“Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” – Mark 7:28
By Rev Angie Griffin, Grange Cluster Minister, Presbytery of Western Victoria
The Syrophoenician Woman, whose encounter with Jesus is told in Mark 7: 24- 28 is my favourite Gospel character, even if she is unnamed, as is her daughter.
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By Rev Dr Sally Douglas
Something strange happened when we gathered – via Zoom – for worship on Easter Day. We prayed together. We read sacred text together. We sang falteringly, across the wi-fi connection together and we explored what following the risen, crucified One in our own lives might look like. None of this was strange.
By Ellaine Downie
I usually don’t “do” Lent. On Pancake Tuesday, between mouthfuls of dough and maple syrup, some of my more spiritual friends announce what they will be giving up for Lent. Sometimes it’s chocolate, sometimes it’s the movies.
I remember one year a friend announced with some trepidation – and (if this doesn’t sound too bitchy) a rather ...
By Swee-Ann Koh
Last week, when visiting a large shopping centre in Melbourne, I approached a concierge for information. As I did so I couldn’t help but notice she took a step backwards.
Initially I was puzzled and wondered why she did that. As I walked away, I wondered whether she thought that I, as ...
By Robyn Whitaker
It took 400 years, but sometime in the early fifth century Christians transformed a tradition about Jesus’s miraculous virgin birth into a doctrine that inextricably connected sex with sin. It has plagued the church ever since, doing untold damage to generations of women in particular.
By Robyn Whitaker
Tyranny, violence, and genocide are not usually associated with the Christmas story. Those of us who attend church at Christmas probably hope to sing a few rousing carols and be reminded of God’s wonderful gift of love.
This Christmas season our lectionary directs us to Matthew’s version of that first Christmas, and in his version ...
I remember changing after our two children were born. Every time I heard about a child being neglected or mistreated, I would become emotional.
It’s fair to say hormones would have accounted for some of that, but not all. Being pregnant, giving birth and caring for our tiny babies brought out a deeper awareness and sensitivity to ...
By Rev Dr Sally Douglas
I do not subscribe to the notion that you have to be religious in order to have a moral framework. Why? Because the evidence is clear.
I know people who are not religious, but who live out of a clear ethical framework, in which compassion and justice are integral. They make the world a better ...
By Tim Lam
Hong Kong is dying.
Every day, the city inches closer to becoming a police state. The shadow of Tiananmen Square looms over the horizon as the People’s Liberation Army assembles just across the border.
I travel to Hong Kong regularly, usually to visit relatives. I lived there as a young boy and went to kindergarten in Tsim ...
By Claire Dawe
We are a diverse church, but when it comes to renting our church spaces, rooms and even worship centres, is there a limit on the diversity we will accept?
No-one can have escaped the media attention surrounding Israel Folau and the church his father pastors. Their church, with their own theological understandings of Scripture, particularly noting ...
By Robyn Whitaker
You might groan at another article about Israel Folau. After all, the media attention has been massive, with little sign of abating.
This article is an attempt to address some of the issues from a Uniting Church point of view, not because I speak for the Uniting Church in any official capacity, but because the UCA has ...
By Sally Douglas
Suffering and death are difficult subjects to talk about in Australian culture, particularly western culture.
I recently spent time with someone who was weeks away from death and asked them how they felt about dying. They said I was the first person to ask them this question.
