News & Articles

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…

During Lent, Family@10 explored the Ten Commandments, distilled into the two great commandments ‘love God/love others’, ultimately becoming one BIG swirling, whirling commandment to love! To help us with ‘destination love’ over 2 weeks, during our reflection time and with guiding questions, members young and older explored our hopes for Family@10 worship, community and outreach life. As adults discussed and shared their hopes and dreams for worship, community, outreach, mission, growing in faith, support for children, young people and families;…

Preparing to host this musical took many months. Gestation of a wonderful creation always does. A team of committed MUC Social Justice workers and generous volunteers took up the challenge and 113 people of all ages were welcomed to participate in a dynamic event, spear-headed by Simon Kerr and supported by his very able multi-talented musicians on guitar, violin and harp. The stage-presence of performers was both professional and relaxed, one-with-us, yet disarmingly confrontive (even with hints of humor) as…

Last Sunday Jess, Tom, Zander, Tabitha, Zara, Jared, Sam, Emily and Janelle from the Lorne SU family mission team came to MUC to lead the service. Together they shared the joy of mission with MUC through songs, stories and their energy. Tom gave the message from Matthew, using the illustration of practicing basketball layups and his volunteer work playing basketball with prisoners, that we need to do repeats and practice as Christians sharing our faith, that mission is important as…

I came across the article by Swee Ann entitled Love is the way – Love God and Love Neighbor.  I found it an interesting read.  One part of the article stood out to me.  It was this comment. “One of my laments for the church is that we are becoming increasingly corporate.  In the process, we lose our soul.”  I guess I am uncomfortable with the statement.  But why? I asked myself.  There was a time in my life when…

Maundy Thursday Sally led a Taize style service in the Chapel attended by about 30 people. The service was a lovely quiet meditative service of readings and reflection as a lead in to Easter. Sally led the á capella singing of Taize chants with the congregation enthusiastically joining in. Directions for Using a Towel To be used for:Drying dishes.Wiping eyes.Mopping spilled milk.Coping with sighs.Cleaning stains.Creating scandal.Holding on when it’s too hot to handle. Washing feet.Softening jars.Binding wounds in a world…

At our Spectrum meeting on 5 March we had an excellent attendance to hear Bruce Sullivan talk about the ‘Happy Home Children’s Home’ situated in Nepal. Bruce loves to travel the world, often to very remote parts of our globe, to pursue his interest in trekking and at the same time he uses the opportunity to improve the lot of those with whom he meets. He was indeed an enthusiastic speaker and the interest he takes in the people who…

At Emerging Church on Sunday,17 March, Tony and Zoe elected to tackle the question of how to love your enemies as part of our overall theme of Love God, Love your Neighbour. They said that for most people, including themselves, loving your enemy was extremely hard to do. In fact, it requires a change of mind. Tony set the scene by showing a trailer of the BBC series Earth, alerting us to the fact that mankind had been around for…

Introduction My eldest brother and my second brother were in the timber business together more than 50 years ago in Singapore. They used to import logs into Singapore from neighbouring countries. Unfortunately, the business went pear-shaped. My second brother blames my eldest brother till today. He has not learned to let go of the past. Because of that, there’s no possibility of reconciliation and new life. I feel sad and angry for both of them. Let it Go I like…