2nd March 2025
Our AGM this morning - held straight after church. Chairperson of Church Council Margaret Warnock (on right) thanks Jude Ripper for serving on church council and for the last 2 years
as minute secretary. Jude has now stepped down from the CC. Afterwards we enjoyed a
lovely morning tea prepared by Cheryl Veal.
20th February 2025
Look who is in Crosslight this month!
Presbytery of Gippsland Missional Support Resource Minister and Presbytery Secretary Debbie Bye's stellar contribution to Christian radio over many years has been recognised with a major award.
16th January 2025
(thanks to YoYo's , Stretton Park for this post from Facebook)
When you have completed 96 laps around the sun you most certainly deserve to be celebrated…
Wishing our beautiful customer, Allison a most wonderful day celebrating her incredible milestone.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY 
31st December 2024
The special New year's eve service conducted by Rev Paul Ryu was well attended by representatives of his 3 congregations - Maffra, Sale & Stratford. Stratford (host church)
was blessed by the attendance and the fellowship. Looking forward to exciting things in 2025!
21st December 2024
15th December 2024
Stratford UC has their nativity up - thanks Jenny & Alan!
30th November 2024
The induction service of Rev. Paul Ryu into the Uniting congregations of Sale, Maffra
and Stratford was held today. More Photos here.
below: Don MacRaild (Stratford), Rev Fee Morrison (Presbytery Chair) and Rev Paul Ryu
6th November 2024
19th May 2024
A very special hymn focused service this morning tying together the celebration of Pentecost
and the start of volunteer week. For many years (more than the 25 this writer has been a
member) a group of folks from Stratford UC lead a monthly service of worship and song
at Stretton Park & MacDonald Wing of Maffra Hospital. The numbers fluctuate but the
commitment and enthusiasm doesn’t, and the core group has faithfully kept this much
appreciated ministry going. The old hymn being shared this morning was I Surrender All
- a testament to this humble outreach.
29 March 2024
23 September 2023
Meet Don and Meg MacRaild, a couple with a lifetime of service to the people of Vanuatu
ABC link
5th February 2023
5th June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
April 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
VERY SAD NEWS
– our much loved friend, Dawn Baxter died last Wednesday 24th July, when she lost her battle with leukaemia. Our love and prayers are with Ken and all the family. We feel your loss and grieve with you. We pray for God’s blessing on you at this time. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones.” (Psalm 116:15)
Dawn’s funeral will take place on Tuesday 6th August at 1.30pm at Stratford Uniting Church.
May 2019
March 2019
Palm Sunday Ecumenical Walk
Pancake Day
February 2019
Old Time / Good Times Friday 8th Feb 2019
January 2019
December 2018
Giving Back - 21st December
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
Tuesday 8th May
go to FaceBook for more photos
April 2018
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| A great way to start off the month - at the Sunrise Service Easter Day in Maffra. Five from Stratford UCA went to join the crowd of around 50. He Is Risen!! |
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| L-R: Deb Bye, Margaret Warnock & Hilary Rash at the Sunrise service |
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| The Easter window display at the Bendigo Bank in Stratford. |
March 2018
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| Barbara, Nellie and Margaret |
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| Ken Baxter |
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| Wendy |
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| Don MacRaild and Barbara Conron |
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
Alister's birthday 24th & UCA 40th Anniversary 25th July
from the archive - 2014 - guess the date!!
Two of our June birthdays
Alister Buxton and Marjory Cameron
May 2017
April 2017
We celebrate birthdays on the 2nd Tuesday of each month
←this was from JanuaryThursday 12th January
We started 2017 off with a church BBQ
November Birthdays 2016
John Brisbane turns 85 at the end of the month and Wyda was going to get him to our afternoon tea any way she could!! Then he got bread and water!!!
Peter Mills also celebrating a birthday in November - so they shared a cake - thanks to Adrienne at the Ticklish Turtle in Stratford!
Just for Fun
Back in June (2016) Don and Meg MacRaild led our service and Don enlisted the assistance of Allan Condron (L) for a skit. Here's a photo and the script - copyright unknown.
Installing Love
[both actors are on the phone/mobile, in front of a computer, on either side of
the stage/room]
Tech Support: Hello, this is Tech Support. How can I help you today?
Customer: Well, after much consideration, I've decided to install Love. Can
you guide me through the process?
Tech Support: Yes. I can help you. Are you ready to proceed?
Customer: Well, I'm not very technical, but I think I'm ready. What do I do
first?
Tech Support: The first step is to open your Heart. Have you located your
Heart?
Customer: Yes, but there are several other programs running now. Is it okay
to install Love while they are running?
Tech Support: What programs are running?
Customer: Let's see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-Esteem, Grudge and
Resentment running right now.
Tech Support: No problem, Love will gradually erase Past Hurt from your
current operating system. It may remain in your permanent memory but it will
no longer disrupt other programs. Love will eventually override Low Self-
Esteem with a module of its own called High Self-Esteem. However, you have
to completely turn off Grudge and Resentment. Those programs prevent Love
from being properly installed. Can you turn those off?
Customer: I don't know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how?
Tech Support: With pleasure. Go to your start menu and invoke Forgiveness.
Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and Resentment have been
completely erased. I loved this!
Customer: Okay, done! Love has started installing itself. Is that normal?
Tech Support: Yes, but remember that you have only the base program. You
need to begin connecting to other Hearts in order to get the upgrades.
Customer: Oops! I have an error message already. It says, "Error - Program
not running on internal components." What should I do?
Tech Support: Don't worry. It means that the Love program is set up to run
on Internal Hearts, but has not yet been run on your Heart. In non-technical
terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before you can Love others.
Customer: So, what should I do?
Tech Support: Pull down Self-Acceptance; then click on the following files:
Forgive Self; Realise Your Worth; and Acknowledge your Limitations.
Customer: Okay, done.
Tech Support: Now, copy them to the "My Heart" directory. The system will
overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty programming. Also,
you need to delete Verbose Self-Criticism from all directories and empty your
Recycle Bin to make sure it is completely gone and never comes back.
Customer: Got it. Hey! My heart is filling up with new files. Smile is playing on
my monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying themselves all over My
Heart. Is this normal?
Tech Support: Sometimes. For others it takes awhile, but eventually
everything gets it at the proper time. So Love is installed and running. One
more thing before we hang up. Love is Freeware. Be sure to give it and its
various modules to everyone you meet. They will in turn share it with others
and return some cool modules back to you.
Customer: Thank God!
