printandpaint

CHARLES DICKENS .....AND URIAH HEEP

2012-02-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. A friend rang to let me know because she was aware of how much I admired Dickens' works.
I have on my shelves the 17 volume set of Dickens' works which my father gave to my mother on her 21st birthday, in 1921. Most of these I have read, some several times.
We are now more aware of Dickens' personal failings but there can be no doubt about his extraordinary gift of bringing characters to life. I have quite a collection of china in the form of plates, jugs,mugs and miniature statues which give me daily reminders of the characters of whom he wrote. Uriah Heep, stands on the top shelf as a warning against false humility....."I'm a very 'umble man, Mr Copperfield."

A WELCOME VISITOR....FROM ANOTHER SPECIES

2011-12-18T20:03:00.000-08:00

This Spring we had a blackbird family that decided to nest in our garage, high on a shelf near the entrance to the garden. Over a month or so we watched as they built their nest. Mother and father, quite different in colour, he black and she brown, kept busily feeding in our our garden and trees and adding to the nest. Then, one day, when they were both out flying and foraging, I climbed the ladder and discovered some eggs.
From then onwards, we kept our distance, respecting their privacy, but it was just possible as we entered the garage so see Mother sitting there, still and silent.
One day I was so impressed by her patience that I penned a few lines.

What a picture of patience!

Unmoving you sit there,
still,
in the moment,
totally given to the task,
unflinching as doors bang and people shout,
unreponsive to the cries of parrots and pigeons,
so still,
so calm,
so composed,
so concentrated.
May we learn from you, our patient guest.

A few weeks later, I checked the nest and found two tiny newly born birds, all beak and skin. Would they survive? we kept observing as parents faithfully cared for them and then, one afternoon. I found one baby hopping around the back garden and the other, more timid, perched on the edge of a sieve near the nest, plucking up courage to take off.He is there in the photo.
I was reminded of the short story, HIS FIRST FLIGHT, in our Year 10 English book of 1951. This experience has produced a flood of memories.

ALL WE HAVE IS GRACE

2011-11-20T22:18:00.000-08:00

ALL WE HAVE IS GRACE

All we have is grace,
the gracious creativity of the One who dreamed us up
and got it all going,
the gracious compassion which journeys with us even when we
leave the path and go off exploring the swamps and by-ways,
the gracious love which forever stands waiting to restore us,
the gracious sympathy which suffers with us in our suffering,
which is distressed in our distress,
the gracious power of new life which welcomes us into each new
stage and shows us unimagined vistas and possibilities.
God of grace,
gracious One
creator, redeemer, sanctifier,
I stand in awe of you,
I love you
I pray for grace to love you more.

James Ledingham 2011

A FOGGY MORNING

2011-10-19T00:02:00.000-07:00

One morning this winter, we experienced one of those rare fogs which blanket the whole area. It was so striking that I jumped on my trusty Malvern Star, rode to Princes Park and tried to capture the atmosphere on film. Here is one one of the results.

O, GOD, WHERE ARE YOU?

2011-10-10T23:25:00.000-07:00

CRIES OF THE PEOPLE
It is the custom at our Church Of All Nations in Carlton for the lay members of the congregation to lead the prayers of the people.
These were our prayers on Sunday, 9th October.

1. O God, where are you?
We just escaped death in Afghanistan, we got to Indonesia, organized a boat to Australia…..and freedom. Instead we are cooped up here on Christmas Island in this ghastly detention centre and with no assurance of what will happen next.
O God, where are you?

2. O God, where are you?
I’m scared about the future. My husband has dementia, I’ve just been told that I have an aggressive cancer and our 54 year old disabled son has been having more seizures lately. What will happen to him when we go?
O God, where are you?

3. O God, where are you?
Here on the West bank of the Jordan, everything’s going wrong. We are Jews, we are Christians, we are Moslems and we want to live together but our leaders keep fighting, refusing even to talk to one another, always blaming one another….. and we three, all children of Abraham cry
O God, where are you?

4. O, God, where are you?
This rotten psych illness I’ve got……….there are voices in my head telling me to do things, warning me of dangers, over and over, and people are out to get me. God, is it you ? Is it some evil force? What is going on in my head?
O God, where are you?

5 O God, where are you?
My child is in a psych ward at The Austin, I’m riddled with guilt that I’ve failed him, that I was too busy all those growing years and now it’s too late. He won’t even talk to me.
O God, where are you?

6. O God where are you?
The Church is shrinking, the powers and principalities of the world seem so pervasive and dominant. Did we get it wrong? Was it all just wish fulfilment?
O God, where are you?

7. O God, where are you? We’ve been in this tent city on the border of Somalia for three years. I’ve lost my husband and two of our children and my youngest is emaciated and too weak to even cry. There is little food, only scraps of medicine and we’ve reached the stage of wishing we could just go to sleep and die.
O God, where are you?
Are you anywhere?

God of love, God of grace, hear the cries of your people.
For all who suffer, for all who care, we offer our prayers in helplessness and trust.
In Jesus we see you reaching out to people, lifting up the lonely, being alongside the broken and discouraged.
We wonder if you too are broken in our brokenness, helpless in our helplessness, distressed in our distress.
When human hearts are breaking under sorrow’s iron rod, may we find that self- same aching deep within your heart.
Gracious God , in your mercy, hear our prayer.

SEE MORE OF MARGARET'S PAI NTINGS.

2011-10-10T21:59:00.000-07:00

For the last seven years, Margaret has been involved in CREATIONS AT THE CATO, an exhibition of paintings by the students and former students of Nell Frysteen at the Victorian Artists Society. Creations at the Cato VII begins on Thursday,13th October and runs until Sunday 23rd October. The weekday hours are 10.00 until 4.00 and the hours at weekends are 1.00 until 4.00. Th VAS is located at 430 Albert Street, East Melbourne, opposite St.Patrick's cathedral.

This year's opening is on Saturday 15th October at 2.00 and onwards. There is also another exhibition in the upstairs gallery so there will be plenty of paintings to see.

We hope you may be able to drop in during the 10 days of the exhibition.

OUR FIRST HOME

2011-08-30T12:03:00.000-07:00

Soon after our marriage, Margaret did a sketch of our Paterson Street house. She framed it and we've had it ever since. Recently I rescued it from its place on the garage wall and tried to make a card of it. The original colour of the paper was white, but 45 years have mellowed it. I have made cards of the painting and they will be available, along with many other cards of Marg's works, at the St. Michael's Art and Craft exhibition on September 10 and 11 on the corner of McPherson and McIlwraith Streets.

IN DARK TIMES

2011-08-25T23:11:00.000-07:00

Few of us who have reached retirement have avoided times of darkness and pain in the midst of life. It is even possible that we have made some deep discoveries of grace at such times.

Here are a couple of poems that have spoken powerfully to me in bleak times.

VALE OF TEARS. A PRAYER

Drab,groping tunnel where I stumble dark,
Black tearing, tiring at my brain,
Here two things I ask,
Not one,
That though I'll joy to bask
Again in sun,
It will not be
The end where I came in.

Mig Holder in MAKING EDEN GROW
Scripture Union, 1974

When we are weak, we are
strong. When our eyes close
on the world, then somewhere
within us the bush

burns. When we are poor
and aware of the inadequacy
of our table, it is to that
uninvited the guest comes.

R.S.Thomas in COUNTERPOINT
Bloodaxe Books 1990

A LOCAL EXHIBITION

2011-08-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

For several years, our local North Carlton Anglican church, St. Michael's, has held an art and craft exhibition of work by members of the local Carlton community. Each year, we have exhibited some of Marg's paintings and all of the cards we have made of her paintings. This year, the exhibition, entitled AND IT WAS GOOD will be held on Saturday, 10 September from 11.00 until 4.00 and on Sunday 11 from 12.00 until 3.00. Food is provided and you are assured of an interesting afternoon.
We will be there both days looking after our stall. This has always been for us a great time to catch up with old friends as well as to make new friendships with other members of our community and beyond.

We hope you can join us.

ANOTHER PAINTING

2011-08-15T20:04:00.001-07:00

Margaret has recently completed a painting of San Marco, Venice.

CARLTON LANES AND STABLES

2011-06-01T03:39:00.000-07:00

Here are some of Margaret's recent sketches, showing stables in our vicinity. You may even recognize them.

THREE DAYS IN BEECHWORTH

2011-05-05T17:48:00.000-07:00

Soon we will be spending three or four days at Beechworth, in Victoria's north east.Some years ago, Margaret painted the lakes at Beechworth [top] and at Chiltern, another town in the area.[centre] At Yackandandah,the verandahs in the main street provided another fine subject [bottom].

SOME RECENT PAINTINGS

2011-05-04T23:29:00.000-07:00

Here are some of Marg's recent works.

SOME MORE RECENT PAINTINGS

2011-05-04T23:13:00.000-07:00

MARGARET IS PAINTING AGAIN

2011-04-14T03:23:00.000-07:00

After nearly a year of chemo-therapy, which has been helpful in reducing the size of several tumours,Margaret has resumed painting . Some of the works shown in the coming weeks are new and others are additions to some older works.

STILL PONDERING

2011-02-11T19:46:00.000-08:00

Today I discovered a couple of pages that I wrote sometime about 2005 or 2006.Have you ever wondered about these things?

Today is July 8th, 2005, and I am planning to begin part three of the series I began some years ago on my spiritual pilgrimage.

Do I begin with God or do I begin with myself?

I concluded my second document of this series with a quotation from Ruth Etchells in her book,’Unafraid to be.’ This was a way of summarising my discussion of Worldliness in which I described the relief at finding Christian writers who were life-affirming and who saw poetry and literature as a way of encountering the truth about life, even if the authors and poets were not card-carrying Christians. This book was a major encouragement to my emerging sense of self, marking a willingness to take risks in my thinking and in my living.

So where am I now, in the second half of 2005, now over five years since I retired from paid employment?

The God I have met in the second half of my life is no less great, but somehow more mysterious and less predictable than I had thought.

God is the One who has created the world and all that is in it and God is intimately involved in the lives of all people. However, God does not make things happen in ways that are inconsistent with God’s character.

The common idea that God causes everything to happen is anathema to me. I believe that, having created the world, God invites us to freely participate in building the Kingdom of God, but God has given to humankind the gift of freedom and we are able if we choose to act against God . I believe that God is always open to helping people who turn to God.and always working to draw all people into God’s care and love.

Being a disciple of God in Christ is no guarantee of safety or freedom from death and pain. These things occur because we are humans living in an imperfect world. However, those who trust God find that God is present with them in the midst of pain and distress and failure and God redeems these situations because they are also tranformed into moments of grace, albeit in the midst of great pain.

I question that God is omnipotent. Or, to put it another way, I believe that God always acts consistently with God’s character and therefore there are times when God cannot act because action would require God to be acting inconsistently with God’s character.

The idea of God intervening in human life to solve problems, to give people their heart’s desire, is a problem for me.

I am much impressed with the thought that God is sometimes powerless and helpless. I see the crucifixion of Jesus as being one of those times. I believe that God was in Christ reconciling the world to God, but I do not believe that God punishes the Son in order to exact some transaction with a third party.

I do not agree with the claim that God has to punish sin therefore Jesus had to die. It seems to me that we cannot say that God has to do anything..

I am much attracted with the thought that there were times when Jesus was in the dark, times when he did not know what to do and when he gained insight as the result of what others said to him. I imagine there were times when Jesus said, or thought, ‘This is a problem. What do we do now.’

Likewise, is it just possible that God also does not always know what to do, and when God says, as it were, ‘This is a problem. ‘What do we do now?’

A HELPFUL CRICKETER

2011-02-06T17:20:00.000-08:00

After meeting David Sheppard, I followed his cricket career with interest. Even more importantly, we had a couple of years of correspondence when the subject matter was as much about living a life for Christ as it was about cricket.

I left school, went to University and met with fellow students who took seriously matters of faith and life. I kept reading and thinking and following the advice that David had given about discipleship. Over the years I also read books that he had written and realised that his experiences in ministry were significantly shaping his theology, as mine was being shaped by an emerging emphasis on the connection between faith and justice here in my own church circles.

The years passed, I read more of David's writings as well as his wife Grace's book on her frightening time of mental illness, called AN ASPECT OF FEAR. By now, the corrrespondence of earlier years had ceased but I continued at a distance to note what David was doing. It was now no longer a matter of hero-worship but simply gratitude, admiration and respect for a faithful disciple who was still learning and sharing his experiences with others.

After my retirement in 2000, , I wrote a long letter to David, outlining my own journey of faith in the 50 years since we had met and acknowledging his help through his writings and example.

Among other things, I wrote

'I guess my early correspondence with you was at least partly a form of hero-worship, which has long since faded! However, as I look back on my life, I can see the way in which that brief contact was a shaping force in my Christian journey.
The encouragement of your example;
your emphasis on those great verses "casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you"; and "In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths."';the reading of Grace's book Aspect of Fear; the reading of the Hewitts' book on George Burton [which was very helpful to me in seeking to understand a creative and fragile colleague]; these have all been a source of challenge and encouragement to me and for that I want to assure you of my appreciation. The time you spent in penning an occasional letter to a youngster from th colonies was not wasted !
I may be quite wrong , but I can imagine that the understanding and faith that you now have of the living God is somehow less certain [in the propositional sense] and more grounded in paradox and mystery than it was in 1951. But perhaps I'm projecting too much of my own experience!'

