St Paul's ChurchBurwood, Sydney
Welcome
Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, we would be delighted to welcome you as a parishioner or have you join us at one of our regular services or parish activities.
圣公会圣保罗堂欢迎你前来参加我们的英语传统圣樂圣餐崇拜。
Acknowledgement of Country:
We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land upon which we meet. In his wisdom and love, our heavenly Father gave this estate to the Wangal people of the Eora Nation. Upon this land, they met for generations until the coming of British settlers. As we continue to learn to live together on these ancestral lands, we acknowledge and pay our respects to their elders, past, present, and emerging, and we pray that God will unite us all in the knowledge of his Son, in whom all things were created, in heaven and on earth, whether visible or invisible - for all things have been created through him and for him.
Recognising those who have been custodians of this land is not a perfunctory gesture, but an acknowledgement that many have gone before us and many will come after us—we are but passing through. As King David stated some 3,000 years ago:
We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors; our days on earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. (1 Chronicles 29:15)
The first inhabitants of this land were created by God to tend this land as stewards of his common grace. With only general revelation in the created order as their guide, they were allotted this land 'that they should seek God, in the hope that they might reach out to him and find him', as the apostle Paul declared to his first-century Athenian audience, 'for in him we live and move and have our being' (Acts 17:27-28).
God says through the prophet Jeremiah that:
"For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope." (Jeremiah 29:11)
Because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord, Christians are a people of hope and because we are a people of hope we seek to work and pray for peace, justice, and love for all, including God's beautiful creation, and to devote ourselves to seeing God's kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
We seek to bequeath God's beautiful creation to future custodians in a far better state than what we inherited so that creation itself and all beings may flourish as God intends.
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Prayers for the week
Merciful God, you gave Moses rules to live by and sent you son to die for us when we wandered from your pathway, hear the prayers we offer you.
Merciful God, we pray for your church throughout the world and especially in developed countries where church buildings are major elements of heritage. We pray for wise decision making when determining how to maximise usage for the furtherance of your kingdom while maintaining the sanctity of the spaces. We give thanks for our own beautiful church and those who have worked to preserve it. We pray for our parish council, wardens and the trustees of the Blackett House trust, giving thanks for their wise stewardship on our behalf.
Father, hear our prayer: through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Merciful God, we pray for the peace of the world, remembering as we do the millions of people who are living in fear for their lives. We pray for a concerted effort to protect and sustain the innocent victims of war and violence and the subsequent famine and displacement they may experience. We especially pray for children caught up in areas of conflict asking that their distress will be relieved.
Father, hear our prayer: through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Merciful God, Your Son acknowledged women and affirmed their equality with men. As International Women's Day approaches, we pray for women throughout the world in all positions and circumstances but particularly for women and girls living in slavery or working in slave-like conditions in factories. We pray that governments around the world will acknowledge the need to address these issues and work to protect the rights of women as fellow human beings. In our own community we pray for women living in abusive relationships, for agencies that seek to assist them and for refuges as they shelter them.
Father, hear our prayer: through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Merciful God, we pray for all who experience ongoing homelessness and for those who have insecure housing as they face the reductions in income caused by lower government support and less employment. We pray for the agencies that strive to assist them and for awareness and wisdom in our elected representatives. We pray for policy writers and lawmakers, that they will be mindful, not of their own needs, but of those of others. We pray also for ourselves that we may be considered in our decision-making looking always to the good of the community.
Father, hear our prayer: through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Merciful God, you touch the sick and relieve their pain: you comfort the sorrowing and dying. We pray particularly for children who have a parent with a terminal illness. We are mindful of the distress and anxiety for the future that they suffer and pray that their needs will be considered compassionately. We pray for all who are in need of any kind, especially those on our parish prayer list asking for your blessing and your healing power.
