Columns » St John’s Southgate
Thank God for the cleaners who keep Southbank going
It is sometimes said that, throughout history, plumbers have saved more lives than medical doctors. While that claim carries more than a hint of class warfare, it does underscore the vital importance of sanitation and clean water to city life.
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Sacred places
St John’s (Southgate) prayer chapel offers a sacred place for people to rest, recover and reset each day.
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Easter is close
As cultural and commercial sentinels our supermarkets have, since shortly after Christmas, heralded this approaching season with buns, chocolate and camping supplies. Irrespective of your religious and cultural preferences, Easter is good.
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The yes and no of things
Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. Opinions, couched as social and political commentary, are plentiful.
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Christmas scents
What are your favourite Christmas memories?
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Friends in new places
It’s been almost two years since my wife and I moved from Adelaide to Southbank.
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Beautiful harmonies come through difficult struggles
Van Diemen’s Band is currently conducting a national concert tour that provides refreshed renditions of the classical music of the Baroque and Modern eras.
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How two planter pots tell the story of the scourge of smoking at Southgate
A human battle recently ensued outside of Southgate’s upper-level atrium as centre management sought to enforce its no-smoking expectation. There’s no argument from me.
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Missed: commemorating National Missing Persons Week
I can’t imagine the pain and penetrating confusion created by the disappearance of a family member or close friend. It is a pain all its own.
Read MoreThe visible dangers all over our streets
As I walk around our Southbank neighbourhood caches of discarded large nitrous oxide gas bottles in our nature strips and laneways have piqued my interest.
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We are what we wear
Clothing not only covers and protects our bodies; as a merging between our internal and external worlds it also communicates our identities and the rich, continuing stories that form them.
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Our federal election is over
By the time this article is published Australia’s political landscape is changed, albeit by degrees. Who governs us? How will they govern? Will much change?
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Easter at St Johns Southgate
Easter celebrations in most Christian communities will soon begin. For many communities those celebrations include Palm Sunday (April 13), Maundy Thursday (April 17), Good Friday (April 18) and Easter Day (April 20).
Read MoreConnections
I feel strangely nostalgic for the Coronavirus years of 2020-21. While the disease threatened and terrified us, and some institutional responses were adverse, good things also happened.
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a modern martyr
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a 20th century martyr.
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Christmas presence
A friend once told me that presence, or “turning up”, is the key to effective parenting. Presence is, in fact, the key to any good and thriving human relationship.
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Remembered
Following the death of his wife, C S Lewis wrote, “Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything” (page 8, Kindle: Tingle Books). While beautifully expressed, his words are achingly sad and familiar.
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My first column as the new pastor of St Johns Southgate
My name is James Winderlich and I serve as the new Pastor at St Johns Lutheran Church, Southgate. St Johns Pastors have enjoyed a long association with the Southbank News, and I am grateful for the opportunity to regularly contribute.
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Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
Ukraine. Enough said. You know what I’m talking about. Even at extreme distance from the conflict, Melburnians have been horrified by recent events.
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St Johns Southgate
The yes and no of things
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