Echoing the Sacred

Changing rooms

2007-03-22T10:42:00.000+11:00

its time to leave blogger & jump ship to wordpress...

so i'm now over here
echoingthesacred.wordpress.com

weddings

2007-02-13T10:38:00.000+11:00

weddings are [hopefully] spectacular days...
i had the privilege of being the celebrant at a stunning wedding in narooma on saturday.
not only was the scenery spectacular but so were the bride & groom

gorgeous day, gorgeous people, gorgeous place!

the day started like this

and ended like this - congrats Em & Greg

the name of god - YHWH

2007-02-06T12:41:00.000+11:00

in speaking about naming & de-naming god at ncyc - that is that the name of god is so beyond our notions that in many ways it can't be captured and needs more words and more experiences to ever possibly attempt to qualify or quantify - Pete Rollins gave us this little perla!

"its not that you can't say that god is speaking to me, its just you always can say 'i think god is saying this, but it could have been the cheese i ate last night'. And thats very important - its that second statement thats vital, thats what i miss, thats what i'm repentant of."

its been awhile

2007-01-31T21:46:00.000+11:00

happy february! not sure where the end of dec and jan went too...

actually maybe i spent it here:

watching the cricket, crowd & spectacle
at the boxing day test in melbourne

then eating fish & chups & a touch more cricket in perth:

tasting chocolate in the swan valley

then off to ncyc

and finally down to busselton & the margaret river

renovations

2006-12-16T10:10:00.000+11:00

the place has changed a little, i decided to redecorate, and play around with the blogger settings. there's something about gradual progress, that turns potential frustration into determination!

i feel its a little more 'me' now...

5 things

2006-12-15T11:29:00.000+11:00

5 things...

i’ve just been tagged by cheryl… So, 5 things you probably don’t know about me:

1. I have a 'tongue tie', which means the point joining the tongue and the bottom of the mouth is way close to the the tip of the tongue... (its cut now, which means i can almost poke my tongue out!)

2. i lost my wedding ring in the surf, and i was more pissed off than sarah!

3. i have played cricket at the SCG

4. when i was about 2yrs old i smashed my dad over the head (alledgedly - i can't remember it!) with a plate while he was bending over to put something in the cupboard .

5. i have a life long ambition to run a marathon - & i'm 1/2 way to fulfilling it!

i tag jools, jonno, darren, & rhax

Sat morning at retreat

2006-12-07T14:59:00.000+11:00

Over the retreat we reflected on different snippets of the Jeremiah 33:14-16 lectionary text.
Saturday's text was:
In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up from David;

the space was quite simple. 2 differently coloured layers of green cloth under a large old tree stump/branch that i'd picked up years ago from a firends property.

the space on saturday was without the images and newspaper clipings here, which is from sunday. 4 voices of participants led the liturgy below, with the added bonus of Steph leading the most amazingly relevant taize type chant written i believe by Trish Watts:

let your roots sink deep
anchor in abiding love...

[Voices from around the room leading the liturgy speak then place a candle on the trunk saying: ‘come righteous branch' with the respose: 'spring up & shed light on our world.’]

Voice one:

A life that is born, comes to us...

It comes not in the form of might or power, not in lights or bedazzlement, but through the vulnerability of a teenage girl. A mother, younger than you & I, faced with abandonment, isolation, and disapproval. A young woman gives birth, brings life – life to God.

‘come righteous branch: spring up & shed light on our world.’

[Silence]

let your roots sink deep, anchor in abiding love

Voice two:

A hope that is born, comes to us...

It comes not through fear or demands, without prestige or privilege but in the fulfilment of a promise. Hope, the oxygen of the soul, speaks into the stillness, the darkness, the abandonment. Like a glimpse of ever present light, hope is the breaking of dawn.

‘come righteous branch: spring up & shed light on our world.’

[Silence]

let your roots sink deep, anchor in abiding love

Voice three:

A love that is born, comes to us...

It comes not through condemnation or bribe, without condition or demand, but through the humility of a child. A child born like us, in need of nurture, of care, of love. A child who grows, risks, learns, and responds. A child who evokes love, a child who ultimately embodies love.

‘come righteous branch: spring up & shed light on our world.’

[Silence]

let your roots sink deep, anchor in abiding love

Voice four:

A peace that is born, comes to us...

