Wonderful Awful Things

Moving to WordPress...

2008-12-31T09:49:00.001+11:00

I'm moving this blog to WordPress. It will be found here. I'll probably delete posts from Blogger after New Year's.

Gembrook for New Year's Eve

2008-12-31T07:33:00.001+11:00

A number of us are going to camp out at the retreat centre in Gembrook for New Year's Eve. Will probably be back in Melbourne on Saturday.
Have a good one!

'Group moves people into foreclosed houses'

2008-12-31T07:21:00.006+11:00

The Charlotte Observer has an interesting article about a group of activists in Miami called Take Back the Land, who are helping homeless people move into foreclosed homes:

Max Rameau delivers his sales pitch like a pro. “All tile floor!” he says during a recent showing. “And the living room, wow! It has great blinds.”
But in nearly every other respect, he is unlike any real estate agent you've ever met. He is unshaven, drives a beat-up car and wears grungy cut-off sweat pants. He also breaks into the homes he shows. And his clients don't have a dime for a down payment.
Rameau is an activist who has been executing a bailout plan of his own around Miami's empty streets: He is helping homeless people illegally move into foreclosed homes.

Read the whole article here.
(Found through Boing Boing.)

Liturgy from Advent Conspiracy

2008-12-30T20:40:00.004+11:00

The following is the liturgy from the Advent Conspiracy service as we ran it in Footscray:

Advent Conspiracy - An Alternative Carols Service

Lights Down

Water Pouring

Reading 1: Annunciation: Luke 1:26-35
The Birth of Jesus Foretold
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’* 29But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. 31And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ 34Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’* 35The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born* will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37For nothing will be impossible with God.’ 38Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.

Light Bubble wrap Womb Station and play Heartbeat audio loop

Divine Womb
(Marcus got this off Jonny Bakers blog. Jonny Baker's blog says that it's from Greyspace, but it doesn't seem to be available from there anymore.)

God joined with Mary and created
The divine fertilised human
Nestling into her womb, nourished by her blood

God joins with us and creates
A divine planted idea, an inspiration
Which settles in us, and feeds

But after the ecstasy of impregnation
9 months of waiting, hoping, growing
The invisible inside, waiting to be born

And while we wait, difficulties arise
Herod’s try to destroy
Authorities try to rationalise
Husbands doubt,
While redemption gestates

We are all wombs of the divine
Pregnant with that which God envisions us
How will we feed it?
Who will it most resemble, us or God?
How long are we prepared to be patient?

We wait.
We wait
We wait for the invisible to become visible
For the seed to flourish
For vision to be born

Touch the water in the baptismal/ womb.
Consider it as an image of life and death and think of something you wish to be birthed in you this Christmas time.
You may wish to mark your forehead with the sign of the cross as a symbol of your own participation in the Christ Story.

Carol: O Come all ye faithful

Reading: Bible Journey Luke 2:1-7
The Birth of Jesus
2In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3All went to their own towns to be registered. 4Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Reading: O Little Town Of Bethlehem ( A Contemporary Version)
Words By Don Hinchey (from Amos Trust Christmas Leaflet, 2004)

O Little Town Of Bethlehem
How Still We See Thee Lie
Above Thy Deep And Restless Sleep
A Missile Glideth By
And Over Dark Streets Soundeth
The Mortar's Deadly Roar
While Children Weep In Shallow Sleep
For Friends Who Are No More

How Silently How Silently
Their Hope Has Gone Away
No Laughter Rings No Choir Sings
In Shepherds Fields This Day
The Angels In The Heavens
Are Hushed In Sad Lament
Back In Exie The Holy Child
Finds Herod Won't Relent

O Holy Child Of Bethlehem
Descend To Us We Pray
Your Love Bring Down On David's Town
Drive Fear And Hate Away
Awake The Ire Of Nations
Let Justice Be Restored
Rebuild The Peace In Silent Streets
Where Once Your Love Was Born

Light Bethlehem Station
Station notes:
The baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
Read the alternative Carol
Read the article about what is happening in Bethlehem today.
You may wish to write down the email to send your Christmas Greetings.
Following the instructions build an Origami House.
Place it in the sand as a prayer for the children of Bethlehem this Easter.

Carol : O Little Town of Bethlehem

Light City + Stars Station

Reading : Matthew 2
The Visit of the Wise Men
2In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men* from the East came to Jerusalem, 2asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising,* and have come to pay him homage.’ 3When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah* was to be born. 5They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
6“And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd* my people Israel.” ’
7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men* and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ 9When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising,* until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw that the star had stopped,* they were overwhelmed with joy. 11On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

City + Christ Star Reflection: Christop
A group of astrologers were led to the Christ by a star. Where I live it’s actually pretty difficult to see the stars because the city lights are so bright. I’ve been thinking about what that means for me trying to find the Christ in an urban environment. During the Advent period, I find this particularly difficult. It seems like the city has gone insane on Christmas shopping and excessive advertising.
What makes it difficult for you to find the Christ?
Write it down on a post-it note, and stick it on one of the buildings.

When you do manage to find the Christ, where do you find him?
Write it down on a post-it note, and stick it on one of the stars.

Light Chess Nativity Station and read explanation.

Prayer Constellation Explanation. (This was a computer program which Jon-Jon made. While visiting this station, participants would type in a prayer, which became a star. By hovering the mouse over other stars, people participants could read others' prayers.)

Carol: We Three Kings

Light Angel Station

Reading:
The Shepherds and the Angels
8 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah,* the Lord. 12This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host,* praising God and saying,
14‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’* 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ 16So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Station Notes:
Be Not Afraid…
An elderly couple are told that they will have their first child – but that they shouldn’t be afraid. (Luke 1:13)
A young woman is told that she is pregnant, and that her husband is not the father. Even though she is at risk of being executed, she is told that she shouldn’t be afraid. (Luke 1:30)
Some sheep farmers are trusted with a treasonous secret, about a new king who has been born. He hasn’t been born in Jerusalem or Rome, but in a town called Bethlehem. And the farmers are told that they shouldn’t be afraid. (Luke 2:10)
All of these pieces of news are good reasons to be afraid. But God’s angel says, ‘Be not afraid.’ God has not put us in a dangerous situation and then left us on our own. God is with us in the danger.
There has been a lot of news recently which might give us good reason to be afraid. The economic meltdown. The possibility of losing our jobs. Alcohol-related violence.
Have a look through a newspaper. If you find something frightening, you might like to rip it out, and stick it on the angel, remembering that God is with us in the danger.

