32^nd Sunday of the Year

Today’s Gospel reminds us that God’s surprising presence can come upon us at any time. It is unpredictable. Surprise or unpredictability is an important way that God has chosen to be associated when calling or sending or encountering people. God in Jesus has been returning in the unpredictability of our times with the call to keep awake and be prepared for encounter with God. Life presents us with lots of unknowns and we need to be ready for them. Maya Angelou says: ‘Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between.’

Solemnity of All Saints Day

Five years ago I had the good fortune to discover Nadia Bolz-Weber and her book, Accidental Saints: Finding God in all the Wrong People, a collection of stories how flawed and broken and failing people can catch the light of grace and the beauty of God. The ‘saints’ she lives and worships with are the awkward parishioner with the bad breath and baggy pants she avoided at her church, the pink-haired teenager she sat beside on a plane ride to a Lutheran youth gathering, the bishop she pastored through the death of his wife who later killed a woman whilst driving drunk. These people remind her of the people Jesus surrounded himself. 

Would you like to share your employment experience and contribute to improving support for refugees and humanitarian entrants in Australia? We are looking for individuals from Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and Iranian refugee communities in Sydney and Melbourne who have arrived in Australia during the past 10 years. If you choose to participate in this research, your contribution will be anonymous, and you will not be identified in any way in the final research report.

Please click the links to download the Refugee Participants Employment Experience Study Flyers in English, Arabic, or Farsi and Dari.