In his reply, David wrote
'Yes, you sensed rightly that I have moved on from that Party Evangelical base--though I owe much to it. Being plunged into the East End of London was the biggest single education of my life. My becoming a bishop, where I had to relate to all of the parishes in a very mixed English diocese like Soutwark, made me learn from different traditions.
Then Liverpool and the partnership with Roman Catholics and Derek Worlock in particular has been another key part of the journey. We were taken out of our depth in momentous years there, facing mass unemployment, closure after closure of companies, conflicts between the Black community and the police, then between the Militant leadership of Midlands City Council and Margaret Thatcher's government.'

I received that letter in March 2001, ten years ago next month. In the years that have passed since then David has died after a long battle with cancer and Grace died last November, also from cancer.

SIXTY YEARS AGO MY FIRST LETTER FROM DAVID SHEPPARD, ENGLIST TEST CRICKETER IN 1950-51 TOUR OF AUSTRALIA.

2010-12-28T17:20:00.000-08:00

Here is the letter in full, received with excitement by a 13 year old cricket lover, living in Essendon.

The Station Hotel
Auckland C1
New Zealand

8 March 1951

Dear Macleod,

I was delighted to have your little note – still more to know that you have received the Lord Jesus Christ as your own Saviour and Friend. I enclose a small booklet which I hope may be helpful. May I make just four points?
When I became a Christian about fifteen months ago one of my greatest discoveries was that He is alive to-day to be our best friend. [Hebrews 7:25]. There is a chorus which runs
Jesus died to set me free
From the guilt of sin:
Jesus lives that I may be
Strong the fight to win.

Second: having let him into your life, don’t keep him shut out of certain parts of it. Let Him take charge of it all. I think Proverbs 3 vv 5,6 the best prescription for the happy and successful Christian life.

Thirdly, do link up with Crusaders, or some such Christian organisation which will help you to grow as a Christian. A coal burns best in the fire, and not when it has fallen out.

Fourthly, dig deep into the bible – 1 Peter 2:2

I am sorry for the delay in writing but this last week has been pretty hectic with packing, saying good-byes and travelling.

I would very much appreciate a line from you one day when you have time about how things progress. You will find me with MCC Touring Team, c/o Umpire, Christchurch, N.Z. until march 28: afterwards at home at StBRIGET'S COTTAGE, SLINFOLD, SUSSEX. England

With every good wish

Yors sincerely

David Sheppard

A LETTER FROM AN ENGLISH TEST CRICKETER

2010-12-19T14:46:00.001-08:00

Can you imagine my excitement on arriving home from school to discover a letter addressed to me from David Sheppard, the English Test player I had met just three weeks earlier?

I am typing up this correspondence for ease of reading. The marks on the original are mine.

AN INVITATION THAT SHAPED MY LIFE

2010-12-18T22:17:00.000-08:00

As I watched that remarkable third day of the Perth Test match, my mind slipped back to the summer of 1950-51. It was England’s second tour since the war, it was led by Freddy Brown, and I was at the age when youngsters are capable of absorbing lots of facts about things that captivate them.
I kept a scrapbook of the tour, which I still possess, I listened to the ABC broadcasts by Alan McGilvray,Vic Richardson and Johnny Moyes and I saw some of the games at the MCG.
What a glorious summer it was…..holidays on the beach at McCrae, swimming in the mornings and afternoons, tennis after tea at Min Ratcliffe’s and then those marvellous ice creams and milk shakes at the milk bar near the store.
And there was that amazing invitaton, out of the blue, to meet two of the English test team! The autographs came later but, apart from them, here is what appeared in our letter box one day in early February, 1951.......TO BE CONTINUED

SOME LITTLE TREASURES

2010-11-19T15:09:00.000-08:00

Kate Carns, our friend, framer and gallery owner has given birth to a second daughter, Matilda, and she is now back at work at Artastic Gallery, 781 Nicholson Street, North Carlton.

This week Kate has hung 16 of Margaret's smaller works, some of which have not been exhibited, and she will soon also be showing works of Marg's VAS friends, Annie Finkelde and Ted Dansey.

The Gallery is open on Saturdays from 10 until 1 and on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 10 until 5.

WHO WOULD WANT TO BE ROWAN WILLIAMS ?

2010-11-14T21:26:00.000-08:00

A good friend, Chris Alford, recently lent me a most engaging biography of Rowan Williams, by Rupert Shortt.

Here is an extract from the Introduction.
The Welsh friend who described him as a 'recluse with a massive social conscience' was too pungent, but the comment contains more than a grain of truth. Besides, the Church was becoming a much more volatile place by the time Rowan appeared in the frame for Canterbury. The challenge of averting deep splits in the Anglican Communion would have been intractable, whoever was at the helm. As the crisis became even graver, many people thought that a major intellectual talent had been squandered in forlorn bids to reconcile factions on either side of the gay debate, and all the other arguments -- over biblical authority or church government or the limits of diversity -- for which disagreement about same-sex relationships is a proxy. And behind the public face, sympathetic observers saw a sensitive human being enduring a prolonged form of torture.

Not only did this book give me a fascinating insight into the life and ministry of Rowan Williams, but it also sparked some fresh thinking about disagreements in the church and the ways in which we might cope with them in a spirit of Agape. Not only Anglicans will find this an absorbing, candid and lucid book. I recommend it warmly.

In The Guardian , the reviewer claimed ..... Williams may have found the perfect biographer: authoritative yet accessible, acute and fair-minded, sympathetic but critical.

FOR CRICKET LOVERS

2010-10-19T22:44:00.000-07:00

BOOK REVIEW

THE GIFT OF SPEED
A novel by Steven Carroll
Fourth Estate, 2004

I was engrossed by Steve Carroll’s novel, “The Gift Of Speed.” At a surface level, not a lot happens if you are looking for clever plots, sudden changes in circumstances and a surprise at the end of each chapter. However, at a deeper level, many things happen and this engaging book finishes with a record of an actual event which many Victorians will recall with pleasure.
During a University vacation in the late 1950’s I spent several weeks working for the Electoral Office, trudging around the streets of Glenroy, knocking on doors and checking to see that the residents were registered to vote at the next elections. I also found time to watch some lazy days of Test cricket at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, fascinated by the names and faces and skills of the visiting tourists from the former British colonies.
It is not surprising then that Carroll’s book appealed to me. Set in the summer of 1960-61, it describes the life and reflections of Michael, a teenage cricketer from the northern suburbs, obsessed with the desire to excel as a fast bowler, eagerly anticipating his first game with the senior local team, developing his own understanding of reality. Readers will identify with Michael’s encounters, not least with his excruciating visit to Linsday Hassett’s sports store in the city.
Michael’s mother and father are among those thousands who settled the growing northern suburbs after the war and the atmosphere of the area is cleverly evoked in the accounts of Michael’s parents’ reflections.
Vic is a retired engine driver, whose prime delight is being, or anticipating being, out on the fairways of the local golf club. Rita, not altogether confident of Vic’s faithfulness, has accepted that she cannot change Vic but she can at least change the house by having French windows and a patio installed at the front. Vic’s dying mother has recently come to stay and, determined to be noticed, makes occasional and unwelcome appearances, carrying her potty about with her in front of visitors.
A rather shadowy figure in the story is Webster, local identity and business man, who is in the process of closing his factory and who has some fleeting connection with Michael. The consequences of Webster’s passion for speed have more alarming consequences than Michael’s passion for fast bowling.
Michael’s Maths teacher is savagely drawn in just a few sentences, the Maths teacher who smiles with his lips but who has no smile in his eyes, “who seems to be on the point of pinning down one of his insects with a question.”
The only friend of Michael who is introduced is Kathleen Marsden, orphan girl from the local Children’s Home, finding in Michael a listening ear and a source of affirmation, yet having to resume her life elsewhere when the Home is forced to close.
The most engaging and elusive character of all is West Indies team captain, Frank Worrell, whom Carroll uses to frame the story and who becomes the catalyst for the memorable final revelation.
“The Gift of Speed” was the subject of our local book group in November and the range of reactions was as diverse as usual. This should not have surprised me, but I admit to being disappointed to hear one response of “couldn’t get into it” and another of “too bleak for me.” On the other hand, several of us ranked it as one of the best of the thirty books that we have read since the group began.
I pondered the comment about the novel being bleak and wondered whether the reader had finished the book, because I had been deeply moved by the sense of hope and new possibilities that emerged towards the latter part of the story.
Yes, there are some bleak and disturbing experiences encountered by the various characters in the story, but this is a book that encourages and inspires. Carroll is honest about the obsessions and thwarted hopes of those living their suburban lives of quiet desperation, but there is an underlying sense that there is more, and that the characters are in the process of discovering this, albeit in unexpected ways.
The final chapter is set in Swanston Street on that extraordinary lunchtime in February, 1961, when the West Indians were given a ticker tape reception by the people of Melbourne. For Michael it is something of an epiphany. Awareness comes.

Mac Nicoll

A FINE BOOK

2010-10-16T23:43:00.000-07:00

Half and hour ago, I completed reading Karen Armstrong's 2007 book entitled THE BIBLE. This is part of a series on BOOKS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD.
I have been much helped by this extaordinary book, both in my understanding of history and of theology. It has enriched my faith.
I warmly recommend it and would be happy to discuss it with others.

CARDS OF MARGARET'S PAINTINGS

2010-09-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

Over the last decade, Margaret has completed lots of painings on a variety of subjects and in several different styles....including acrylic, watercolour, pen and watercolour, mixed media. Many of those paintings are now in other people's homes, as far away as Anglesea, Sydney, Brisbane, Scotland and Uganda.

As a way of keeping our memory alive...and as a way of sharing these images with family and friends, we have made cards of over 120 of those paintings. We have matched them with a coloured envelope and wrapped them in a transparent package.
They can be bought at the price, unchanged , of $2.50 each or $10 for five. Over the years we have produced over 4000 cards and there is still a demand from family, friends and local shoppers for more.

They are broadly divided into the categories of FLOWERS, FRUIT, LANDSCAPE, SEASCAPE, VICTORIA MARKET, PEOPLE, TOWNS, SHOPS AND CAFES IN CARLTON.

Nearly all the cards can be found in the archives section of this web site and if you wish to have some we can supply them at fairly short notice. I always enjoy sharing the fruits of Margaret's creativity in this way.

IS THERE ANY BODY OUT THERE?

2010-09-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

For several years we have been posting paintings and writings on this site as a way of sharing some of our retirement activities and thinking. Although it is called a blogspot, we were not intending to become bloggers in the conventional sense of the word. We have discovered that, although the programme we use invites comments, it is actually quite a complex process to make a comment and only a couple of people have done so.

However, from time to time we are pleasantly surprised to discover that people do visit the site and we have been encouraged by their comments to continue to post some of what we write and paint.

If you are one of those people who visits the site and who would like us to continue with our posts, a short message on email would help us to know a little more about our audience.

Our email address is macmarg@optusnet.com.au

THE FOURTH ABSTRACT

2010-09-28T18:04:00.000-07:00

Earlier postings have shown three of the four large abstract paintings Margaret completed this year. Here is the fourth one, titled EXUBERANCE, which was one of the first paintings sold at Marg's recent exhibition.

HARVESTING FOG

2010-09-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

What a great title for a poetry book! It's over thirty years since Julie Perrin introduced us to Luci Shaw's poems in Listen to the Green
I recently requested our local library to buy Luci's latest poetry book,Harvesting Fog, published this year, and I highly recommend it. It is available at the Carlton Library in Rathdowne Street.

ABSTRACT NUMBER 3

2010-09-14T13:15:00.000-07:00

Here it is, a painting titled UNMANIFESTED.

A SPIRITED CONVERSATION

2010-09-14T13:03:00.000-07:00

Early in my retirement I wrote the following piece of fiction. I am still exploring these issues.
WARNING-----THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION

A SPIRITED CONVERSATION …….. AT A REUNION OF SCRIPTURE UNION CAMP LEADERS 40 YEARS ON !

Alan: Hi, Jim. Are you still serving the Lord in a lively church? I’ve heard some terrible things about the way some of our old friends have been seduced by the culture. They tell me that Horace is divorced and remarried to a non-Christian and that one of his kids has gone off the rails and become a lesbian.

Jim: Hello, Alan. Wow, where do I begin? I’ve been through some deep waters over the years and I’m afraid I don’t see the world so clearly in black and white as I used to.

Alan: Sorry to hear that , Jim. I’ll pray for you that the Lord will bring you back to the truth. Come to think of it, you were always a bit lukewarm about witnessing, weren’t you?

Jim: Yes, you’re right. I never enjoyed going out and telling people that without Christ in their life they had no hope or meaning. So often the people we were ‘witnessing to” seemed to have it more together than we did.

AT THIS POINT ALAN SPOTTED ANOTHER OLD FRIEND FROM THE PAST AND STRODE OFF, LEAVING JIM TO PONDER THEIR CONVERSATION.
ANOTHER OLD CAMP LEADER, GEOFF, CAME UP TO JIM AND BEGAN TO TALK.

