Where does time go?

I am not sure where time goes. I have heard many people say that recently near the end of the year. Where did the year go they ask? I reply, "if you find where it went let me know I need it back." Since my last post in Sept. I have spent a week at Australian Catholic University in Brisbane for a Masters unit (intensive) on reconciliation. Good choice. I have been to Western Australia for a Rural Ministry Conference. Again Good choice. There have been numerous other meetings, my regular full-time work, reading and writing to complete the subject I took, and then a few funerals. Funerals in a regional centre means quite a bit of travel. The result, badabing, no time or more correctly time has passed without me doing the wonderful projects that I wanted to get to. I assume that those cool projects were not too important, of course, if I didn't start no one knows they if they were or not.

The result seems to be that I am not motivated. I don't want to start as I am not sure if there is time to do a good job. There is a bit of why bother. There is a bit of feeling overwhelmed. There is a bit of being tired and after a rush period needing a slow time. Plod is the word of the day. Advent is around the corner and I will encourage people to wait with anticipation. Guess, I am leading the way.

ouch!

My question is does worker's compensation cover injuries inflicted by magpies?

This morning, Mal was at a men's breakfast and I was doing some reading and preparation to meet a family this afternoon to plan a funeral. After my reading was complete, I wanted to shift modes and do some reflection on the sermon text, Luke 16, Jesus seems to say choose God or money in a reality that in the West Christian have both (topic for some other blog entry).

I decided that it was a quiet cool morning and that I should go for a walk to be with God in his creation and set out to pass the railway dam thinking the destination should be McDonald's for a coffee (knowing Mal would be by that way shortly and would love to drive me home).

I knew there were magpies in the school yard near the McDonald's but was not overly concerned. I now know the great emotional and physical distress a small melodious creation of God can cause.....

After being swooped, I ran as hard as I could past the school yard with my jacket over my head. I looked back to see the magpie a half a block behind still on the corner. I had stepped out a block and a half and being only metres from McDonalds slowed to a walk and lowered my jacket. In a moment, I received a whack on the head that I knew had drawn blood. Greatly startled, I took cover while uttering a curse and wished evil on part of God's creation; yes, the very creation that I had just left my house to be close to. Close enough to draw blood had not been the idea and I insist is simply too close.

Very quickly, I realized that I am in a small town and people know that I am the Uniting Church minister so embarrassed I looked around to see who may have witnessed me audibly cursing one of God's creatures. I stopped; asked God to bless the bird and walk slowly with my hand on my head to my destination.

I ordered my sandwich and Mal arrived before the coffee came. He was sympathetic and promised to "kiss it better". I have now had a shower and am nursing the lump on head wondering if and how this was meant to enlighten my sermon....

Dulacca, Queensland

Roma is a 6 hour drive from Brisbane. We were driving home to Roma from Brisbane on Friday. As it turned out we were a bit over an hour from home at noon. We were both tired and a bit hungry so we decided not to push through to get home but to stop at the next small town and have some lunch and a break.

We have driven through this town several times by now and have always notices how popular the pub seemed to be so we thought that it would be a good choice for lunch. When we got there the pub looked closed. Well, this is a small town so that can appear to be so but may not be the case so Mal walked over and pulled on the door and it was in fact open. He went in and asked if they served lunch. The young woman there said, "The cook is down at the servo (read gas station in America) and I don't know when he will be back." Mal questioned and learned that the cook owns the servo. I giggled so hard that shortly after noon we get sent to the servo when the normal stop is the pub.

So down to the servo, we see there is a new Chinese restaurant. We go in and are met by a Chinese man. We ordered the lunch special and had piping hot fresh Chinese food that was better than most. We had a five star meal in a two star town.

So if you are ever in Dulacca. Stop at the servo. Cheers.

the north wind doth blow and we shall have....

Hayfever! That is right. The north wind in Roma this time of year brings with it pollen from grass. I have never had hayfever before I moved to Roma. Now, I understand, the watery eyes, runny nose, and oh the sneezing, violent sneezing. There is something in the air that my immune library is totally unfamiliar with and it is reacting full on.

The locals when they hear me snuffle first ask if I have a cold and when I respond, "Hayfever." They say, "Oh yes, the north wind. Hayfever sufferers are often bothered by the north wind." Funny, I had never been a hayfever sufferer. But there ya go, now I am. I hope that I grow out of it.

