LONGREACH UNITING Church member Stan Emslie thinks his Aunt, Lil Keene, may be the oldest Uniting Church member in Queensland still driving herself to church. Mrs Keene celebrated her 97th birthday on 25 March and she attends worship nearly every week. Born Lily Stinson, she has lived in Central Queensland all her life. Together with her husband George Campbell, she ...

IT TAKES an average of seven attempts for an Australian, English or American person to move permanently out of a relationship characterised by domestic violence, according to the most recent studies. Many years ago it took me fewer than seven attempts to throw my daughter’s father out for good. Several weeks later he broke through our back door with a pickaxe, ...

WHAT STARTED as planning a simple conference for the Assembly agency The Commission on Women and Men (later renamed Gospel and Gender) turned into a gathering that shook the foundation of what it meant to be a Christian woman in Australia. The 1996 gathering, Women Clothed with the Sun, held during a steamy Brisbane January, is still remembered fondly as ...

THE MARY Burnett Presbytery Adult Fellowship Camp was celebrated again in March. Starting 46 years ago with a Presbyterian group at Torquay, the camp was moved to Luther Heights, Coolum, and continued to provide a space for women of the Presbytery to meet and share in fellowship, fun, friendship, studies, concerts, and worship. Camp Committee secretary Eva Donaldson said the ...

I HAVE a lot of respect for the feminists and feminist theologians, both men and women, who have worked hard for the privileges we enjoy today. Yes, I used the ‘f’ word – feminism. The word gets a bad wrap these days. Feminism is about defining, establishing and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and opportunities for women. Feminism ...

This year Journey explores questions from the pews, namely from a (fictitious) person exploring faith and the Uniting Church. This month a friend asks Nova B Lever: Church? Do I just turn up? A FEW weeks ago a work colleague and I had one of those water cooler conversations about “God, church and stuff”. I suggested my friend visit a ...

UNITINGJUSTICE Australia has produced a collection of worship and education resources for Church members to coincide with World Environment Day on Sunday 5 June. Themed as Nature at your service, the free resources include tools for educational use, theological refl ections, liturgical resources, sermon starters and activities for children and families. Established in 1972, World Environment Day is celebrated annually ...

ACROSS the region, churches and places of worship were packed at the weekend as visitors and members of the community recognised the occasion as more than just an opportunity to indulge in Easter eggs. High spirits and loud voices almost raised the roof at the Warwick Uniting Church on Sunday as the congregation enjoyed the special Easter service. There was ...

Lynne M. Baker Australian Academic Press, 2010 RRP $34.95 Reviewed by Marian Zauchenbrecher. According to author Lynne Baker, domestic abuse is the elephant in the room whenever the church gathers to worship. She estimates that one out of three women suffer from domestic abuse, be it physical, emotional, psychological or economic abuse or a combination of these, yet is it ...

FOR THOSE with ears to hear the groaning of creation has become a roar: environmental degradation, inequitable access of the worlds people to life’s basic necessities, violence and terror – so many people have reason to echo Jesus’ gut-wrenching cry from the cross: ‘My God, why have you abandoned me?’ This Easter, as always, Christians will inhabit the core story of ...