Greetings … Did you hear the news that Australia managed to win the first test of the current Ashes series!  I did and I was very happy.  For my family this was important news and I knew they would be happy too. We usually watch cricket together as a family, but not this time.  Tony…

Greetings … Continuing on from last week, here is another prayer from the Uniting in Prayer Season.  This prayer was written by Rev Rod Fisher, Minister at The Gap Uniting Church, Queensland, while on the Isle of Iona in Scotland, a thin place of prayer, deep spirituality and pilgrimage for generations.           God who is…

Greetings … During the Uniting in Prayer program, running from 28 May to 22 June, different prayers are being shared each day.  I’d like to share part of one with you now, written by Rev Dr Sarah Agnew, Uniting Church minister, poet and storyteller.           We pray for the cities in which we live,          …

Greetings … Last Sunday we celebrated Pentecost, reading the text from Acts 2, and recalling the coming of the Holy Spirit in a way that was transformational to those present.  It is after this, that we see what many call the beginnings of the Christian church emerging. Currently, the Uniting Church is participating in a…

Greetings … This coming Sunday we celebrate Pentecost, but it is also Reconciliation Sunday in the Uniting Church as it falls in Reconciliation Week (27 May to 3 June).  While these are both distinct events, it seems to me that they do have something in common.  The first Pentecost was a coming together of a…

Greetings … So the last week didn’t end up the way I had planned.  I had lots of things in the diary – I had intended to be a variety of meetings, I had expected to be at worship with everyone last Sunday, I had planned afternoon tea with the family for Mother’s Day.  Instead…

Greetings … ‘I come not to be served but to serve.’ If you watched the coronation of King Charles III you would have heard these words recently, for they formed part of the vows he made.  They were an echo of what his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, promised when she was crowned in June 1953. …

Greetings … Saturday 13 May is World Fair Trade Day.  Held every year since 2004, the day is about promoting the principles and products of fair trade.  The day was initially set aside by the World Trade Fair Organisation with the aim of commemorating progress made around the world with issues relating to fair trade. …

Greetings … During the past week our electronic sign has read Lest we forget. Pray for peace, a message chosen especially for this week.  I was thinking about these words when Elizabeth and I attended our local dawn service on Tuesday morning.  As we were commemorating the local servicemen who had lost their lives, and…

Greetings … This week I have been feeling excited and proud of our congregation when thinking about the Five Leaf Eco-Awards that we have worked hard for.  It will be a delight to receive them.  At the same time, however, I realise that it doesn’t stop here, and I recognise that there is so much…