Greetings, I wonder how you are feeling about our new community?  Is it too early to tell?  Is it how you imagined it?  This week the Interim Church Council has gathered for its first meeting, and council members have got to know a little more about each other, and so becoming community continues. Over the…

Greetings, During our journey through Lent and Holy Week, we have experienced a myriad of emotions.  After the grief of Good Friday and the emptiness of Saturday, we found hope and joy on Easter Day when we heard again the news of the resurrection and were reminded of God’s grace. I wonder how long we…

Greetings, During this Lenten Season we have been Meeting God in the midst of extremes.  In this journey we have been reminded of how Jesus’ ministry disrupted the established social, political and religious divides of the time, and we have witnessed him meet people in the spaces they find themselves, time and time again. As…

Greetings, A Franciscan blessing came across my emails this week.  It’s a beautiful but challenging prayer that invites us to recognise the cost of following Jesus to Jerusalem.  Jesus’ donkey ride cost him everything.  I wonder what the journey might cost us? The blessing reads … May God bless us with discomfort – discomfort at…

Greetings, As I sit at my desk and wonder how I am going to manage the competing demands of the next few weeks, I look across at my desk calendar to see this text … God is greater than your need, closer than your next breath, and stronger than your every weakness. This is the…

Greetings, It was wonderful to worship together as a new community last week.  There was a buzz in the air and a positive energy around the place.  Yet in the midst of all that positivity, I have the feeling that some of us are feeling a little lost.  The space is new, or at least…

Greetings … … and welcome to the first edition of the Koonung Heights – Surrey Hills Uniting Church Community News.  My thanks to the new team who will bring us this publication each week, reminding us of church activities and different ways to be involved. As we gather to worship this Sunday, we will mark…

Greetings … I have been pondering what to write in my final Minister’s Greeting for the Koonung Heights Community News.  I have said a lot in this space and as I wondered what might be helpful today, some song words came to me that I think have relevance for where we are.  The song is…

Greetings …We have entered the season of Lent for another year, coming together on Ash Wednesday, to reflect Jesus setting his face towards Jerusalem, and his followers’intentions and actions. As we pause to think about our response, in light of this, we are invited to commit to align our own intentions and actions more closely.…

Greetings … This coming Sunday is Transfiguration of Jesus Sunday – the day when Jesus’ personal appearance was changed into a glorified form which showed something more than the disciples had seen before.  This story is amazing, but I wonder if the most amazing thing is not Jesus’ transformation, but the way this encounter transformed…