CHURCH NEWS  

For those who like to support the work of the Tearfund, we have copies of the 2025-26 Useful Gifts Catalogue available at the back of the church. You are able to buy anything from a chicken or food voucher for $5, provide support for a First Nations Leader for $20, support a school with a gift of $100, or pay for a well with a gift of $1900.Whatever your budget, your mission giving can buy a gift for a community in need, contributing to sustainable community development projects.

7 Dec 10 am Children’s Nativity

19-21 Dec Normal service times

21 Dec 6 pm Nine Lessons & Carols


24 Dec 6 pm Christmas Eve Eucharist

24 Dec 11 pm Midnight Eucharist

25 Dec 8 am Christmas Eucharist

25 Dec 10 am Christmas Eucharist

27 Dec – NO Friday 10am service

28—29 Dec Normal service times

I am getting very tired and so too are many of our current volunteers who are carrying a heavy workload at the Op-Shop at the moment. Several of the other op-shops in town are now saying no to accepting further donations and so their donors have turned to support us. Which means they have probably lost their ongoing support. But it also means that our workload has increased, but the number of volunteers available to us has not increased to the same proportion. This, during a time when a number of our volunteers are off sick or away on leave. We desperately need your assistance, especially in the following areas:

People to sort clothing in the morning and afternoon.

Someone (Temporarily) to sort and price the donated toys.

Someone with a tow bar that is willing to take a trailer load of rubbish to the tip each Tuesday morning. The trailer will be loaded for you.

Someone who can come to the op-shop and clear a collection bin at 3.00 pm each day from Monday to Friday. Or one or two of those days.

The Op-Shop is a very important ministry for the life of our Parish and we are able to assist so many individuals and families through what is done there and at the Monster Garage Sale. People love coming to our shop because the volunteers are so friendly, the music is great and because our prices are the cheapest in town. Please consider giving a little of your time to assist us. Fr Joe

An Australian Lectionary is produced each year for our use. Through the lectionary we are provided with a guide for daily scripture reading for Holy Communion and Morning and Evening Prayer. Copies of the lectionary are available from our bookshop.

“A lectionary is an authorised system for reading the scriptures’. [It] brings together the patterns set out in A Prayer Book for Australia (APBA) and other tables approved by the General Synod. Two systems are used: one for Sundays and feasts (a three year cycle) and another for weekdays (a two year cycle).’

This explanation is more fully expanded in the introductory pages of the 2026 Lectionary from which the above quote is taken.

The 2026 lectionary commences on Sunday, 30 November, the first Sunday in Advent and the first Sunday in our new church year. We are entering Year A (Matthew)

The Compassionate Friends candlelight memorial service will be held at Church of The Way, 58 Steerforth Drive, Coodanup, on Sunday, 14th December 2025, 6.30 pm, conducted by Rev Jacquie Chesley-Ingle. We welcome all Bereaved parents, relatives and friends. Please bring a small framed photograph of your loved one and a plate to share for a light supper. Candles provided. For any further queries, please contact: The Compassionate Friends on 93357761 or email: tcfmandurah@bigpond.com

The book shop has 2026 calendars for only $5 each-be quick! Also, a selection of Christmas cards at various prices. Packs of cards from $3 to various priced boxed cards.

Next week, we enter the season of Advent. We are using the Third Order of Holy Communion from the Anglican Prayer Book for Australia (p168), with some variations for Advent.

· Liturgy content and order will be different
· Will have the lighting of the candles of the Advent wreath at the beginning of the service
· Will not sing or say The Gloria and the 8.15 am service will have said responses

Other changes you may notice in our church:

· Will use the colour violet, or purple, to mark the season of waiting
· Will remove all floral arrangements, and these will return for Christmas

With both Sandy and Canon Ian not available this year, we will be doing things a little differently. We will have a special nativity in our 10 am service on Sunday, 7th December, led by Canon James Tabor, Chaplain at Frederick Irwin Anglican School. Following the service, there will be a Children’s Church party in the Ken Barrett Room. We would appreciate families providing a small plate of food to share if possible.

