flat. It had run out of charge. Everything was in readiness, but it would not start. Rather like the lamps of the maidens referred to in Matthew 25 who were all ready for the wedding, but their ...lamps were flat. They had run out of oil, they were now not ready for the groom. Anyone who has owned a motor vehicle knows the frustration of heading out, usually in the cold of winter, turning the key and nothing happens. And it is always on the day when you most need it to ignite, for the battery to fire the spark to get the motor going. That medical appointment, the job interview, the train to catch, the opportunity is lost and you are so frustrated. Our reading for today reports - At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ (Matthew 25:6-9) It’s too late to ‘holler for a marshall!’ You need the fuel when you need it, when time is running out. There is a clear message for all of us here. When it comes to meeting the bridegroom, it is no good depending on the oil of anyone else. We all have a clear responsibility to be primed and ready. No one else can do it for you. Not your mum or dad, not your grandparents, or in the case of this story, not even your best friends. It is up to you. You are the vessel which is to be primed with the oil of God’s love. It is up to you to allow God to pour the good oil of the Holy Spirit into your lamp and then to allow the Holy Spirit to ignite the oil with the fire of the Spirit. Paul C Blacker. See more

21.01.2022 Today's service can be viewed on: https://youtu.be/27s9uQU6g4E

18.01.2022 SUNDAY 22 NOVEMBER: Live Out the Great CommandLove Self . To love yourself; isn’t that contrary to other things Jesus said? like, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24. And the advice of the Apostle Paul also seems to be at odds with the great commandment too. Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has d...istributed to each of you. Romans 12:3. To love yourself does not exclude you from loving others; neither is it an indicator that you are most fond of your own company. Jesus had a love for himself. This is demonstrated in the way he made sure he took care of the important things in his life. His rhythm of taking time out on the Sabbath, of constructing a routine of connecting with his Heavenly Father, the gathering around himself of trusted friends, the referencing of the sacred Hebrew texts which enabled him to keep perspective. All of this and more, build the foundation for a healthy love of self. The stress caused by covid 19 and associated mental health issues, where people are being exposed to, not before seen, periods of disconnection demonstrates how important a love of self actually is. Notice Jesus’ commandment is cased in terms of loving self as much as you love neighbour. This implies we are best able to sense our own love of self when connected and in community. In fact, love of self can be the driving force for loving others, which is what I believe Jesus demonstrated in his three years of public ministry. Knowing who you are and what you stand for, and what you are prepared to die for, is all a part of the self awareness required to be able to love yourself in a positive, life-giving way. Loving yourself can be a self-regulating mechanism which enables you to make decisions and take directions which will not expose you to the risk of moral and spiritual failure. Loving self is a powerful force in the face of life challenges, referred to in the gospels as wilderness. Jesus was able, over a period of forty days, to withstand the significant pressure to forgo his inner values and to go with the convenient flow of the tempter’s entrapment. If you truly love yourself, you will not allow this to occur. It is as Julian Boulnois, in his book, "And the Walls Came Tumbling Down" asserts. These periods in our lives are certainly not occasions we embrace with joy. They are often painful, confusing and extremely lonely times during which we are forced to focus on our own needs before emerging butterfly-like from a chrysalis of pain. He describes this process as being ‘at one ment’ with self. Interestingly, his three words, run into one spell ‘atonement’. We are reconciled to self by a dependence on the life giving power of God. Paul C. Blacker See more

17.01.2022 You can still view Sunday morning's service using the link below: https://youtu.be/GpSb3qEx9xs?list=UU6F1Kwn26rWUPzja_vc79ig

11.01.2022 SUNDAY 15 NOVEMBER: Live Out the Great CommandLove Neighbour . Loving neighbours can be challenging. Branches hanging over fences, fences falling down, noisy parties, cars parked across driveways, barking dogs, prowling cats, and on and on it goes. It is often the case that neighbours nearby are harder to love than the ones far away. Current affairs programs are loaded with stories of unhappy neighbours where disputes often boil over into combative conflict. But it is not a...lways that way with neighbours. Making it a priority to know and be known by those who live next door has great benefit. Up Yarrawonga way, we have terrific neighbours on one side. The other side is parkland, and the back is the golf course. But our neighbours could not be better. Friendly and cooperative, they park in our drive when we are not there, put the bins out, keep an eye on the garden and even park their golf cart in our garage. And he is a retired policeman, so has an eagle eye. Good neighbours are a blessing and bad neighbours can be the bane of life. But, what about loving neighbours in the way Jesus commands us to do? The community in which Jesus lived was diverse, it was made up of Jews and Gentiles, travellers and traders moving through the region. Surely it was easier for Jesus than us, as we now live in cosmopolitan, multi-cultural, spiritual and secular, political and polarised communities. And he did not have to contend with hoons, revving engines and doing burnouts all hours of the night. Really! Jesus led the way in demonstrating how to embrace the difference. We are reminded early by John of the amazing encounter with a Gentile woman at the well. Breaking down the social, religious and cultural barriers, for the sake of showing to this marginalised woman the power of loving neighbour. And Jesus reached out and touched people who were ceremonially unclean and healed them too. The beginning of Jesus public ministry was an act of kindness towards the host of a wedding, by saving him from embarrassment, turning water into wine. This was an act of loving neighbour. Jesus’ last act was also an expression of love and concern for neighbour as he offered paradise to a prisoner on the cross next to him. And, against the rules of right living, according to the rigidly religious, Jesus often ate at with sinners, an expression of loving neighbour. Keeping the rules and regulations, which had no benefit for salvation was not a priority for Jesus. He believed human kindness and godly gregariousness was a far more effective way of the rule of love. It was for Jesus as John says in his epistle - Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:11-12. Paul C Blacker. See more

