From Perth, I flew to Adelaide, South Australia (refer if needed to the map in the “Wonderful Woonona” post) to engage with the Adelaide Christian New Church. As I’ve mentioned before, my maternal grandfather was the minister there for many years, and my father came into the Swedenborgian/New Church faith community in Adelaide after meeting my mother there. In the surrounding area, I have many relatives as well as church friends.
The small congregation in Adelaide is served by a lay leader, June Johnson. I was able to attend church and a morning tea afterwards with some of the congregation members. Other members I visited at other times during my stay in South Australia. In the circles below, you can see Michael and me at the River Torrens in Adelaide, where we spent some time at the Vietnamese Boat People Monument.
Rev. David and Mandy Millar were my gracious hosts in Adelaide. Somehow I neglected to take an “ussie” with them, so I’ve lifted one from social media. David was experimenting with making home-baked sourdough bread, for which I was happy to be a taste-tester! Their home overlooks the Southern Ocean, with spectacular sunsets, and is also near the Hallett Cove Conservation Park. I love walking the boardwalk there through the amazing glacial rock formations, down to the rocky beach.
David’s ministry involves supervising Logopraxis activities around the world, as part of his work as Director of Spiritual Training at the Australian New Church College. I had studied online with the ANCC for my ministry credentials. We talked about how I use a Logopraxis approach in my work with the Home Church in Bryn Athyn, and how I might get involved with some Logopraxis leadership in the USA.
While in South Australia, I drove almost over to the border with Victoria to have lunch with my cousin Neville on my Dad’s side of the family. He has been touring Australia for years now in his campervan and happened to be in the area. Afterwards I traveled back to towards Adelaide to Tintinara, where many of my Brock relatives, on my Mum’s side, were gathering for the wedding of my cousin’s daughter, Emma. The wedding and reception were both held outside on the Brock family’s farm property, on a 41 C/105 F degree day. The groom ended up being taken to hospital (45 minutes away) with heatstroke during the reception! Fortunately Brad was able to return in time for the wedding brunch the next morning. And of course I spent some time with my brother Stephen and sister-in-law Soula, my friend Suzi, two cousins who weren’t at the wedding, and time at an Adelaide beach as well.
My ministry to the Canberra group continued on a monthly basis, so I returned at the end of March. In addition to the Spiritual Growth programme we had been doing in a total of 4 sessions, and Sunday worship, I squeezed in a shorter version of the “Why Worry?: We Were Told This Would Happen” presentation. It was beginning to feel like a national tour with the presentation, which asks and provides suggestions for the questions that are on many people’s minds. Afterwards I hiked up a large hill with a member of the group. The photo to the left shows Parliament House in the distance. It’s the white triangular structure about one third of the way from the top. We also saw Telstra Tower, an iconic Canberra landmark for which the construction architect was my late cousin, Jeff Brock. I say hello to him every time I see the tower.