Geoff: Couldn’t help hearing some of that! I’m with you. I’m glad we’re not still trapped in that Christian triumphalism that knows it has all the answers and writes everyone else off. They remind me of a verse that used to be on a billboard at the North Melbourne railway station . It was an obscure text that used to puzzle me. Something about Jesus speaking this parable to those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous but despised others.

Jim: Thanks for the encouragement, Geoff. I couldn’t go back to where we were in the 1950’s but I do from time to time think that it’s the Alans of this world, the people of conviction, who actually make a difference. We’re so reasonable, so rational, so much shaped by the Enlightenment, that we seem to have lost our passion. It was so much simpler when we were younger. And our own boys , now in their 30’s, are not involved with the church. I struggle with this, and I wonder what we did wrong.

Geoff: What makes you think it’s something you’ve done wrong? Don’t you think they’re still loved and cared for by God?

Jim: Sure! Indeed I think our experiences of our children’s lives has shaped our thinking quite a lot. Not least the way their studies have given them a different way at looking at the world. I used to think that everyone at least believed that there was such a thing as Truth, even if we disagreed about what Truth was, but in the way they talk now there is even doubt about the whole idea of universal truth or truths and they’re much more into questions of power and sorting out where the power relationships are and what flows from that. And that ties in with what I read the other day in a book called “The post evangelicals” where a Christian writer argues that people these days are not as interested in the meta-narratives like Christianity and Communism which provided a whole framework of thought that you could embrace with some sense of security. They’re more interested now in issues than in meta-narratives.

Geoff: We seem to have a lot in common, Jim. Let’s go and sit down and catch up with Helen and Jan. Do you remember when they did the cooking for us at Toolangi in 1962? I’ve caught up with them a bit in our local ecumenical Council and I think they’ve both done a lot of fresh thinking since then. Jan is now an Anglican minister working with the Turkish people in Brunswick, and Helen has been involved with the asylum seekers as well as doing some theological studies since Des died.. They might have something we can learn from.

Helen: Hi, Jim. Gooday, Geoff. Come and join us .We’re just trying to work through some of these multi-faith questions for the group next month.

Jim: The way I see it is that we’re all looking to the same God , even if we have different understandings….a bit like the idea of people climbing a mountain from different directions. The closer you get to the top, the closer you get to God and also to one another. If we could only sit down and discuss what we have in common we’d soon realise that we are on about the same things. The problem is we concentrate too much on our differences.

Jan: Jim, that’s what I used to think when I began to grapple with this question, but now I’m right on the other side. I’ve started to realise that it’s terribly patronizing to say to our Moslem and Jewish friends that we really don’t have much that divides us….they want me to talk about those things that we see differently and one of them put to me the view that we are more likely to encounter God and find genuine reconciliation when we focus on our distinctive doctrines and differences and look for some new light together that might transcend our current understanding.

Helen: I guess it depends on how concerned we are to maintain our own position. I’ve raised this at the Theological Hall and I found that most of the staff and students were trying to be sympathetic to what I was saying but they seemed unwilling to let go of their basic conviction that we must stand firm to our creeds and confessions. One of the lecturers suggested that if the best minds of the last two millenia had grappled with these matters, I was being a trifle presumptuous in knocking the conclusions they’d come to….. and I felt well and truly squashed!! I seethed for a couple of hours, but on the long drive home I cooled down a little and acknowledged that I was a fairly ignorant theological student [and a woman as well!] and that I needed to become a bit more humble.

Geoff: Nonsense. You’ve as much right as your professors to be pursuing these things. If only they could get out from their ivory towers they might become a bit more sensitive to the questions you’re asking! It seems to me that it’s the laity who are freer to ask the questions because we’re not burdened so much with a sense of loyalty to the institution. Is it just possible that it might therefore be a bit easier for us to hear some new answers, to perceive what God might be doing in the world and even in the church?

Jim: That makes sense to me. I worry that I’m being unfaithful to Christ when I entertain these sorts of thoughts, but I’ve tried to be honest in my thinking and I’ve come to the view that it is my attempt to be obedient to Jesus’ teaching which compels me to not only reach out to the Other, but to see in them the face of Christ and to allow that He may well have things for me to learn from them.

Jan : That resonates with me and my work among the Turkish people. And I’m interested the way you mention the Other. [You do seem to be talking about the Other with a capital O.] I’ve been struck with how much of Jesus’ ministry is with the Outsider, the people on the edge, and also how the Old Testament has so much to say about our attitude to the stranger in our midst. I think when I began this work I saw it as an opportunity to witness and to perhaps see them converted to my faith.
While this has sometimes occurred, I’m not nearly as clear now that this is necessarily a sign of success.

Geoff: Our son is at University and he is talking a lot about some of the post-modern theory that refers to the Other. He has been looking at Australian history and doing a thesis on the way in which we have been so successful in defining our national identity in a way which excludes so many…. the indigenous people, the Chinese, women, gays and lesbians and now of course the people from the Middle East and Afghanistan

Helen: Yes, and this business about the children overboard and the Tampa just reminds us of how close to the surface these attitudes still are. Do you remember the comment “We decide who comes into this country.” I was really sickened by that comment and I wondered how my son’s aboriginal friends would have felt about it.

Jim: To get back to matters of multi faith…… I’m sure that we are called by Jesus to be open to the Other whether it’s another skin colour, another nationality, another religion….but I still stumble over how to reconcile this openness to the Other with verses like “I am the Way, the Truth, The Life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” Or Peter’s claim : “there is no other name under Heaven by which you must be saved.” Is Jesus the only way to God? Am I simply rationalizing my antipathy to witnessing by softening my attitudes and becoming a bit wishy-washy in my beliefs? Have I been so conformed to the world that I can no longer hear the transforming word of God? There’s no way I could ever be like Alan with his certainty and insensitivity, but there must be some gracious people around who haven’t given up on the uniqueness of Christ for salvation.

Jan: I’m not trying to be smart, Jim, but what do we mean by salvation these days? I’m not sure that we quite understand the idea it seeks to convey? Do we mean something to do with our eternal destiny? Do we mean something about quality of life here and now? Do we mean a person’s relationship with God?

AT THIS POINT THEYWERE JOINED BY BRIAN,WHO HAD SPENT A NUMBER OF YEARS OVERSEAS AS A CHURCH HISTORIAN.

Brian: Forgive me for intruding, but I couldn’t help hearing your discussion. I can understand how you’re thinking , and I’ve seen those views expressed a lot. Samuel Angus, a NSW Presbyterian, was saying that sort of thing in the 20’s and attracted quite a following but the Presbyterians launched proceedings against him for heresy.
Not long after, scholars began to get excited about the way Karl Barth was drawing a distinction between The Word and the other religions. What you need to do is to recognize that we have a revealed faith . Once you accept the fact of Revelation you can put Reason in its proper place and see the supremacy of our Faith. You don’t seem to realise just how much the Western world has been shaped by its faith in Reason.

Jim: Yes, I actually have been thinking about that, but I have a strong sense that our reason is a gift of the Creator God, and it’s my reason that is leading me to ask these questions because they seem to follow from what I know of Jesus’ life and teaching.

AT THIS POINT THE CONVERSATION WAS INTERRUPTED BY THE MASTER OF CEREMONIES, WHO THANKED EVERYONE FOR COMING AND SAID HOW HAPPY HE WAS THAT SO MANY OF THE THOSE GATHERED WERE HOLDING FAST TO THE FAITH !!!

THE GROUP WE’VE BEEN LISTENING TO EXCHANGED NAMES AND ADDRESSES AND, CONTRARY TO SOME EXPECTATIONS, IT DID MEET AGAIN ………….

NEXT TIME, BRIAN, HELEN, JIM, JAN AND GEOFF MET, TOGETHER WITH JAN’S HUSBAND DEREK AND JIM’S WIFE ANGELA.
THEY COVERED MUCH OF THE SAME TERRITORY, BUT ADDED SOME MORE QUESTIONS.

Derek: As you know, I’ve spent years as a psychiatrist, and a lot of my clients have been Christians, with not a few casualties fleeing from the church. I’m wondering now whether we take enough notice of how a person’s faith is shaped by her personality. Dogmatic types tend to stay dogmatic even when they totally change their religious beliefs. I had one client who threw over his conservative evangelicalism, which he had espoused with great enthusiasm for years. Now he is a convinced secular humanist and he’s pushing those ideas just as dogmatically as he used to present his fundamentalist Christianity.

Jim: Yeah, I’ve sometimes wondered about that…. It’s the way we sometimes imply “I have an open mind and you must have an open mind like I do!!!” Someone said to me that the cult of the open mind is the most dangerous cliché of all. I stand convicted.

Angela: I’m concerned about what Brian was saying about reason and revelation. I’m increasingly liberal in my theological outlook, but I sometimes wonder whether we’re all simply fallible humans reaching out for meaning and whether God is simply a sort of projection of our highest hopes and ideals. I don’t really want to believe that, because I think I’ve had some genuine encounters with the Living One, but I know how easy it is to fool ourselves.

Helen: With all our talk about building bridges with people of other faiths , I’m in total agreement. But I’ve been thinking about something Des said to me not long before he died last year. We were looking back over the things we’d put our energy into over the years, and we got talking about our enthusiasm for the ecumenical movement and the World Council of Churches. Des said, “ I wish we had put less time into those interminable meetings trying to sort out our theological and ecclesiological differences. Somehow I think we’d have been more use to God and to one another if we had focused more on engaging with the problems of the world and building closer relationships with other churches in the context of shared action for the healing of the world. ”
I wonder whether the same principle might apply to our links with our Moslem and Hindu and Buddhist brothers and sisters.

USING THE CONVERSATIONS ABOVE, YOU MIGHT FIND IT HELPFUL TO MAKE A LIST OF THE ISSUES AND QUESTIONS THAT HAVE APPEARED, EITHER STATED OR IMPLIED, IN THE MIDST OF THOSE CONVERSATIONS.

IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE CHARACTERS ARE NOT LIVING PEOPLE BUT I WOULD ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THERE ARE PARTS OF ME IN ALL OF THEM!

Mac Nicoll March 2002

AN ACT OF LOVE

2010-09-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

Our next door neighbour recently shared this story with us. Janet is a very active, thoughtful and observant widow in her mid 80's.

One cold grey morning last week I was waiting at a bus stop as the chilly wind whistled down Lygon Street. As I shivered, an ample African woman in layers of multicoloured clothes put her arm around me and sheltered us both with her shawl. When the bus came, I climbed in, warmed both physically and metaphorically by this act of kindness from a newer Australian than I. I shall probably never see her again, but the memory will last.

Janet Horn, 2010

ANOTHER ABSTRACT PAINTING

2010-09-09T11:37:00.000-07:00

The second of Marg's abstract paintings is titled FORMLESSNESS.

ANOTHER STYLE

2010-09-05T12:49:00.000-07:00

At her rcent exhibition, Margaret showed four large abstract paintings which she has completed in recent months. They are titled, in order of completion, UNCREATED, FORMLESSNESS, UNMANIFESTED, EXUBERANCE. Here is the first, UNCREATED.

A REMARKABLE SATURDAY MORNING

2010-08-29T11:18:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday morning, Marg's latest exhibition of art work commenced, opened by our friend Bev Campbell. With nearly 100 people gathered in the North Carlton gallery, Artastic, Bev spoke the following words.....

The lines of life are varied,
as are roads, and as are the boundaries of mountains.
Whatever we are here, a god can complement there
with harmony and perpetual reward and peace.
Friederich Hölderlin

It’s my great pleasure to welcome you all here this morning, on behalf of Mac, and particularly Marg. We’re here in support of them and to honour not only the art that surrounds you, but also Marg as artist.

I want to begin with a story about a German poet called Friederich Hölderlin. He lived from 1770-1843 and has been described as the greatest German romantic poet. In a town called Tübingen in the south-west corner of Germany there is a building in the old part of town called Hölderlin’s Turm or Hölderlin’s Tower. Hölderlin had a difficult adult life with health and money problems and in 1805, after various other events, he was taken in by the Zimmer family and given a room in the tower. Although he had river views he was actually kept prisoner in this tower for thirty-six years. But the amazing thing about his incarceration was that his creative spirit was not defeated and he continued to write poetry for the rest of his life.

Living with illness is a bit like living in Hölderlin’s Tower. Marg has been living with illness for some time and it has restricted her movements and limited her lifestyle. But, amazingly, like Hölderlin, this metaphorical prison has not limited her artistic endeavours or her creativity; today’s exhibition is testament to that.

Any artistic pursuit is a mysterious combination of talent and discipline. Artists of all kinds need both these in good measure to succeed as artists. Marg’s work shows that she is able to bring these two gifts together to produce work of great artistic competence and creativity. The art that you see here today also shows that, in times of personal adversity, Marg is prepared to take risks as an artist and experiment with new genres. There is a risk in exhibiting one’s paintings, or in going public with any creative endeavour, and there is an even bigger risk in moving out of one’s comfort zone to try new things. These paintings reflect Marg’s true artistic nature as an artist - her willingness to put her work on public display and her readiness to try new styles.

