March 30, 2019May 23, 2023PermanentBy phil

GCI Hobart House Church

Change of meeting location.

We have moved to being a house church, and meet most Sundays in Howrah at 10 a.m. We are a small, welcoming, relaxed and dedicated group of local people, seeking to learn and grow in our walk with Jesus Christ.

We have a simple service, and focus on communal prayer, and study of the Scriptures as well as singing songs of praise and worship.

**Grace Communion Hobart House Church** – In a word picture

For more information please email,

phil.hopwood@gci.org.au,

or phone 03 6243 1231,

or 0407 566987.

Or you can use the contact form below.

August 27, 2014Permanent, Tammy TkachBy phil

Feeling Lonely?

Jesus Went With Him

“The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers and cities; but to know someone who thinks and feels with us, and who, though distant is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden.” This quotation by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe captured my imagination during my inward-looking, emotion-laden teen years. I had friends and a loving family but I often felt no one understood me, not deep down inside. I didn’t even understand myself at that point, but most teenagers don’t, and it doesn’t always change as we become adults.

The desire to know someone who is close to us in spirit is a universal one. We all want to be known, understood, accepted and loved just as we are, no strings attached. But this world can be a lonely place. Most of us feel alienated at one time or another, either from friends, family or the world in general. Even with lots of loving support, which is vital to our well-being, we have to do many things on our own ‒ job interviews, driving tests, surgery. No one can help or even hold our hands.

I imagine Jairus was feeling quite alone as he faced the pending death of his daughter (Mark 5). The family was no doubt gathered around to share the burden, but ultimately the pain of losing a loved one takes place in each individual mind and heart. Jairus carried that pain with him as he approached Jesus in the midst of the crowd. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded with him to come and heal his daughter (verse 23). Then something amazing happened – Jesus went with him (verse 24).

Many must have wanted his attention that day, including the sick woman who touched his robe. The crowd was full of people with diseases and problems, some perhaps as severe as Jairus’ daughter’s illness. But Jesus, without any discussion or excuses, simply went with him. That act alone must have given Jairus encouragement and strength to face what he would find at home, especially when messengers came to tell him his daughter had already died. Jesus didn’t desert him at the news, but continued to walk with him to the house.

Jesus has not changed. He still has his Father’s loving heart, which is always turned toward our hearts, thinking and feeling with us, knowing and understanding our suffering. He goes with us into those situations we must face alone and doesn’t turn back when the going gets tough.

During those times when you feel most alone, remember Jesus is with you. He walks with you down the lonely, difficult paths, even the steep, rocky ones with no flowers or trees to brighten the way. He is close to us in the Spirit and he is the one who makes the earth an inhabited garden for us.

Tammy Tkach

October 10, 2013October 15, 2013Joseph Tkach, PermanentBy phil

Unanswered Prayer?

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We believe that prayer is vital to a life of faith. Skeptics may view it as merely talking aloud to an imagined deity, but that is not our problem. The problem we face with prayer is when it seems to go unanswered. When I think of biblical examples, two come immediately to mind. The first is found in the prophet’s prayer in Habakkuk 1:1-4. Perhaps you’ve prayed using similar words:

How long, Lord, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save?
Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted.

God answered Habakkuk’s prayer, but not in the way he expected.

Having prayed for the injustice in Judean society to be corrected, Habakkuk was stunned when God’s answer was that the nation would be invaded by the Babylonians and carried into captivity. Instead of hearing what he hoped would amount to divine justice, Habakkuk was told that he would have to endure even more injustice. He didn’t complain nor did he deny God’s existence for not answering in the way he expected. Instead, Habakkuk received God’s answer and carried on—he was changed by prayer.

The second example of seemingly unanswered prayer is that of Jesus praying in Gethsemane. There, in agony, anticipating the painful sacrifice that lay ahead, Jesus pleaded with God the Father: “Is there no other way?”

Jesus returned to this prayer after checking on his disciples, his closest friends on earth. They were asleep and after waking them, he returned to entreat God with the same question: “Is there no other way?”

