ANZAC day has come and gone. It comes and goes in my life as a difficult mixture of profound wonder, horror and thanks at what human beings are capable of through massive destruction of life, countryside and resources, and survival and even profound compassion and sacrifice.

It was not quite dark and the autumn sun was spreading golden light over cold frosty fields. Where the growing sunlight caught it, the soil was dark and furrowed where soon there would be head-high corn. We stood among the gravestones as the light gradually spread over us and the sun’s warmth seeped into our bodies.

I often get emails. Sometimes they are encouraging and supportive: sometimes not. All pretty normal really.

Recently I received one that was encouraging and offered insights: that combination doesn’t come all that often!

About 10 months ago my mum died. My mate Daryl, his mum Barbara, dad Kevin, and extended family came to her funeral. Our families have known each other as good friends and family since January 1961 when we became near neighbours after moving into a public housing estate in Doveton, about 40 kilometres from the Melbourne CBD. 

When I thanked Barbara and Kevin, for coming to my mum’s funeral last year Barbara said to me, “Of course I would come, she was my sister, and she taught me how to be a mum!”  

Last week I heard that this amazing woman is dying from liver cancer. She was in many ways another mum for us kids when we became neighbours just 16 months after we arrived in Australia as “10 pound Poms” – British migrants. 

Worship and prayer without knowing the words …

What do you get when you bring together a group of young adult leaders from across the length and breadth and cultural diversity of the Uniting Church in Australia – first and second peoples?

Rev Dr Antony Floyd give his Sunday address at St Michaels Church in Melbourne. Standing in for Dr Francis Macnab.

Blog for Australia/Invasion Day 2012

One of the first surprises I had when I began school in Australia was the weekly ‘saluting of the flag’ and the pledge of allegiance to the Queen. Having been born and gone through 8 years of schooling in the UK, the ‘mother country’, home of the empire and all, without once having such an experience, I well remember being quite surprised!

Then our children went to school in Chicago for 2 years and every morning joined their classmates in holding hands over hearts and repeating the ‘pledge of allegiance’ together. They said it so often and repeated it to me so often that I can still say it with hardly a second thought.

What surprised me about all of this was that I already had a deep sense of national identity – British rather than English, and later Australian, and I wonder what it was, without all of the ‘flag furore’ of recent times, that provided that.

I often ride in taxis. This produces some very interesting conversations, especially at this time of the year.

Several newspaper articles recently reminded me of one such ride. They sought to justify why anything relating to ‘Christmas’ was being removed from various kindergartens, private and public schools, local government parks and gardens and so on. With slight variations on the theme they all argued that Australia is an increasingly diverse society with very different religious and secular experiences.

An Advent Devotion 14^th of December 2011

Rev Emmanuel Audisho

Living under the cross – culturally: gospel life and cultural and linguistic diversity in the UCA

Recent newspaper articles, letters to editors and editorials right across Australia have linked to comments by European government leaders claiming the abject failure of the ‘experiment of multiculturalism’. Without any clear and common understandings of the meaning of such policies in different nations and contexts, and with no agreed definition of what ‘multiculturalism’ actually means in 21^st century Australia, the debate rages. Once again tactics include naming and playing on the fears of difference, and using the ungodly model of bundling whole communities and even transnational peoples into faceless groups characterized by the very worst behaviours, views and outlooks of the radicalized few.