Opinion

IS dark chocolate yummy or yuck? Do strawberries taste sweet or disgusting? Are swings fun to play on or do they make you sick? What do you think? Did someone else tell you or have you tried these things for yourself and made up your own mind? Sometimes we just have to give things a go and discover what they ...

OUR daughter, Naomi, teaches prep in Proserpine. Last week I asked her if the children were learning letters and numbers yet. “Mum,” she replied, “first they have to learn how to sit on the carpet, put their hand up and take turns to ask a question.” A lot of learning happens before the learning can begin; you need to build ...

WHEN I was younger, before I was married, I used to think that for a girl to love me she would have to take me as I am – uncombed hair, shower once a week, stained clothes and picky eating habits. If a girl really loved me, she would look past these surface issues and see the real me. Fortunately, ...

Gathering together and celebrating God’s will. Amelie Toop, 9, Wynnum. Fun, praying and singing songs about God. Andie Lang, 6, Moura. To have fun and praise God. Finlay Niemi, 10, Charters Towers. Being connected. Finn Jewell,10, Oxley. Caring for each other and God’s world. Gillian Watson, 10, Indooroopilly. Belonging to Jesus’ family. Isabella Lamb, 8, Tingalpa. Sing and learn about ...

HOW often do you receive emails with funny photos of church signs? They’re often very witty, clever and laugh-out-loud funny. While browsing Twitter recently, I came across a similar topic (if you’re a Twitter user, search for #churchsigns). Curious, I followed the hashtag and found a whole list of church signs, some of which were mildly amusing, some confusing, and ...

YOU know that you belong when you turn up and they have a name tag for you. At the very least they will feed you. But is that the same as belonging? It might just mean that the efficient electronic registration system has you on the list. It doesn’t mean that you will feel welcome and included. I recently attended ...

IN the synod offi ce we are calling 2012 the year of belonging. It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Back in July our communications team, now known as Uniting Communications, got together to nut out our mission statement. What we came up with inspires everything we do. Here it is: In serving God, Uniting Communications will inspire, ...

WHEN I was in Year Seven at Moggill State School I started attending the Rays Group at the local Methodist Church. One evening we played a game in which we were issued five matches each. We were given the challenge of circulating the hall asking questions. But the rule was that you could not answer using either “yes” or “no”. ...

TWAS THE night before Synod and all through the house everyone wanted to hear how the consensus model of voting worked. After a fascinating day at Pilgrim Learning Community’s REFUEL: School of theology, at Caloundra Uniting Church, I spent the night with family who have never been part of the Uniting Church. Perplexed by what I was about to embark ...

This year Journey explored questions from the pews, namely from a (fictitious) person exploring faith and the Uniting Church. This month Nova B Lever asks: MY TEAM didn’t win the school Christmas trivia night. We seemed to miss some of the minor details in the coming of God to dwell amongst us! (I’d use the term Emmanuel except some of ...