Uniting Church in Australia, Queensland Synod

Preparing for Flooding and Flash Flooding Flooding and flash flooding are significant risks in Brisbane and the Southeast corner with higher than average rainfall forecast this summer. Early preparation will help protect property and support your members and the communities they serve. For some key steps based on advice from the Brisbane City Council: https://ow.ly/Oixx50Ut2QL Please check with your local council for advice for your area.

Online prayer tonight at 7PM! Coming towards the close of 2024, there will be moments over the next couple of weeks to stop, and look back at the year. As you take some of these moments to reflect, consider the ways that God might have been at work in your life and in the lives of those around you nurturing new things. They may be small and tender but they are signs of new life emerging. Join us from 7-8pm online tonight for the final prayer gathering for 2024 as we spend time thanking God for these things we have seen over the last year and as we pray into 2025 and for all that we still long to see Him do.  To join via Zoom: https://ow.ly/aM3350UqnuY With Christmas and New Year's eve both falling on a Tuesday, and our regular facilitators having commitments on these dates, the Renewal Prayer Gatherings will resume on Tuesday 7 January.

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“Rejoice and HEAR” - Do you want to hear the Good News? This week’s readings from Malachi and Luke are full of good and bad news. Good news that God had not forgotten them and was promising a Messiah to come to show them good ways. Bad news for some because they would have to change and sometimes that is hard. In the reading from Luke 3:1-6, John, who became known as John the Baptist, comes out of the wilderness to the region around the Jordan River to tell the people to get ready for the promised Messiah. He tells them to change their ways, and repent. Repentance is translated from a Greek word that means “have a change of mind” or “go beyond the mind you have”. John told the people that it was time to change (hear the Messiah is coming) and make a change (ask for forgiveness and be baptised). This was good news for those who would hear. John’s message is for us to hear too. As we prepare for Christmas, we hear the good news and are called to be people who put it into action. To be people who daily change our way to God’s way, so that what we say and do, smooths the way, so that the good news of Jesus is heard and known in our community and world. We have family that work and live in remote Western Queensland... Read more of the Advent reflection on the Synod's Stories & News page: https://ow.ly/tHHP50UoOro

Mission as a member of the UnitingCare Board When Jim Demack joined the UnitingCare Queensland Board in 2021, he knew he would play an important part in ensuring the organisation continues to flourish and deliver on its mission of giving life in all its fullness to all those who encounter UnitingCare’s services. The Board’s governance role includes strategic planning and thinking, and oversight of all the services provided throughout Queensland and the Northern Territory. UnitingCare’s Board plays an important role ensuring the organisation’s resources are used effectively - providing help to the vulnerable at any time during their journey. The Board role is driven by the purpose of the organisation, which makes a tangible difference to people’s lives whenever they need UnitingCare’s services. The opportunity to visit Lifeline’s Geebung warehouse was just one special experience which provided the Board with valuable insight. “We were able to talk to staff and volunteers who sort and distribute donated goods,” Jim said ...“Board members get great satisfaction from seeing and hearing about the experiences of those who benefit from the services, knowing their contributions can help create a positive outcome for those served by UnitingCare Queensland. For those interested in serving on the Board at UnitingCare Queensland, he says “it's about making a real difference to people’s lives and being part of a community of staff and volunteers who are dedicated to the service of others.” Read the full article by Jim Demack on the Synod's Stories and News page: https://ow.ly/rZ4B50UoPzf

Online prayer tonight at 7PM! In the midst of our world that might seem very dark and broken at the moment, this week for Advent, some of us will pause to reflect on the idea of peace coming into our world.  We'll stop to remember that centuries ago, in the middle of nowhere, in less than ideal circumstance, a child was born who was given the title Prince of Peace, Emmanuel - God with us. As we gather in prayer tonight, we do so as those whose lives have been touched and even transformed by the Prince of Peace and who long to see the peace we have discovered made more real in our world. Join Rev. Dave Thomas from 7-8pm tonight as we gather in prayer, seeking God's renewal. Together, we'll ask that our lives would be so deeply saturated with divine peace that it overflows, transforming not just our immediate world, but reaching far beyond—embodying the transformative hope of this Advent season. Join via Zoom: https://ow.ly/j6Bi50UmbzI

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IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS Have you ever heard the Christmas carol “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”? If you’ve worked in any kind of shop during the Christmas period over the last 10 years this might be triggering some bad memories, but for the rest of us, the signs that we see around us at this time of the year are a reminder that Christmas is on the way. The decorations that catch our eye with their sparkle and movement. The lights and displays covering entire churches, houses, and even whole streets. The ads everywhere showing us what we need to make this Christmas more amazing than any we’ve had before!  There are signs everywhere we look pointing us to what is to come, even counting us down in shopping days! Signs to get excited and rejoice for what is to come! But sometimes all these things we see, can actually make it hard for us to rejoice. Read more of the reflection from Week One of this year's Advent Resources here: https://ow.ly/b7Wc50Uksr7

Vale Pastor Rina Manueli - funeral details below. It is with great sadness that we inform you of the recent passing of Pastor Rina Manueli after a short illness. Rina was the Pastor in Placement at Kenani Uniting since January 2021, taking over from her father Gabriel. Rina upheld the vision of the church in looking to make an impact for God by helping people understand the eternal hope given to us by Jesus Christ. For many of you this will come as a great shock, and for this we apologise. However, Rina's illness had only been known herself for a few short weeks. Rina was generous in spirit and a gracious and faithful servant of the Lord who always brought joy into any conversations and settings she was a part of. She will be dearly missed and we ask that you uphold the Kenani Community in prayer. Funeral service at 10am on Friday 6th December, Kenani - 425 Earnshaw Rd, Banyo. Lunch will be held after the burial service (straight after the funeral service at a local cemetery)

Online prayer tonight at 7PM! - As we begin the season of Advent, and reflect on the light of hope revealed to the world in the birth of Christ, we join together in prayer to ask God to rekindle that flame in our hearts and in the life of our communities of faith. Join Rev Dave Thomas tonight, using the link below, as he leads us in renewal prayer inviting the Spirit to burn afresh in our lives as a beacon of hope to the world. To join via Zoom, simply use this link: https://ow.ly/16eB50UhNNX