We have started working on Easter services, which i’ll be doing in the women’s prison this year – Good Friday and Easter Sunday services, along with an Easter Saturday vigil. The usual challenges apply – no props, limited music, fitting things in around musters and lock-ups… along with the fact that finding an easter theology…
i’ve talked here before about the liturgies / worship resources that i’m working on with prison chaplains, based around Mark’s gospel [the lectionary gospel for this year]. The big learning so far is that it takes much, much longer to do this than we imagine, and we should have started last year to do next…
The Commission for Mission’s mission development forums are beginning again in a couple of weeks. The theme of the forums this year is restorative justice, exploring how it plays out in a number of different parts of the church’s mission. I’m speaking at the first one to give an overview of the principles and theology…
I’m reading [and re-reading!] Bernard Schlink’s Guilt about the past at the moment. It’s seriously good. If you’ve read or seen The Reader, this is an exploration of the theoretical underpinnings to the novel. He writes about the intricacies of forgiveness, reconciliation and justice within the context of the Holocaust. The following quote has been…
I’m leading a commissioning service next week for the metropolitan prison chaplains here in Melbourne – it’s a multi-faith group. I’m not a fan of multi-faith services – not because I don’t believe in the principles of multi-faith, but because they often seem to dilute that which is most true, most important to each religion…
I’m working on resources for prison worship this week, and we’re focussing on Mark’s gospel. These are a few things that are shaping my thinking… It all depends on what we let define the world: Where a protest against human suffering takes place through a revelation of the sacred, the elimination of that suffering is…
i’m back at work this week after a few days off. I’ve been in Kyneton today, a couple of hours out of Melbourne, doing some work with prison chaplains on our lectionary project. In the next few weeks we’re starting something new in the women’s prison – a process of story telling with the women.…
I’ve been working over this last week to get ready for NCYC, a national youth convention organised by the Uniting Church, and few other things happening in the women’s prison and in the basement during the next 6 weeks. We’re curating a sacred space for 1400 people next Wednesday evening at NCYC – an extraordinarily…
i can’t remember an advent quite this busy or complicated. It was partly self-induced, but other things ended up on my desk or in my calendar that were quite out of my control. Last night was the last of the things I have to ‘perform’ before Christmas Day. I was in Port Phillip Prison with…
We’ve been talking over the last few months about some options for sourcing accommodation for people leaving prisons. Housing is one of the top three factors that prevents recidivism, so it’s become one of our big policy areas. We’ve come up with ideas about prioritising ex-prisoners as tenants in manses, and a few other things.…
