Opinion

By Reverend Janet Staines The book of Ruth is a woman’s story. It holds the many tensions that are familiar to women’s stories: barrenness and fruitfulness, old age and youth, isolation and community, tradition and creativity, with the movement from emptiness to fullness. It is a story of a relationship between two women within whom resides the means of hope ...

By Rev Andrew Gunton, Moderator, Uniting Church in Australia Queensland Synod.  Do you have a close companion who supports you on your journey through life? Maybe if you’re fortunate enough, you might have a few people who continue to support you, to love you, and to hold you close in the times when the going gets tough. In the biblical ...

By Paul Wetzig, Project Officer – Discipleship. I’ve recently found myself in a couple of situations where I’ve had to engage with neighbours who have been less than neighbourly in the way they’ve treated me and, in some instances, deeply wounded me. Confronted by these situations, I’ve been forced to consider how it is that Jesus would ask me to ...

By Dr John Harrison, Senior Lecturer in Journalism & Professional Communication, School of Communication & Arts, The University of Queensland.  The book of Ruth is a series of journeys. Naomi journeys to Moab. Naomi and Ruth journey back to Judah. The more important of the journeys is that of Ruth from her home in Moab to Bethlehem in Judah, which ...

By Fernando Torres, Activate Coordinator – Trinity College.  Jonah’s journey is also my journey. No, I wasn’t called to travel and preach in Nineveh, nor did I arrive in Australia in the belly of a fish – it would have been way cheaper, though! …but the more I “read my own life”, the more I realise that the stories in ...

By Doug Foster, Ministry Agent Coordinator.  Have you ever been lost? I have on a few occasions, but the fact I can write this indicates that this lostness was not permanent. Instead of lost, I call it “temporarily displaced”. Jonah reminds us that we can be temporarily displaced from faithfully following God in one of two ways. Firstly, we can ...

By Steve Webster, Mission Facilitator – Transforming Communities The supermarket has often been the scene of many a toddler communicating their annoyance at their parent or guardian’s refusal to purchase a much-desired item of their choice. The crying, screaming, and yelling on the floor has often brought upon many a red face of embarrassment.  It’s a scene I’m sure many of ...

By Andrew McKaysmith, Office of the Synod Writer and Content Creator As Christians, we know that life is a journey, and every journey has its own set of challenges and obstacles. However, the beauty of the Christian faith is that we are not alone on this journey. We have a God who walks with us, guiding us every step of ...

By Paul Wetzig, Project Officer – Discipleship.  It’s not often you get to carry a cross through the streets of Brisbane on a cool, rainy morning as a family. In fact it’s only once a year for us. For the last few years we’ve made it part of our Good Friday practice to join West End Uniting Church in a ...

By Richard Moor, Children Youth and Families Pastor, Southside Uniting. “Our church is getting older”, or “We don’t have any young people.” We are used to these comments. You have probably been aware for a while that there seems to be a problem with our churches connecting with young people. The book points out that church numbers are declining, and ...