Religion, Spirituality and Transformation

"Religion is for people who believe in hell. Spirituality is for people who have been there." A quote from George Vaillant, The Natural History of Alcoholism, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1983), 190-93.
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Yet transformation ought to be the business of the church. The revolutionary Christ has provided the pattern for change, and God's Spirit is ready with the power it needs. (II Corinthians 3:18 gives a clue)
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Drawing: Simon Ackland some time ago.

Generation Link

Here is a 1987 memory captured in Townsville at Peter's Nan's place before she decided to sell up and move to a retirement village. It was a special time of coming back to a place deeply etched into his memory before the memory was taken away.

A detail of the snap shows Simon making a unique statement about who he is. That image of his son has always stayed with Peter.

So when grandson Jasper did something similar just recently in front of a camera, Peter was reminded of Simon and prompted to consider a generational personality link. Nice.

Tree of Compassion

Love in action. A great tree of care and compassion drawing from the depths of God's call. Its trunk and branches growing in the guidance of the radical example of the revolutionary Christ with its sap invigorated by God's Spirit.
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"The days are comming," declares the LORD, "when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes." (Amos 9:13a)
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Do you not say, "Four months more and then the harvest"? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvent. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he hargests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper will be glad together. (John 4:35-36)
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"Seed sowing" for God's kingdom AND leading souls toward reconciliation with God is now in a dynamic overlap. God's call to the sower and the reaper is bound together with new surprises.

Piper Six

We were able to get there a day late so this was yet another moment for Piper to remember her birthday. We opted for the safety of clothes and the dress from MYER which is under Piper's left hand was well received. So was the pink jacket.

We stayed for the whole afternoon of the Monday Labor Day Holiday. We had a delightful mix of cold meat, cheeses and salad for lunch and in the evening Gord effortlessly brought together a roast chicken meal. Everyone was impressed.

Little Jethro is aiming to avoid crawling altogether. He enjoyes this particular table because he can pretend to stand like the rest of us. When he desires to get to another place in the house he "bums" it. Why crawl with an alternative like that?

While Gord was carefully cooking the roast to perfection, he continued his garden steps project. He has that gift of spontaneous acceleration of project work and seems to do it best when there are a lot of things to do at once.

Sarah and Sienna

Any morning it is good to wake up and know we are about to have an adventure with God. This Sunday we went to a Catholic Church closer to the city centre to be at the baptism of Sarah and Sienna both recently born to daughters of Mo and Ha the Vietnamese family we helped to sponsor to Australia from a Malaysian refugee camp in the 1980's. The family has done so well over the years and the five daughters have all grown up and have husbands/partners and children of their own... Sarah and Sienna being the two most recent. It is a work in progress.

Ha ordered a whole cooked pig. It arrived warm and was cooked to perfection with the crispiest skin. Ha was very particular about what he wanted. Very impressive.

Ha wasted no time cutting it up for the guests who had arrived back at their place from the church. Ha wanted to do all the cutting at home so that there was no chance for it to be dried out. We might just say that the taste of the pig, along with all the other prepared food, was an adventure in itself.

Barb had opportunities to hold both Sarah and Sienna during this family celebration. Barb had been able to see Sienna at the hospital with her mother Loan, the eldest of the sisters. Sarah is the daughter of Thu the next sister after Loan. At this moment Mo and Ha have six grandchildren but this is soon to be seven. May God bless the precious arrival.

Nonna Blows In

Nonna, our very good friend from WA came and stayed for a night on a whirlwind trip east. This photo is remarkable because it also catches Derek at our place, of all places. Derek is at present leading a parish in Croydon and chose to drive Nonna back to our place since it was getting pretty late for her to brave the trains.

It was good to catch up and we shared old memories of past churches and things.

A Meal of Words

This is the moment to cook up a score
of words with others and find yet more
alive in layers and then what's next
for every sayer there's room in the text.
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It's time to let new words entreat
the listener to spy a veritable feast
of dish to inspire a people to plunge
in abandon words and waves
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of verbal comp all laced together
by beating heart and gaping mind
to find a mix spiced up with chance
to loose the rope and perform the dance.
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Words to eat are all too sweet.
with time to taste what's new.
There's plenty to share and plenty of heat
to break out now with me and you.