Why God won't let me take myself too seriously - Part 5

Even in Roma, God does not let me take myself too seriously. The church is running the canteen (read concession stand in America) and I asked one of the ladies at church to pick me up and drive me. I told her Mal had the car which is true and that I would need a lift. She sounded a bit hesitant but I insisted and she agreed. So this morning, she comes by, picks me up, drives me the 2 blocks down our street to the field and parks. I laughed so hard. I had never seen the field used and presumed it sort of abandoned like the park across the street from me. But no, it was soon loaded with kids and parents from across the region. I had assumed all the fields were across town where I had seen activity when I asked for the lift. While I was laughing, she asked if she hadn't told me the name of the field. I assured her she had but the name meant nothing to me having only been here 8 months there is still a lot I don't know. There were more laughs during the day. But next week, I will walk to the rugby.

The word for today is....

Theodicy. Yup. Theodicy. A word coined (made up) by Leibniz to refer to a theoretical justification of the goodness of God in the face of the presence of evil in the world (McGrath, Christian Theology, glossary). Or in my language what has a good God to do with suffering.

Our town Roma has been partly under flood waters. There are many not complaining because most people knew that it would take a flood to break the decade long drought. But for those who lost so much....where is God, in this? Sunday's reading may help. Luke 13:1-9.

I know that this passage can be misused but Jesus seems to be insisting that the question is not about God but about us. What are we doing different because life is fragile? Change your mind, turn back, remember God' s grace, you have another chance.

Compliments to Working Preacher for some of these ideas.

Discipline

I have not posted for a month or so. I struggle with maintaining the discipline. This is not only evident in my blogging but also in other areas of my life; fitness, prayer, and fasting for example. These are things that I really want to do, in fact, really need to do, however; I do them well for a while then they drift away for a time.

As we approach the Church season of Lent, I am reminded of my commitment to these disciplines in my life. As I look back over the past few weeks, I recognize that I have been pretty slack about maintaining them. I have even spent a bit of time, feeling overly guilty and weak for not being able to do what in my heart I so would like to. This guilt should not turn to self-abasement but guilt should result in a repentance so to speak a turning back to the discipline. But I do feel bad, I wonder why can't I do this? When I see so many disciplined people around me, I wonder what is wrong with me? The answer nothing is wrong with me.

I have been convinced over and over again in my life the reason I am not as successful at something is because I am attempting to do it alone. My successes have never been me by myself, actions, there has been a community supporting me. For example, I don't have trouble with finances, because a grew up in a family that taught and encouraged fiscal responsibility. It continued to be part of family discussions for my whole life and didn't just crop up during the global economic crisis. I learned as a young person to keep a budget and continue to keep one so that I can demonstrate that to my children. We do this together, my family by in large is unaffected the recent economic downturn. I am proud of our kids, who in spite of obstacles like no job, continue to be resourceful and manage what they have.

At New Years, I resolved to get fitter, loose a few pounds/kilos and till now have not been very successful. I have not been a part of a community to which fitness is important. Yesterday, I joined a gym. I entered a community that would support me and keep me accountable, as in miss me when I am not there and tell me so. I did this after trying to drum up some support from people I already knew. However, fitness is not a priority in their lives at the moment. I am suffering for my choice a bit today, I had never really heard of body pump before and have discovered that neither had my muscles.

But what about other disciplines I mentioned at first? What about prayer? Well the Christian community here in Roma prays together in a seven hour vigil one Saturday per month. That is good. I pray in worship every Sunday. I try to do daily prayers, morning and evening, however, I am certain that praying the offices is easier to do when in a monastic community as the prayers are done together. I wonder if I will find others willing to stop their day and pray? Otherwise, I will continue to do a patchy job at it.

Fasting. I have encouraged people to consider fasting for Lent. Many here have not done so. For years now, my family has used Lent as an opportunity to remind ourselves that we do not need everything that we think we do. We use the opportunity to give up sweets or even one year meat, in order to understand communities that do not have those things. I have been fortunate that my family is part of the community that makes fasting a priority.

Overall, I really can't complain too much because I do have supportive communities around me. I pray for all those people out there who seem to think that they must go it alone.

Rain

We have gone from the above to the below in only a couple of weeks. Creation is amazing.