It comes not in a commodity to own or possess, without price or value, but in a movement of the sacred. As a whisper of life, peace weaves her graciousness heartbeat by heartbeat, creating a rhythm for life itself

‘come righteous branch: spring up & shed light on our world.’

[Silence]

let your roots sink deep, anchor in abiding love

World Aids Day

2006-12-06T11:11:00.000+11:00

Friday was World Aids Day. The 1st of December has never meant a great deal to me until I spent the 1st of December 2005 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. For the first time i was faced with HIV/Aids as a cultural and social reality. Many, many lives, families & relationships have sucumbed, been altered, hindered or redirected because of the spread of virus that i confess to subconsciously (and probably with prejudice) believed to be mostly a lifestyle affliction. How niave i was, and in many respects still am.

its estimated that friday also brought with it the 45 000 000 person living with HIV/Aids - a counter can be found here [at the bottom of the page].

I walked the streets of Chiang Mai in 2005 with a banner saying - 'although we have aids, we're still human'. it would rate as one of the most evocative and empathetic actions i have taken. Although a lie, it reorientated me - it gave me the opportunity to take a glimpse into the humanity behind such suffering. As did the words of a cartoon caricature hanging on the wall of the Church of Christ, Thailand, Aids ministry unit, of a small child. it read:

I have Aids, please hug me i can't make you sick.

So...

12 months on:

at the Uniting Church Tertiary Students Advent Retreat, we took some time out to stop, reflect & meditate..

we prayed, annoited, empathised, grieved, and celebrated...

we hoped that through the immanant coming of a child we would glimpse something of the humanity that unites us all to a common story. whether we live with hiv/aids or not, are a refugee, or blinded by our affluence - there is no longer an 'other'.

the gathering:

Tonight we await a promise, a glimpse of certainty, a sign of hope…

Around this globe 45 million lives await a promise, a glimpse of certainty, a sign of hope…

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfil the promise I made to the house of Israel, the house of Judah

Indiscriminate of race, culture or creed, among the infant and the elderly, the faithful and the faithless… a virus spreads

Indiscriminate of race, culture or creed, among the infant & the elderly, the faithful and the faithless… a promise is born

We await the child: a glimpse of certainty, a sign of hope…

cyber suicide

2006-12-05T10:01:00.000+11:00

no i didn't commit cyber suicide... i've been...

at U2

with friends at lake conjola...

celebrating our wedding anniversary...

chilling up the coast...

and finally planning for WAD...

ka-boonk-bang... ka-boonk-bang

2006-11-09T09:48:00.000+11:00

i love the intellegence of my border collie kaibu... he's always excited to entertain new ideas & learns quickly...

i got up to go for a run this morning, leaving sarah in bed as i do most mornings. i fed our maltese/silky mallie as she gets impatient & annoys sarah after i leave. i left the back sliding door open, with the screen door closed. yet kaibu 'the wonder dog' decided to teach himself a new trick...

ka-boonk-bang... ka-boonk-bang... ka-boonk-bang!

after opening & letting himself in the door (a well rehearsed & regular trick) he decided to head for the kitchen bin, step on the foot leaver & watch the lid fly up - not once, as some random fluke would have it, but over & over again! how does a dog (who doesn't normally scavenge) learn to to use a such a mechanism...

arrrh the miracles of life... ka-boonk-bang!

part 2 of the dog saga on sarah's blog

doing something new

2006-11-08T10:15:00.000+11:00

new things can be intimidating. they can create angst, nervious energy and even anxiety. they can also create excitement, energy, and sheer exhilerated enjoyment!

i rode my bike 90kms on sunday for the MS society Sydney to Wollongong bike ride. 10,000 folk battled the southerly which blew all the way along the wetish roads to the gong.

it was my first serious bike ride. the sunday before i saddled up and took off for a couple of hours as prep, after about 60kms i was reasonable tired and a little sore, but comfortable with the effort.

sunday was different...

i loved the ride, at times it was tough, real tough. at times i felt like i was in a peleton riding with a bunch of other keen beans... but all in all i absolutely loved the challenge. the challenge to keep going; the challenge to preserve and restore energy; the challenge to stick on the wheel of others; the challege to overcome another hill; the challenge to finish...

so i rode. the same day on the other side of the world a particular chap i admire for his cycling pursuits, his sensationalised story of overcoming testicular cancer, and his dedication to the ongoing support of the cancer community, strapped on some running shoes and ran his first marathon. i love running, i run quite a lot, i don't run as much as Lance Armstrong used to ride, nor am i in anyway as competative in my ambitions, but as this shmuk pulled on the knics and jersey, another laced up his shoes.... why - to try something new...

p.s Lance's time in time in the NY marathon was 2:59.35 - I want to beat it...

cries of the beggar

2006-10-30T11:09:00.000+11:00

from sundays gospel reading Mark 10:46-52 ...

