Partial lunar eclipse in Sydney, June 4.
With all the Tranist of Venus excitement which occurs from about 8am June 6 (and then not again until 2117) there’s been little mention of the partial lunar eclipse occuring tonight.
The moon is passing through the eath’s shadow and will be mot affected at 9.03pm.
It’s a beautiful clear night in Sydney so step outside and see our collective shadow on the moon and pray for this mysterious round ball we call home.
More details here: http://nightskyonline.info/?p=3676
Oh, and the Tranist of Venus is June 5,6 and occurs when Venus crosses the sun.
More details here: http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/transit-of-venus-6-june-2012/
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“We are deeply grateful to everyone involved in her rescue, to those who worked tirelessly on her behalf, and to family and friends for their love, prayers and support over the last twelve days.” The parents of Helen Johnson.
Committed Christian Helen Johnson, her Kenyan colleague Moragwa Oirere and two Afghan woman who all worked for aid agency, Medair, were rescued in a daring night time raid by members of the British SAS and US Navy Seals over the weekend.
“David Cameron authorised the rescue attempt after military forces in Afghanistan briefed him on the planned operation. Speaking outside Number 10 after the raid, he described the rescue effort as ‘extraordinarily brave’ and ‘breath-taking’” reports the Daily Telegraph, London.
Helen’s father Philip, a theologian and senior lecturer at Cambridge University, said he and his wife Patricia were delighted that Helen and her colleagues were safe.
Medair is Christian charity based near Lausanne, Switzerland:
“Our mission is to seek out and serve the vulnerable women, children, and men in crisis who live in often difficult-to-access regions in Africa and Asia, and other areas with extraordinary need. We are a non-governmental organisation (NGO), with internationally recruited staff who are motivated by their Christian faith to care for people in need. Our work is compassionate and practical, providing life-saving care and support that upholds the dignity and independence of every person, regardless of race, religion, or politics.”
Read more about the rescue of the four Medair workers:
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“…for nothing be anxious.” *
I think there is a difference between feeling anxious and being anxious.
Photo by Jesse Therrien
Anxiety is a normal, perhaps even healthy, feeling when faced with the unknown, the unsafe or the unwanted. Usually this feeling of anxiety resolves when you pass through the situation and relief follows or, if your anxiety was justified, more concrete thoughts, actions and responses are required.
Sometimes it is the psycho-emotional effects of feelings of anxiety that help guide you through challenging situations – heightened vigilance, physical alertness (adrenalin), cautious progress.
But what if it is not so much that you ‘feel’ anxious, but that you are ‘being’ anxious; that you find yourself continuing in anxiety with or without an initial trigger.
Many of us in life can find ourselves weighed down with all the mental and physical responses of anxiety for hours, days or months. We are being anxious and we have forgetten how not to be anxious.
At such times, phrases such as the Biblical epigram for this post, “for nothing be anxious”, can seem infuriating and mindless to the person who would rather do anything but be anxious.
When our friends or spouses or colleagues tell us to ‘get over it’ when that is the one thing we can’t seem to do, we feel even more anxious. That is presuming anyone but ourselves even knows. In most cases, these predicaments are carried with silence, a supreme act of the will considering the turmoil inside.
So when the Bible says ‘for nothing be anxious’ do we have yet another voice condemning and consigning the anxious person to deeper isolation? Continue Reading
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The funeral of Barbara Holborow today showed that she was a woman of faith as well as the woman of constant action that we all knew her to be.
No doubt planning the event meticulously, she included a welcome to country by Millie Ingram and then the funeral continued with the ‘negro spiritual’, Shine On Me:
‘Shine on me
Let the light from the lighthouse
Shine on me’
Phrases such as “Therefore in faith and hope we turn to God, who created and sustains all things” sat alongside Scriptures such as “I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord. Those who believe in me will live, even though they die.”
The congregation was invited to pray:
“Heavenly Father,
in your Son jesus Christ
you have given us a true faith and a sure hope.
Help us to live as those who believe in the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
and the resurrection to eternal life;
through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen”
Beautiful hymns, the Lord’s Prayer, Scripture readings from Ecclesiastes 3, Amos 5:24 and Psalm 23 accompanied perhaps the most fitting passage for a woman who devoted her life to the protection and nourishment of children: Mark 10:13-16, which includes the well-known words of Jesus:
People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”
One sign of Barbara Holborow’s guiding hand was the involvement of clergy from the Anglican, Catholic and Uniting Churches and the Salvation Army. The tributes from Father Chris Riley AM and Reverend Dr Bill Crews AM, both close friends of Barbara’s, were deeply moving as they spoke of the sadness and challenge and love felt as she approached death.
