I have been married to my bicycle-riding husband for more than 30 years and I still don't get it. How can all that pain and sweat be so satisfying? He likes competition and he likes challenging himself. He has ridden across the Simpson Desert and East Timor. At school I was always in the B team for softball, hockey and ...

THIS Anzac Day, Dogs NSW pays tribute to those dogs that provided assistance to soldiers during times of war overseas. “Dogs have served in the Australian military going right back to World War 1. They played an important part in the Vietnam War and are still involved in Afghanistan and other current campaigns. Canines in combat provide outstanding help to ...

UnitingWorld is partnering with Inspired Adventures to offer a team of people the chance to trek through the Himalayas, visit Development projects and engage in inter-faith action with our partner church in North India in September. Together, the team will raise at least $75 000, enough to cover the costs of UnitingWorld’s education projects in Amritsar for a whole year. ...

After twenty years of travelling across the Asia-Pacific region spreading seeds of peace, the founder of Young Ambassadors for Peace (YAP), Uniting Church Peacemaker, Joy Balazo had indicated an intention to retire. Joy has decided it’s time to ‘dirty her hands’ in the soil of her home island of Mindanao in the Philippines. On this International Day of Peace National ...

On 6 June 2011, The Uniting Church in Australia became a signatory to the following statement: The Australian debate about asylum policy has now degenerated to the point where the central argument seems to be about which inhumane policy will cause the least suffering. Neither indefinite detention in the Pacific nor sending asylum seekers to uncertainty in Malaysia can be ...

THERE WAS a Sunday afternoon joke among hungry college students attending the North Rockhampton congregation in the late 1970s and early 80s: “I hope there’s as much tea as fellowship at the fellowship tea.” Food and the gathering of believers have gone together since time immemorial. Killing a goat isn’t so common in Queensland these days, although it remains the ...

By Martin Roth,Ark House, 2010, RRP $19.95 Reviewed by John Rhule. HOT ROCK Dreaming is a further instalment in the Johnny Ravine detective series by Martin Roth. Set in Alice Springs and surrounding remote Aboriginal communities Hot Rock Dreaming follows the trail of a murder mystery. The book invites you to join private investigator Johnny Ravine as he sets out ...

By William T Miller Paulist Press, 2009 RRP $35.95 Reviewed by Karyl Davison. One of a growing series, The Bible: Question by Question, this book is a user-friendly guide to reading and understanding the second book of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), Exodus by William T Miller, who teaches Old Testament courses at St Mary’s Seminary and the University of ...

WHERE WILL the hope come from? We are currently faced with the greatest natural disaster that Queensland has ever faced. The loss of life, destruction of property, farming and grazing land, the inundation of homes and businesses has destroyed many dreams, livelihoods and shattered families. How we respond to this event is a major challenge to all of us. It ...

AUSTRALIA HAS been opening its doors to a wide range of people for a very long time. The social, cultural and economic life of our nation has benefited immeasurably from those who have arrived here to make a new life for themselves after fleeing persecution in their own countries. Despite World War I’s creation of a massive refugee problem in ...