Soup lunch with Dr Sureka Goringe

Sharing the inspiring stories from around the Uniting World community, on Sunday 21st August Rev Dr Sureka Goringe challenged the Engadine Uniting Congregation to ‘Live a Life that Raises Questions’.

She told a story from India where Covid was raging and many of the rural population were desperate for food. While Christians only make up less than 1% of the population and Hinduism is the main religion, Christians, in spite of the risks of catching Covid, took food to the villages of the poor and starving. A Hindu woman who was desperate to receive food asked for a blessing and said ‘We had no one to turn to but in my heart I thought maybe Christians would come.’

Sureka reminded us that ‘In Christ we can rise above despair and devastation, in Christ we can go where no one else will go and risk our lives to show compassion to those forgotten by others, in Christ we share what we have with sumptuous generosity, and we can overcome the flaws and failings of our own human weaknesses.’

She challenged us to restore the dignity and humanity of those who are poor, oppressed, and disabled by challenging the systems that have created an imbalance of power and wealth.

Sureka asked ’What would it mean for you and I to be so profoundly changed by our identity as Gods beloved that our friends neighbours and colleagues start coveting what we have got and start asking about it’?

Following the service, we continued in fellowship with Sureka and each other through sharing sumptuous home-made soups, slices and sandwiches and lively conversation about what is means in our Community to live lives that turns heads.

You can read the full text of the Sunday service and view Sureka’s talk here.

Judy, Jennie, Genelle, Heather, Karen, Marilyn, Robyn