Letters

Well done, Margaret Referring to your article in February Journey regarding 2016 Australia Day Awards recipients, I would like to advise that Mrs Margaret Buchanan was awarded the Ipswich City Council Senior Citizen Award for 2016. Margaret has been a church member since 1951. She has been involved with music programs for residents at Lauriston Nursing Centre from 1972, firstly ...

Super exemption call self-serving I was interested to read about Uniting Church ministers wanting to be exempt from the government’s changes to superannuation (“Not so super: Retirement incomes slashed”, February 2016, page five). What makes them think that they are alone in this? Many of us will be affected by the changes. Let’s all be exempt! This change is a measure ...

Palestine resolution It was reported in the Australian, (“Uniting Church in Australia faces backlash on anti-Israel boycott”, Tuesday 15 December, page 3) that the Uniting Church Assembly had decided to embrace the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement. Uniting Church president, Stuart McMillan, said the church had “encouraged members to be informed and to consider personally boycotting” goods produced “within ...

Love each other in Christ’s name I am very proud of all that the Uniting Church is doing in terms of social justice. Well may Jesus tell the parable of the “Good Muslim” as Lesley Bryant suggests (“The truth shall set you free”, November 2015, page 10). We should, of course, show love to and dialogue with Muslims. Ellen Degeneres ...

Power of plain language I loved the moderator’s comment about needing the “power of the Spirit” to interpret some financial reports (“The Spirit is abroad in the world”, October 2015, page four). For example, the article on page 18 of the October edition tells me (as one who sits in the congregation) what the current financial position of the Synod ...

Knowing where to stand First and foremost, I want to say I’m thrilled that we are talking about feminism in relation to faith (“Storming the old boys’ club”, September 2015, page six). But I must stress the importance of understanding our movement in order to speak with authority on it. We don’t need to be experts, but making errors on ...

Gratitude to Francis Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si is not expensive in book form. I have read it carefully. The pope is in a unique position to address people worldwide on the challenges facing the human family and our “common home”. As he says, it concerns us all. Each of us can do something; together we can do more. Leaders ...

Women and men should be in equal partnership I read in the July Journey about the proposal for the Uniting Church Adult Fellowship to encourage “participation from all cultural groups in women’s fellowships” (“Multicultural women’s fellowships proposed”, page 19). I certainly agree that as a church we should be actively encouraging the involvement of all cultural groups in our churches ...

Why change? I agree with all the letters in the May issue of Journey. There is nothing to talk about, God’s word is clear. He made Eve. No I am not narrow-minded, these gay people have been around since the year dot but it was always kept quiet. Why should we change ways for them? All the publicity they get ...

The following three letters are in regard to the article “Uniting Church marches with pride”, April 2015, page 10. Don’t talk about it We wish to lodge a complaint about the article in Journey about Uniting Church members marching in the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, stating they were also going to do it again in 2016. We truly ...