A Fair Question

‘So who are you people?’ This was a tentative question from one of our hand massage recipients at the Lane Cove Rotary Fair. It’s always a fair question to ask me, as Community Chaplaincy is a whole new, and changing, concept. My fellow masseur jumped in with ‘We’re Lane Cove Uniting Church!’ It’s a reasonable, but partial answer, as this church is the loving parent of Lane Cove Community Chaplaincy and supports me all the way.
My colleague’s answer demonstrated our shared belief that being ‘the Church’ means much more than gathering inside a building to worship. We aim to be people whose focus and chief location is in the community, acting out the principles of Jesus’ life as our model. These include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control and a certain amount of social activism where injustice is occurring. None of us are perfect at these things, but we’re trying. Worshipping the God we adore takes many different forms these days and we are experimenting with some new ones.
My 3 years amongst you leads me to think that loneliness, isolation and a frenetic pace of life are key issues here. Hence, we offer activities to enable people to connect with each other, to slow down and notice the good things, and to enable the deep questions to be asked and begin to be resolved.  Specific details are on our ‘Groups and Events’ page. Anyone is welcome to join in.
We are constantly exploring new ways of encouraging our local community to thrive, in big and small ways. Do you have something you are passionate about and want to talk over? I am available to listen and may be able to help with connections too.
Jesus said, ‘I came that they may have life and have it abundantly’. (The Bible, John 10:10 ESV)