Jesus then went again to seek the comfort of his friends, but they were still asleep. Then the cycle repeated itself once more.

My perspective is that when Jesus saw his disciples sleeping the third time, he realized the answer to his seemingly unanswered prayer. That his closest friends could not comply with his request to merely stay awake, showed Jesus that all humanity ultimately fails due to its brokenness. Thus the answer to his prayer was clear—there was no other way. Though his coming death, resurrection and ascension were not the answer that Jesus sought at that moment, he willingly submitted and carried on. He did so even with joy, anticipating what would be accomplished for his disciples and for all humanity (Hebrews 12:2).

As you know, Jesus added a supplemental clause to his prayer. To borrow from the world of insurance terminology, he added “a rider.” He begins with the words, “If there be any way that this cup can pass from me…” and then the rider: “…yet not what I will but what you will.” Jesus’ prayer was not simply a request, much less a demand. Rather it showed his complete trust in his heavenly Father. His prayer demonstrated faith lived out in action.

Though we tend to see prayer as what we say with our voices, God views it as what we do with our whole lives—all that we say, think, hope, love, believe and desire. God’s answer to our prayer thus addresses all that we (and, ultimately, all humanity) are and need to become in relationship to him. Wouldn’t any answer from God less than that be superficial? I’m sure we’re all thankful that God has not said “Yes” to all of our requests!

Certainly, we can verbalize our prayers to God. But since God’s relationship with us extends far beyond just listening to our words, his answers to our prayers involve more than just a snap judgment of “Yes,” “No,” or “Wait.” In prayer, we not only talk to God but also seek to discern how God is responding to us—trusting that his every response is one of loving us towards maturity in Christ. So while God may say “No” to one of our particular requests, that “No” always comes out of his wisdom and compassion for us as whole persons and so should not be regarded as a rejection of us, but as an affirmation of us as his children. Our heavenly Father is wiser and more loving than we are and so are his answers to our prayers.

I’m not suggesting here that God’s answers to our prayers only involve what he does to change us spiritually and never involve changing our circumstances, relationships and physical conditions or those of others. God is omnipresent and sees and knows the needs of everyone before we observe them. He already has his plan of redemption in motion that includes everyone, even the whole of creation. Prayer is our way of joining him in what he is doing in us, in others and in our world. However, we must be the first to understand that we do not always know what is best for all concerned, or just how he is going to accomplish all that he is doing to bring about his redemptive purposes. God’s answer to prayer takes into consideration all of time, all of space and all of creation. So we entrust all our prayers to him, trusting him to exercise his loving wisdom in his every answer. We can count on his answers to always exhibit the same wisdom and compassion we see lived out in Jesus Christ, the Son of God incarnate, crucified, resurrected, ascended and coming again in the glory of his kingdom.

Rather than becoming weary in prayer and well-doing, we can carry on as did Habakkuk and Jesus. A life of prayer offered to the living, redeeming God will always remind us that our own efforts will not bring the ultimate solutions to humanity’s problems. We need God’s saving, redeeming and transforming power. We acknowledge that we lack the wisdom and all-encompassing compassion that God exercises in deciding just how he will realize his saving purposes. Incorporating our prayers into his loving and wise purposes, God will use them to help us become the Christ-like person he intends for us to be. With that perspective, we will pray more and more like Jesus—from the depths of our hearts, gladly echoing his rider, “Yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Yours in Christ’s service,

Joseph Tkach

August 15, 2013August 15, 2013Joseph Tkach, Permanent, UncategorizedBy phil

Healing

Divine healing or deliberate hoaxing?

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I believe that God heals. Healing was a significant part of Jesus’ ministry. It is one of the gifts of the Spirit mentioned by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12. Sadly, the Spirit’s “gifts of healing” (v. 9) have often been corrupted and distorted by opportunists and charlatans. We need to be careful.

