Posts from 2024

During our Saint Francis of Assisi’s Pet Blessing service we heard all about who Saint Francis was and his love for animals and nature. We blessed not only our pets (and to name but a few as Lemmy the Lizard, Chewie the cat, Doug, Murphy, Robbie) but the whole alphabet of animals.

Manningham Uniting Church (MUC) is supporting the CareNet Giving Tree and the work of LinC Manningham and would like to invite you to also support these projects by providing a gift for a child between the ages of 0-18yrs. This will help bring relief to families and care givers around the community. Please return your unwrapped gift to the Christmas tree in the foyer at Manningham Uniting Church & Community Centre, 109 Wood St, Templewstowe by Sunday 8 December, 2024.…

Fresh juicy Bowen Special Mangoes (which are more formally known as Kensington Pride Mangoes) are back on again. The profit each box goes to support asylum seekers and refugees in Australia and EARS Inc which brings help to the hearing impaired people in the Developing World. In addition, 100% of the booking fee profits from this sale goes towards the children education/healthcare charities associated with Humanitix (our booking platform) So the bottom line: approx 7Kg boxes of mangoes at $30…

Yesterday’s Together@10 service’s theme was Social Justice Sunday. With thanks to MUC’s Social Justice Action group and Simon Kerr from Music for a Warming World. They shared some insights into our current climate situation with some thought provoking ways that we can do our bit for caring for the earth.

In 2009 Gwyn and I went on an overseas trip travelling to Tajikistan. Where is Tajikistan you may ask. It is a land-locked country in Central Asia and its main border is with Afghanistan. We went there to share in the lives of our son, daughter-in-law and their children for three weeks. They were part of a Christian medical mission team stationed in the small town of Gharm. For us it was an amazing experience. The main religion is Islam…

The phone rang “Bill here, where are you?” “About 100 kilometers from Alice Springs, I said. “A bit late aren’t you? Should be there by now. Not a very safe place that. Been a bit of trouble up there. Where are you staying?” asked my concerned friend Bill. “Same place,” I said “MacDonnell Ranges Caravan Park. I’ll be safe there.” “Are you booked in or is it another one of those: I will find a place when I get there?”…

Family@10 looked and all the types of roles that make up a team – the players, the cheer squad, the drivers, the scorers, the coach and put all of those roles into action as we explored juggling balls, hopscotch, elastics, marbles, cats cradles. Each role has an important part to play in the team. “Train up a child in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

A small group of around 24, comprising members of MUC along with visitors from other churches, gathered to learn about the Theology of Visibility from visiting Cato Lecturer Rev Dr Grace Ji-Sun Kim, a Korean American theologian and Professor of Theology at Earlham School of Religion, Richmond, Indiana. She brought with her copies of her latest books, ‘When God became White’, ‘Surviving God’ and ‘Invisible’ which were available for sale at morning tea time with many people availing themselves of…

On Sunday 30 June we farewelled Rev Swee Ann Koh after almost 3 ½ years as Minister of the Word in a ‘Cutting of the Ties’ service led by Rev Ray McCluskey, Presbytery Minister for the Yarra Yarra Presbytery. During the service See Ann gave a reflection of his 33 years of ministry and following the formalities, tributes were made from people across all the areas in which he has served and been involved.  Afternoon tea followed while members of…

During my seminary training in America, I had a series of conversations for an internship with local churches, but I failed all of them. Many thoughts raced through my mind – perhaps because I am Asian? Maybe because of my broken English? When I returned to the field education director, he said he couldn’t find any more churches for me. The following semester, the director asked me to speak with a church in a remote area because no one else…

A lovely afternoon was had Saturday when the 2024 World Knitting Day event was held here at Manningham Uniting Chuch & Community Centre. Around 30 people joined in the knitting event to celebrate the art of knitting (and crocheting!). A presentation from Fiona, who was representing the Burnett Institute, outlined the Pacific SMILE Project which is to provide quality midwifery education to Pacific countries through innovative clinical stimulation. The knitting group through Manningham Uniting Church have been knitting breasts, placentas…

An afternoon of delight and harmony was had Sunday, as we were treated to the barbershop tones of the Melbournaires and Mixed Signals. Mixed Signals is a Melbourne based Barbershop Harmony Australia champion quartet. Additionally, the Melbournaires, a local Acapella group who have been singing for over 30 years will entertain and impress with well known songs across the years in a 4 part harmony. Both Mixed Signals and the Melbournaires never fail to captivate and engage their respective audiences…

Our attitudes about ageing are quaint. I remember being with a mother and her child and I asked the child how old she was. The mother quickly said “six” to which the little girl said “six and three quarters”. I said to that mother “that extra three quarters is important”. Children want to think of themselves as a bit more mature. Similarly, I remember seeing a quote from Bob Hope saying he’s rather die at 100 than 99 and I’m…

IntroductionMany of you think that I am not ‘old’. Someone even called me a ‘spring chicken’. When I heard that I couldn’t help but laugh, I know I am certainly not a ‘chicken’ and at my age, I can’t ‘spring’ as easily as before. However, many of my friends think I don’t look my age. I hope they are not humouring me. Truth is I am learning to age gracefully and joyfully. One of my main focuses, when I was…

The Together@10 services yesterday to celebrate Pentcost Sunday was a delight! There were doves circling overhead heading flying from the cross symbolising the Holy Spirit from the church leading out to the world. This art installation was a vision of Margaret’s, who cut out over 300 doves to make this happen. The service was conducted by a team of people who lit candles representing comfort, peace, joy, love, compassion, faithfulness and hope, led music. There was also a modern humourus…

Autumn is a poignant reminder of Ageing. Leaves float to the ground, crunching under foot as we walk; swirling russet reds, burnt orange, gleaming gold and plain, retiring brown. Autumn reminds us we are human, that our lives are like the seasons: “Turn, turn, turn,” sing the Seekers. “A time to be born and a time to die.” Looking around our congregation we see grey heads, many of them. We are ageing, sharing our wisdom and experience of the years,…

“There are more than 45 armed conflicts of one form or another going on in the Middle East and North Africa right now,” Rev Swee Ann Koh said when he introduced the subject of War vs Peace at Emerging Church on Sunday, 21 April. “Conflicts are occurring in Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Turkey, Yemen, and Western Sahara. Most worrying are the Russian-Ukrainian war, now two years old, and the Israeli-Palestine war in the Middle East, which may be on the…