There were many other highlights for the those gathered, including the Irish recessional and Goodnight Sweetheart sung by Col Joye as young men - perhaps some who have benefitted from Barbara Holborow’s benevolence - carried her towards her last earthly journey.
Armondo Hurley sang What A Wonderful World which connected with a radio interview with Richard Fidler in which Barbara had spoken about her hopes for a wonderful world. Hear it here.
One memorable quote, in response to the question, ”Have you upset many of the lawmakers over the years?” Barbara answered, “Oh yes, and I still am. The day I stop is the day I know the marrow of my bone has melted.”
Many have asked the question since the death of Barbara Holborow, who will step up and continue her role as a champion of the most vulnerable of society. Probably it will not be just one, but will take many, similarly equipped – as she apparently was - with a faith that brings hope and love.
As my wife and I go through the process of becoming foster carers, we hope in some very small way to be part of continuing her legacy.
Related articles
- Children’s champion Barbara Holborow dies (news.smh.com.au)
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Hungrythirsty is a not a new idea in fact it’s not an idea
it would be more like a feeling.
When your are hungrythirsty you know you need something more
than a new car, Mad Men on Blueray or free food at the footy
and so you use two words to mask your fear.
I wish I’d seen a bearded lady at the fairground.
Only kidding, but I did grow a beard once, no kisses.
The best thing to kill hungrythirsty dead is the Oak of righteousness
we killed dead and left temporarily in a basement, or tomb as it were.
And that’s why He called himself Bread of Life Living Water -
full strength, full taste, full on!
Nails through his hands but all fingers intact.
Do you know what hungrythirsty is? No. Are you stupid?
My brother is, he’s in a basement.
Hungrythirsty is when you are neither hungry or thirsty
but a bit of both.
And there is only one cure for hungrythirsty and that’s Oak.
With its full strength and full taste it’s full on!
Evening.
I wish I’d fed my son Oak when he was growing up.
Just kidding, I don’t have a son.
Well technically I do, but he’s in real estate.
Relieve spiritual hungrythirsty
More about milky hungrythirsty
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Anzac Day 2004, 9.15pm.
I am sitting on the side of the bed in our house in Calwell contemplating getting an early night.
The phone next to me rings. I pick it up and say hello, and hear my father’s voice.
My memory now shifts to a view of myself sitting hunched over, head in my hands, phone receiver to my ear, listening as my father tells me my sister Melissa has been found dead.
His voice is breaking, tearful, shocking and yet somehow still conveys an unshakeable sense of goodness and innocence that I cannot reconcile with the words he speaks.
There is something about her body being found, something about a dam, something about maybe it is suicide or maybe it something else. I’m not sure if he used the word murder.
From there I remember in snatches, my wife’s concern, my retelling of the conversation, her embrace.
An overwhelming desire grips me to drive right then and there to Newcastle and sort this out. Logically I know I can do nothing to change what I’ve heard. But instinctively I feel driven to protect, resolve, make good.
On days like today I still feel this restless urge, that if somehow I go and see and am present, Melissa will be ok. That’s probably why I am writing now. I’ve seen this grief response in others and at least this helps me understand.
On a day when the whole nation remembers the deaths of many, my family will, each in their own way, remember one. I’m sure we are not the only ones.
There is a murderer out there somewhere who has never been held to account. Maybe he remembers today as well. Or maybe he remembers a date a few days earlier when Melissa’s life was actually taken, before being dumped into the remote Burrenjin Dam only to be “found by a Sydney couple four-wheel driving with friends” on April 25.
I wonder who this couple is and the horror of what they saw? I wonder about the terror of Melissa’s final moments. I wonder about the police investigation and DNA reports and DPPs and cold case units, all of which seem to have vanished for us.
I wonder if my parents and Melissa’s children will ever receive justice? I wonder when we can reclaim Melissa from this act of violence. It is one thing to go on, to keep living, to eventually smile and laugh and feel again. It is another to feel the strength of justice straighten your back and lengthen your gaze.
I know that Melissa is with God because I know what faith was sown in her heart and what cry was on her lips with her last breath. I know this because of the hope within me.
