Ray's Blog: January 2011
Three New Guardians
We commissioned three Community of Aidan Guardians to replace me at our annual Houseparty for those in vows. They are Graham (Lindisfarne), Simon (London) and Penny (Devon). The new USA Guardian, Paul Martin, was present. I am to be kinown as the 'Founding Guardian'. The commissioning took...
Footscray
My final days in Australia were based in the down-town Melbourne surburb of Footscray. This was an industrial area. Immigrants from many lands settled here because it was cheap. So, too, did an extra-ordinary network of downwardly mobile, high-octane Christians. Most of these have chosen part-time employment in order...
An Australian Community Comes To Birth
Ten kids and twelve adults who follow the Aidan and Hilda Way of Life gathered for four days in a church complex at Norlane, Geelong. They differed in background, theology and temperament. Their common ground was the Way of Life, mutual respect and a central silent space.They listened to...
Anouska And Australia Fair
We dressed smartly and arrived at 9.0 am to witness Anouska and many-skinned others become Australian citiziens. They made declarations. We all stood to sing the National Anthem. These lines stand out:
Australians all let us rejoice
For we are young and free...
Our land abounds in Nature's gifts
In beauty...
'the King's Speech' And Soul-friendship
In Melbourne I saw streets lined with elm trees that have long-since died of disease in Europe. In Geelong I saw 'The King's Speech', at which I cried and the audience clapped. It reveals the life-changing potential of a kind of soul-friendship. The Duke of York, who wrote himself off...
Ashes To Ashes: A Simpson To The Rescue?
What misfortune! To be In Australia when it suffers it's worst Ashes defeat in history. (You Americans - we're talking cricket!). .The media even quote Michael Vaughan's Tweets: 'What do you call an Australian with 100 runs to their name? A bowler'. It seems as if a National Disaster...
Australian Bush: Healing The Land
Dan has just cut down a banana tree. A possum had eaten three of the bananas; about ninety were left. All other bananas I have eaten seem tasteless compared to these.Heather and her family own bush land where it meets houses at Buderim. They believe that before...
