When peace like a river…

 The Board of Trustees of the Parliament of the World’s Religions--after much thought, prayer and heartfelt deliberation, realizing the complex and critical situation at hand--issues the following non-unanimous statement: 

Now that the Referendum is over, it prompts us, as a church…

God of Comfort,
send your Spirit to encompass all those whose lives
are torn apart by violence and death in Israel and Palestine.
You are the Advocate of the oppressed
and the One whose eye is on the sparrow.
Let arms reach out in healing, rather than aggression.
Let hearts mourn rather than militarize.

“Let us become a new spring and feel the breeze drift in the heaven's scent.’’ Rumi

The first song in the Sing a New Song collection is called: “Sing a New Song!”  It is a joyful praise song, with the words selected from the Psalms. 

“Alice is my little sister and now you are my friend too. “ said Uncle K

Our vision has always been about what it means to care for our neighbour as we do ourselves. In our families and local communities, on a national platform and at a world-wide level we are confronted with the call to care for ourselves, others and our planet.

I have a tree in my back garden that was ‘not well’ according to the horticulturalist who came to visit me several months ago. I thought it a spectacular tree - it had glossy leaves, and sometimes flowers. It has the fancy name of a Port Wine Magnolia, though if you know this species you will know that you have to look hard to see the purple flowers. The harsh prognosis from the gardener was ”It has scale and needs to be severely pruned before I can do anything about it.” I was horrified!.....

It is time for an update about the transformation process for the church in Australia. I have been hearing through the grape vine that some people have questions and some have concerns around what has been happening.