I recall watching a 1991 ABC Primetime Live television program that exposed as fake the “healing” ministries of Robert Tilton, E.V. Grant and Larry Lea. One of the practices exposed was leg-lengthening. The evangelist would “diagnose” the person’s physical problems as related to one leg being shorter than the other, then ask God to lengthen the shorter leg. Lo and behold—before our very eyes—the shorter leg would began to grow. Wow!! Except that, as the program showed, this was just an old carnival trick masquerading as a miraculous healing.

The first time I experienced this trick, it was performed on me by my chiropractor as a joke. He had me sit in a chair and firmly grasped my legs and then held them together to reveal that one leg was two inches longer than the other. I marveled at how quickly he healed my leg by pulling and talking to my legs. I knew there was some kind of trick to this. I had been to medical doctors on a couple of previous occasions with sprained ankles and sprained knees. I’d had x-rays and MRIs and I knew that my one leg was not two inches shorter than the other. So I said, “Okay Doctor, show me the trick.” He quickly explained that it was an old trick used at carnivals. The more you practice it, the better you become at duping unsuspecting people.

There are plenty of videos that expose this practice. In one, former faith healer Mark Haville discusses his use of fakery and hypnotic manipulation (http://youtu.be/BCohlCPSLlo). Another shows two examples of the leg-lengthening hoax (http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=JC229FNU).

Over the years, I have met quite a few people who had been deceived by this hoax. I marvel that so large a number of people needing their legs lengthened did not sound an alarm in medical circles (actually, most people’s legs are slightly unequal in length, a condition that generally produces no significant physical ill effects).

The Primetime Live program showed that bogus leg-lengthening was only the tip of an iceberg of fraud. The investigative reporters examined every aspect of the three ministries, using hidden cameras and multiple interviews with experts and witnesses. They even examined the ministries’ trash bins and dumpsters, finding thousands of prayer requests that had been discarded (after removing the donations, of course). What masqueraded as Christian ministry was shown to be a racket that was making millions of dollars a year by preying on gullible people.

Why am I bringing this up? Because, although the three fake ministries were exposed, the use of their fraudulent practices continues, and leg-lengthening is having a revival. It is not my purpose to publicly expose those who practice these things; nor is my intent to call into question their sincerity. Some people who use these tricks believe they are performing genuine miracles. However, others know it is a fraud.

But we should and do pray for the sick. While praying we often anoint the sick person with oil and lay hands on them to signify God’s healing presence. However, we need to be aware of the potential pitfall in developing a ministry focused on “miraculous healings.” What may seem to be spectacular demonstrations of God’s power can open the door to profound disillusionment, turning people away from Christ and his gospel.

The gospel proclaims that God has healed our relationship with him and reconciled us to himself. We can begin to live in that new life in relationship with him beginning today. He will one day make everything new and wipe away every tear. That’s the reality. However, for now we have only temporary and partial signs of this coming hope. We have only the “deposit” (down payment, pledge or earnest) of his renewing and transforming Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:14; 2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5).

While God does grant signs, they remain just that—signs. And God grants such signs in ways that are not predictable or controllable by us. God remains wisely sovereign over how and when he distributes extraordinary signs and does not simply hand them over to us to dispense. That being said, we can remain open to the Spirit’s working “as he wills” (1 Corinthians 12:11).

Jesus is truth personified and he is the one who sets us free. He is our healer who sends his Spirit to work when, where and how he sees fit—for his glory and our benefit. .

Your brother in Christ,

Joseph Tkach

December 23, 2011May 13, 2016PermanentBy phil

Science is About Explanation, Religion is About Meaning

There is an insightful article by Alister McGrath at ABC the Drum on Science and Christianity; the following is a summary. I’ve listed some suggestions for further reading at the end.

In the article, McGrath comments on the “New Atheists” aggressive proclamation against belief in God, and goes on to talk about what Science can prove, and what it assumes about the origins of our wonderful universe. He writes, “Science is indeed one of the most successful and exciting ways of making sense of our universe.” But adds that science is focused on method, “of making sense of things.” Which is an ongoing exercise with changing conclusions.