Carol: While Shepherds Watched

Light Dragon and Woman Station

Reading: Revelation 12 :1-6a, 13-17 (King James Version)
1And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 3And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. 5And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. 6And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, …13And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 14And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Reflection: O Holy Night-Mare (Marcus)

In the twelfth chapter of Revelation, the woman and the dragon appear as a great sign. The Greek word is semeion and it gets a good run at Christmas. The old prophet uses it when he announces to Mary “Behold this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is spoken against. The angel’s tell the shepherds the sign of their messiah will be a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.
And so I too was inspired to make a great sign for Christmas.
The 12th Chapter of Revelation is not commonly read at Christmas time. The sign of the woman crying out and giving birth to the child with a dragon spitting threats and pursuing is not the sort of thing that sits comfortably alongside fairy lit reindeers or pastoral manger scenes on well manicured suburban front lawns.
Not exactly the thing we sing to our children. “You better watch out, you better not cry, you better watch out I’m telling you why, The Red Dragon from Revelation 12 is coming to town.”
But we should read this story at Christmas. In this painting, the Dragon is seen ready to devour the child of the pregnant woman, who symbolises the Church, the Virgin Mary and Israel. Like Eve at the start of Creation we have here another primeval encounter with the serpent. But here, at the end, it is another outcome entirely.
The woman clothed in the sun stands for and with all of humanity. She bears witness to hope by looking the dragon in the eye. She stares death in the face and gives birth anyway.
There is a lot at stake at Christmas. We domesticate it at our peril.
The dragons watch in Matthew is kept by the puppet King, Herod the Great. He is the representative of Rome who stands for all the worldly powers. Even today our fairy lights do little to light the darkness of the slaughter of the innocents today from economic crisis, climate change, to famine and genocide. At stake for the woman was her life and the life of the child – and in the reign his birth promised. At stake for us is our lives and all of creation.
When you go to sleep on Christmas Eve, what is it that you dream is coming to town? Is it a Holy Night or a Holy Nightmare? At every turn it appears an absurd mismatch: a woman and a dragon, a babe and the kings of this world, a messiah of utter folly and the power of death. But that is precisely the method that God has chosen risking everything on the power of powerlessness. The topic of Christmas is whether we have the eyes to see it, and the heart to follow.
Like the Woman, look the Dragon in the eye. Where do you see the powers of death in your own story? Plant a seed as a symbol of life and your hope and determination for an unlikely cause.
The sign is based upon the “The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in the Rays of the Sun,” a watercolor painting by the English poet and painter William Blake. painted between 1806 and 1809.

Carol: O Holy Night

Open Space for interaction with Stations.
Music during Open Space: Mahalia Jackson's 'Silent Night' (King Kooba remix); 'Bring a Torch Jeanette, Isabella', 'O Holy Night', 'Star of Wonder' and 'We Three Kings' from Sufjan Stevens' Songs for Christmas; and Jackson Browne's 'The Rebel Jesus' from The Bells of Dublin.

Housekeeping : Marcus

Lights off all stations except for the womb/heartbeat
Divine Womb Prayer
Relight Stations and play background music.

Christmas Cake served for supper.

With Many thanks to Dave, Kylie and Ali in Bendigo, Nomes, Talitha and Anthony in Footscray and Christop and Merhin [and Marx] for being above and beyond fantastic worship gypsies!

Gaza ceasefire petition

2008-12-30T09:21:00.003+11:00

There is a petition at Avaaz to the UN Security Council, the European Union, the Arab League and the USA asking for a ceasefire in Gaza:

We urge you to act immediately to ensure a comprehensive ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, to protect civilians on all sides, and to address the growing humanitarian crisis. Only through robust international action and oversight can the bloodshed be stopped, the Gaza crossings safely re-opened and real progress made toward a wider peace in 2009.

They want 250 000 signatures. So far there are 52 254. You can sign the petition here.

Doyle says, 'Bogan it up at home'

2008-12-29T13:40:00.004+11:00

Our Mayor, Robert Doyle is once again saying that working class people aren't welcome in the city:

"If you're coming in to create trouble don't bother, bogan it up at home, don't come into the City of Melbourne," Cr Doyle said.

(Article from The Age is here.)
I don't know why he thinks it's working class people in particular that cause trouble in the city.

'War will not bring peace'

2008-12-29T13:23:00.003+11:00

Deb Storie has an opionion piece in today's Age about the war in Afghanistan:

'WHAT is Kevin Rudd like?" "What type of man is he?" "Will he win the election?" Afghan friends and colleagues assailed me with these questions when I returned to Afghanistan in October last year. Their obsession with our federal election bemused me. Ten years ago they didn't know when Australian elections were or that Australia had a prime minister.
My friends explained: "Your next prime minister is very important to us. We need to know whether he will be someone else who believes that guns are the answer to everything. You see if he is different, and if the next American president is different, if they are people of peace, then maybe there is hope for us."

Read the whole article here.

'Tenant internet connects broader band of people'

2008-12-27T22:45:00.004+11:00

Article in The Age about Infoxchange setting up broadband at the Collingwood flats:

Mr Mahar says that when he proposed wiring the Fitzroy flats, sceptics told him that computers would add to residents' isolation. But a study of the scheme, done by Swinburne University's Institute for Social Research, found the opposite was true: computers allowed tenants to participate more fully in the world around them. Young people used them to do homework, the unemployed searched for jobs and training, while an intranet site told residents what was going on around the estate.
Neighbours even began emailing each other to suggest meetings. Mr Mahar's favourite story is about a Serb and a Croat who lived next door to each other but had never spoken: after going online they began chatting about Solitaire on their PCs.

Read the whole article here.

'Advent Conspiracy' in Footscray

2008-12-25T07:00:00.000+11:00

Yesterday afternoon/evening (Christmas Eve), Marcus, Mehrin, Talitha and I set up for 'Advent Conspiracy' at Footscray Baptist Church.
Pics and videos:

Marcus or I will publish the liturgy shortly after Christmas.

And as a bonus Christmas present, here is Marcus trying out the organ:

Greedos Ghristmass

2008-12-23T21:51:00.011+11:00

Today was Credo Christmas. Enough said. Here's pics:

Because it was the last day we got a picture of all the resis together:

And one of the Street and Hospitality Team (minus Shobie, because she and Luffy had to go early):

One sleep till Credo Christmas!

2008-12-22T14:32:00.002+11:00

Credo Christmas is tomorrow. So we have been making salads in Credo today.

'Advent Conspiracy' in Bendigo

2008-12-22T01:38:00.009+11:00

Just gotten back from running 'Advent Conspiracy' in Long Gully, Bendigo. Mehrin, Marcus, Naomi and I packed everything into the van, drove it up there, and then Dave, Kylie and Ali helped us set up.
Here's pics and video:

So we'll be setting it up again in Footscray for Christmas Eve (Wednesday night). 7pm at Footscray Baptist Church, 60 Paisley Street.

'Search for a saviour'

2008-12-21T10:51:00.001+11:00

Cheryl Lawrie has a good opinion piece in today's Age:

When we look at Jesus — God with flesh and bones — our understanding of a Messiah is redefined. It's based only and always in love and justice; a power that's collaborative, not coercive; one that doesn't demand authority but instead speaks truth to it. The story of Jesus' birth is not about being rescued from the world, but being taken right into its most fragile and godforsaken places.

Read the full article here.

