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Encountering the Living God as we journey toward Easter

Assembly General Secretary Andrew Johnson reflects on encountering the Living God – and invites the Church to seek and trust that presence anew this Easter

April 1, 2026

by Andrew Johnson, Assembly General Secretary

On Monday evening in Holy Week, I sat in a Eucharistic service followed by the proclamation of the Word. The pews were uncomfortable. There was no printed Order of Service – you were expected to know the responses. I tried to follow the patterns of worship, though high Anglican tradition is not my most familiar. I stood, sat, and knelt as best I could, until my knees would take no more.

And yet, despite all of this, I found myself in the presence of the living God. I was fed – by both Word and Sacrament.

Recently, I have also had the privilege of spending time with two saints of our Uniting Church.

The first was Rev Duncan Harrison – my grandfather – who served as both Moderator and General Secretary of the Synod of Queensland. Now 97, approaching 98, his speech is slowed by age and his hearing diminished. The President, Rev Charissa Suli, and I sat with him and listened carefully. Communication was not easy. And yet, in the midst of those limitations, we encountered the presence of God. We were fed – through prayer and the Scriptures.

The second was Rev David Gill, former General Secretary of the National Assembly. In many ways, we were strangers. Yet as we sat together, we spoke honestly about the life of the Church. We wondered aloud whether those who gather for worship come expecting an encounter with the living God – or simply to catch up with friends.

As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Uniting Church, how do we see this moment?

Is it a time for nostalgia, looking back to the saints of the past?
Is it a time to lament decline?
Or is it a moment to look forward with hope?

“Do we expect to encounter the living God? Are we actually looking for it? And how might that encounter come to us this Easter?”

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In many ways, we are like that Holy Week service. Our conversations can be uncomfortable. We do not always have a clear blueprint for the future. Even the patterns and practices we try to follow can leave us weary.

And yet – again and again – we encounter the presence of the living God. In Word. In action. In one another.

So the question presses in on us:
Do we expect to encounter the living God?
Are we actually looking for it?
And how might that encounter come to us this Easter?

I left that Monday evening service with a sense of longing. I wished I could continue the journey through Holy Week with that community. I wanted to see where the preacher would go – how the threads he had begun to unravel would be woven back together.

Is this not how we want people to experience our life together?
With a sense of expectation?
With curiosity about what God is doing among us?
With a desire to return, to see what comes next?

As we approach our jubilee, my hope is not that we turn inward in nostalgia, but outward in trust.

That we continue our pilgrimage of hope.
That we trust God to meet us – again and again – through Word and Sacraments.
And that we remember the promise at the heart of our faith:

“We love, because God first loved us.”

Andrew johnson 011025

Andrew Johnson
Assembly General Secretary
Uniting Church in Australia

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