The future of common prayer, Edited by Stephen Burns, and Robert Gribben, Coventry Press, 2020
The keyword in the title of this book is ‘we’. What is going on when we gather together and pray in unison?
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Category: Stories & Feature Articles
During its Mission Planning process in 2018 one of the disturbing learnings for Star St Uniting Church in Carlisle was that we were virtually invisible in our local community.
While our building is on a busy intersection, it is not immediately identifiable as a church – many locals thought it was part of a nearby nursing home, or a business or offices. A few years ago an attractive mural to symbolise our church had been created on an outside wall, but it was clear we needed more. Few local residents knew about our church, what we did or what we stood for.
Christian knitters for climate action will today gift parliamentarians with scarves depicting climate data through coloured stripes.
The scarves are part of Common Grace’s Knit for Climate Action initiative, inviting Christians from across Australia to knit a scarf with 101 stripes.
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Iraqi Cigar
CARAD’s Fare Go Food Truck serves up delicious food at markets and events around Perth, while employing and empowering refugees and asylum seekers. To celebrate Refugee Week, Sunday 20 to Saturday 26 June, CARAD have shared this fantastic recipe from their food truck menu.
Try this recipe at home, or if you’re in Perth, keep an eye out for the Fare Go Food Truck at an event near you. This week they’ll be at the Perth launch of Refugee Week on Monday 21 June at Uniting Church in the City, Wesley Perth.
Find out more about CARAD’s Fare Go Food Truck at carad.org.au/fare-go-food-truck
Ingredients
1 packet of spring roll pastry (20 sheets per packet)
Fresh mint to taste
Fresh parsley to taste
3 tablespoons of dried onion flakes
½ a teaspoon of Lemon zest or lemon pepper
½ teaspoon of Baharat spices
½ teaspoon of garlic powder
300g feta or ricotta cheese
300g cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Chop the parsley and mint finely and mix with the cheeses with the Baharat spices, dried onion flakes, lemon pepper, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mix to a dough consistency.
Place a small amount of filling in the centre of the spring roll pastry, and roll up.
Deep fry three cigars at a time until they are crispy and golden.
Serve with salad, topped with tahini sauce.
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Can we be reconciled?
It is often said the two highlights of the Christian calendar are Christmas and Easter, that in many ways could be described as ‘bookends’, coming at the beginning and end of the Jesus story.
However, as we all know, it is what came afterwards that is critically important, not only for the life of the church, but for our individual lives as well. Personally, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which we now celebrate, is at the core of my understanding of the Christian faith.
Uniting WA are proud to support hundreds of people experiencing homelessness every day, but there are still up to 900 people sleeping rough across Perth every night and more than 9 000 people experiencing homelessness in WA.
With Winter and the cold weather now upon us, it has never been more important to support people experiencing crisis and homelessness.
Uniting WA’s recently renovated Tranby Engagement Hub provides all the basic services you would expect from a homelessness service, as well as some you might not. It’s the first purpose-designed-and-built crisis intervention space in WA that supports an active referral and engagement service model for people experiencing homelessness.
A simple: “How can we help you?” to every person that walks through the door marks the beginning of a support journey that includes all the basic services you’d expect, as well as some you might not. As well as access to food, showers, laundry and medical support, the Tranby Engagement Hub also provides customised support that’s focused on understanding the individual needs of each person we meet and working with them to identify the challenges they need to overcome to move forward in their lives.
But together, we can do more.
Your donation will help Uniting WA provide more warm breakfasts, showers and wellbeing packs, and enable them to support more people with the understanding and support they need to achieve positive outcomes that drive long-term change in their lives.
Learn more about how you can help and donate today.
Sock appeal
Did you know that socks are the #1 requested item at homelessness centres globally? A clean pair of socks can make the world of difference to someone experiencing homelessness. And they’re in short supply. Uniting WA are welcoming socks for men, women and children in all sizes, which can be donated at your local Uniting Church.
To learn more about the Uniting Sock Appeal, visit the website.
Yuko Tonai-Moore often brings fresh air to Uniting Church WA gatherings. She’s bright, kind and gentle, and passionate about her journey with God.
Growing up in Japan, Yuko came to Perth, Australia, with her family as a teenager. She didn’t grow up Christian, but her childhood was influenced by Buddhism, Shintoism, and Christianity.
A special Pentecost Sunday service was held yesterday, which aimed to bring together Uniting Church members from all generations and cultures.
It was the end of an era for Rev David De Kock, who gave his last sermon as General Secretary of the Synod of Western Australia before he retires on 31 May.
Questions for Faith Seeking Understanding, by William Loader, Cascade Books, 2020
This recently published book was written by William (Bill) Loader, a well-known and respected New Testament scholar. The book is subtitled ‘Questions for Faith Seeking Understanding’, hoping to address how the New Testament should be interpreted.
The book is dedicated to people “who love their faith and want to take it seriously and engage their minds to embrace it.” It comprises of three major sections about faith, hope and love, looking at it from the perspective of love, with Jesus being the main focus throughout.
Faith – what can love believe? Hope – what can love hope for? Love – what can love do?
At the end of the book is an afterword, which gives the reader a look into William’s journey of faith and scholarship with a link to an earlier published book called ‘Dear Kim, this is what I believe: explaining the Christian faith today’.
by Leigh Sales, Penguin Group Australia, 2018
Any Ordinary Day, written by ABC’s 7.30 news and current affairs host, Leigh Sales, explores blindsides, resilience and what happens after the ‘worst’ day of your life.
Sales gives an honest account of what Juliet Darling, Stuart Diver, Louisa Hope, Walter Mikac, Hannah Richell, James Scott and Michael Spence went through and tries to honour their experiences and the lives of those who were loved and lost.
In Any Ordinary Day, Sales explores with in-depth interviews and extensive research the effect of life-changing events and the strength, hope and humour which assisted ordinary people, on ordinary days, to navigate their way through an extraordinary event. She asks the questions we’re often too afraid to ask, but we all think about.
Some of those interviewed are people of faith and they share how their faith played a role in working through the event. Whether they’re people of faith or not, it’s the resilience and optimism of human nature, as well as those around them, that shines through.