Advent Conspiracy is now open in Footscray

2008-12-20T12:11:00.005+11:00

I was out at Footscray until about 4 o'clock this morning, working on the Advent Conspiracy space at Footscray Baptist Church (60 Paisley Street). Marcus stayed longer. It opened at 10 o'clock this morning, and will be open until 3pm.
Here are some pictures I took while we were working on it:

'Buy Nothing Day as Advent Activism Against the Demon Mammon'

2008-12-19T09:41:00.003+11:00

A 34-year-old Wal-mart worker was trampled to death. A young woman miscarried in the same frenzy. Two folks were shot in the Toys-R-Us. Fights broke out in stores around the country as people stepped on each other to save $40 on a plasma TV.
Some of the media stories simply looked in horror on the crowds, calling them “savages” and such things. But there are much deeper questions we must ask. We must ask questions of class, race, inequality, and the dynamics that create killing stampedes at Wal-marts. And certainly greed may look different inside the Neiman Marcus, but that does not mean it is any less dangerous or evil.
Suddenly the theatrics don’t seem like hyperbole –- the documentaries on the “affluenza epidemic” are not so far-fetched. The antics of theological stuntsters like Rev. Billy preaching about the “Shopocalypse” and casting demons out of Wal-marts don’t seems so over-the-top. It does seem we are up against a demon … Mammon.

Read Shane Claiborne's full article here.

Advent Conspiracy and Prayer for Melbourne

2008-12-18T23:22:00.007+11:00

Today I have been out in Footscray with Marcus, Naomi and Anthony, working on an Advent Conspiracy art installation. It will be open on Saturday, at Footscray Baptist Church (60 Paisley Street). On Sunday we will be taking it up to Bendigo, and will be using it for a Christmas service, starting 7:30pm, at St Matt's in Long Gully (on Eaglehawk Road). After Sunday, Advent Conspiracy will be open in Footscray again, and there will be a church service at 7:00pm on Christmas Eve (Wednesday).
This is a preview of my contribution, an animation which I also used at Prayers for Melbourne at Collins Street Baptist Church on Wednesday night:

Puffing Billy

2008-12-18T13:00:00.000+11:00

On Tuesday we had our break-up party for Credo Team (the people who are involved in running Credo). We went drove out to Belgrave, and then caught Puffing Billy to Gembrook, where we had a barbeque with Jane and Caleb and Miri, from the retreat centre.

Open Mic-less

2008-12-18T10:25:00.007+11:00

Andreana organised an Open Mic-less concert on Monday night, in the Pioneer Women's Garden. (We were originally going to have it at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, but decided it wasn't a real nice space.)

'All we need is love, concludes retiring judge'

2008-12-17T09:45:00.001+11:00

Justice Michael Kirby:

"I refer to love. Love for one another. Love for our community. Love for others everywhere in the world," he said. "Love transcends even scholarship, cleverness and university degrees. It is greater than pride and wealth. It endures when worldly vanities fade."

Whole article from The Age, here.

Advent Conspiracy

2008-12-15T14:00:00.000+11:00

Just watched this. Someone (probably Dave or Marcus?) posted it on the Seeds website.

Coke Dalek

2008-12-14T22:47:00.001+11:00

'EXTERMINATE!'

Baking for Christmas

2008-12-13T12:40:00.003+11:00

Last night about a dozen of us spent some time in Credo, doing some baking for Credo Christmas.

As someone said, 'Better than going out and getting blind drunk!'

Great sunset tonight

2008-12-11T21:00:00.002+11:00

And five minutes later, it's all dark.

Decorating Credo

2008-12-09T23:30:00.002+11:00

This afternoon we put up Christmas decorations around Credo:

Gordon's last day/Bad Shirt Day

2008-12-05T16:50:00.003+11:00

Today was Gordon's last day as the director of Urban Seed, so we declared it Bad Shirt Day.

Staff Christmas party is also on tonight.

Thumb update

2008-12-05T16:44:00.006+11:00

I had to keep the dressing on my thumb until today. So it was getting pretty dirty and yuck.

This is what it looked like when I took the dressing off this afternoon:

And this is what it looks like now that I've soaked the butterfly tape and glue and blood off:

Be not afraid (Prayer for Melbourne)

2008-12-04T09:00:00.001+11:00

Last night at Prayer for Melbourne I used a version of the angel animation I've been working on.

While I write this I don't really have the time or clarity of mind to write about what I've been thinking about with this piece, but I'm probably going to be using it again at some stage during Advent, so I'll do another post about it then.
I will say now though, that Jon reckoned that the way the text moves around suggests fear, when it is supposed to be saying not to fear. I'd already been wondering about that myself - but I'm not sure I have a problem with it suggesting fear. What do you think?

(Prayer for Melbourne is a space for people to come and pray for our city together, every second Wednesday, from 6 till 7:30pm, at Collins Street Baptist Church. It will be on again on December 17, and I'll be using another animation that I've been working on.)

Rain?

2008-12-03T09:00:00.002+11:00

On Monday night, when I was walking through the Carlton flats, on the way to Indigenous Hospitality House, I saw this elderly lady with long white hair standing on the footpath looking up at the sky. I looked up too, to see what she was looking at, and she said, 'Rain? No going to rain.' She had an eastern European accent. I said I didn't know if it was going to rain, but it might. The sky was mostly clear. There were a few dark clouds, but they were a fair way off. She said, 'No rain. No good.' I asked if she'd heard any weather forecasts and she said she hadn't, and that she needed it to rain so the plants she was growing in the community garden wouldn't die.

Yesterday afternoon I was walking up to IHH again. It was a lot earlier, so this time there were a lot of kids playing in the playground, with their mums watching. Most of the women and girls were wearing hijabs. The same elderly lady was there, and she was a lot happier, because there were a lot of dark clouds this time, and it was just starting to rain a little bit.

I asked her what she was growing in the garden, and she said, 'Parsley and silverbeet.' As I was leaving, one of the Islamic women came over to her with some clothes, and asked if she'd like them.

The Heavenly Queen

2008-12-02T13:00:00.003+11:00

Took this picture of the new statue of Matsu, the Heavenly Queen, while I was going through Footscray yesterday afternoon, on the train to Geelong.

She had her back to us.
WAtoday has an article about the statue here.

Thumb

2008-12-02T09:00:00.001+11:00

Pictures of my thumb, which I cut in Geelong yesterday afternoon.
Took this one in the doctor's waiting room:

Took this one back at the church, after my thumb had been all glued up again:

Beware the knives of Norlane

2008-12-01T17:36:00.003+11:00

This afternoon I came down to Norlane (in Geelong) to visit my mentor, Luke. Stayed aound to help cook dinner, and ended up cutting my thumb instead of the cabbage. (There is a guy who helps with the dinners who works at an abattoir, and likes the knives really sharp...) I said, 'Oh f***!'
Luke took me to the doctor, who glued it back together and also gave me a bonus Tetanus shot.
Will post pictures when I get back to Melbourne tonight.

'"Badly talented" buskers on Doyle's hit list'

2008-12-01T11:05:00.003+11:00

There is one busker I see around the place regularly who really makes me cringe every time I hear him. I cross the road to avoid him because I hate his singing.
All the same, I don't like our new Mayor's plan to ban bad buskers from the city.
Apparently Robert Doyle also said, 'I don't want the city to be a bogan magnet.'
I don't like the sound of that very much. He's basically saying he doesn't want working class people around.
The Age's article is here.

Emily Hill

2008-11-30T09:00:00.001+11:00

At lunch in Credo on Friday Samara introduced me to an artist called Emily, who had been walking through Chinatown, and decided to go into The Den, because someone she knew had told her some stuff about Urban Seed, particularly that we do some art stuff. She's been visiting Melbourne to find out a bit of what artists are doing over here, and particularly how the church is engaging in art.
You can see some of her art on her website, here.

