Australia trip – Walking the Path with Ros

May 6, 2025

Ministry in Aus

A significant purpose for my annual trips to Australia is to “give back” to the New Church in Australia (NCIA). Most of my training as a minister was through the Australian New Church College, and my family on my mother’s side goes back many generations in the NCIA and the General Conference of the New Church in the UK. Two Australian congregations do not have a minister, so I’m a visiting minister for them while I’m there. And I like to be supportive in other ways to the congregations that do have a minister.

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll probably recognise the location and the people. This is the group in Canberra, Australia’s capital city, which gathers for worship every other Sunday here in Philip and Eleanor Richards’ sunroom. I visit there monthly when I’m in Aus, giving a spiritual growth class on Saturday and leading worship on Sunday. Not pictured here are two couples who had taken a break, but have rejoined the group quite regularly.

Above is the group in Perth, on the western coast of Western Australia. Like the Canberra group, there are people affiliated with both the New Church in Australia and the more conservative General Church of the New Jerusalem. Sometimes they gather separately, but whenever a minister is visiting from either Swedenborgian/New Church branch, they come together for a long weekend of activities. We had a discussion class about “Spiritual Judgement vs. Assesment” in the home of David and Ros Walker (seated in the centre of the photo on the left) The next day I gave a more formal presentation about “Tools for Healing the Pain of Polarisation” in a conference room at a restaurant, where we stayed for lunch afterwards (the photo on the right.)

Sunday’s worship service, including Communion/Holy Supper, was a combined event as well, at the hall where the group usually worships. They had sold their church building several years ago. Afterwards we enjoyed the fellowship of a shared (potluck) lunch, and then a few of us continued our conversations over coffee at a nearby cafe. In addition, during my five-day visit, I was able to have some individual visits with three of the members of the group.

In addition to ministering to the groups in Canberra and Perth, I made my usual tour around the country visiting relatives, and my friends and colleagues in other Swedenborgian/New Church congregations. In the south side of Sydney, I played the piano twice for a church service in the Hurstville New Church, including Easter Sunday (pictured). After attending one session of their series of spiritual growth classes about Joseph in the Hebrew scriptures, I joined the group for a fun movie night, watching the Disney film “Joseph: King of Dreams,” and snacks afterwards (pictured.) On the “north shore” I attended the Roseville New Church once, and interesting discussion sessions at their Swedenborg Centre three times. During one session I received some very helpful feedback on the presentation about “Tools for Healing the Pain of Polarisation” which I ended up giving in both the Hurstville church and in Perth.

In my rather whirlwind travels outside of Sydney, I stopped briefly in Melbourne where the Swedenborg Community Victoria is based. As I was only there during the weekdays, I was unable to attend a worship service, but I was able to Zoom in to an online Connect discussion. Rev. David Moffat, the spiritual leader of the Melbourne-based group and also the President of the NCIA, and I took a whole day to visit my friends/his parishioners Suzanne Coutanceau in Trentham (pictured), and Barrie and Edith Rabone in Majorca. We covered a lot of territory, both physically and in discussions about the Swedenborg Social Media Network that he had initiated in September 2024. We also had a wonderful “clergy gathering” with Rev. John Teed who was a good friend of my parents, and a vibrant minister in the NCIA when I was growing up. While in Melbourne, I also connected with another colleague, Rev. Martin Pennington, over lunch at the famous St Kilda Beach where we indulged in our usual far-ranging theological discussion.

Then on to Adelaide, where the congregation meets twice a month, but not on the weekend that I was there. But I managed to visit with the lay leader, June Johnson, and three other members of the small but devoted group, who had been quite disrupted recently with major repairs to the church building due to white ant damage. The Saturday evening Vespers service that I attended at my brother Stephen’s Russian Orthodox church was absolutely beautiful and serene. Stephen chants and sings in the choir, and I really enjoyed hearing him sing his solo and picking out his voice at other times.