When mercy is absent…

Cry out

When hope of redemption is criticised…

Cry out

When silence is used to smother…

Cry out

When doubtful faith is all you can muster…

Cry out

Cry out! Cry out…

but to love

2006-10-20T11:49:00.000+10:00

i wrote this a while back, and went looking for it today, i thought i posted it on here but perhaps not... and so i don't loose it again - here it is...

God is Love - Love is God.
personification disappears,
a peaceful ethic appears,…
I sit in the source of life
and hope but to love

a glimpse of beauty

2006-10-18T22:28:00.000+10:00

sometimes people reveal hidden talents. sometimes they're hidden, sometimes most of us are just to busy to see, or ask... yet there they are. diligently creating sheer masterpiece after masterpiece...

i had the complete joy of receiving a piece of poetry from a young woman i know from the uni today. when something like this comes by I have to simply marvel, it articulates the human condition so profoundly - thanks meegs!

A morning mark...

I left a morning mark on the pavement of today
cold was the brush but warmed up to my mood
impulses rise up and hinder my way
Making me stop
stand still
and express

if I carried dignity with as much success
as I carry my burdens of baggage
(you know the kind)
I wonder if things might be made a little easier on me
but the concierge in me won’t comply
..he’s strengthened by a heavy load
(more so by a heavy wallet)
and I give him larger tips these days…
he drains from my supply
And if only I could dump this load of mine
But I’d forget who I’ve been
The concierge would die
And I’d have no answers for my future ‘whys’
With no history, of what would I comprise?

Megan Graham

the nosh

2006-10-17T12:05:00.000+10:00

hanging out with good people for a few days of straight unadulterated conversation; brain picking; relaxing; worshiping; eating, drinking, and pure inspiration cannot be beaten as far as i'm concerned. thankfully i've just had 3 days of it! It could of been longer, i could have learnt more, been inspired more, thought more, talked more - and of course ate and drank more, but for now i've had my fill, and it was great.

One of the ideas that Steve Collins has been playing around with is the Urban Quarter. That is redefining where/what the church is in terms of its geographic proximity... suddenly i now see wollongong from above, birds eye view style, tracing my regular steps around this city, noting the places i hang regularly and the people i see (regularly or not) there. i need to do some work on this stuff because it is simply sensational!

many thanks to cheryl law rie for the amazing amount of work and visioning she put into the event! i admire cheryl's courage to ask the difficult questions and try the stuff that most of us don't think of because we're to comfy with our little worlds/lives to explore it...

a week away - part 2 - understanding

2006-10-10T22:42:00.000+10:00

A notion that kept recurring during my time in Perth is as much a ‘spiritual truth’ as anything I would wish to name as such. Sitting with hopes and stories of non-violence from Northern Ireland; the Muslim world; inter-faith discussions; the Western triumphalism existing under the guise of ‘security’; and of course the cultural tribalism of rival football teams, raised questions of tolerance, listening and understanding.

Yet the one point that kept crashing at my consciousness was the notion that dialogue, understanding, and listening cannot/should not be entered into if the hope is to change the other parties persuasion. Secretly, I suspect that much of our hope (or maybe its been mine!) in ‘listening’ is based on the premise that our or my truth will win out. That through understanding, patience, compassion and empathy my truth will prevail. I suppose this is as much implicit as explicit. Yet, the spiritual ‘truth’ that prevailed over this week is that an ideology, theology or rhetoric however fundamentalist, oppressive or abusive, is not mine to challenge or change through the guise of listening. Yet dialogue, conversation and listening is a process for my own change and transformation. I suppose I can but only seek to further understand another’s position, and therefore perhaps come to identify with journey that brought them there. Its not an approach that condemns those whose behaviour I don’t like, but much more costly – an approach that requires me to try to understand why they may have come to where they are, without agenda or pretence …

hmmm ouch!

a week away & loads to process - Part 1 - Swannies!

