Month: March 2016

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News & Announcements

Tokyo Ballet in Gingin

Gingin was treated to a fantastic evening recently with the performance from the ABC Tokyo Ballet of ‘The Messiah’ on Tuesday 22 March at the Gingin Soundshell, sponsored by Gingin Uniting Church.

These world-class performers said that the Gingin Soundshell was the best venue they had ever performed at. Everyone was most enthusiastic, and it certainly lived up to expectations, with such a high class ballet and choreographed depiction of the reality of the struggle between good and evil in the world and individual lives. The final scene was one of hope in our current dark world. An afternoon performance at the school was also much enjoyed by the children.

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Support and training for long-term recovery in Fiji

Cyclone Winston, the strongest storm ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere made landfall in Fiji on 20 February, flattening entire villages with torrential rain, storm surges and winds of more than 300 km per hour.

More than 40 people were killed and thousands of homes damaged. Hospitals, schools, crops, livestock and water supplies were hit and thousands of Fijians were forced to shelter in schools, churches and community buildings. Many remain there today. Thanks to a generous response to UnitingWorld’s emergency appeal – gifts of almost $200 000 – UnitingWorld were able to respond quickly. Funds are being used to assist the Methodist Church in Fiji, a partner church of the Uniting Church in Australia, to work alongside the Fijian government and provide humanitarian relief to thousands of people throughout affected communities.

In particular, providing food, shelter, water purification tablets and cooking utensils, which are critically important for preparing the type of food that is distributed in emergencies and for purifying potentially contaminated water. These materials are being bought in non-affected areas of Fiji, helping to buoy the local economy and sustain the livelihoods of local people.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Future church begins with God

Rev Steve Francis, moderator of the Uniting Church WA, and Rev David Kriel mission planner at the Uniting Church WA, recently travelled to Cape Town, South Africa, for the International Fresh Expressions Conference. Steve shares his reflections with Revive.

You have probably heard it all before; declining aged congregations, faithful people, financial struggles, a lessening capacity to give, tired building, green shoots of new life, signs of decay, and glimpses of hope. Too often the church in Australia is a good news/bad news story without any real focus on the future and where God may be leading us.

How stimulating to go to a conference where the focus is on the future church. A conference that gets is cues not from the traditional patterns of the past, but from the new things that God is doing. Rev David Kriel, mission planner for the Uniting Church WA, and I were extraordinarily privileged to attend the third International Fresh Expressions Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, recently.

Before I go much further, I need to clearly state what ‘Fresh Expressions’ is – and what it is not. It is not ‘out with the old and in with the new.’ Every church, whether it is traditional or contemporary, meets in a cathedral or a warehouse, is called to be missional. Our music may be as far apart as Gregorian chants is from Hillsong, our preaching may be diverse in theological content, our clergy may dress in gowns or in denim. Styles and patterns of church vary greatly. God can use all kinds of churches to be beacons of light and conveyers of the Kingdom.

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Uniting Network marches to welcome LGBTIQ refugees

On Saturday 5 March, Sydney’s Oxford Street was awash with rainbows and  glitter and filled with music for the annual Mardi Gras parade. Seventy people marched with Uniting Network, the LGBTIQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer) members of the Uniting Church in Australia and their friends, families and supporters.

During the march, Uniting Network were drumming to demonstrate anger, and holding lanterns as a symbol of light. The theme of the float was more sombre than the typical Mardi Gras celebrations: LGBTIQ refugees are welcome here. The float was a protest directed towards the Australian government’s treatment of people fleeing persecution overseas because of their LGBTIQ status. There are currently numerous LGBTIQ people having their claims of asylum in Australia slowly processed; some are detained on Manus Island.

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Archives and records

The Uniting Church is responsible for preserving records so they are available for consultation in the future.

Uniting Church records should be maintained as part of general operating procedures.

Records that are no longer in use by congregations should be sent to the Synod Archives at: 91 Edward St Perth WA.

It is particularly important to preserve items such as Baptism registers, Marriage registers and Original Signed Minutes of all committees.

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Palms for peace and justice

The Palm Sunday Walk for Justice for Refugees was held in locations all over the country by people wanting a better approach to Australia’s response to asylum seekers and refugees. In Perth, the event began at St George’s Cathedral with speakers, poetry and engaging testimonials. The walk was led by faith groups, holding palms as a symbol of peace, who sang and chanted through the streets of Perth.