One of Holderlin’s poems begins with the lines:
The lines of life are varied,
as are roads, and as are the boundaries of mountains.
The lines of Marg’s artistic life are indeed varied. The familiar and much loved lines of Marg’s creative achievements are here in this exhibition, in the colours and forms of her flower studies, in her fruit and vegetable scapes, in the light and shade of her city streetscapes and her landscapes. But you will also find in paintings such as Martha’s Garden lines reminiscent of the naïve tradition. In paintings like Ancient Door with Cat Flap, the lines are mere fragments, poetic hints of places and possibilities waiting to be explored. And there is a move in paintings such as Birdsong of the Heavens of new, untried lines And in the four large paintings, with names such as Uncreated, Formlessness and Unmanifested, Marg has taken a different direction in the lines of her artistic life. The paintings in this exhibition represent a diverse range of styles and lines.

We are pleased to be here to celebrate with Marg today. Thanks to Kate and Paul for mounting the exhibition and for hosting us this morning. Thanks to Mac for his work in bringing this exhibition to fruition. We know that behind every great woman there’s a great man. And especially to Marg, thank you for your artistic gifts. Congratulations on the body of work exhibited here on these walls.

Beverley Campbell August 2010

FROM A HOSPITAL WINDOW

2010-07-31T00:58:00.000-07:00

From the fifth floor window of 5 North at the Royal Women's Hospital in Parkville, here are some views that Margaret captured in her tiny sketch book.

THINKING ABOUT PRAYER

2010-07-31T00:34:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about prayer and helplessness.
Here are two quotations from writers who have helped me over the years.
I met the writings of O.Hallesby when I was at University in 1955.Forty years later I encountered the poems of Uniting Church minister,Ross Kingham.

UNKNOWING

Not knowing much about God
helps praying.

With the head God-words full
one is fooled
into thinking one is sated,
holy,
while the heart is shrivelled,
unloved,
neglected.

You need not know too much
of God
or think to have such knowledge,
to pray.

Ross Kingham in Images of the Soul, unpublished, 1992

As far as I can see,prayer has been ordained only for the helpless.....
I know very well that we offer many and beautiful prayers, both privately and publicly,without helplessness as the impelling power. But I am not at all positive that this is prayer. Prayer and helplessnesss are inseparable. Only he who is helpless can truly pray.

O. Hallesby in Prayer IVF Press 1948

MORE VIEWS FROM A HOSPITAL WINDOW

2010-07-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

The Royal Women's Hospital, now located in Flemington Road, next to the Royal Melbourne,has been an important part of our lives this year. During some of her stays at the hospital, Margaret has done some sketches from the fifth floor rooms where she has spent numerous days and nights. Here are some of them.

OF HOSPITALS AND GALLERIES

2010-07-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

Much has happened in our life since my last exhibition with Annie Finkelde in November 2008. About that time my ovarian cancer had returned and the last two years are something of a blur.
Our 1998 Mazda almost drives itself along Royal Parade to the Parkville precinct where we have spent so many hours in medical appointments …. visits to G.P., oncologists and other experts for consultations, scans, stress test, angiogram, blood tests, blood transfusion, hydration drips, injections for blood clots in the lungs…….At least, we muse, our living in Princes Hill has made easy these frequent visits. In the last six months I have had five spells in the Royal Women’s Hospital for dealing with cancer symptoms and three rounds of chemo-therapy, as well as numerous home visits from the wonderful staff of Melbourne Citymission Palliative Care Service and Royal District Nursing Service.
Enough of health issues!
In the midst of all this I have still been painting, learning about painting and thinking about painting. I have completed two series of larger paintings. Last year I produced six in the series, When I Consider The Heavens, some of which were hung at our church for several weeks and two of which have already sold.
The second series is four large abstract paintings, a marked departure from most of my previous work and I have enjoyed working with paint in this quite different way.
I have also completed a number of more typical smaller realist paintings in watercolour and acrylics and would like to exhibit these as well.
To give you an opportunity to catch up with us and to see these works, we have arranged for them to be exhibited at Artastic Gallery, 781 Nicholson Street, North Carlton, from Saturday, 28 August to Saturday, 4 September, 2010. Kate Carns, our friend, framer and gallery owner, is making available the whole gallery for the week.
On Saturday morning, 28th August, refreshments and classical guitar music will be offered and the exhibition will be formally opened about 10.45 Mac and I will aim to be at the gallery on both Saturday mornings, from 10.00 until 1.00. [when the gallery closes.] Artastic Gallery is also open on Monday 30 August, Wednesday 1st September, Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd from 10.00 until 5.00.
As in previous years, I will also have some paintings in the annual Creations at the Cato, held at the Victoria Artists Society building in Albert Street, East Melbourne, near St. Patrick’s Cathedral, running from August 12 to August 23, 2010, opening on the afternoon of Sunday 15August. The Spring exhibition will be showing upstairs.
We greatly appreciate the support and encouragement you have given me in my art work and hope you may find time to catch up with us in these coming months.
Cheers.
Marg

PUBLIC SPACE

2010-05-21T00:42:00.000-07:00

I HAVE read an excellent book on Church/State relations, by Os Guinness called The Case For Civility ( http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061353437/The_Case_for_Civility/index.aspx) , in which he argues for the need for the culture to have a place for discussion that is neither sacred space nor naked space. Guinness argues that both the religious right and the secular anti-religious left have got it wrong. He is arguing that the American founding fathers got it right and that their views are being distorted by current players in this age-long debate.
Guinness is speaking specifically to the U.S. situation but what he has to say is relevant for Australia and how we deal creatively with similar issues. Living in an inner city area with many African people of Islamic faith, I am interested in how we can find a common space for sharing our insights, our experiences, in a way that is respectful of difference and that looks for ways of contributing to the common good.
We need more discussion about the whole question of how we can be unashamedly disciples of Christ in a multi cultural society. For me this means holding a deep and basic respect for those who see things differently from the way I do. Last year we had in the Carlton community a second forum sponsored jointly by our Uniting Church minister and the Imam of the Horn of Africa settlers in the area, seeking to build stronger bridges of understanding. This seems to me to be a faithful way of following Jesus.
In Matthew 28:16-20 is it legitimate to say that Jesus is encouraging us to be about the task of making learners? [ discipuli was the word we learned in Year 8 Latin, meaning learners.] Is it too much to say that we are called to be fellow learners with the rest of humankind, sharing what we have learned and being open to the fact that this gracious God we know in Christ is actually also at work in the lives of all of God's creation?
I keep in the front of my Bible a prayer I stumbled upon some year ago, written by a wise minister: "God of understanding and giver of unity, teach me to know how to stand for truth yet never to damage those who disagree with my current interpretation of truth."
I guess that some would see my approach as compromising, weak, lacking in Christian conviction....but I am inclined to think that we are being drawn this way because we are responding to Jesus, his life and death and resurrection and the main emphasis of his teaching.
On a related point, I have just received a most moving document by Uri Avnery, former Knesset member and now a strong supporter of the Israelis and Palestinians who hold hands together to resist the aggressive behaviour of the political leaders in the Middle East.

MARGARET'S DRAWINGS

2010-05-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

In 1997, Peter Sanders, a Uniting Church chaplain, initiated a celebration of creativity in the Presbytery of Yarra Valley, where we were both working. We published a book of poems by people in the Presbytery, and Peter asked Margaret to provide some illustrations. Here are some of them.

SOME EARLY WORK

2010-05-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

Margaret has always loved drawing and painting. Although it is only in more recent years that she has taken her painting more systematically and seriously, there are glimpses of her talent and interest in all sorts of books and paper from earlier years. Here is a drawing of our hallstand at Paterson Street, probably done in the seventies or eighties.

MARGARET'S LATEST PAINTING

2010-05-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

A vase of irises captured Marg's attention some years ago. A photograph was taken. Several years later Marg has painted that vase of irises in watercolour.

FIFTY YEARS ON

2010-05-07T13:25:00.001-07:00

FIFTY YEARS ON

[This is a work of fiction]

It was in 1959 that we last met, sharing the leadership of a Boy’s Camp for a church group we belonged to. In those hours after we had the youngsters bedded down [in those days we actually expected them to do what we told them], he and I had often chatted in the cookhouse about our hopes for our lives, our understanding of faith, our serious desire ‘to know the will of God’ and to be faithful disciples. of Christ.

So, it was with some enthusiasm and not a little uncertainty about what we would still have in common when I accepted his invitation to lunch in a local restaurant just before Christmas.

After the normal exchanges where we each assured the other that we didn’t look a day older, we launched into a genuine and more honest sharing of our experiences, taking it in turns to contribute as we moved through the swinging sixties to the years of marriage, children, changing jobs, and on to the later stages of our careers, the directions our children had taken and how we were coping with the years of retirement

Four hours later the staff of the place were giving hints that they closed at 4.30, so we began to wind down and make plans to meet again..

I left with a range of impressions and feelings: pleasure at renewing an old friendship, and a certain wistful envy at the way in which his life seemed to have been so successful in sharing his faith, nurturing his children into an authentic adult faith and impressed by the clarity of his commitment to Christ and his confidence that his local church and denomination were doing great things for God. I also noted how little he seemed to have been confronted with the dilemmas that I had faced over those years and I found myself wondering how my own journey might have developed if we had moved into an established eastern suburbs church and I had continued teaching in the private school system.

I’ve inherited my mother’s ability to rationalize, so it wasn’t long befor I found myself pondering upon the extraordinary range of beliefs and practices which can be found within any faith and how much richer we are because of this extraordinary diversity.

How then is it possible, I mused on my morning walk, for us to affirm this diversity yet still build and maintain bridges with one another when the differences seem so fundamental.

Indeed I want to go beyond the connections between people of the same faith and ask the same question about differences of faiths and cultures.

Why do we need to have us and them?

In our early days , it was us, the protestants and them the catholics.

It was even a matter of divisions in protestantism between us, the evangelicals and them the liberals who didn’t really seem to accept our view of the atonement and our respect for the Bible. At University we were the EU and they were the SCM. We barely knew one another and yet we were fellow disciples of Christ.

The excitement about the ecumenical movement with its drawing together of various denominations and beginning to talk with catholics was a step along the way, but it was still us, the Christians and them the other religions or those who had no religion at all.

There is now a growing focus on what is called the interfaith movement and it is time to ask where that may be heading.. At its best, I believe this is a very significant movement, particularly where it recognizes that in this global village people who care about justice and peace need to support one another and not let their particular religious faith become a hindrance to the pursuit of a more just and peaceful world.

Some take the view that one day there will be one great religion which embraces the best of all faiths . However I am much more drawn to he view that in interfaith matters we will always see some things in a different light and we will always express our theology differently but the very sharing our lives and faith more intimately carries the great promise of enriching our understanding of our own faith. For example , I have a friend who attended a series of lectures on Buddhist existentialism and who as a result dug deeper into his own understanding of his Christian faith and began with great profit to read Meister Eckhart’s reflections.

It helps sometimes, when we get caught up in the us and them mentality to ask if we believe God loves us more than them. Occasionally in the Hebrew scriptures we are left with the uncomfortable feeling that their God is on their side at the expense of the others. The God who sometimes features in the Psalms is attributed with characteristics that are not consistent with the God whom we encounter in Jesus. Is it so difficult to accept that God is still being revealed to humankind and that we would do better and be more in keeping with the spirit of Christ if we rejected the idea that God is more on our side than on their side, whoever they may be?

So, I’m looking forward to our next meeting at that local restaurant and I hope that together we may explore more deeply some of these issues that emerged at our December meeting.

Mac Nicoll

13/01/2009

A SIGNIFICANT DATE

2010-05-01T02:36:00.000-07:00

Today is May 1, 2010

Twenty years ago , on May 1, 1990 I began my term as Yarra Valley Presbytery Minister.

Ten years ago, on May 1, 2000, I began life as a person retired from paid employment. To celebrate the occasion, Margaret and I drove to Yering Station, Yarra Glen, where we enjoyed a delightful lunch.

Today is May, 1, 2010 and we look back on a most enriching decade living as retirees in McIlwraith Street, Princes Hill and finding opportunities to do some new things and learn much about ourselves, the community and the world in which we belong.

In the weeks ahead we hope to tell and show some of our retirement experiences in this blog spot.

A MOST ENGAGING BOOK

2010-05-01T00:45:00.000-07:00

I have just finished reading Marilynne Robinson's novel HOME. It is one of the finest novels I have read and I warmly recommend it to you.

Salley Vickers, whose work you may have read, says of HOME...."The heart of this utterly absorbing, precisely observed, marvellous novel is the fumblimg inadequacy of love, its inability to avert our terrible capacity to wound and maim, not even but especially, those nearest and dearest to us."
Another reviewer says "The beauty of HOME is that it does not offer the counterfeit currency of certainty but proffers the under-valued coin of hope."

IS THAT BATTERY POINT ?

2010-03-13T12:31:00.000-08:00

Yes, the painting below is based on a photo from a retirement trip to Tasmania.

HAVE YOU BEEN TO HOBART?

2010-03-13T12:21:00.001-08:00

This painting of a street in Battery Point,looking towards the Derwent Estuary, is based on a photo taken on one of our retirement trips to Tasmania.

AN ANCIENT DOOR WITH A CAT FLAP

2010-03-11T22:32:00.000-08:00

One of our relatives, a keen photographer, took a photo of an old door made of wood and iron, during a holiday in the Cinque Terres. This is Marg's painting from that print.

