Toukley Uniting Church in Toukley, New South Wales | Community

Toukley Uniting Church

Locality: Toukley, New South Wales

Address: 7 Summerside St 2263 Toukley, NSW, Australia

Website: http://toukleyunitingchurch.org.au

Likes: 52

Add/Update information

Reviews

Tags

• Community
• Church

25.01.2022 We continue our devotional journey through the Gospel of Matthew, reading 12: 38-45, where Jesus issues warnings and harsh words towards his generation.

24.01.2022 Our devotional journey through the Gospel of Matthew continues as we read 12:15-21, where Jesus is presented as God's faithful and gentle servant, committed to justice.

24.01.2022 "An overt concern for intersex people's well-being informs very little theological work." Liam interviewed theologian Susannah Cornwall, whose work seeks to address this gap, and offer a constructive good word. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmY75unUx18

22.01.2022 We're famous! Thanks Insights Magazine https://www.insights.uca.org.au/celebrating-creation-at-th/

18.01.2022 Passed by one of these signs today on the way back from Maitland, wonderful to see! #alwayswasalwayswillbe

17.01.2022 Wind is picking up and weather is slightly on the dodgy end, but we've got hope and will still be at Lakes Beach Budgewoi for Beach Church at 3:30pm.

17.01.2022 Through conversations with local folks it is clear that there is concern and disappointment at the changes to the long-run community markets. In support of those seeking greater clarity and consultation when considering who these markets are for, I (Liam) have written a letter. I share it here because this is a public conversation about a public good. Please reach out if you have questions. *** I am writing in support of the current (many about to be former) stallholders and... participants at the Toukley Markets. In my ministry in Toukley we run a community café twice a week. Over the past month many of those coming to the café have shared their experience with the markets and lamented the change in management of the markets and the process that led to this change: a process marked by a lack of consultation and consideration of the nature of these markets. The Toukley markets have long provided an opportunity for locals to supplement income and find bargains, but more importantly they have been a community hub. The markets have provided a place to be (an especially important place on the weekends where so many public spaces are shut), a place to see friends and acquaintances, a place to break up monotony and isolation. They provide this because they are consistent, because they are local, and because they are accessible even to those with barely two coins to rub together. Toukley is changing, there is no doubt, the question is, what kind of Toukley do we want to become? Australia is rife with examples of areas that neglected their long-term residents and institutions in pursuit of becoming more appealing to those on their horizons. However there are also examples of areas finding ways to work together to hold, preserve, and invest in that which has been life-giving for an area while also making room to grow and meet new residents and future generations. I hope that Toukley can be just such an example, and the church community and myself are committed to this work. I am driven to this commitment not only by my relationships with folks in town, but also by the teachings of my scriptures, which affirm a vision of community that does not view efficiency and profit-squeezing as paragon. I support the call for a conversation with the long-term stallholders, customers, and community members who are dismayed by the current decision and its process. Please, let us work together to support the local community and the common good. Rev Liam Miller New Growth Minister, Toukley.

16.01.2022 Check out the post below for a sneak peak of tomorrow's theme. Meet on the beachside of the Lakes Surf Club by 3:30pm.

15.01.2022 Our devotional journey through the Gospel of Matthew continues. Today we are reading and reflecting on 12:22-37 Jesus defending his casting out of demons and reminding us (again) to look to the fruit!

14.01.2022 We continue our devotional reflections on the Gospel of Matthew, reading 11:2-19 - where Jesus is asked if he is indeed the one we are waiting for?

13.01.2022 Matthew 11:20-30, Woes and Invitations We continue our devotional reflections on the Gospel of Matthew, today we read 11:20-30, where Jesus shows that he both is and isn't here to make things easy.

13.01.2022 Liam will be preaching at this on Saturday night. There is also an excellent panel assembled. Join in if you're free!

12.01.2022 Food. Friendship. Time. Summerside Cafe is back in full-swing. Join us Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:30-12 for a free, hearty, un-rushed meal with warm company.

