Ascension has always troubled me. The idea of Jesus “shooting” off into space (Acts 1:6-11) is one that does not always resonate well with my modern, scientific worldview. But, then, there is much in the Bible that that we need to struggle with. In…
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The Pacific Institute of Public Policy reports that the Australian government’s target for increasing aid as a percentage of the national economy has been pushed back, but the 2012-13 budget sees aid to the Pacific region increasing modestly to $1….
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As I sat waiting in the small church hut, I decided maybe I should just turn around and go home. I’d agreed to come along in a foreign language, and had the very familiar feeling I wasn’t exactly sure what I had signed myself up to. I was fairly ce…
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Singkil, on the west coast of Sumatra, bears the scars of a devastating earthquake that hit the region back in 2005. The region is now slowly recovering. Here in this tropical coastal town, Muslims and Christians live side by side in harmony. But new s…
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Three years ago now UnitingWorld presented to the National Assembly a document Trade Justice: A Perspective from the Uniting Church in Australia. One of the things that this document called for was the theological and economic basis for the proposition…
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The year is 1952. Ernesto “Fuser” Guevara and his friend, Alberto, leave Buenos Aires to hit the road and travel across the South American continent in search of adventure. In just a few months they hope to cover an ambitious 8,000 kilometers on a …
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It’s National Volunteers Week! You may be surprised to learn that there are 6 million volunteers within Australia, contributing 700 million hours of community service. This makes us one of the most community-minded countries in the world. Uniting…
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“From my mother’s womb I was untimely ripped!” So goes the famous quote from MacDuff in Shakespeare’s Macbeth as he explains that he was not “born of woman”. Having had to have my two gorgeous children by Caesarian secti…
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God be with the Mother Who sits long nights beside those who cannot sleep Who holds in aching arms the crying child And comforts without words. God be with the Mother Giving up food so that others might eat Working long hours so that children mi…
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I remember East Timor once generated strong opposing views. One perspective supported Indonesia’s annexation of the country. In a tense “cold war” context, this perspective saw Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor as a “necessary” process in …
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