Sorry for the long blog free silence...we've been on holiday in wet Wales for afew weeks and now we are at Rippon College, Cuddesdon, just outside Oxford. We are here for a week while I get my head round all I have learnt and experienced so far in this sabbatical. My supervisor Rev'd Dr Emma Percy lives here ( her husband Martyn is the college principal) so it is good to be able to meet with her and talk everything through. We have known Emma and Martyn since way back when they were both Curates at St Andrews in Bedford.
I began this sabbatical thinking I would reflect on the challenges that all age worship brings in parish ministry and had planned to think about liturgy, music, movement etc but the more I read the more I realise that those elements ( important as they are) are only pieces of a much lager jigsaw puzzle.   Aware of the tensions that can exist between older church members and young children during worship I have spent a lot of time thinking about the ministry of welcome and how best we can encourage ( I refuse to say 'grow') an intergenerational community where people of all ages know each other, feel that they belong and that they all can play an equal part....and are able to worship together.  We've already had some valuable examples of how some of our older church members can befriend young families  - I am hoping we can find ways of encouraging more of this.  Thanks to the parents at St Pips who have been helping me for their comments and suggestions - I think the adopt a grandparent idea is brilliant and the tea parties - I hope we can talk more about these and other ideas  when I get back to the parishes.  It's been interesting to visit other churches - in UK and in Australia to see how they approach all age worship - one thing these visits have confirmed is that there definitely isn't a magic formula!
So, I still have lots to ponder as I wander..............


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 Mist over the City of Melbourne: photo taken from Brighton Beach

 Today has been our last day in Australia and tomorrow we begin our long journey home. But, before that, we will have the 'fun' of packing and no doubt re-packing our suitcases to ensure that they each weigh no more than 20k.  It should help that I have already posted a package home containing various gifts we have been given (books and CDs etc).

We have wandered much in the last few days thanks to our generous hosts Alan and Lyn.  I have learnt much in the last 6 weeks including never to believe an Australian who tells me that wherever we are going is  ' just down the road' or that the weather is 'brightening up'- we have driven many many miles in much rain - but we have seen some great sights. After seeing so many fallen trees I can however see the merit of the advice 'never pitch your tent under a Gum Tree'.

We had our final experience of the Australian church this morning when we attended Lyn and Alan's Uniting Church - a partnership of  Methodist, Congregational and Presbyterian congregations. We received a very warm and public welcome and were able to watch their children's ministry in action, which was useful as the focus of  my sabbatical study is attitudes and approaches to all age worship.

This afternoon we were taken to Ramsey Street (that should make my daughter happy!) and to a local diary for one final afternoon tea with Alan & Lyn.

This trip has been an amazing experience both from a personal and professional point of view. From the moment we landed we have been welcomed, loved and cared for and the hospitality we have received from individuals and congregations has been second to none.  We both now have so much to think about and it's bound to take us some time to sift through everything we have experienced but here are some immediate thoughts.....

There is nothing like being away from your own parishes and their church families to make you realise why it is they are so very important to you!
 
There is nothing like walking into unfamiliar churches for the first time to make you wonder about how your own churches might feel to first time visitors...

There is nothing like leading worship in an unfamiliar church to make you think about the liturgy (words, music, silence, movement, style etc) in your home churches


There is nothing like experiencing unfamiliar musical styles, hymns, cantors, chants etc to make you appreciate the important part that music and musicians play in your home churches 

There is nothing like going to a PCC meeting at a church on the other side of the world to make you realise that  parish life is parish life wherever you are!

The other day at a service we sang the familiar hymn

'In Christ there is no east or west, in him no south or north' 

Yep, I can agree with that!

It has been a joy and a privilege to minister here just for a short while. When we get back to UK I'll continue to blog while we are on holiday and throughout the rest of my wanderings whilst on sabbatical leave.

Two rare events have occurred....
Yesterday I viewed the transit of Venus across the sun.......and today , for the first time, I met a female Bishop

It was a great privilege to meet + Barbara Darling, Bishop of the Eastern Region of the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne. + Barbara, who was consecrated 4 years ago, is one of three female Bishops in Australia - come on UK, let's catch up!

We spent the day in Melbourne - it is very like London, but with trams and Palm trees.