Credo farewells Gordon

2008-11-29T09:00:00.001+11:00

Yesterday we had an afternoon tea in Credo, to farewell Gordon. Next week will be his last week as director of Urban Seed.

Slavery

2008-11-28T09:00:00.000+11:00

Started reading the Book of Revelation, alongside Unveiling Empire, in preparation for a workshop I'll be running for NCYC in January.

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants [or slaves] what must soon take place; he made it known by sending his angel to his servant [or slave] John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
(Revelation 1:1-2)

Thinking about what it means for Christians living in the Roman Empire around 100 AD to identify as God's slaves. We know that some of the early church were owned as slaves, and I wonder what their masters would have thought of the idea that their slaves now belonged to God? If you're a slave to God, does that mean you're free to do God's work, rather than your master's work? And each Christian is God's slave, does that mean they're all equal?

'Squat students set to defy uni order'

2008-11-27T13:33:00.002+11:00

The students who have been squatting in some of Melbourne Uni's terrace houses have been given till tomorrow to move out:

This week the university issued an ultimatum to squatters that they leave by tomorrow.
But the students, who formed the Student Housing Action Collective (SHAC), have refused to move out and will hold a rally at the houses tomorrow.
"We have nowhere else to go and this rally shows that we're not planning to go quietly," student Elizabeth Patterson said.
Inner Melbourne rental vacancy rates are only 1.1 per cent and median rents have gone up by 17 per cent.
The students have proposed converting the properties into a student-run housing co-operative under housing association Common Equity Housing.

Read the whole article from, The Age, here.

Onions

2008-11-27T09:00:00.000+11:00

Earlier this year I planted some seedlings on the roof, which I had used for some installation art about the parable of the sower, at State Youth Games. Some of them survived, and so now we have some city-grown onions! Here is Jeff, modelling one of our onions:
\
We also have some celery on the way from the State Youth Games crop. (The leeks and lettuce didn't survive.)

Illegal aliens

2008-11-26T13:00:00.000+11:00

So we have Theresa and John staying with us this week. This afternoon John had a discussion with our staff about the implications of being foreign people in this land, and the need to either 'go back where we came from' to connect with our ancestral lands, or to connect with this land, but on the terms of it's tradition custodians. I didn't understand it that well, but I think that is okay for the moment. John connected these ideas to some of Paul's ideas:

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' (Acts 17:24-28)

John and Theresa also ran a workshop at the Den tonight, called 'Living on Aboriginal Land'. I wasn't able to go - but anyone who did, it'd be nice to hear your thoughts.

2008-11-25T22:59:00.002+11:00

Saw these on top of a traffic light control box, while walking home last night.

2008-11-24T08:00:00.000+11:00

2008-11-23T22:09:00.000+11:00

Reflections from Laneway Labyrinth

2008-11-22T09:00:00.001+11:00

This is some of the stuff people talked about while we debreifed the Laneway Labyrinth walk over supper on Thursday night:

Contrast between what's going on out the front of places (shops, hotels, restaurants, bars) and what's going on out the back. Often when we visit these places we don't think about who's working out the back, or the kind of conditions they're working in.
The immense amount of stuff we throw out. We import all this stuff, often produced by people who don't have enough to eat, and then we chuck a lot of it out anyway!
A sense that God is not just in the nice, safe, well-lit places that our society celebrates, but also in the dark, dirty places where our society hides it's less attractive aspects.
We don't have to go far to encounter God. God is right here.

'Romans 1.1-25: a targum in the face of economic collapse'

2008-11-21T09:00:00.000+11:00

Brian Walsh (co-author of Colossians Remixed, with Sylvia Keesmaat), has posted a targum (a bit like a remix) of the begining of Paul's letter to the Romans:

To all of you who live in the empire of global capitalism, to you who live at the very heart of that empire and are called out to be an alternative people: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ. Grace and peace. You won’t have one without the other, and both are on offer from Jesus.

You can download the targum from Empire Remixed here.
Props to Jonny Baker.

2008-11-20T20:00:00.000+11:00

Laneway Labyrinth is on tonight

2008-11-20T09:00:00.000+11:00

Indigenous Hospitality House open day (and call for residents)

2008-11-19T23:54:00.002+11:00

'Muslim women start fighting back'

2008-11-19T23:40:00.003+11:00

Interesting article about Islamic feminism in Australia, from The Age:

Ms Ihram said new voices had begun to challenge the authority of ethnic religious leadership in the mosque, partly in frustration at the politics and limited capability of ethnic Muslim associations.
New organisations and leaders were emerging through Australian-born Muslims who responded to "media moral panics" and bypassed Islamic councils to present a moderate, local and English-speaking voice of Islam.
Women were starting to take leadership positions through their writing and as academics. "Women can speak out from the Muslim community into the mainstream, but it's very hard to get a platform into the Muslim community, to get constructive female voices."

Full article here.

City of Melbourne's angels

2008-11-19T22:59:00.005+11:00

The other day Mehrin was having a look at the angels I'd been drawing, and said, 'Oh, those are like the ones hanging up in the city.'
So I started wondering if I'd been drawing them the way I had because I'd seen them on the City of Melbourne's Christmas banners other years, and had forgotten that that's where I'd gotten the idea. So I started doing them a bit differently. I made the halos a lot more squiggly.

When I was walking through the city this afternoon I had a look at the banners, and realised that my drawings weren't so similar after all:

But I still like the squiggly halos.

'Living on Aboriginal Land'

2008-11-18T21:50:00.004+11:00

A workshop with Baganan Kurityityin Theresa Creed and John Tracey

This workshop challenges non-Aboriginal participants to explore the relevance of concepts such as land rights, native title, sovereignty, reconciliation, treaty, self-determination, Aboriginal deaths in custody, customary law, traditional owner etc. to their own life on this country.
It explores ways in which non-Aboriginal people can support Aboriginal Australia.
The workshop offers no easy answers, only difficult questions.

6pm, Tuesday November 25th
@ “The Den” 116 Little Bourke St. Melbourne
(between Russell St. And Exhibition St. on the north side of the street)

Baganan is a Kalkadoon and Pitta Pitta woman. She was born on Woorabinda Mission and her parents were removed as children from their homelands and sent to Palm Island under the Queensland’s notorious Aboriginal protection regime. She discusses where her family come from, how they ended up in the mission system and what effect the mission system has had on her, her family and Aboriginal people in general. She presents issues such as poverty, the stolen generation, stolen wages, and cultural healing from a personal perspective. See http://treatynow.wordpress.com/

John is a non-Aboriginal Australian who has been involved in Aboriginal support work since the Land Rights protests associated with the Brisbane Commonwealth Games in 1982. John will provide an overview of White Australia’s history including the frontier wars, the protection laws and present day indigenous policy. John is a member of the “Oodgeroo of the Tribe Noonuccal, Custodian of the Land Minjerriba, Peace, Prosperity and Healing, Sacred Treaty Circles”, based on Minjerriba (Stradbroke Island). He will discuss this process as a specific model of non-Aboriginal support for Aboriginal Australia.