WHEN WE WERE YOUNG

2010-03-10T01:12:00.000-08:00

I remember when ..................
I was a student at Lowther Hall when Arthur Stubbs and I were the only boys in the class and the school suggested to our parents that we should leave for another school. It was time, and soon after we were enrolled at Essendon Grammar School, where I spent the next eight years. The reason for being at a mainly Girls’ school was the fact that this was in the early 1940’s, and our parents wanted us at school with our sisters because there were plans to evacuate Essendon children to the Dandenongs and our parents wanted us to be together there in the evacuation area.
Talk of evacuation must seem strange to the next generation, but it was no small thing then. We had haversacks packed and ready, because there was a realistic fear that Australia would be invaded by the Japanese [we did not know then how serious the Darwin bombings had been]. It was particularly important for children in the Essendon- Footscray areas to be ready because we were close to the Aerodrome and the Munitions factory, which would be prime targets in the event of enemy air raids.

Speaking of enemy air raids reminds me of the precautions that we had to take to prepare for aerial attack. We had to dig trenches in our backyards. Dad did the hard work, but we have some film footage showing me being his little helper, at the age of 5 or 6. That trench was about six feet deep, it was covered by earth resting on corrugated iron, and in wet weather it would become very muddy. Later on Dad bought an above ground shelter built of curved concrete and located in the fernery between the wash house and Wilsons’ fence. Each community had a voluntary group of helpers, known as Air Raid Wardens, who wore tin hats marked with the bold, black letters A.R.P. They had responsibility for enforcing blackouts, for informing people about defence requirements and for running training sessions on the Essendon Oval. We have a film of one of these training occasions and it always reminds me of Dad’s Army. I still have a vivid memory of one morning at home hearing our neighbour, Mrs. Wilson, calling out , “They’ve come, they’ve come!!.” This outburst was occasioned by some anti aircraft shots being fired at a single unidentified plane which was feared to be an enemy intruder. We scurried for the trench, but the fear soon passed. It later turned out that it was a friendly plane, but it must have neglected to conform to some established protocol.

As I look back over some of the books I was reading and drawings I was doing at that time, I am struck by the concentration upon aeroplanes and bombs and bullets. There are Spitfires and Hurricanes and Flying Fortresses taking on the German Junkers and Heinkels and Messerschmidts and lots of fiery explosions. No doubt my interest was quickened by the fact that during the war we had, from time to time, two R.A.F. men staying with us during their leave. Don McKenzie was a member of ground staff and Barras Todd was a pilot. What an exciting experience for a little 6 year old boy. Indeed ,what an experience for the whole family!

A VERANDA VIEW

2010-03-07T11:39:00.000-08:00

Margaret and Mac have just returned from five refreshing days at Inverloch. It was a good break after a somewhat distressing month of bad health for Marg, and we returned a little more healthy and hopeful.

Here are two glimpses of the view from our veranda, one a painting by Marg [at noon] and the other a photo by Mac [at dawn]

A SPRING BOUQUET

2010-01-30T13:38:00.000-08:00

Margaret's first painting for 2010 uses pastel and acrylic to portray a collection of nasturtiums, daffodils and daisies.

A FINE BOOK

2010-01-23T18:51:00.000-08:00

Eight years ago, I joined a book group commencing at the Carlton Library. We meet each momth and have read about eighty books. It's always interesting to hear the reactions of the nine or ten who make up the group. Over the years we have got to know one another well and it is sometimes possible to predict fairly accurately how individuals will react. But this is by no means always the case.

This month's book is THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS. by Kiran Desai. I started reading it last month and after ten pages was totally un-engaged. A friend's reaction was similar. However, I have a strong sense of obligation to read the prescribed text, so a few weeks ago I started again, reading more slowly and taking more care to identify the various characters, who are introduced with glimpses but who are not easy to know well.
I continued in that manner and slowly began to feel a bit more involved. By page 200 I was beginning to enjoy the story By page 300, I was deeply involved, fascinated with the way Desai had woven a number of different personal journeys into a tapestry of colonial hisory, Indian geography, immigrant life in U.S.A., lonely adolescence lived with a withdrawn grandfather and a host of other matters, some global and others exquisitely local and almost microscopic.

When I finished, at page 324, I sat a in stillness, a little stunned, and realised how appropriate was the title and how extraordinarily well Desai had painted a whole set of pictures of people experiencing loss. I was left with a certain sadness tinged with an appreciation of the beauty of her writing. I want to read more of her work.

A DECEMBER CELEBRATION...AND SOME MEMORIES

2010-01-18T19:13:00.000-08:00

FROM THE CARLTON HOUSING ESTATE.

On a December Friday evening in Carlton, during the Parliament of World Religions in Melbourne, an unusual event was staged on the lawns beside the local Uniting Church, which is on the same block as three very large high rise Department of Housing towers.
John Evans, the UCA minister and Omar Farah, a local Somalian Moslem leader, organized a gathering to demonstrate the diversity of religious backgrounds of people who live and work on the Estate.
Following a barbecue, a group of present and former locals shared something of their faith and their experiences of living in a multi-faith setting. Speakers represented Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism and of particular significance for me was the presence of Malcolm Cormack, an artist from the hills, who was our minister when we first arrived in Carlton as a young couple in 1965. At that time, Malcolm, his wife and three sons lived on the 15th floor of one of the towers and Malcolm made a strong contribution to community building on the Estate.
I remembered how in the 1960’s, a group of Albanian Moslems had bought property in North Carlton and how some of the locals were upset and opposed to the plans to build a mosque there, in Drummond Street. Malcolm spoke of the attempts that had been made in those early days to establish a spirit of mutual support among residents and I remembered how strongly he had argued for the right of our Moslem newcomers to build their place of worship
When I sat on the grass on the Estate on that Friday evening in December, among a mixed group of young and old, rich and poor, people of our faith, people of other faiths and people of no faith, I was deeply moved to sense that at least, in a small way, we as a community in Carlton have made some progress in our openness to the stranger and the newcomer in our midst.
Earlier last year, members of the Carlton community were invited to attend the Mosque to help to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its opening. On that occasion I had an opportunity to speak with the chief Imam in Australia, Sheik Fehmi, and to inform him of the role that our minister, Malcolm Cormack, had played at that time of local opposition. His appreciation was evident. Sheik Fehmi is a friend of our former Moderator Rev Jason Kioa, who has worked hard to build good relations with our Moslem brothers and sisters in Melbourne.

The photo shows Malcolm Cormack speaking to the gathered group of Carlton residents on the evening we celebrated the diversity of faiths and ciltures on the local Housing Estate

Church of All Nations, A Uniting Church congregation, has provided a welcome to people of many cultures and faiths, and a number of these people have been linked with our CAN community through its welfare and community building activities. An article I wrote last year [entered on this site in March,2009] spoke of the employment programme and of the strong connections between an Eritrean Christian woman and and an Eritrean Moslem woman who are neighbours on the Estate.

LETTER BOXES AGAIN

2010-01-18T18:53:00.000-08:00

In September, 2009, I wrote some reflections on letter boxes I have encountered.
On my most recent tour of the area's letter boxes, in December,2009, I found myself designing in my head the perfect letter box, and I realised that our own box fell rather short of my ideal.
The perfect letterbox should allow the one delivering to insert the mail with one hand ,without having to hold open the box with the other. It should be large enough to hold large envelopes without them having to be folded. It should be safe in wet weather, because soggy mail brings lettle joy. What other qualities would youi add tho my list?
With our Christmas mail we received a card from friends who had read our www.nicollprintandpaint.blogspot.com website and who sent a copy of their letter box in a north-eastern suburb of Melbourne. i enclose a copy and ask you to consider its merits. I am impressed. I wonder where we might buy one and how it could possibly be fitted into our front fence!

A THING OF BEAUTY IS A JOY FOREVER

2009-11-26T16:19:00.000-08:00

Margaret has recently completed these paintings.

A CHILTERN VIEW

2009-11-21T17:12:00.000-08:00

Here is another of Margaret's paintings, painted during a time when we were staying in a cabin on the edge of the lake at Chiltern. Marg spent the early years of her life at Chiltern where her father was in his first settlement as a Presbyterian minister.

The building in the distance is Lake View,the home of renowned Autralian novelist Henry Handel Richardson, author of, amomg other things, THE FORTUNES OF RICHARD MAHONY and THE GETTING OF WISDOM.

REFLECTIONS O F A RETIRED TEACHER

2009-11-21T16:54:00.000-08:00

On the way home from a conference on Secularism, in November 2009, I found myself thinking about an experience over 20 years ago and about this piece I then wrote for a Christian teachers magazine, NEXUS.

I had a good reason for using a nom de plume then.

A CHANGING VISION
or
AM I BECOMING A HERETIC?

I’m puzzled!

An older friend of mine, a fine Christian as well as a highly respected educationalist, made a comment which I would once have supported enthusiastically, but which now leaves me cold.

"Wouldn't it be great," he exclaimed, "if we had groups of fifteen or twenty teachers in schools, Christian teachers, meeting every fortnight at lunch time for prayer and fellowship!"

I didn't find that idea at all attractive; indeed I was surprised at the negative response I made. On reflection, my feelings are unchanged.

So why do I feel so uneasy about that genuine vision of people whom I admire and whose faith is so strong? Is there something wrong with my faith? Have I lost my love for God and my desire to see people become disciples of Jesus? Maybe that's the problem, but at the risk of being accused of rationalising, I want to explore some other possibilities.

As a Christian working in a government school, I look for ways of building bridges with colleagues, ways of affirming what we have in common, and the thought of meeting in school time on school property for some sectional interest, however worthy, seems to me a way of dividing rather than a way of drawing together. I would not be impressed by a group of Communists, or Moslems, or bird watchers, or radical educationists who drew apart at school to build one another up.

As a Christian working in a government school, I feel that my Christian influence is felt most as I go about the multitude of tasks I have, organizing extra classes, co-ordinating Mathematics, attending Curriculum meetings, teaching 20 periods in the classroom each week, doing yard duty, sipping morning coffee, encouraging the music staff, helping out at the staff-student games.

I'm happy to be known as a Christian and as I've grown older I've become less anxious about what people think about that. There are other Christian people on the staff but I don't know how many because I've never asked people. I suppose I have a special bond with some of those on the staff with whom I have a common faith, and from time to time we may talk about faith, but I'd hate to try to formalise that link in school time.

When I was younger, I used to worry about being a good witness My willingness to try to be a witness was great, but I fear I was far too conscious of my responsibility, far too preoccupied with witnessing. Paradoxically, as I have ceased to worry about witnessing, I think I've had more natural conversations about faith than when I was trying so hard.

On many issues we have common cause with those caring agnostics and atheists and people of other faiths. I want to see these issues as ways of affirming that God is at work, bringing in the Kingdom. I'm enjoying finding points of agreement with others, because I know that God is in there with us, and before us, bringing truth and light.

So, let's plunge in to the task at hand in our schools, looking for signs of the Kingdom springing forth, sharing ourselves with all our colleagues, learning to be real, learning to listen and to respect our colleagues' views, as well as to speak and share our own faith.

By all means, let's meet as Christian teachers, but let's do it after school hours, away from the school. Let's keep our schools as places where we actively seek to be reconcilers, to be affirming what we have in common with others, rather than what makes us different.

P.S . Although I am not an official member of A.T.C.F.(Vic.), I have a close friend who provides me with NEXUS and who shares his educational and Christian pilgrimage with me! We are, as it were, kindred spirits!

James Ledingham

[from NEXUS , 1987]

A VISIT TO 781 NICHOLSON STREET

2009-11-15T14:47:00.000-08:00

You may have been to Artastic Gallery for an art exhibition in recent years. It can be found on the western side of Nicholson Street, North Carlton, between Pigdon and Park Streets. It is No. 781 Nicholson Street.

Kate Carns is the Gallery owner and she has a fine reputation as a picture framer; a growing number of Victorian Artists Society artists have their work framed by Kate.

Artastic now has four artists whose work is always on show there, and every three or four months new displays are hung. The artists represented are Ted Dansey, Annie Finkelde, Nell Frysteen and Margaret Nicoll.

Margaret's latest display includes some large watercolours of people as well as eight smaller watercolours of fruit and vegetables, first painted on Marg's regular painting mornings at the Queen Victoria Market. These will remain on show until next February.

Artastic Gallery is open on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays from 10.00 until 5.00 and on Saturday mornings.

CARDS FOR SENDING TO FRIENDS

2009-11-15T13:28:00.000-08:00

Over the last five years, we have sold several thousand cards of Margaret's paintings. There are cards of flowers, people, streetscapes, seascapes, landscapes, still life.

The price has remained unchanged, still $2.50 a card or $2.00 a card if you buy five or more.

We can be contacted on 9388 1435

WHEN I CONSIDER THE HEAVENS 6

2009-11-15T13:10:00.000-08:00

This is the sixth in the series and it is now adorning the easel in our living room. It is titled BRIGHT MORNING CLOUD.

SOME OF MY FRIENDS ARE POETS

2009-11-06T22:26:00.000-08:00

The poetry book, SOME OF MY FRIENDS ARE POETS has now been distributed to over 200 people both in Victoria and interstate. Copies are still available for $15, and the net proceeds are going to the Church of All Nations Community Support Programme, which has already received $ 460 from the project.

