Date: 2009-07-20 21:25:46
Food security is suddenly an issue for us as well. Church leaders on the Darling Downs are appealing to the powers that be to think and act sustainably. Read about it below.
Meanwhile we remind you to come and hear Pacific church leaders and others talk about their experience of the loss of food security, land and other things we take for granted, as rising sea levels encroach upon their limited space. Our Pacific neighbours are so often invisible to the rest of the world. Let’s listen.
Leading theologians are currently discussing what it means to be at peace with Creation, to shift our focus from ourselves to the whole world. This is expected to be part of a declaration on Just Peace which is being prepared to mark the end of the Decade to Overcome Violence in 2010. Maybe the Spirit needs to help us embrace this paradigm shift.
This week we draw your attention to many events. However, we are uncomfortably aware that all of the events advertised below are taking place in South-East Queensland, which isn’t much good to those in other parts of this vast state. This newsletter is sent far and wide, so if you have an event in other places that you would like to advertise – or a report on an ecumenical initiative that is past or current – please let us know. Remember you can register on the website to enter events in our calendar. If this is daunting to you, please email me: gensec@qct.org.au .
Remembering that Jesus was forever looking beyond the horizons of his immediate world, let’s pray this week for the kind of curiosity that breeds compassion.
Glenine Hamlyn
Church leaders have expressed grave concerns about plans to mine coal in good farming land on the Darling Downs, citing food security and environmental issues.
By QCT Monday, 20 July 2009
Sunday July 26: join in this lively event and help raise funds to support Indigenous ministries in the Brisbane region.
By QCT Monday, 20 July 2009
Wednesday 29 July: come and hear Angie O’Gorman, a specialist in this field, at the Multi-Faith Centre: ‘A spirituality and lifestyle of non-violence: a call to deep peace-making in our world’. With respondants from Buddhist (Jeff Brunne) and Islamic (Nora Amath) perspectives, and open dialogue. All welcome.
By QCT Monday, 20 July 2009
Tuesday 28 July: people who are interested in justice and peace issues are invited to participate in a Roundtable Symposium with Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin on All are welcome but numbers are strictly limited. Hurry to register by 23 July.
By Earth Link Monday, 20 July 2009
Saturday 24 October, Ocean View: mark this in your diary and spread the word. Can you help with planning? Presenters and stall-holders needed.
By QCT Monday, 20 July 2009
Celebrate the contribution of the many different faith communities to our life in Queensland. There will be Multi-Faith prayer, examples of inter-faith dialogue and performances of sacred music and dance from the Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Indigenous, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh communities. Admission is free. Bring your family and friends. Brisbane City Hall on Sunday 16 August from 2-4pm.
It takes courage to be part of the Student Christian Movement in Zimbabwe. The SCMZ has protested at the obstruction of the constitutional reform process.
A great range of cultures and churches, a legacy from the Cold War, migration – on its 50th anniversary the Conference of European Churches embraces it all, with hope.
Japan’s ecumenical council may not get a hearing in North Korea, but its criticism of its own government’s nuclear policy is bound to raise more than just eyebrows.