For more info please contact Virginia at Urban Seed v.moebusnelson@gmail.com or 9650-8034

Paramedics are great

2008-11-17T21:59:00.004+11:00

This afternoon the buzzer went off, and when I answered it, it was Gin asking me to come down to the laneway because she'd just called an ambulance for a guy who was down there, and asking me to bring a blanket for him. So I brought a blanket down. Turned out it wasn't an overdose this time. The guy was sitting up, with his legs crossed, and he had a crutch. One of his feet was really swollen, which might have been why he wasn't wearing shoes. Gin introduced me to him, and he said I had a cool beard. Gin had been hanging out with him in the morning, when she was cleaning the laneway. She asked if I could go up the end of the laneway and wave to the paramedics when they turned up, so they'd know where we were.
So I brought the paramedics down the laneway (they parked out in Little Collins Street), and they asked they guy what was wrong. He said he had a broken hip, and an inflamed foot, and that he'd collapsed, and that there was a particular hospital he didn't want to be taken to because he'd already been there twice in two weeks, and so they reckoned he was just being a nuisance. The paramedics said they had to take him to the same hospital, because at that hospital they'd already have some records about him, which would be helpful. So the guy got pretty angry and said that he wasn't going to let them take him anywhere, and started to get himself up, screaming with pain, and said he was going to walk to his friend's place in Carlton. We managed to get him to sit down again, and the paramedics agreed to take him to a different hospital (which seemed like it might have been a more appropriate hospital anyway). So they went and got a stretcher to take him to the ambulance. Gin gave them her card so they could contact us and let us know anything we could do to help.

Andreana and Dave's blogs

2008-11-16T21:44:00.005+11:00

Just thought I should mention two blogs that I haven't previously linked to:

Andreana has been sharing an apartment with Spriggsy and I since halfway through the year and has recently cut her hair short.

Dave moved down down to Melbourne from Sydney this year, and has been hanging around the Collins Street Baptist Church/Urban Seed mob quite a bit, and well as the Seeds folk in Footscray. He is a community development geek. And he has posted some dot points about 'The global economic meltdown of mega-doom'.

Adam and Patrick's baptism

2008-11-16T21:28:00.005+11:00

This morning we went to Adam and Patrick's baptism at South Melbourne beach. (They sometimes come to Credo with their dad.)

After Adam got baptised, he baptised Ben and Jeff as well.

After the baptism we went back to the church and had lunch.

Angels

2008-11-14T14:00:00.000+11:00

Been doing a bit of art for Advent (the seson leading up to Chirstmas).

Bees

2008-11-13T13:00:00.000+11:00

The chives in our garden on the roof are flowering.

And the flowers are attracting bees.

Sacred Heart of Christ

2008-11-12T23:14:00.001+11:00

Walk home (version 2)

2008-11-08T18:17:00.000+11:00

This is more like what I wanted the first time.

Bottlecaps

2008-11-08T12:15:00.001+11:00

Been doing more experiments with Premiere.

(With this one I didn't have the camera fixed to the tripod tightly enough, so the camera turned a bit each time I pressed the shutter button.)

Learning to use Premiere

2008-11-08T09:00:00.000+11:00

Been working out how to use Adobe Premiere. This is my first experiment.

Not exactly what I wanted, but I've worked out a little bit of how the program works, which is good.

A visit from friends

2008-11-06T22:22:00.004+11:00

Last night we were having our City Seeds dinner, and Gin and Jeff had said they had some friends who were going to be staying over, and asked if it was okay if they came for dinner. I made a salad.

Jeff let it slip about half an hour before their friends arrived that it was Paul and Amber, back from overseas! So they are staying for us for a few days, and then going back to Canberra.

THANKU

2008-11-05T18:53:00.002+11:00

Ben stuck this on my door yesterday, when he returned my gaffertape.

First Australians

2008-11-04T09:00:00.001+11:00

Sunday night at Collins Street Baptist Church, Jon recommended to everyone watching First Australians on SBS later that night. I'd been vaguely aware that it was on, but I don't really watch TV normally, so I hadn't seen any episodes. Sunday night was the last episode, so we watched it after dinner and it was really good. You can watch it on the website as well (though this might be only available in Australia - I don't know), so I've started watching it from the beginning. All Australians should watch it. White Australians. Black Australians. Orange Australians. Know your history!

Rudd's inconsistency on capital punishment

2008-11-03T11:05:00.004+11:00

During Kevin Rudd's election campaign last year he told Robert McClelland off for saying that the Labor Party would advocate for an end to capital punishment in Southeast Asia.
The Bali bombers execution could occur today, and Mr Rudd has been saying that, 'They deserve the justice that we delivered to them.' But he also says, 'We are universally opposed to the death penalty.'
That makes no sense!
If you're confused, you can write the PM an email here.

Click here to read an article from ABC News about Ali Imron, one of the Bali bombers who is now campaigning against terrorism. It's from last year, but is still worth a read.

Catchment Detox

2008-11-03T09:00:00.001+11:00

Have been on the ABC website playing Catchment Detox
, a game which my dad has been trying to get me to play for ages. In the game you have a water catchment, and you have to look after it environmentally, but also try to build an economy around it.

Indigenous Hospitality House

2008-11-02T14:00:00.000+11:00

Went up to Carlton again yesterday afternoon, to the Indigenous Hospitality House. Mehrin was moving in there today. She is staying there in November, to work out if she wants to live and work there next year.

While I was on my way up to Carlton I saw some Tamil people marching, trying to draw attention to the fact that their people are being persecuted by the Sri Lankan government.

The Indigenous Hospitality House is a place where indigenous people can come and stay when they have a relative in hospital in Melbourne, so that they can be close by. (Samara and Shobie, who also work at Urban Seed, also live there at the moment.)

Spring Racing Carnival

2008-11-02T07:26:00.003+11:00

I hate the Spring Racing Carnival. If it weren't for the Spring Racing Carnival I would have been able to sleep in this morning. Instead I was woken up at 6:30am by several expensively dressed, very drunk people, who were sitting on the roof of the next building (dunno how they got there - maybe it's their workplace), being extremely noisy and irritating.

Suit shopping

2008-11-01T14:27:00.002+11:00

Just been up in Carlton with Trav, Jono and Craig, buying various brightly-coloured suits for Trav and Cara's wedding.

'Imam and pastor unite for message of peace, tolerance'

2008-10-30T11:52:00.007+11:00

Imam Muhammed Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye are visiting Melbourne from Nigeria, to share about how they used to be militia leaders who wanted to kill each other, and are now close friends.

Pastor James Wuye lost most of his right forearm to a machete attack, and Imam Muhammed Ashafa lost family and a spiritual adviser before they met and to their surprise discovered common ground and eventually trust.
Their journey sparked the establishment of a body called the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Centre in the religiously divided city of Kaduna in predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria.
However, even the name became contentious, as Pastor Wuye recalls: "Some Christians objected that we had the Muslim name first. I told them the order did not matter."
Eventually the organisation reached out to a growing Nigerian Jewish population, as well as people of traditional animist beliefs, and evolved into the Interfaith Mediation Centre.

Read the Age article here.
(There is a documentary film about Imam Muhammed Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye, called The Imam and the Pastor.

