Rob Bell Cancels 2010 Australia Tour

Oh Poop…

via robbell.com

Dear Australia/New Zealand friends,
I’m thoroughly disappointed to tell you
I won’t be coming on tour this June
due to a number of factors. For those
of you who have made plans, my apologies
for any inconvenience-tickets will be
refunded, of course. And yes, I will
get there in the near future-these things
are quite complicated as you can
imagine and full of surprises, some of
them maddeningly frustrating.
In the meantime, be on the lookout for the
Drops Like Stars tour film, you’ll be the
first to find out when it’s released. Enjoy.
Thanks for understanding.
Grace and peace,
rob

For people in Australia who’ve purchased tickets and are wondering what’s going on re refunds and booking fees I’ve emailed HaloMusic and have been told that the tour hasn’t officially been cancelled (ie it’s been put up on facebook and on Rob’s blog but the coordinators haven’t officially told the ticket sellers etc and that they hope to know more in the next 24 hours.

They’ve told me that “in the event the tour is officially cancelled they will begin processing the refunds immediately including any booking fees”.

I assume they’re also waiting on word as to if Rob is planning to come on different dates (and if that is the case whether ticket holders would just like to be moved to the different dates) or if the tour needs to be officially cancelled.

Posted in Church, Preaching, conference | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Beautiful Interruptions / Unwanted Distractions

Last week I participated in the NSW Synod Lay Preachers / Lay Pastors / Lay Ministry / Youth Workers / Children Ministry Workers Inservice, a week with people contemplating ministry, recovering from busy lives, learning from each other, sharing stories…

I also finally met Steve Taylor, someone who I was beginning to think was a figment of other people’s imaginations as we’d failed to meet over the last 4 years even though we have both been in the same country and towns we’d managed to miss each other by one or two days…

Unfortunately during the weekend my Grandma, Olive passed away and, as I packed my car on the final day I realised that my guitar, brought down for worship had been stolen.

On the whole not a great week for me.

I’d been asked to prepare a service for one of the mornings, for it to be 15 minutes long and, if possible for it to be based on one of the lectionary readings in the coming 5 weeks. While the morning worship would be 15 minutes approximately (and depending on how early people woke up from their slumber) I was also asked to prepare an hour long service and pass on my ideas to people at the gathering.

I came to the event with a couple of ideas, but as the week started I thought that I really needed to do something slightly different.

So, as is normal for me I started from scratch and put something else together instead.

What I came up with was a fairly wordy (I don’t like words that much) station-based liturgy in two voices based on the lectionary reading for June 13 Luke 7:36-8:3

I didn’t take any photos though, so I don’t really have much to offer in the way of the how I ran the space, but I thought I’d post the liturgy here. there’s a lot that I’d like to do with it to make it more accessible to other churches/communities, for this gathering was for people employed (mostly) in their local congregation and I had them in my mind when I was writing it.

Anyhow, here’s the liturgy for you in a variety of formats, feel free to use, steal, borrow, rewrite…

As for the setting:

  • Think two different colours, orange and blue,
  • Think two doors, one blue, the other orange, at each entrance is a copy of the colour’s instruction / welcome sheet
  • Think two lots of instructions at each station, (orange or blue) but you only use the one that matches your colour,
  • Think also that I painted something for each station a tear (tears), a clay jar (perfume), a pair of lips (kiss) and a painting of lines of hair (hair)
  • And one last touch, a candle in the centre with the blessing sheet (also on blue or orange) where we gathered before finishing.

The music I used for the space included:

Download (you’ll need to download a copy of both blue and orange as they are both used in the space):

And here’s a little something for making it all the way through to the end of this post:


Always (live) – The Mercy Bell

Posted in Alternative Worship, Worship Resources | 1 Comment

Olive Wright 1922 – 2010

olive and abigail

We’ll miss you Grandma

Posted in Personal | 1 Comment

Ordination – A Loophole

Ok, I have issues with the current understanding of Ordination, I believe that, if Ordination is being set apart by the community and by God then you’re ordained through baptism. I won’t go on about this much more, because it’s late and I’m tired.

