Hillston sheep sale very upbeat

Julie:

Hillston held their sheep sale a couple of weeks ago and it was a very upbeat affair with both buyers and sellers very positive. I think this is a great measure of how much morale in the bush has risen with the good rain that has been regularly falling. Currently everything is looking fantastic with the crops thick and lush and great pasture everywhere. A spring like this one gives people confidence to plan for the future in areas such as their sheep flocks.

A special experience

Julie:

I went to Bendigo last week to a conference and while I was there had a few minutes to visit the beautiful Catholic Cathedral. Imagine my surprise when I entered and found a young man practising with a great competancy on the pipe organ. To be able to wander through this stunning building accompanied by fantastic pipe music was a very moving experience. If you happen to find yourself in Bendigo do make time to visit.

 

Many Cultures, One God

I was asked to participate in the Uniting Church Cross-Cultural Conference at Wagga Wagga recently.

It was my first experience of of this sort of gathering which included people from Tonga, Samoa, Korea, Lebanon, Armenia, Turkey, Niue, India, Sri Lanka and some people from Anglo-Celtic origins.
I listened to the stories of these people who struggled with a new country, culture and church culture. It was an eye opener for me as my experience is more or less mono-cultural.

Most of the stories people told were of there hopes and dreams of coming to Australia and their struggle with holding onto the richness of their own cultures in the church environment, let alone in the wider Australian scene.

I found my conversations with various people, the food we shared and the worship we participated all contributed to a fantastic week end.

It was a pity more locals could not avail themselves of this experience as I am sure they would have found it as life giving as I did.

Kel Hodge

It's now or never!

Julie:

With the river dropping rapidly, today was the last opportunity I was going to get to go over the weir, so after checking it out, doning a helmet and life jacket and summoning all my courage, off I went.

It was quite an adrenalin rush and I'm really glad I got the chance to have a go (and I'm really glad I didn't make a complete fool of myself in front of the teenage boys fishing on the bank!).

Thanks to Jenny and Joe for coming with me as backup.

Chaplains Visit Hillston

Julie kindly offered the hospitality of her home, and the hospitality of the Hillston church community so the Rural Chaplains network could meet their last week.

It was a great time spent sharing and listening to each others stories about the ministries we offer in rural and remote NSW.

The network has only been meeting for about two years and it seems that trust grows as our relationships deepen and become richer.

Although we work in a variety of christian denominations with differing theological and ecclesiological standpoints, the important thing we offer in chaplaincy is a caring attitude to those we minister with and for this weekend it was each other!

Kel Hodge

Lithgow In the Morning

It may seem to some that I have been off the air for some time. I have come to realise that time can slip away so quickly. I would plan to write the next blog and I would be away again. Oh well, better late than never!
Recently I was invited by the Lithgow Men's breakfast group to speak about the possibility of building a citizen's alliance in the Bathurst, Orange, Lithgow region.
I explained to the group that work was under way and a investigative meeting was being held in Bathurst on the 16th September.
As it turned out this meeting went well and there may well founded hope for the alliance into the future.

It was good to catch up with the men at breakfast which I might add takes real dedication in Lithgow during the colder months!

Kel Hodge

River is almost abanka

Julie:

A gorgeous afternoon on Mon saw us get in the first kayak since last Autumn. Seems like such a long time since I have been on the river.

In the two years I've been here I've never had the river really running, but it is now.

Not a lot of work involved, just sit back and enjoy the ride! Now we're planning a ride over the weir. Nothing like a bit of white water rafting in Hillston.

To top it off all the birds were out and we saw kingfishers, willy wag tails, a duck with 8 small ducklings and many more.

A most enjoyable way to be in God's creation.