Thursday, August 5, 2010

What? Another do with the Governor?




You will begin to think I specialise in going to dos with the Governor but it's a complete fluke - it's never happened before . This one was the opening of the 1801 convict built fort on Middle Head of Sydney harbour that was built to defend NSW against the French! They had been snooping around in their ships and there was fear they wanted to plant a colony here. I even got onto the news that night standing behind the governor and passing an umbrella to the historian when it started to rain which looked very rude while the Governor was talking.
I like the photo of the Governor holding an umbrella over the historian and the minder holding the umbrella over the Governor! It all looks very helpful and caring. Everyone had something interesting to say but the weather didn't make it easy. But so great to have a walkway to enable the public to view the fort which has been hidden and almost impossible to get to for probably 100 years.











The Big Birthday Bash




In May I had a big birthday celebration at Boronia House, a historical house in Mosman. A different person spoke for each decade giving some of their memories. It was fun and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Some of the Dance Fellowship members did a very funny movement piece about my leadership.












Monday, August 2, 2010

Peter receives the Order of Australia






Peter being presented with his membership of the Order of Australia for his work in Computing Technology by the Governor of NSW at Government House in May. It was a most impressive occasion. Our two daughters, Claire and Miriam, came as well and after a luncheon at Parliament House we walked up to Government House where the ceremony took place with much pomp. We were very proud of him.
My only embarassment was that I had bought new shoes for the occasion and was getting blisters. I had to ask the official at the door of Government House if he could find me some bandaids so that I could wear the shoes that I had been carrying as I walked on my way to the ceremony.







July birthdays


A group of women from Sydney Life Church where I worship celebrating the July birthdays at Burnt Orange, the old golf club house from the 1930s on the army reserve on Middle Head which is now back in public hands with some wonderful walks and views over Sydney harbour.
It's still winter here alternating between warm and sunny to freezing and rainy. Several birthdays ranging from my mother at 97 , son in law Wayan and grandchildren Jai 15 and Yoshimi 3. We are going to celebrate Jai's birthday by going to West Side Story on stage with the rest of his family just arrived back from California where they are going to live at the end of the year for who knows how long. There is more work for an actor there so Paul, Miriam's husband and Jai's step Dad, is looking forward to that. But Jai will stay in Australia with his father and will start a new high school next year, so big changes!













Yoshi's 3rd birthday




Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Meeting the Governor of NSW










Launching Bungaree

In May Peter and I met the Governor of NSW several times over 2 weeks. She is very unassuming, caring and competant. One speech she gave about Governor Macquarie was filled with information and delivered without notes - most impressive!

The occasions were
  • Presenting Peter with an Order of Australia for his work in computing and the community at Government House
  • Honouring Emeritus Professor Harry Messel who has done so much for Physics in Australia - at the Great Hall, Sydney University
  • Launching the book Bungaree about the Aboriginee a significant figure in Macquarie's day who was given land on Middle Head in Mosman.





June happenings


With Colin Harbinson
Visions - the Macquaries
Mini Mos Marathon



It's the last day of June and I haven't written my blog for this month! Half-way through the year - it's hard to believe time can go so quickly. It's been a big week already and it's only Wednesday.

Colin Harbinson of Stoneworks and Belhaven College, Jackson, Mississippi, has been staying on his way there and back from Melbourne and Adelaide where he was teaching on Theology and the Arts. Monday night he spoke at Annandale Creative Arts Centre, the Uniting church recently dedicated for this purpose, about the restoration of the Arts in the Christian community over the last fifty years and what he has learnt about this and God's purposes through his own life journey. Two of the significant stories from the bible that are particularly significant for him are Is 61 & 2 - preparing the way, removing the stones, rebuilding the devastated places and John 11 - dealing with disappointment, not understanding why God allows certain things to happen in your life. And then how Jesus brings resurrection, new life at the right time but asks the community to be involved with removing the stone from the tomb and taking off the graveclothes. This was illustrated with some remarkable stories from his own life where he had tried huge projects only to have them seemingly fail but then seeing God act in similar situations later in life in similar circumstances with amazing success. http://www.stoneworks-arts.org/, http://www.colinharbinson.com/
I really resonate with this story. The passages from Isaiah have been pivotal to my calling from and to many others as the Holy Spirit has been impressing this on many people's hearts around the same time in the 70s and 80s I found out later. I have also experienced situations where God has turned around seeming failures and disappointments in ways I would not have expected. At the moment I am working on two CaraMayan meditations on Hope and Faith both of which we all need in abundance in our life journey.

