No 3 – September 2009
Crows Nest Uniting Church
Cnr Shirley Road & Nicholson Street, Crows Nest
From Michael's desk—Thinking about Home
Very recently I was on my way up to Xenos for coffee (a not uncommon thing for me to do!) and I ran into Richard. Richard is the homeless man who lived in my garage for 2 years, here at Crows Nest. Richard left in 2006 and I hadn't seen him since. I had often thought of him and wondered how he was going; if he were even still alive...
It was good to see him. He looked well and was discoursing, as was his custom, about his views on life, which are rather unusual. At a deeper level, afterwards, I started to think about home and was again faced with the issue of what it means not to have a home. Richard is still homeless.
I also found myself thinking ahead to our forthcoming month on parables, in October, and in particular the Parable of the Prodigal Son. This is a parable about home; what it stands for and some of the important issues and experiences that are woven through it.
Home is a sacred place, an utterly important place. This brings me back to Richard, I came to understand, when he stayed with us, that homelessness represents an assault on our sense of order. When a reality, so foundational for us, is absent in a person we meet, we find ourselves in chaos. It is hard to comprehend how someone can be without a home. (So utterly unconceivable is it that society often imputes criminal intention to those who find themselves on the street.)
The prodigal son and the elder brother in the parable struggle in different ways with the importance of home. The prodigal has to leave home in order, we might say in our modern idiom, 'to find himself'. The older brother, to use another expression, 'remains faithful', stays at home but resents it. And in the middle of the parable is the father; the gentle, gracious, remarkable character who represents, in many ways, an impossible ideal but an ideal that touches our hearts.
Jesus' parables are meant to make us think about life, and ultimately to help us think about it in a new way. Parables are very tangible, very real and quite earthy. They touch on human realities and human experience. It's good then to relate them to events that we are part of. So I think of the prodigal, eventually able to return home, and I wonder what would be an equivalent experience for Richard?? I think too of people, often good Christian people in the church, confined and diminished by an overly-heavy sense of obligation, like the elder brother, who don't see the prison they construct for themselves. And I wonder how might they be liberated (NB in the parable we are never told how the elder brother responds to his father's invitation and graciousness).
Parables: an opportunity to ruminate about life and to see new things...¦
Our Organ
Later this year, the new pedal board for the pipe
organ will be installed. It has
been very generously sponsored by Alison Sandow in memory of Max.
The organ builder, Peter Jewkes, who maintains the
organ, hopes to have the work finished in time for Christmas.
From our Chairperson—Jenny Vergison
We
had a good AGM on Sunday – reports were delivered, elections carried out
– and we finished within an hour! Thanks to everyone who attended.
The Church Council was delighted to welcome Lin Gourlay and Paul Howell to the Council, and Janet Crosbie was elected as a Pastoral Carer.
I have now been in the role of chairperson for 12 months and two things have come to my attention. Firstly, I've been able to see how our church works at all levels. I'm amazed at how many people are involved in keeping our church running. The list of jobs and the people who step in a do them is endless. All I can say is ... thank you!
Also, during the time I spent in our Administrator's office earlier this year, I became aware of how much of the church's resources are put back into maintaining our buildings. Without these buildings, we wouldn't be able to keep afloat. However, they do need constant maintenance. Our Treasurer, Bessie Dumbleton, reported on the shortfall in income we are now experiencing, since the Ensemble vacated the hall at Holtermann Street. However, Frank Fawcett was able to report that we are negotiating with Phoenix House to allow them to move into the hall. Phoenix House needs to expand, and the Church Council is pleased to be able to assist them.
The Peforming Arts Centre (PAC) has not generated enough income to cover the costs of running the centre. We are looking at renting the PAC to a sole-trader, and negotiations continue with them and North Sydney Council. This will mean that the building will no longer be available for our use, but the building will be maintained, and income will be generated to allow our church to do more work for the community.
I've thoroughly enjoyed the last twelve months, and feel honoured to be part of such a hard working, enthusiastic team. Working with Michael has been wonderful – he is supportive, focused and we work together with purpose (and a sense of humour!). I must thank Michael for all his help, and for the wonderful job he does as our minister. Thanks, Michael!
A comment on our "Other
Faiths" month
 |
Coming to a place of candour |
The month commenced with a thought-provoking sermon by Michael Barnes in which Jesus was said to have pointed out 'the way' as opposed to setting up a new religion. This was followed by a fascinating presentation by John Squires and Elizabeth Raine showing how Jews and Christians have different approaches to the Scriptures. In the third week Peta Pellach hosted an interactive quiz aimed at raising awareness of Jewish history, culture and religion. With good humour Mehmet Saral introduced Islam and highlighted the many links it shares with Christianity. In the final week, Victor von der Heyde offered a nuanced understanding of the many paths than converge at and diverge from what is called Buddhism.
Relating to other faiths, like other aspects of life, is a matter of being 'on the way'. Hopefully our understanding, along with respect and love, will continue to grow from the seeds sown in the past month.
Breakfast service
Our new Breakfast service is primarily for families and children. It is to be held at 8.30am on the third Sunday of each month. We offer child-friendly activities during church so we can encourage the children to help lead and be involved. Our regular bible discussion and music will be part of this service too. We also value the time to get to know each other, so our service will finish with a light breakfast together. Members from both this service and the 10am service are welcome to come to chat and eat.
This once-a-month service is experimental and if our numbers grow over the next few months, we will make this a weekly service. For more information, call Sally on 0402572060.
Chatroom Playgroup
Tuesdays & Thursdays 10am till 12 noon
Chatroom is an outreach by our church community and is valued highly by the local community.