11.01.2022 Needing some inspiration? Tune into our service from Sunday morning - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syTM966LcMg

06.01.2022 SUNDAY 1 NOVEMBER: Getting Ready for Good NewsThe Inquisition. It is a fascinating time in our history, as a judicial enquiry is about to be handed down relating to hotel quarantine during the covid19 crisis. At the same time, there has been a royal commission conducted into Aged... Care, and there are calls for the judicial enquiry in our State to be taken further. These inquisitions are designed to get to the truth. Sadly, sometimes, they raise more questions than they provide answers. When Jesus turned the heat up on those listening to him, he was after truth and he was prepared to tell the truth, unlike so many who surrounded him. Getting ready for the coming of the Son of Man requires each of us to examine our hearts and to be honest with God about our emotions and hopes, our sins and our sense of being right before God. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. If ever there was a statement which sums up humanity it is this. Take a look at how it works according to the Bible. Pharaoh's heart was full of deception when he was challenged by Moses to let God’s people go. He said one thing and did another as he pursued his captives, after he had agreed to release them. Peter promised to be with Jesus no matter what, until the heat was turned up on him and he denied Jesus. Jacob stitched up Esau’s birth right because his heart was full of ambition. The mouth will always manifest the deeper things in us, whether good or bad. And this was no different to what happened when Jesus was holding court in Mark 12. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned. The passage is sandwiched between two confronting conversations. One where Jesus is being accused of being the devil. Jesus turns this around to remind his accusers that they need to be careful what they say, for in saying what they did, they were actually guilty of blasphemy, the content of their hearts. And the second, reminding us Jonah’s heart was diseased and that he was working against God’s purposes. So, let’s all be clear, we cannot hide what our heart is full of. Paul C Blacker. See more

06.01.2022 SUNDAY 8 NOVEMBER: Live Out the Great CommandLove God. It is highly likely the question directed at Jesus about the greatest commandment was quickly regretted as he turned the rules of religious righteousness on their ear. Knowing the rules, which was the habit of those who most often challenged Jesus, was actually more important than obeying them. Some of the most dynamic family arguments can be generated over rules. Even when playing games, there are various interpretatio...ns of how the game should be conducted. Whether cards or Monopoly or some other inventive pass-time, or even football, arguments about interpretations and what the rules of the game actually are abound. When Jesus was asked the question, those quizzing him knew what the rules were, but observing them, themselves, was not their concern. Their intention was to use the rules to trap people into a controlled religious interrogation, where the people who had power, wanted to maintain it. So when Jesus began playing the same game of ‘rules lotto,’ he had a surprise for the inquisitors. Love the Lord your God, was the first part of this new commandment. Now, loving God, that was easy for those who were challenging Jesus. It was all about the rules, hundreds of them in fact, and to be sure, they were apparently flexible, depending on the outcome desired by those who had control. Keep the rules and keep the powerbrokers happy, that’s what loving God meant in a strictly religious sense. But Jesus was not content with elastic ecclesiology. He did not like manipulative mantras and rigorous religious self righteousness. All of the laws of the Old Testament, described in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible can be summed up in one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength. This kind of love and devotion to God, which was clearly the imperative of the first laws handed down to Moses and developed by his community, was and still is relevant, if only it could be achieved. But it was based in legislation, not liberation. Jesus’ new commandment invites the whole of the human person into the expression of love for God. It involves the passion of the heart, the purging of the soul, the practice of an active mind and the prowess of our bodies expressing surrender to our maker and redeemer. Loving the Lord your God is not just thinking about it on your own terms. Loving the Lord your God requires complete surrender of your whole self in the face of God’s amazing grace. Paul C. Blacker. See more

05.01.2022 Today's service can be viewed on https://youtu.be/lwZjto22nI0