2006-10-04T21:09:00.000+10:00

I spent sometime walking around Perth last week. It was a great experience – partly because it’s a wonderfully beautiful city and partly because I spent a good time of it wearing Swans paraphernalia as I emersed myself in this new environment. I wandered the streets, cafes’ shops and parks of Fremantle just five days after Sydney had squashed their Grand final hopes and aspirations proudly displaying the swans crest on my bright red cap. I journeyed through the CBD and shopping precinct of Perth, into two pubs and a restaurant on the Friday afternoon/evening, my Swans Guernsey a red beacon (of hope) amidst the sea of yellow and blue. I’d never been the recipient of so much attention before. Curious, stunned, bemused, competitive, antagonistic, respectful… such were the gazes and comments I interpreted.

What amazed me the most though was the ongoing recognition of my courage.

“You’re brave mate”; “it takes a brave man to wear that around here” , and "Gee you’re brave, watch out you might get stabbed”, and the like were echoed over and over as I passed through the mall, pubs and restaurant. All in all, I was awarded with accolades of bravery from the Perth public about 20 times. I received jeers and Carrn the Swannies as generously.

I suppose the fundamental question is why – why’d I do that? Why did I put myself in such a situation? For the attention? For the entertainment? To try to antagonise? To be parochial? Or, because it’s the ‘done’ thing?

More later…

same same - but different

2006-09-19T11:40:00.001+10:00

Late last year when i was in Thailand I came across a t-shirt in many of the markets with the text 'same same but different'. If my memory serves me correctly (and it sometimes doesn't), same same, but different was an interpretation of the idea of similarity. My myth says that Thai's don't have a word meaning similar, so it becomes, same same - but different. Now, if i'm wrong - woops! but its a good anecdote!

Regardless - the idea of same same but different keeps slapping me in the face of late. So many things around me seem to have elements of reinterpretation, recontextualisation, and straightout bastardisation... In many ways our contemporary world lives on the idea of being similar enough to something to be recognisable but different enough to be unique.

Today in Australia we pride ourselves on being able to open up our lives and 'entertain'. In many ways having people round for dinner or drinks or a bbq has become the ideal of hospitality. Yet is it? or is it same same - different?

Children are an amazing gift. They bring so many different emotions to our human experience. My sister in-law and nephew returned home instate on Thursday after spending six days with us. It was great to spend time with a mostly joyous, inquisitive, grinning six-month old. It’s a time in Riley’s life when he’s growing and developing skills so quickly – he’s learning to live.

I was stuck this week when I read a passage in Mark 9 about the need to be willing to serve others, and that this service equates with the welcoming of a child. Further still the welcoming of a child equates with the welcoming of Jesus, and inturn the welcoming God.

The little one amongst us. The most vulnerable; the most in need; the most reliant; the most dependant – this is where the call to hospitality lays.

Ouch!

we saw a stranger yesterday,
we put food in the eating place,
drink in the drinking place,
music in the listening place,
and, with the sacred name of the triune God,
he blessed us & our house,
our cattle & our dear ones
as the lark says in her song:
often, often, often goes Christ
in the strangers guise.
Celtic rune of hospitality

Too often I fall into the comfortable trap of directing my hospitality to those who I find it easy to like, find it easy to help. Often it’s the people similar to me, those whom I like.

Yet, the challenge is not simply to be hospitable – its to be hospitable to those who are most in need. Those who are vulnerable, reliant, and dependant. Just like Riley who I bundled up in my arms – totally vulnerable.

Such hospitality, such service brings about the reign of God.

same same - yes its easy to be hospitable, but the call to be inclusively hospitable... now thats different!

what comes out...

2006-08-30T09:03:00.000+10:00

Where’s evil come from, or for that matter, where’s good come from?

Is it inherent within us – is someone ‘more evil’ than someone else? Are there people that are ‘more good’?

Is one particular person predisposed to do either more good or evil than another? Would those traits therefore come from outside of us, either as an external force which we seek to control or maintain, or a genetic predisposition we seek to understand?

OR do we all have the same, or similar capacities? That is do we all have the potential to do good, and to do evil; to be a saint and a dictator?

If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart. – Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Mark accounts Jesus as saying: “It is what comes out of a person that defiles. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

If we take seriously the thoughts of both Solzhenitsyn & Jesus then we may come up with the following:

- the propensity to good or evil is bound up with our identity as humans.

