Dear Friends
Please find attached Aunty Jean recent News Letter and a pdf copy may be downloaded from the attachment below.
Blessings
Melody and Rodger Jamieson
Friday Night Coordinators
0404 349 522
www.lighthousecommunity.org.au
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Download Aunty Jean Newsletter June 2019
17 Princeton Street
KENMORE QLD 4069
12th June 2019
Dear Christian Friends,
I do want to thank you all again for your continued interest and support for me and my ministry. Words cannot express my deep appreciation and I pray that God will richly bless and reward you in a very special way. This year so far has been full with lots of activities. There were the special services held in January and they were very encouraging. Please let me say here that these meetings in January were not about changing the 26th of January – it’s mainly about us coming together as Christians, looking at the history of both races and to see how we, as God’s people can help to change our Nation through the cross. Changing the date is not going to alter or improve the issues that are confronting us daily.
In March I was able to go to Melbourne for Surrender – the Christian organisation I’ve been with for over 20 years. Dr Peter Adam spoke at one of the workshops about the land and it was attended by a large number of young people and they were very interested in taking the information back to their Churches. Towards the end of Surrender I had gone to Geelong to participate at the funeral of the late John Smith. John came to our community in Cherbourg almost 40 years ago and really made an impact on a lot of our young people. The family had invited me to participate at the funeral which was held at one of the Baptist Churches in Geelong. The funeral was large and I’ve never seen so many motorbikes in my life. I am indebted to the family for giving me the opportunity to participate.
Before Easter I had taken some of our young people – the teenagers – to a camp and they really enjoyed it and participated in the events– bible studies, discussion groups etc. They were able to interact with other young people and they also helped to look after me. Even though I was very tired it was a joy to interact with them.
May is always a very busy month and there were a number of events held here in Brisbane, both Church and community, which I was able to attend and support. There was Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week. The Anglican Diocese along with their Reconciliation group invited a Bishop from Adelaide to speak at some of the events. This Aboriginal Bishop is the Bishop for Aboriginal Anglicans around the country. I would encourage Christians in this country to pray for him as well as other Aboriginal groups. Both his Mother and Grandmother were part of the stolen generation.
I also attended the celebration of the Bush Church Aid Centenary and to give support to Pastor Neville Naden – it was good to spend some time with Neville and his wife. Neville works with BCA as their representative to Aboriginal people. He was the guest speaker at the Cathedral in Sydney and spoke very well. I was also able with some of the other Christian Aboriginal ladies to attend the induction of the new Anglican Bishop of Canberra Goulburn. Again, Neville was the guest speaker and he was tremendous. It’s important that these events are attended by other Aboriginal people in support of each other and to build bridges with the wider Christian community. It’s so important in this Nation today that we get to know each other a lot better to dispel the racism and ignorance about Aboriginal people. The Bishop’s wife has a very special interest in Aboriginal people and hopefully she and her husband will be able to share their positive experiences with the Politicians in Canberra’
My annual Soup night was held in May – it was very well attended – in fat there were some new people who had come along. The young people love the auctions – some of the cakes were auctioned and others were eaten – even though there were lots of cakes at the end of the night there were no more cakes left – everyone enjoyed both the food and the events. This Soup night is well over 20 years old and I’m grateful to St Andrews Anglican Church for enabling me to have my events at their Church.
My Annual Dinner will be held at St Andrews on 10th August – the Dinner will be 25 years old – please be praying for that.
There are a number of events coming up for me in the very near future. Towards the end of this month I will be going to Sydney at the invitation of the Anglican Deaconesses. They would like to speak to me about Aboriginal Ministries – please be praying for our meeting. Then I will be going on to Melbourne at the invitation of one of the Baptist Churches in July – I will then be travelling back to Sydney for other meetings in July.
Stevie O’Chin will also be with me at some of the meetings in Sydney in July. There will be an Art Exhibition and some of her art work will be on display and hopefully will be sold. I am still trying to work on some kind of a scholarship for her – she is doing so well at TAFE but needs a lot more support. Her parents and Auntie Faith continue to work in the Logan area where there is so much poverty and unemployment.
We need to pray for the new Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, Ken Wyatt, who is also an Aboriginal that we can see some changes in our Communities. Suicides, imprisonment and poverty are just so real and I’m hoping and praying that all of us as Christians will play a part in meeting some of these challenges too. Linda Bernie is the opposition spokesperson on Aboriginal Affairs – she is keen to meet with me and I am sure that Ken Wyatt will do likewise, as he knows me. I pray daily for the Churches in this Country to adopt someone in Aboriginal Ministry so that these challenges and needs can be met. In the last 12 months we have lost so many of our Aboriginal Pastors – these men have given years of ministry to our community with very little support – we pray that the younger ones will come on board so that there can be a better future for our race and for our Nation.
Thanking you all again for your support
God richly bless
AUNTIE JEAN