You can obtain a copy by ringing Mac Nicoll on 9388 1435 or by email on
macmarg@optusnet.com.au

THE LATEST PAINTING

2009-10-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

Last week, Marg began and finished another painting in the series WHEN I CONSIDER THE HEAVENS. This one, number 5, is called 'A Cloud of Witnesses.' The key figure is David Unaipon, the indigenous man whose face is on the $50 note. Unaipon once stayed with the Price family when Marg was young and she remembers the time vividly because her father, having invited Unaipon to speak at his church, was in trouble with some parishioners who did not approve of having an aboriginal man in the pulpit.

When I Consider the Heavens 4

2009-10-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

Early in October, 2009, Margaret completed the fourth in this series. It is now being framed and will be hanging soon at Artastic Gallery, 781 Nicholson Street, North Carlton, along with other recent paintings of Margaret's. The Gallery is open on Saturday mornings and on each weekday except for Tuesdays.

PAINTINGS FROM THE VICTORIA MARKET

2009-09-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

FROM THE VICTORIA MARKET

2009-09-21T10:43:00.000-07:00

For most of our retirement years, Margaret has joined a group of friends each Tuesday morning at the Victoria Market. There, having done the shopping, they meet in the Food Hall, or [in summer] in one of the outdoor cafes, where they sketch and paint some of the fruit they have bought.

Sometimes Marg comes home with a completed painting. More frequently,she will work on the painting at some later date. At times these paintings are taken to our framer, Kate Carns, at Artastic Gallery.

In the next blog you will see some of these market paintings Some of these paintings will soon be on permanent exhibition at Artastic.

LETTER BOXES

2009-09-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

LETTER BOXES

What diversity ! What mysteries ! What struggles between conscience and idealism !

Recently I spent several mornings and an occasional afternoon delivering brochures to North Carlton letter boxes. This is not the first time I have undertaken this task and it has left me musing about the extraordinary range of local letter boxes and pondering the question of how much a letter box can tell you about the people who inhabit these North Carlton homes.
Some houses seem to have no letter box at all. Is this because the owners wish to avoid the inevitable junk mail that result from having a letter box or do they perhaps expect the postman to slide the mail under their front door?
Some letter boxes are elusive. They may be hidden in a mass of hedge, they may be sitting on the ground detached from their original moorings or occasionally they can be found lurking in some narrow slot near the side wall.
Some families have decided to retain the old letter slot in the wooden front door, where you need to open the front gate, [usually one that creaks loudly in the early morning stillness] then creep up the path hoping that you are not disturbing those asleep in the front room, push open the flap, slide in the brochure and hear it land with a gentle thump on the polished wooden floor that you have glimpsed through the slot.
There is a particular type of letter box, often at the most renovated and attractive houses, that is my special bugbear. It is that box with a metal flap over the slit in the box. It is one thing to push open a flap but this modern trap has a spring attached and it requires two strong hands to enable me to push open the flap, hold it open and then insert the brochure with the other hand, always with the fear that the spring will snap shut before my hand is withdrawn.
A major problem these days is deciding which families are willing to receive your brochure. It is from the local Church of All Nations, passing on the latest information about the work of its support agency and also giving people the opportunity to contribute to the Christmas appeal. One cannot assume that everyone wants to receive this particular brochure and whether we have a right to slip it into a letter box with a NO JUNK MAIL sign on it.
I ask myself whether this is junk mail and decide that it is definitely not. Junk mail is the sort of mail that is simply advertising local shops and services. No, this is important local information I tell myself.
But what about the NO JUNK MAIL sign that adds the startling warning
THE JUNK MAIL WATCHDOG IS WATCHING YOU
For some reason, when I see this sign I think of Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles. Yes, I do slip a brochure in the box but I do so hurriedly and with bated breath lest some great mastiff should suddenly emerge from the nearby bushes and spring upon me.
The next problem is the sign that requests
NO ADVERTISING MATERIAL.
Here I have to struggle with my pedantic conscience. Is this brochure advertising anything. Well yes it is… and yet is it really advertising or rather communication of local information ?
Again I take a liberal view and open the letter box.
There is however one notice, usually a yellow notice with red print, that requests AUSTRALIA POST ONLY. When I see this sign, no amount of linguistic gymnastics can soften the unequivocal nature of this demand. I pass on without leaving a brochure…. with one exception. I have a local friend whose letter box carries this sign and I know he is a generous supporter of our welfare work, so I take the risk here although not without a certain prick of conscience that I am ignoring his specific request.
Can I learn anything about the occupiers from the nature of their letter boxes and the signs attached? Probably not, but this twice annual early morning trek continues to entertain me as I face the baffling diversity of the location of the boxes and the nature of these warning signs. If only they knew what they were missing !

Mac Nicoll

CATO V IS COMING

2009-07-27T21:03:00.000-07:00

NEXT WEEKEND, MARGARET IS EXHIBITING SIX PAINTINGS IN THE ANNUAL CREATIONS AT THE CATO.
On the attached illustration you will note that it runs from next Thursday until the following Wednesday morning ... July 30 to August 5. We will be there on Saturday afternoon for the opening and also on Thursday morning [30/7] and Sunday afternoon [2/8]. You are most welcome at any of the times listed on the card. There is no need to RSVP. We hope that you enjoy the wide range of style and subject matter. Nell Frysteen, who has taught all these artists, is also exhibiting her work in the upstairs gallery during th Cato exhibition.

MARGARET'S NEW DIRECTION

2009-06-29T21:58:00.000-07:00

In recent months, Marg has been taking a new approach to her painting. These three paintings may give a clue to what is happening. They all come under the general theme of words from Psalm 8
'When I consider the heavens ...'
The third one shows some characters having coffee at Victoria Market. The words written beside them are
'What is man that Thou art mindful of him?"

The second painting was completed at the time of the Black Saturday fires and it is titled 'Two Victorian Dawn Landscapes ... Feb 09 '

The first painting is called 'Birdsong in the Heavens'

THE POETRY BOOK

2009-06-14T12:20:00.000-07:00

Mac has produced a book of poems entitled SOME OF MY FRIENDS ARE POETS. It is a collection of 52 poems written by friends and it is now available for $15 from Mac.
He has printed it at home and simply used Office Works to do the final wire binding.
The net proceeds will go to Church ofAll Nations Community Support Programme which is funding some exciting employment projects for our African neighbours on the Carlton housing estate.
Publishing the book is a way of making available to a wider group of people the fine poems by friends that he has collected over the last 20 years.
The front and back covers show two of Margaret's paintings.

SOME NEW CARDS

2009-04-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

<
Here are three cards that we have made recently from Margaret's paintings.

They show
Clunes landscape
Abbotsford Convent
Mentone Hotel

A FELICITOUS COINCIDENCE

2009-03-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

A FELICITOUS COINCIDENCE

March 4th, 2009

The Wellspring Community encourages its members to pray for one another each month. Each year we are asked to write a brief note on some concerns we have.

In using the Wellspring prayer calendar on the fourth of March I read
Mac and Margaret Nicoll
Growing trust between Christians and Muslims in the local community.

A little later in the morning I attended our Wednesday morning Eucharist
[Church of All Nations is the Carlton Uniting Church], and at the end of the service our minister, John Evans, invited us to lunch when there was to be an informal gathering to celebrate the fact that the first seven graduates of our work training group [all Africans from the local housing estate] were to begin regular employment this week in the hospitality industry.

At 12.20, I jumped on my old Malvern Star and rode down Drummond Street to the Church, there to spend a wonderful hour of conversation with a cosmopolitan group of Carlton citizens. The honoured guests were
Amuna, Yirgalem, Nurhussen, Rawa, Ali, Lucy and Sheeba, all from Eritrea and Ethiopia. On this day they were enjoying the presentation of certificates, chatting with members of the congregation, grateful for the opportunity of ongoing employment and excited by the prospect of doing their first shifts the next week at Flemington Racecourse and the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

I was particularly moved as I listened to Yirgalem and Rawa telling of their friendship which has developed in their years on the Carlton Estate. Yirgalem is an Eritrean Christian and her friend Rawa is an Eritrean Moslem. Rawa explained that they are often calling at one another’s flats, sharing baby sitting and supporting one another. “We are like sisters,” she exclaimed.

In the afternoon, towards the end of the homework programme at the local library, I was talking with Ramla, the organizer of the programme. Ramla is a student at Victoria University and a faithful Moslem. She took from her bag a library book she had been reading and thanked me for encouraging her to read it. It was Karen Armstrong’s book Muhammad, a biography of the prophet which I had found most engaging and helpful when I encountered it several years ago.

Two weeks ago, at the official service to mourn the bushfire disaster, hosted by the ABC news presenter Ian Henderson, a group of faith community leaders spent a few minutes on the stage. Three of them [a Buddhist woman and two Christian men] brought a message of support on behalf of all the faith communities. When they had finished and were leaving the stage, Sheik Fehmi, the senior Imam in Australia, was looking fragile and in need of support. I was deeply touched as our Uniting Church Moderator, Jason Kioa, took Sheik Fehmi’s arm and walked slowly with him down the steps. This was a beautiful symbol of our unity in the midst of great sorrow.

This morning I reflected on the experiences that have prompted my interest in relations between Moslems and Christians.

Twenty five years ago I heard Anglican bishop, David Penman, speaking of his years in Lebanon and describing an experience of walking up the rickety old stairs in a Beirut lane to speak with a Moslem scholar to see what he, David, could learn about prayer. This striking image has stayed with me… David Penman, keen evangelical, returned missionary, a passionate Christian, asking a Moslem to teach him about prayer !

At the same period of my life I was teaching at the local High School with its wide range of nationalities and offering a middle school unit on Middle Eastern Studies. It seemed obvious that we should deal with Judaism, Christianity and Islam so I deepened my knowledge of Islam and for several years taught about the basic features of these three great faiths.

Alongside these experiences, possibly shaped by them, my theological pilgrimage was leading me to be much more open to the possibility of our gracious God being also present in the lives of people of other faiths and I had become increasingly troubled by our tendency to see the world in terms of Us and Them, whether it was Christians and Moslems, Catholics and Protestants, Labor and Liberal, public or private school,. radicals or conservatives….whatever the division, I wondered why we needed to define ourselves as over against others. I am still wondering.

Some people fear the growing links between Christians and Moslems because they suspect this involves a watering down of our own faith and convictions and that it marks a descent [horror of horrors] into relativism.

For me, the growing trust and openness between faiths is not a retreat from the good news of the Kingdom or the prelude to the development of some super world faith, but rather a response to the teaching of Jesus. Indeed one of the strengths of this movement is that, as we explore other faiths in a questing, open way, what often happens is a deepening of our understanding of our own faith. Furthermore it is as an opportunity to understand the other and to be involved together in matters of justice and peace with those from other faith communities.

Sometimes I am asked to lead the prayers of the people at our Sunday morning worship. Am I being faithful to Christ when I say these words ?

O God, we pray for people of our faith
for people of other faiths
for people of no faith

We are all created by you
All known by you
All loved by you.

Come Holy Spirit
Renew your whole creation.

In the name of Christ. Amen

You can see then why, on March 4th, I smiled with a deep sense of wonder and appreciation as I realised some Wellspring members would be thinking of us as we celebrated another tiny example of our reconciling God at work.

Mac Nicoll
March, 2009

MORE FROM THE BICYCLE TRACK

2009-03-12T22:46:00.000-07:00

I loved the wind
I had a wonderful relationship
with the wind
said the autumn leaf
Michael Leunig

Something we were withholding made us weak
Until we found it was our selves.

Robert Frost

ON THE BIKE TRACK

2009-02-15T14:35:00.000-08:00

Over the last decade, I have ridden my trusty old Malvern Star some thousands of kilometres, mainly along the North Carlton - North Fitzroy track and around Princes Park and Royal Park.
There is a certain comfort in the increasing familiarity with the tracks: there is also the joy of discovering changes to the scenery and asking why .
One of the most striking, also most enriching, changes has been the writing on the wall of the corner house with the long white wall, in that part of the track between Scotchmer Street and St. George's Road.

It used to be an ordinary side wall of a terrace house, adjacent to the bike track. Suddenly, it seemed, the wall was transformed into a gleaming white gallery, with some twenty beautifully scripted quotes from wise people and illustrated with pictures of Autumn leaves.
In one corner, an inscription gave a clue

In loving memory of Robina Steiner

6 April 1950 --- 29 Augusr 2005

Three years later, I know nothing more abut Robina Steiner or the person who created this wonderful memorial, but I have copied the quotations, I have been challenged and encouraged by them and each time I pass this wall I am delighted to see that no one has even dared to add or subtract from this extraordinary gift to the community.

In the coming weeks, I will add more of these wise sayings to this blog.

The frst saying appears above the memorial to Robina Steiner and can be seen in the picture above.

Walk around feeling like a leaf
Know you can tumble any second
Then decide what to do with your time

[Naomi Shinaz Nye]

AT THE VICTORIA MARKET

2009-01-06T14:50:00.000-08:00

For several years,Margaret has gone each Tuesday morning to the Vic. Market. She spends the first hour buying fruit and vegetables from her favourite stalls and then meets with a gropup of friends who paint together. Here are some of her work which has emerged fron those Vic. market visits.

