I'm just a day and a half into 'time off' after a good time at Winter Camp so I will soon blog some of the input outlines and some new and old clips and songs. It has inspired me to seek some new tactile creative activities for groups and to think about seeing if we can send another two leaders to Montreat in North Carolina to experience the Camp which inspired Learning Groups and to again gather some ideas!! The key leader team was working hard all week to lift those 10 percenters which would move Summer/Winter Camp from good to excellent. We have some way to go in lots of intuitive, programmed and leader ethos areas to just nail a few aspects of Camp. Everyone worked hard and some new younger leaders were really pushed by challenging groups and would have been exhausted by week's end... all in the name of helping young people shape identity, belonging, meaning and faith!! I am always amazed and humbled by those offering leadership and paying for the privilege.... good job!!!! [to quote the film 'Hancock'!!] Anyhow.... more on that in a day or two!!
'Father Bob' was the guest speaker at Buon Gusto last Friday night when 80+ punters gathered to support South Sydney Uniting Church's 'Herald.' Because of organiser Trevor's connections even Premier Kristina Keneally dropped by for the meal and 90mins of socialising on the night.
The food was superb and Father Bob spoke engagingly about a wide range of subjects to do with celebrating community organising and social justice activism through the paper. He compared this work to that of Ted Noffs, Bill Crews and others.
He was as he is in the media in the sense that 'what you see is what you get' and I even had a chance to chat with him over coffee before the dinner and talk about the 7PM Project and his trip to Melbourne's 'Big Day Out' with Ruby Rose which I use to introduce youth ministry workshops and discussions with adults and groups.
All in all it was a great night of socialising and support where I was happy enough to provide the background music and PA system... where the new mics need some fine tuning and foam baffles to stop the "pph pph-ng when you speak!!" so hence the well placed red serviette.
Hey all, following our meeting last month and then the busy-ness of Easter and me being unwell over Easter and for the week that followed there hasn't been enough time to lock in the details for the planned Fundraiser Dinner next week... so I know people got a flyer and will have been approaching friends BUT WE NEED TO POSTPONE ONCE MORE... not good for our group, but best in the situation!!
The group plan was to step back from our public ventures and consolidate as a core group about who/what we want to do... I think this is a good move, I just had hoped to be able to pull this one event together having secured a 'yes' from the venue... but the Easter [and annual Synod meeting of the UCA] punched a hole in the plans!!
Apologies to those who've lined up your mates to join us... in the next day or so I will advertise an alternative venue for our 'catch up' where I want to suggest we have a reflection/discussion time about the future... AND maybe attempt to pilot a creative 'creed writing activity... Jono bring your camera!!
Keep an eye on saltfactory.blogspot.com for music and other details but this Liv Music Dinner at Bogie Hole Cafe is a fundraiser for OxFam... download the jpeg to invite your friends!!
I'm off to "Bluesfest" this Easter [with Naomi and Jerri at this stage but who knows what other last minuters] which will be quite different but is exciting!! Basically it's a continuation of my desire to be engaged in my context and the 'missio dei' by letting 'Bluesfest' organise my Easter so I and others can reflect on the story 'in the marketplace of ideas' and genuinely ask ourselves 'what is the good news?' or how does it make sense in that place and for these people!!
I look forward to learning that I'm asking the wrong questions or being surprised or whatever really!! But I will say that if my life and faith don't make sense at 'Bluesfest', then they don't make sense anywhere.
I find music inspiring, transcendent and transformative... just plain fun and am really looking forward to the big names and the small names on the list. There will also be [3] episodes of Rockwiz over the weekend on their national tour. I'm interested in the sense of community, age range and how they stretch the definition of 'Blues and Roots' to build crowd for this event. I look forward to comparing and contrasting my experience of 'Greenbelt' in 2008 with this coming weekend!!
It's just a bonus that I'll catch 'Crowded House', 'The Fray', 'The Break','Jeff Beck' and others. Stay tuned for post event reflections!!
Click on and save the flyer above as your invitation to join 'Salt Factory' on a trip to Sydney to view the 16 Finalists short films in the Domain on 21st February for $10 [films free, $10 for bus ride]!!
This is our February event with a Live Music Cafe planned for March!!
BUT BOOK YOUR PLACE ASAP!!
There re a few final detils to be locked in for this event BUT these are the arrangements!!
We've just started to circulate an 'expression of interest' form for the idea of having a young adult focused 'Easter Camp with a difference' by participating and staying over at the Byron Bay Blues and Roots Festival... with group building, reflections and discussion on 'what's the good news' and 'how does the Easter story make sense in this context...
