Don's Blog

Hi all.

Kay and I took the plunge and decided to walk down to the Swan river foreshore on Australia day and watch the sky show.

It was a pleasant evening and as we walked, we found ourselves mingling with a number of people, couples, families, friends who were headed in the same direction. On the way we passed many parties, Australian flags to be seen everywhere, generally a happy atmosphere. We briefly ‘talked’ with an Aboriginal family whose children were excited about seeing the fireworks.

When we finally found a spot, we sat down and with half an hour to wait looked around us. Next to us, a young couple, with their friends close by, ‘snogging’ like there was no tomorrow. In front of us, a large Indian or Sri Lankan family, waving flags, taking photos and generally enjoying the atmosphere. On the other side of us, a group, who seemed to me, to come from Southern American, also taking photo, texting friends and getting ready for the show. Behind us, a very Australian looking couple, quietly waiting.

At precisely 8.00pm the fireworks started and for the next half an hour 1.5 million dollars was blown into the sky. Mind you, it looked spectacular and I enjoyed the creativity of the pyrotechnics and the accompanying music.

On the way back home we, with thousands of others, walked on the road up Barrack street. At one stage, we looked back down the street and saw thousands streaming behind us, they too all heading for home.

On reflection, I was glad to there. Not because of the fireworks, mainly because I felt an incredible closeness to the hotch-potch-ness of this country that we call Australia. So many people, from so many cultures, with so many backgrounds and so many stories. On this night, many of us were together, to enjoy, to celebrate and to see each other. Hopefully others saw me and recognised where I came from and like me felt a oneness with humanity. And some of us give thanks to God for this oneness. I hope you do too.

A reminder for some that the 8.30 service is still happening. A small group gathers, we get a ‘good’ coffee from across the road and then sit together for 45 mins and talk about the Gospel reading for the day. It's really a ‘chat with the minister' or could be seen as 'minister's corner'. It a great time for me, not only because I get a coffee to get me going but we get to think more about the reading and discuss it’s impact on us. Please feel free to join us.

Mary Jo Meadow will be joining u for worship on Sunday 31^st January. Her theme that day will be “Why Meditate?”She has a great deal of wisdom and is worth a listen.

Stations of the Cross Art Exhibition.

As I know this will be upon me before I can blink an eye, can I invite those who may be interested to be volunteers during this time to let me know? There are generally two types of volunteers for this event.

Firstly, those who can just be there to keep a watchful eye on the artwork and the people who will wander through it. They will open and close the building and generally keep a count on how many people come through the doors.

Secondly, those who would like to be tour guides, that is those who are willing to take people around the exhibition and be involved in conversations that arise from that experience.

As before we will be open from 9am till 5pm from Saturday 27th March through to Monday 5th April. Please let me know via admin@ucic.org.au if you would like to be involved and in which capacity.

Thanks for reading.

Don

Don's Blog

Hi all.

Music that soothes the soul.

I reported last week that a small group of people from the Tongan community, mainly young people from the Beth Shalom church (a Uniting Church Tongan Congregation) would be playing brass and drum instruments outside the Church. It was a small but enjoyable group. They played some Tongan hymns (sang and played) and even a couple of Christmas Carols.

The band had been playing about half an hour and a woman came down and thanked them for the music. She had been in a dentist’s office somewhere in the mall about to have the dentist drill into one of her teeth. She started to hear the music and was so distracted that she forgot about the pain and the dentist. A True Story.

Just a reminder for some that the 8.30 service is still happening. A small group gathers, we get a ‘good’ coffee from across the road and then sit together for 45 mins and talk about the Gospel reading for the day. It's really a ‘chat with the minister' or could be seen as 'minister's corner'. It a great time for me, not only because I get a coffee to get me going but we get to think more about the reading and discuss it’s impact on us. Please feel free to join us.

Last night, Wednesday 20th, We listened to Mary Jo Meadow, Catholic Sister, Teacher of Buddhist Meditation, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies, writer and lecturer. I really enjoyed what she had to say and she is now off to leading a 9 day and 3 day retreat.

