Snapshot of Melbourne

Yesterday afternoon I was on my back to the NCYC09 office from the Synod office in the CBD of Melbourne. It's just a quick tram ride up Swanston St and yesterday I managed to hop on a tram just before the peak hour crowds appeared.

I was sitting on this tram and lamented my recently departed iPod when I began to pay attention to my fellow travelers.

Sitting diagonally opposite me was a man on his mobile. I think this man was India and the conversation he was having was in what I presume was Hindi. Behind me was an Irish man talking with people he obviously knew but not very well, about his Welsh friends. We also passed Chinatown and were traveling along parallel to the Italian restaurants in Lygon St.

As I was sitting in the middle of all of this, it occurred to that this what a great snapshot of what Melbourne can offer to NCYC's 'Converge' theme.

There are heaps of things to do around Melbourne that demonstrate some of the cultural variety that, living here, I often take for granted. A quick poll around the office and the responses about things that showed an assortment of culture/s in Melbourne included:

• the museum (I've been to an exhibition about Aboriginal history that was fascinating)
• the MCG (AFL being a culture unto itself!)
• walking along Lygon St and checking out all the restaurants offering different cuisine
• the immigration museum
• dinner in Chinatown
• shopping on Chapel street or Bridge Road (may
• and one of my favourites, Brunswick St (especially Trampoline ice-cream!

During NCYC itself, we will be experiencing some of Melbourne during the Submersion day. What you see depends on your submersion but we will also be gathering at a public space around Melbourne for the Public Rally that evening.

There's so much to do and many websites to check out for ideas. If you've got the chance, take some time before or after NCYC to see the sights and experience some of these varied things and get a snapshot of Melbourne's cultures.

God moments

Mick sent me a joke this morning which I quite enjoyed and got me thinking. (Yes, a rare thing for a Friday!)

A couple had two little boys, ages 8 and 10, who were excessively mischievous. They were always getting into trouble and their parents knew that, if any mischief occurred in their town, their sons were probably involved.

They boys' mother heard that a clergyman in town had been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The clergyman agreed, but asked to see them individually. So the mother sent her 8-year-old first, in the morning, with the older boy to see the clergyman in the afternoon.

The clergyman, a huge man with a booming voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him sternly, "Where is God?”

They boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no response, sitting there with his mouth hanging open, wide-eyed. So the clergyman repeated the question in an even sterner tone, "Where is God!!?" Again the boy made no attempt to answer. So the clergyman raised his voice even more and shook his finger in the boy's face and bellowed, "WHERE IS GOD!?"

The boy screamed and bolted from the room, ran directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him. When his older brother found him in the closet, he asked, "What happened?"

The youngest brother gasped for breath and replied, "We are in BIG trouble this time dude. God is missing and they think WE did it!"

So that got me thinking about where God is in NCYC09. Yes I hope he or she is there in the Worships, Whole Convention Gatherings, Public Rally, Bible Studies, Electives, Community times, Submersions, Small Group time etc. In fact I think that God will be in those things and we'll see this if we make the time and space for her/him. But for me the more exciting possibilities are dinner times, lunches, friendships, jokes, bus transfers. The unexpected God moments.

I've often felt my 'God moments' during conversations with the people I meet an NCYCs. Sometimes these are conversations with people who I don't ever see again, but they're still precious moments.

So I wonder where others have had these God moments?

Remember your pride

As was recently pointed out to me, I quite like a musical and a soundtrack. So recently I was listening to The Lion King in my car. (The stage musical, not the Disney movie.) One of the songs is called Shadowlands. It is sung by Nala as she is leaving the Pridelands to search for food.

And where this journey may lead you
Let this prayer be your guide
Though it may take you so far away
Always remember your pride

For me this echoes what we will be doing in January as we converge together. We're not sure where the journey will lead us, but we will be guided by prayer. We could be going to far away places (literally as well as figuratively) but part of what makes this journey so cool is that we don't forget where we came from.

"Always remember your pride" says to me that we should remember where we come from and who we come from because these things shape us and help to make us who we are. We bring all that to whatever it is that we do and therefore we bring that to NCYC09 for other people to see, experience and to learn from us as well as us learning from them and their 'pride'. And of course what would it be if I didn't mention that to be able to have these new experiences with people from many different 'prides' all you need to do is register! http://ncyc.org.au/registration/

In the next week some of us will have a small taste of what it's like to converge at the NCYC09 Live Recording. Held on the 28th of June at Glen Waverley Uniting Church, this is going to be an awesome taste of the songs and what it's like to come together as a group for NCYC09. (Of course as there will be many more people at convention from across the country and world, the live recording will only be a small [but fantastic] taste.) So grab a group and come along ready to sing your hearts out and maybe appear on the NCYC09 Live Recording DVD!

