St. Leonard's Uniting Church, Brighton Beach | Non-business places

St. Leonard's Uniting Church, Brighton Beach

Phone: +61 3 9592 9333

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25.01.2022 Faith in a time of virus daily prayer 76 Reflection: Stations, places of passage and transition, from home to the city or stops along the way. Our station stands silent as the approaching storm rages about it: pandemic, winds and rain, late afternoon sunshine hitting red brick with a dusting of a flimsy rainbow of hope on the edge. Prayer:... I the Lord of sea and sky, we sing out in our church song; I have heard my people cry we continue on Well, here we are Lord passengers of time in events on a journey unfolding before us. We are learning, Lord how to live without plans our diaries are emptying ahead of us, the expectations of certainty becoming more and more provisional. Our lives, are not as certain as catching the 5.25, Finders Street Monday to Friday along tracks, spiked-down, always guiding us safe home. God of time and place: all times, all places help us go with this flow, as we must. And Lord hear your people cry as you must the dusky, flimsy rainbow reminds us to hope defiantly as we go. Amen. 5.25 pm 04 08 2020, Station Walk Brighton Beach

25.01.2022 Faith in a Time of Virus prayers and images - the book. Pre-orders are now being taken for the coffee table book of the prayers, reflections and pictures published during the COVID-19 pandemic on this page. Available for Christmas gifts. ... There is a limited print run being planned and pre-orders will help you get your copies and guide us to how many to print. The book is a hardcover, full-colour edition and cost $30.00. (Cost price.) As it turns out the prayers and reflections offer a unique insight into the social and spiritual experience we have lived through.

25.01.2022 Faith in time of virus daily prayer 81- part 1 Three ‘Prayer-Posts’ in our pandemic Journey The COVID -19 pandemic is a unique moment for modern humanity. Our time is for history books and happenings that will shape the future for many decades.... The days after the first lockdown was just the start, then we lived in Stage 4 (we still are). But these days of mid-September 2020 are also like hinges opening into the future; they are important marking points on the way. The following prayer in this and the next two posts below are one piece. Each with local photos marks three points/moments on the journey for us so far: 'The Wondering' as we began in lockdown, 'The Chagrin' as stage 4 unfolded, and now 'The Yearning' as stage 4 is extended but with hope opening before us. There are three corresponding Prayer-Post along the way in this ‘prayer journey’. Take your time to approach, read, reflect within these prayers. Maybe light a candle, ring some prayer chimes, hold a cross, or keep moments of silence along the way. Take your time and enter. Prayer-Post I 'THE WONDERING' *Sometimes we are as slow to lift our heads as to lower them; slow to look up, slower to bow down. God, we’re so focused on the’ just ahead’; getting to or through the next thing. We did not see the shape of life by lifting our head and Covid came. We were sceptical: it was over there; not something to panic about. But the virus came and bit. Hard. *** Our balance is thrown no more straight lines no more touch and go equilibrium; well defined shapes and clearly marked corners to our planning matters little. But, lucky for us adrenalin kicked in and we were on our way to out-smart Covid. *** We wondered how we would travel through it all: the sun rose and tracked its path and light licked our buildings and beaches but it all snagged. Reality was a harsh truth teller. We didn’t live our life our heads to see that you can’t bargain with a virus and we wondered, Lord, what next. *** Where would we go from here? 12.02pm 19 June 2020 New Street & Wolseley Grove Brighton Beach. Lines and angels and shapes on the landscape; shadows and light tip touchpoints in solar time and reveals our control of space.

23.01.2022 Have you walked past our growing Spoonville? Feel free to add to our community of spoons who are gathering together. All are welcome to join. Decorate a wooden spoon and on your walk (if within 5kms) add it to the village. There is no age limit on this gathering, get your craft skills on! If you are out of the 5km limit but want to add a spoon, contact the ministry team and we will make sure you are included.

22.01.2022 Faith in a time of virus daily prayer 73 Reflection: sand, sea, stone and saltbush. The bullnose groyne of rocks pushes out into the bay to bring stability to the beach sands, and somehow an old saltbush thrives in the non-mans-land between land and sea. Prayer:... This pandemic, Lord is pushing us: feeling like a stone cast into an unknown sea. We know these changes need to be done; but we wonder if we are at risk of being out of our depth because the new, new is not what we thought it might be. And we are being pulled into ourselves more, and more still. That long, hard, stone groyne going out into the sea, Lord is adding stability to the beach floor; and that saltbush, God, is doing well, exposed but growing on hard, salty ground. May these new pandemic restrictions bring stability to our situationand still a thriving for life, somehow. And God, open us up and pull us in; to your Love so that in your Spirit we could find stability and hope enough to flourish for each other adapting to this hard ground of salty tears and shifting sands. Amen. 9.14am 15 July 2020 Hampton Beach Hampton