- evil (or good) is not something to vilify, nor glorify, abstractly.

- the reality of living a human existence is that we participate in doing good, and we participate in doing evil, both consciously and subconsciously.

- growing and developing an understanding of how it is our humanity (our propensity for great good and evil) is called to maturity in Christ – that is growing to a deeper level of awareness of ourself through virtues like grace, forgiveness, mercy, hope, acceptance, love and peace.

- through our humanity we remain bound and connected to the suffering of this world, and whilst another suffers, we suffer too.

2006-08-23T15:03:00.000+10:00

Last week I spent some time with my in-laws before they headed off overseas for 7 weeks. On Monday Wollongong really turned it on for them when a whale and her calf lazed about 100m off the shore at Austinmer. Tuesday morning on my regular run north, Sarah’s dad and I spotted a pod of dolphins swimming up the coast, surfing in the waves. WOW!

Heaven by Live has the lyrics: “I don’t need no one to tell me about heaven, I look at my daughter, and I believe. I don’t need no proof when it comes to God and truth, I can see the sunset and I perceive.” What are the WOW moments that make sense - or perhaps create sense?

Psalm 84 speaks of how great it is to be in God’s dwelling place, in God’s house. God certainly is located in the beautiful, yet sometimes tragic, mystery of life. But how can this be a specific location. As people we are about connection, proximity, closeness. We need to connect with each other, but we also need to connect with the ‘other’ - the thing that is beyond us – the mystery we can’t explain. The beauty i'm drawn to is that God is in both. In Jesus God is here among us, in the friend or stranger we meet each day. The one we love and the one we despise. In creation, God is the untamed, the beyond our control, the transcendent one, the Other.

Seek God – in the world and in your relationships.

food, water - flesh, blood... jn 6

2006-08-23T14:53:00.000+10:00

consumption…

of what? the tangible: food, water - flesh, blood?

trees, land, fuel, coal, energy?

love, people, trust, relationships, faith, respect?

integrity, honesty, the soul, ourselves?

nourishment…

with what? the tangible: food, water, flesh, blood?

trees, land, fuel, coal, energy?

love, people, trust, relationships, faith, respect?

integrity, honesty, the soul, ourselves?

contemplation

2006-08-07T12:07:00.000+10:00

the sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart...

brokenness:
acceptable; a precursor; a desirable state?
...before god?

we shared psalm 51 in a contemplative worship gathering last night... a version of it by Sons of Korah was played over and over and over again. something happens in repitition, or perhaps something happens when the norm isn't followed. instead of this piece of music and the corresponding images being played just once, they were repeated, over and over for an hour... the situation likened itself to those times when people who know how to lead silence do so and lead it well, for it goes beyond the predicatable, beyond the comfortable, beyond the knowing and therefore forces a different type of response: a response that requires more, more depth, more honesty, more vulnerability. it invites one to shed pretense, control, knowledge or the needing to know, and invites oneto be. to be present in the moment; present and honest before themselves; present and honest before others; present and honest before god...

a broken spirit and a contrite heart....

the ability to be real, honest, vulnerable...
to name those places where the ego wrestles, where pride longs...
a place of letting go....
a place of holding on...
the inner place
a place of god

conditions on peace???

2006-07-31T14:43:00.000+10:00

what happened to placing conditions on war?

not peace...

surely we have got it wrong when we claim that conditions must be met before peace...

is not human life and the elimination of suffering and violence our first calling? why then does peace bear the cost of conditions. 'I will not stop hurting you until you stop hurting me...'

STOP! STOP! STOP

Stop the violence, stop the suffering, stop the rhetoric.

there must be another way...
there needs to be another way...
find another way...

and place the conditions back where they should be - on war.

like shakespeare?

2006-07-26T22:41:00.000+10:00

reading this weeks epistle lectionary reading - from ephesians 3 - i can confidently say that i just struggle to understand paul...

i feel like a kid again in the early years of high school complaining to the teacher that shakespeare just doesn't make sense... its so much bloody work in my mind just to come to grips with the concept... but when i get there i'm all the better for it...