A Palm Sunday Walk was also held in Margaret River at Prevelly Beach, well attended by Margaret River Uniting Church. Attendees laid white flowers in the ocean, in remembrance of people who had lost their lives at sea while searching for a safe place to call home.

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Something beautiful for God: Induction service of Rev Dr Sonny Rajamoney

On Sunday 13 March, St Peter and Emmaus Church was packed as Rev Dr Sonny Rajamoney was inducted into service as minister of the Word. The service of induction began with songs of praise, sung with gusto by the congregation and guests. Rev Jeni Goring, the Anglican priest in service at St Peter and Emmaus, gave a call to worship followed by the acknowledgement of country by Bishop Jeremy James. Uniting Church WA moderator, Rev Steve Francis, gave a welcome and greeting in which he acknowledged the special guests present, including the chair of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Congress WA, Rev Sealin Garlett.

Steve then gave his sermon, entitled ‘Something beautiful for God’, he took inspiration from a statement from Mother Teresa,  “Each one of us has something beautiful to do for God.” Steve went on to express that God is calling all of us to do something beautiful.

The main points of the sermon were that God is the one who calls us. That we are called to follow Christ and within that call there is often another call to service in our lives. That the call to serve Christ often happens in ordinary circumstances, he expounded that in the groans of the world around us (referring to Romans 8) we can see the needs that we are called to serve. And even in our own internally groaning we can feel the call of God on our lives. Finally, Steve encouraged the congregation that God doesn’t just call us, but he equips us too, that we are given the tools to live out the call on our lives, and the support we need.

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Walks to inspire, challenge and equip

The Walk to Emmaus was originally established by the Upper Room in the United States and is sponsored in Australia by the Uniting Church. It is a lay ecumenical organisation, run with input by clergy members from various protestant denominations.

Its mission is to inspire, challenge and equip church members for Christian action in their own churches, homes, places of work and communities. An
Emmaus Walk is a three day retreat for 12 to 25 pilgrims. The Pilgrims are led and supported by team members of the Emmaus community who aim to provide a total caring experience both spiritually and physically, during their walk of faith.

The Emmaus experience does not finish at the conclusion of a pilgrim’s walk. Pilgrims are encouraged to attend monthly gatherings of the Emmaus Community, to join an Emmaus Reunion Group, as well as having the opportunity to serve as part of the team on future walks. It is through this service that community members grow spiritually and gain skills in a supportive Christian environment, which enhance their service in their own church community.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Harmony: the odyssey of salvation

Although the word ‘harmony’ does not appear in the Scriptures even though it existed in Greek diction at the time when the New Testament was written, a cognate or synonym is used frequently in the Scriptures. That word is ‘reconciliation’. Though the word itself is not used, the idea of harmony is central to the history of salvation.

“God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself…” (2 Corintians 5:19) could be rendered “God was in Christ harmonising the world with himself.”

I do not propose to talk about the mystery of reconciliation. Despite our best theological explanations it still remains a mystery. It is a truism that all our talk about God (theology) tells us more about ourselves than about God. So, let me reflect on the idea of harmony in relation to ourselves.

The term itself is a musical one. It denotes the agreeable effect of the apt arrangement of parts to form a harmonious whole. To harmonise, everyone vocalising, or playing an instrument, has to be playing or singing from the same music score. To use a contemporary idiom, they need to ‘be on the same page.’ Each may be playing a different instrument or part, but the music score has to be the same. Each part compliments the others to form a harmony. So, differentness is essential to harmony; and harmony is the result of the reconciliation of diversity.

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Love in word and action

Rev Emma Matthews was inducted into Nedlands Uniting Church over the long weekend. On Sunday 6 March, Emma was officially welcomed to the congregation during a bilingual service, in both Mandarin and English.

Having served as the chaplain at Penrhos College – a Uniting Church WA school for girls in kindy to year 12 – since her ordination as a deacon in 2011, Emma will now serve at Nedlands where she will focus her ministry on working with children and young people as well as training for small group leadership, preparing people for baptism, preaching and organising retreats. Prior to ordination Emma worked in lay ministry in Sydney, Brisbane and a small farming community in south-east Queensland.

Rev Stephen Larkin, also a minister at Nedlands Uniting Church, preached during Emma’s induction service. He spoke about the importance of living in word and action.

“All are called to proclaim the love of God in word and deed,” Stephen said. “That’s what it says on the back of the Nedlands Newsletter. The ministry leaders are not Stephen and Emma, or the council. The ministry leaders are the members of the congregation. And the ministry leaders – that’s all of us – need to be using both their wings.”

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