Highlands Cluster Uniting Church

What does Christianity mean when you are behind bars?  What are freedom, responsibility, repentance and new life about when you are incarcerated?

What is Jesus’ message of new life like for those in prison?  How is this message shared and how is this message heard?

Dynamic, thought provoking, faithful and down to earth prison chaplain Jenny Hayes will be speaking at Ballan Uniting Church Hall on Thursday March 11 at 1:30pm.

We are asking for a $5:00 dollar donation at the door, with all proceeds going towards prison chaplaincy.

Afternoon tea will follow this engaging conversation.

All are very welcome to attend.

This event is proudly hosted by the Ballan UCAF (Uniting Church Adult Fellowship)

Lately I have enjoyed getting into the garden when I can.  Often this has been in the early evening as the summer light lingers and the babes sleep.

In these moments it has been particularly satisfying to gently train some creepers.  One of these, the native ‘Happy Wanderer’, has been so prolific that I discovered that it had begun to twist in on itself, lapping over its own vines and getting tangled.

I hadn’t provided this plant a high enough lattice to grow up and so it had instead turned in on itself.  I have now attended to this, improvising with twisted wire and pliers.

However this plant’s growth led me to reflect on us. I think we humans can be the same.  Some of us are ‘fast’ growers, some of us are ’slow and steady’ plants, yet most of us need a ‘lattice’.

We need to be supported and stretched: intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically too.  If we are not, we tend to start curling up; becoming tangled within our own heads, twisted in our feelings, stunted in our thoughts or actions.

The kind of ‘lattice’ supports that each of us need in our lives will vary.  These may be found in the arts, deep reading, sport, theology, prayer practices, serving others, education, puzzles, or for a holistic approach, perhaps all of these things combined.

We each need to be supported and stretched, for we have this inner impulse to grow and if we don’t grow up, we grow weary in body, mind or soul.

Whatever our ‘lattice’ is, I don’t think we will find it in continually collapsing in front of the tele or in surfing the net.  Such things can be relaxing and distracting for a while, but ultimately they don’t satisfy.

And, furthermore, it is when we think that we have arrived that we are in most danger of becoming completely stagnant.

No wonder that Jesus describes himself as ‘the Way’ and calls us on a journey of ongoing discovery, growth and discipleship- rather than to some illusionary, conceited mythology that we are already there.

Blessings on you, in your gardening and in your growing.  May you find the ‘lattice’ supports that you need, so that you can, day by day, grow into all that God dreams you to be.

Rev Sal Douglas

Carol Services in the Highlands Cluster Uniting Church

Friday 18th December 2009
Daylesford Combined Church Carol Service and Community Barbecue
at Daylesford Uniting Church 56 Central Springs Road.

The barbecue begins on the lawns of the Church at 5:30pm the Carol Service is at 7pm.  There will be opportunities for children to dress as angels, shepherds or wise people and to have their photo taken in a ‘live’ nativity scene.  Come in costume or dress up when you arrive.  Families bring your cameras, picnic blankets and plates etc.

Little Hampton Carol Service 7pm followed by supper.

Saturday 19th December 2009
Blackwood Uniting Church Carol Service and Community Barbecue
Beginning at 5:00pm on the lawns of Blackwood Uniting Church.

Sunday 20th December 2009
Trentham Uniting Church Carol Service and Supper 7pm.

Ballan Combined Church Carol Service and Supper at St Georges Anglican Church 7pm

Christmas Services in the Highlands

Sunday 20th December
Daylesford Uniting Church, celebrating Holy Communion
9:15am with Rev Sally Douglas

Ballan Uniting Church, celebrating Holy Communion,
11:15am with Rev Sally Douglas

Trentham Uniting Church
9:30am with Don McKinnon

Christmas Eve
Daylesford Uniting Church 7:30pm-8:30pm.  A quiet reflective service that provides an opportunity to be still amidst the Christmas rush.  All welcome.  Rev. Sally Douglas

Christmas Day
Trentham Uniting Church 9:00am.  A celebration together of Christmas and the joy that this heralds.  All welcome.  Rev. Sally Douglas

Whether you come to church often, or haven’t been in years, or have never been at all, you are welcome among us.