We provide a safe place for friends with children to come and relax together with a good cuppa. The children have a huge range of toys and craft to play to keep them amused. Chatroom provides a great meeting place for new people in the area with children. They can find out where the good schools and playgrounds are, as well as lots of other useful information. We always love to see a new face, so drop by if you're in the area to see the fun the church is providing in the community.
For more info please call Sally on 0402572060.
Sunday School—from Deb Lee
We have had a different experience of holding
our Sunday School in the evenings since July. We've been exploring many other
religions in the last couple of months. First, we looked at Judaism. The children put together several
puzzles with interesting facts about the Jewish faith. Next we talked about Buddhism and made
our own prayer flags. Lastly, we
learned about Islam and Ben had the children all doing a lot of praying!
The children have been doing more reading to the group. We now have some great readers who are gaining in confidence all the time. We have also been trying some miming and "acting out" (not "acting up", Sam and Tom!). As well, the children are helping to write family prayers and then are reading them to the supper service group; a new idea for them and one which we hope to see more of in the future.
Our Sunday School children are growing, asking and exploring together and I feel very lucky to be joining them on the journey, one which we hope will lead to a faith in God to sustain them for the rest of their lives.
Due to the larger numbers, I would love an extra pair of hands upstairs, especially when there are some very young children in the group. If anyone feels they could help us once in a while, please let me know. The children also love to see different faces as was shown when we had various members of the congregation come up to visit us last term (which we hope to continue). Hope you see you soon!
Chorus Nidi
We started practising
again last week, so please join us at 9am on Sundays if you like to sing. In early November we will begin to put
our Christmas program together, so if you have a voice or play an instrument,
PLEASE join us!
Kids out the back—Preschool
The children are
having another busy term with varied activities. Both groups had Special Persons'/ Fathers' Day
morning tea. The 3-day group
dressed up as a favourite nursery rhyme character or a book character for book
week. Shortly they will be
participating in "Living Eggs" a chicken hatching program – so watch for
yellow balls of fluff!
The
older children are going on an excursion to Greenwich Primary School to sample
school life as they will all be off to 'big school' next year.
Water Project Papua New Guinea
During Lent, our church participated in "Lent Event". We send the proceeds from this event to assist in providing fresh drinking water in PNG villages. This makes an enormous difference to all of village life, but particularly to women and girls who are the traditional water carriers.
Did you know that the average
Australian uses about 150 litres
daily in household water for washing and drinking, but we consume about 30
times as much in "virtual water", used in the production of imported food and
textiles?
So, an average household of six members uses 900 litres of water every day just for household use. This is 860 more litres than the family in Papua New Guinea. If women had to walk the same distance to collect water in Australia, as in PNG, they would have to walk to the river 90 times daily. We consume so much water that women would have to spend 4 straight days walking and gathering water to collect enough.
A feeling has developed in the congregation that we would like to become more connected with a particular PNG village rather than just sending our money each year.
At our recent congregational AGM, we agreed to explore further the possibility of becoming a partner in what is happening in a PNG community most likely in the Milne Bay province. The interested group will work together with Uniting World to establish an initial link with appropriate people in the chosen village. Then it may be that the village leaders may provide us with a "wish list". We could decide what is possible and appropriate for us to provide. There are further steps of involvement that we can take, if we have enthusiasm for this project.
At all
times we will work with Rob Floyd from Uniting World as there is much to
learn culturally, developmentally, and in an inter-relational way. We will keep you posted!
Michael Barnes, Jenny Vergison, Lin Gourlay,
Doris Leung, Paul Cheung and Sharon Conner.
Update on Church
grounds—Helen Barnett
F ollowing the initial
enthusiastic response to our approach to North Sydney Council on 5 April 2006,
Michael and I attended many meetings with Council's Rob Emerson and Rupert
Carmichael, Landscape Architect chosen by Council.
From the outset it has been stressed that the Church itself is the important backdrop and that an overall feeling of welcome is to be achieved. Rob Emerson affirmed Council's desire that this should be a high quality project and in sympathy with the heritage status of the Church.
All memorial plaques commemorating the Church's history are to be incorporated into the design, together with symbols denoting the Aboriginal significance of the site.
All these meetings culminated on 20 July 2009 when, at the regular North Sydney Council meeting, Councillors considered the detailed proposal prepared by Rob Emerson and the allocation of funding for the project.
Council voted unanimously in favour of the proposal and the funding is to be included in the 20010/11 budget.
Useful information
Church website:
http://cnuca.royroyes.net
Church office: Administrator:
Joyce Lum
ph:
9439 6033
email: crnestuc@bigpond.net.au
Joyce's
office hours: Tues & Fri,
9.30– 2.00
Minister:
Rev Michael Barnes
ph: 9439 5851
email: mbarnes1@primusonline.com.au
Family Outreach Worker: Sally Yabsley Bell
ph: mob 0402 572 060
email: sally@broomball.com.au
Musical treats to tempt
you
For information about these concerts, call Emi Kubota, 0411 584 001.
Violin
Recital - Aiko Goto ( Australian Chamber
Orchestra)
When: Tuesday, 3rd November, 8pm
Where: Verbruggen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium
of Music
Piano: Ian
Munro, Koto ( Japanese ancient harp): Satsuki Odamura
Tickets: General $40, Concession $30, Student & Child $15
Booking: City
Recital Hall Angel Place 02 8256 2222, www.cityrecitalhall.com
Willoughby
Symphony Choir & Brass Concert
When: Friday, 20th November, 8pm
Where: Our Lady of Dolours Catholic Church,
Chatswood
Conductor:
Philip Chu
Programme:
Gabrieli: Selections for Brass and Choir
Bruckner: Mass
No.2 E minor
Tickets: General $35, Concession $30, Student $16.50
Booking: Box
Office 9777 7547, www.willoughby.nsw.gov.au