UCA Anniversary message
Uniting Church President Rev Sharon Hollis shares this message marking 46 years of the Uniting Church in Australia
June 15, 2023
President Rev Sharon Hollis has shared this video message to mark the anniversary of the Uniting Church in Australia next week on 22 June.
“At this moment, we must listen anew to the invitation to find ourselves in God's story and speak in fresh ways about who we are and where we are going. "
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This year, the anniversary also marks the conclusion of Uniting in Prayer - a time of prayer nationally across the Church as part of the Act2 project, as we consider the future shape of the Uniting Church.
Recalling the courageous journey we embarked on 46 years ago, the President invites us to listen anew to the invitation to find ourselves in God's story, asking...
What is God's new thing for us today?
Are we willing to courageously answer Christ's call in this time and place?
The President considers the particular call this year to support an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament. She reflects on the call to be shaped by God's inclusive life and to receive with joy the gifts of the LGBTIQA+ community. She invites us to seek to be allies of those on the margins and to stand against racism and exclusion.
In our own life as a Church, the President asks if we can commit anew to sharing with others what it means to have new life in Christ, and to forge a future of faithful innovation, discipleship and community.
The beginning of the video features Rev Dr Davis McCaughey, inaugural President of the Uniting Church, preaching at the Uniting Church service of inauguration at Sydney Town Hall on 22 June 1977.
The video message is available now to download and play in your worship service or to share with your community.
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