Dear Friends I remember my mentor Rev Athol Gill saying to me: ‘Always have a sunset clause’. Those sage words I carried for many years and they helped shape a kind of strategy for church and for the many community development projects I have been involved in; meaning, that we Read more…
Dear Friends For our 10 day break, Margaret and I travelled to Broken Hill. It was a family gathering because there we were to scatter the ashes of Margaret’s parents. Jim and Helen Nixon grew up in Broken Hill and the family decided to scatter the ashes in a dry Read more…
Dear Friends Some weeks ago I wrote in the Pastoral Note (1 Sept) about the man sleeping in the patio near the men’s toilets; how we assisted him, looked after his cat and how he was so grateful that he gave us $20 for the Centre and resolved to return Read more…
Dear Friends I mentioned at the church meeting that last week we had a guy sleeping on the patio near the men’s toilets. We were able to talk with him, assist him, and give him rest. In fact, more than that, he had a cat with him, and when he Read more…
Dear Friends We spent our holidays with our daughter and her partner in the top-end: first in Darwin, then Katherine where our daughter works as a nurse specialist in an Aboriginal medical clinic called Wurli Wurlinjang, and then camping in and around the district including Kakadu. It is haunting country, Read more…
Dear Friends This week is NAIDOC Week, a week to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. The theme for NAIDOC Week 2019 is Voice. Treaty. Truth. and Read more…
Dear Friends The three synoptic Gospels record that, prior to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he was led (or as Mark writes, driven) into the wilderness where the emphasis focuses around Jesus’ temptation. But we are not sure what this really means. Is it about formation? Is it about identity Read more…
Fifty-six years after the first airing of the 7 Up documentary, 12 of the 14 men and women first seen as seven-year old children in 1964 in the UK have returned to share the story of their lives. They have been interviewed every seven years and this recent screening on Read more…
Dear Friends It is National Reconciliation Week (27 May – 3 June) which blends beautifully with what Belinda wrote about last week in reference to the BBC program ‘The Repair Shop’ particularly in regard to connections made with the past and the idea to ‘live by mending’. Last Monday was Read more…
So, we have all carried out our duty and voted! And possibly as you read this Pastor’s Note the decision of how Australia voted will have been made known. But, what is interesting for me, is how Christians form an opinion about who to vote for: were they guided, for Read more…