Father, hear our prayer: through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Merciful God, we give you thanks for your servants of every age. We continue to pray for the recently departed and for all who have their year's mind at this time: Luke Burchell; Jack Salisbury; Tyson O'Donnell; Edith Hook; Iris Hulme; Keith Porter; Sheila McEwan. Grant that we, with them and all your saints, may be brought to a joyful resurrection and the fulfilment of your eternal kingdom.
Almighty God, you have promised to hear our prayer. Grant that what we have asked in faith we may by your grace receive through Jesus Christ our lord. Amen
Reflections
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Weekly Newsletter
Information about current events and activities at St Paul's is available in our Weekly Pew Sheet:
Lent 3 - 7 March 2021Lent 2 - 28 February 2021
First Sunday in Lent - 21st February 2021
Sixth Sunday after Epiphany - 14th February 2021
Kid's Church
Third Sunday in Lent - 7 Feb 2021Ministry Team
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Father James Collins 
Father Michael Deasey 
Father Jim Pettigrew
Ms Rosemary King
Mr David Russell- Mr Bailey Yeates
Mr Brian Luhr
Rector
TC Dip Teach, Grad Dip RE, Grad Dip RE Stud, BEd, BTheol, CPE RPH, Post Grad Dip Arts(Rel Stud), MA(Rel Stud), PhD
Father James was born and raised in rural Western Australia. He obtained a degree in education from the WA College of Advanced Education and taught music at both primary and secondary school levels. In 1984 he began to study theology at Perth Theological Hall and later at Murdoch University. He was ordained in 1987. He holds a PhD from the University of Tasmania. Father James' interests outside ministry include reading, bush walking and music.
Fr James is married to Dr Helen Collins and Helen and James were married in St George's Cathedral, Perth over 30 years ago.
After ordination in 1987, James worked full-time in ministry, having parishes in Western Australia and, since 2001, in Tasmania. He has also had a university chaplaincy position. Prior to his induction as Rector of St Paul's on 9 February 2011, Fr James was Rector of the Parish of Moonah in Hobart where he had responsibility for two churches, St Mary's and St Anne's. In addition, Fr James was an Enabler in the parishes of New Norfolk, Break O'Day, Channel/Cygnet, Hamilton and Brighton. This role involved training parishioners to take responsibility for all aspects of parish life and to reach out to the local community with the Gospel message and with practical ministry.
The following verse atttributed to King Alfred has played an important part in my life:
To see Thee is the End and the Beginning
Thou carriest me and thou goest before
Thou art the Journey and the journey's End.
I believe that God is love, and that where there is love there is God. God has been present with me, sustaining me throughout my life as an ever present Presence. Sometimes God is revealed in quietness and peace, sometimes through hardship and disquiet; but most often through the love of those who care.
As God is the God of love, and life, and of being, we are called to participate in and share God's love, life, and being, so that others may love, live, and be who and what God intends them to be (that is, to grow into the fullness of life which God has for all). This call is to participate in and share God's love, life and being may, at tmes, involve a struggle to work for justice and peace, and involves as active engagement with our community/society.
This Kingdom of God way of living is beautifully expressed in the words of Micah Chapter 6 verse 8:
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
It is wonderful to be part of a Parish which is seriously seeking to engage in this mission to, for, and with our community/society.
Reverend Michael Deasey OAM, CGS, Senior Assistant Priest and Parish Organist
BD, BEd(Mus), FRSCM, Hon FGCM, FTCL, LRAM, ARCO, ARCM, DipAngOrd,.
After a career in church music in England and Canada, and then as organist/director of music at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney for more than two decades, Michael graduated as a Bachelor of Divinity from the Melbourne College of Divinity and was ordained in 2005 for the diocese of Bathurst. Here he served for ten years as Precentor, Assistant Priest and Director of Music at All Saints Cathedral, Bathurst. In addition he was, and remains a Priest Companion of the Company of the Good Shepherd, which provides ministry to the more remote parts of the Central West of NSW.
Michael is married to Antonia who sings in the choir of St Paul’s and they have three adult children, Meghan, Jeremy and Amélie who currently reside on three different continents.
