Archive for the 'Highlands Cluster' Category

Words in Winter

Published on August 8, 2010 in Events, Featured, Highlands Cluster and Trentham. Closed

The Sacred within the Ordinary

I wonder what your general life view is?  The way in which we view life has a tremendous impact on how we actually experience it.  If we come to the conclusion that life is boring then there is every chance that this is how it will be.

In a world in which chasing the dollar and accumulating more stuff are often held up as the right lens in which to see reality Celtic Spirituality offers rich insights about another way of seeing the world.

From Celtic perspective all of the earth is seen as good and permeated with the presence of the Divine.  Seeing life through this lens changes things.

Rather than this ancient world-view being primitive, this perspective can awaken our souls to the authentic beauty of the earth, one another and ourselves.

As part of ‘Words in Winter’ there will be an opportunity to explore this Celtic way.

Esteemed photographers Kate Baker and David Roberts will be exhibiting their work and speaking about it.  Renowned singer Maria Forde will delight with Celtic song and I will share some insights about this Celtic perspective.

Through music, poetry and visual art you are invited to join us in dipping into this ancient way.

For those inspired, there will be an opportunity to be part of a future photographic project by Kate and David exploring personal sacred space.

Blessings on your journey,

Rev Sally Douglas

Words in Winter
Red Beard Bakery
Saturday 21st August
4:00pm-5:00pm
No need to book
Gold Coin Donation
Everyone is invited

MINGLING AT THE MITCHELL BEGINS

Published on March 15, 2010 in Daylesford, Events, Featured, Highlands Cluster and Uncategorized. Closed

The Daylesford Uniting Church has been involved in a deep discerning process over many months about what it is being called to do and be as a church by the Divine.

Through sharing in hopes and dreams, in speaking honestly about failings in the past and our strengths, in sharing over meals, in silence, in brainstorming and in prayer and in ongoing discussion, the congregation has now adopted its vision

Embracing Difference - Sharing the Hospitality of Jesus

This vision will be lived out in many ways, but one of the first was launched last Friday with ‘Mingle at the Mitchell’.

Each Friday morning between 10:00am and 11:30am, members of the congregation are creating a ‘cafe space’ at the little hall at church.  Here there is good fair trade coffee and tea all for only a gold coin donation. 

Magazines and newspapers are available to flick through, music is in the background and here is the opportunity to get to know other locals - to meet others and maybe even make new friends. This aims to be a non threatening space in which all are welcome.

Last Friday’s ‘Mingle at the Mitchell’ was full of laughter and the sharing of hospitality.  It was great to be part of. All are very welcome to pop by… come for as long or as little as you like.

Mitchell Hall, 56 Central Springs Road, Daylesford.

Rev. Sally Douglas

Prayers in the Paddock is Coming…

Published on July 27, 2009 in Highlands Cluster and Little Hampton. Closed

Many people who would describe themselves as spiritual would be very wary of entering a church or attending a worship service.  This is the result of many things, including the reality that for lots of people their experience of the church has been a negative one.

The tricky fall out from this is that it can be difficult to find avenues to creatively explore spirituality in an authentic way with others.

Not too far from Daylesford, on Saturday 12th September, there will be space in the paddock at Little Hampton for people to come together in a non threatening way, to focus on care of the earth and to express their spirituality.

Amidst the busyness of our lives on this day there will be the opportunity to be still, to commune with the Divine, and together celebrate the earth’s beauty, lament its suffering and share concerns for its future care.

All are welcome to be part of any or all of this day, whether you are part of a faith community, or whether you would never normally go to church.

Stay tuned for more information, or if you can’t wait, contact the Highlands Cluster Uniting Church on 03 5348 2119

Rev. Sally Douglas

A dirty word starting with G

Published on June 5, 2009 in Highlands Cluster and Uncategorized. Closed

A reflection after the premature arrival of Zach and Jemimah

I recently heard a moving interview with Caroline Jones, host of Australian Story on ABC1.  In the interview she tenderly spoke of the decline and death of her elderly father and the ensuing grief that engulfed her.

Whilst issues of depression are now making it into the headlines, our contemporary culture still shies away from talk of death and the dirty word grief.  Indeed in the same way that issues of sexuality used to be ‘taboo’ I think death and grief have become new ‘taboo’ topics.