A list at the back of the church allows families to let us know if they will be attending.

The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols was first celebrated at King's College, Cambridge, on Christmas Eve, 1918. It was an adaptation of a similar service that had been written for the cathedral at Truro in 1880. The lessons were reordered in 1919. At King's College, the Festival is a Christmas Eve service, and the lessons and music move deliberately from the season of Advent into Christmastide. Many other parishes have adopted the tradition, occasionally modifying it as needed.

The nine readings from the Bible alternate with carols and congregational hymns to provide a series of reflections on the birth of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The readings take us on a journey through time and unfold the story of God’s promise to save his people. They begin with the story of the fall of humanity, as told in the book Genesis. There then follow passages from the Old Testament Prophets which look forward to the coming of God’s Messiah or ‘chosen one’. The final five lessons are from the New Testament and tell the story of the birth of Jesus, the Son of God.
Our service of Nine Lessons and Carols will be held on Sunday, 21st December, commencing at 6 pm. All are welcome.

Let the parish office know if you would like to be a reader at this service.

On the evening of our celebration of Christ the King, 23rd November, we will launch the 2025 Christmas Bowl Appeal with a service at 5.30 pm featuring our parish singing group The Soul Singers. Envelopes for giving to the Christmas Bowl appeal are available in the foyer. You are encouraged to bring them to this special service and to place them in our Christmas Bowl.

‘Born in the aftermath of World War II, it began as a simple idea: churches across the country joining together at Christmas to share what they could so that others, far away, could have food, shelter, and safety

7 Dec 10 am Children’s Nativity
19-21 Dec Normal service times
21 Dec 6 pm Nine Lessons & Carols

24 Dec 6 pm Christmas Eve Eucharist
24 Dec 11 pm Midnight Eucharist
25 Dec 8 am Christmas Eucharist
25 Dec 10 am Christmas Eucharist
27 Dec – NO Friday 10 am service
28—29 Dec Normal service times

If you are able to assist as an LLM, Reader, PowerPoint operator, Welcomer / Sidesperson for our Christmas services, could you please let the office know?

We would sincerely like to thank everyone who came to assist us at the Op-Shop by sorting clothing so that it could be priced and put out for sale in the shop these last two weeks. Your assistance was very much appreciated and was a tremendous help. The backlog of donations has been greatly reduced, and our current team certainly don't feel as burdened as previously.

We are always looking for parishioners with a friendly personality to volunteer at the Op-Shop, and at the moment, we are particularly shorthanded. Especially during the afternoon shifts, which go from 12.30 - 4.00 pm. Helpers are needed at the back of the shop with sorting, as well as in the front of the shop with tidying up and placing items onto the racks for sale.

Please pray about this opportunity to serve the ministry of the Parish. Our Op-Shop provides a very much appreciated and important service to the Community. If interested, give me a call on 9500 3111.

Fr Joe

The Ministry Support Fund (formally the Foundation for Ministry Fund) is an invaluable resource that has supported ministry and mission initiatives in our Diocese for over thirty years. People have given faithfully to this fund. The collection from each Ordination and Recognition service also goes towards the fund. We need to increase the fund in order to help more ordained and lay people with training costs, to support more mission initiatives across the diocese, and to continue to support some existing ministries. We only have limited financial resources for any mission initiatives or for lay training. Most of our students pay for their theological training themselves, but not all can afford to do this. A few people generously make freewill offerings to this fund throughout the year.

Each year, we have a diocesan tradition of supporting the Ministry Support Fund on Christ the King Sunday, 23 November. You can choose which part of the Fund you would like to give to, New mission initiatives, Training new ministers, Training current licensed ministers

Please would you prayerfully consider whether you could give a one-off gift or make a regular monthly donation?

