No. 11/2015 

Dear Members of the Diocesan Family 

Holy Week and Easter:

I pray that as you journey through Holy Week you are growing closer to our Lord.  On Maundy Thursday I trust we are able to focus on the importance of our servant mission. Our Lord gave us a wonderful example in the washing of the disciples’ feet. Feet can be smelly.  It requires bending down and being deliberate in our ministry.  As Christians we rejoice that Christ instituted what we know as the Lord's Supper, the Holy Communion or Eucharist, on this evening.  May we give thanks to God for the strengthening grace of this sacrament in our lives.

I have been saying that we do not turn up to the Eucharist as we do a sporting or cultural event as a spectator.  We are participants, and it is important that we prepare ourselves each time we come to the Holy Communion.  We need to examine our lives in the light of the Gospel and the Commandments.

So before each Eucharist (or any worship) we need to read the Scripture readings, examine our lives, decide what we need to confess, list what we will give thanks to God for and who or what we will pray for when we come to worship.

I pray your Good Friday worship will draw you closer to the cross.  In some acts of worship on Good Friday we are invited to place our sins - things in our lives that are contrary to the will of God, at the foot of the cross.  It is important that we leave them at the foot of the cross and not try to take them back.   Christ died for us and for our sins.

Holy Saturday is a day that some people struggle with because they are not sure what to do.  In society there are all sorts of activities.  We could attend any number of functions.  I recall the late Bishop Delbridge saying that Holy Saturday is a day where we need to sit and wait and focus on what our Lord so freely did for us on the cross.  We need to wait with expectation, because come Easter morning we will rejoice that Christ conquered for us sin and death and opened the gate of eternal life.

May your Easter worship be a time of great joy and celebration.

May we as a Diocese continue to proclaim the message of the resurrection, Christ is Risen, He is risen indeed. Alleluia.

I will be in the Parish of Whitsunday for Easter this year.

Robin and the staff of the Registry join me in assuring you of our prayers at this key time in the life of the Church and of our faith. 

It has been my practice to phone clergy during Holy Week.  This is not going to be possible due to a number of factors.  However, Easter is a season, not a day and I will be phoning during the Easter season.

Please find attached my Easter message to the print press. 

On the Diocesan webpage is a Youtube Easter message as well.

Chrism Eucharists:

Last evening we had about seventy people present at Holy Trinity Mackay.  I thank the laity for making the effort to be present and joining with the clergy to minister together as the Body of Christ.  It was a delight to have a family bring up the olive oil, the balsam and little Davey, at about three years of age, bringing up the stirrer and helping to stir in the balsam.

Tonight the Chrism Eucharist will be held at the Cathedral at 6pm.

Tomorrow evening the Chrism Eucharist will be held at St. Saviour's Kuranda at 5pm.

Everyone is welcome and the liturgical colour is white.

Fresh Expressions:

You will recall that attached with the last Bulletin was a paper addressing the ministry of Fresh Expressions.  I thank those who took the time to respond.  I am happy to receive responses until the 14th April next.

Those who have undergone surgery or are unwell:

Please pray for The Reverend Dr Wayne Melrose and The Reverend Chris Yule who are both recovering from surgery.

Mackay:

At present the people of Mackay are exploring a team ministry approach.  There have been two meetings and it was agreed we continue the exploration of the possibility of this ministry. This is an exciting development.  There are six areas we are exploring at present and one is to develop a strategy of keeping people informed and seeking feedback. 

It was agreed at the meeting last evening to enjoy and enter into the worship of Holy Week and Easter, then we will address the matters discussed.

While this has been described as a Fresh Expression in the Mackay Region I ask for the prayers of the Diocesan Family as the exploration continues. 

Next Bulletin:

The next Bulletin will be distributed on Easter Tuesday and will contain a major announcement concerning the Diocese.

Some dates for the remainder of the year:

Synod                                                 3-5 July

Clergy Conference                           6-9 July

Provincial Clergy Conference         10-13 August – Gold Coast

Telephones at the Registry:

The Registry telephone and internet system was to be switched over to the NBN late last week.  Unfortunately this did not happen as planned, due to a technical issue on the part of the NBN.  As yet we don’t have a date for when the change-over will occur, so we thank you for your patience if you are still experiencing difficulties getting through to us on the phone at times.

Wishing you a holy and blessed Easter

Yours in Christ,

The Right Reverend William (Bill) Ray

Bishop of North Queensland

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11. Attachment Easter 2015 newspaper article