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):
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.
Yesterday we had an afternoon tea in Credo, to farewell Gordon. Next week will be his last week as director of Urban Seed.
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
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.
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).
We were at Urban Neighbours of Hope's Surrender Conference on the weekend. This is Spriggsy driving the van on EastLink when we realised we weren't going to be late for the panel that Gin was going to be on:
This is where Spriggsy, John, Jono, Mehrin and I camped:
Spriggsy, Mehrin and I were looking after the Urban Seed table. (They had this area where there were tables for mission organisations to put propaganda on.) We built a wall out of cardboard around our table, to hide it. On the outside it had images and 'beatitudes' representing what the global economy promotes as success, and on the inside (hidden, for people to find) it had the beatitudes of Jesus, along with images to represent the economy of God. (I also used the vine from State Youth Games.) Here are some pics (some from when we were still constructing):
I don't think what we did was that worthwhile, but that's okay because it's the first time we've done something like that at a conference, and I know how I'd want to do it differently next time. And someone from one of the other missions organisations (with a much bigger budget) said they wanted to copy our idea.