So far they have three grand-daughters, twins Willow and Olive, and Piper, who live in Chicago USA.
Honorary Priest
MTC ThL(2 Cl Hons) Dip
Fr Jim has served faithfully in many parishes, including both rural and urban settings, and as well as assisting at St Paul's Fr Jim often helps in other parishes as a locum.
Lay Minister
Dip PE (Hons), B.A., M.Litt., B.D., CPE RNSH., Grad. Cert World Religions
Rosemary King is a retired high school teacher. Having trained as a Physical Education teacher Rosemary soon added History and Geography to her teaching subjects. Then after graduating from Melbourne College of Divinity with a Bachelor of Divinity she went on to teach Religion and Studies of Religion in both Catholic and Independent Schools. Alongside Studies of Religion she developed a passion for Service Learning.
With the three years spent at St John's Theological college in Morpeth and her teaching experiences she retired in 2013 to embrace the position of Lay Minister in the parish.
Director of Music
DAVID RUSSELL B.Mus (Performance) M.Mus Studies (Conducting)
David Russell completed a Bachelor of Music Performance (Voice) at the University of Sydney Conservatorium of Music and was a recipient of the Horace Keats Memorial Scholarship for Singing. He subsequently completed a Master of Music Studies (Conducting), also at the Sydney Conservatorium, where he was the recipient of the Eugene Goosens Fellowship.
Through the Symphony Australia Conductor Development Program David has worked with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, The Queensland Orchestra and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra.
He sang with the Choir of Christ Church St Laurence, Sydney, for 20 years and as Assistant Conductor conducted numerous works with choir, organ and orchestra. He featured as both a singer and conductor on several CDs and conducted the choir in the UK, USA, Germany, France and Italy.
David has conducted the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, the Song Company, the Sydney Children’s Choir & Gondwana Voices, the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra and Chorus (USA), and the Ochsenhausen Vocal Ensemble (Germany). In 2008 David was Chorusmaster for the World Youth Day Choir – a national choir created for the visit of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in July of that year. As a soloist he has also appeared with the Sydney Consort and has sung with the professional Sydney-based ensembles, Cantillation and Pinchgut Opera.
He was awarded the Sydney Choral Symposium Foundation National Choral Conducting Scholarship which provided him with the opportunity to travel to the USA, UK and Europe for further conducting study.
David is currently the Artistic Director of CAPTIVATE, the performing arts program for Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta which provides opportunities in music, dance, drama and visual arts to students in the 84 Catholic systemic schools in western Sydney.
Organ Scholar
Sacristan
Brian Luhr OAM OGS was born, raised and educated in Sydney’s South West. He was baptised, confirmed (by Bp Donald Robinson) and married at St Mary’s Church of England, Guildford. He has 3 grown children and 6 grandchildren.
At Guildford he was a Church of England Boys’ Society (CEBS) leader, youth fellowship member, parish and church councillor and Sunday School Superintendent. In 1982 he joined the parish of Christ Church St Laurence, Sydney, as an altar server. He has held the positions of both people’s warden and parish councillor and became Master of Ceremonies and Sacristan. He was appointed Head Server in 2002 and in this position was responsible for the rostering and training of the altar servers, deacons and priests in the ceremonial and ritual aspects of the Church’s liturgy.Brian has a great love and knowledge of Church liturgy and history and has had the opportunity to visit and observe the worship in many churches and cathedrals around the world.He worked in the telecommunications industry and managed the Catholic, Anglican and Uniting Church portfolios for Telstra. He has business and customer service diplomas.
He has worked as a parish administrator with the Roman Catholic Church and, on occasion, assists in training student altar servers and MCs for the children’s liturgies.
Brian is a Professed Brother in the Anglican Order of the Oratory of the Good Shepherd (OGS) and lives by a monastic rule.
In 2016 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for service to the Anglican Church of Australia.
