Category: Stories & Feature Articles

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Stories & Feature Articles

Imagine a rainbow

According to Rabbi Dovid Freilich, ‘tolerance’ is a bad word.

“There’s been so much conflict, sadly, in the world because of religion. The world creates something in order to stop this conflict: a word being ‘tolerance’,” he said. “Tolerance means agreeing to sit together; you really can’t stand the fellow you’re sitting with, but you’ll tolerate them. It’s not a good word.”

For 30 years, Rabbi Freilich has been the Chief Rabbi of the Perth Hebrew Congregation, a Jewish Synagogue in Menora, Perth. He has also been the Chief Rabbi of WA and one of the Presidents  of the Council of Christians and Jews WA. Preferring not to use the term ‘retire’, Rabbi Freilich left the Rabbinate in July to take-up other interests after 45 years of service.

The Rabbi believes that rather than tolerance, respect should be our priority.

“We should respect each other,” he continued. “Respect involves two things. One definition of respect is you actually feel happy in another person’s happiness. So, respect implies that even though you might be one religion and you see somebody happy and contented in another religion, you’re happy for them.

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Review: Good Christian Sex: Why chastity isn’t the only option and other things the Bible says about sex, by Bromleigh McCleneghan

Bromleigh McCleneghan, a pastor of a Union Church in Chicago, has written Good Christian Sex for what she calls mainstream, Protestant Christians who have come to accept that people may live together before marriage, but are concerned to ensure sex and sexual behaviour remains good and not bad.

It finds the goodness of sex in the belief that it belongs to our being human. That includes seeing sexual desire and pleasure as something positive, whether in relation to oneself or in relation to others. The author writes of her own experiences, openly, sometimes self-critically, but always very sensibly.

This is a commonsense book likely to benefit greatly those who seek an alternative to the traditional norm of faithfulness in marriage and celibacy in singleness. It invites critical reading. It has helpful chapters on the nature of fidelity, on sexual abuse and lust which treats others as objects, and offers useful reflections on the wisdom of controlling one’s sexual desires and their expression, just as much as we need to control our appetite for food.

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5 ways UnitingWorld gets big change from small change

UnitingWorld is the Uniting Church in Australia’s agency for working with people in Asia, Africa and the Pacific as they build lives free of poverty, and share the good news of Christ. UnitingWorld believe the two can’t be separated; they keep this work connected through ecumenical partnerships with churches in their communities, caring for people regardless of religion, politics or other boundaries.

Cath Taylor, from UnitingWorld, shares with Revive how this overseas community services agency is making big change from small change.

Australian Aid Funding

Right now, UnitingWorld is combining donations with Australian Aid Funding to give your gift up to six times the impact for people freeing themselves from poverty. In recognition of both the generosity of Uniting Church donors and the success of UnitingWorld projects, the Australian Government has made special funding available to select programs. UnitingWorld must first raise $1 for every $5 available in Australian Aid Funding.

Building solidarity

UnitingWorld doesn’t believe in charity – we believe in solidarity. We do everything in partnership with others who are committed to building on their strengths, long-term. This means there’s no expectation of a ‘hand out’ and everyone we work with is striving to make the most of their opportunities. This is the mindset that truly yields big change.

Investing long term

Our approach is to invest long-term in people: providing them with business training and solutions to poverty that give practical tools to take control of life. We help people start their own small businesses like breeding livestock, growing vegetables, selling second-hand clothes and repairing furniture or mobile phones. Once the loans we provide are paid back, they’re used again to kick-start someone else’s future.

Wise use of resources

We don’t waste money building things communities can’t use, handing out items that will need to be resupplied again and again, or using staff from Australia when local people can do the job themselves. We listen to and respect our partners because we’ve known them for years and have good relationships with them – they tell us what they need to make changes, and we get them the resources.

Accreditation

We’re accredited with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) through the Australian Government and we pay a decent wage to our administration staff, rather than relying on the goodwill of volunteers. This may sound boring, but it actually means that not only are we using the best ideas to get things done, you can also be sure that the money you give is accounted for, our staff are well-trained and properly recompensed, our partners have sound business practices and no resources are wasted.

To give an end-of-financial-year donation to UnitingWorld call 1800 998 122 or visit www.unitingworld.org.au/freedom

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A testament to love

Kaye Ogden made her entrance into the world on 7 March 1940 at Bundi Kudja Nursing Home in Fremantle. With her father being a policeman, the family moved around and much of Kaye’s early life was spent in the country, which she loved.

She married Peter at age 22 in 1963, 54 years ago, but was just 15 when they first met. After marriage, the couple moved to Carnarvon for a year where Peter was teaching, and then back to Perth, where they built what would become their family home in Nollamara for over three decades. Their son Andrew was born in 1964, followed by Susan, Naomi and Michael.

On reflection of how Kaye spent her days on Earth it’s clear that it was her motivation to honour and serve her Lord. She was a committed member of her church community, involved in hosting Bible studies and women’s fellowship, teaching and co-ordinating Sunday School, being an elder as well as serving the church in numerous ways. But she also loved to reach out into the community.

In the late 90s, with the adventure of retirement beginning, Peter and Kaye headed off to remote stations to volunteer with Revise, helping families with the schooling of their children during pressured work times. Later she was a board member of St David’s Aged Care, was involved in the Order of St Luke – a healing ministry – scripture teaching in schools, and with the Rockingham YouthCare District Council as Secretary.

