mountain masala

damper and billy tea

a great post from shane claiborne about his time at our national christian youth convention here.

thanks to sandy for the link.

and another word of affirmation for the whole ncyc 09 team, and to Age and cast for the submersion day!

we're working on some stuff here in SA to keep it going.

a pioneering woman

Jean Pavy died in 1995 at the age of 86. She was a South Australian educator, union activist and feminist. As well as being a classroom teacher, Jean was President of the Primary Teachers Association, and President of the Women's Branch of the SA Institute of Teachers, spending her time fighting for equal pay for women in the early 60's."

In 1960 the Equal Pay Council of Australia was formed (Jean was a member), and as a result she formed the teachers' Equal Pay Committee in SA. Their equal pay proposal for women teachers was rejected.

Jean was the first woman to represent Australia at the World Conference of Teachers.

In 1964 Jean led a delegation to the SA Premier on the matter of equal pay. Some teachers were opposed to this right, and Jean threatened to split the union along gender lines. The first of five 'equal pay for equal work' salary increases was finally granted to SA teachers in 1966.

Our Ellen has just received the Jean Pavy Award for coming top in the state for Year 12 Womens Studies last year. May Jean's passion live on in Ellen Jean! (my mum's name is also Jean, a teacher.)

So Ellen Jean. That 'Jean' name has a lot of connections.

Jean means "God is gracious".

May God continue to grace you.

as of course she will, no matter what you do or don't achieve.

you are always blessed by God.

always.

advent in art

cityside baptist church in auckland, new zealand, does wonderful things in worship and learning, thanks in part to the leadership of mark pierson, who was the pastor there (and one of the authors of "The Prodigal Project, SPCK).

for a few years they have been making lenten and easter stuff to help people pray and learn.

here is their stuff from Advent 2008, and you'll see links to other years and events.

of course, steve taylor does lots of wonderful stuff with art and prayer and spiritual practices with his church down in Christchurch too.

starting to plan my trip to kiwiland....

the youngest witnesses

here is a remarkable long-term photo essay about children in new york who observed the 9/11 attack on the twin towers - how they reacted and what it has meant for them since.

youngest witnesses

your fears erased daily....

here's a great public ritual space - "your fears erased here daily" - courtesy of the nice and inspiring creative prayer website.

another idea for holy week...

"the wired church" on youtube

i've started a youtube channel called The Wired Church where I'm going to post links to videos that I use in teaching, worship and other stuff. I'll look at adding some of my original stuff there too, but I will probably have to sort through some permissions.

from now on I'll be trying to link my blog posts about videos to the channel wherever possible.

go and subscribe and we'll get this thing happening.

I'll probably have to post some notes on what's already there.....