National Sorry Day 2013

Mural of The Holy Spirit in Our Land (David Busch)

Mural The Holy Spirit in Our Land

A Sorry Day Gathering will be held around the fireplace at the Australian Centre for Christianity & Culture (ACC&C), in order to reflect on the impact of the policies of past governments’ permitting the forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. There will be opportunity to acknowledge and say ‘sorry’ for the churches’ involvement in a policy that was so destructive to Indigenous people and their culture. The gathering will be co-hosted by the ACC&C, The National Sorry Day Committee and Canberra City Uniting Church.

You are invited to come and join in the circle seated round the fire in a spirit of reconciliation from 4.30 pm – 6.00 pm Sunday 26th May at The Fireplace, Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture 15 Blackall Street, Barton, ACT. All are welcome. A sausage sizzle will be provided. Enquiries: Rev. Ivan Roberts 6257 4600.
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Documents from 2013 Synod

Here’s a collection of reports and presentations from the 2013 NSW/ACT Synod meeting held in Sydney in April, as promised to treasurers who attended a meeting recently hosted by the Canberra Region Presbytery. Neil King, executive director for Treasury and Investments, presented material on behalf of John Kitchener and Bill Tobin to the gathering of congregational treasurers.

Uniting Church NSW/ACT Red Ribbon

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Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Faith and unity NCCA

“What does God require of us?”
(cf Micah 6:6-8)

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 12-19 May 2013 “What does God require of us? has been prepared by the Student Christian Movement of India.

In the contemporary Dalit situation, Micah’s insistence on the moral element of our faith requires us to ask ourselves what God truly requires of us: mere sacrifices, or to walk with God in justice and peace. The path of Christian discipleship involves walking the path of justice, mercy and humility.

The metaphor of “walking” has been chosen to link together the 8 days of prayer because, as an active, intentional and ongoing act, the metaphor of walking communicates the dynamism which characterizes Christian discipleship.

In Canberra, the week of prayer will conclude with a Prayer Gathering on the 19th May  at 4pm in the Chapel of the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, 15 Blackall St Barton, organised by the ACT Churches Council.
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Living life at the top

Living life at the top100 Reflections on Abundant Life
$9.95 RRP

The North Queensland Presbytery of the Uniting Church is physically at the top of Australia and, as it says on its home page, in ways far more than geographically, seeks to be “at the top”. Paul Clark, author of the Car Park Parable Series and minister at the Redcliffe Uniting Church in Queensland, has been lead writer for the At the Top Radio Spots which were developed in 2009 to promote the Nth Qld Uniting Church. The “Spots” are now on Radio across Australia and since 2012 Paul has been working directly with 96.5FM Radio Brisbane to write and record new spots monthly.

The book, Living Life At the Top, is a collection of the first 100 spots and can be used for personal or group reflection/devotion, as an outreach resource, sermon starter, etc.

Click here to find out more about At the Top Radio spots. Click here to find out more about the book and place an order.

Church’s core business

The Uniting Church President speaks to NSW/ACT Synod, 13-16 April 2013

Click here for Synod 2013 photos.

Rev Dr Andrew DutneySpeaking on the first day of the Synod meeting at Knox Grammar in Wahroonga, the President of the Uniting Church in Australia, the Rev. Professor Andrew Dutney, told Synod members that the church’s core business as the body of Christ was to discern what God would have us be and do in mission “by [looking to each other and] discerning what gifts the Spirit is giving to the members of our fellowship”.

He also said that Nehemiah, in rebuilding Jerusalem, had given up his place at the centre of things and gone to the edges to be with returning exiles who were defenceless, poor, at odds with each other and sliding into a new period of slavery.
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