State of amnesia

Review by Nick Mattiske

Book | The Long Hangover: Putin’s New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past | Shaun Walker

What’s going on in Putin’s Russia?

The Guardian’s Moscow correspondent, Shaun Walker, recently wrote that, while World Cup soccer fans realised Russia is not entirely alien, there remains a dark side. It is a ...

Royal occasion for missionaries and families

DAVID GREENALL

Tongan King Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipau’u thanked former missionaries from Victoria for their work in Tonga during a reception in Melbourne in June.

Their Majesties were welcomed by Synod of Victoria and Tasmania general secretary Rev Dr Mark Lawrence, who recounted the earliest connections between the Island kingdom and the British Methodist Church ...

Helping hands

DAVID SOUTHWELL

Every Monday morning a dedicated crew gets to work mowing, raking and gathering produce at the North Ringwood Uniting Church Welcome Community Garden.

The workers from Knoxbrooke Community tend to specialise in different tasks.

For example, Jesse can normally be found busily shredding and aerating the compost as it moves through stages ...

Synod Snaps – August 2018

UCA member Emily Evans shakes hands with Pope Francis at the World Council of Churches 70th anniversary celebrations in Geneva.

BB-8, a Cyberman, a Jedi Padawan and a Stepford wife make an appearance at the ecumenical Church of the Latter Day Geeks service in Williamstown.

Leprena Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian ...

Focus on homelessness

 

 

For those living without regular shelter through the winter months, a hospital cafeteria can offer respite and hot chocolate.

This is one of the very intimate details of what it is like to be young and homeless that can be observed at a photo exhibition being staged this month by Uniting Vic.Tas to mark Homelessness Week, ...

Families’ reunion

Chris Machar

Have you ever made a necklace for a child by stringing together an assortment of odd buttons? You might end up with a jumble of buttons that is beautiful to the child and cannot be reproduced; it captures the whim of the child.

Our family reunion in Uganda certainly did not go ...

Lessons in Assembly

I’m sure this month’s Crosslight has comprehensive coverage of Assembly and the key decisions made there.

I want to focus on some of the aspects of Assembly not directly related to the decisions we made that I hope might encourage every council and committee to think about their life.

I loved seeing Assembly ...

UCA prepares to conduct same-gender marriages

Uniting Church rites for same-gender marriage are being prepared for use from 29 September after the 15th Assembly decided to hold two equal but distinct statements of belief on marriage.

At the Assembly meeting in Melbourne last month, members resolved to allow UCA ministers the freedom to conduct or to refuse to conduct same-sex marriages.

In ...

Letters to the editor – August 2018

Cruellest cuts

The Federal Government’s preoccupation with tax cuts is extremely worrying.

Most Australians are well aware that our public schools, hospitals, aged care, mental health and addiction rehabilitation facilities all desperately need greater government funding. 

Many of the most vulnerable in our community are dependent on Newstart unemployment allowance and parenting payments are well below ...

Business cycle

When it comes to restoring, selling and giving away bikes, Peter Daly means business.

Mr Daly runs the ‘Recycle Bicycle’ program at St Stephen’s Uniting Church in Wodonga, which sells or gives away approximately 100 restored bikes a year.

The Recycle Bicycle shop maintains a stock of 40 to 50 bikes that range in ...

Rite connections

Uniting Church member Cath James believes marking life’s transitions for children and young people can be a vital part of keeping them involved in faith communities.

“Rituals help us mark a time and enter into something that is often too big for us to comprehend in that moment,” Cath said.

“The teenage years in ...

More than a place to stay

Ahead of Homelessness Week, which runs from 6 to 12 August, we talked to Mee Sook Kim from Lilydale Uniting Church. Mee Sook volunteers with ecumenical homeless shelter program Stable One.

Q: How does Stable One work?

Over the coldest 13 weeks of winter, seven churches in the Lilydale area take turns once a week to ...