As so many Victorians continue to struggle to make sense of life after the shocking devastation of the bushfires in February, their process of grieving has been made all the more difficult because the reality of suffering is so often avoided in our society.

Grief is different from depression, as Caroline wisely pointed out in her interview.  Grief is not something that a prescription can fix, or a 10 point plan can alleviate.  There are certainly things that can help the grieving process.  Talking about it can help, exercise can be beneficial, weeping is good, journaling can be very important, prayer can be sustaining, worship can nourish and having a break from the grief by doing distracting enjoyable activities with friends can also be invaluable.

However, ultimately grief yearns to be lived through.  Grieving takes time and energy. Grief is exhausting.  When we experience difficult times of suffering and loss we choose how we will react.  We can bury our heads in the sand and pretend that things are ok perhaps by becoming super busy.  We can fall for the lie that we should ‘get over it’, keeping our feelings firmly locked down, feeling guilty that we are not ‘better’.  Or like Caroline Jones we can enter the grief and let it slowly and painfully uncoil and flow through us.

In the interview Caroline went on to say “I don’t think you ever get over grief, you are changed by it forever.”  I agree with this and how we will be changed will be deeply influenced by how we choose to respond to the grief in the first place.  When we choose to go the hard way; when we face the inevitable questions, fears, uncertainties and sadness that grief throw up, we have a rare opportunity to reflect deeply on what is at the core of things.  When we let ourselves really be confronted with death and suffering we have the possibility of seeing what really is important in life.

By facing the hard reality of suffering and dying our living can be deeply enriched.  God is in this.  Not the ‘fix it’ God - but God who enters right into our living and suffering and dying in Jesus and who through the Spirit will not abandon us in our dark valleys.  If we have the courage to sit with our darkest grief and allow the Holy One to sit with us in this hard place, here from this place new energy, gentle strength and profound wisdom can rise.

Rev. Sally Douglas

Looking After New Life

Published on January 1, 2009 in Highlands Cluster. Closed

Reverend Sally Douglas is on maternity leave as of 1 January 2009, caring for Zach and Jemimah.

For enquiries regarding the life of the Highlands Cluster, please contact Jim Blain, Highlands Cluster Secretary on 5348 3365 or supply Minister, Reverend David Fitzgerald on 0419 576 538.

Blessings on you all,

Sally.

Christmas in the Highlands

Published on December 23, 2008 in Ballan, Daylesford, Highlands Cluster and Trentham. Closed

Christmas Worship Times:

Daylesford: 9.00am
Ballan: 10.30am
Trentham: 9.00am

Come and celebrate with us. All are welcome.

How Very Strange

Published on June 21, 2008 in Highlands Cluster. Closed

At the heart of Christian faith is the belief that Jesus is not just your ordinary guy. It is not just that Christians believe that Jesus is a good teacher, or prophet.  Instead, Christian belief is that in Jesus there is something more going on.  For Christians, it is not just that Jesus reaches some higher level of enlightenment because of his closeness to the Divine.

Something stranger and more profound is claimed by Christians.

The Christian conviction is that somehow, in holy mystery, the Divine actually comes to us in Jesus.  In a unique way.  The Celtic Iona Community sometimes refer to this mystery by calling Jesus the Holy Human One.  The Wisdom of God and the Word of God are other ancient ways of pointing to this delightful mystery.  The author of Matthew favours the term Emmanuel, which means ‘God with us’. The much neglected Nicene Creed, dating from the 300’s, states poetically that Jesus is: ‘God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God’.

Profound, strange words that change things.

Think for a second; those stories of Jesus reaching out to those living on the underbelly of society are no longer simply nice moral tales that encourage us to be kind to the ‘needy’. Instead, they expose the nature of the Divine.

When Jesus talks theology with women, who were deemed unworthy and second rate, not only does Jesus point to living in a way of radical inclusion; Jesus tells us that this is what God is like.

That God is about abundant welcome and extravagant love.

And if you think a little further into the story, the profoundness can be unsettling.Â\  For Christians there is always the issue of the cross; the barbarous murder of the one at the centre of this faith.  In light of the cross, it must be asked - can it really be that God comes to us in Jesus?  That here we taste something of the Divine?  If this is so, we see what happens when we push the Divine to the limits, throwing all the violence, jealousy, doubt and abuse at God that we can muster.  How does the Holy One respond? In non violence, in mercy, in forgiveness.

