Archive for January, 2007

Rachel Carson is most well known as the author of Silent Spring, one of the classics of the ecological movement. This article traces the theme of “sea-love” in Carson’s less well known publications. Published in SeaChanges, the Journal of Women Scholars of Religion and Theology, it is available for download in several different formats from:
SeaChanges - Volume 3, December 2003

At the time of publication in 2003, the author Nancy M. Victorin-Vangerud was Executive Director of the ARC Ecumenical Retreat Center in Stanchfield, Minnesota, USA. The center offers hospitality for people seeking a simple lifestyle through the focus on prayer, peace with justice, ecumenism, and sustainability. Previously, Nancy was Lecturer of Systematic Theology at Murdoch University and the Perth Theological Hall (Uniting Church).

On December 4 last year, an innovative new document with perspectives on climate change from a wide range of faith communities in Australia was released. Bishop George Browning, Anglican Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, was a key organizer behind the document which was produced by The Climate Institute, a multi-sectoral organization committed to raising public awareness for action on climate change in Australia. The document “Common Belief - Australia’s Faith Communities on Climate Change” can be accessed at: http://www.climateinstitute.org.au/cia1/downloads/041206_common_belief.pdf”

This 40 page document in .pdf format contains statements from:

Australian Aboriginal People, Anglicans, The Australian Christian Lobby, Bahá’í Believers, Baptists, Buddhists, Catholics, Evangelical Christians (The Evangelical Alliance), Greek Orthodox, Hindus, Jewish People, Lutherans, Muslims, The Salvation Army, Sikhs and The Uniting Church

The primary authors from the groups with which I am familiar have significant credibility and each statement finishes with an outline of the basic philosophy of the particular group. Well worth reading.

The Armidale Uniting Church congregation’s Lent Event package arrived on Friday and we have discovered that in addition to the brochure with the giving tracking calendar and the Bible Study resources, there are also cardboard money boxes. You assemble these yourself so that you have somewhere to put the money you save each day. Or if you really can’t bear giving something up, you might like to put small change in it each day.

Contact Judy Redman for a copy of the information brochure and tracking calendar, a money boox, a copy of the Bible Study notes or to book into a Bible Study group. Or you can sign up on line

The weekend of 16-18 March 2007 will see a range of activities aimed at encouraging people and organisations to live in environmentally sustainable ways.

Not sure of the details at this stage, but I’ll post information as I get it.

Judy

Harambee: Resources from TEAR Australia. TEAR is a non-denominational, international Christian aid organisation. Harambee is their quarterly publication which provides information about things that are being done and things that can be done both in Australia and overseas. Each edition has a theme. Recent ones have been:

• What’s Good About Governance
• Aid, Trade and Debt
• Time to Engage: Water, Politics and the Millennium Development Goals
• Disaster: Out of our Hands?
• Trade: A Fair Go for All

Download the full text of each edition as a .pdf file or read individual articles on line.

Just found this site, which is done by the Jesuits in Britain. As you can tell from the title, it provides a prayer resource that you can download to your MP3 player. You can also download it as WMA, subscribe as a weekly podcast or listen on line. You can download daily or weekly installments, as well as two “preparation for prayer” exercises and an 8 minute “Review of the Day” meditation.

It’s a meditative prayer guide in the tradition of Ignatius Loyla, founder of the Jesuits. You get some music, a Bible reading, some suggestions for ways that you might meditate on the reading and pray about it. Each one appears to last around 10 minutes (based on a sample size of two).  For those, like me, who would like to pray more often but find it difficult to structure the time and are sick of the “shopping list” approach to prayer, this would be a good site to look at. They suggest you can use it while traveling, but I don’t think it would work while you were driving (or in any other situation where you are looking for background noise) - you need to concentrate to get the benefit which would take your attention off the road.

Why not click the link below and give it a try.

Pray-as-you-go . . . daily prayer for your MP3 player

Women in Black is an international peace movement. It began in Israel in the late 1980s in response to the awareness of some Israeli citizens of the suffering of Palestinian people under Israeli occupation. If you are interested in the history of the movement, visit Gila Svirsky’s website where you can also find much other information about the peace movement in Israel. Women in Black now work for peace wherever there is war.