He makes the point that while many atheists put down Christians for believing in a supreme being without proof, “science regularly posits the existence of things whose existence cannot be proved to make sense of our observations.” There are many things scientists presume without being able to see them or prove they exist, such as the existence of “dark matter.” In fact outside of mathematics and logic, there are surprisingly few things that can be absolutely proven. He points out how we ” mostly judge theories by how much sense they make of observations. Power to explain is widely regarded as an indicator of truth. Observations don’t prove theories; rather, theories explain observations, and are judged on the quality of those explanations.”

Theories are common in science, and can be held to for a very long time before “absolute proof” is found, if indeed it can be. He uses the “big bang” theory as an example, which is currently accepted “mainly because it is more consistent with our observations of the universe than its “steady state” rival. It can’t be proved (after all, it’s a singular event). But it does make a lot of sense of things.”

Rather than running away from the reality of life, the universe and everything, Christianity looks to faith to find meaning and sense in the midst of all of lifes’ complexities, contradictions and perplexities; personal, societal and universal. Some religious people use faith as an excuse to deny the realities of life, and the challenges of scientific discovery. On the other hand, some atheists jump to unfair and distorted conclusions in their dogmatic refusal to accept that the existence of God cannot be disproven or proven.

McGrath writes, “For Christians, faith is not a blind leap into the dark, but a joyful discovery of a bigger and clearer picture of things, of which we are part.” He quotes French social commentator and activist Simone Weil who talked about the judging Christianity as you do “the power of a torch… by its ability to illuminate the world’s shadows.” McGrath points to how the apostle John wrote about Jesus being “light of the world” – and how as the Son of God he has “power to illuminate the dark matter of our soul and our world.”

He continues; “So how does the Christian faith light up the shadowlands of life? The Christian tradition speaks of God as someone who makes sense of the puzzles and enigmas of life, illuminating our paths as we travel.” McGrath adds that Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks made the point. that “science takes things apart to see how they work. But religion puts them back together again to see what they mean.”

Science explains and helps us understand how particular parts of the material universe function and work together. Religion sheds some light on what it is all about, the meaning and “big picture” behind it all that helps us see our place in it all.

McGrath concludes, “The Christian vision, enacted and proclaimed in the Christmas story, is that of a God whose tender affection for humanity led him to enter our history as one of us. At Christmas, we recall that God is one who tells us he’s there, shows us what he’s like, and accompanies us as we journey – even through the darkest and loneliest valleys of life.”

Alister McGrath is Professor of Theology at King’s College London, and President of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. He is currently writing a new biography of the Oxford apologist and writer C.S. Lewis.

Read the full article at ABC the Drum;
You can watch a debate between Alister McGrath and Richard Dawkins on YouTube;
You can find more about Alister McGrath on his Facebook page; and his website.

September 2, 2011September 9, 2011PermanentBy phil

Church Services

Mornington Community Church meets each Sunday morning at 10am. You are welcome to come along and join us.

We meet at the Warrane Seniors’ Centre, 10 Binnalong Road, Mornington. Binnalong road is on the Mornington (south) side of Cambridge Road between Rosny Park and Mornington roundabout. Turn left at the first cul-de-sac on Binnalong Rd and enter the drive way to the Seniors’ Centre at the end of the cul-de-sac and park on the right side of the car park. The hall is down the hill on the right. See photo below the map.

For more information phone Phil on 03 62431231, or email wcg3ph@wcg.org.au

(Please click on the map or photo below to enlarge)

September 2, 2011September 22, 2011PermanentBy phil

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to our website.

We are the Mornington Community Church, the Hobart congregation of Grace Communion International.

Please come back and visit the site as we develop it.

We have included a number of links to videos and articles that provide information on who we are, what we believe about life, God, and all sorts of other topics. We encourage you to take some time to check some of them out. The video series by Joseph Tkach, “Speaking of Life” contains 3-5 minute videos on topical issues.