REFLECTION: By Faith

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
– Hebrews 11:1

This week, we step into a sacred rhythm marked by many threads of our shared life: Queensland Multicultural Month, Homelessness Week, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day on Monday the 4th, and International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on Saturday the 9th.

Each of these moments invites us to consider what it means to live by faith.

By faith, we hold to the truth that every person bears the image of God, whether housed or homeless, seen or unseen, celebrated or marginalised. During Homelessness Week, I invite you to read the story from St Stephen’s Uniting Church in Toowoomba, where faith in action is expressed through compassion, dignity, and presence. It’s a powerful reminder that housing is not just a social issue, it’s a matter of human worth and dignity.

By faith, we celebrate the deep beauty and strength of our culturally diverse communities across Queensland. The Uniting Church is a multicultural church, not just by demographic description, but by theological conviction - because in Christ, every tribe and tongue are drawn together. Queensland Multicultural Month calls us to not only recognise diversity, but to embody the unity that can only come by the Spirit of God.

By faith, we honour the children - the young First Nations voices who will carry the story forward. Kym Korbe’s beautiful reflection for National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day reminded me that children don’t just belong to tomorrow... they belong to today. We must listen, protect, and empower them now.

And on August 9, as we mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, we do so all standing together with humility, committed to truth-telling, deep listening, and justice-seeking as sisters and brothers in Christ. The Spirit is calling us into a future of healing and reconciliation, by faith.

Friends, to live by faith is not to close our eyes to the world’s pain or complexity. It is to open our hearts more fully to see what God sees. It is to walk with courage, even when the road is long. It is to trust in the One who goes before us and is already at work in our communities, often in quiet and surprising ways.

The Covenant we made as First & Second Peoples in 1994 as a Uniting Church in Australia is indeed deeply rooted in the principle of unity, but it's also about justice, reconciliation, and mutual respect.

May this coming week be a time when our faith becomes visible through love, through justice, through welcome.

Rev Bruce Moore, Moderator