By Jennie Gordon
St. Margaret’s Uniting Church, Mooroolbark

(Matthew 10:40-42)

when all else fails
and I have chased my tail
through circuitous paths
of panic
trying to
do it all
I falter and I fall;
and
you reach into my
wanton, wasted haste
and lift me up

offering a simple cup
of cold water welcome

refreshed, rebuked, reminded,
I recall
that you were sent to send

and my part is to simply walk
the way you go
and, in doing so
your continuous contagious
welcome
has no end

Rev. Sally Douglas
Highlands Cluster Uniting Church

At the heart of Christian faith is the belief that Jesus is not just your ordinary guy. It is not just that Christians believe that Jesus is a good teacher, or prophet. Instead, Christian belief is that in Jesus there is something more going on. For Christians, it is not just that Jesus reaches some higher level of enlightenment because of his closeness to the Divine.

Something stranger and more profound is claimed by Christians. (more…)

By Caro Field
Candidate for Ministry at Centre for Theology and Ministry

I am excited.

I am currently in the middle of the “Uniting Church Studies” intensive at the CTM, which started on Tuesday, with a brief introduction to the history of the three traditions (Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregationalist) that formed the Uniting Church on 22nd June 1977. As someone who came into the Uniting Church fairly recently (only about 17 years ago) I only have experience of the UCA as it now exists, so the background on the history and the origin of some of our traditions was helpful. (more…)

(Matthew 10:24-39)

By Jennie Gordon
St. Margaret’s Uniting Church, Mooroolbark

were I not
to shout this whisper out…

this whisper
placental-fed into my inner dark,
burden of blessing

incubated
in childhood chimera
fed by faithful family
and nourished by names now unrecalled
with the sheer
impossibility of being
worth at least as much
as a sparrow

were I not
to shout this whisper out

it would erupt
volcanic, of it’s own volition
spewing it’s story
in a random ruptured riot

because love’s whisper
must be birthed
despite the cost

for what is born
is never lost

By Jennie Gordon
St. Margaret’s Uniting Church, Mooroolbark

is the problem
that we can’t make it work
we can’t fix it;
so we give up
resigned to keep on
watching wandering sheep

or have we
become numb;
hard hearts
unmoved, but beating
deaf to the misplaced flock’s
harassed and helpless
bleating

summon us again
call us out by name
the same
as when we dived
into baptismal waters
and became
your sons and daughters

speak into
our stuck and static souls
with simple clout
so we can love with your love
and shepherd the captives out

By Adrian Pyle
Director of Mission Participation Resource Unit
Uniting Church in Australia
Vic / Tas Synod

I have been musing over the levels of consciousness apparent in the Hebrew scripture as I have been writing some pieces about stages of life in faith communities. Philosopher Rene Girard wrote that in Hebrew scriptures (and in the Christian scriptures) there is a constant movement amongst the three levels of consciousness (the law, the prophetic voice and wisdom) as people grasp wisdom and then lose it. Girard hence referred to the Bible as a “text in travail” because of this “getting and losing.” And of course those of us who have adopted these scriptures as a narrative for our lives recognize the same pattern of “getting and losing” in our own lives. So in writing about these three levels of consciousness for our individual lives and for our life in community I am writing about the need to keep them in healthy relationship or in a constant dance in which all levels of consciousness participate. (more…)

By Jennie Gordon
St. Margaret’s Uniting Church, Mooroolbark

mercy walks
past our preoccupation
and calls
“follow me”

mercy eats away
at our exclusiveness
and shouts
“come in”

mercy senses
suffering’s touch
and sighs
“take heart”

mercy reaches
into death
and silently
holds us by the hand
until we stand

By Antony McMullen
Social Justice Officer
Justice and International Mission Unit
Synod of Victoria and Tasmania

There are a lot of people who have mental illness and all sorts of other disadvantages that get in the way of their meeting very complicated and very much more rigorous requirements. And the former government set in place a regime that wouldn’t allow Centrelink to tag a very large number of those people as vulnerable. And so there is no doubt the system has penalised some of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens. And I have to tell you that makes me ashamed to be an Australian.

– David Thompson, Jobs Australia (2008)

The Justice & International Mission Unit has been highlighting problems in relation to the Australian social security system for some time now.

The 2008 media headline, Welfare cut-offs double in 8 months (The Australian 15/04), provided a stark reminder to readers of the “3 strike rule” which has resulted in people - many of whom are Indigenous Australians - being deprived of their social security payments. In 2006-07, the first year of the scheme, called ‘Welfare to Work’, 15,509 non-payment penalties were imposed, and in the following eight months to February 2008, 31,789 more penalties were applied. (more…)