March 16, 2025April 18, 2025

Touring New Zealand

Thank you for joining me again on my ministry and travel path! My path in 2025 started near the end of January with some exploring, and venturing into new experiences. First up, visiting in New Zealand, but adventures further afield in the north island than in the past. Previously I’ve mostly stayed in the Auckland vicinity, focusing on the NCIA/General Church Swedenborgian congregation. But they have now sold their building, as have many small congregations around the world, and are meeting virtually with an occasional in-person event. I missed the in-person church gatherings in Auckland, and going to the familiar physical building. Before I began visiting there as an adult, my father used to visit the New Church in Auckland on a regular basis when I was growing up in Australia. This was in a way a personal loss for me. It is even more of an emotionally painful and challenging process to wind-up a church organisation legally and financially for the people who have worshiped together for decades, and worked hard to keep it going. And equally challenging to sustain relationships and maintain a sense of community. But they are doing just that, though, through social media and group video meetings.

The former home of the New Christian Church in New Zealand, built and maintained by members.

Denis and Lis Keal are very active in the group, and were my wonderful hosts. I’ve known Denis since I was 6 years old. First up, a trip to the active geothermal area around Rotorua, in the central region of the north island. The area has many hot springs as well as the Lady Knox Geyser, in the photo. We soaked in some hot mineral pools, and toured the Waiotapu Scenic Reserve, where we saw and smelled many hot mud and sulphur pools. We also walked through the mainly Redwood Whakarewarewa Forest, which is also home to native species like Golden Fern Tress

Our final stop in Rotorua was the Mitai Maori Village, for a celebration of the Maori culture. The original Maoris were a Polynesian people who traveled to New Zealand centuries ago. We saw warriors paddling a war canoe, enjoyed musical entertainment and traditional haka dances, had an authentic Hangi dinner, and walked through the old village site and the forest, lit up by glow worms.

My final few days in Auckland were spent touring Hobbiton, the movie set for the Hobbit movies, and visiting with church friends. In the photo gallery above, the tiki pole was actually at the Mitai Maori Village, as we descended down to the river where the warriors demonstrated traditional war canoe chanting. The rainy-day Hobbiton photos show part of the village in the hill, the “party tree” and tent, a fully built Hobbit home that we toured inside including my demonstration that I’m almost Hobbit-sized : ) and the bridge to the Green Dragon Inn.

Once we were back in Auckland, Denis and Lis hosted an extended family gathering, and a smaller gathering of church people. Rev. John Sutton is pictured here with his wife Jenny and their fur-baby. As I mentioned earlier, lovely as it is to catch up with some of the church members, I still felt the heaviness of grieving the loss of what-had-been. Though I do support the notion that old structures might need to fade away so that a vibrant new spirituality can emerge.

We also visited Hugh and Jenny Keal in their Retirement Village on two occasions. Hugh has continued his passion for garden railways by using his 3D printer to create an entertaining steam-powered miniature railway system – pictured above.

After almost a week of venturing further afield in summer-time New Zealand, with less of my usual emphasis on the church group, I was ready to fly 13 hours back into the wintery northern hemisphere, for my first visit to a country in the Asian continent.

February 15, 2024April 5, 2024

Wonderful Woonona

Welcome back to my travel and ministry blog! I appreciate your company as I walk the path in Australia in 2024. On my return to Woonona NSW where Jon, Angela and Evie live, I was happy to see that they have made a welcoming home in the townhouse/unit into which I had helped them move last year. This time I felt “at home” in Woonona – like this is my home in Australia when I’m here, not just a place to visit. It’s on the east coast, just north of Wollongong, about an hour’s travel south of Sydney, and is a beach town.