She talked a lot about “Mindful Meditation” sometimes referred to as ‘Insight Meditation’ which helps people empty themselves of thoughts and concepts that clutter the mind, including perceptions about God. She used a phrase that said. Mindful Meditation helps the ‘best get better’. My thinking is that we can use that phrase in a great many things. Our mission is always to help the best we do get better.

Thanks to those who helped out, David, Jan, Bill and Merylyn.

Mary Jo Meadow will be joining us for worship on Sunday 31^st January. Her theme that day will be “Why Meditate?”She has a great deal of wisdom and is worth a listen.

Stations of the Cross Art Exhibition.

As I know this will be upon me before I can blink an eye, can I invite those who may be interested to be volunteers during this time to let me know? There are generally two types of volunteers for this event.

Firstly, those who can just be there to keep a watchful eye on the artwork and the people who will wander through it. They will open and close the building and generally keep a count on how many people come through the doors.

Secondly, those who would like to be tour guides, that is those who are willing to take people around the exhibition and be involved in conversations that arise from that experience.

As before we will be open from 9am till 5pm from Saturday 27th March through to Monday 5th April. Please let me know via admin@ucic.org.au if you would like to be involved and in which capacity.

Thanks for reading.

Don

Don's Blog

Hi all. A happy new year to you all.

This is my first Blog for 2010 so I hope as you receive it you are well and like me wondering what the New Year will bring.

I must admit to feeling a tad tired after Christmas but also feeling quite elated. Our displays and events outside the church went extremely well. We were ‘packed to the gunnels’ for our Christmas Eve service, mainly with young people who didn’t want to leave. I have now made a mental note for next year that we will need to have some Christmas pudding to share with them…… and then there was Christmas Day, again with a wonderful crowd of families, a great service with excellent music from the Choir.

On my return I have hardly had time to think, with the visit of Sister Mary Jo Meadow, (see Whats on at Wesley www.perthunitingchurch.com.au/viewStory/Future+Events+at+Wesley and preparations well underway for the Stations of the Cross it all promises to be a good year.

Aaah but this is life, full of energy and excitement. I don’t think I want it any other way.

Stations of the Cross Art Exhibition.

As I know this will be upon me before I can blink an eye, can I invite those who may be interested to be volunteers during this time to let me know? There are generally two types of volunteers for this event.

Firstly, those who can just be there to keep a watchful eye on the artwork and the people who will wander through it. They will open and close the building and generally keep a count on how many people come through the doors.

Secondly, those who would like to be tour guides, that is those who are willing to take people around the exhibition and be involved in conversations that arise from that experience.

As before we will be open from 9am till 5pm from Saturday 27th March through to Monday 5th April. Please let me know via admin@ucic.org.au if you would like to be involved and in which capacity.

And now for something completely different!!!

Last week a small group of people from the Tongan community, mainly young people from the Beth Shalom church (a Uniting Church Tongan Congregation) played brass and drum instruments outside the Uniting Church Centre in Edwards street. As I understand it one of them came from Tonga to visit family and then assisted the church in starting up a brass band. They had only been playing for 5 weeks but they were pretty good. So I invited them to play outside Wesley on Friday 15th January . They were great.

Thanks for reading.

Don

Don's Blog

Hi all.

For our last display outside the church this advent we have Joseph and Mary, ‘the baby’ …… and the kombi van. As usual we have received many comments and people have written wonderful messages on our ‘Graffiti Board’. These displays have convinced me that we have been able to ‘make a connection’ with many who on a daily basis walk by our church.

I am especially grateful to the ‘volunteers’ who gave of their time and energy to help us. Without you it would not have been as successful as it has been. Your presence has meant that something has happened. If you had not been there it would have just been a ‘display’. My hope is that early in the New Year we will all get together and share some of our experiences.

I have received many Christmas Cards this year and two have been rather special. One is from a Wesley family, addressed to the Wesley Family, and me and shares how through a series of events they were led to worship with us. They share how they have enjoyed worshiping at Wesley mentioning especially the “magnificent music from the talented youngsters at UWA, the melodious and uplifting voice of the choir and the beauty of the church itself, not to mention the friendliness of the congregation”.

