Our first Forge encounter

It was a pleasure to meet Kim Hammond, the state director of Forge in Victoria, on Monday at his home. We drove to the opposite side of Melbourne (about an hour in the car) to get there. We ate lunch with him and his wife, met his three boys, and he brought us up to date with all the activity and recent changes with Forge. It was incredibly helpful for me, delivering me from the cluelessness that has framed my perceptions for months about exactly what Forge is and what it does. Here’s how Kim explained stuff to us (it’s a bit lengthy so you may not be terribly interested – permission to look away now):

· Forge could have as many as 40 students or interns this year, in Victoria alone. One-third of the students are accrediting only, that is they are non-college, just interested in the practical experience. The other 2/3 will be associated with a university (seminary) and Forge is accredited by all the uni/colleges in this area.

· Forge is a conduit between bible college/university and project/ministry internship.

· Forge provides the mentor/coach and allows each student to choose and plan the proposed project. He said they are non-exclusive about project ideas. The only criteria is that it is missional in nature. This gives students enormous scope for creativity.

· The internship runs from March – November and includes 10 – 20 hours/week.

· During the year, there are 3 intensives, each will be held in a different location, preferably in the context of a community or a ministry (for example, the second one in July will be at St Martin’s – John Smith’s church, the Maddock’s former community of faith).

· Each intern is paired with a mentor/coach and they must meet weekly.

· In Victoria, they will organize interns into “clusters” – groups of 10 based on geographical region, since Melbourne is large and expansive.

· Forge doesn’t have an office. It is a de-centralized organization. Kim described it as “virtual” as most of the staff work from home or on the road.

A new addition to their organization structure, which Kim is just introducing, is “streams” or specialized areas of experience for the interns. Each intern will be a part of one of these three:

1. Pioneering missional stream – the original “101” Forge which includes anything new, apostolic or missional in nature.

2. Transitioning – interns working within the church, specifically smaller congregations, to transition the church to a new and vital form. Efforts of revitalization and renewal fall under this category and while the church may continue to look traditional, this will use church assets (esp buildings) innovatively and allow for diversity within congregations.

3. Youth – working with 18-22 year olds to bring the missional DNA message of Forge to youth. This would appeal to youth workers/youth ministers. This is brand new.

All the interns will be required to participate in core lectures during the intensives, but there will also be time for each stream to reflect, brainstorm, and organize around their specific focus.

Forge events include:

· Monthly staff meetings

· Dangerous Stories – yearly summit March 9-11, bringing everyone together, and it will be the location of the first of three intensives this year

· Postcard Nights – gatherings around specific topics, hosted in public spaces

· Boot Camp – a time in February for Alan and Deb to meet with all the state directors – to organize, plan and pray together before the Hirsch’s leave for the U.S. We feel honored that we were invited to attend this.

The Forge staff is asking us to do the following (so far):

· Coach/mentor interns personally

· Oversee a cluster – 10 students on this side of Melbourne (western suburbs)

· Help teach

· Help with Dangerous Stories – the big conference in March, particularly with admin stuff. We told them we love grunt work.

family portraits

the bucket

At this time in Australia, saving water is critical. Many citizens have been practicing methods of water conservation for years, but now it has become a fever-pitched necessity for everyone to comply (and in Australia, there is a collective consciousness that drives the cultural instinct to contribute to the good of all). In our household, Kev and Kath have well-established ways to save any drop from the tap. We have a wash bucket in the kitchen sink and we pack the dishwasher to the hilt when it runs. Kev hooked up a grey-water hose from the washing machine that runs out to the front roses (the dryer is tucked away in the shed and rarely used). In the shower, we have a bucket to catch our warm-up water and any that sloshes off us as we scrub. Of course this practice is setting off my neurosis and I feel compelled to guide as much water in the bucket as possible as I’m racing to shorten my shower to record time. It’s good discipline. And we get our exercise and regular dose of garden serenity throughout the day by taking these water-salvaged buckets and dumping them on thirsty plants. A substantial part of Kath’s veggie garden is in large pots and barrels and these are most dependent on our water saving efforts.

The current raging debate in the national press at the moment is drinking recycled water. The radio programs have opinions called in and the t.v. is running yes/no polls to the question “are you willing to drink recycled sewage?” so far, those opposed to such a thing are in the lead and who could blame them with the proposal couched in such a way. Kath told me last night that we’ve been doing this in the U.S. for years. I was surprised and a bit proud of my people for being ahead of this progressive nation for once, especially on such a squeamish issue. Good on you yanks! Really though, it is a crucial matter that will only grow in significance. It requires everyone to yield and, as I’m learning, every bit counts.

isaac's first day of school

yesterday we dropped isaac by the neighborhood preschool for him to have a brief orientation (time to play without us) so we can bring him today for his official first day.  he'll go to school on tuesdays, which will be one of the days we can work together.  he can stay as long as we need him to (any time between 7:30 - 5:00) and they serve him morning tea and lunch with an optional nap.  he was a little sad to be left yesterday.  it certainly will take some time for him to understand the accents of the other children and the teachers.  as i was leaving him, a little boy standing with us began telling me a dramatic story of a dead lamb, and with his thick accent, all i caught was "a dead lamb."  it gave me pause.