About bringing some friends along. Think about those who are thinking about NCYC but haven't registered yet, those who are sure they can't come (we'll change their minds) and those of you who know how fantastic convention is going to be and just can't wait until January 3rd!

We'll also be having a live video cross to the a group without who there would be no 'Tastoria' or 'Vicmania'... Tassie! So don't miss out on your sneak peak of what NCYC09 will be like.

On the first day of Lent ...

As today is the first day of Lent I've decided to 'take up' something for the next 40 days. Usually I give up something (generally chocolate and something else) but this year I've committed to writing in my journal each day over lent. This decision to 'start' instead of 'end' is partially because I haven't thought of anything to give up! Actually it's about focusing on developing new habits rather than the bad habits.

Journalling and blogging has been a habit I've fallen out of recently and I regret that. For me thinking things through and 'writing it out' is very helpful for me to understand myself, my experience and my reactions.

There might be many posts here or I might end up writing things straight in to the my journalling book - depending on whether I or not I feel the need to 'own' what I write for anyone to see!

Our evening service this Sunday night is asking people to give or take something up for Lent. I wonder if anyone else decides to make the most of the opportunity and how they go.

One day down ... 39 (plus Sundays) to go.

The other side of the door

I've never been afraid to admit that I'm a Christian. Okay maybe 'never' is too big a statement but to my recollection I haven't been worried or embarrassed to admit that 'I go to church' or I believe all this 'God stuff'. Particularly recently. When people ask you what you do telling them that you work for a church or are studying a Bachelor and Arts/Bachelor of Theology... well it kinda gives it away. So it was really challenging for me to experience that kind of embarrassment during my Mission Immersion during NCYC.

Mission Immersions were a time for us to experience what mission opportunities there are. It was a look at a practical way to become an 'agent of change'. (The theme of NCYC '07.) So on the Friday of convention two or three small groups were joined together and we headed out around Perth for our Mission Immersion experience.

Activities varied. Some groups heard about refugees, learnt about the Micah Challenge, visited a women's prison, visited nursing homes or hospitals. My group hopped on a bus and after a half and hour hot and stuffy bus ride arrived at a community centre in the Perth suburbs.

We walked in and sat down (in the sun!) for our 'briefing'. I use the term lightly because it soon became apparent that although NCYC hadn't told us what we would be doing the Community Centre expected that we knew what they were talking about. We figured out that our task was to door knock.

My initial reaction to the was "No way! I am not knocking on random house doors and asking 'Do you know Jesus'?" I am not comfortable with that at all. To me that confrontational approach isn't the best way to invite people into a relationship with God/Jesus. (This is my blog, that's my opinion, you have the right to disagree!) This was complicated by the fact that I was a Community Leader and CLs had been told that we would have some leadership role during MIs. So I was facing doing something that I was totally uncomfortable with but having to lead by example if nothing else and encourage other to participate or talk to the Chaplain if they were confused.

Luckily it turned out while we were being asked to door knock, we were to ask people about the needs of the community so that the community centre could try to provide for those needs. Although I was still uncomfortable with the door knocking I felt a lot more comfortable asking those kind of questions.

We all headed out in our groups with a representative from the centre to accompany us. We were armed with sheets to fill in the answer to the questions, fliers to put in letter boxes of the people who weren't home and a spiel to explain who we were, what we were doing and more importantly a little about the community centre.

We were door knocking for about 2-3 hours and the reactions we got were pretty negative. There were some really nice people in the mix but it turns out that this community has people from churches and religious institutions at their doors up to twice a week. You can understand that some people weren't too patient with us! There was one particular person - a lady I think, who shut the door on us very decidedly when we got to the part of the spiel about belonging to a community centre that was being run by the Uniting Church. Similar things happened at many houses.

I can absolutely understand their reaction. Like anyone I'm usually on the receiving end of the 'great special', 'new idea', 'opportunity of a lifetime' when someone comes to the door with information. So it was really challenging to be in that 'pushy' position and not with a whole lot of choice on my side. What bothered me the most was that it was the 'church' bit that bothered people. I began to avoid saying that the church was run by the Uniting Church.

That reluctance to talk about the church really made me uncomfortable. It was quite a interesting situation for me. I'm still not sure what to do with this revelation. I think it was good for me to feel uncomfortable, hopefully I can understand a little more the people who do feel this reluctance. I guess if nothing else, that's a good thing to take from this experience.