09.01.2022 Some excellent folks are putting this on tonight. You can register here, https://form.jotform.com/202458273978872

08.01.2022 At Beach Church on Saturday we reflected on what it means to live in the world as created by God - how that calls us to walk gently and care for the whole of Creation. Here is a further reflection from Liam on Genesis 1, the creation of the world, and being in the right play. **... Genesis One, as many have pointed out, is not interested in accounting for the creation of the world, rather it is the creation of the world itself. Every time it is read, sung, chanted, or even thought about in passing, it flings the world into being. Not any old world, but the world gifted by God, the world spoken into being by God, the world ordered and looked upon by God. It testifies to the world brought into being through the One who will walk upon it and redeem it, the world held in the creative and creating embrace of the living God. The reader (or hearer) encounters the creation of the world, written into being, and can step forward into this world, in which they are called to bear the image of the One who spoke it into life! Scripture holds little interest into the how of the world (a noble, God-blessed intellectual pursuit though it be), but is determined to cast a vision of what the world is (the good creation of the God who holds and redeems all things) and how we are to live upon it (tending to it, walking gently, and seeking the justice, reconciliation, and flourishing of all things). Scripture begins at the beginning in order to set to stage upon which we players perform our lives. The question for us then, is do we play the script as those who know what this world is, and who we are upon it, or do we live as if another kind of world is created, one which does not ask for our participation in its care, which does not ask for our concern for its future, which does not place us squarely amidst the whole of the interdependent created order? In many ways to be a Christian is to be one knows the world is created. It is to recognise the call to live as one who knows which stage is set; that if the play takes place in Denmark it is Hamlet not Macbeth. What this looks like is for each of us to discover in community in our own day and age and place, but we are given insights throughout scripture of what this kind of life and community might resemble - insights which come into startling, dazzling, awe-inspiring clarity around the person of Jesus, through whom all things came into being and without whom not one thing came into being, who in his earthly life lived as one fully ‘in character’ as one who knew the kind world that has been created: for the glory of God and the salvation of all. Amen.

08.01.2022 Church at the Beach is back this Saturday (Nov 21, 3:30pm)! Meet us at Lakes Beach, Budgewoi, near the Surf Club for a causal, intergenerational service and some restorative time in this gorgeous little corner of the world.

07.01.2022 Another Sunday of Advent gone, still telling this story though! https://vimeo.com/487949819

06.01.2022 See you at Beach Church at Lakes Beach Budgewoi, 3:30pm

06.01.2022 NAIDOC Week 2020, "Always Was, Always Will Be", recognises that First Nations Peoples have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years. Starting TODAY, NAIDOC Week 2020 invites all Australians to see, hear and learn about the 65,000+ year history of this country. We are reminded that this country was criss-crossed by generations of brilliant nations. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples were Australia’s first explorers, first navigators, first enginee...rs, first farmers, first botanists, first scientists, first diplomats, first astronomers and first artists. Through ingenious land management systems like fire stick farming, First Nations Peoples transformed the harshest continent into a land of bounty. Find resources and events in https://uniting.church/naidoc-week-2020/ #naidoc2020 #alwayswasalwayswillbe #naidocweek2020 #allofthisisus

05.01.2022 We continue our devotional journey through the Gospel of Matthew, today reading and reflecting on 12:46-50, which contains a notorious word on who is Jesus' family.

05.01.2022 We continue our devotional journey through the Gospel of Matthew. Today we read 13:1-23, where Jesus begins to teach in parables and is asked why.

05.01.2022 Beach Church is today! And thankfully the weather looks to be holding nicely Meeting at Lakes Beach Budgewoi (on the beachside of the Surf Club) by 3:30pm.

03.01.2022 For the diary. October 20 at 7pm. An online event which you can watch and engage with right here on our Facebook Page. It will also be recorded and released as a special episode of the Love Rinse Repeat podcast.

03.01.2022 Let's celebrate.

02.01.2022 Liam is preaching here tonight, watch along live. There'll also be a panel after. Talking all about the return and rebuilding after exile.

02.01.2022 Since we are unable to meet in person today, here is a brief reflection on Luke 1:26-38, Gabriel visits Mary; the subject of impossibility.

01.01.2022 Today we continue our devotional journey through the Gospel of Matthew, reading and reflecting on chapter 12:1-14. Here we find Jesus engaged in conflict on (and teaching about) the Sabbath.

01.01.2022 Our first Beach Church was a blast. We sheltered ourselves from the wind on the grass, listened to Jan tell the Godly Play story of Creation (the best gift we've ever got), Nate share about why she is passionate about caring for all of creation, and Liam reflected on what it might mean to live as a witness to the truth of creation as a good gift of God, made for our co-creation, stewardship and joy (through an extended analogy with a school play). To close Sho and Liam sang the chorus of Joy to the World (the Three Dog Night version) as a benediction. We then hung out, played on the sand, and enjoyed the exceptionally quiet beach. Join us again on Nov 21!