For Christians, the cross is not the end of the story.  However it is a part of the story that cannot be skipped over without missing the greatest icon of God’s very being.

Here we see God who would rather appear to lose than to retaliate, God who would rather absorb our violence than inflict it, God who would rather pour out forgiveness than punishment.  And I think, in our deepest selves, we long for such a God.  This corresponds with something deep, ancient and true within us.

However, this cross at the heart of Christianity is not simply to be academically accepted or rejected.  It is to be engaged and wrestled with, tested and chewed in body, mind and soul, because it actually changes lives from the inside out.

If you would like to explore this mystery with us in the Highlands, wherever you are at with Christian faith, you are very welcome to join us.

Rev. Sally Douglas

Yearning for authenticity

Published on April 26, 2008 in Blackwood, Daylesford, Featured, Highlands Cluster and Uncategorized. Closed

In the quest for technological answers in the West: the quickest, the fastest, the most… it seems that we have lost something along the way and many of us ache for that elusive something more. We yearn for connection with that something which is deeper, wider, more ancient than ourselves. Yet the question is how to find it.

It may come as no surprise that as a Christian community we hold the faith that this something more has to do with God. However, the distance between knowing this at a level of intellectual conviction and experiencing this at a deeper level of being can be quite enormous.

Richard Rohr, a contemplative priest with a heart for justice, writes about this difficult distance and offers awakening insight. Rohr states:

“We cannot attain the presence of God because we’re already totally in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness. Little do we realise that God is maintaining us in existence with every breath we take. As we take another it means that God is choosing us now and now and now. We have nothing to attain or even learn. We do, however, need to unlearn some things.” Richard Rohr Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer, p. 29.

In this quest for something more I think we all need to unlearn some things about the nature of God, ourselves and reality.Across the Highlands Cluster Uniting Church through a variety of ways we are seeking to create space to seriously engage with this unlearning together in:Meditation at BlackwoodContemplation at DaylesfordCluster Faith Exploration GroupsCluster Prayer Exploration Group Regular Sunday Worship across the ClusterIf you would like to find out more about getting involved in any of these things please call the Highlands Cluster Uniting Church Office tel: 5348 2119.Blessings on your quest for the authentic,Rev. Sally Douglas

What is Christian Spirituality?

Published on March 27, 2008 in Ballan, Blackwood, Bullarto, Daylesford, Events, Highlands Cluster, Little Hampton and Trentham. Closed

On Sunday March 30th the Highlands Cluster will be exploring a question which touches to the core of our being; what is Spirituality, and in particular, what is Christian Spirituality?

With Rev Joan Wright Howie, the Spiritual Formation Advisor for the Centre of Theology and Ministry, we will be exploring this question together in worship and in an afternoon workshop. If you would like to explore these issues in a non threatening space please join us.

10:30am Cluster Worship at Daylesford Uniting Church
In which we will commission our new elders - the vision keepers.

This service will be followed by a shared lunch.

1:00pm-3:00pm Spirituality Workshop at Daylesford Uniting Church

You are welcome to join us for as much or as little of this day as you would like to.

Enquiries, please call Rev Sally Douglas tel: 5348 2119

Welcome to Holy Week

Published on March 17, 2008 in Ballan, Daylesford, Events, Highlands Cluster, Little Hampton, Trentham and Uncategorized. Closed

Within the Christian tradition this week, as we journey to Good Friday and Easter, is the hub which everything else revolves around.

You are invited to come and explore this mystery with us.

What happens at Easter? Faith discovers us….

Worship times across the Highlands Cluster Uniting Church:

Maundy Thursday (March 20)
Discovering ourselves in Jesus’ journey

6:00pm Trentham Uniting Church; shared meal
7:00pm Daylesford Uniting Church; foot washing

Good Friday (March 21st)
Discovering the Divine in the darkness

9:00am Trentham Uniting Church
9:15am Daylesford Uniting Church
11:15am Ballan Uniting Church

Easter Sunday (March 23)
Discovering hope which sustains

8:00am Little Hampton Uniting Church Breakfast celebration
9:15am Daylesford Uniting Church
11:15am Ballan Uniting Church

For more information and for regular worship and meditation times contact
Rev. Sally Douglas 03 5348 2119

All very welcome