'Urgency & Sustenance'

2008-10-30T10:00:00.000+11:00

We were looking at this article on Tuesday afternoon, as part of working out how we make decisions as a household about when we should let people (generally people who have been sleeping rough) come and stay with us. It's an article Dave Fagg (from the Seeds mob in Bendigo) wrote about the tension between urgency and sustenance in mission:

As an 18 year old, I helped to organise a national conference on poverty, for Year 12 students. The CEO of an organisation that served people on the street gave a firebrand address on the need for young adults who would burn themselves out in service to the poor. I thought it was a great message for the high-achieving audience for whom ‘service to the poor’ would be squeezed around careers. But the conference organisers gave a corrective speech the next day, explicitly rejecting the CEO’s message, and emphasising that doing the little things is what matters, doing what you are able to. Which for those listening meant serving the poor in the context of a career which would give them status and wealth. Although I said nothing, I realised that I disagreed with this corrective. The state of the world requires urgency, a desperate plunge into the pain of the world and of its people.

Read the full article here.

Laneway Labyrinth is on tonight

2008-10-30T07:00:00.002+11:00

Installation art

2008-10-29T23:35:00.002+11:00

'I am worried about being involved in the political stuff...'

2008-10-29T14:00:00.000+11:00

Age from morepraxis has done a good post in response to feedback he's been getting about people who are going to NCYC (National Christian Youth Convention) in January, but are worried about being involved in the polictical stuff:

The question comes in a few forms …. I am scared of being arrested, yelled at, looked at…. I don’t know enough to be interviewed about what I think, I don’t know enough about what I am interested in……
The fact that you are worried is good. (Smart people count the costs.)
The realisation that you don’t know enough about the cause you support or are interested in is good. (looook haarder Simba)

Whole post is here.

The good news

2008-10-28T21:00:00.000+11:00

City of iron

2008-10-27T23:00:00.000+11:00

The lost sheep

2008-10-26T23:00:00.001+11:00

Mehrin and I found the lost sheep this afternoon. It was in Treasury Gardens.

So we took it home.

Street magic

2008-10-26T20:00:00.000+11:00

So on Friday night I was doing a city walk with some high school students from Canterbury Baptist Church, and we had to do the first bit on the front steps of the church, instead of in the sanctuary, because our annual fundraising concert was on in the sanctuary. So I was reading with the kids from the start of Mark's Gospel, and this lady who was walking past, looking like she was dressed for a night out on the town, stopped and said to us, 'What are you doing? Are you reading the Bible?' I said, 'Yeah, we're going 'round the city a bit and reading scripture in a few different places,' and she said, 'Are you Christians?' and I said we were. She said, 'Okay, I've got something to show you then.' I was thinking, Uh-oh, what's she going to do... She showed us a little red hankerchief and said, 'Sometimes people tell me that because you can't see God, he doesn't exist.' She squashed the hankerchief into her fist, and then opened to hand to show us that the hankerchief wasn't there anymore, and said, 'You can't see it, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist!' And she meade it reappear again.

Waratah Festival at Gembrook Retreat

2008-10-25T21:35:00.006+11:00

Today we were out at Gembrook Retreat, for the annual Waratah Festival.

(Not all of the flowers are waratahs, some are leucadendrons and some are proteas.)
Got some waratahs for our house:

New computer (doen't work in the office!)

2008-10-25T21:18:00.003+11:00

So on Thursday morning I went to a computer shop and bought a new notebook computer. Brought it home, and had almost finished setting it up (downloading and installing software and stuff) when it blue screened, and after that it just kept blue screening over and over again, before I could even log in. So I took it back to the shop, and the guy was pretty confused, and gave me another one. Took it back to the office and started it up, and this one blue screened the first time I started it up, so I took that back too. The guy was confused again, and said they hadn't had this problem with anyone else, and said that maybe it was because of the RAM upgrade the computers had had done, so I got a refund for the upgrade, and took one of the non-upgraded ones home, and exactly the same thing happened! So I took it back, and said I was very disappointed and wanted my money back (pretty much my whole day had been wasted by that stage), and the offered me a better computer for the same price, so I took that back to the office. This computer did exactly the same thing, and by this stage the store was closed. So I was quite angry by this stage, because I had some work I had to get done for the next day.
Anyway, I took it up to my house and tried to start it up again, and it was fine in my house. It also works fine in the church sanctuary, and in the staircase outside the office. But it doesn't work in the office. It makes no sense!
But otherwise it's a really good computer, particularly for the price I paid, and I want to get to the bottom of this, because it doesn't make any sense!

What my computer is saying:

2008-10-23T09:29:00.001+11:00

Going to get a new one today. Trying to salvage stuff off it at the moment. (Luckily I have everything I wasn't working on at the time backed up on my external hard drive.)

Safe city

2008-10-20T10:18:00.001+11:00

Do you feel safer knowing that you're on camera?

Only 85% dead

2008-10-20T09:54:00.004+11:00

My computer is pretty much dead. Yesterday when I tried to start it up the screen wouldn't work properly, like everything was jumbled up.
Today I tried plugging a monitor into it to see if that worked, and both screens worked fine for a while ...

... but then both screens stopped working.
So either way, I'm going to have to get a new computer. I have a couple of options for how to get a decent secondhand computer but if anyone has any other ideas, please let me know.

Kyneton

2008-10-18T07:00:00.000+11:00

So today is Mehrin and I's second six month anniversary since we started going out. (See here if you're confused about why we'd have two.)
We're going up to Kyneton, on the Campaspe River, for the day. (But at the time that I'm writing this Mehrin doesn't know that that is where where going.)
I went up there on Thursday to see what it's like and what we could do up there. It was really nice. Took some pictures.

North Shore candles, grey zucchinis and lamb pie

2008-10-14T22:25:00.006+11:00

Went down to North Shore again this morning.

Afterwards went and got some grey zucchinis (I had never heard of them before) to take for lunch. (Luke has organised some lunches where everyone has to bring a vegetable to contribute to the meal, so that people can make a contribution rather than just being 'clients' who need to be helped by the 'workers'.) Luke cooked a lamb pie. We also had some potatoes that a lady called Sue had brought.

Geelong

2008-10-13T23:48:00.007+11:00

I'm currently staying in Norlane (northern suburbs of Geelong, near Corio), at Seedy Abbey (Norlane Baptist Church), with Luke, Kylie, Charlotte, Jo and Bob.
Slept in till about 11 this morning (Monday).
Walked down to North Shore.

Then walked into town.

Got some lunch in town, and some more floating candles, then walked along the beach a bit.

Caught the train back to North Shore Station, and then walked back to Seedy Abbey. Got back in time for the community dinner. Chilli con carne and baked potatoes.
Afterwards I went with Jono and Jo up to the You Yangs. Jono had to get some landscape pictures for uni, and he was hoping there'd be a nice sunset. Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy.

Six months

2008-10-13T23:30:00.006+11:00

On Saturday it was six months since the day that Mehrin came up to my house and said she thought she liked me, and I said I liked her too. We're not sure if that was when we started going out, or whether it was the following Friday, when we had dinner with Nathan and Viki. So we decided that Mehrin would organise something for the first date, and I would for the second.
So on Saturday Mehrin organised a picnic for us at Treasury Gardens.