THE DAWN OF A NEW YEAR

2009-01-02T09:11:00.000-08:00

WELCOME TO 2009

2009-01-02T08:50:00.000-08:00

On December 31, we had several conversations with friends and family about how to welcome the New Year. We encountered the good-natured comments of some when they heard we would be sound asleep at midnight. I made the point that I would be welcoming the New Year when January 1st dawned rather than in the middle of the night.

The accompanying photograph shows what I saw on an early morning bike ride on the Bicycle Track. For me, this wass the dawning of 2009, a memorable moment.

CHRISTMAS, DICKENS AND URIAH HEEP

2008-12-23T13:50:00.000-08:00

At Christmas, my mind has turned to my collection of models of characters from Dickens. I'm hoping to write about them next year. Here is a start, a piece inspired by that 'umble 'servant from David Copperfield named Uriah Heep.

ON HUMILITY

“I’m a very umble man, Master Copperfield.”

So spoke Uriah Heep, who was busy ingratiating himself with David’s patron and Uriah’s employer, Mr. Wickfield.

In what seems to be a classic case of guilt by association, Uriah Heep has given the virtue of humility a bad name.

Recall the occasion of their first meeting, through the eyes of David Copperfield.

“It was no fancy of mine about his hands, I observed; for he frequently ground the palms against each other as if to squeeze them dry and warm, besides often wiping them, in a stealthy way, on his pocket-handkerchief.”

“I am well aware that I am the umblest person going,” said Uriah Heep modestly; “let the other person be where he may. My mother is likewise a very umble person. We live in a numble abode, Master Copperfield, but have much to be thankful for.”

Can humility ever be rescued from this connection with Uriah Heep? Will there arise a generation who know not Dickens and who might give humility a chance for restoration?

Humility has not always had a bad press.

Shakespeare has Henry V saying, in his stirring speech before Agincourt,

“In peace there is nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility.”

The Christian Scripture of James speaks of “the humility that comes from wisdom.” Perhaps there is a clue here. Is humility a by-product of wisdom, not something to be sought for its own sake?

From time to time we hear great men and women being extolled for their humility, although the word is often prefaced with the adjective “genuine’ as if the speaker is anxious to separate the genuine from the counterfeit.

Robert Southey also makes the distinction in describing a character in The Inchcape Rock.

“He passed a cottage with a double coach-house,
A cottage of gentility!
And he owned with a grin
That his favourite sin
Is pride that apes humility.”

We all know that sin, because we see it in ourselves. Have you never responded to a positive comment with a self-effacing reply which was really an invitation to the other to intensify their affirmation?

Does not the very fact that people pretend to be humble suggest that humility is recognized as a desirable virtue for all humans to possess?

If so, how then can the word be rescued from Uriah Heep’s malign influence? If humility is a quality to cherish, how might we cultivate it?

For a start we can look for it not so much in words but in actions. We will discover that those most richly endowed with humility are least aware of the fact and we are not likely to help them by telling them that they are humble.

We can seek wisdom, accepting that humility is likely to be a by-product of that search. If we ponder on the wise people we know, we are likely to see in them the quality of humility which our predecessors valued so highly.

We can read, and go on reading. Novels, history, biography, exploration : these all open our eyes to a wider world of reality, inspire, encourage and challenge us and help to make us aware of our unique but modest place in the whole scheme of things.

We can cultivate a sense of wonder. In The Phoenix, D.H Lawrence has a character exclaiming,“When the wonder has gone out of a man he is dead. When all comes to all, the most precious element in life is wonder.” It is a very small step from wonder to humility.

Patrick White’s experience of humility came unexpectedly and shows the strong link between humility and the ability to laugh at oneself.

“During what seemed like months of rain, I was carrying a trayload of food to a wormy litter of pups down at the kennels when I slipped and fell on my back, dog dishes shooting up in all directions. I lay where I had fallen, half-blinded by rain, under a pale sky, cursing through watery lips a God in whom I did not believe. I began laughing, finally, at my own helplessness and hopelessness, in the mud and stench from my filthy old oilskin. It was the turning point. My disbelief appeared as farcical as my fall. At that moment, I was truly humbled.”

Uriah Heep has shown us what not to be.

Perhaps we should forget about humility, keep our sense of humour and seek wisdom with a sense of wonder.

THE PATCHWORK CUSHION

2008-12-17T14:40:00.000-08:00

This is a paintimg which Margaret began years ago and re-worked recently.

PAINTINGS OF PEOPLE

2008-12-17T09:35:00.000-08:00

Over the years, Margaret has done a number of paintings of people whch have adorned our walls. Some have been sold at exhibitions but we still have a couple at home.

NELLIE'S WINTER AGAIN

2008-12-17T09:29:00.000-08:00

Can you spot the difference between this painting and the earlier one ?

A SURPRISING SIDE ENTRANCE TO A FASCINATING CAFE

2008-12-17T01:19:00.000-08:00

This is a painting of the side entrance to 745 Nicholson Street, North Carlton, now known as Birdie Num Num, a very popular cafe. This entrance allows people with prams to walk through to the large back garden where they can enjoy their morning latte while the children play.

AN UNUSUAL PARAPET

2008-12-17T01:14:00.000-08:00

This is a painting of the parapet of 745 Nicholson Street, North Carlton, a building which Margaret painted during 2008.

A NICHOLSON STREET ICON

2008-12-16T23:18:00.000-08:00

For many years, the Beckwith family ran the butcher shop in the Nicholson Street shopping centre of North Carlton. John Beckwith, who retired from the business in the 1980's was a well known identity, having worked with his father in the shop since his youth.
The Beckwith children, Fiona, Alison and Rodney all went through Princes Hill Primary and Secondary schools with our daughters. Their mother Wyn was very active in parents' activities at the primary school..
After John retired the shop became a cafe, retaining the original marble counters and even the old hooks hanging from rails in the ceiling. After some years new owners moved in and made significant structural changes as well as changing the name to Birdie Num Num. It is now a very popular place, particularly for the young mothers who gather for coffee after dropping off their children at school.
Below you will see another of Margaret's paintings of the shop, completed in 2008

BIRDIE NUM NUM

2008-12-16T23:15:00.000-08:00

POEMS FROM A RETREAT

2008-11-07T15:50:00.000-08:00

Following the disappointing results of a PET Scan in August, Margaret and Mac have been attending regular gatherings organized by the Gawler Foundation. In October we drove to Yarra Junction for a three day Meditation retreat. In the final session all the participants were asked to spend 20 minutes somewhere in the grounds of the property and write a poem.

This is what emerged for us.

IN RESPONSE TO A MEDITATION RETREAT

Coppery Irises, Pure White Irises,
Sunshine yellow buttercups
Snowy daisies with blue centres and gold centres,
You bring to us your wildness in cultivated
Glory, by strong and nurturing hands---Those
Who commit to gardening and weeding
On our behalf

Shady trees, tall, majestic trees
Flowery, fruiting trees, you bring to us
your strong trunks and springtime foliage
Presenting to us new and abundant life
to take back with us ---
Health and refreshment to bring to our
daily activities, relationships and homes.
Thank you.

Margaret Nicoll

October, 2008

A BIG PATCH OF FORGET-ME-NOTS

[SPECKS OF BLUE IN A PATCH OF GREEN]

Familiar friends,
fragile but fertile
you grow in our inner city garden
you flourish here in profusion

Forget you we won’t
for you symbolise freedom—
freedom from fear
from incessant thought
from gnawing anxiety

You speak of contentment in just being
in simply opening up to the sun
in drawing strength from creation

No, we will forget you never
but rather we will always smile when we see you
a lovely reminder of a deep experience of grace.

Mac Nicoll

October, 2008

A PHOTO FROM GRAND FINAL WEEK

2008-09-23T16:57:00.000-07:00

GRAND FINAL WEEK

2008-09-23T00:19:00.000-07:00

It's Grand Final week and I have been drawn to recall a memorable experience in this week, six years ago.

TWO BRAVE OLD LIONS

It was late September in Melbourne. It seemed a good time to
take Bill for a nostalgic tour of the Newry Street neighbourhood
in North Fitzroy where he grew up in the 1940’s and 1950’s.

Bill Heywood had been a resident in the Nursing Home since
his stroke a couple of years earlier, at the age of 62. The
Activities Officer, Sue, had introduced us when I became a
volunteer visitor.

Bill had been encouraged to share the remarkable story of his
life. We had been writing it down for him so that other
interested people might read how a young Newry Street boy had
left school unable to read and yet had become literate as a 15
year old working at a timber settlement in the State Forest at
Murrindindi. The cause of the transformation had been a
perceptive work mate who saw Bill could not read and who took
the risk of challenging him and then teaching him.

This last Thursday in September suited us all. Sue was able to
borrow the van, I was free and Bill was keen to pay a visit to
that corner of Fitzroy where he had grown up, running the
streets, selling Sporting Globes, playing truant, climbing over
the freight carriages in the Depot at the end of the street, scaling
the wooden bridge that spanned the railway in the Edinburgh
Gardens.

We drove along Brunswick Street, past the shops where the
boys and girls used to meet, glanced at the Lord Newry pub where Bill would sometimes be sent to collect some beer in a billy can after hours, and we parked in Freeman Street looking across the oval to the old grandstand which had been restored to its former glory.

With Sue pushing the wheelchair we trundled to the end of the street where Bill gazed at the old footbridge and wondered how
on earth he and his mates had clambered up and down its side in
their exuberant childhood.

Turning into Newry Street, we walked along to the old family
home, one of a group of single story terrace houses, while Bill
recalled; Jacky Cain, who had collected lizards; Bill Byron, who used to earn his income taking his horses to shows
and fairs; the games of hand tennis they used to play in the
middle of the street which was now filled with parked cars.

Approaching Brunswick Street, memories flooded back of the
morning after the big gang fight when the local doctor roused
the protagonists and made them replace the pickets they had torn
off his fence for weapons.

Bill pointed out the homes of the Clay brothers and Butch Gale
and we remembered how, in those days, many of the players
lived close to the Oval and turned up for training after a full
day’s work.

Back on the corner of Freeman and Brunswick Streets, the old
two storey gate house stood as a reminder of the time when
some local lads broke into the bar there and stole cartons of
cigarettes.

The best was yet to be!

We were intending to head back to the Nursing Home for lunch but decided first to make a circuit of the Oval on the concrete path that now runs alongside the fence.

Across near the grandstand, on the grass, were two men, one
with a long scarf and a football jumper draped over his shoulder
and the other armed with a camera and a notebook. As we drew
closer, I gasped,

“Bill, I think it’s Kevin Murray.”

[I should mention that Bill is one of those ex-Fitzroy followers
who has transferred his loyalty to the Brisbane Lions. The
intensity of his love for the Lions is matched only by his
antipathy for anything connected with Collingwood. For
football supporters of earlier days, this tribal neighbourhood
feeling was a major factor in one’s life.]

As we neared the two men it became clear that it was indeed
Kevin Murray, former Fitzroy hero, captain and Brownlow
Medallist.

“Excuse me, Kevin,” I called. “Bill here is one of your old fans
and he’d love to say hello.”

Kevin strode across immediately and greeted Bill warmly. He
then overwhelmed us by taking off the Brownlow Medal which
he was wearing and placing it round Bill’s neck. Bill glowed.
Then Kevin placed the Lions guernsey on Bill’s arm, put his arm around Bill’s shoulder and paused for some photographs.

Bill sat silently, beaming with delight.

On his return to the Nursing Home, Bill was heard to say,
“If I never get out of here again, that will keep me going for
years.”

Two days later, with Kevin Murray cheering them on, Brisbane
won the AFL flag for the second year in a row.

Some weeks later, Sue and Bill wrote to Kevin to express their
gratitude. A letter came back soon after, written from Kevin’s
home at Arcadia , in which Kevin says,

‘The most important thing that I have learnt from all my hard
years at Fitzroy and 40 years climbing around scaffolds in the
building trade , you never forget where you came from, we all
have to start somewhere. Meeting Bill that day gave me as
much enjoyment as it did to Bill, because when I was at Fitzroy
it was people like Bill who gave me the inspiration to achieve
what I did during my career.”

If you visit Bill’s room today, you will find one wall is covered
with pictures of Brisbane Lions premiership teams of the
nineties. However, pride of place is held by a photograph of that
memorable September meeting of two brave old Lions.

Mac Nicoll, 2003

Postscript

Bill Heywood died two years later. He will be long remembered as an extraordinary raconteur, a brilliant crossword solver, a fanatical Lions supporter and a good friend.

OUR OLD MILK BAR

2008-08-09T12:48:00.000-07:00

From 1966 until 1998, we lived on the corner of Wilson and Paterson Streets, North Carlton. When Marg began painting Carlton shops, this was one of her first paintings to be completed. Although we no longer shop there, we remember well the view.

PICASSO IN CANBERRA

2008-08-09T12:40:00.000-07:00

FROM THE PICASSO EXHIBITION, JUNE 2008

In one of the explanatory notes on the wall at the beginning of the exhibition, at the National Gallery in Canberra, there was a quote from Baudelaire [1863] followed by a reference to Picasso.

“modernity is transitory, fugitive and contingent; it is half of art of which the other half is eternal and immutable. Every old master experienced a form of modernity.”

