… a time to rebuild …

As I am sure most of my readers are aware, in the early hours of May 10 this year, St Barnabas Broadway was gutted by fire, as you may not be aware, our community had what was called a ‘Search Conference’. The conference was an opportunity for our church family to have their thoughts, and feelings heard. It seems a big ask, but it was an amazing two days, both in terms of the process, and the results.

Saturday morning was spent talking about where we came from, the history of the community of believers at Barneys. The afternoon more or less centered on who we are, focusing on our community, our ministry areas, our finances, and our opportunities, and Sunday worked towards presenting a number of briefs that could be given to an architect.

Largely because of my history background, I found the session to be amazing. Especially hearing about the ministry of Barneys, its struggles, its growth, the challenges they faced, the context we now find ourselves, but above all how God has remain constant and faithful in spite of the ebbs and flows of life.

The afternoon session we were taken through an amazing array of information, looking at the demographics of the church, the community, the usage of the building, as we did this our eyes were opened to opportunities we could pursue as we began to understand the area in which our community is located.

It is clear to me that we were blessed on Sunday, as we talked through options, opportunities, and though we came out with different options, the same purpose and principles ran through them all.

Sunday, began where I wish each and every day of my life began, at the God’s feet, in prayer, and worship. We then placed ourselves on a line according to what we thought we should do – from (1) rebuilding the building on its footprint; to (5) significant alternations, and (10) a radically new Barneys, once we had done this, we broke into groups, and spoke about where on this continuum we were, why, and what we would like to do. Each of the groups then reported back on the discussions, and we then had a list of what each point of the continuum looked like, and we could clearly see similarities in viewpoints and where our focus should be.

We had a break here, and then we had to put ourselves on the same continuum again – but while before the people seemed to be spread evenly, we had seemed to gravitate to the upper end of the scale. After this, we created groups of 12, and then worked toward creating a brief (for architects), we got to look at each of these proposals, and vote (not committing ourselves, nor making a firm decision, but an indication to the parish council where the mindset of the group was on that day).

It was a tiring, but fulfilling process, and gave me more to think about than simply what happens to the land where our rain-shelter was, but who we are as a community, and the opportunities we have to serve our God together, and I look forward to seeing where our Awesome God will take us.

y-pod

I have had this thought to post for some time. A while ago Richard Glover wrote a really interesting article speaking of the proliferation of the ipods. Here are a few select quotes:

Why are we so afraid of a few moments in which our minds can float, and thoughts can bubble up? And what are people going to watch on all these multiplying screens anyway?


Why this reluctance to do one thing at a time? It's as if we are trying to distract ourselves from some terrible realisation. As if we are trying to stave off some monster that lurks just out of view.


And new cars now come with them fitted in the back seat in order to anaesthetise the children during journeys. This had been one of the few remaining periods in which children and parents talked and interrelated - sometimes even played games and sang - so you can see why a screen had to be rushed into service to stop all of that.

Do we undervalue stillness and silence? I might be wrong, but I recollect car trips in New Zealand, and how we talked or sang as we went on long drives, and time like this is great to strengthen familial relationships.

That said, is is great having a soundtrack that you can listen to a you travel, In fact I quite often listen to music as I walk to work, or Fi and I travel to Canberra, but its great to take out those ear-phones from time to time. (If you want to see the full article let me know, and I'll try and find it).

Random Musings on Sport..

After the Word Football Cup held this year, I would have loved to have done a montage of footage of the crowds watching the match (v Croatia) at Federation Square or Circular Quay, or in the stadium as the match was played –it told a greater story than the football did. Faces went from despair to elation; and then frustration, back to despair, and then enduring the last few anxious minutes before elation and celebration.

Moving on, I think everyone remembers 1 of the 90 minutes of the Australian game against Italy. I was thinking recently that I would not want a have a video replay or coaches being able to challenge calls. Human error is part of sport. I’m reminded of the fact that the Swans may have won last years Grand Final because a West Coast player was taken out of the marking contest (illegally) and Australia may have been knocked out because of a 50-50 call. It is the romance of sport, sure its heartbreaking to lose but this is part of sport, that’s not to say I don't get frustrated during Bledisloe Cup tests, or Swan’s AFL matches, but please don’t make the referees “robotic-law-enforcers”, leave room for human error.

Been a long time..

Sorry, it does seem that activity on this blog has gone close a record low. So, let me quickly let you in on something. Fiona and I have set a date and will be getting married at St. Matthias Anglican Church Paddington on the the 2nd of December. In relation to the Wedding, the details are coming together quite nicely, and relatively stressfree.

Last night Fi and I went to a Music Appreciation night which Karen organised, the details are posted here, and we had a fun evening, and I was quite interested to hear more from some of the artists people chose.

Tonight it is off to the rain-soaked SCG to watch the Swans play the Bombers. It’s only the second game I’ve seen this year, I’m going with N. and my flatmates. It should be a good, even if a little cold and wet, night.

Another of the recent highlights was spending a weekend down in Canberra. I am actually beginning to think that I could quite easily live there – its close enough to Sydney to be able to go for the weekend, and at the same time the pace seems a touch or so slower than Sydney. The other highlight of our time there was the opportunity to catch up with Deb, and Fiona’s family and friends. It was quite a shame the weekend was as short as it was.

August will be quite a busy month for us – we have our church weekend away – we will hear a talks on leadership, which will be quite interesting. In a few weeks our church has a Search Conference, which will discuss our plans for our church. It should be quite an interesting meeting, and one that I am looking forward to.

Finally, I have to admit that I’m quite stoked that I will see U2 on my birthday with Fi and Lynley. :-)