By Cathy Withiel
Where there’s a will there’s a way. That was the motto adopted when chaplains serving in Uniting AgeWell residential sites across Victoria and Tasmania dealt with restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some innovative thinking included delivering services via Zoom, standing on a garden path in the middle of winter booming a service through a microphone to ...
By Andrew Humphries
When the steering committee responsible for forming a new Uniting Church congregation in Boroondara decided on the best way to mark the occasion, one date immediately came to mind.
The Kew Uniting Church, made up of the East Kew, Joong Ang and West Hawthorn congregations, as well as many people associated with Boroondara Community Outreach, was officially ...
By Andrew Humphries
When Graeme Sutton and Andrew Shearer-Cox walk past the large stained glass window installed in the Bev Pratt Chaplaincy Centre in Ballarat, they are given a daily reminder of just how important a chaplain’s role is.
The stained glass window, featuring an image of Jesus holding a lamb on his shoulder, has come to represent a great ...
By Andrew Humphries
In 1955, Robert Menzies was our Prime Minister, John Cain Sr’s reign as Victorian Premier ended, Melbourne defeated Collingwood in the VFL Grand Final and the board game Scrabble made its Australian debut.
And in regional Tasmania, a shy 15-year-old girl took her first tentative steps on a path that would define her life for the next ...
The story of our life turns, when we are known and called by name. John 20: 16
Back in 1992 (and here I’m revealing my age), I heard the Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ song Under the Bridge for the first time. It was during Lent, just before Easter.
By Andrew Humphries
In Uniting Church faith communities right around the country this Sunday, women ministers will take centre stage as they spread the word of God, just as they have done since the church’s formation in 1977.
There is nothing unusual in that and, in fact, so widespread are female ministers in our church that we almost take them ...
By Andrew Humphries
For Kathryn D’Alessandro, necessity really was the mother of invention when it came to organising February’s first ever online Synod Meeting.
Organising a “virtual” meeting, rather than one held in the normal face-to-face town hall setting, presented a huge challenge for the Synod Meeting project manager.
When the decision was made in August last year that ongoing ...
A reflection of the story of Easter Day – according to Mark.
It’s hard to hear the story of Easter Day freshly. Some of us have heard it a hundred times before. Maybe it’s so familiar, that we think we know exactly what happens and what it means for us?
By Andrew Humphries
In a constantly changing world, how, where and when we worship God also needs to be adapted.
With that in mind, a new app to be launched Australia-wide at the end of this month may prove to be one of this year’s best innovations.
The godsend app will have its national launch on March 27 and offers ...
The major order of business on Synod 2021’s final day today was the announcement of the result of the Standing Committee ballot.
Following the ballot, Rev John Clarke, Rev Stan Clarke, Belinda Clear, Ron Gowland, Rev Berlin Guerrero and Cameron Shields were elected to the Standing Committee until Synod 2023 and Karen Eller until Synod 2022.
Rev David Fotheringham was today elected as the Synod’s next Moderator.
After three ballots – a technical glitch rendered the first ballot null and void – David’s appointment was eventually announced at 4.20pm on Day Two of Synod 2021.
David, who is Minister at High St UC, Frankston, said he was “overwhelmed, humbled and grateful for this expression of confidence ...
Synod 2021, the first online meeting in Synod’s history, kicked off at 1.45pm with a welcome from Moderator Denise Liersch, acknowledging our First Peoples.
“We are many peoples from many lands, gathering together in this meeting from many places, on the lands of many First Peoples,” she said.
“To acknowledge country, is to speak words of respect; it is to ...