echoing the sacred

its been awhile take 2

dw — Thu, 03 May 2007 03:35:07 +0000

Sarah and i have just arrived back from a 5 week jaunt of the world… if you’re interested you can check out some of the stuff we got up to via her blog rahsblahs.

Being away made me remember how cool it is to be able to see the things that are so different in this world and reflect on my own life, what i value and what i might take for granted, not to mention the limitations we’ve set on ourselves.

thanks to the Bev & Co, Jason & Corri, Elva, the Iona community & the many guests, Jools, Pete, Anna Fiona, Irene & Nat, Ealu, Sam, Rajan, Julie, & Daa – and the countless friends we met along the way…

highlight: I got mugged by a monkey!

Echoing the Sacred happened again this easter while i was away. Look out in the coming weeks for some interesting reflections and pics – i can’t wait to see them either!

its been awhile

dw — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 23:54:56 +0000

my thinking has been otherwise occupied [hijacked] by various life events over the past month, and so posting has not been a priority…

a new blog, an imminent holiday…

watch this space

weddings

dw — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 23:38:00 +0000

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

dw — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 01:41:00 +0000

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

dw — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 10:46:00 +0000

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

dw — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 23:10:00 +0000

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

dw — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 00:29:00 +0000

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

dw — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 03:59:00 +0000

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

dw — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 00:11:00 +0000

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

dw — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 23:01:00 +0000

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…