By Ross Mouer
Issues such as abortion, homosexuality, same sex marriage, “transgendering”, gender-based role designations, and conversion therapy have dominated the media over the second half of my life.
With our prime minister this year joining the Mardi Gras parade for the first time, it may be a good time for Christians to reflect on how issues related to sexuality ...
Rev Deacon Peter Batten
Synod is an opportunity for the whole church to come together and discuss important issues of faith, mission, ministry and governance, and to recognise that although times are tough God has not left the church. Through the Bible studies, the daily gatherings, and opening and closing worships we come together as a people of faith to ...
By Rev Dr Peter Blackwood
I sing in choirs and have sung oratorios and masses, operas and requiems, Bach, Mozart, Rachmaninoff and The Beatles.
Now, for the first time, I am singing science.
‘Origins’, to be performed at the Melbourne Recital Centre next month, is an oratorio by Jenny Graves and Leigh Hay with music by Nicholas Buc. This account ...
Victorian Uniting Church member Kate Jenkins has been honoured for her extensive work in human rights by being made an Officer in the Order of Australia in the King’s Birthday Honours list.
Kate was honoured for “distinguished service to human rights governance, to advancing gender equity, to the promotion of inclusivity, and to the law”.
By Andrew Humphries
On May 21 last year, Anthony Albanese began his speech as newly elected Prime Minister of Australia by making a heartfelt promise to our First Nations people.
“I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet,” he told the nation.
“I pay my respects to their elders, past, present and emerging.
By Meg Hocking
They say the eyes are a window to the soul and the smile a front door to your heart.
When you speak with Nancy, it’s difficult not to be captured by her warmth, her care for others and her kindness.
However, behind her beaming smile and infectious personality, Nancy is a pillar of resilience, strength and courage.
...
Rev Deacon Wendy Elson, Minister at Wonthaggi and Inverloch UC
This week looks quiet when I look in my diary and that always makes me nervous. Justifiably, because these are the weeks that have the potential space to get very busy.
Sunday
6am alarm: Up and about with time and space for a quick walk around the block and ...
By Andrew Humphries
Every five years, Australians everywhere wade through a mountain of paperwork as the Federal Government’s Census takes a snapshot of the economic, social and cultural make-up of the country.
And on each occasion since 1991, former Uniting Church Minister Rev Philip Hughes has become the “Census Detective”, as he takes a deep dive into what the data ...
One of the things that I enjoy about celebrations of Pentecost is that they often involve congregations stepping out of their usual comfort zone and either employing other languages, or sharing worship with other congregations which have different customs and cultures, or both.
This can be true even for congregations that are already richly multicultural. It helps us to remember ...
By Andrew Humphries
In his role as Northern Rivers Cluster Uniting Church Minister, which includes Rochester, Rev Brian Morgan wears many hats.
Ask him what his main role is, though, and he doesn’t have to think hard to provide an answer.
“My main job here is to love people,” is how Brian describes his approach as Minister.
By Professor Greg Carey
Eschatology is quite a big word. It has 11 letters, after all.
Divinity students routinely ask me to spell it out on a board.
But eschatology is big in a more fundamental sense: it is the theological word that spells out our dearest hopes: what, if anything, lies beyond death; where history is ultimately headed; and ...
By Rev Associate Professor Geoff Thompson
Claiming to be a “born scientist”, Rev Bob Thomas in a Crosslight magazine feature, dismisses various alleged “absurdities” of the Christian faith, including that of rising from the dead.
He suggests that there is an opt-out clause from this absurdity by suggesting that Paul’s language of “resurrection” is synonymous with his language of ...