⁸although I am the very least of all the saints,
this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles
the news of the boundless riches of Christ,
⁹and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery
hidden for ages in God who created all things;
¹⁰so that through the church the wisdom of God
in its rich variety might now be made known
to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places...

ten canoes

2006-07-25T22:48:00.000+10:00

sarah and i saw ten canoes tonight... its such a daring piece of film making as it goes against everything in modern, popular cinema (well at least as i understand it).

the film is about 2 stories... the story and the lesson... that is the story that takes place as the story is told, and the actual story, the parable...

sound familiar???

the power in this film is that it is within the telling of the ancient story that significance is found - a jouneying and relationship that in return gives greater meaning to the ancient story...

maybe tomorrow i'll add another ancient story.

amen

2006-07-24T21:31:00.000+10:00

for a better world... a better solution... a better me...

god catch the bombs

2006-07-24T20:28:00.000+10:00

that feeling that makes you sink deep within yourself...
spirit aching... heart sobbing... numb...

everytime i see another bomb fall something inside me is torn.

WHY?

i feel 'more connected' this time, yet i feel more helpless, hopeless. i can't just blame george, nor john.

is it because i am aware that it is humanity being bombed and that it is humanity doing the bombing...

if only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to seperate them from the rest of us and destroy them. but the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. and who is willing to destroy a piece of his [sic] own heart? - alexander solzhenitsyn

yet there must be another way... a way that sees bombs fall no more.... a way thats sees non-voilence as the hope for our shared humanity... there is another way... a way where your humanity demands peace of me and i of you...

other, let me know you... other, come know me...

catch the bombs o god, the ones they fire and the ones i create...

sophia

2006-06-06T18:57:00.000+10:00

so the story goes that the spirit of god came like tongues of fire surrounded by a sound like a violent wind... there was no wind, no fire... just the spirit... amazement & confusion voices of all different languages - yet still with understanding...

all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another,
“What does this mean?”

good question!

there it is right in the middle of the story (acts 2)...

but really what in the heck does this spirit stuff mean?

of course the temptation is to go on and answer that question, but what would happend if we were just to sit with it...

the coming of the spirit of which Jesus spoke must have been a phenomenon, but how much more or less so is it for us?

more than ever this pentecost, I've found great depth in that question... a question that transcends the boundaries of time, speaking to the souls of those trying to live with some sought of authenticity in faith, hope and love...

what does this mean
god's spirit is with us
what does sophia mean for this world?
where does she breathe
where does she move
who does she speak to
where is she creating
what is she birthing
where is she needed
to whom is she tending

spirit come...

discipline

2006-05-30T11:26:00.000+10:00

sometimes it just has to be done...
I have to tie those laces, grit the teeth and get out there...
YES! Its pissing down, its only going to get heavier, I am going to get soaked...

but run I must

discipline...
sometimes I wish all of life's disciplines were as easy as tying the laces and pounding the pavement...
then again, I chickened out this morning!

I sat down with my dog, a coffee and waited for god instead.

too much grief...

2006-05-30T10:00:00.000+10:00

Can grief, sorrow, guilt, shame debiliate?
I suspect so.

Should it?
I suspect so.

I got chatting with a two guys last week as we recounted a couple of stories from the stolen children; their stories edited by Carmel Bird. Our conversation picked up thoughts about Wadeye, Indigenous communties generally, Australia's history, Government resposes, reconciliation etc etc.

BUT, an interesting point came up. These stories can make us too emotional, too debilitated, too paralised... The shame, sorrow, guilt, and grief becomes to overwhelming that we simply cannot or will not be able to act in any helpful way.

Is this a valid position?

Arguments with a partner, parent, friend, god, child (I suspect), or dog even often leads us into the world of confession, forgiveness and reconciliation. We practice it everyday - or atleast probably have the opportunity too... but how good are we at it?

Who has the power to control the process? who makes the decision to how much is told or revealed... who makes the decision to when the level of dis-ease or uncomfortableness means that the story should be sensored, edited or simply turned off?

In a world that emphatically declares "I'm not bloody responsible" almost as often as we breathe, where is the room for sitting in the pain of anothers story? Enduring our own dis-ease, enduring our own self-centredness, enduring our own desires, to be present, willing, vulnerable, open... that we may experience a moment of transcendence, a moment of togetherness, a moment of where we do in fact reconcile, one with another, one with ourselves, one with our god.

- echoing the sacred - worship installation -

2006-05-02T13:28:00.000+10:00

Echoing the Sacred became the name for this first ditch effort in creating a space for uni-type people to reflect on the easter story. The idea behind the name and the installation was that it was a remembering... now if we assume that people must first know to remember, then there also had to be an element of 'telling'... There was a hope mixed up in this remembering that by listening back into stories of faith, we somehow become caught up in the story - the echo if you will.

