HANK...

At HANK last night, spent some time asking about refreshing times when God seems so close and there is a feeling of peace and wholeness in our spirit. But then we discussed times when God seemed so distant and I don't think I was surprised when almost everyone raised their hand as an indication of spending times in that desert and wilderness, it was good to hear some of the doubts and fears. Sometimes it's easy when times are enjoyable, faith seems fresh and God seems close. But when you seem so alone, and things start closing in around you, God seems so distant and silent...

Farewell Linda...

Last night I officiated at a memorial service for friends and family of My Aunt Linda at the Groynes Park. It was dark, it was raining, but we lit candles to remember the light that she was among us.

We light a candle for those we mourn.
Into a new life they will be born.
Do not look for them at the gravesite.
They are somewhere else radiating their beautiful light.
They have gone to a new world where there is no darkness, no pain.
Their light and essence will always remain.
Light a candle for those who have left this mortal place.
They are free to travel through time and space.
When we think of them, they are near.
When we sit in a beautiful garden. Their voices we hear.
When we listen to a divine symphony,
We close our eyes, their faces we see.
Light a candle for they have not really gone.
With each flickering flame, in your hearts they will always belong.

As a farewell response we released balloons into the night as we said farewell, to the sound of Celine Dion, "My Heart will go on."

There was only a handful of the friends and family here for the service, next year, according to Linda's wish, all the family will travel to Rotorua and sprinkle her ashes over lake Rotorua.

I thought it was a very difficult service under difficult circumstances, but those who were there felt they had a good opportunity to share and reflect on the memories of Linda.

It was the families wish that there was no "Religion" at the service. This is difficult, particularly since the officiator is a minister. God was there. He came of his own accord.

When I am gone, release me, let me go

I have so many things to see and do

You must not tie yourself to me with tears

Be happy that I have had such good years

I gave you my love, you can only guess

How much you gave me in happiness

I thankyou for the love each have shown

But now it is time I traveled on alone

So grieve a while for me, if grieve you must

Then let your grief be comforted by trust

It is only for a while that we must part

So bless the memories in your heart

I will not be far away, for life goes on

So if you need me, call and I will come

Though you cannot see or touch me, I will be near

And if you listen with your heart, you will hear

All of my love around you soft and clear

Then, when you must come this way alone

I will greet you with a smile and a

Welcome Home.

Linda Christine McCormick, 4th August, 1955 - 12th April 2006

Waltzing Matilda

Listening to "Waltzing Matilda" by the Pogues,


When I was a young man I carried my pack
And I lived the free life of a rover
From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over

Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son
It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we sailed away from the quay
And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers
We sailed off to Gallipoli

How well I remember that terrible day
How the blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter

Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well
He chased us with bullets, he rained us with shells
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us right back to Australia

But the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we stopped to bury our slain
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again

Now those that were left, well we tried to survive
In a mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
But around me the corpses piled higher

Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying

For no more I'll go waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla

And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then turned all their faces away

And now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving old dreams of past glory

And the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore
The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question

And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me
And their ghosts may be heard as you pass the Billabong
Who'll come-a-waltzing Matilda with me?


At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.

R. E. S. P. E. C. T.

Speaking to a group of young-ins' at the WYT holiday programme in about 20 min on respect.

We respect one-another, we earn respect. God respects us before we earn it. The leaders respect the kids before they have earned or deserve it. The opportunity to show their respect to the leaders by writing "thank you's" on Post-its and sticking them to the back of the leaders, and a challenge to go and show the same respect to friends, family, teachers, strangers in the same way Leaders/God showed to them.

Should be quite chaotic!

Finish with a story...

Well done team!

Interesting Quote.

Quote of the week,

Evil as defined by:

(a) Consistent destructive, scapegoating behaviour, which may often be quite subtle.
(b) Excessive, albeit usually covert, intolerance to criticism and other forms of narcissistic injury.
(c) Pronounced concern for public image and self-image of respectability, contributing to a stability of lifestyle but also to pretentiousness and denial of hatful feelings or vengeful motives
(d) Intellectual deviousness, with an increased likelihood of a mild schizophrenic like disturbance of thinking at times of stress

- M. Scott Peck, People of the Lie, pg 129

This is an interesting definition.

Hey Hey it's Monday!

I think the "V" levels are still riding high! All the traffic over the weekend, and I'm still on a high! It's huge how after the opp I feel so much on top of everything.

Talking to Andrew Woods out at Easter Camp, he has pretty much the exact operation I had coming up in May.(Praying for you Andrew!)

Hey Laura, good to see you at Easter Camp this year! (Laura is one of the Youth Pastors at my old church, City New Life Church) sorry for waking ya!

Just want to thank Amy and the team for your hospitality yesterday. Had a great time! Hope Easter Camp was a good experience for all of you. Hope you get a good night sleep tonight!

Nice seat for the show! Membership has it's privileges!

Proud of you Amy for the hard work you've put in and the life you bring to OBY. Congrads Ro on the New Man!

Nice one Josh for getting into the top 5 for the speling B!

Easter Journey

"So this is Easter
And what have you done?
Another year older
And a new one just begun..."