And I don’t like the current system of the Uniting Church where one has to complete a period of discernment and then, only after discerning a call do you approach a committee of people who interview you, pray, and after some time discern if they believe that you have the call that you believe you’ve discerned.

My issues are many, including the arrogance of a “sense of call towards ordained ministry” (does God really call us to be ordained, or does God just call us to be his people?) and perhaps, the issue of what happens if your sense, your discernment is solid and the committee is having a bad day when you’re interviewed, or what if they have an issue with you, or what if they come with other preconceptions about your ministry and call?

I know of many who I believe would be “called” who are told “not yet” or “no” over and, sometimes over again who still, in their belly have this discerned call.

So, my current loophole is this.

If the “call” to this form of “Ordained Ministry” is indeed one that the Church calls people to then, if the Church was to somehow come to me and enter into a conversation with me saying

“We know that you’re unsure, we’re aware of your issues re ordination, we know that you have your own difficulties and theological issues with the concept. And, with this in mind we still believe that you’re called to this ministry. In your uncertainty we are certain. We believe that we would like to ordain you, with your uncertainties, your misconceptions and differences.”

If this was to happen then I’d certainly have to think about it, pray about it, talk about it and possibly blog about it.

This kind of discernment, this form of call process doesn’t rely on me having the confidence and ability (one may also say arrogance) to walk up to the Church and say “I think I am called, do you?” But instead holds the church to it’s role of the people who do the calling and who live in hope, even in the face of someone who is not entirely sold, or even who is adverse to the concept, the idea.

It allows for a church who doesn’t need someone to say “Yes, I am called” instead, it shows a church who is able to live with people’s doubts and uncertainties and, in the face of that say “we will do this with you, we have faith in you.”

It allows for a church to say “we know you do not think that you are called, but we believe that you are”

it allows, perhaps for a church to say “we will ordain you, knowing that you still have issues, knowing that you’re not entirely sold on the idea…”

It’s what I’m calling a reverse-discernment process, and at this particular point in time is my ordination loophole.

Posted in Church, Theology | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Rumours Of My Ordination Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

Those of you who know me, or who have read my conversations re Ordination may already know that I have major issues with the idea of being ordained. My story also includes a number of amusing (well, I use the word amusing, some may use other words) tales of times where the Church seemed to have complications when calling me to particular roles.

I can see how problems may arise, after all, I’m a lay person in ministry who holds a Bachelor Degree in Theology and a number of years experience within the church and community working with young people, communities and congregations, the logical thing for someone in my position would be to seek ordination, something which many of my friends and colleagues have gone and done, to which I should say that I admire both their courage and support their sense of call to ordained ministry.

But I’ve not done that, and this seems to be confusing to the Church, which has, for a variety of reasons been reliant on Ordained Ministry to fulfill the role of minister, reverend, mission worker, chaplain etc. Some would possibly suggest that it’s just be being difficult, and that I enjoy being stubborn or different, and to a degree they’d be correct, I don’t really want to fold to my theological convictions re ordination and that sometimes  find great solace in this choice, but in other ways the fight to be recognised or called within a church with a preference, a lean toward the ordained is just oh so difficult.

My position prior to the one I’m in now can be a case in point, when I was interviewed for the position the contract had in it a set stipend that included housing and a set car allowance and benefits.  After being interviewed and, after sensing a call to the position and community, and after having that sense of call affirmed by the committee that interviewed me the contract was altered, the alteration meant less money, no housing and the benefits being removed. I could have said “stuff you” and, if I were to do it all over again I’d be tempted to do just that, but I had a calling, and this had been affirmed, I lacked the conviction to do that and took my heart in my hand and moved home and took the chance.  I had the hope that the conversation about my support and income would be re-visited, but every time it was various people would come up with the idea that as I was a Lay person I shouldn’t be awarded what Ordained ministers receive, after all, how annoyed would the reverends be? I could go on, but won’t, I’ve dealt with that stuff, I’m still raw sometimes, but it’s something that I’m happy to have experienced, it’s really helped me think through ordination as a path and to discern that it isn’t the way for me to go, at least for now.

