Top 5 things I have enjoyed about this year:
(In no particular order...)
1. Surviving my first year of teaching.
2. Becoming part of a wonderful workplace.
3. Discovering life in the Northern suburbs - quiet, a bit bogan, but a surprisingly good fit for me. Still trying to work out why!
4. Finding a great church to be a part of.
5. Living to see a Labor government FINALLY win in Australia.
Watch this space for more highlights, or perhaps lowlights (not a word, I realise) of 2007...
Monday, December 24, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Home?
One of the key features of this blog in its very early days was the search for a church in my local area. It's been a while since I've written on that issue (a while, in fact, since I've written on anything). I suspect I last wrote on it when I realised that I'd found "my church". But I thought today was as good a time as any to give a bit of an update.
There was a beautiful moment in my new home church today when, instead of a sermon, we sat in groups and discussed the passage we had all just read. In what Paolo Freire would call "problem-posing education", we all asked questions about the passage, then each group had to choose one question that interested them and come up with a collaborative answer.
Now, I'm not suggesting that this is an ideal way of doing things all the time - certainly not a permanent replacement to clear Bible teaching. Some of you might already be thinking, "What if someone came up with an answer that was HERETICAL?!" (And some of you are probably thinking, "Why does he always have to talk about RELIGION?!" To you, I can only say sorry, although I'm not really.) There is always a risk of (gasp) heresy in all styles of Biblical teaching, and that risk is something that needs to be taken seriously, but today I felt very confident that all the ideas shared were "on the right track". Everything was Biblical. Everything was orthodox. There was quality learning taking place.
But what I was most impressed by today was the sense of community. Everyone came together for this discussion, and I mean everyone: children, teenagers, young adults, middle-aged adults, elderly adults. Everyone. And everyone's opinion had the chance to be heard. And then, at the end, when we prayed, everyone had the chance to pray - and, again, I mean everyone, including the little boy whose mother held him up to the microphone so that his prayer for his sick grandmother could be heard.
When I was desperately searching for the "perfect" church for me, and hoping that such a church could be found within a 5 km radius of my house, I began to wonder what was important to me. And I wondered why it was so important that I find a church that was "near" where I lived. Today I felt like I knew. Because churches are supposed to be families, and it's possible to find a family far from where you live, but it's a lot nicer to have one nearby. And, more than that, there's something about church in the inner-northern suburbs that you're not likely to get in many other places. Church in Coburg or Preston should be about as close to a full cross-section of society as you're likely to get. And today it looked like one. Not complete - some groups weren't represented - but a lot were, and that's another one of the things that I love about my church.
No perfectly-run programs, state-of-the-art buildings, slick professionalism and awe-inspiring technology can beat a diverse community coming together - truly coming together - in God's name. My church isn't perfect, but I think it's got that much going for it.
There was a beautiful moment in my new home church today when, instead of a sermon, we sat in groups and discussed the passage we had all just read. In what Paolo Freire would call "problem-posing education", we all asked questions about the passage, then each group had to choose one question that interested them and come up with a collaborative answer.
Now, I'm not suggesting that this is an ideal way of doing things all the time - certainly not a permanent replacement to clear Bible teaching. Some of you might already be thinking, "What if someone came up with an answer that was HERETICAL?!" (And some of you are probably thinking, "Why does he always have to talk about RELIGION?!" To you, I can only say sorry, although I'm not really.) There is always a risk of (gasp) heresy in all styles of Biblical teaching, and that risk is something that needs to be taken seriously, but today I felt very confident that all the ideas shared were "on the right track". Everything was Biblical. Everything was orthodox. There was quality learning taking place.
But what I was most impressed by today was the sense of community. Everyone came together for this discussion, and I mean everyone: children, teenagers, young adults, middle-aged adults, elderly adults. Everyone. And everyone's opinion had the chance to be heard. And then, at the end, when we prayed, everyone had the chance to pray - and, again, I mean everyone, including the little boy whose mother held him up to the microphone so that his prayer for his sick grandmother could be heard.
When I was desperately searching for the "perfect" church for me, and hoping that such a church could be found within a 5 km radius of my house, I began to wonder what was important to me. And I wondered why it was so important that I find a church that was "near" where I lived. Today I felt like I knew. Because churches are supposed to be families, and it's possible to find a family far from where you live, but it's a lot nicer to have one nearby. And, more than that, there's something about church in the inner-northern suburbs that you're not likely to get in many other places. Church in Coburg or Preston should be about as close to a full cross-section of society as you're likely to get. And today it looked like one. Not complete - some groups weren't represented - but a lot were, and that's another one of the things that I love about my church.