What an amazing Easter Journey. I got to take my Grandmother and cousin through on Friday Afternoon. My Grandma liked it, but I found it difficult to spent time reflecting as my cousin Joanne talked all the way through it. I guess she processes things differently. She wanted to extol the virtues of the truth according to the da Vinci Code.

I'll probably have to read the book now, I hear it's pretty good. I also hear one of the services will be spending a worship service discussing some elements of the book? Could be a good opportunity to get some good opinions on the subject.

Spent all Thursday evening at the Journey on Supper and setting up for Easter Friday Service.
Friday Morning at Church.
Late Saturday evening setting up for Sunday Church.
Sunday afternoon and evening at Easter Camp being "Wow'd" by the fanatical young people running round all over the place!
All day Monday Packing down the Journey.

Once again, I have such a respect for Peter and Joyce for all the work they put into one week. 1300 people through.

Some great Photo's

Rollercoaster...

It's been a massif week, everythings been happening BIG TIME! To emphasize the highs and lows, I'm sitting listening to Brooke Fraser, - don't tell Amy ;) - "...you are the one I want..." I guess that word "want" means something important to me.

Thursday was the first time I have "officiated" at a wedding. It was a strange sensation to stand infront of a room of almost complete strangers and make a pronouncement of marriage, (performance utterance, speech-act theory etc...) and it becomes so.

John and Marianne, the couple, wanted communion. John brought a bottle of sherry cause he wanted a good, solid communion, with a bit of a bite to it. There was a problem which became obvious as I was setting up the small nip glasses for the punters to drink from. The Sherry was not red. What's worse, it was yellow. Don't get me wrong, it tasted alright, that I can assure you, I made sure of that more than a few times before the service. Had to calm down somehow!

However, I felt like a fraud calling it the "Blood" of Christ when it clearly looked like another part or our Lord's bodily fluids...

The wedding went remarkably smoothly for a first time, but one of the highlights was being able to share with one of the guests, I'll call him "Bob", how God is not restricted to one denomination's slant of Christian ethics - specifically surrounding alcohol. This was his stumbling block. A Church who could not drink. I know there are a lot of varying opinions on alcohol, but having your entire faith understanding held to ransom by whether or not one consumes alcohol... Please, grow some priorities!

Anyway, it was refreshing to talk with Bob, and I sensed that his position on God and his people had shifted somewhat when I left. There was no big conversion story, but I think he is more willing to explore a God who is not going to hand him a "Go directly to Hell, do not pass Go, do not collect $200" card just because he wants a beer with his mates.

Hurt

Listening to Johnny Cash, "Hurt"

My Aunt Linda passed from this life to the next this morning at 3am. My mother, her sister and father and my two cousins were there with her.

There is this whirlwid of emotions which seem to make no sense except for this realisation that something is broken.

Rest in peace Linda.

"Hurt"
I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything

[Chorus:]
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here

[Chorus:]
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way

Linda.

My Aunt in Australia is dying

I had a phone call from my mother 2 hours ago, who is at her bedside at the moment. She said Linda's breathing is getting weaker, it could be a matter of hours.

Some people pray for death with dignity. As I was reading "Walk On", the Spiritual journey of U2, it was suggested this invokes a sense of vanity, even pride. He suggest that death with humility seems more appropriate. Even a “Bronze Medal of Humility” (Sunday Morning’s service).

"God ???"

Conversations of Soteriology

Am interested in the conversation of which came first, the chicken or the egg, Calvinist vs Arminian. Here:

http://mandygetsserious.blogspot.com/

What do YOU think...

"Why not" Party...

Saturday we're having a party. Why?

Why not!

from 8 ish,

BYO nibbles/drinks

Wow, focusing on U2 for a Church service in US...

http://xtramsn.co.nz/entertainment/0,,12254-5612383,00.html

Do you think it will work...

To Hell and BACK IV

I did a lot of spade work before I went into surgery, and I managed to convince them to take my camera into surgery and get a couple of shots for me!!

Here I am being wheeled into the Anesthetists room.

I was out of it in no time, I don't remember much of proceedings after this point. There's a couple more "interesting" pictures after this, but I don't think I can show them here...

This is another picture of me, you may not be able to recognize me, but I have been assured, this is what the inside of my back looks like. I was there, but I don't remember too much about this part either... They're cutting bits out of me...

These are the bits they cut out... They let me keep them... I have them in a sample jar if anyone wants to see them...

They even had the machine that goes "PING..."

I think they've finished by this stage. It's a nice looking gash! Good photography! Once again, I don't remember too much of this bit.

The Anesthetists had a bit of fun on the job. They say a happy work environment is a productive work environment... Mum says hello back!

Here I am after the op. I don't look as cheerful, but I think I remember this bit.

Thank you to all of you who have supported me through this whole ordeal. Thank you for those who visited, called and dropped off food. Thanks Ken, Mum, Dad, Sherril, Nana, Paul, Anita. I'm sure there's more than a few who are glad I won't be wandering around the place bitching about my back!

Thank you to the staff at St Georges, Jo and the other nurses, the doctors, and Dr Bonkowski.

Thank you God for my life back