Gungahlin Uniting Church

Welcoming of the stranger. Inclusive of all people. Sharing the faith journey together. Informal and friendly Christian community..

Sharing the faith journey together. Informal and friendly Christian community.
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Bless This Mess: A Modern Guide to Faith and Parenting in a Chaotic World

February 4, 2020 by Darren Wright

Title: Bless This Mess: A Modern Guide to Faith and Parenting in a Chaotic World  

Author: Ellen O’Donnell and Rev. Molly Baskette

Pages:  310

Themes:  Parenting, Generosity, Faith, Community, Service, Money, Rituals, Conflict, Family, values

Audiobook: We do not have this book on audio, but it can be accessed through Audible.com.au

Group Reading Guide: The authors have written a reading guide for groups with conversation questions, scripture, activities for families etc https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxsZvSoHlzJSY1JobmdiU0dPMW5helR5dWFHSGpvUzhfNllR/view?usp=sharing 

Description

I (Darren) love love love this book, I’ve explored parenting books for a while now, and have struggled to find parenting book that comes from a faith perspective that has come from a progressive faith stance.  

And suddenly I have two!

Bless This Mess is written by a pastor and a child psychologist, who after noting the dearth of progressive christian parenting resources decided to write one of their own.

The book explores family rituals, spirituality and parenting, sexuality, ethics, gratitude and many other areas of faith and family life. Offering practical resources, story telling, humour and truth telling alongside research based understanding the authors have written a book I can wholeheartedly recommend to all parents, carers and grandparents.

Get to know the authors: 

Website: https://www.blessthismessparenting.com

Podcast: 

Molly & Ellen speak to the Pulpit Fiction Podcast about the book Bless This Mess

Ellen & Molly speak to Scott Jones on the Give & Take Podcast about the book Bless This Mess

Video: 

Molly leads the congregation at First Church Berkely, CA. Her sermons are regularly uploaded to the church youtube page.

Filed Under: Faith Formation - Books

Fire By Night by Melissa Florer-Bixler

February 4, 2020 by Darren Wright

Title:  Fire By Night

Author:  Melissa Florer-Bixler

Pages:  190

Themes:  Old Testament, Story, Grace, Hope, Poetry, Prophets, God

Audiobook:  We do not have this book on audio

Description

Melissa’s put together a beautiful and delightful collection of reflections which invite the reader to fall in love with the stories of the Old Testament.

My (Darren) favourite book of 2019, this short and easy to read book is full of deep stories of the God of oppressed people, neighbours, enemies, strangers and friends.  

Fire By Night will hopefully hep you see the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures not as a problem we need to solve, or ignore but as a gift we’re invited to linger with and come to know. Come, read this beautiful book and allow Melissa to introduce you to the gift of the Old Testament, to listen to the voice of the scriptures, wrestle with the god of the scriptures and play with the stories.

Get to know the author: 

Website: https://www.melissaflorerbixler.com 

Podcast: 

Melissa Florer Bixler on her book Fire By Night on A People’s Theology Podcast

Melissa Florer Bixler on her book Fire By Night on the Permission to Be Podcast

Video: 

Melissa Florer Bixler on her book Fire By Night on the Love, Rinse, Repeat Podcast

Filed Under: Faith Formation - Books

Parenting Forward by Cindy Wang Brandt

January 28, 2020 by Darren Wright

Title: Parenting Forward

Author: Cindy Wang Brandt

Pages: 169

Themes: Parenting, Spirituality, Justice, Racism, Raising Children, Sex, Gender, Inclusion, Environment, Equality.

Audiobook: We do not have this book on audio, but it can be accessed through Audible.com.au

Reader Guide: Cindy has made a reading guide for people reading the book either individually or as a group, you can download the Parenting Forward Reader Guide here

Description

Cindy writes a great little book written with the aim to help people, (parents, grandparents, carers…) raise children in today’s world with core values of kindness, mercy and compassion. 

The book offers a vision of parenting that sits with a more progressive understanding of faith, one that embraces gender equality, challenges racism, inspires the imagination and dreams of a world where we can hope our children will one day live.

I really enjoyed this book as a parent, as a pastor and as a person of faith, the stories she tell ring familiar and the challenge that her book offers is strong but possible.

Get to Know Cindy before (or after) reading the book:

If you’d like to know more about Cindy before delving in to the book you can see her on the Love, Rinse, Repeat Podcast in a video interview exploring her book here Cindy Wang Brandt on her book Parenting Forward

You might also want to check out her Parenting Forward Podcast

Cindy’s website is: https://cindywangbrandt.com

Filed Under: Faith Formation - Books

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About GUC

We are a community on a journey, we’ve grown from a small faith community planted in Ngunnawal in the early years of Gungahlin’s development to a thriving inclusive, intergenerational & multicultural community. As Gungahlin has grown we have seen a lot of change.

We are an open and inclusive community, everyone is welcome to use their gifts in worship, prayer, leadership, hospitality and teaching.

Find out more…

Worship With Us

Every Sunday, 9:30am
Gungahlin Uniting Church and Community Centre
108 The Valley Avenue
Gungahlin, ACT, 2913

Worship is for all ages, (0 to 93!) and seeks to be meaningful in different ways for us all.

In Jesus Christ we see how he drew near to each and all and so we hope our worship expresses this nearness too.

Find out more…

Finding us

We worship at the Gungahlin Uniting Church & Community Centre.
Find us on Google Maps here

Car
Free parking is available in our on-site car park.

Light Rail
We are less than a 5 minute walk from the Gungahlin Place Light Rail Station.

Bus
The ACT has a number of bus options for people travelling around, or to Gungahlin. Timetables available here.

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