Grad Dip Pastoral Care

Well the day came and there were no slip-ups. Peter picked up the gown and hood from the hire place in the Union Building of Melbourne Uni (4.30 pm). He then got his name ticked off that he was dressed appropriately. Then we had to kill a few hours. Why that long we don't know. Finally 7 pm arrived and we were in Wilson Hall and Peter was taking a numbered seat with others receiving their MCD awards. It was the way of it. This night was the turn of the Melbourne College of Divinity, representing seven theological colleges in Melbourne, to go through its annual fanfare. Peter appreciated sitting beside someone he had shared a few classes with. With seven colleges involved that was never guaranteed. It was nice chat and joke with someone and share encouragement about doing well. Peter was the 90th to be called up out of 138 to do so. Peter's course name, Grad Dip Pastoral Care, was only approved in 2008 so he was the first to be awarded it ever. That was pretty neat. A first! He was called up separately after all the other Grad Dips.

The president of the MCD this year is The Very Revd Dr Terrence Curtin, Master of the Catholic Theological College a member college of the MCD. Peter thought him to be a very gentle and kindly mannered man as he handed him the award. We decided that we would pay for the two offical snaps of Peter with the Very Reverend Doctor because they show it how it was, but we do like the one of us at the top taken with Barb's camera.

Looking for Healing

The following poem we found embedded in Eugene Peterson's The Contemplative Pastor (1989), and we felt that it spoke to us as we reflected on very troubling illnesses crushing the lives of two precious teenagers that we know personally.

Curing Souls: The Forgotten Art

Blessed are the poor in spirit

A beech tree in winter, white

Intricaces unconcealed

Against sky blue in his emptiness

Ripeness: sap ready to rise

On signal, buds alert to burst

To leaf. And then after a season

Of summer a lean ring to remember

The lush fulfilled promises.

Empty again in wise poverty

That lets the reaching branches stretch

A millimetre more towards heaven,

The bole expand ever so slightly

And push roots into the firm

Foundation, lucky to he leafless:

Deciduous reminder to let it go.

We found this poem helpful as we sought God for help and healing for what seems a slow response. Without anchoring verse, our lives will run on an emotional pendulum. Should we shout, "Master, Master! Save!"? There is a thought that if we scream long enough and hard enough, God will hear. From a human perspective, if we scream long enough and hard enough someone will eventually hear us and cut out our tongues. Yet, what is there left to do if Jesus remains asleep on a cushion? The storm is affecting us! Or do we only think it is a mighty storm and we are simply being conditioned for an even mighter one? We need a break from this - to cry tears of joy and awe. The verse helps to regather our perspective and to have a little faith. May this cup pass.

Balcony Project

This is yet another little update on the balcony project at the Gembrook Retreat. It sure is nice to see it working. It is starting to feel like it always was there instead of the nakedness of what came before. Peter's simple drawing of what it might look like constructed (Nov 09) makes an interesting comparison with the final "look". The main difference is the window. It is acturally an old glass framed door on its side. We hope that after it is painted up it will look more like a window and fit in better. A lot of money was saved doing it this way.

The opening-out angle of the new wall has removed any possibility of the porch feeling poky. The front door is now adequately protected and so is the old wooden metre box. Later the brick floor will be raised a bit. Soon coat hooks will be added, and architrave set around the window. Time will take care of that. Peter is relieved that it is all but done and doing what it was designed to do.

Easter Family Snaps

Easter is passed and there are loads of snaps taken. This is a humble attempt to share some of those moments. We hope they reflect a wonderful family time which it certainly was, most of them bound around Easter Sunday.

It was special for the kids to have both sets of grandparents about on the day. Now that is rare to say the least, considering that Ann and John hail from the middle of Canada. It has been great to share time with them as friends.

Easter Sunday breakfast went like a treat. It was warm and fine and mostly outside. How good is that!

Jethro literally had two breakfast sittings about an hour apart when he got interested in it again.

The chololate part was well managed. No kid got sick which was wonderful and far better than last year's when Peter remembers one brown "projectile" cascade.

Bec and Gord must have been pretty chuffed at the day, what with "double grandparents on deck" (literally) to respond to the action and plans of the kids. It was relaxed and felt pretty normal. In our turn we were chuffed to share Easter with such a special family.

Maldon Crafts

We saw a sign (acturally upside down so that the arrow pointed the correct way) that led us to the Maldon Quilt Exhibition. It was worth the walk - down a back street, over a bridge and up a slope. There were loads of large quilts, creating room partitions to walk in and out of, something like the way some shops display large rugs.

Barb found a really nice gift for someone special. It was encouraging to purchase something so especially nice and made locally.

Now while the women folk feasted on the quilts inside the hall, the men folk could relax in the annex outside and enjoy wood turning demonstrations. The exhibition organisers perceived that this would work to keep all the husbands happy while their wives broused. Peter was given a turned seed measuring poker just for watching with John and chatting with the woodturner. A reward for being patient and happy.