When having the issues in the placement i mentioned, I was asked “why not get ordained, it’d sort this stuff all out, it’s not that it’s a big deal?”

The truth of the matter is that I think it is a big deal, and to get ordained to do the ministry that i was already doing and called to would only serve to help me get an increase in income, a vehicle and a house, which aren’t valid discerning reasons for me.

I liken it sometimes to a dance, sometimes I go to dance with the Church and find any number of things, sometimes I find that I’ve entered the dance floor ready to waltz but the church is expecting a samba, sometimes we spend a lot of time talking about what dance we’re to be doing, but find it difficult to find one that we can both do with any great confidence, other times we decide to cut the crap and just dance alone on the same floor, with an awkward looking partnership while at other times we’re actually rocking up to find that we’re both on different dance floors.

The end result is that sometimes we’re lonely, dancing to a love tune without a partner, other times we’re awkwardly dancing and kicking shins and standing on feet, sometimes we’re clumsy while other times onlookers have issues trying to reconcile the fact that we’re supposed to be dance partners.

While occasionally the dance is beautiful, easy and looks like we’re well rehearsed, like it comes oh so naturally.

So, it was with that in mind that I went to an interview last year to discuss whether the Church believes that I’m called to be a Lay Pastor, a specified Lay ministry within the Uniting Church in Australia.I’ve got to admit I was puzzled why I was there, I didn’t really feel called to the title/ministry, but i believe that this is a two way street, and so I’d have to see if the committee believed that I was called, even though I was skeptical.

The interview was great, I was honest, possibly too honest about my issues. when asked why I felt called to the ministry of Lay Pastor I even suggested that i didn’t think I was. That, instead I feel called tot he ministry I’m in, that I’ve been participating in for many years, and that I can see me participating in for many years to come. I shared that I think it’s not my decision to make, that the committee needed to pray and ask God whether they believe I am called to the ministry and that my act of faith is rocking up to the interview.

We talked about my life, God’s call, my theology of ministry and I shared some of my stories of dances that didn’t go as well as planned, I shared some of my shin bruises and fears of dancing like that again. I must add that I didn’t share the dancing metaphor then, so I was nowhere near as eloquent as I am now, but instead was much more clumsy.

My answer was to say that while I didn’t necessarily feel called to being a Lay Pastor I felt that the Church needed me to be called towards it in order to be in a good relationship with me. At least if the Church had a place for me we could start learning how to dance together without all the awkwardness that has usually been there. that, If the church had a place and name for me in the system we’d have a much nicer relationship in the future and that could save a lot of trouble and hurt.

Basically, I said, id you want to dance with me meet me half way, let’s find a dance floor that we can agree to dance on.

I left the meeting refreshed but convinced that I’d shot myself in the foot by talking too much and being too honest about my issues and past.

But had a phone call the following day to let me know that the team felt that I was indeed called to be a Lay Pastor.

So, it was with that in mind that the Riverina Presbytery commissioned me as a Lay Pastor in February.

No, I’m not a Reverend, a Minister of the Word, a Deacon… I’m still in Lay ministry, slowly learning how to dance all over again.

Posted in Church, Theology | Leave a comment

OK Go – This Too Shall Pass

Another fun and fantastic video by the viral music clip gurus OK Go

This is the “Rube Goldberg Machine” version of the song

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w[/youtube]

This could be a fun youth group / community activity…

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Cadbury Goes FairTrade in Australia

cadburys
here’s the proof…

but it’s only the milk chocolate brand for now

keep on pestering them until it all goes fairtrade…

Posted in Consumerism | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Mr Deity and The Host

This episode of Mr Deity just HAS TO make it into any sacraments course that I participate in…

“This whole thing is disturbing and cruel”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTTwSJK_XMI[/youtube]

