(SUNDAY, 8 May 2022)
I wanted to meet with any determined joyful followers of Jesus' way, if I could find any nearby. Thought I'd try the old method - churches. Nup, nearly all the buildings unused or sold up, apparently not needed for communities of Jesus followers any more. Except… the Catholic Church had a sign saying they meet here on Sundays at 9am.
9am… No one at the Catholic church, despite the very clear sign
Got a coffee from the Mailbox Cafe (takeaway only, all booked out for Mothers' Day). Had a chat with the General store folk I met yesterday. Got a potato pie and pastie from the Strathy Bakery, where the couple behind me looked at the sign on my backpack and we started talking…
I met Helen (from Elmore) & Ron ( from Echuca) who were up here for with Lions' club dancing last night, they gave me some hints on learning to dance… use You Tube, practice with a broom. They may have even seen me walking through their townships in the last week or so. Ron had even considered if he should ask if I wanted a lift.
After talking, they asked to sit with me in the bakery for a coffee,
.
where I did a line-drawing pic of Ron,
.
and he shouted me a coffee.
It turned out that Helen (Kneebone) used to live in Orange, and in Canowindra.. & has been to a concert of our friend Nerida Cuddy's at the Cravens, and had a coffee at the Cuddy's Perennialle Plants & coffee shop in Canowindra.
We talked about everything. Especially how much our previous approaches to topics or our understandings can affect what we see (& don't see) around us, and what words or customs mean. I told them how I was trying (not super successfully) not to use the word "God" much any more, but creative love - whose handiwork I see everyday in this amazing world, with the amazing people in it. The word "God", seems (for me, but maybe also for them?) to be stuck in a church building, or in some religious or brick & concrete, or controlling, mindset towards life.
Then afterwards, after I'd had a gawk at their campervan, and we'd said goodbye, they were the ones that modelled that parable (following or below, in the video, and poem) for me.
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