Opinion

Spiritually motivated art enriches us by its affirmation of our faith, laid bare through the artist’s own struggle to search out meaning, says Queensland artist Marion McConaghy. As an artist, I am often taken off-guard by the impulse to create. When visiting my brother the other day, I discovered him dismantling his wooden sawhorse. Three splintered pieces lay discarded at ...

Indigenous communities in remote and urban areas experience heightened levels of disadvantage in spite of government commitments, says Sue Hutchinson. The Australian Government made a formal commitment in 2008 to close the gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in health, housing, early childhood, education, economic participation and remote service delivery. The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) set measurable targets in ...

One of the most powerful Easter experiences I have had was attending Albert Street Uniting Church in Brisbane City. Sure, the heritage-listed building surrounded by intricate stained-glass windows flooding warm colours down the walls is stunning, but it was a different kind of art that moved me. Under the pulpit was the head of Christ, as seen on the cover ...

Tropical cyclone Evan struck the Samoan island group on 13 December, bringing death and destruction. Indooroopilly Uniting Church member Paul Tomane returned to his village in Samoa in early January to help family and friends, and he describes the weeks that followed. The island of Upolu, where the capital Apia is located, bore the brunt of the 150km/ hour strong ...

The Year of Discipleship is part of the Uniting Church in Queensland's Vision 2020, focusing on the call to form active and accountable disciples of all ages. This month, Geoff Thompson explores how the church is re-claiming this concept. Jesus once asked his disciples who the people said he was. Apparently some thought he was John the Baptist, some Elijah, ...

Welcome to a new-look Journey! The Uniting Communications team is excited to bring you this refreshed publication. Thank you to those who participated in our 2012 readership survey. Your feedback is invaluable and will assist us to deliver even better content in the coming year. Regular readers will notice a few changes (other than our new design by Uniting Communications ...

Lance Armstrong is being harshly judged in the court of public opinion, the same court in which he willingly sought acclaim. He has chosen not to play the game by the rules of the sport that brought him so much fame and financial reward, says ethicist Trevor Jordon. As much as we would love sport to be a venue for ...

I once signed up for an elective called "Radical Discipleship" at a youth camp. It wasn't quite what I expected. I had been a committed Christian for about five years and I was ready to stretch into following Jesus in a more radical way. I thought that radicals were the ones who would turn up at street marches, call the ...

IN the outcry about the exemptions granted to faith-based organisations in the federal government's proposed anti-discrimination legislation, the fact that some of these very organisations think differently has been largely overlooked. For some churches, freedom of religion does not mean the freedom to discriminate. Across many church agencies, a commitment to non-discriminatory employment is keenly observed in the employment of ...

WE, young leaders in the Uniting Church in Australia, believe in a God of love, whose will for the world is justice, reconciliation and peace. As "pilgrim people", we are called to continually discern where God calls us to act. We feel passionately about these issues and we commit ourselves to action. We are concerned by domestic policies that punish ...