No perfectly-run programs, state-of-the-art buildings, slick professionalism and awe-inspiring technology can beat a diverse community coming together - truly coming together - in God's name. My church isn't perfect, but I think it's got that much going for it.
Monday, December 3, 2007
The new cool place to be
It's official. Just read this week's "Melbourne Magazine" in The Age and you'll find announced that Melbourne's Northern suburbs are now "classy". Of course, they do seem to be referring primarily to the inner sector - Brunswick, East Brunswick and Northcote. Anything west of Sydney Rd seems that bit Too Far West, and anything north of Bell St is, well, Preston.
According to the article, Melbourne's "creative classes" have been forced to take refuge in the North, because of the ridiculous housing prices that have now made their previous havens, Fitzroy and St Kilda, a somewhat yuppified pipe-dream. So, if you want to have your latte and drink it too, and maybe even create a piece of movement theatre based around the experience, you move North. Only, not too far North, because then you'll be in Greensborough. Unless you want to go all the way, and live at Monsalvat, but, let's face it, that's not an option for most of us.
Now, I'm very happy to have my hood declared the New Cool Place to Be (although a little upset that West Preston doesn't rate a mention - not surprised, note, just upset). Nevertheless, the article has made me think about my own reasons for moving North.
In reality, I moved to the North because I couldn't find anyone who wanted to move to the West (only Yarraville's cool so far, and there's no way I could afford that...). And why did I want to move to the West? To be closer to school. And, let's face it, if I'd moved to Pascoe Vale, it would hardly have been Cool. Convenient, yes. On the right train line, yes. But Cool? Sorry. Move to Westgarth for that.
What I found, when I accidentally wound up in the North, was quite an unexpected home. But I don't love it for the artiness or trendiness, although, to paraphrase Sir Humphrey, "it's nice to know it's there". No, what I fell in love with was the diversity, the humility, the simplicity, the quiet, and, in a strange way, the grunginess of it all. Only here in West Preston, everything's grungy because it's falling apart, not because a trendy designer made it look like that.
I maintain, of course, that it's only a matter of time before West Preston becomes Cool, but we've got to wait for Thornbury to catch up with Northcote first, and that may take a while. Meanwhile, I think I'm happy to enjoy living in a place that isn't too trendy for it's own good, and is beginning to feel like some kind of home.
According to the article, Melbourne's "creative classes" have been forced to take refuge in the North, because of the ridiculous housing prices that have now made their previous havens, Fitzroy and St Kilda, a somewhat yuppified pipe-dream. So, if you want to have your latte and drink it too, and maybe even create a piece of movement theatre based around the experience, you move North. Only, not too far North, because then you'll be in Greensborough. Unless you want to go all the way, and live at Monsalvat, but, let's face it, that's not an option for most of us.
Now, I'm very happy to have my hood declared the New Cool Place to Be (although a little upset that West Preston doesn't rate a mention - not surprised, note, just upset). Nevertheless, the article has made me think about my own reasons for moving North.
In reality, I moved to the North because I couldn't find anyone who wanted to move to the West (only Yarraville's cool so far, and there's no way I could afford that...). And why did I want to move to the West? To be closer to school. And, let's face it, if I'd moved to Pascoe Vale, it would hardly have been Cool. Convenient, yes. On the right train line, yes. But Cool? Sorry. Move to Westgarth for that.
What I found, when I accidentally wound up in the North, was quite an unexpected home. But I don't love it for the artiness or trendiness, although, to paraphrase Sir Humphrey, "it's nice to know it's there". No, what I fell in love with was the diversity, the humility, the simplicity, the quiet, and, in a strange way, the grunginess of it all. Only here in West Preston, everything's grungy because it's falling apart, not because a trendy designer made it look like that.
I maintain, of course, that it's only a matter of time before West Preston becomes Cool, but we've got to wait for Thornbury to catch up with Northcote first, and that may take a while. Meanwhile, I think I'm happy to enjoy living in a place that isn't too trendy for it's own good, and is beginning to feel like some kind of home.
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