Welcome back to “Walking the Path with Ros”! In 2020, as the global pandemic was starting to rear its head in China, I was in Australia for 2 months and got back to the USA a week before borders were closed to international travel. In this post I’m summarising that part of my ministry and travel path, as I didn’t manage to do so as it unfolded! I had been (finally) ordained as a minister in the Swedenborgian Church of North America on 1 July 2019, in Valparaiso, Indiana, during the annual Convention of the denomination. Many family members were able to be present, which was an incredible blessing. In Australia in 2020, I was a visiting minister from the SCNA, fully recognised as clergy even though women’s ordination in the New Church in Australia is limited to non-traditional ministry.
The first stop in 2020 was Adelaide, South Australia to visit with family and friends, and an obligatory beach day! Pictured are my cousin’s daughter with her partner and their daughter (and first son in utero) at the most pristine and paradisal “off the beaten track” beach I have ever been on, near their home in Port Lincoln, SA
The next stop was the annual New Church Family Retreat, which has only been held virtually since then because of Covid. This time it was held in Adelaide, South Australia at the Nunayara Conference Centre. I gave a very participatory workshop about “Spiritual First Aid,” held a children’s session in which they wrote and illustrated a psalm in Biblical style, and narrated a play reading of “The Great Change” by Walter Horner. My parents had given me a copy of the play many years before, written by their dear clergy friend, which had never been performed. Two of his descendants were in the audience and one was in the cast. Rev. Jane Siebert, the President of the SCNA, who had ordained me, attended the Retreat – the first time I know of that a SCNA minister had attended.
There had been devastating bushfires all around Australia that summer, including near Adelaide. We could smell the smoke at times. Several people were re-routed due to active fires, as they drove interstate for the retreat. On outing day I found a baby koala who had bravely ventured to a duck pond, presumably because s/he couldn’t get moisture from gum leaves
After the Retreat, my path lead me back to Adelaide and Tintinara, SA to visit family and help out in the Adelaide New Church.
The final stops on the path for 2020 were Sydney and Canberra. There are two Swedenborgian/New Church congregations in Sydney, one on the “south shore” of Sydney Harbour, and one on the “north shore,” though neither are actually anywhere near the waters of the harbour. In Hurstville I gave a presentation/class, and in Roseville I helped out in the Swedenborg Centre.
The ministers in those congregations sometimes visit the Swedenborgian/New Church group in Canberra, 3 hours drive southwest of Sydney, which does not have a minister. One weekend I drove down to minister to the group, and visit relatives. Michelle (in the photos) had been feeding and offering water to kangaroos who had been displaced by the bushfires nearby.
An important part of the path for me is re-connecting with my Aussie communities: family, church and school. So as usual, I visited various friends, went to favourite places, and relished the wonderful Aussie birds and other wildlife.
But I also met new friends, like a woman who had been listening to “Off the Left Eye” and didn’t know there were church organisations. And went to new places, like the hotel where we met her in the Blue Mountains, and this beach at Watson’s Bay that was new to me.
As my path in 2020 came to an end, with my joy tank filled, I returned to the United States, just in time to hunker down as the Coronavirus pandemic began.