The beauty of the Easter season, is that we are reminded that the Church lives in and with the spirit of resurrection. That new life can emerge from anywhere once old stones have been moved out of the way, and fears dispelled.
This Sunday, the 19th May, marks the start of a very new and different chapter in the life of our Church on the Corner. In the context of a Communion service we will celebrate the ‘arrival’ of the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe (MCZ) – Melbourne fellowship. The congregation is about 10 years old and has been gathering in Prahan, but they are at the stage in their life where they are seeking to be more integrated into the wider life of the Uniting Church in Australia. The Methodist Church in Zimbabwe is a formal UCA Partner Church.
The MCZ – Melbourne Fellowship, will meet every Sunday afternoon at 163 Chapel St, and begin the journey of becoming a Uniting Church Faith Community. However, our two congregations have covenanted to join together regularly for Christian Community, ministry and development. Just as we recognise and celebrate diversity within our congregations, we now have the opportunity to do this and much more between our congregations. This is an exciting adventure, the fruits of which will only become clear and tangible as the relationship between the two congregations develops and deepens.
While this Next Chapter invites all of us to navigate a very different kind of landscape, a new set of relationships, and a whole new range of possibilities, I am very confident that we will ‘strive to do what is just, show constant love, and walk humbly with God’.
This ‘vision’, which has underpinned our past and shapes our present, now has an opportunity to characterise our future.
Peace
David
