Dearest
It has been a year without you. So, let me fill you in.
The move to Eastwood has been good. The community are supportive and encouraging. There is so much faithfulness and real intelligence and enquiry of mind and heart. There is a willingness to consider different ways.
Despite the mature age of many of our members, I have only done three funerals this year. one with Parramatta and two with Eastwood. The most recent was yesterday. June was really lovely. She made jams and pickles and relish and was a real behind-the-scenes worker. She joins her late-Arthur. I imagine them together now. Yvonne was also part of the Denistone 'crew'. Her funeral was in an intimate group at church during lockdown, with online extras. Like June, Yvonne was always helping, had great attitude and was a woman of genuine joy and generosity.
It may seem strange to start a Christmas letter with deaths, but it is all about the 'thin places' isn't it? There is a threshold of earth and heaven. Christ bridges it at Christmas and memory and repeated rites and rituals and stories take us to the threshold. It is a moment when we can remember the closeness.
There were experiments and highlights around Easter to Pentecost. People were beginning to come back to worship. It was hard with masks and hand sanitisers and chairs separated.
Thankfully, we didn't have pews. There were complexities of cameras and zooms, videos and feedback. The most common sayings were: "you are on mute" and "I don't know if this is going to work". Nevertheless, you would be proud of my technological accomplishments.
I still haven't worked out how to turn the TV on and off, so I unplug it. Great workaround!
I have two large 27" screens now. One of them does have a large round crack, frowning at me from one corner, but I just position the app windows so it looks more like a decoration and it doesn't bother me. The thing that never seems quite right is managing the sound when I am using multiple programs, microphones and speakers with my headset. It is like I don't have the right ears?
Nevertheless, I am the queen of zoom and have been teaching myself web-mistressing and e-camm. I record and edit videos and do subtitling in multiple languages. My head gets full and I meditate by playing a game on the iPad.
I now own a bunch of microphones and a portable speaker, so we can be outdoors for worship... let me explain why...
From June we started a very long lockdown. I hibernated. It was different from last year. It was serious and extended. Transitioning out has been difficult and anxious. With a new variant and very high cases, I feel the weight of responsibility for a vulnerable community. Isolation became a theme in prayers and planning. TV made a comeback. You would love Ted Lasso!
Growing plants on the balcony has been quite the thing. I almost never had to order greens in my home deliveries - this is how all shopping is done now - as my crops of lettuce, chard, sorrell, peas, rocket, leeks and tomatoes (I know - they are red) have been feeding me very well. I rarely feel the need to go to a shop. How daily habits have changed.
Restrictions have only been lifting in the last couple of weeks. While other churches tried to mitigate risks while being inside, Eastwood took the courageous decision to worship outside and online rather than risking indoors until we had the best possible air filtering system in place. So far, we have had four carol services outside and small group live communions. We have three different areas outside that all work well for worship. Little did the architects know how important the outdoor space could be! Since the lockdown, we have only had one service inside. Bron took it... Blue Christmas. She did a lovely job. I cried a bit. The courtyard was a good place to gather afterward.
The boys have grown. #1 has graduated Primary School. He was Sports Captain in the year with no Carnivals and no team sports. He is excited about High School. I'll be taking them to Canberra to make up for the missed School Excursions. It would have been something you would have been great at - they listened to you about all those life things. they miss you too.
Before the long lockdown, there was a window in May. I took your remains to Wilpena. A bunch of your close people came. A few had to pull out. We had a short ceremony at Hucks lookout where the healing grasstrees are. It was the right place. Denise said that just as you looked over the land, the land watches over you. Love does not diminish, but it changes without interactions. Other friends do a great deal for my soul's nourishment. One friend accompanies me to breakfast every Friday. Another has long video calls from interstate. My lifeline is the pick up the phone anytime friend. My colleagues are excellent - in every way!
Lockdown prompted a bit of creativity. I hosted a Gin Joint Murder Mystery online. It was a fine party with an excellent playlist. I will probably do another.
I keep my mind active with tertiary academic dabbling. I have been asked to do bits of teaching for Northwind Seminary (US) and Neighborhood Seminary (US), Hillsong College (Sydney) and Iona Trinity (Korean College in Sydney). My star student, Rex, has just submitted his doctoral thesis. I do bits of lay education and keynotes for conferences. It has been tricky doing these without access to the library or my office. My online collection is growing.
The kids are both happy in their jobs and they are both making good life choices. They miss your wisdom and the way you could just fill a space.
Plans to travel are always being postponed or put on hold. It is likely that international travel will be less affordable when it is possible. Health and wealth are so closely related. Those that can afford vaccines and quarantines and insurances and hospitals have a better chance to live. The health systems have been under more strain than most would realise. They moved the whole oncolcogy unit at Westmead to the private hospital. What a logistic nightmare!
So - I'll go to the cricket and take the boys to Canberra. After lockdown, it will feel like adventure. :)
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A