In the afternoon we went and saw Wicked at the Regent Theatre. One of the ushers yelled at me for taking this photo:

Afterwards we saw the giant hamburger (which is now looking a bit worse for wear):

We had dinner at Toto's Pizza House in Lygon Street, which was the first pizza restaurant in Australia.

Two rivers and 'thirteen hours on a bus'

2008-10-10T23:57:00.010+11:00

So, on Wednesday me and Adam and David and Peter went over to the Nepean River. There was a rope there, hanging from a really tall pine tree, which people use to swing over the water.

Afterwards we got some lunch in Emerton and got some groceries, and I got a Mounty County t-shirt.

Yesterday (Thursday) morning Adam and Kristen were flying to Bangkok, to do some English teaching in Klong Toey with UNOH, and visit the Thai-Burmese border. So I caught the train into town with them when they went to the airport. When I got into town I headed down to Hope Street in Woolloomooloo, to see if Bryan or Heather were there, so I could give them back their house keys from six months ago. Saw this, coming into Woolloomooloo:

Had a cup of tea with Bryan at Hope Street's Back Shed Café. I told him about how I got stuck in Albury all day on Monday, and it turned out that he had driven from Wodonga to Sydney on Monday so I could've gotten a lift with him if I'd known! Bryan asked if I wanted to stay at their place that night, so I could catch the bus from Central Station on time, which was nice. (I'd been expecting to have to stay at one of the backpackers, or fork out for a hotel room.)
Bryan was telling me that they've had some residents wanting them to move their Sunday breakfast and church gathering inside, rather than having it out in public space, where a lot of their community sleep. So they've been trying having the breakfast inside (in another building that the city council is letting them use) but they're not too keen about having the church gathering inside.
So when Bryan went back to work I took all my stuff up to Bryan and Heather's house in Glebe.

Afterwards I walked back into town and wandered around the Botanic Gardens, and into Circular Quay.

Got on the ferry and went to Parramatta.

Got on the bus this morning (Friday) back to Melbourne at 9am. Stopped in Canberra. Saw purple and yellow fields around Gundagai.

Stopped in Albury. Got to Melbourne about 9:45pm.

Difficult journey

2008-10-07T13:13:00.003+11:00

So I found the journey to Sydney on Monday night/Tuesday morning pretty difficult! I was really, really tired, but I couldn't sleep because the seats were pretty uncomfortable, and the bloke who was asleep in the seat next to me kept elbowing me, and there were two old ladies sitting behind me arguing and complaining about goths and washing machines and stuff all night long. So I was pretty angry and tired. I was thinking I should probably have got a first class ticket instead of economy, so I could sleep. And we arrived in Sydney about two hours late.
So I had some breakfast at Central Station, and got a ticket for Mount Druitt, called Adam on a public phone to tell him when I was getting there, but couldn't get him. Got on the train to Mount Druitt. On the train I emailed everyone at Urban Seed asking if they could find out from Shobie (who's been working there on Tuesdays) her brother John's address (because Adam lives with John) and email it to me. Also looked up how to get to their street, because I could remember the street name. Got off the train at Mount Druitt, and went into the shopping centre to find somewhere to sit down and check my emails. Samara said she'd messaged Shobie. Walked half the way to Adam's house in Bidwill, and while I was on the way Adam came past and picked me up. (So I emailed Samara, who messaged Shobie, who messaged Adam's housemate Paxo saying I was in Mount Druitt, who told Adam. And it turned out I hadn't been able to get him on the phone because he can't get much phone reception in Bidwill.
Adam was working yesterday afternoon, delivering pizzas. (He said the other day one of the other drivers got a rock thrown through the window of the delivery car.) So I went for a little walk around, saw kids riding dirt bikes (one of them was way too big for his bike - he was having to stick his legs out the back so they wouldn't touch the ground) and got a spring roll at the shopping centre in Blackett. Came back to the house, and watched this with one of the kids from the neighbourhood documentary about a family who lived in a haunted house. After that we went with John and his kids, Kshama and Kiera, and Kristen (she lives in the house too, and used to live at Noble Park when Adam was there) to the Penrith Panthers (an NRL team) to play arcade games.
Today I think we're going down to the river.

Albury

2008-10-06T21:47:00.000+11:00

So at 8:30 yesterday morning I caught the train Wangaratta.

At Wangaratta got on the bus for Albury. Arrived in Albury about 1pm. Got some lunch, checked into a hotel, and then spent most of the day exploring and taking pictures.

Got some nice pictures of reflections in the windows of St Matthew's Anglican Church:

Took these at the Botanical Gardens:

Took these down by the Murray River:

So at 9 o'clock this morning I came to the Greyhound office to buy a ticket to Sydney. I'd gone to their Melbourne office on Saturday, but it closed at 12:30pm, about fifteen minutes before I got there, and it wasn't open Sundays. Anyway, when I came to the office this morning, it wasn't open, even though the office said they were open at 9 o'clock Monday to Friday. Turned out it's Labor Day in New South Wales today (in Victoria it's the 2nd Monday in March), but they hadn't put a sign up saying they'd be closed. One of the Countrylink staff said I could still buy a ticket over the phone or from the bus driver, but I'd need a credit card, which I don't have. So I had to buy a train ticket to Sydney (much more expensive than the bus), and I'll get there at about 7:30 tomorrow morning.
Mentioned on Facebook that I was stuck in Albury for the day, and Joanne, who I know from the Warrnambool Scripture Union team, said that she lives in Albury. So this afternoon I met up with her and her friend Annette, and we went up to the lookout at the top of Huon Hill.

This is Albury:

This is Wodonga (on the Victorian side of the Murray):

Been at the train station since about 6:30pm.

Had a look around for a power point to recharge my computer. Found one behind the Coke machine.

So now I'm just waiting for the train, and hoping I can get some sleep.

Train ticket is not harmonica!

2008-10-05T06:07:00.000+11:00

(Unfortunately.)

Albury tomorrow

2008-10-04T23:33:00.004+10:00

Going away at about 8:30 tomorrow morning. Catching the train to Albury. Still not very organised. (Wasn't able to get a ticket for the Albury to Sydney bit today.)
Been thinking about where I'm going to live next year.
Bought a tripod yesterday.
Lost my phone today (I think it is at Uncle Phillip and Auntie Wendy's house) so I am going to have a phone holiday too. A bit annoying though, because it means I have nothing to wake me up in the morning, so I am having to stay up all night, because I won't wake up early enough now, I've been up to late packing.
Anyway, should be good!

Laneway Labyrinth

2008-10-02T11:08:00.002+10:00

Cities of refuge

2008-10-02T08:55:00.004+10:00

Used this image last night at Prayer for Melbourne, in the Collins Street Baptist Church narthex:

These are some reflection questions I prepared about our city as a city of refuge:

Many people come to our city looking for a place of refuge. What might people be seeking refuge from? What kind city do they find?
What does it mean for our city to be a Sanctuary?
Is there anything I can do to make our city a safer, more welcoming, more hospitable place for those seeking refuge here?

(Prayer for Melbourne is a space for people to come and pray for our city together, every second Wednesday, from 6 till 7:30pm, at Collins Street Baptist Church. It will be on again on October 15.)