The commentary went on to say
Far from the image of the modern artist making a clean break with past and present --- persistent though mistaken --- Picasso here appears to be quite seriously climbing on the shoulders of the giants.

As we spent the next few hours in the exhibition, I found my prejudice about Picasso slowly vanishing. What we saw was not mainly his work but his enormous collection of the art work of others, collected throughout his painting life and willed to the French Government on his death. It became clear that Picasso had a great respect for those who had preceded him and we were told of the way he had surrounded himself in his studios with their works, drawing wisdom, insight and inspiration from them.

Why was I impressed enough to return to this statement and copy it on a scrap of paper, surrounded by the bustling crowd at the entrance to the exhibition ?

I think it spoke to those question which lurk in my mind and often surface.
How do I integrate into my life and thought those new experiences which challenge earlier ways of thinking ?
On what basis do I make these adjustments ?
What is it within us that enables us to cling tightly to some ideas and which allows us to discard other elements of past thinking ?

Returning to Baudelaire, and relating it to the theological journey, what are the parts of my theology which are eternal and immutable ? What are those parts which are transitory, fugitive and contingent ? If we gathered a group of friends together and addressed this question, would be find some consensus or……?

Does it matter ?

The curator of the Canberra exhibition suggests that Picasso was “quite seriously climbing on the shoulders of giants.”
On whose shoulders are we climbing as we find our way forward in these uncertain times ? Do we need to climb on the same shoulders ? Whose shoulders are strong enough to bear the weight of us all ? Why do I ask so many questions ?

Mac Nicoll

July, 2008

GROUNDED

2008-06-21T13:23:00.000-07:00

Early in April this year, I attended a very small funeral service. There were just eight of us present, including the presiding priest. We had gathered to give thanks for the life of Mary Vallance, a resident of the Brunswick nursing home where I had been visiting since 2001. Several years ago I wrote this description of Mary, one of the most unforgettable people I have known.

GROUNDED

What a character! She brings to mind an image of a disabled bird,
alert, jerky, busy with its eyes, missing nothing but frustrated to be
grounded, unable to participate in the swooping and soaring of its companions.

She has the best room in the Nursing Home. From her bed, Mary can see every car and every person entering the property. Despite her occasional plea that she doesn’t know what’s going on, not much happens that Mary does not notice or hear about.

Mary has been on her back for over 30 years and for the last three
years she has had to receive all her food through a tube fed directly
into her stomach, and she copes with surprising grace. Her throat
condition also inhibits her speech and at times she suffers distressing
fits of coughing.

Her grey hair has been set during the week, and it sits up splendidly,
crowning a sharp, lined face, aquiline nose and large, sparkling, hazel
eyes, which are seldom still. Any noise in the corridor has her eyes
darting towards the door to locate the source of the sound and this is
often followed by the rolling of her eyes in disapproval. Her angular
chin symbolises a determined and courageous personality which has
been both shaped and tested by these extraordinary years of horizontal
life.

She has a most expressive mouth, having learned how to purse her lips to show disapproval or to feign anger. Her ears are prominent, the more so because she wears hearing aids which enable her to cope relatively well in conversation. However, Mary’s speech is indistinct, a symptom of the throat disorder which is part of her debilitating condition.

Her fingers are those of a classical pianist, long and expressive.
They are not able to grasp objects easily, so it is a painful
experience watching her trying to turn a page in her book or grasp
a handkerchief on the bed.

Mary’s sense of humour is sharp, self deprecating and eccentric.
At our first meeting we were discussing a forthcoming visit from
a Chaplain, and she confided that she was about to ask him if she
could change from being a Catholic to being a Muslim

On arrival every week, I am greeted by a cheeky grin, feigned surprise
and a mock deferential comment. I am invited to sit on the end of the bed,
pull up the bedside table and soon I am engaged in lively conversation
which ranges easily from AFL football to George Bush, from theology to
local happenings in the Nursing Home.

“How was the ballet last week,” I ask, recalling that a number of the
residents had been taken in their wheelchairs to the State Theatre for a
performance by ballet students. “ I appreciated the way they were so athletic, but the music was like a funeral. I‘d rather have gone to the football and cheered for my beloved Kangaroos.”

We tackle a crossword together and we are interrupted several times by nursing staff. Mary is all eyes. She is generous to those who are thoughtful
and capable, but to the slack or uncaring there can be a fierce grimace as
soon as their back is turned. Noticing my raised eyebrow [Mary doesn’t
miss many non-verbal responses] she explains why she is intolerant. I can
see why, having for so long been dependent, she has such a keen awareness
of not getting a person’s full attention. I am persuaded, and we continue
with the crossword.

There is a surprising lack of self-pity. While she is able to talk about the
deprivations of those long bed-ridden years, and the effect it has had on her
family, Mary has found a degree of acceptance, both of herself and her
situation, which frees her to be interested in others, to engage in their lives
and to keep alive to the world outside.

We finish the crossword. It is time to leave. I turn at the door and I receive
a cheery wave from Mary, an earthy, wise and witty woman.

Grounded indeed.

Mac Nicoll, 2006

ANOTHER BRUNETTI, THIS TIME WITH THE HEDGES

2008-06-20T18:07:00.000-07:00

Some years ago, Marg painted Brunetti's with lots of purple. We called the painting and the cards we made from it BRUNETTI'S BEFORE THE HEDGES. This year she has completed a rather different image of Brunetti's this time called BRUNETTI WITH THE HEDGES.

PATIENT PELICANS AT HASTINGS PIER

2008-06-20T17:41:00.000-07:00

This is one of Marg's 2008 paintings. We sometimes park at the waterfront at Hastimgs when we are travelling to Balnarring. Mac loves pelicans with their huge beaks, slow flying and sense of the ridiculous. He still recalls Ogden Nash's verse

A wonderful bird is a pelican
His beak holds more than his belly can

CARLTON SHOPS AND CAFES

2008-05-04T16:28:00.001-07:00

This is Margaret's most recent Carlton Shop painting to be framed. It is my favourite local coffee shop, Cafe Rathdowne, on the corner of McPherson and Rathdowne Streets.
Over recent years, Margaret has painted over 25 separate paintings in the Shops and Cafes series. We have made cards of all these paintings and these are sold in some local shops. However, we can make them available to you at $2 a card if you want to get them directly and more cheaply from us. It has been quite a thrill to receive occasional requests from old friends in other states.

The buildings in the list include ARC CAFE, ART STEMS [SEVERAL], BAGATELLES, BORSARI, BRUNETTI, CELLINI, KENT HOTEL, KING AND GODFREE, LIVING GREEN, THRESHERMANS, RATHDOWNE ST.GIFT SHOP, FILOUS ....AND MORE.

STILLNESS

2008-03-22T23:42:00.000-07:00

This painting, entitled STILLNESS, sits on a wall in Strathbogie, bought by some friends at the 2006 Exhibition at the Victorian Artists' Society.

A copy appeared recently in the magazine of the Wellspring Community to which we belong. It has also been reproduced in card form and is a favourite of many.

FIONA'S LILIES 2007

2008-01-26T15:05:00.001-08:00

A PAINTING WITH A STORY

2008-01-26T14:45:00.000-08:00

In December, 2007, Fiona celebrated a special birthday party. She requested no presents but instead invited people to bring a bunch of flowers to celebrate the occasion. One of her friends, whom she had known well since University days, brought a particularly vivid bunch of lilies. In the following week Margaret completed a painting of the flowers.

In January,2008, Fiona's friend celebrated her special birthday and Fiona decided to give the painting of the flowers to her friend for a birthday present.

We have kept a copy of the painting and made it into a card called FIONA'S LILIES 2007.

You will understand why we like this painting and are delighted that it is going back to the giver of the flowers.

ONE OF OUR FAVOURITES

2008-01-17T10:40:00.000-08:00

Soon after Becky bought her house in Violet Town, she gave us a bunch of hellebores from her new garden. Margaret used them as a basis for this painting.

OF TOWNS AND PLACES

2008-01-16T22:37:00.000-08:00

Over recent years, Margaret has painted buildings and shops in towns beyond Carlton. Here are a few of them. From top to bottom, the paintings show:
Longford
Launceston
Merricks
Hobart
Castlemaine
Yarck
Malmsbury...after rain
Malmsbury...in sunshine
Greendale
Taradale

Some are still available for sale.
Our email address is macmarg@optusnet.com.au

ON THE DEATH OF A FRIEND

2008-01-11T20:00:00.000-08:00

Last week, Stephen Kidner died in Box Hill Hospital after several months of declining health and several strokes. He was a close friend of mine for over 50 years.

I’ll never forget my first sight of Stephen Kidner. He looked like the man in the iron mask, his face and nose swathed in plaster and bandages. When I got to know him better, he explained that he had walked into a door in the dark, while living with his parents at St. Hilda’s Training College, which was then in Albert Street [now the headquarters of the Victorian Police Association ]

We began our friendship at University in 1955, meeting occasionally at gatherings of the Evangelical Union . My strong recollection of Stephen in those years is of a sensitive, friendly young man who had a gift for fervent intercession and thanksgiving in our early morning prayer meetings upstairs in the Union building.

Stephen left University before me and went off to teach at Caulfield Grammar. I completed my training and then applied for a position at Carey Baptist Grammar School. As I launched out into my first real job, I approached my first staff meeting with a fair degree of nervousness and apprehension. Great was my delight when I encountered Stephen, also beginning a new appointment. Instinctively we teamed up, with adjoining lockers, with similar allotments as Year 8 Form Masters, and with a shared Christian commitment.

In later years we often recalled our relief at the end of Term One when we completed our first set of reports with their red ink line graph joining all the subject ratings, and which had to be signed by S.L.Hickman, a man of high expectations. As we sealed those last envelopes at the same time at the same desk in the Staff Room we experienced an enormous surge of relief that we had made it.

Stephen was not a very confident driver and in that first term vacation he invited me to help prepare him for his licence test by sitting with him while he drove around the Richmond part of the Boulevard for hours on end. We both persevered and Stephen got his licence.

Many were the experiences we shared at Carey over those next twelve years;
innumerable lunchtime chats, sharing our concerns about difficult students, his experiences of living in east Africa, the task of discipleship,
shared encounters with the duplicating machine, called the Fordigraph, particularly the year we did a 16 page Year 9 Geography exam and then, in the process of duplicating the machine did a ball bearing,
afternoons and Saturdays at Bullen,
frantic Fridays signing Year 8 report books,
and more

When I married Margaret at the end of 1965, it was Stephen and Dawn who organized a party to celebrate with close colleagues. It was also Stephen who wrote a poem for the occasion, for Stephen had both a great love of language and also a great gift for writing and expressing ideas in felicitous language.

In 1971 I moved to a new workplace in the inner city [Church of All Nations, Carlton] and our contact was much reduced although we did keep in touch from time to time by telephone and occasional letters.

Stephen retired about 1991 at a time when I had begun working in the Uniting Church in a pastoral role with clergy and in the last sixteen years we have renewed closer links, meeting from time to time for a meal and speaking frequently and at length on the phone.

We have shared deeply our journeys of faith. Stephen has graciously listened to my rather more radical theology and we have been able to see that our different understandings have been an enriching element in our friendship. We grew closer because we took the risk of disagreeing I will always be grateful for those many long conversations which ranged over the whole spectrum of human experience, often returning to our shared love of language and literature , our desire for social justice, our interest in African literature and our lifelong journeys of relating our theology to our experience.

I honour Stephen as a good man and as a loyal and generous friend. I will miss him very much indeed.
Mac Nicoll
January, 2008

There follows a poem written by Stephen Kidner and published in STUDIO about six years ago. It speaks powerfully of Stephen’s passion .

MAMUSHA

Child of the dust, Mamusha,
Hunger has tucked your skin
Tightly about your bones,
Since your mother's milk has failed
In the long journey south.

They wrap you gently in a crib of rags
And lay you in the thorn tree's jagged shade.
The filtered sun, lighting the swirling dust,
Haloes your head in gold.

You stir.
Your wrinkled mouth
Twitches and gapes,
Sucking and feeding on the empty air.

You raise one arm,
Twin sticks encased in skin,
And, with a vision stronger than your strength,
You beckon to the heedless of the world.

Silence those booming voices in the shopping malls,
Promoting more bargains to those who are well fed.
Silence the vapid chatter on the phones.
Silence the gossip in the coffee shops.
Silence the roaring voices in the pubs.
Silence the torrent of the evening news,
Where stranded whales stir greater pity
Than a starving child.
Loosen our tightly huddled fellowship:
Alert our hearing to a distant cry.
What is that voice
That calls across the world?
Silence and listen!
Mamusha speaks.

Smallest ambassador for the world's oppressed,
You speak for multitudes you never knew,
From hunger-stunted children of Brazil,
To those who crawl among Manila's rubbish heaps,
Searching on cut and grimy feet across the stench,
While in ten thousand villages and shanty towns,
Above a child's open grave,
You cry in a resounding whisper,
This is the centre of the world!

Stephen Kidner

SOME NEW PAINTINGS

2008-01-11T17:51:00.001-08:00

Margaret completed these four works last week. They are the first 2008 paintings; Ferry to San Giorgio Maggiore, Hinterland of Murwillumbah, Tasmanian Midlands, Mediterranean coast on the border of France and Italy.