mountain masala

formation vs education

In one sense, the explanation for the so-called 'demise' of Christian education is very simple. Once, "Christian education" was the 'umbrella' term for both formation and education. Now, "formation" is becoming the "catch-all" to describe both formal and informal nurture/socialisation and education.Is this a good thing or a bad thing, or doesn't it really matter?

As I mentioned previiously, the development of CE in the USA paralleled the development of 'secular' education during the 20th century, with the former taking many cues from the latter (This is somewhat different from when the church was the leader in education in earlier times.) What this resulted in was both CE roles (paid and unpaid) in congregations, and courses of study in CE in universities and seminaries. Each fed the other, and fuelled the commitment of churches to lifelong Christian learning.

that goat...

once you find out where to buy goat, and discover that its cheaper and healthier than lamb, and tastes a bit nice, you do keep going back. I've been getting mine at San Marino's at the Adelaide Markets.

today's bit of goat was marinated overnight in oil, lemon juice, white wine, brown sugar, garlic and sage. i put in on 200 degrees for half an hour and then turned it down to 150, and kept basting it in juices pretty often. after about 3 hours I needed to crank up the oven so I took it out for an hour, then put it back in wrapped in foil for a little while. it was in and out for a while.... towards the end I added honey and lemon zest to the marinade.

it was accompanied by oven-roasted leeks, baked butternut pumpkin with sage butter, and baked potato chips with sea salt, thyme and lemon zest. the chips need some work, but the combination was great.

I also made a sensational harissa baba ganoush (will post) and completely forgot to put it on the table. even when I was asked if there was any sauce I didnt remember it! fantastic recipe.

the nice thing about working from home is that i have 1.5 hours less driving and I can put a meal on at lunchtime.

 

Interactive Easter

Rosefield Uniting Church is hosting a Easter event for families with primary and pre-school children called "Interactive Easter" on Sunday 10 April, 5-7 pm. The event will consist of a number of self-guided 'stations' that people can visit at their own pace. They will include live music, drama, multimedia, art and craft, food, storytelling, and opportunities to pray and reflect. Come when you like - the experience will take about 45 minutes.

Download a flyer here. For more info call 82719528.

Becoming Disciples

A DVD resource prepared by Uniting College and the SA Discipleship Team is now online at http://vimeo.com/album/1541200. These Bible studies in Mark's Gospel focus on Christian discipleship and feature Dr Vicky Balabanksi, Lecturer in New Testament Studies at Uniting College, with music by Robin Mann. A study guide will shortly be available at the Growing Disciples website.

slow-simmered lamb shanks

Yesterday's dinner was a winner and pretty simple... lamb shanks with mash, onion and cauliflower with a crumb & cheese topping. brown the lamb shanks in the frypan. Place in a casserole dish with 1 cup red wine, 6 bay leaves, 4 cloves peeled garlic, 8 baby onions peeled (I used shallots), some sprigs of rosemary and marjoram (didnt have the latter), i tablespoon of peppercorns and 3 cups beef stock. Following the advice of some chef, I added a star anise (adds vitality to the flavour...)

I didnt have any beef stock, but I did have a piece of chuck steak in the freezer so I made some. There was some stock left over so I added red wine and reduced it down so we had a nice rich gravy to put on top, along with some fresh sage leaves. the mash was a bit of disaster - wrong kind of spuds.

The casserole went in at 150 degrees for about 3 hours, but when I checked it it was cooking too high, so I turned it down to about 120, then dinner got delayed so it sat on 100 for a while. When I put the cauliflower in to brown, the oven went up to 230, so I took the lid off the put, which is why the top part got that extra brownness.

I've kept the leftover juices - will skim off the fat and reduce and freeze. By sheer coincidence or bad planning we're having the rest of the goat tonight.

Freedom of Religion in Australia

I'm in Sydney for a few days getting oriented to working for the Assembly and meeting with the Assembly staff team with whom I will relate for two years.  Really great to discover more about what our church is doing nationally. I remember having the same feeling at Assembly Standing Committee meetings and of course at our triennial Assemblys.

