For the latest happenings from the Balkara Parish and the St. David’s Oakleigh congregation, check out our online copy of the July newsletter.
Parish News – July (pdf 135kB)
The next Oakleigh labyrinth will be held at St. David’s Uniting Church, 154 Drummond St, Oakleigh on:
Wednesday, July 9th at 8pm.
Come and allow the space to still the noisy spaces, and allow your walking bodies to re-connect heart, mind and soul.
More information about the Labyrinth at the St. David’s UCA in Oakleigh, including photos and schedule of labyrinth events.
The latest newsletter on labyrinths from Veriditas is available as a free pdf download. The current edition focusses on creativity and the labyrinth and has many gems including information about Sting’s latest CD ‘Songs from the Labyrinth’.
I have a car sticker that asks provocatively, ‘Who would Jesus bomb?’
It is not anti-terrorist, nor is it anti USA. But it is a protest about those who use violence as to get there own way. The Scriptures speak of the inter-connectedness of relationships:
If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ …
from 1 Corinthians 12
Sermon 6th July, 2008Â (pdf)
St. David’s Uniting Church, Oakleigh
Rev. Arnie Wierenga
Millennium Development Goals to reflect to the world God’s desire for justice and concern for the poor.
There are many ways to be involved in promoting the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), and the ‘Episcopaleans for Global Reconciliation’ website offers many resources and ideas to get you started.
Another useful resource is the ‘Make Poverty History’ website.
Help us reverse the effects of human depletion of natural resources and preserve our environment through combating climate change by:
- Switch to green power today. Check out our list of accredited Green Power providers and make the switch to clean energy today. By switching to accredited Green Power you are not only helping the environment, you are supporting the growth the renewable energy market in Australia.
- Only heat the rooms you need. You can save a huge amount of power by only heating the rooms you are using. Also set your heating thermostat a little lower.
- Insulate your home to prevent heat escaping. By improving insulation around the home you can reduce the need for that heater in the winter months. Make sure you shut windows and blinds to keep heat in and the cold out!
- Buy a carpet snake (of the door-stop variety – not an actual python!). Another way to reduce heat loss is to seal draft-prone areas such as the spaces under external doors.
- Put on a jumper. Don’t walk around in a t-shirt with the heater turned on when you could just slip on a pair of woolly socks and your favourite cardigan.
For additional tips and to calculate your footprint, visit the WWF-Australia Footprint Calculator.
Church bodies have affirmed their commitment to feeding the world’s hungry after world government’s agreed at the Rome food crisis summit last month that overcoming the current shortages would require a united effort.
The plea “give us this day our daily bread†by the world’s poor is deeply understood by Christians and a message that world leaders at the food summit need to hear”, said Sushant Agrawal, director of the Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA) in India.
“The Lord’s Prayer highlights that having enough to eat is, and has always been, central to the Christian idea of a world shaped by justice and mercy,” Agrawal added, according to World Council of Churches (WCC). “If God’s will was done, no one would go hungry.â€
There are 854 million people – or one in every eight – that are short of food, and another 100 million people are expected to join their ranks with the current food crisis this year.