Dear Friends of the Chapel,
I've started a new little 'institution' at the Chapel - anyone having a birthday can book me for an outing for a free coffee and a chat (let me also say that the bottom line is that I'm happy to have a coffee and chat with just about anyone, anytime that I'm about!). Last week, I had a conversation with someone who makes me genuinely laugh out loud, and as we shared together over my coffee and his chai tea with rice milk, this person's sharp wit and blunt assessments on life put a smile on both my face and his, as he enjoyed my enjoyment of his reflections and anecdotes. It was really nice to join in this common experience of our humanity, laughing together, laughing with each other. What left me feeling even more privileged to have spent this time with this person was his deliberate comment during our conversation, that many people laugh at him, but he much preferred it when people laugh with him.
Over the years, I have had my services and sermons interrupted in some pretty interesting ways. This has included someone having a fall that resulted in a broken hip, someone who needed to inform me that UFO's were surely going to land in Sydney that weekend, and someone else who didn't take their blood pressure tablets, resulting in a seizure and an ambulance call-out. Last Sunday I had a totally new one as about half-way into my sermon at CBTS, every smoke detector in the building went off in unison, creating a continuously piercing noise that would put 100 screeching cockatoos to shame. I still don't know what caused such angst in our fire security system - there was no smoke or fire to be found - but it kept up for 20 minutes. I still don't know why it started, or stopped when it did. Cue dad-joke: I must have said something alarming.
Jackie, our office administrator is away for a month, visiting her family in England. We wish her every blessing as she re-creates and re-energises, but gee, it's going to be a long month at this end! You might also like to join us as we keep Victoria our Events Co-ordinator, and her family, in our thoughts and prayers - her mother recently passed away after a long period of dementia and many years of fruitful giving and living before that.
Thanks for being a friend of the Chapel.
Graham Anson
Minister (in Supply)
[email protected]
I've started a new little 'institution' at the Chapel - anyone having a birthday can book me for an outing for a free coffee and a chat (let me also say that the bottom line is that I'm happy to have a coffee and chat with just about anyone, anytime that I'm about!). Last week, I had a conversation with someone who makes me genuinely laugh out loud, and as we shared together over my coffee and his chai tea with rice milk, this person's sharp wit and blunt assessments on life put a smile on both my face and his, as he enjoyed my enjoyment of his reflections and anecdotes. It was really nice to join in this common experience of our humanity, laughing together, laughing with each other. What left me feeling even more privileged to have spent this time with this person was his deliberate comment during our conversation, that many people laugh at him, but he much preferred it when people laugh with him.
Over the years, I have had my services and sermons interrupted in some pretty interesting ways. This has included someone having a fall that resulted in a broken hip, someone who needed to inform me that UFO's were surely going to land in Sydney that weekend, and someone else who didn't take their blood pressure tablets, resulting in a seizure and an ambulance call-out. Last Sunday I had a totally new one as about half-way into my sermon at CBTS, every smoke detector in the building went off in unison, creating a continuously piercing noise that would put 100 screeching cockatoos to shame. I still don't know what caused such angst in our fire security system - there was no smoke or fire to be found - but it kept up for 20 minutes. I still don't know why it started, or stopped when it did. Cue dad-joke: I must have said something alarming.
Jackie, our office administrator is away for a month, visiting her family in England. We wish her every blessing as she re-creates and re-energises, but gee, it's going to be a long month at this end! You might also like to join us as we keep Victoria our Events Co-ordinator, and her family, in our thoughts and prayers - her mother recently passed away after a long period of dementia and many years of fruitful giving and living before that.
Thanks for being a friend of the Chapel.
Graham Anson
Minister (in Supply)
[email protected]