JourneyOnline
Welcome back to Journey and I hope the Christmas holiday period gave you an opportunity to relax, reflect on the year that was and refresh for the year that will be.
2017 promises to be something of a wild ride as we buckle up for a certain businessman taking over the White House but there have been enough rivers of ink—physical and digital—spilled on speculating how Trump will shape the future. All I can say is that given that many of the “expert” journalists went into the last weeks of the election predicting a safe Clinton victory after months of repeatedly writing off Trump as “finished” after various scandals emerged or were manufactured, they may want to rethink the Nostradamus impersonations for a little while.
One thing we can say for certain is that 2017 will be a big year for the Uniting Church as we celebrate its fortieth birthday and to mark the occasion we’ll be putting an article in each edition this year highlighting an aspect of the church that makes it special. This month I’m looking at 1977 and the challenges, excitement and hope surrounding the inauguration period (page 10). It’s a good opportunity to consider what we can learn from the birth of this uniquely Australian church to help carry us into the future, and some key figures from the period offer their thoughts.
Our “Humans of UCA” profile (page 14) is Rev Monique Mawbey and her moving story from the Dutch Reformed Church to the Uniting Church is testament to the importance of questioning in faith.
In the odious Queensland summer heat, a nice cold glass of beer or wine is a regular fixture at BBQs and parties, but Dianne Jensen’s fascinating look at temperance (page 7) for our latest entry in the “Whatever happened to …” series might make you rethink whether you need the “demon drink” in your life. Cheers !
Once seen as the refuge for the desperate, online dating is now the mainstream for finding love but it can still be a minefield to navigate the wide range of sites and cornucopia of profiles out there. In her final feature as a Journey writer, Ashley Thompson speaks with various couples who found connection over their Internet connection, and offers advice for those Christians signing up (page 12).
Thank you Ashley for your contributions as a writer and for managing the magazine’s advertising over the past three years, and all the best with your new endeavours.
Ben Rogers
Cross-platform editor
Hi! Is the PDF available? Or are you not doing that anymore?
Hi Rohan. Thanks for the comment. We will no longer be producing a PDF version but you can still find nearly all of the magazine’s content by clicking on the FEBRUARY2017 on this page. This will bring up all the articles from the February 2017 edition.