“We’re going to need a lot more Jesus…”

Posted in Eucharist, Fun, Theology, YouTube | Leave a comment

When One Has To Evacuate A Camp (Previously titled “When the rain comes down…”)

narrandera – devotions by wednesday
christa_six@hotmail.com
The other weekend I had the pleasure and privilege of co-coordinating my 4th River Camp for the region in which I minister, it’s a regional camp held annually that attracts over 100 young people and 90 odd leaders from the rural areas across the Riverina. the camp’s been going ever since I was a baby and many of those who went back then are still supportive of the event and some still come as leaders.
Actually, we hold two of these camps in the region, one down south and another centrally, the weekend before last I was at the Southern camp soaking in the atmosphere of the Murray.
This time however was the first camp where I’ve ever had to participate in, and co-coordinate a mass evacuation of the campsite.
Yes, we evacuated 190 people (120 kids, 60 leaders).
I thought I’d post some of what helped us to perform the evacuation so smoothly and safely for all of you out there, as well as maybe telling a little of our story (but not too much) for those of you who are interested.
It had rained Friday night leaving the dirt road from the main road to the campsite difficult for cars to travel on, we had a number of 4×4 vehicles on site that could make the journey and so we transported people in on The friday via 4×4 and trailers. Unfortunately it also decided to rain a lot more than the weather forecast had suggested it would, it took a while to get tents up and we had a few kids with wet tents and sleeping gear. A few of the leaders brought extra gear with them, I had 9 spare dome tents in my car, so over the evening we sorted things out for everyone. The decision was to stay at the campsite, Saturday’s forecast was a dry day, warm and sunny, we’d go ahead as planned and make use of the good weather on Saturday while reassessing our plans for Sunday.
Saturday was a dry day, tents and gear ere able to be dried, we were able to run all of our water activities and the mud left from the night before’s weather was manageable, but would still only be good for 4×4 vehicles. We were able to get our electrical gear in, use the projector and microphones and have a musical band set up. What’s more the weather forecast for the evening was good as well, no sign of storms, perhaps a light rain at night and another Sunday morning with a possible storm Sunday afternoon.
We made plans to alter the program for Sunday in order to have everything packed up before the storm was to hit and all seemed well.
At 8pm though, all of that started to change.  Very quickly a storm came on in, high winds were causing dangerous branches to start to fall and tents to blow around. We managed to get all the electrical equipment packed away, the band managed to transport all their equipment t the shed up the road before the storm hit. Very quickly a number of decisions needed to be made, here’s what helped us get everything going.
a) We had an emergency assembly area, and we knew where it was.
b) We had a line of authority, people knew who would make the decisions and they were trusted.
c) We had contacted the emergency services prior to the camp, the SES, the police, the ambulance services all had knowledge of our camp and where it was, maps had been sent to them with the information of our camp.
d) We had all the contact details of the emergency services and contacted them when appropriate.
e) We had enough vehicles to perform the evacuation
f) We had leaders who were responsible, and who were ready to help out in any way.
g) We had a tight team of leaders
h) We had First Aid Officers who were ready to take on tasks when they arose
i) We had all the appropriate forms and contact details for all the campers, so when we decided to evacuate everyone to their homes we could perform the task relatively easily (some campers lived over 2 hours from the campsite)
j) We had an emergency plan that included all of the above.
In the end what we needed to do was evacuate to the safe shed area up the road where we set up a bbq and warm food, dry clothing and sleeping bags, a first aid area and where the SES met us and helped us out. We held  leaders meeting in which we decided that it would be safer to send everyone home, which is where we phoned everyones parents and arranged transport for all campers to make it home.
After the completed evacuation a handful of leaders stayed back and slept overnight so we could pack everything up, all the tents and all the equipment and all the clothes on Sunday before the storm hit… Which we did.
The impressive thing is that after we left the site (and towed my car out) we were hit by the storm forecasted for the Sunday afternoon.
Wagga Wagga received over 11cm of rain in that storm.
We got out just in time…

The other weekend I had the pleasure and privilege of co-coordinating my 4th River Camp for the region in which I minister, it’s a regional camp held annually that attracts over 100 young people and 90 odd leaders from the rural areas across the Riverina. the camp’s been going ever since I was a baby and many of those who went back then are still supportive of the event and some still come as leaders.