Recently my husband and I went into town (Sydney) to see Visions, an amazing presentation of the accomplishments of Governor and Mrs Macquarie presented by images beamed onto some of the buildings he built in Macquarie Street. This year is the centenary of Macquarie's arrival in Sydney. He was one of the early governors of NSW who was a remarkable visionary and earned the title "Father of the Nation". He and his wife accomplished so much in the decade in which they were in Sydney with an ambitious program of public works many of which are still standing including government buildings, hospitals, schools and towns, dealing compassionately and imaginately with convicts, aboriginees, the disadvantaged and building a road over the mountains to open up new farming land. It was very inspiring to see how creative and successful they were in making such positive contributions to the colony. However his policy of encouraging convicts brought him into conflict with some of the rich and powerful who complained to England and he was recalled to answer the charges made against him. He died soon afterwards. So many great people are not fully recognised until after their death.

At the end of May I had a big birthday bash. It was great to see so many friends together and have several important people in my life tell stories. Being born on the turn of a decade I have been very aware that each decade has brought new things and I'm looking forward to this one which has also started with many new challenges.

One of the new things I decided to do was to run (actually walk) in the Mini Mos Marathon fun run to raise money for the local school and charities. The church I have recently joined cancelled their service so that they could be part of the community that Sunday morning. I chose the 5 k route and enjoyed the challenge of completing it and being part of a community event with my church t-shirt on although a bit frustrated that a policeman sent me in the wrong direction near the end which meant I walked two extra blocks before finding my way to the finish line! I might even try the City to Surf which is one of the largest fun runs in the world with thousands taking part in the 10k run from the city to Bondi beach.




























Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Celebrating Pentecost







Last week-end I flew down to a tiny town in the foothills of the Australian Alps called Mitta Mitta. A dance friend who was a member of Sacred Dance Ministries International, Jan Sabastian, was being ordained into the Uniting Church (combination of Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational). She is stationed in Melbourne the second largest city in Australia, but was brought up in Mitta Mitta where everyone knows everyone. So the whole town turned out for the ordination which was in the community hall, the one church there not being big enough. I joined with two other friends who are dancers and we finished putting together a choreography to "For the Beauty of the Earth" by John Rutter which we danced near the beginning of the service. It was a joy and privilege and Jan was really pleased. We got some honest feed-back from a few locals (see photo below) such as "I can't say that sort of dancing does much for me" but most people seemed to really appreciate it. Jan looked radiant and used her dance ministry background in responding with several worship movements throughout the ceremony. People had come from all over the country to be there.

Arriving back Sunday night gave me just a short time to recover and get ready for Monday evening when I was to speak and lead a workshop for CDFA (Dance Fellowship) members in Sydney to celebrate Pentecost and International Christian Dance Week. It is great to have our "own" centre now - a Uniting Church that's been turned into a Creative Arts Centre in an inner city suburb.
We talked about the 2 leavened loaves that with two lambs that were waved before the Lord for Shavuot (Pentecost) - one of the three pilgrim feast instigated by God and used in temple days. On the first day of the week after Passover and Unleavened bread, the sheaf of the first standing grain that was waved before the Lord and had prophetically symbolised the resurrection. Now, for Shavuot, 2 loaves of leavened bread are waved on the day when the Holy Spirit was given to the church and 3,000 were added to the believers. Yeast is spoken of in the Bible as something which is a picture of the Kingdom of God growing (Matt 13:33) but also as a picture of sin that spreads (1 Cor 5:6). The Holy Spirit does both, bringing an awareness and conviction of sin that leads to repentance and also grows the Kingdom as people are drawn to faith in Christ through the Spirit's work. The two loaves show that there is still division in the church and between Jew and Gentile as we are not yet without sin.
Another feature of Shavuot is that the Book of Ruth is always read in the synagogues. It is such a beautiful love story. I was first made aware of it by my English teacher at high school where we read it as a piece of literature as it is so well written. The short book tells the story of Ruth as a Moabite woman joining herself to her widowed mother-in-law, Naomi ,who was returning to her home in Bethlehem. Ruth provided for them by gleaning in the fields made possible by God's command for Shavuot that the edges of the field should be left for the poor, widows and aliens to glean. Through this she met the owner of field, Boaz, and eventually married him becoming an ancestor of Jesus.
The main focus of Shavuot for Jews is celebrating the giving of the law on Mt Sinai, their covenant (marriage) with God and the birth of the Jewish nation. Christians celebrate the birth of the Church and the giving of the new covenant.

At the workshop we then prayed and moved through the idea of the seed that grows into a plant that can bear much fruit and ended our time with a CaraMayan movement meditation to the words of Psalm 67 as a prayer and blessing for the nations. I had adapted movements that were composed by a group of caucasian and Australian aboriginal people at a Dance Fellowship conference held during the Feast of Tabernacles in the centre of Australia. We wanted to send out a blessing to the whole nation which mostly lives on the edges of the continent. I am hoping this moving out of Psalm 67 will spread and be used around the world during future International Christian Dance Weeks to bless and pray for the nations. Pentecost is also the day chosen by the Global Day of Prayer to pray for the spread of the Kingdom around the world.