Australia Speaking Tour 2007 - Melbourne and Shepparton

07:52 pm - Melbourne and Shepparton

Update from Melbourne!

I was in Melbourne on Fri. and Sat., July 20 and 21. It was a delight to hold the conferences in the Uniting Church's new conference facility, the Center for Theology and Life. The facility had just been open a few months when the conference was held there. I had about 45 participants on Friday and about 55 on the 21st. We were also the "test" conference for how the new technology worked! It all came out fine - the projection, sound and lights were great. When it was time for the readers' theater on the John 6:1-13 story, we went to the cafe area, created our mountain and seashore with fabrics, then had a first rate acting out and reading of the story. We had a good laugh as I tried to cue the "multitude" for their lines - "This is the Prophet for sure," and "God's Prophet right here in Galilee!" My American accents when I cued the groups got a nice laugh. I don't think I sound different! Then the groups put their own Australian swing and rhythm to their group lines!

Part of the experience at Melbourne was for each table to set their table together as a group - a means of forming community within the setting of Christian hospitality and our meal focus. A box had been prepared by the team behind-the scenes, headed by Bronwyn Ambrose, for each table with all that they would need to set a beautiful table. The items in the box included silverware, tablecloth, dishes, napkins, and a candle and bowl. From the staff, there was an abundance of fresh flowers from roses to lavendar. In addition to each table working together to set their own table, they also worked together to create their own centerpiece using the fresh cut flowers, candle, and bowl. The tables all looked different. As people wandered around looking at each others' settings, conversation started between people who did not know each other.

There were many times when the participants talked in table groups. One conversation at the beginning of the conference day was to share what his/her meals were like as a chid. At the center of the table was a card that read:


The Guest List
Eating and drinking are a necessary part of daily life. Childhood mealtimes have emotive power and are a formative influence in our lives. Table practices shape who we are, as well as contribute plot lines to the narratives of our ministries. (Quote from Cheryl Magrini)

" said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’
Luke 14:12-14

For reflection:
What meal experiences do you remember from childhood?
Were they life-giving or life-negating?
How do meals shape or express your ministry?

I asked the table groups to mainly focus on the first question, their childhood meals. The conversation was at times funny and at other times deep absences from the table were expressed.

We read one quote from Henri Nouwen that spoke what was often unspoken around the meal table:

"The table, too, is the place where distance is most painfully felt. It is the place where the children feel the tension between the parents, where brothers and sisters express their anger and jealousies, where accusations are made, and where plates and cups become instruments of violence. Around the table, we know whether there is friendship and community or hatred and division. Precisely because the table is the place of intimacy for all the members of the household, it is also the place where the absence of the intimacy is most painfully revealed."

Henri J.M. Nouwen. With Burning Hearts. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1994. Illustrated edition, 2003, 74-75.

This quote opened up a safe space where participants could talk about not only what was a sacramental, memorable, mile-stone daily meal; but also to talk about the pain that was felt around the table in person's lives. For many who resonated with this quote, this was the first time they had been able to talk about this.

I spent two days in the Melbourne Center. Each day I presented the same program, focusing on the Feeding of the 5,000, to a new group of participants. In the midst of the presenatations and of the experiential components of the day, we were offered generous hospitality for our meal together, and for tea times.

At the end of each day, I brought the group back together to talk about how to shape this approach for different ministry settings. Often, there is not this nice block of time to be able to experience all the movements in the Ch.E.E.R.S. approach.

Settings that work well are to go through the movements, staying on the same biblical story for several weeks, working through a larger framework for the Ch.E.E.R.S. approach. Taking note to use each Sunday the Ch-CHECK IN; the E- ENCOUNTER the story - and the S - Sending forth each time with the children. The pace that changes is how the ENGAGING AND RESPOND pieces are experienced. This is similiar to those who are familiar with the workshop rotation model for Sunday School. Many people think that you need a whole room dedicated to each type of set up - kitchen, computer, .... The approach I bring is easily adaptable for churches who do not have extra space. The ENGAGING the Scripture has many ways to bring your story together with the biblical story. Sounds nice doesn't it? Just what we are always trying to get a window into, just how do we do this? How can Christian educators guide people into something that sounds so abstract - so far from our reality. What I find most practical about the Ch.E.E.R.S. approach is that there is a concrete way to bring these two parts of life and learning together - through the storyboard art. And it is not just about what is placed on the artboard. The way the person's story becomes intertwined with the biblical story is through the most important sharing - to tell someone else a story about your own storyboard. There is the bringing together of faith and life - in the sharing. And it may happen to your table-mates while creating. The story may emerge all at once, or as a person is creating, and maybe even later on from the creation process.

The format that works well overall is to have a one evening or 1 and 1/2 time frame each week. Then focus on a different biblical meal story each of the 6 weeks, leaving enought time each week to have at least 30 minutes focusing on the storyboard. This is the format I used originally in three congregations. Another option that I've used is a two to three day retreat, with parents or with children and adult facilitators. What I find needs to be said to other adult leaders is that our task is to ask alot of questions to help bring out the story in the child, and to provide lots of opportunities to touch the textured materials to inspire creativity. The adult task is not to suggest, "Here's an idea. Here's what you can do." It is really a retraining of the adult!

Here is a photo of a table centerpiece that was created in the table community: