Bit of a change

Today's not been a normal Sunday. Usually it's my sleep in day, get up 9:30 or 10ish, and then study at a leisurely pace, with room to stop and enjoy the sunshine and my novel if I so wish. Gotta have one day when that's allowed. In the evening I head of to church, then sometimes straight home or sometimes out for hours of dinner and hanging out at someone's house. But today we had a big combo service in the morning, all the 8am, Chinese, 10am and 6pm congregations meeting together for worship, then catching up over a cuppa, followed by the AGM.

Now, the AGM. A name that strikes fear into the hardiest of souls. An event that causes even the most orderly of people to tremble, the bravest to quake. What would this year's bring. Usually, absolutely nothing. A couple of hours of tedium punctuated with an occasional question or wry comment. Now I'm a sucker for civic duty, I figure you're not allowed to complain about things unless you actively participate in their creation. And so I went. The last few have been tightly controlled timewise, and today was no different. A little over an hour, and we were out of there.

I'm sometimes a little concerned about what's going to happen in 20 years when all the current stalwarts of committees and councils are no longer with us. I notice a general reluctance among my generation to step up and take some responsibility. It's all gotta be party, fun and rainbows, or it's not worth attending. Apparently. But today my hopes were raised. There was a good representation of young people at the AGM ('young people'. I sound like an old granny.) There's hope that things will keep running yet. But I am curious to watch how the process happens. What made that 80 year old so responsible? Why does that 65 year old renominate to be on parish council every year, even though she finds it a challenge? Was that 40 year old always involved in filling all the gaps in the roster? Have they always been like that? Is it something that comes with children and general life responsibility? I hope it's something people grow into, otherwise we're looking at a future of a serious minority making decisions for the majority.

Soliliquy over. Since we'd combo'd in the morning, our regular evening service wasn't happening, so a stack of us thought we'd go for a stickybeak at the new complex another Hobart church has recently opened. It's pretty cool as a buiding, they've designed it as a multi-purpose centre, with kids' rooms, a cafe, a flexible conference space, big carpark and playground. The style is a bit too flashy-lights-repetitive-music-shiny-people for me, but my more theologically minded friends reckoned the talk was pretty sound (I just thought it rambled a bit), and the regulars there were getting a lot out of it, which is the important bit. I'm just Anglican to the core, and can't cope with all this jazzy church bizzo. :D But seriously, it was great to see, and I hope they grow into the space.

And finally, speaking of faithy stuff, thanks for everyone's comments yesterday, either here, on facebook, or in person. I reckon God's been sending me some serious encouragement all day*, and I'm feeling a lot more settled today. Last night as I read my bedtime devo** I almost laughed out loud when I saw the designated Psalm and accompanying comments.

Psalm 42:5
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Saviour and my God.






*Yes, I do believe that.

**Devotional - a crazy thing Christians (and people of other religions perhaps) do sometimes to learn and grow in their faith, usually some form of Bible reading and a reflection on it. I'm currently using Our Daily Bread. It's pretty good.