<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">Dear Parishioner and Friends of St Peter’s,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">How are you? I do hope that you are all OK. These are worrying times.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div>This weekend we celebrate our Dedication Festival, the anniversary of the “first
service” conducted at St Peter’s Eastern Hill on Sunday 6th August 1848,
presided over by the newly installed Bishop of Melbourne, the Rt Rev’d
Charles Perry. Was this early congregation able to look 172 years into the
future, the church building might be largely recognisible, but the TV recording-studio nature of lock-down worship, with a physically present
congregation of just 5 people, would be thoroughly bemusing. Even more
so, perhaps, the fact that well over 100 people were joining the service of
worship remotely from all over Melbourne, inter-state, and indeed as far
away as Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the USA. I must say that even I am
still having trouble getting used to that reality of Eucharistic worship in 2020.<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I mentioned in last week’s sermon an excellent paper, written by Bishop
Bradley Billings, entitled “Spiritual Communion” (<a href="http://bit.ly/339roDN" class="">bit.ly/339roDN</a>). He writes:
“The celebration of, and participation in, the Sacrament of Holy Communion
is an important part of Anglican worship, being described by the Articles of
Religion (28) as ‘a Sacrament of our Redemption by Christ’s death.’ Many
Anglicans are feeling acutely the present inability for us to meet in places of
worship and to share in the Sacrament of Holy Communion.” Bishop Brad
then reflects on the long-held Anglican doctrine of “Spiritual Communion”
outlined in the 1662 <i class="">Book of Common Prayer</i> service for The Communion of
the Sick: “if a person is unable to physically receive the sacrament of Holy
Communion, and if that person ‘truly repents’ and ‘steadfastly believes’ that
Jesus shed his blood for their redemption, that person ‘doth eat and drink the
Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ profitably,’ even though not physically
receiving the Sacrament. As well as providing solace for those who are ill,
there is provision for Spiritual Communion in other circumstances, such as
‘want of warning in due time to the Curate; for lack of company to receive
with him; or by any other just impediment.’”</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Scattered across Melbourne, and
further afield, due to the pandemic, if ever there was such "just impediment",
it is now.
The receiving of Spiritual Communion is of course very different from going
to church, but it is well worth persevering with in these times. You may wish
to create a small chapel space at home; with candles, an icon, a Bible and of
course these days the obligatory computer, phone, smart TV, and/or i-pad. You may also like to print off the order of service from the St Peter’s web site (<a href="http://www.stpeters.org.au" class="">www.stpeters.org.au</a>) or if you have enough devices just follow it online
while watching the Mass. Holy Communion at St Peter’s is live-streamed each
Sunday at 10.30am, on FaceBook and YouTube, or you may wish to watch
it later at your leisure (followed by a zoom “morning tea” at 12.30pm - <span style="color: rgb(35, 35, 51); font-family: Lato, Helvetica, Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> </span><font color="#0e71eb" face="Lato, Helvetica, Arial" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class=""><a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/j/91491816647" class="">https://us02web.zoom.us/j/91491816647</a></span></font>).</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">When it comes to the time in a live-steamed or pre-recorded Mass, to receive the
Sacrament, you may find it helpful to pray this prayer: </div><div class=""><i class="">Lord Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Holy Sacrament. </i></div><div class=""><i class="">I love you above all things, and I desire to receive you into my soul.</i></div><div class=""><i class="">Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally,</i></div><div class=""><i class="">Come at least spiritually into my heart. </i></div><div class=""><i class="">I embrace you as if you were already there and unite myself wholly to you. </i></div><div class=""><i class="">Never permit me to be separated from you. Amen. </i></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Holy Communion is a profound experience, connecting us as Christians to
one another and to God. This week I have received three beautiful letters from
parishioners expressing so lucidly their lived reality of Spiritual Communion
in our current dispersion. I thought you might find it encouraging to read
these uplifting and faith-filled “letters in exile” from New South Wales, Hawthorn Victoria, and even as far as Cambridge Massachusetts in the USA. I have printed them in full in my Vicar’s Musings, in this week’s Pew Sheet, if you are interested to read them(<a href="https://bit.ly/3fgjond" class="">https://bit.ly/3fgjond</a>).</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Finally, our hearts go out to St Peter’s parishioner, Suzanne, whose husband Gerald died this week, and to their families. May he rest in peace … and rise in glory. I have attached a lovely photo of Suzanne and Gerald for those who may not recognise the name.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">God's blessings to you and yours as we struggle through the ups and downs of life during this pandemic.</div><div class="">Kind regards,</div><div class="">Fr Hugh</div><div class=""><div class="">
<div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;">___________________<br class="">The Rev’d Dr J. Hugh Kempster<br class="">Vicar, St Peter’s Eastern Hill<br class=""><a href="http://www.stpeters.org.au" class="">www.stpeters.org.au</a><br class="">vicar@stpeters.org.au<br class="">+61 488 960 022</div></div>
</div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>
<img apple-inline="yes" id="B5AA62BA-C50C-499F-AC23-85C5858BD636" src="cid:BA40271A-5B3C-4583-8C94-8E75B5F26EA1" class=""></div></body></html>