Bishop John

What a fantastic Labour Day!
We fulfilled the one clear aim of my long service leave – we visited the Village of Lower Crackpot at the Promised Land, Tasmazia.
We met with Brian and Laura Inder, Laird and Lady Crackpot, and Bob McKay, Rector of Lower Crackpot, and his wife Jan. We toured the Village of Lower Crackpot, wandered a maze, over indulged on pancake and experienced the vision, hard work and perseverance of an outstanding and passionate couple.
I declare an interest: I am a member of Clan Crackpot, I wore my Crackpot tartan tie for the day, and am also the Bishop of Lower Crackpot. The Village Motto is ‘Fractis Sed Utilis’, which translates, ‘broken but still useful’, which a cracked pot is.
– ‘broken but still useful’ Yeh! You’ve got to love it! http://www.tasmazia.com.au/home.html

Village, http://www.tasmazia.com.au/village.html

More about this marvellous part of Tasmania by Laird Brian Inder (Editor) at, Cradle Mountain Visitor Gazette.

Update: Fantastic news: Tasmazia in Top Ten Family attractions.  Wow!

Teach the faith.

“Churches – How to Read Them” is a BBC DVD on how to teach the Christian faith using the architecture of a church.

The layout of a church building including its furnishings, windows and special areas, are not there by accident; they have been deliberately built. What story does each aspect tell?

Our Diocesan Director of Ministry: “I saw the series a couple of years ago. It was excellent.” 

This is a fascinating series of six, half-hour BBC programmes which examine the imagery, symbols and architecture of English parish churches. The presenter, Richard Taylor, talks with genuine enthusiasm in a chatty way, as he visits dozens of beautiful, ancient and interesting religious buildings from across the UK. Each episode uncovers dozens of little gems, as well as explaining an awful lot about how Christianity is intertwined with traditional British culture.
At first, churches were originally simple buildings of mediaeval times, intended to protect the altar and carried over many symbols and carvings from the pagan era. Then humorous wall paintings and intricate carvings were used to teach moral lessons, while stunning architectural angels and similar devices gave the impression of what we might find in heaven. The series reveals why fonts have such elaborate covers, rediscovers the ritual of `churching’ women, and explains why so many village pubs have very close links to their local church. It also investigates the obsession with death and suffering which some churches went through; looks at why crucifixes became popular, and uncovers the truth behind the cult of the Virgin Mary and the Reformation, and all the turbulent times that went with that upheaval.
It was also very interesting to learn of the different opinions when it comes to restoring old churches (repair? rebuild? replace?), and to see how different beliefs have shaped the buildings where people gather to worship.

This series was first mentioned to me by the Revd Michael Palmer who has developed a Thanksgiving – The Building Speaks which is a series of descriptions and responses acknowledging the different aspects of the parish church’s architecture.  

How might the architecture of your church building be used to teach the Christian faith that men and women and boys and girls might become disciples of Jesus Christ?

There is a pocket guide to the DVD, here,  and also the book, here.

From a brother,

  A prayer from Psalm 55: 9-11,
9 Lord, confuse the wicked, confound their words,
for I see violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they prowl about on its walls;
malice and abuse are within it.
…11 Destructive forces are at work in the city;
threats and lies never leave its streets.

See, After sectarian clashes, Manshiyet Nasser left in ruins.  Also, Muslims, Christians clash.

Australia’s poets remind us of the reality of living in this often harsh, uncompromising and unforgiving land of Australia. We live with extremes of weather.

My Country, written in 1908 by Dorothea MacKellar, places squarely before us the reality of both ‘drought and flooding rains’:

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of drought and flooding rains. ¹

How do we cope with the stark reality of these extremes of weather?

Said Hanrahan by John O’Brien is one of my favourite poems:

‘We’ll all be rooned,’ said Hanrahan,
In accents most forlorn,
Outside the church, ere Mass began,
One frosty Sunday morn.

While Hanrahan’s sentiment resonates in moments of melancholy and foreboding hardship, it more fundamentally resonates with my experience of living in this land of Australia.

This experience is clothed with pessimism, yet paradoxically it is undergirded by an optimism expressed in a wry, dry humour. Here’s a couple more verses but I’d recommend that you take time to read it all. ²

And so around the chorus ran
‘It’s keepin’ dry, no doubt.’
‘We’ll all be rooned,’ said Hanrahan,
‘Before the year is out.’

And every creek a banker ran,
And dams filled overtop;
‘We’ll all be rooned,’ said Hanrahan,
‘If this rain doesn’t stop.’

‘There’ll be bush-fires for sure, me man,
‘There will, without a doubt;
We’ll all be rooned,’ said Hanrahan,
‘Before the year is out.’

And the Christ-follower is called to be here, in this land of harshness and need. This Christ-challenge is unflinchingly presented by Henry Lawson in The Christ of the Never. ³

With eyes that are narrowed to pierce
To the awful horizons of land,
Through the blaze of hot days,
and the fierce
White heat-waves that flow on
the sand;
Through the Never Land westward and nor’ward,
Bronzed, bearded, and gaunt
on the track,
Low-voiced and hard-knuckled,
rides forward
The Christ of the Outer Out-back.

Christ-followers in Colossae are called to be, ‘in Christ, in Colossae’ (the Apostle Paul’s challenge, Colossians 1:2);

Christ-followers in the Outer Out-back of Australia are called to be ‘The Christ of the Outer Out-back’; the ‘Christ of the Never’.

Christ-followers wherever they be in Australia are called to be ‘in Christ, in Australia’.

Now there’s a challenge, a Christ-challenge, no matter the weather!

With thanks to our poets and remember to financially support and pray for the victims of the recent Australian floods and cyclone and the Christchurch NZ earthquake. Go to the website for more details. 

 1. My Country
2. Said Hanrahan
3. The Christ of the Never

Written for the Tasmanian Anglican magazine, February 2011.

Issued for the 2 minute silence 12.51 pm NZ, 1 March,  Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia:

PRAYER AFTER AN EARTHQUAKE

As the things we have built crumble about us,
we know too well how small we truly are
on this ever-changing, ever-moving, fragile planet we call home.
Yet you never forget us.

Oh God, come to our assistance.

Today, so many people are afraid.
They wait in fear of the next tremor.
They hear the cries of the injured amid the rubble.
They roam the streets in shock at what they see.
And they fill the dusty air with wails of grief and the names of missing dead.

Comfort them, Oh God, in this disaster.
Be their rock when the earth refuses to stand still,
and shelter them under your wings when homes no longer exist.

Embrace in your arms those who died so suddenly in this tragedy.
Console the hearts of those who mourn,
and ease the pain of bodies on the brink of death.

Fill our hearts with compassion,
we who watch from afar,
as the poorest on this side of the earth
find only misery upon misery.
Move us to act swiftly this day,
to give generously every day, to work for justice always,
and to pray unceasingly for those without hope.

And once the shaking has ceased,
the images of destruction have stopped filling the news,
and our thoughts return to life’s daily rumblings,
let us not forget that we are all your children
and they, our brothers and sisters.
We are all the work of your hands.

For though the mountains leave their place
and the hills be tossed to the ground, your love shall never leave us,
and your promise of peace will never be shaken.

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
Blessed be the name of the Lord, now and forever.  Amen

Author unknown

See, Pray for Christchurch.