Last week my car conked out on the stretch of forest road between Blackwood and Greendale.

It was a lovely Spring morning and the time of waiting for road side assistance gave space to enjoy the new tiny wild flowers, the light in the trees and some pondering prayer space.It was also lovely to be offered help by at least 5 different people who stopped to ask if I was ok.

This unexpected and oddly gracious morning was topped off by great conversation in the tow truck home (the car really had conked).  The tow truck driver and I talked about all kinds of things; life, travel, work and then he asked me a little more about my work.  In particular, how I responded to people’s age old question about ‘why there is suffering in the world if there is a God…?’

I responded by sharing a recent dawning revelation:  Most people’s image of God is actually Santa.  They have an image of God as some big, old guy in the sky, with a beard who will reward you if you are good, and punish you if you are bad;  ’so you better watch out..’ as the song goes!

Therefore when terrible things happen, many people assume that they somehow have deserved it.  Or, they rightly reject such notions.  However in the process of rejecting this understanding people can reject the possibility of God at all.

This understanding of God is far from the Divine I experience. This is also light years from the God that Jesus reveals.  Jesus says the great Parent God loves all and cares for all regardless of what they have done: bringing rain on the just and the unjust… (Matthew 5:43-48).

The night after the car conked, I watched a Doctor Who Christmas Special from a few years ago; the one with the Titanic space ship (this episode was replayed recently on ABC 2).   In this episode I was delighted to see that this same observation was made.

Alien travelers about to visit earth as tourists, are given a ‘brief’ on the planet.  Their guide explains that the people of earth worship their god Santa who punishes those who are bad, and rewards those who are good.  The tourist aliens are understandably horrified by such barbaric belief, even as the Doctor tries to explain that this is not quite the case.

So I wonder, when you think of God- the God you believe in or the God you reject- what is this God like?  Is there a waft of the red suit… or is your image of God informed by the life giving, radically loving God that Jesus embodies…? …I am very happy to say the car is now back on the road.  Thanks go out to all those who offered to help.

Blessings on your journey as we travel towards Christmas- the ancient Christian celebration feast of God coming to us in Jesus…

Sal

Rev. Sally Douglas

What a day.

The sun was shining in a way that we haven’t seen in months.

Some 90 people, from all walks of life and from every age group, got together in the paddock in Little Hampton outside the wooden Uniting Church.

We gathered in a circle; standing, sitting on hay bales, and on the ground, to focus together on this sacred earth.

Here in the silence we acknowledged the grief and the questions provoked by ongoing drought and the recent fires.  Here we shared with others, friends and strangers, what touches us in nature and offered our heartfelt thanks to the Source of all in word and song.  Here we also shared our concerns for the earth and the longings of our hearts for its better care, together we offered these in prayers.

This was sacred time: diverse people relating with respect and dignity, sharing hearts bursts with one another and the Divine.

And all the while, a little toddler played with the bowl of water in the centre of the circle.  Oblivious to the notion that this might not be on, she washed river pebbles and drank from the water.  This was beautiful.  For me, this was a fabulous image and reminder of how Jesus calls us to be.  Jesus says in the bible that if we want to ‘get it’ we need to become like a little child.  I don’t think this is a call to be naive, or ‘childish’, but instead to get free from our fears of ‘what others might think of us’.  It is an invitation into trusting and resting in God’s energy, and in the midst of it all letting ourselves dare to play- to enjoy this sacred gift of life.

Mature Christian faith has a great deal to say about this beautiful earth.  Beyond simply accepting or rejecting literalist interpretations of the Bible, there is a profoundness in this ancient text and tradition that points to some essentials.  Here we find the affirmation that the earth is good and blessed, that we are called to radical non-violence, and in this context, humanity has unique responsibility to work for the earth’s care.

And in all of this, like the little toddler in our midst, we are invited to savour this sacred earth with joyful abandon.

Thank you to all who made Prayers in the Paddock such a gift.

Blessings on your journey,
Rev. Sal Douglas