We had a super final service at St Oswalds. The liturgy was very purposely very similar to that which would be used at st Philips and St Cuthberts 8 hours later and it all ended with a rendition of  'For yours is the Kingdom' which would have been more than acceptable at St C's!  We were sorry to leave so many new friends.

Straight after the service we packed ourselves and our luggage into Alan & Lyn's car and set off on more wanderings.  This was to be a very long wander as we had approx 900km to travel to get to Melbourne. Throughout the journey we stopped at some great little cafes in small remote towns for meals and drinks.  The vastness of Australia is awesome - there are miles and miles of straight roads through miles and miles of remoteness with hardly any other traffic in sight.  I was glad we were in the company of expert travellers...and very glad I did not have to drive.  On the first day we made it as far as Mount Gambier before booking into a motel for the night.  This was yet another first for us  - but it was clean, cheap and comfortable and the room had a good TV so we watched some of the Jubilee celebrations. We ordered toast for breakfast and to save money ate cereal that we had brought with us out of a cup with a teaspoon  how 'Yorkshire' is that!
 As we set off early on Monday morning in awful weather and headed for Victoria it really looked like our drive along the Great Ocean Road would be a disappointment.  But far from it - it was amazing.

 
Although it was windy and at times slightly damp, the ocean and the scenery were breathtaking and we stopped at every possible view point ............until it got too dark to see.

We had considered making a second overnight stop but decided to keep going. We stopped at Geelong at a MacDonalds for supper (first McD's meal for many a year) and eventually arrived at Lyn and Alan's home at about 11pm on Monday night.

On Tuesday we were taken out and about to see the local area. The weather in Victoria (and other parts of Australia) had been extreme and as we found to our cost quite afew trees had been damaged.  Graham and Alan had to keep getting out of the car to clear the road and slow progress was made....

 but then...............

 
 ...the only warning we got of this was a small sign which said 'road hazard ahead'  -' road blocked' would have beenmuch  more useful! There was no way of moving it so we had to turn around and go back the way we had come.  It was still an incredible journey ( a bit too exciting for me!) and we saw Emus, Kangaroos. Lyrebirds and deer. We also stopped for a coffee in a lovely bakery at Marysville - a town which is being re-built after being 90% destroyed by the 2009 forest fires. 

Today ( Wednesday) I preached at a local ecumenical service and then we went to a Wild Life Park - I have far too many photos that I'd like to show you - but this one, of a Koala eating his lunch, is probably my favourite

We came home via at the White Rabbit Brewery in Healsville where a very happy Graham got to sample some wonderful real ale....tomorrow we are going to explore Melbourne.

Today's wanderings took us into the city to meet David and Deborah for a de-brief breakfast.

 It was good to see them and have the chance to talk through our experiences in the parish and also thank them for the use of their house and car. David is looking much better and is on the slow road to recovery. He won't be back at work for a while still. we hope it wont be too long before he and Deborah will be able to make their trip to Europe so that we can try to repay their hospitality. We visited the Botanical Gardens for a final time before getting the tram home - then we packed. 

This evening we have been to an Aussie Rules Footy match at the AAMI Stadium.

We were taken by Virginia and Peter so like the well behaved guests that we are we cheered (or baracked as they say here) for their team, Port Adelaide who thrashed Carlton ( from Melbourne) 99 - 45.  It was a game of 4 quarters rather than the usual 2 halves and at time confusing with ( I think) 36 players on the pitch plus 5 officials, 2 orange clad runners who are allowed on to pass on messages to players from the coach and various drink carriers who seem to have free access to the pitch. Also the 18 on the pitch from each side swap all the time with other squad members who are 'on the bench'.  When a goal is scored the Ref has to wait for the telly adverts to finish before he can re-start the game! It was good fun and ourlovely hosts were good at explaining everything and they brought a super picnic - another example of the amazing hospitality we have enjoyed here.

A final St Oswald's pic..this was story time on Pentecost Sunday.  Honestly it was me telling the story...I think I had just stopped to listen to this lovely young lady who is the image of our Amy.  I feel that this photo sums up how lovely it has been for me to minister here in Adelaide for the past month. Thanks everyone.

