Dear Friends Last Sunday – specifically Sunday night – was twelfth night. The Christmas trees are packed away. Christmas is officially over. But as we continue to think long and hard about the magnitude of the fires our country is currently experiencing, I wondered if there was a way to make the season of Christmas – the season of celebrating that the Word became flesh, that God loves and cares for and shared the flesh of all living things – Read more…
Dear Friends ‘Happy New Year’ doesn’t sound like the right thing to say just now when so much of our country is burning, when so many human lives and other life has been lost and homes and livelihoods destroyed. But the prophet Jeremiah (not known as a Pollyanna in the Old Testament!) reminds us that we worship and serve a God who gathers up those whose lives have been shattered, who are the most vulnerable. “See, I am going to Read more…
Dear Friends I had been attending Canberra Baptist Church for a little over a year when I took on the role of Office Manager. It wasn’t until I was in the office, day in and day out, that I realised just how integral volunteers are to the running of the church. I have commandeered this week’s pastors note to take a moment to highlight the work that is done, and to thank everyone for their contribution to another year of Read more…
Dear Friends As we struggled to take in the news this week that Australians and others on holiday in New Zealand had lost their lives in an unexpected volcanic eruption, our Prime Minister Scott Morrison made reference to, “a time of great innocence and joy [being] interrupted by the horror of that eruption…” There is something ‘especially hard to bear’ as poet Helen Jesty says in her poem about ‘disappointments in December’. December is for a difficult diagnosis as well Read more…
Dear Friends I was reading a reflection this week by English actress Emily Watson which reminded me a little of my sermon last Sunday and the litany of fears that we hold for our world at the current time; climate change and conflict, and the ensuing human dislocation and poverty. And according to Watson, at least initially, much of the blame for these things should be laid at Christianity’s door; “every act of violence that has been, is and Read more…
Dear Friends What are you longing for this Advent? I must confess that the time of Advent, the weeks leading up until Christmas, are often more about ticking off lists for me, doing what has to be done (or what feels like it has to be done) rather than thinking about what I long to see happen in the world. And yet, ‘adventus’, the Latin word, literally meaning ‘coming’. Advent is a season where Christians symbolically await Jesus’ birth – Read more…
Dear Friends Lately I am keep being reminded of ‘heart prayers’; prayers that move us “from head to heart”; from a limited and partial dimension of our lives (what we are consciously able to think about at any given time) to the centre of our whole being; prayers that are repeated on the lips and in the mind until they are embedded deep within us. I am reminded of them at yoga on Monday nights – “deep breath in, long Read more…
Dear Friends In the last few weeks many in our church have been away at camp! To fill us in on what happened, I’ve asked Lewis Watson (Year 6) and Cara Edgerton (year 10) to write today’s pastor’s note. The Dads & Kids Camp at Pretty Beach was another fantastic time spending time with friends and my dad and camping in the great outdoors. The fun activities included; creating a family flag, the scavenger hunt (we came 2nd!), hiking and Read more…
Dear Friends It is always difficult to say goodbye and particularly when that goodbye is being said in difficult circumstances, but I know all of you will join me in thanking God for the good work – and the hard work – Martin has done among us; for his passion for community development; for his ready and enthusiastic welcome of people on the edges of our community; and for his willingness to go above and beyond to help people and Read more…
Dear Friends I remember my mentor Rev Athol Gill saying to me: ‘Always have a sunset clause’. Those sage words I carried for many years and they helped shape a kind of strategy for church and for the many community development projects I have been involved in; meaning, that we always need to prepare for change. Nothing is permanent. Yet, as I write this my last Pastoral Note, I can truly say I had no thought of a sunset clause Read more…