Women in Black Armidale conducts peace vigils on the last Saturday in each month from 10.30am to 11am outside the Armidale Courthouse. We stand outside the Courthouse for half an hour, preferably wearing black, in silence, in a circle. It has a powerful effect both on passers by and the participants. A sign reads: “Women In Black: Violence Begets Violence”.  This Saturday, 27 January, is the next vigil.

You are welcome to drop by for a few minutes or stay for the half hour. Those who are available often have coffee afterwards. Contact Judy for further information.

What is Lent Event?

The idea is simple. During Lent we give up a luxury or two and donate the money saved to projects that offer a better future to some of the world’s neediest people, through the Uniting Church’s Overseas Aid department. It’s also an opportunity to be involved in Bible Studies that encourage us to examine our lifestyles in the light of the Gospel. You can do either or both.

Lent Event was the inspiration of Sarah White of West Epping Uniting Church in Sydney. Sarah felt God calling her to respond to extreme hardship faced by families, particularly children, in the Third World. With a team of supporters, Sarah has developed the concept so that it can be shared by any community that wishes to be involved.

When is Lent?

Lent is the period of forty week days (excluding Sundays) before Easter. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Easter Saturday. Sundays are not counted in the forty days, because Sundays commemorate the Resurrection of Jesus.

Ash Wednesday is on 21 February 2007 and Easter Sunday is on 8 April 2007.

What is Lent?

Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Christian church. The forty days of Lent mirror the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness.

Lent was originally a time when the faithful rededicated themselves, and when new Christians were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. Lent is therefore a perfect time for intentional reflection and repentance. We are reminded of the huge sacrifice God made for us, and how easily we forget to sacrifice ourselves to help our neighbours.

Where does my money go?

To provide:

• Fresh, clean drinking water for the remote rural village of Kalo Kalo in Paua New Guinea
• Preschools for the marginalised tribal people of the Nilgiri Hills in South India
• Micro-credit scheme (small loans) for poor people in the East Nusa Tenggara Province of West Timor
• Increased availablity of safe drinking water for the communities of Muzarabani area in Zimbabwe
• A drop-in centre and feeding program for orphaned and vulnerable children in Mwandi, Zambia

How can I get involved

Contact Judy Redman for a copy of the information brochure and tracking calendar, a copy of the Bible Study notes or to book into a Bible Study group. Or you can sign up on line

Find out more

Visit the Lent Event Website for more information about the projects that are being supported and the program itself.

The Uniting Church in NSW has recently begun to develop a series of web resources for congregations and other church groups that want to look at ways of being environmentally friendly.A church going ‘green’ contains a range of information for those who want to express their faith in this way.

The site page contains links to information for congregations interested in using ‘green’ power, including the story of Maroubra Junction congregation which has taken very seriously its responsibility to decrease the size of its ecological footprint. Ms Lauren Fee, a member of Maroubra Junction and mission worker for Christian Students Uniting at the University of Sydney, says: “If every church in the New South Wales Synod switched to Green Power it would cut greenhouse gasses by 4,500 tons - the equivalent of taking 1,000 cars off the road for a year.”

The site also has a hymn (new words set to a familiar tune), a book review, a movie review and a number of other resources that can be used by the environmentally conscious. Why not visit and browse?

Hello and welcome to the Uniting Church Chaplaincy News.

I probably should have called it “Uniting Church Chaplaincy News and Information”, because some of what you will find here will not necessarily be exactly breaking news. That seemed just too long and tedious, though.

If you visit this page, you’ll find information about activities that I’m organising, information about activities that other people are organising that I think would be of interest to the UNE community and links to things that have just arrived on the web, or that I’ve just found on the web. The links will also go onto the Uniting Church Chaplaincy website, but you’ll see them here first!

From time to time, you might also get some short opinion pieces. I don’t know. It depends on how much spare time I have as the semester goes on.