As soon as I had dumped my bags in the room I’m sharing with Evie, the whole family took off for an afternoon at Woonona beach, a mere block and a half from the house. After dinner we played a very adapted game of croquet on a field close to the beach. For the first several days, Jon, Angela and Evie wanted to show me some of the places they’ve enjoyed near Woonona. There was a reptile show at Evie’s preschool. Evie gingerly held a crocodile, as well as other reptiles, and I triumphantly overcame my fear and held a constrictor python. We also toured her completely outdoor, nature immersion preschool. There are several of them throughout Australia. Our next trip was to the Cascade Falls in the Macquarie Pass. A fun and sometimes challenging hike took us up to the waterfall, where I stood under a cascade of water for the first time in my life, and swam with an eel!

January 20, 2023January 20, 2023

Joy in NSW

While in the process of helping Jon, Angela and Evie settle in physically and emotionally to their home in Australia, I made sure to have fun and to treasure the joy of being with them in NSW. Every day that I was not off doing some aspect of my ministry, I spent part of the day having an adventure with Evie, while Jon and Angela attended to the business of setting up a new life. Beach adventures, rock pool explorations, playground fun, swimming, playing with dolls, dancing.

While Jon and Angela were busy lodging his complicated application for a permanent resident visa, buying a car when decent used cars were hard to find, and finding a more permanent place to rent in a competitive market, we found plenty of ways to enjoy ourselves. Angela has several school friends who live nearby on the South Coast.

Someone caught a salmon during our evening walk

Walking on the beach, especially at that liminal space at the edge of the water as the waves meet the sand, is probably my favourite way to access joy and at the same time appreciate my grounded place in this amazing universe. As Rumi advises, “Listen to the Ocean.” I walked many miles/kilometres along the stretches of beaches north and south of Bulli, any time of day (and swam in the surf as well.)

And of course there were various fun celebrations in December! My birthday, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve with fireworks on Sydney Harbour (another bucket list item!)

January 16, 2023January 23, 2023

“At home” in New South Wales

As soon as the Coronavirus pandemic had settled down enough to allow international travel, I booked my tickets. On with my ministry and travel paths in Australia! Whereas in the past my focus was re-connecting with my church, family and school communities, this time a significant focus for me has been supporting my son Jon, his wife Angela and their daughter Evie as they move permanently to Australia.

Evie waving goodbye as the family leaves USA

Usually when in Sydney I’ve stayed in Baringa (pictured left) , the guest house/social centre/office of the Swedenborgian/New Church in Hurstville, NSW, and travelled an hour by train to help out in the other NCIA (New Church in Australia) congregation in Roseville, NSW. This time being in Bulli, I was an hour from Hurstville and two hours from Roseville.

The Hurstville church, on the “south shore”

What with wanting to help Jon and Angela and Evie make their geographic and emotional transition to living in Australia, the distance and time to travel to the church centres, and contracting Covid within a few days of arriving, I spent much less time than in previous ministry trips actually helping out in the churches in Sydney. I was able to contribute to an Open Discussion at the Swedenborg Centre, an outreach of the Roseville church, as well as participate in a Bible study (below.) For the Hurstville church, whose piano player has now retired after many years of service, I returned to my former music ministry to record 18 hymns and songs on piano for them to use during Christmas and regular worship services.

Connecting with friends from my faith and school communities in the Sydney area is always a blessing! The people and places from my early years have deep meaning, still providing healing for the “third culture kid” part of me (google it!) Walked the Como bridge with Murray and Lori Heldon, went to Sydney Harbour with Cliff Adamou, had lunch with school friends (no photo 🙁 ), saw a play with Lori and Jenn Beiswenger

Arriving as I did in mid November, it was Christmas time in summer in Australia! Seemed normal to me growing up in Sydney, but it took some re-adjusting for me after decades of winter Christmases. We entirely missed Thanksgiving, which isn’t celebrated in Australia anyway, except as a religious Harvest Thanksgiving at the end of summer. Jon had bought some turkey for the occasion, but he and I had Covid that week, and somehow in a summer setting I didn’t really miss it. On Christmas day I was able to check off a bucket list item: go to the beach on Christmas! We saw many families in their “Christmas tents” on the beach, complete with lights and decorations.