By Andrew Humphries
Do a quick Google search for quotes relating to the power of music, and quite a few come to hand.
“Music is life itself”, says one, while others suggest that “music is the soundtrack to your life” and that “music is love in search of a word”.
But perhaps its meaning is best summed up by Lebanese-American ...
By Donald Moss
As leaders and environmentalists gather in Glasgow at the end of this month for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), the world will be hoping for definitive action to tackle our climate emergency.
Watching on from Melbourne will be Moderator Denise Liersch and the Synod’s Senior Social Justice Advocate Mark Zirnsak.
By Malcolm Dunjey
Today, perhaps more than ever, people are asking, “what does God want me to do now?”.
The future may appear uncertain, considering current events, but my lifetime of experiencing God’s guidance has taught me how to recognise His voice in the wilderness.
At God’s direction, my wife and I have experienced dramatic and overwhelming changes to our ...
By Sally Douglas
I could paint a picture of the congregation I currently serve according to the success criteria of our culture. I could tell you, with great flourish, that since I arrived, the church has more than tripled in size and the predominant age group of newcomers is those in their 20s and 30s.
By Vivienne Mountain
My little granddaughter was in high distress. Her girlfriend had come around to see her two baby guinea pigs. In the small enclosure, while feeding the mother, the friend accidentally stepped on one of the babies. There was blood, it was squashed, suddenly dead.
We all know the grief of death, life has gone, there is sadness, ...
Dear Friends,
Greetings to you all in these times of change.
As a Church and in our wider communities, we’re all facing different challenges, and responding in different ways, with all the ups and downs that come along the way. That’s partly to do with where we are: in Tasmania, or metro Melbourne, or rural or regional Victoria, or in ...
By Jennie Gordon
We’re going to be grandparents in December, so I’m knitting, getting ready, doing what I can in the waiting time.
Before I was a minister, I was a midwife and had my own business for a while running childbirth education classes for expectant parents. I always thought that when my own children were having children, I’d be ...
By John Evans
I have always appreciated the insight of the African proverb “it takes a village to raise a child”. A whole village, not just the teacher or the direct family of a child, have a responsibility to educate young people about life. It is for the sake of the child and for the village.
By Andrew Humphries
Eighteen months after it arrived in Australia, COVID-19 continues to turn our world upside down.
In Victoria, lockdown has become a way of life and home schooling has turned our children’s learning into distance education.
Thousands of jobs have disappeared, businesses have gone broke and the mental health toll continues to climb alarmingly.
We are at the close of The Season of Creation: a time in the Church year when we mark the wonder of God’s creation and our part in this whole world God so loves.
It begins each year on September 1, the Day of Prayer for Creation of the Orthodox Church, and now a gift to us all. The Season ...
By Andrew Humphries
Pastoral carers have stepped up in a big way as the emergence of COVID-19 in Victoria has had a major impact on their ability to provide ongoing support, according to Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) consultant and educator, and long-standing Uniting Church member, Lynne Robertson.
Ongoing restrictions caused by the pandemic have meant an obvious need to adopt ...
After receiving her second dose of the Astra Zeneca vaccine, Moderator Denise Liersch has encouraged Uniting Church members to roll up their sleeves to help protect their communities.
Denise says each of us can play a part to help ensure as many members of the community as possible are fully vaccinated, and to help find a pathway out of ongoing ...