This week has been an enjoyable one, there has been plenty of social interaction which I guess is a different thing for me…
On Monday afternoon I headed into the city with Heather and Cherinne to attend the Synod of the Sydney Diocese, especially for the collation of Kara Gilbert. Once we got into the city, we went in search of some food, ending up in the Pitt St Mall food court for some end of day bargains. After finishing our meals, we were kicked out by security because they wanted to close the court, so we wandered up the street to Gloria Jeans for some coffee and sweets, running into several of the girls from church who were there for the collation as well.
When the time came for the collation, we headed into the Wesley Centre to join those in synod for the service. It was a pretty interesting experience. The room was full of clergy and their elected synod members. The collation itself was great; Peter Jensen asked Kara a bunch of questions, and then prayed for her, with the laying on of hands. Then Rick Smith took to the podium to give a sermon from 2 Timothy. Post service, there were some congratulations given, followed by a small catch up with various people from various Christian circles, followed by a trip home with Wendy Moran.
Wednesday evening Geoff came around for catch up and some Diablo 3. We had a tasty steak with chips and gravy for dinner as well.
Friday afternoon touch was good fun. It was a smaller turn out this week, most likely because of the rain that fell during the day, but the oval coped well. I managed to score a hat-trick again!! At SALT we had a guy called Matt Teakle from Anglicare come along and speak to us about doing stuff socially, how we should be acting in our local community where we can establish relationships, rather than going out to a different area and then coming back to your local area. Matt also had a great illustration how we (the church) should be amphitheatres; a place to attract the local community to congregate, and hear messages.
Yesterday I headed into Newtown for lunch with the banter crew from Mission Minded 12. Originally we were planning for a reunion for some time down the track, maybe in December, but then as the discussion went on, the date grew closer and closer, until yesterday. So the people in attendance were: Lauren, Bec, Neil, Phil (who was phenomenally late, but he told us a story, so it was alright…), Tamara, and Nick. We had a great value meal at Newtown Thai II which was pretty tasty as well, followed by some random and aimless wandering. It was good to catch up and continue on our bantering, and there was only a couple of awkward silences… Post lunch, I headed out to the park in Newtown to kill some time whilst waiting for Jazz in the Graveyard at St Stephen’s Newtown by doing some writing. It was good to sit in the sun and just type out some stuff, as well as observe the unique culture in the newtownian park. Jazz in the Graveyard was pretty cool, and quite relevant to the stuff Matt was saying at SALT. I ran into a few people I knew, but I think that most of them didn’t recognise me with my blonde hair, so that was quite funny with the whole very very general questions conversations. I managed to take a bunch of photos which will come sooner or later. Last engagement of the day was at the Redoak for some 21st celebrations for Jack Day. It was a quaint gathering with the classic separation of guys and girls across 2 tables. I got to talking to Susannah at the bar, and during this conversation, there were a couple of American guys that wandered over to the girls table asking to buy them a round of drinks. They declined the first offer, but the second guy was quite insistent, and so they flicked him over to buy a round for the guys table, because it was Jack’s birthday. We think it was a bet, and so this guy did end up buying them all a beer before quickly vanishing with all his mates.
This morning in my one to one with Nic we read through Romans 6. It was a great encouragement and rebuke. We thought about our slavery (and freedom), gifts, and life & death. At graceat6 tonight, we started a new series on 1 Thessalonians with a read through of the whole book, and then a quick overview by Mike. Post church, I headed to the 20th birthday celebrations for Monique. There was great company, food and cake!!