A pamphlet on the Fund is available in the church foyer or parish office

This year we are not having a Harvest Festival as such in our parish, however we will next weekend (14—16 November) be celebrating the harvest with a special service liturgy at each of our services.

To support this we would welcome donations from the pantries of our parishioners of items that reflect their harvest gifts. These will be placed in front of the altar as a display.

If you are able, you are also encouraged to bring along a non-perishable pantry staple that can be donated to the Peel Community Kitchen to support those in need in our community who without the services of the Kitchen might otherwise go hungry. A collection box will be at the back of the church.

The book shop has 2026 calendars for only $5 each-be quick! Also, a selection of Christmas cards at various prices. Packs of cards from $3 to various priced boxed cards.

If you are able to assist as an LLM, Reader, PowerPoint operator, Welcomer / Sidesperson for our Christmas services, could you please let the office know? Our services will be:

Wed 24th December 6 pm

Wed 24th December 11 pm

Thurs 25th December 8 am

Thurs 25th December 10 am

Our parish offers short communion services in local nursing homes. If you would like to share in this vital ministry, Rev Kerry is looking for people to accompany her to the services she leads, which are normally at

10am on a Wednesday (3rd), Thursday (1st & 3rd)and Friday (4th).

Upcoming services are:

Wed 19 Nov 10 am MCCC Dudley Park

Thurs 20 Nov 10 am Coolibah

Friday 28 Nov 10 am Mercy Care

Thurs 18 Dec combined Christmas Karri and Coolibah. Please contact Rev'd Kerry at the church office if you are interested in helping at any of these services.

Over four weeks, using the Education for Ministry style of study, we will explore readings from the Gospel of Luke, assisted by the writings of Andrew McGowan from Berkley Divinity School at Yale University.

Apocalypse Now, The Place of John, 'What Then Should We Do?', and A Gathering of Prophets: Mary's Journey to Elizabeth, each week we will seek to focus on the key elements of the readings and commentary, to respond to the messages of each and their relevance to our lives, and to practice theological reflection as we connect the readings to the everyday world and our personal circumstance.

To allow us to determine whether more than one study group will need to be formed, could you please let the parish office know if you would like to participate in our Advent Study this year.

Temporary helpers desperately needed please! At the moment we are going through hard times at the Op-Shop because we have about a third of our volunteers off sick, and the amount of donated goods has recently increased enormously. With the current situation we are simply not able to keep up. Therefore, this week I am looking for some temporary volunteers to assist us by simply sorting the donated goods so that they can then be priced and put out in the shop for sale. Can you please help us by giving just 2 hours of your time, either in the morning or the afternoon to sort some clothing for us. The "Shift Co-Coordinator " will explain exactly what we need you to do and how to do it.

I have placed a roster at the back of the Church for you to sign up please. We only need two people per shift, otherwise you will be getting under each others feet, and that will not make for a safe work space. Hopefully (if we get enough volunteers) we will only need your assistance for this week, and that will enable us to get on top of things. thanks...... Fr Joe

Each Thursday morning, from 9.30 am, members of our parish offer a community morning tea in the church. You can enjoy a tea or coffee, food and fellowship. Funds raised support YOUTH CARE school chaplaincy in public schools in Mandurah.

Don't forget to register for this workshop with the parish office if you haven't already done so.

Our mission giving for November will be directed to the Bishop’s Foundation for Ministry - Diocese of Bunbury WA.

If you are able to assist as an LLM, Reader, PowerPoint operator, Welcomer / Sidesperson for our Christmas services, could you please let the office know. Our services will be:

Wed 24th December 6pm

Wed 24th December 11pm

Thurs 25th December 8am

Thurs 25th December 10am

Our parish clergy will be attending the annual Diocesan Clergy Conference 3 - 5 November. Should any pastoral care matters arise during this time, please contact the parish office or a warden. Contact will be able to be made with our clergy if necessary.