for the Remand Centre this thursday : And now we lay down the palm branches. And with them we lay down our belief that there is another way for you to be God. As the last echo of the final alleluia fades, so does our hope that this journey can end in any other way.…
Ross and I went into Port Phillip as planned on christmas day… I took the printed orders of service complete with their carols, only to discover that the cd player that was going to accompany the singing was commandeered by the catholics who were leading a service in the mainstream chapel [which was fair, it’s…
The Justice Unit have just produced a new action sheet on issues surrounding Mental Health and Victorian Prisons. This is one of the most heartbreaking issues I’ve encountered in the prisons – every visit holds another story of the failures of different government departments that have led to people’s lives being devastated. And we have…
So we leave to go into the night time. Don’t put your faith in the breaking of day, although that will come, but let your faith be that peace can be found, even in darkness and that love can survive in the longest of nights… – the blessing from tonight’s midwinter service Tonight’s most surreal…
I had a meeting near Kinglake today. As i was driving up the hill they were saying on the radio that the bushfire cleanup had finally been completed. It was weird hearing that and driving past this… It was even weirder that just around that bend was the council sign saying ‘check your fire alarms…
I went back to Port Philip Prison last night to see the men in the Marlborough Unit. Ross, the chaplain, and I decided that we’d like to do some midwinter services, so last night we were planning to write some prayers and psalms with the men, which i’d then take away and use to design…
So we workshopped… it was a fascinating morning. I know less now than I did before. It confirmed for me that the way we work with hope – the language we use to invoke it, and the role we believe we play in offering it – is absolutely central to our understanding of faith. And…
I’m leading a workshop tomorrow for the metropolitan prison chaplains – an inter-faith group, consisting of Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim and Christian chaplains from the prisons / remand centres across the broad metropolitan area. We’re going to talk about the easter stuff we did at the DPFC, and about the connection between art and spirituality –…
Thanks to Fr Michael O’Brien for the use of the image ‘Jesus laid in the tomb’ I know I keep saying that being in the prison is surreal, but, you know, it really is. Last night when i left the prison I went to meet a friend for a drink, and when he asked what…
This is Sunday’s service [a rough draft, anyway]. In the centre of the worship space we’ll lay out black fabric / card and on the top of that place an image – maybe one like this – blown up to A2 size. The Christ candle, when lit, will be placed on the image. The worship…