I must admit to feeling a little proud to read this…

The second card simply wished me ‘Seasons Greetings’ and came from Mohammad Agherdien the Muslim Imam from the Mirrabooka Mosque. (Mohammad took part in our inter-faith meeting earlier in the year) I felt rather humbled that Mohammed, someone from a different faith tradition, had taken time to pay his respects during our rather special season. It reminds me to remember their special seasons.

May Christmas be a time of blessing to you, your family and friends and to those around you.

Thanks for reading.
Don

Don's Blog

Hi all.
This week has seen another display outside the church – the shepherds have arrived.
It appears from comments made by those passing by that they are more interested in the dog than any thing else. However we are still receiving many positive comments and many take a serious look as they pass by.

Penny who had been ‘on duty’ with the shepherds display, had an interesting experience when she went across the road to get a newspaper. She was able to offer significant assistance to one of “the big issue gentlemen”. He went away a very happy man. It makes you wonder….. if she hadn’t been a volunteer on that day at that time….. who would have helped? As it turned out she was a real blessing to him.
We are now onto our third ‘Graffiti Board’.

I am off to a meeting with the Elders and Catherine Czerz our ‘Stations of the Cross’ Curator. She will be sharing with us the completed list of artists who are all presenting new works for our Stations of the Cross art exhibition for next year. It promises to be an even more exciting event than this year. As soon as I have the completed information I will pass it on.
Never a dull moment at Wesley!!!
Thanks for reading.
Don

TheDon's Blog

Hi all.

Highlights this week.

Story 1. As you are aware we have a display outside the church. Part of this event includes an ‘Angel’ handing out postcards about the display and our Christmas services. On Saturday a woman who had just landed in Perth from South Africa approached him looking for a supermarket and he began to give her directions for Woolworths but then decided it would be easier to take her there.

What he didn’t know was that before leaving South Africa she was told by her Minister that there was an Afrikaans service in one of the Perth churches. On arrival she looked around Perth but couldn’t find it however on the way to Woolworths she saw Trinity Church and noticed the sign advertising the Afrikaans’s service. As it happened the service was to be held on the following day. On Sunday when she arrived at the service Rev Chris Crause met her and asked how she found her way to Trinty.

She replied, ‘an Angel sent me!’

Story 2. Also as part of the display we have a ‘Graffiti Board’ and passers by have been encouraged to write a message for the City of Perth. One young woman wrote. ‘Christmas is a time of sharing with family”. After she had finished writing I asked her, ‘Is your family here in Perth’, to which she replied, “My mother lives here in Perth, and my father lives in New Zealand.’ We had a brief conversation about family and how hard it is sometimes when a family is separated. I found out that she spends one Christmas in Perth with her mother and the alternate Christmas with her father. My hope is that our brief conversation was an acknowledgment that for some Christmas is a hard time. My hope is that our brief conversation may have helped. You never know.

My feeling is there are more stories to come……..

Thanks for reading.
Don

TheDon's Blog

Hi all.

This week has seen a flurry of activity as we carry out the last minute preparations for our Advent Displays.

There has been a sense of excitement and apprehension as we have put the final touches into place. If you are not already involved, I hope you get the chance to come and have a look at what we are attempting to do.

Over the next four weeks in our Sunday morning worship I will be using the same readings that are presented in the displays outside our church. Hopefully this will enhance our understanding of how texts written so many years ago can connect with us and our situation today.

We begin with the passage from Luke’s Gospel Chapter 2 which describes the journey that Joseph and Mary take as they made their way to Bethlehem. It must have been a strange journey for them moving from the familiar to the unfamiliar, from the known to the unknown. We like them are often faced with the uncertainty of life and we like them know that God can and does meet us in these times.

This week a friend of mine, who is a Salvation Army officer, and I were commenting from our particular church situations noting that “the silly season was upon us”. He was noticing that he still had an every increasing number of people seeking Christmas hampers in order to make ends meet.

Kay often tells the story about her grandmother and how exciting it was her to receive an orange on Christmas Day. This was her only present but she was so excited to receive it. I guess we often realise that we have changed the Christmas culture from one of simple giving and receiving to one of elaborate consumerism and materialism. I think God saves us from this.

Thanks for reading.
Don