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Pentecost 2007 at City Church
This is how the church looked in readiness for the special Pentecost Day combined morning worship at City Uniting Church on Sunday 27 May, 2007. Banners in orange and red, cloths in shades of red and people wearing red clothing all helped prepare us to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit.
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As we are told happened on that first Pentecost Day, the service began with people speaking in various languages - English, Tongan, Indonesian, Tamil, Korean, Chinese and Italian - saying, 'each one heard the good news in their mother tongue'.
A singing group from both the Tongan and English-speaking congregations sang in Tongan as people processed, carrying cultural objects and traditional symbols from many countries to place at the front of the church. Later the group sang joyfully, 'Where the Spirit is there's freedom'.
The people heard their mother tongue again in the Bible reading from Acts chapter 2, after the young people had done some on-the-spot research, asking different ones in the congregation who the Holy Spirit was for them.
In a special time of prayer for others, people came forward to light a candle and offer a blessing for a country, place or person dear to them. We remembered especially indigenous Australians, forty years on from the 1967 referendum. The flames from many small candles were another reminder of the sense of renewal, unity and hope that are the gifts of the Spirit for us today.
It was an added pleasure to have HRH Princess Nanasi present. At the end of the service people were offered Thanksgiving bread, a traditional part of Orthodox celebrations at Pentecost, this year coinciding with western services.
You can read a synopsis of the the minister's reflection in the June 2007 Contact magazine.
Siev X Memorial Exhibition
City Church was pleased to host a special exhibition of designs for a Siev X Memorial during October 2005
The Siev X tragedy involved the loss of 353 lives when an over crowed refugee boat sank on 21 October 2001. The proposed memorial is intended to remind us of the tragedy and encourage us to reflect on the circumstances. A video about the event is available from our church office. More information is available at www.sievxmemorial.com
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