No sex please, we’re preambling

The recent Assembly hasn’t generated a media frenzy; after all, it wasn’t about sex. But Christopher Pearson has written a critical piece in the Weekend Oz on both the process and the decision to alter the preamble of the Uniting Church Constitution to recognise the place of Indigenous peoples, and to recognise that God was [...]

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More of the same?

A thought-provoking reflection by Alison Atkinson-Phillips on the current Assembly meeting. I don’t agree with it all, but it’s well worth reading (for more stories, go here):
Sunday, 19 July 2009 04:57
As he presented the report of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress to the Uniting Church’s 12th Assembly on the evening of July 16, [...]

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Failing to understand the nature of an understanding God

Barney Zwartz has written a great article. Here’s a taster; read the rest here.
CONTROVERSIAL Christian leader Danny Nalliah says the Victorian bushfires are a punishment for decriminalising abortion. Danny Nalliah is wildly wrong. He is wrong as a theologian, a thinker and a pastor, and has shocked and appalled both the mainstream community and the [...]

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What’s the opposite of kooky crap?

The President of the Uniting Church, Rev Gregor Henderson, has spoken about claims that the Victorian fires are the judgement of God. In part, he says,
To suggest that the loss of life from these bushfires is the reaction of God towards the Victorian people for decisions made by Government is not only ludicrous, it misapprehends [...]

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Going to Nineveh

Sermon for Epiphany 3 (25 January 2009)
Jonah 3.1-5, 10
Mark 1.14-20
The Book of Jonah is one of the prophetic books of the Bible, and it’s my favourite book of the whole Bible. The main character of the story—Jonah, of course—is called by God to be a prophet. The word ‘prophet’ simply means ‘to speak for’; a [...]

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Christmas Messages from Australian Church Leaders

On this page, you can read Christmas messages from the leaders of the churches that are members of the National Council of Churches in Australia. Here is the Uniting Church message, from our President, Rev Gregor Henderson:
How different Christmas feels this year!  Twelve months ago the economy was steaming along, it felt like the new [...]

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Living the mission of God as disciples of Jesus united in the Spirit

Yesterday, the morning and evening congregations worked on our missional goals, based on some work done over the past few months by leaders of groups in the congregation, and based on our draft vision statement:
Living the mission of God as disciples of Jesus united in the Spirit
We’ve spelled things out a bit more in an [...]

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New ordination services for the Uniting Church in Australia

On 17 November I posted that I was back from Sydney, where one of the things I did (on behalf of the Working Group on Worship) was to present the Assembly Standing Committee with new services of ordination and induction for ministers of the Word—presbyters in many other churches—and deacons.
They take effect from 1 January, [...]

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A Short Guide for Daily Prayer (2)

I thought it might help to include part of the Introduction to A Short Guide, to help people to ‘get’ the approach we’ve taken (shamelessly borrowed from Celebrating Common Prayer):
When an individual prays, they are never alone. They are surrounded by the ‘cloud of witnesses’ (Hebrews 12:1), and accompanied by the communion of saints. We [...]

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A Short Guide for Daily Prayer

The Uniting Church Working Group on Worship has been aware for some time that our Church lacks a daily prayer resource. Rev Jenny Tymms and I have produced a draft, which we are offering for use and comment. If you’d like to download a pdf file, which is easily printed into a booklet, go here.
And [...]

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