Maldon Coffee

We had our obligatory coffee. There were plenty of places in Maldon to do this on a Saturday. Even though the photos don't show it, there were a lot of people in the town that day and we felt we were were in a cosmopolitan hub. Probably we were.

Ann and John were taking about as many pictures as Peter so if any of you visit them later you will find that they will have a load of photos to show you. Be prepared.

Maldon Motors

As we walked about we could see that the town had kept its old authentic look. Even the old way of refueling a car from the curbside was still being done. There were lots of interesting cars about (there was even a car museum) but this old Morris suited the moment and set the tone.

This was obviously a day to go touring in your car that you otherwise keep under cover. That's if you had one!

Our car had special company for a time. We were well located under a tree so we did not bother moving and simply had our lunch at the rear end standing in the street. It seemed a natural thing to do. We seemed to be able to find what we were after without any trouble.

Maldon Music

Now Maldon had been below our radar. Because it was also having an Easter Festival we though we might go there too. It was just nearby. It turned out to be an excellent decision and we stayed there the whole time that we had spare on our Easter Saturday. We found the most elaborate busker ever and John requested a Johnny Cash song and 'Wacca' sang him two. All the time his trusty mechanical koala tapped away, mostly with the beat. Impressive.

Wacca had laid out free balloons one side and music toys for children to join in with him on the other. Wacca's rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for the kids had a raspy country edge to it. He made it sound so natural that way.

In case people could not cope with Wacca, at the other end the Maldon Brass Band played some good old favourites. Between the music makers were demonstrations of sheep shearing, gold prospecting, and food, souvenir and clothing stalls.

Barb, Ann and John posed on the old WWII cannon for a snap before we moved on to explore the rest of Maldon.

Clevedon Breakfasts

On both mornings we had an enjoyable breakfast. Libby the cook ran in and got our orders and returned with the hot stuff. We served ourselves the rest from the servery. All that was pretty much as one would expect. What was different was the delightful surroundings. We felt we were millionaires in a place like that. It was at the second of these breakfasts that a place called Maldon was recommended for us to see.

The owner of the house bred show horses and had won many prizes at the Melbourne Show. There were numerous framed portraits of his prize horses on the walls with the prize winning sashs draped over them. It all made for the atmosphere.

Clevedon

Well, we had to stay somewhere and at the last minute we scored Clevedon Manor of Castlemaine. This was yet another blessing. We always leave things till the last minute but due to a cancellation we were able to stay there. How good is that!

This place is pretty nice, especially in the early morning when the sun spreads its warm fingers across the green leaves and into the shadows. The place also has a massive front hedge. There were very nice photo opportunities.

What is more, the place came with a working pianola with loads of music scrolls. We all had a turn pumping the peddles and enjoyed the old marching music that 'thumped' out of it. Just look at the concentration and effort Barb is giving it on her turn.

It works on air. When it escapes out of a hole in the moving scroll a piano key is pulled down and a hammer hits a note. It is a bit like the (X-Box) electronic game 'Guitar Hero', only in reverse. It's like we were really playing the piano. Sometimes the scroll lost its line and the tune went silly, but that was rare and we had a great time pretending we were accomplished.

Dragon Dance

One of the first things we got to see on Good Friday was a Dragon dance performed by some school children of Bendigo. It was strange to see something so Chinese being presented by Australian children who worked the dance moves as though they had lived in china all their lives. What a special culture Bendigo has keeping alive their Chinese heritage which came from the gold rush days when so many Chinese arrived to seek their fortune.

Good Friday View

While in Bendigo we found this mining tower just up the hill from the city centre. It had been made into a lookout tower with steps right to the top, so up we went. The next four snaps show how we looked after the accomplishment. Pretty OK really. There was no chance of falling, that's for sure.

This is a ninety-degree pan of the city with the camera peeking through the wire netting, taking a series of six. It is amazing what computers can do to stitch them together. We were blessed with one of those perfect Autumn days. (We will share about other blessings as more adventure stories are unwrapped.)

Good Thursday Friday

We are not sure what to call this. Four of us came together as the parents of Bec and Gord to do our thing about region of Bendigo and Castlemanie. It proved to be a God event from the very start, but more of that later . We felt blessed from any perspective, so we will tell a bit about it here and probably more in the next six blogs, such is the amount of new material.

There was our picnic just down from one of Bendigo's mining towers near the city's centre. We had a relaxing time of it, making it into a banquet and watching the tree's shadow move.

Then we walked through Bendigo's garden parkland, hearing the trams passing by in the distance. We poked our noses into lots of places, sometimes having to pay and sometimes not. We made collective decisions what to see and if we needed to at all. Bendigo was having its Easter festival. Forgot to mention that. So that was why we went that way for our grand parents outing.

And of course we stopped at places to eat or just to coffee... even at MacDonnalse Cafe on one occasion. How exotic is that!