But I don’t know who killed her and I want to…
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Whatever happened to living for something bigger than yourself? Whatever happened so that ‘whatever’ became the norm?
We have lost a measure of ourselves and so count many things as bigger and better which are much smaller and meaner than the human soul.
If we have a truer perspective of our own worth we will stop dying for trinkets and begin to live for real treasure.
If a human being contains eternity then the universe is not bigger than your next door neighbour or your own frail self.
Here’s a few other things that aren’t bigger. Well, actually, things aren’t bigger. Things with screens, scenes and sounds. Things with wheels and walls and warranties. Things with serial numbers, magnetic strips and passwords.
Fame is tiny, celebrity infinitesimal, popular opinion undetectable. The sword is nothing to live or die by and the pen is not mightier and might is not right for the selling of the soul.
We elevate intellect, emulate beauty, overrate strength. We make much of little and make little of ourselves and of others and the ties that bind and the ideas and love and kindness and loyalty that make us real, and not plastic.
Don’t get me wrong, many of the things mentioned are deeply valuable, highly prized but they pale next to you, your family, friendships, marriage, faith, hope and love – your beautiful, resilient being.
And life so rarely allows room for seeing that if we live for less we are diminished. Let us find and live for greatness which is not defined by television ratings or internet hits or dollar bills. If we are going to have all those things in our life let us not be ruled, or worse, defined by them.
People who live for small things don’t risk their life for what they believe is right. They comment from safe places. People who are diminished by worshipping false idols don’t spend themselves for the sake of others. They send a few dollars from a distance and look for the tax receipt.
We can start out living for greatness, beyond ourselves, but disappointment, loss, fear and the fine, fine voices of deceit can cause us to lose our way. We compromise and the dust of this world becomes surprisingly hard to see past.
I’ve had my times in this place of constriction but once you have tasted heaven, dust sticks in your throat and despite your weakness, you must seek the fresh air and live for more.
There are many of you out there getting smaller by the minute, dust swirling. I call you back to yourself, I call you back to even more. But don’t listen to me. The One who places eternity in jars of clay is calling. And there’s nothing bigger.
Some days sights stand out like an artwork or cherished memory. They weave together like poetry and I wonder if this is the result of sunshine, a good night’s sleep or a trick of the eye.
Walking past the sandstone of St Andrew’s Cathedral, a man looking like a troubled disciple urinates against the wall, hidden by a low, non-burning bush. While some find comfort within, he’s found relief outside.
Two pastel green motor scooters sit side by tidy side on Clarence St except one is within the parking area and the other without. A female parking inspector stands upright in judgement like a robot from a sci-fi movie and separates the two on a point of law.
Later an office worker strides down Kent, security card swinging, and a hand held to her face, covering tears. She walks on looking sideways in anguish but not slowing, tears not moving a busy soul.
A young Indian woman with flowing hair sits on the ground in the foyer staring at a water bottle in front of her, lid off. I think she might be hit by the door if someone comes down the stairs but I leave her to her vigil.
Armageddon arrives with emotional depth and musical perfection
Guy Sebastian brought his Armageddon concert to the Hordern Pavilion tonight and showed again why he will continue to be one of Australia’s leading performers.
Not only was the show energetic, fun and original, it was also faultless with Sebastian using his voice like a well tuned, well loved instrument.
His vocal precision was matched by a ‘killer band’ by his own estimation and no one could argue.
Carmen Smith of The Voice fame had a large vocal (and groovin’) role, often stepping up from backing singer to take the lead with Guy.
And while the all-age audience loved his pop and soul favourites, the night belonged to the deeper, more telling music off the yet to be completed Armageddon album.
Perhaps it was the recent birth of his son or a natural progression for this man of talent and faith, but the new songs he performed all have an edge of strength and emotion that will earn Guy Sebastian new fans and recognition.
Big Bad World is a song for his son but is a song for all parents and all children while title song Armageddon is a love song that collides with thoughts of the end of the world, more than a little beyond some of the catchy but light tunes of the past.
It was all class and even the somewhat tired Hordern couldn’t contain the sheer pleasure of the audience.
Armageddon the album is just a few weeks away from completion, Sebastian told his fans tonight. And after two years in the making it will be worth the wait.
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Posted by Peter Hallett on June 3, 2012 in Comment, Music, News and tagged Armageddon, Guy Sebastian, Hordern Pavilion, Sydney.
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