week in the l if e A Of

4pm: Meeting finishes so I get to look over the relevant lectionary in preparation for my turn on the Figtree Worship Resource roster. I start an idea for this and get caught up in it. It sits as a draft to clean up after it has fermented a bit.

6pm: I turn off the computer and put it all out of my head. I note that as an aspirational thought.

I wake a little early today so I beat the alarm and get up. I am on the Interchurch Council roster for the reflection for the newspaper so, after a meditation, I have time to finish it off. I get a short walk and I leave at 8.30am to join the team making sandwiches with donated bread at the Inverloch church. These go in the freezer for brekky club at Inverloch Primary School two mornings each week. Then more folks come to the church and we sit together over coffee, and also cake because Nola and Pam have been baking (we look so hard done by on the rare times they haven’t done so). Our conversation is usually about what is happening in the community and our daily lives. Wednesday afternoon this week is Presbytery Relations Committee and I am glad that on this occasion it is on Zoom. That saves a two hour drive over to Traralgon but the down side is that we don’t get to see each other in person.

7am: This week my Thursday has a slower start and I get in a swim after my meditation. I have time for further preparation for the service.

Noon: I head to the church at Inverloch for our Combined Church Council meeting. There is much to discuss and we meet from 1pm-4.30pm. I drive one of the members home as I am aware she has some pastoral issues to chat about.

6.30pm: The church is set up and I go to pick up a lady who is coming to our Yarning Circle at Wonthaggi which starts at 7pm. It goes until around 9.30pm. The closing time is never set as our conversation is between First and Second Peoples and one of my first learnings was that we do not limit the conversation. Everyone is listened to so that we do not miss the wisdom by moving on too quickly. It is such precious time of deep sharing, listening and truth telling.

community members, some are from the Reconciliation group that several of our members attend. I was glad that our Yarning Circle hasn’t clashed this month with the Interchurch Council meeting as it sometimes does. I arrive home at 10.30pm and take a while to unwind.

11pm: Bed time. I wonder if I dare sleep a little later tomorrow since the service at Rose Lodge Aged Care starts at 10.30am.

10.30am: The service starts and it’s such a joy to see the very dear faces, especially those from our own congregations. There are around 12 participants with four from our own church as well as two of our congregation members assisting.

12.30pm: On the way home I call into another aged care place to see our member who has just gone there to live. She is comfortable and finds her adjustment easier when she thinks about how much relief has been felt by her family.

It is not her ideal option for life, but she knows it is the right time for this move.

1.30pm: I hit the books, conscious that precious thesis time has been used differently today. But there is give and take in the ministry calendar and I will ensure there is balance.

One of my ponderings around balance is in regard to that announcement I made on Sunday. I have just incorporated a new role into our way of being church. I will reduce my (0.8- 4 days) each week in the congregational placement to 0.4 and am taking on the (0.4) role of Spiritual Care Co-ordinator at Bass Coast Health.

Our focus symbol tonight is a bowl of cleansing water. Of course, we spend quite some time on the Uluru Statement and the Voice referendum.

Some of the people in attendance are wider

7.30am: Up and at ’em. A quick swim and today I don the short wetsuit as the weather is cooling. While the bay (Westernport) still feels OK, I realise there will be a few less swims each week when late autumn and winter assert themselves. I remember to do a RAT test before my meditation so I don’t have to sit outside when I get to Rose Lodge.

I feel an interesting mix of excitement and overwhelm. Our wonderful way of working in Gippsland in Figtree teams has led to the exploration of this possibility and I am trusting the gift of this new ministry will flourish with the assistance of others stepping into our congregational space. And our congregations are excited by what they see as a gift for their ministry.

Even before this, people have been stepping up and asking to be more involved in the congregational pastoral care. Releasing me for this wider Diaconal ministry offers us so much and so the review of ministry priorities is in full swing. I wonder what the coming weeks will look like as transitions and adjustments are made.

Oh well, I will live in this week for now. And if I am lucky, I will have Saturday off, but that thesis will not write itself.