21.01.2022 Faith in time of virus, daily prayer 81-part 2 Prayer-Post II 'THE CHAGRIN'... *We went into stage 4. God, a net ringed our lives and some of us struggled this way and that. Others drifted through. The tiny housed, the job less worker, the business less business took a tumble. Life took turns one way and the other - as things grew harder and friction rose and blame gamed our news even as some took great risk to nurse and heal and help: bravely keeping to the task. *** Our eyes did lift - to the numbers each day; our hearts sank at the news of death and isolation. Hope was always a bit further away on the slim whim of how others lived. Lockdown and lament lingered on our hearts. Did we blame you enough, God? *** Then: Two more weeks more; it was too much for too many. We wanted a roadmap out; but, perhaps, not this one. 4.26pm 08 August 2020 Dendy Street Beach Brighton A setting sun and wire along the beach hints of a net, and endings, and narrowed days in lockdown. Life goes on, on a wired beach: freedom is trapped, feels far off- but all for a good cause'

21.01.2022 Faith in time of virus - Daily Prayer 83 Faith in a time of virus - final post - an "accidental achievement!" In mid-March this year, I began posting a picture, a reflection and prayer as we journeyed through the days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first image was of a tree at Green Point, Brighton. More by accident than careful planning, the 'faith in a time of virus' post became a regular feature through to about mid-September. In the six or so weeks since then, we know how ...Melbourne has worked its way to the current opening situation. As a conclusion here is one last 'Faith in time of virus' prayer. It begins with a photo taken of the same tree that started it all. This shot from when Melbourne came out of Stage 4, 28 October; and I write this today, 23 November, the first day we are mask free in public places. Thank you to all those of the St. Leonard's community, and friends and colleagues who are a part of this group who gave inspiration support along the way. Faith in a time of virus daily prayer 83 Reflection: The tree where all these prayers began: still standing against a blue of the bay. What times we have been through in the trials of Covid! Somehow the tree has lost a branch along the way; damaged but still present like so many of us through these days. Prayer: Great Spirit inside our time and beyond it - like this tree, we look out into our world: all a little worse for wear, some of us damaged but still here, present. Help us learn, Great Spirit: as we start from this point by bringing our times to you. May you become our normal; not for us a return to what was taken for granted, or a new ‘Covid-normal, but you, ‘God-normal’ in our world. For the broken amongst us, and those caught up in pandemic’s chaos the world over, may there still be life in abundance, somehow living from that other tree, that started it all. Christ be with us. Amen. Brighton 9.23am Green Point, Brighton Beach

18.01.2022 Faith in a time of virus daily prayer 78 Reflection: Waters meet: a small creek of freshwater runoff gently makes a few snaking-turns into the expansive sea. The steel cage for swimming also pushes into the bay; the angle-iron structure a testament of our fear of untamed depths. Prayer:... As waters make their way, along small streams or across vast deltas to the sea, we make our way into the unknown depth that makes for life, that is You. All our structures interior and outward - some big, angular and clumsy some small, gentle and passing - are but fragments of our fears, concerns, doubts, But, God, they will pass with us eventually, into the wideness of Love, that is You. May our lives, these days, not be stuck ‘on-standby’ waiting for futures we can plan but rich in the ordinary sacred things that occur about us in us over us in all our days, as we journey - beyond the cages of our construction - into the untamed depths of Love, that is You. Amen. 4:06pm 31 July 2020 Brighton Baths Esplanade Brighton

15.01.2022 Faith in a time of virus daily prayer 72 Reflection: leaf and web on a 100-year-old red gum; images of fragility and delicate passing life on the chunked bark of a tree that flourishes through our seasons. Prayer:... Passing and permanence: In the life of a tough old tree trunk we remember, Lord, our fragility and your beauty. The web maker weaving a silken future so weak and woke against this ironbark; the fallen leaf etched with small patterns of a former life caught in splits and creases in this ironbark; this leaf that once fluttering free as a breeze will never to fall unfettered to the ground. A majestic tree reaching 100 permanent feet up making the trapped leaf and, working spider and, me look small. All three of us - a part of you Lord - evolve in uncertain times with life unfolding in creation and you. Bless us all in difficult days of your passing and permanence, bound in a bigger love against a cross of this ironbark. Amen. 2.03 pm 29 July 2020 Pearson Street Brighton

14.01.2022 Faith in a time of virus daily prayer 74 Reflection: Trains and platforms without passengers. Peak hour in a storm, in a pandemic lockdown: Stage 4. No one gets on or off. Prayer:... Flourishing God this feels contradictory - that we should feel secure in such ghostly quietness. But we do! No footfall on the platform, no chatter, no Miki card beep. No one coming or going. Our humanness is expressed in a steel silence that runs up and down these tracks. The suppression of our activity is the aim, to help suppress this virus. We know what must be done. But help us, flourishing God, not lose all our human flourishing on this journey. As we haul into these next weeks may we hear again what your sages of the past have taught us: that this time, too will pass: There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: Including a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing* Now is such a time to refrain, and meanwhile, we pray with those who must mourn in these virus days. And we pray for the time of peace and dancing and embracing to return, and for feeling safe in human movement again. Amen. 5.32 pm 04 August 2020 Platform 3 Brighton Beach Station Sandringham Line Brighton Beach * Ecclesiastes 3: 1;5b