Echoes as reverberations, resonances, repetitions, ricochets keep coming back, they keep 'bouncing back'... so too are the stories of faith - stories of our souls... It was hoped that by allowing these ancient stories to speak, we would encounter the sacred as we heard them echo through the centuries... A hope, i believe, that was very much realised!

The worship installation was set up at the university of wollongong Mon-Thurs of holy week, april 2006. The space we used was an old fibro cottage adjacent to the main campus. It had 5 rooms which we used to create 5 stations, telling something of the days before jesus died. The installation did not attempt to speak of his death, betrayal or even the promised hope of the whole crucifixion-resurrection narrative. Rather it was a chance to pick up and play with some of the 'ordinary experiences' of jesus before he died. Ordinary experiences that as we reflect pause and ponder we perhaps see no longer as 'ordinary', but rather 'sacred'. As such the stations (in order) were:

1. the anointing of Jesus by the woman (mary?)
2. the woes
3. the overturning of the temple
4. the supper
5. the footwashing

People were encouraged to follow a path of arrows directing them to the stations in that order. At each station participants were invited to interact with the story, and in some cases become part of the story.

after participants moved through the 5 stations, they came to the back balcony of the house. this funnily enough became the surrogate 6th station... a space for chilling out, drinking coffee (fair-trade!) and eating chocolate, & chatting... a community space.

Each station will follow as an individual post

EtS Station 1 - the anointing

2006-05-02T13:26:00.000+10:00

the Anointing
(nurturing the spirit)

this station was created in a very plain room - in the centre was a low table, drapped with a red cloth and covered with lavender scented tealights; a large red candle; pot-puri; incense; and bowls of scented oil...

To the side of the room was a lamp with the following instructions:

Are our hands only for work & toil?
What do they say about us, about our spirit, our inner self?

Jesus was anointed before his death by a woman, perhaps Mary. She was criticised for wasting such extravagant and costly oil. Yet it was this action toward Jesus that showed abundant expressions of generosity, love and devotion.

Rub some oil into your hands. Massage the oil along your fingers and through your palms. Smell and feel this act of love.
be generous… be loving… be devoted…

This is the journey of the cross… obedience, devotion, trust…

EtS Station 2 - the woes

2006-05-02T13:24:00.000+10:00

the Woes

(hope for a better world)

the second station drew from jesus lamenting and grieving over the hypocrisy he observed. the space was a single bedroom sized room (about 2 x 4 metres). down each of the longer walls hung murals. one with the title 'Woe to You', the other 'Woe to Me'. In the centre of the room was a table with paint, brushes, and printed instructions. on the end wall part of the film Baraka was played (chapter 13 - Yes, the one with the chickens).

Alongside each mural were the following instructions:

On the furthest wall...

Woe to you…

Use the paint to help create a mural calling the world into account.
Write or paint – leave your mark!
Just do something that asks for the world to be a better place.
Who do you wish to say ‘woe’ to?

and on the closest wall...

Woe to me…

Use the paint to help create a mural calling yourself into account.
Write or paint – leave your mark!
Do something that asks more of yourself. What do need to fess up to?
What in your life do you wish to say ‘woe’ to?

Each mural was an opportunity to grieve both outwardly & inwardly ... A prayer of passionate intercession, & a prayer of honest contemplative confession...

On the table the following words were left as an invitation...

Station 2: the Woes

Jesus called the leaders of his day into account for what they were doing – or not doing – not only socially, but spiritually. These people happened to be the scribes and the Pharisees. As people we have the same heart today. Who is it that Jesus would call into account? What are the ‘woe’s’ of our world, what are the ‘woe’s’ of our own lives?

WOE TO YOU

WOE to you scribes & Pharisees, hypocrites!

For you tithe mint, dill, & cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice & mercy & faith.

In these you ought to have practised without neglecting the others. You blind guides!

This is the journey of the cross: justice… mercy… faithfulness

WOE TO ME

WOE to you scribes & Pharisees, hypocrites!

For you clean the outside of the cup & of the plate, but inside you are full of greed and self indulgence.

You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean.

This is the journey of the cross: humility… generosity… openness… selflessness

and the results...