It's been good to have a non working day. We went out early to our favourite place - Glenelg. It had been a whole day since Graham had paddled and he was having withdrawal symptoms.  We had coffee,during which we had plenty of time to debate whether having to wait 30 minutes for a piece of toast is acceptable and then cheered ourselves with a 'convenient' piano recital (see previous blog) which today was 'What the world needs now love sweet love'. All very odd.

Then we got down to the serious matter of the morning - the paddling. We walked through the shallows towards Brighton then turned and waded all the way back.  We were stalked most of the way by a now familiar Willy Wagtail who gets more daring and comes closer each time we meet him. Our Liverpool friends will appreciate this photo of this famous bird in a familiar pose  - s/he seems to have wandered far from home.

It is the first day of winter today and noticeably cooler. The water was warm but there was rain in the air and a rather ghostly yellow smudge all along the horizon - the fishermen however didn't seem to be bothered by the approaching yellowness.

The long walk gave us time for an equally long conversation about things we have learnt from our time at St Oswalds.  We have much to ponder as we wander. 

After eating our butties (the Glenelg Liver Bird would approve of that term - we Crowders don't eat sandwiches) we headed home with our paddling mission accomplished for another day.  We got back in time to  chat with Rachel on facebook - it was very early in her morning but she was very excited because it was Jubilee day at school. She was going to school dressed in red white and blue and looking forward to the 'Prom in the Playground'.  It's strange missing all the Jubilee celebrations - its hardly been mentioned here except for a few news reports.  I've enjoyed seeing video clips of last Saturday's Jubilee concert at St Philips  - it looks like it was a great night out.

Later we had a walk through the Parklands to the Japanese Peace Garden and then a quick drink before coming home to cook some Butterfish for tea.  Lyn and Alan have now arrived from Melbourne ready to supervise our next lot of wanderings.  I can not believe that our time in the parish here is almost at an end. We have been warmly and generously welcomed,  made loads of new friends and learnt so much. This Sunday ( Trinity Sunday) I will preside at St Oswalds for the last time and Graham will preach (clever that eh? I'm not preaching on Trinity Sunday) The service will include some of the liturgy that will also be used at St Philips and St Cuthberts that same day. We will also be singing the  'Ashgrove' Gloria and ending with 'For yours is the Kingdom' -  so even though St O's will be eight hours ahead the three parishes will effectively be worshipping together. 

It's been a good day - cheers me dears!

Graham and I have been wandering separately this week.

I have been in the Barossa Region for the past 3 days at the Adelaide Clergy Conference. It was certainly worth the trip.  It was interesting to listen to the Australian church debating 'Pioneer' and 'Fresh Expression ministries and I got a lot from the sessions - lots of ideas to ponder over. Archbishop Jeffrey was very welcoming and it was good to meet lots of Aussie clergy - mind you at least 5 of them were exiled 'Poms'. The Ministry discussions were led by Graham Cray, a Bishop from England who is our own Archbishops Missioner.  The provision of excellent local wine on the tables at dinner gave this conference the definite edge over Wakefield's equivalent!

Meanwhile Graham has been out and about with members of St O's.   Having seen his photos I am envious of his days out!

He has been south to Goolwa  (where he met the Pelly triplets) and to visit remote old copper mines at Burra in the mid-north of South Australia.

This is a Red River Gum Aboriginal Canoe tree  - you can see the scar from where many years ago  bark was stripped away to make a canoe.

On a much less cultural note we have, whilst wandering, come across some rather up market loos! First a very polite American voice tells you that you have 10 minutes max before the door will open..and then you are serenaded by piano music...I think the last one was 'you are the sunshine of my life'.. you have to wonder how they chose the tunes....?

It is getting cooler here - well it is the equivalent of  our November.  The palm trees next to the church are looking spectacular. We have two full days left in Adelaide. Tomorrow we hope the weather will be good enough for us to have a last day at the seaside and on Saturday we are going to an Aussie Rules footie match - then on Sunday Lyn and Alan Bromage (whom we first met at Elstow in 2001) will come to our final service and take us off on the next part of our wanderings. We will be heading for their home at Lillydale, a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria.  We will be travelling along  the Great Ocean Road which everyone tells us is amazing.