A riddle

2008-10-01T22:39:00.001+10:00

A little one can fit a big one in it.
What is it?

'Writings on the wall and for Brumby it's the blight of day'

2008-10-01T09:08:00.004+10:00

THE world's most famous graffiti artist, Banksy, once said Melbourne's street art was arguably the nation's most significant contribution to the arts since the Aborigines' pencils were stolen.
He is possibly biased, but Melbourne City Council also appears to value it highly, recently covering a Banksy stencil in Cocker Alley with perspex to prevent its being vandalised.
And a poll by Lonely Planet found Melbourne's street art and lanes were the most popular cultural attraction in the nation, ahead of the National Gallery and Kakadu.
But Premier John Brumby yesterday slammed Tourism Victoria for including graffitied lanes in a recreated cityscape of Melbourne at Florida's Disney World, insisting the government did not want a display that "promoted graffiti".
"The department made a mistake. They've apologised to the minister and they'll be withdrawing the display," Mr Brumby said.
The Premier said the "nice part" of Melbourne's lanes was the "European-type" style, not the graffiti. "It's the openness, it's the little restaurants, it's the flower pots, window pots, all of those things. I don't think graffiti is what we want to be displaying overseas. We've put through very tough laws to discourage graffiti - it's a blight on the city."

The whole article, from The Age, is here.
John Brumby is being a bit silly. I'm wondering how long before we start seeing some rather unflattering carticatures of Mr Brumby in our laneways?

Going to Bidwill

2008-09-30T22:09:00.003+10:00

I'm on leave next week. And the week after. I'm going to Bidwill (near Mount Druitt, near Blacktown) in Sydney. Also going some other places. Hopefully can do lots of photography. Should be good!

Is it violent to drop a packet of flour on people from eight floors up?

2008-09-29T09:02:00.004+10:00

At about 5 o'clock on Wednesday morning I got woken up because there were a few people in the laneway being really noisy. They were drinking, and they had a stereo going, playing hiphop, and they were rapping with each other. It went on for about half an hour, and I really needed to get a lot more sleep, so I got a packet of flour and dropped it out the window, so that it hit the steel mesh just above their heads, and exploded all over them. I'd thought they'd probably get pretty angry, but they started going, 'Shhhh! Shhhh!' to each other and turned the stereo off. And they hung around for a while still, but they weren't noisy anymore.

I got what I wanted, but was wondering whether it was very nice of me to drop flour on those people. Sometimes some of our neighbours throw garbage bags full of water at people down in the laneway, and I think using flour was certainly less violent than that. I'd mainly wnated to give them a surprise so that they'd realise there were people around trying to sleep, and I think that worked.
I messaged Simon later that day asking if he reckoned it was violent or nonviolent to drop a packet of flour on people from eight floors up and he said, 'Depends if you drop the bag of flour from eight floors up ironically. And if they deserved it.'
What do you think?

Claudette Werleigh at Mission Exposure

2008-09-19T15:23:00.003+10:00

I didn't end up getting anyone saying they could come for all of Mission Exposure - there were a number of people saying they might be coming, but no-one saying they actually were coming. So we're not having anyone come and stay with us, but we're still running all the program from Monday to Friday, and are inviting people to just come to the parts they're interested in.
Simon has organised for Claudette Werleigh to come and help him run the nonviolence workshop. This is the blurb he sent me about Claudette Werleigh:

A former prime minister and foreign minister of Haiti will visit Australia in her new role as an ambassador of peace.
Claudette Werleigh was appointed Secretary General of the Catholic peace organisation, Pax Christi International, in November last year. In Australia, Pax Christi is an ecumenical organisation with other Christian churches as members.
Ms Werleigh, who is multi-lingual, describes herself as "a black woman with origin and cultural legacy from America and Africa".
Her credentials are impressive. Until her latest appointment, Ms Werleigh was Director of the Conflict Transformation Program at the Life & Peace Institute in Uppsala, Sweden for eight years.
She led field activities aimed at strengthening peace-building in war-torn societies in the Horn of Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo Brazzaville.
She believes that since the attack on September 11 in the United States security has become the most important topic on the geopolitical agenda of world leaders.
"These attacks have furnished occasion and, at times, pretext for operating deep cuts in the application of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and placing restrictions on already agreed-upon individual citizens' rights," Ms Werleigh says.
Ms Werleigh lists gender equality and women's empowerment among her areas of interest.
She believes that women are crucial to ensure sustainable peace.
"Women are the backbone of society," she says. "They possess enormous strengths to give to the peace process, far beyond traditional family care."

Let me know if you're interested in coming to Simon and Claudette's session on nonviolence (it's Thursday afternoon) or if you'd like a copy of the program for the week.
Email: chris.booth@urbanseed.org
Phone: (03) 9650 3023

Playing with blocks

2008-09-16T18:26:00.005+10:00

This morning Mehrin and I were playing with blocks.
At the State Library:

And at Carlton Gardens:

(The blocks are from a game called Skybridge, which I got a copy of for Jeff, because he couldn't move around much, because he got burnt and had to have a skin graft.)

5pm Service in the Sanctuary, and Spring Into Gospel Festival

2008-09-16T18:13:00.006+10:00

On Sunday night at Collins Street Baptist Church we had our 5pm church service in the Sanctuary for the first time. We're trying meeting in there because we're running out of room in the Narthex.

Also, the Spring Into Gospel Festival is coming up in October at CSBC. There is a flier about it here.

Mission Exposure Week at Urban Seed

2008-09-10T10:25:00.004+10:00

Just a reminder that Mission Exposure Week is coming up (September 20-26).

The Residential Community at Urban Seed would like to invite you to spend a week with us. Urban Seed is a community of Christians trying to connect with their neighbours in Melbourne's CBD, with a priority for the poor.
As a guest, you will be living in the building and taking part in the community (including lunches in Credo Café), as well as participating in reflections on spirituality, mission and community.

Some of the kinds of things we'll be thinking about:
What does Jesus' story mean for me in my context?
How do I relate to people who abuse drugs?
What about our own addictions?
What does healing look like?
What is hospitality?
Who do I associate with?
Who do I invite over for lunch or dinner?
Can I follow Jesus call to love my enemies without becoming a doormat?
How do I integrate my faith with my work and my everyday life?
What's going on in my own neighbourhood?
How do different people from different faith traditions live in community?
What do we need to be saved from?
Who is my neighbour?
Where is home?
Can any good come from Nazareth?

The costs of the week will be negotiated as an exercise in economic sharing.

If you want to come, please give me a call (03 9650 3023 - or use my mobile if you have it) or email me (chris.booth@urbanseed.org).

'SA defence expo cancelled'

2008-09-08T14:04:00.002+10:00

Article from AdelaideNow:

Acting Premier Kevin Foley said yesterday the Government had full confidence in police to manage "these feral anarchists that would be descending on Adelaide" if the event, at the Convention Centre, had proceeded.

"However, the organisers had to take into account a number of factors, ranging from security issues as well as the level of support from the Defence Department," he said, also labelling the protesters "feral low-lifes".

"We had to weigh up a number of factors and the decision was taken that the cost of security, the possible threats of violence, were risks that on balance the organisers of the event and the Government agreed were not worth proceeding with."

Read the whole article here.
Props to Simon.