Actually, we hold two of these camps in the region, one down south and another centrally, the weekend before last I was at the Southern camp soaking in the atmosphere of the Murray.

This time however was the first camp where I’ve ever had to participate in, and co-coordinate a mass evacuation of the campsite.

Yes, we evacuated 190 people (120 kids, 60 leaders).

I thought I’d post some of what helped us to perform the evacuation so smoothly and safely for all of you out there, as well as maybe telling a little of our story (but not too much) for those of you who are interested.

It had rained Friday night leaving the dirt road from the main road to the campsite difficult for cars to travel on, we had a number of 4×4 vehicles on site that could make the journey and so we transported people in on The friday via 4×4 and trailers. Unfortunately it also decided to rain a lot more than the weather forecast had suggested it would, it took a while to get tents up and we had a few kids with wet tents and sleeping gear. A few of the leaders brought extra gear with them, I had 9 spare dome tents in my car, so over the evening we sorted things out for everyone. The decision was to stay at the campsite, Saturday’s forecast was a dry day, warm and sunny, we’d go ahead as planned and make use of the good weather on Saturday while reassessing our plans for Sunday.

Saturday was a dry day, tents and gear ere able to be dried, we were able to run all of our water activities and the mud left from the night before’s weather was manageable, but would still only be good for 4×4 vehicles. We were able to get our electrical gear in, use the projector and microphones and have a musical band set up. What’s more the weather forecast for the evening was good as well, no sign of storms, perhaps a light rain at night and another Sunday morning with a possible storm Sunday afternoon.

We made plans to alter the program for Sunday in order to have everything packed up before the storm was to hit and all seemed well.

At 8pm though, all of that started to change.  Very quickly a storm came on in, high winds were causing dangerous branches to start to fall and tents to blow around. We managed to get all the electrical equipment packed away, the band managed to transport all their equipment t the shed up the road before the storm hit. Very quickly a number of decisions needed to be made, here’s what helped us get everything going.

a) We had an emergency assembly area, and we knew where it was.

b) We had a line of authority, people knew who would make the decisions and they were trusted.

c) We had contacted the emergency services prior to the camp, the SES, the police, the ambulance services all had knowledge of our camp and where it was, maps had been sent to them with the information of our camp.

d) We had all the contact details of the emergency services and contacted them when appropriate.

e) We had enough vehicles to perform the evacuation

f) We had leaders who were responsible, and who were ready to help out in any way.

g) We had a tight team of leaders

h) We had First Aid Officers who were ready to take on tasks when they arose

i) We had all the appropriate forms and contact details for all the campers, so when we decided to evacuate everyone to their homes we could perform the task relatively easily (some campers lived over 2 hours from the campsite)

j) We had an emergency plan that included all of the above.

In the end what we needed to do was evacuate to the safe shed area up the road where we set up a bbq and warm food, dry clothing and sleeping bags, a first aid area and where the SES met us and helped us out. We held  leaders meeting in which we decided that it would be safer to send everyone home, which is where we phoned everyones parents and arranged transport for all campers to make it home.

After the completed evacuation a handful of leaders stayed back and slept overnight so we could pack everything up, all the tents and all the equipment and all the clothes on Sunday before the storm hit… Which we did.

The impressive thing is that after we left the site (and towed my car out) we were hit by the storm forecasted for the Sunday afternoon.

Wagga Wagga received over 11cm of rain in that storm.

We got out just in time…

Posted in Camping | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Sunrise

DSC08902

I finally received my Minolta 100mm macro lens back from repair.

I’m happy.

Posted in Images / Photos, Personal | Leave a comment