Tag: Easter

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Stories & Feature Articles

Did Jesus survive Easter?

Of course he did! Easter celebrates the faith of the first disciples that Jesus’ death was not the end. God raised him to new life.

He did not survive in the sense of not really dying. For he died in one of the bloodiest ways possible, executed on a cross: dead for all to see. When, as the earliest records tell us, Peter reported that Jesus appeared to him in Galilee, despair turned to hope, disappointment to joy. It generated stories and experiences.

It was not that Jesus was to be found wandering around Galilee or Judea in flesh and blood. Rather they spoke of Jesus appearing and disappearing, clearly understanding his resurrection as like the spiritual resurrections expected at the climax of history.

But what did it mean that God raised Jesus from the dead?

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Stories & Feature Articles

Hope and renewal in the cross

One of the most moving services in the Christian year occurs on Good Friday when we retell the story of Jesus’ crucifixion. The story involves betrayal, lies and violence.

Our world is awash in violence be it terrorism, the war on terror, street violence, domestic violence, or violence against creation. The rhetoric of violence is alive and well among a number of world leaders. The recent Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has unearthed systemic violence and abuse against vulnerable young people.

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7 ways to fast for Lent

Lent, a 40-day spiritual season for Christians around the world, begins on Wednesday 14 February. It is a time to fast, reorder our lives and take stock of our relationship with God. If you are planning on fasting this Lent, here are some ideas to get you started.

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News & Announcements

Pancake Day supporting community

Pancake Day at Dongara Uniting Church has become a celebrated event around the town. Having started their event back some years ago when it was a Uniting Church WA sponsored event, the  congregation have continued running Pancake Day as a local fundraising activity for community services provided through their church.

Setting up a dining area at the church, with a yellow tent they bring out each year, the event is quite popular. Guests can dine in, or pancakes are also delivered to local businesses.

Wendy Small, from Dongara Uniting Church, said that the event is well supported by the town.

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Easter art exploring loss, grief, oppression and mortality

Uniting Church in the City, Wesley Perth, one of the oldest and iconic churches in Perth, is for the eighth time preparing to present the Stations of the Cross Art Exhibition at Easter.

This year, the commissioned artists – who hail from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds – were asked to focus on the embodiment of humanity within their works and to engage in  interfaith dialogue by exploring universal experiences such as loss, grief, oppression and mortality. Through a variety of forms – including painting, sculpture, photography and textiles – the  exhibition bridges between sacred stories and the issues and events that are present in our contemporary world.

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News & Announcements

A meaningful week at Willetton

On Good Friday this year, about 50 members of Willetton Uniting Church were treated to hot cross buns with their usual coffee after church, at Lois and John Murdock’s home in Shelley.

It was a very meaningful week for the congregation, beginning with the choir working hard to sing at two of the services, and the final Bible Study session “The Gift of New Creation – Lent” by Thomas L Ehrich.

The study is based on the Revised Common Lectionary and provided six weeks of thoughtful discussion led by our minister, Rev Lorraine Stokes.

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News & Announcements

Stations of the Cross: an Easter journey

Uniting Church in the City, Wesley Perth, one of Perth’s oldest and most iconic churches, is for the seventh time preparing to present the Stations of the Cross Art Exhibition at Easter this year.

Fifteen Western Australian visual artists, representing some of our finest creative talents, have been selected and have commenced preparing their works. The artists have each been challenged to select a station that follows the final days in the life of Jesus. The individual artworks will reflect the artist’s own interpretation of the biblical story, while collectively forming an exhibition that promises to take visitors on a journey around the true meaning and spirit of Easter.

As in previous years, the artists will find contemporary analogies that will respond to the human drama played out in the traditional narrative of the Easter story.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Act, reflect, connect: Getting the balance right

At 11.45 every morning, three soothing bells chime out from my iPhone. “Do you want to meditate?” comes the helpful enquiry from my screen, sent each day without fail by my ‘Mindfulness’  app (with handy alerts and tools to track my progress as an enlightened member of the human race).

I glance at my screen. “Seriously? Meditate now? I’m driving/typing/hanging out washing/reading at my child’s school/masterminding the incoming reign of peace and justice for the world.  Maybe later…”

The philosopher Socrates famously suggested that the unexamined life was not worth living. It’s a pretty bold statement. Are we all to be philosophers, floating through life clad in yoga pants, clutching our Mindfulness apps and gazing earnestly at our navels? Or did Socrates have something more balanced in mind?

Church communities have typically been big on reflection – worship, preaching, Bible study and prayer all encourage us to examine our lives carefully. For me, no matter what chaos the week  has held, our lay preachers seldom fail to produce the gem of an idea to polish throughout the week. Too often, though, nothing much happens beyond mental activity. I find it relatively easy to ponder. It’s harder to act. And there’s been no shortage of criticism fired at the church over exactly this tendency.

How do we get the balance right between thought, belief and action?

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