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Genes re-Uniting

I am grateful to Rev Dr John Squires for his paper on the DNA of the UCA, which he distributed locally at the Meeting of the Presbytery of WA in May, and on the Assembly website. It helpfully identifies ten characteristics of the Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) which I warmly endorse. They are some of the reasons why my wife and I, despite many moments of disillusionment with the path taken since 1977 by the UCA, nationally and at state level, have maintained our membership of this faltering denomination throughout the past 40 years.

Rev Dr Squires’ paper also invites comment from his readers about his proposed list of key characteristics. I believe that identifying these particular characteristics – or genes, to maintain the metaphor – is a necessary, but not sufficient, clarification of the denomination’s DNA.

Despite a few unexpanded mentions of ‘God’, ‘the Spirit’, and ‘Christ crucified’ in the paper, it would be hard to deduce from this evidence alone that our denomination stands for much more than an ethical humanism shakily sustained by the unbounded slogan of ‘inclusion’. The list doesn’t yet identify as part of our DNA those ultimate beliefs about God which empower the ethic: his nature and his self-revelation in Jesus as reliably reported in the Bible; and his expectations of the species he has made in his image.

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Papuan students on learning, living and language

The 2017 Australian-Papuan Cultural Exchange Program (APCEP) cohort are on a mission to make their world a better place.

A group of students from from Papua and West Papua, where English is a valuable skill, have recently spent 12 weeks in Perth learning about Australian culture whilst studying English language.

“Learning English and being able to converse in English will open many doors for the students. They get to bring back their knowledge and share it with their community,” said APCEP program co-ordinator and host family volunteer, Lee-Anne Burnett.

APCEP began in 2010 and is managed by volunteers from the Black Pearl Network (BPN), a sub-group of the Creative Living Centre, part of Trinity North and Floreat Uniting Churches. The  program is in partnership with the Evangelical Christian Church in the Land of Papua.

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Celebrating 40 years

UJ_40 Year Anniversary Logo_v4

Uniting Church groups around the country have celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Uniting Church in Australia. Enjoy this gallery of pics from celebrations at Floreat, Trinity North and Rockingham and Rowethorpe Uniting Churches, as well as Good Samaritan Industries (GSI).

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From the Archives: Noonkanbah 1980

This year the Uniting Church in Australia celebrates its 40th anniversary. Throughout 2017, Revive will feature significant events in the life of the church during that time.

The Uniting Church is often talked about for its commitment to social justice. Over its 40 years, the Uniting Church WA has spoken and acted on a range of issues. In recent years, members of the Uniting Church have marched for refugee rights, action on climate change, marriage equality, pride and more. Church members have also spoken out on Indigenous rights and even the right to protest itself.

One of the earlier involvements of the Uniting Church WA in political actions was to protect land from mining at Noonkanbah Station, in the Kimberley, WA. In 1976, the land was pegged for oil exploration, causing tension with the State Government and the traditional owners of the land, the Yungngora people, over the desecration of sacred sites.

Members of the Noonkanbah community had asked the church to support them in their cause, resulting in the Uniting Church working closely with the Yungngora people during this time. A number of rallies were held in WA in support of the traditional owners of the land.

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Connecting with church, community and God

A lot of people struggle with turning 40. Perhaps the thought of walking over the hill and into the unknown is a little daunting for some. In a society where aging is seen as something to be feared, rather than valued, you can’t blame people for feeling this way.

I must say, however, that when I turned 40 a few years ago, I was in a great space. I felt very comfortable in my own skin and felt positive about walking over that ridge into the next stage of my journey. Somehow the connections between my upbringing, my experiences in life and my hopes for the future started to gain clarity at this time in my life. I lived with less fear and more peace with the person I had become.

I wonder whether communities go through this same angst in certain seasons of their life. As the Uniting Church in Australia turns 40, do we approach the next chapter with trepidation or with strength and conviction? As I hear people talk about the church in today’s world, I certainly hear a great deal of fear, but also much hope and anticipation.

At the beginning of May, I attended the SacredEdge Festival at Queenscliff Uniting Church in Victoria. Being my second year at the festival, I was particularly looking forward to the great sense of community I had experienced in 2016.

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Making a bold statement

It is forty years this month since the Uniting Church in Australia was formed. The coming together, on 22 June 1977, of three denominations (Congregational, Methodist, and Presbyterian) was  the culmination of many years of prayer and hard work. Rev Dr John Squires, Director of Education and Formation at the Uniting Church WA, celebrates this union and explores some of the Uniting Church’s founding documents.

The Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian Churches joined together as one Uniting Church in response to the prayer of Jesus, which is reported biblically in John 17: “May they be one.” There, Jesus prays for his earliest disciples, and then he prays for those followers who come after them, “that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me  and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

The unity of the church gives expression to this final prayer of Jesus and bears witness, to all people, of God’s love for the world. This prayer is also important for the international ecumenical  movement around the world. Not only was the Uniting Church formed in Australia in 1977, but last century also saw the formation of the United Church of Canada (1925), then the Church of   South India (1947) and the Church of North India (1970), the Church of Pakistan (1970), the United Reformed Church in the UK (1972) and the Indonesian Christian Church (1988).

The worldwide umbrella organisation for churches, the World Council of Churches (WCC), was formed in 1948, and this body includes churches from the Anglican Communion, many Orthodox  churches, the Lutheran Church and many other Protestant Churches (including the Uniting Church). The Roman Catholic Church is not an official member, but sends observers to each meeting of  the WCC.

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