Mind you, even with a buddy ticket, between Festival and camping it's close to $600 pp plus food!! They have just announced the first late of acts which includes: Crowded House, Jimmy Barnes, Jessica Mauboy, a whole list of old stagers and interesting solo artists from former big name bands... plus the travelling "Rockwiz" doing three shows over the weekend...
My aim is to let Hunter, Sydney North and Kuringgai folk stick with their regional events... and whoever else has a regular activity.... but to offer something for the rest of NSW/ACT if people are keen...
I probably need 4-6 punters keen for it to all go ahead... so when you see the details, let me know... I am seeking subsidy for all participants but that could be $100-250 each...
My 'experimental' group gathering called 'Salt factory' has gathering number two coming up as per the jpeg included here and details of 'Salt factory' are here!!
Young Adults who are interested are welcome to join in/check it out... etc
We had a great night on August 15th at Bankstown Uniting with a cross cultural mix of drama, music, dance and reflection around the theme "Living Water: Thirsty Land" taken from our national Assembly theme. Since being asked to deliver the 'reflection' months ago I knew straight away I'd be showing the Twist "Woman at the Well" dramatised performance as an opening clip and asking questions from there. I knew I wanted to speak about being honest about doubts, questions, disappointments and the struggles of being someone on the edge of community... despite the confident, celebratory and somewhat triumphal feel of most 'dance and music' group items at such events!! My other contemporary example [to remind us that in the face of struggles, Jesus greets us with compassion, grace and love... not judgement and condemnation] was Jamal and the teacher Erin Gruewell from the film "Freedom Writers". Erin enters this south LA School a little naively and yet qucikly adapts to the challenge of reaching the so called 'no hopers class'. She invited them to journal and if they placed the journal in the set cupboard she agreed to reda them as recognition she did not 'know their stories' but wanted to. Jamal wrote of feeling invisible in his family with a drunk mum and criminally involved older brother. Erin fronts him about his self assessed 'F' in an assignment and makes it clear "I see you, do you understand me... I see you and you are not failing...." I lifted that clip from a behind the scenes doco rather than the film itself... My point was in our honest moments, in the space between the lyrics of our songs and the moments at home alone, we can be honest BUT will also find a Jesus honest with us... in grace, comapssion and love!! Highlights for me included the mix of groups: Bankstown; West Epping; Sydney Korean; Armenian; Wagga Wagga; Garuda Indonesian; Tamil; Peteli Tongans; and more. One performance struck me for the honesty of the rap about being in church asleep and unsure why you're there, wearing black, looking cool but how it was all a bit false.... very powerful honest statements! This is drawn from the encounter of 'the woman at the well' whose name we don't know but who engages in spirited conversation in the heat of the day at 'Jacob's Well' and has a theological question to ask. Jesus doesn't name her relationship history as a moral judgement, but simply to begin with honesty and have a deep conversation, not a superficial laugh and moving on...
I have just begun making contact with the organisers of the "East Coast Blues and Roots/Bluesfest Festival held at Byron Bay each Easter!! The crazy idea I have is to take a small group of 18-30s plus some leadership away to the Festival over Easter next year! The idea would be to either Camp or do a local Church Hall thing plus cooking... We could spend the morning reflecting on: Easter in this context; who and where we were; and we'd engage in the Festival like any other 'punter' AND then at the end of the day we could do 'hot chocolate' and a closing reflection and ponder, explore, hope and learn what can/should be our response!!
I don't want to draw energetic leaders away from existing Easter Camps and yet see this as a logical next experiment for some who are naturally moving on from that space plus others who've never necessarily been to such a camp!!
It's an experiemnt in engaging with the context/culture and exploring faith in life, rather than withdrawing to do so!!
It's a Festival that draws acts like: Luka Bloom; Missy Higgins; Blues Traveller; John Butler Trio... the sting is that Festival tix cost $399 this year [stay tuned] but there may be a group discount and I may have access to some subsidy. I do have an eye on other chaeper events as an alaternative but this Festival is the biggest and despite it's title has embraced many more mainstream acts in recent times!!
Here's a downloadable info and rego flyer for the upcoming training day at Mt Colah which is open to all comers!!
The workshops will include a stream on children's ministry, social justice as a discipleship appraoch, models of youth ministry, storytelling and faith shaping... plus Q&A opportunity and resources to access!!