14.01.2022 Faith in a time of Virus - daily prayer 81- part3 Prayer-Post III... 'THE YEARNING' * Will we ever reach stage 0? God, do we dare hope? Bowing our heads: not against the storm or under the weight of the load but in pleas to you who finds ways for life to be lived. Even in these times. We see light before us and maybe we can step-by-step, step our way out of this even if for now. Perhaps we have learnt enough to know that normal is not just what was once. *** The lesson that we can’t bargain with nature and winkle away COVID like a dealmaker sits rigid on the heart. And you, God: Did we forget to lift our eyes to the hills? Did we forget to bow our heads under you? *** How will we find justice, walk humbly, and give space to the other, and the Other through a mask? Let your resistant yearning rise in us, God: With lowered eyes, we see the rioting: white sprinkles of wildflower at our feet confirming the fragility and promise of our flourishing. We look up in hope. Amen. 4.03pm 14 September 2020 track behind Sea Scouts shed Brighton Beach Wildflowers tumble from a tea-tree to a grass-covered dune; white sparkles braiding the grass. Spring flourishing is in the air. Is new life possible?

10.01.2022 Keep ahead with the new technology.

08.01.2022 Faith in a time of virus daily prayer 75 Reflection: A locked-down beach, no visitors. Gentle waves whisper ashore and bathing boxes feel sidelined against what now, really matters. Fear and responsibility take hold. Prayer:... Sometimes, there is holiness in stillness and our places of gathering have become motionless. But God, this quietness is disquieting. At moments in these days, we see through all this activity and the questions and the worry and restrictions; When it tumbles away we glimpse the enormity of it and it is suddenly real. An empty beach or street or night can do it. Holy God, who was not in the storm or the earthquake of the fire but came as a still, small, voice dwell with us in our stilling - whisper assurance that this enforced emptiness is an act of love; like a gentle wave of holiness washing ashore for our city. And this is what really matters now. Amen. 1.22 pm 06 August 2020 Dendy Street Beach & Bathing Boxes Brighton

07.01.2022 Faith in a time of virus daily prayer 80 Reflection: A fallen red leaf on green new grown grass. Clashing colours and lifecycles rubbing up against each other; one growing the other beginning the journey to decay. Rich colours on the footpath; life’s cycles as we walk by. Prayer:... Great Spirit of life found in the life cycles around us, at our feet: in the weathering, wasting washed-up life alongside green shoots and runners reaching across the ground. Great Spirit of life enable us to find you in our life cycles inside this lockdown: depletion, world-weariness, flightless minds that can longer wrestle with the wind of your spirit. Great Spirit of Life When green shoots come again may we find the hidden beauty that was there even in those moments; like a red leaf fallen to earth and part of the whole cycle of life: beautiful in the transition that we are in. Amen. 1.56pm 29 July 2020 York Street Brighton

06.01.2022 Faith in a time of virus daily prayer 77 Reflection: Sunrise splendour arrives over our suburban orderliness. The drama in the skies belies our sutured living in these our days: stitched down as we are, glory imposes itself upon us still. Prayer:... Sometimes, The grandeur of the earth lifts our souls to heaven. We soar, Lord, in morning light; delight, in the glory of the thing; of creation. Would that it be that the stream of the new light of this day remain in the rough and tumble of our hours. God, leap to us in this earth’s glory and feed us in the ordinary as days go by Amen. 7.01 am 11 August 2020 Wolseley Grove Brighton Beach

03.01.2022 Faith in a time of virus daily prayer 79 Reflection: The path to the ‘baby health centre’ has been a walk of hope and security for countless new mothers. Now bathed in winter sunlight and shadow, the yellow brick ‘cottage’ is a comfy reminder of vulnerability and health through the years and in pandemic. Prayer:... God - maker, midwife, mother, loves’ generator of all; we discover the path to life is through nurture and support and sharing in the craft of living. As we arrive in life set to grow we live and move and have our being in times not of our choosing. Life and lessons are in this urgent now. As shadows cross our way and light shines through darker days help us remember that you are a God with us pandemic or no sunny days and not; known in shadow and light, on pathways to futures built on the craft of living of others and, you. Amen. 8.44 am 15 August 2020 Corner Were and Hampton Streets Brighton

03.01.2022 Faith in a time of virus daily prayer 81 Reflection: The first sunlight of the first day of Spring glances off the church’s spire. The seasons roll on as we troll through our days looking for new life. As we aspire to hold to a God of hope, the cross reflects a way of love in it all. Prayer:... Glancing light shows us hints of hope spiking our days. As much as we push forward with living in our times ahead, we need those glints of light that crack open the ordinary moments and speak of blessing and possibility. God, Light of our Days, we are thankful for such inklings of promise and light that have come our way in lockdown. We pray that in the days to come our spirits will spread to embrace the promise you always have in us - which us more than we ourselves have yet seen. Your hope remains. Amen. 7.03am 01 September 2020 Corner New Street and Wolseley Grove Brighton Beach

01.01.2022 An opportunity to catch up if you missed last Sunday's service. An opportunity to recall just how far we have come since the early days of lockdown.