I'm going mention a few things in the next few days, but the first (thanks Elenie) is that the Australian Human Rights Commission has just released a report called "Freedom of Religion and Belief in 21st Century Australia". The report is co-authored by Professor Gary Bouma, Professor Desmond Cahill, Dr Hass Dellal, and Athalia Zwartz.

Gary Bouma of course is Professor Emeritus of Sociology from Monash University, with a research specialisation in religion in Australia. He's the author of Australian Soul from Cambridge University Press.

I'm looking forward to reading this and working its findings into my writing about the kind of landscape in which Christian education takes place.

The main project page is here. There are a number of supplementary papers, some available now and some forthcoming.

Dr Andrew Root in Adelaide

We're delighted to be hosting Dr Andrew Root, Associate Professor of Youth & Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, St Paul, Minnesota USA here in Adelaide 15-18 June. We're partnering with folks in NSW to have him in Oz. Download a flyer here. Download Andrew Root Flyer (300kb PDF)

Andrew will be leading three days of sessions and then speaking at our Presbytery/Synod meeting. People can also udnertake this as part of a 2 week intensive for BMin, MMin or DMin credit. Details on the form.

Andy is an impressive thinker and writer, and grounded in practical youth ministry experience. It was a pleasure to meet him at Luther Seminary in 2008.

grow your own

well, the summer project has been getting the back garden in shape. i'll happily admit that Yvonne loves it more than I do.I mean, i love the idea of gardening, and the buying of plants, and the harvesting and cooking... and then the dining bit..

finally our herbs are growing well - 2 kinds of basil, mint, sage, parsley, rosemary, oregano, vietnamese mint, lemon grass, 2 kinds of thyme. we have tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, pak choy, peas, lettuce, pumpkin, strawberries, zucchini, nasturtiums planted. and we have small trees - blood orange, lime, cherry, fig, olive. and a fruit salad tree with peaches, nectarines and apricots on order. we already had a plum & a lemon tree, a passionfruit vine and feral asparagus.

of course, it may all die yet... we'll need a weekly visit from the Boyces. It's bug and slug city here...

and we're fixing up the gazebo and trying to regrass the back yard! next summer is looking good...

possibly my favourite children's book

i bought this book - Squids Will Be Squids - back in the 90's when the UCA Assembly was meeting in Adelaide. I found it in Mary Martin's in Rundle Street, and it became a big hit with the "youthful members" whom I was resourcing for the week. we pretty much had a bedtime story every night.

it's a delightfully sick and twisted set of fables. The chapter titles tell it all... "Termite, Ant & Echidna", "Piece of Toast & Froot Loops", "Duckbilled Platypus vs. BeefSnakStick".

but this is a particular favourite:

"Gee ... I wonder"

Shark, Wasp and Bacteria ate lunch together every day.

"No one else ever sits with us," said Shark, ripping into his tuna sandwich with his double row of huge razor-sharp teeth. "What's their problem?"

"We're just misunderstood," said Wasp, stabbing his pizza and injecting it again and again with paralysing venom.

"It's just not fair, saaid Bactiera, infecting her pudding. "Why won't anyone give us a chance?"

The Moral: Think about it.

(If you behave well, boys and girls, I might read you another one tomorrow night.)

nice drops

I think it was the SA Weekend Magazine that put me onto the East End Cellars "Red Book of Wine", a little notebook style review of interesting wines that they sell. I was skimming through it today looking for local wineries that got a mention. Robert Johnson Vineyards was one that sounded promising, so I did a search for the website. Not much on the site other than wine list and order forms.

Anyway, I dropped into one of the local bottle shops late afternoon looking for cheap cooking wine (really!) and the man himself was there running a tasting. Very nice Sauv blanc, Merlot, Shiraz and Shiraz/Cab Sav/Sangiovese. Great fruit flavour and structure. Being Hills & Eden Valley wines, they're not too heavy. Robert was very chatty and interesting. A nice find and a pleasant way to finish the week.