We acknowledge the sovereign and unceded land and waters of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation.

We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and recognise the work of younger Indigenous leaders in the community.

We support the Uluru Statement from the Heart. There is no reconciliation without justice and the telling of truths hard to hear. There is much good work to do.

congregation

We are an ecumenical (open to many Christian traditions) and affirming congregation of the Uniting Church in Australia. The Eucharist is at the heart of our life together.

Read more

community

We offer opportunities for community participation and service via the South Sydney Herald newspaper, the Orchard Gallery for artists, and partnership with local organisations.

Read more

garden

We grow flowers, herbs, fruit and vegetables in Mirrung Garden, a safe place for refreshment, sustainable practice, education and contemplation – a collaborative work.

Read more

un/mission

We are a welcoming and diverse group of people from South Sydney and beyond.

We are open to God at work in the world. We seek to be a community of peace, justice, compassion and faithfulness.

We look for the Holy Spirit in all things and we strive to care for all creation.

With Christ/a, we dare to be honest in our lives and to explore difficult questions together. We are open to different points of view.

We share love, friendship, hospitality and hope with each other and with our neighbours, regardless of faith or sexuality.

We seek to overcome both exclusion and abuse.

homily

Epiphany 2 | January 19, 2025
Isaiah 62:1-5; John 2:1-11
‘The first of seven signs’

With respect to texts such as John 2:1-11, it is tempting to read an account of magic – a magician’s trick – turning water into wine. 

It is tempting to succumb to the desire for magic – a desire to be free of the real world, a fantasy about a superpower intervening to relieve us of finitude and mortality, to suspend bodily and natural laws. By the waving of a hand or wand.

Read more

news

‘The first of seven signs’

HOMILY: With respect to texts such as John 2:1-11, it is tempting to read an account of magic – a magician’s trick – turning water into wine. 
January 19, 2025/by Andrew Collis

What’s on this week

NEWS: See what’s happening at SSUC this week ...
January 17, 2025/by Andrew Collis

‘Wilderness and otherness’

HOMILY: “Spirits of the universe, give glory to God,” the psalmist sings. “The voice of God is heard in storms, rousing all creatures. God’s voice strikes fire from desert rocks …” It’s a fitting psalm for our celebration of the Baptism of Jesus. And it invites consideration of the fact that following his baptism by John in the Jordan, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert. Jesus is led into a wilderness we might call a storied country.
January 12, 2025/by Andrew Collis

‘Another way’

HOMILY: The word magi comes from the plural of the Greek magos, which in turn comes from the Old Persian magus. The magi are lovers of wisdom from the East … non-westerners, Arabian or African philosophers, Asian priests …
January 5, 2025/by Andrew Collis

‘Five gold rings’

HOMILY: “On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me ... five gold rings …” Allegedly, the popular 18th-century carol was a means of teaching the faith, the five gold rings represented the five books of the Torah.
December 29, 2024/by Andrew Collis

‘Heavenly folk songs’

HOMILY: “I know that I can sing, that I can write. But what I’m really good at is understanding what a lyric is about. I always ask questions about the context of the lyric, enter into it, become the lyric … [and] I became a better singer as I gained more life experience …” (Agnetha Fältskog, 2013).
December 25, 2024/by Andrew Collis