while isaac was reluctantly undergoing orientation, geoff and i went across the street for a walk around a footy oval and on a suburban trail.  within five minutes of setting out, we saw and heard such an array of birds - magpies, two guinea fowl, a sulfur-crested cockatoo, pink and gray galahs, willy wagtails, and black swans.  by the way, these are some of the delightful birds that wake me each morning around 6:15 a.m.  it is a welcome change from the customary bus stop grind that i would hear every morning like clockwork in lexington (being on the corner, we have bus stops on both sides of our house).

after collecting a releived boy, we took him down to the news agency for a special treat - a chocolate (cadbury) freddo frog.  we'll see how today goes...new things, new people.

the drought

In arriving to Australia, we find ourselves disconnected, not only because I’m a foreigner and Geoff hasn’t been home for three years, but because we haven’t shared in the “communitas” of sorts that is born of surviving and coping with the harsh drought and fires in recent months. When we turned up here, the rain started, the cool temperatures followed, and we haven’t known a typical day of the 2007 summer in Oz. I found the words of Michael Leunig (brilliant Australian cartoonist and satirist) below compelling, giving the slightest window of empathy for the weather and the times:

“The drought is such a distinctive and extreme natural experience for the land and its creatures: all powerful, utterly uncompromising and absolutely uncontrollable. Gradually you must submit to the facts, yet paradoxically you enter gradually into a mild hallucination as you go about your days. A type of natural weirdness prevails and you give over to this and become part of it. When living close to the earth, drought induces a kind of trance – a kind of letting-go and a brokennenss. You let go of many things: garden plants, various hopes about life itself, and most of all, your remnant and pathetically human notions of normality or perfection – they wither and die in the heat. Good riddance.”

flickr fame

I just discovered we made it to the flickr blog (www.blog.flickr.com) with a photo of our Australia day festivities. I guess that makes us famous in a “web 2.0” kind of way. Hooray for Australian shaped hamburgers…

home

Here’s my mate Alan. He is a gifted chef…that is to say, he cooks meat very well over high heat. As sherry wrote below we had a special Australia day celebration at the Harvey’s yesterday. it has been a great homecoming so far – being with family and friends, (re)discovering the things I miss about this place, and to top it all off, a national day of celebration. Home is most certainly the USA now. I have fallen deeply in love with my adopted nation and feel a vocational call to that land, but it has also been nice to be here in my original home and to be immersed in the strange-familiarity of Australia.

This time around there is an added joy…I have had fun watching Isaac encounter many of the things that are precious about my upbringing. We have watched cricket together, played at the beach, snacked on fish and chips, and I can’t wait to take him to the footy (Australian Football) and barrack for the mighty pies. The particular experience of only returning ‘home’ every 3-4 years is a difficult one to communicate, mostly because the feelings associated with it don’t fit anywhere familiar on the emotional spectrum. At best I have two homes. More negatively, I have two ‘homes’ but I don’t belong to either place properly. Quite obviously life goes on here in Melbourne and I have missed almost a decade of political, economic, social, and cultural shift. While in Kentucky I am still an oddity no matter how much Wendell Berry I read or how much I know about the Kentucky Wildcats (University Basketball team).

But for the most part I am thoroughly blessed to be cross-cultural and the sustaining thread across these places is the love that so easily connects along family and friendship lines. This kinship is amplified through the way we share a passion for the ways of Jesus. So, back to Al and his mateship. Home is where I can share an afternoon with him and his family…and home is drinking coffee with fellow sojourners at Pat’s 3^rd St Stuff coffee in Lexington. It is always good to be home wherever that might be.

australia day barbie

It was a pleasure to join our friends, the Harvey’s, for an Australian Day celebration. I think Aussies have to be the best company to celebrate with because they don’t take themselves too seriously and all their jokes are about themselves. Any patriotism they might express comes in the form of parody and sarcasm. Yesterday we sat for hours and enjoyed food and beer and conversation. For me, though, the absolute highlight of the day was Marg’s garden.

The Harvey’s live in a lovely little house that is surrounded by sustainably designed gardens. They have water barrels and vertical plants. The diversity of their plot is astounding and enviable – lemon, lime, orange, apricot and pomegranate trees, passion fruit and kiwi vines, tomatoes, basil, strawberries, mint, bok choy, lettuce, beans, parsley, beets, cukes, peppers, rosemary, zucchini, garlic, nasturtiums, geraniums, bougainvillea, and more. In the middle of the garden, she has three chooks (chickens) which she rotates around the garden. She feeds them kitchen scraps and they provide rich, free fertilizer and about 18 eggs per week. Their backyard is only slightly larger than our lot in Lexington and they’ve used every inch beautifully. Throughout the garden, there are eclectic pieces of reclaimed junk turned artsy – mirrors, street signs, statues, kitchen sinks, even a GI Jesus. Not only was it delightful to behold, it inspired me about the limitless potential to partner with the earth and to wed growing food and creativity.

more from the market

here are a few images from the wonderful Queen Victoria Market in downtown Melbourne.

local delicacy - kangaroo salami

 

 

 

 

kath and sherry buying hand-churned butter

 

 

 

 

anyone for marinated octopus?  we settled for olives, sun-dried tomatoes and some local cheese

 

 

lost in translation

we went into the queen victoria market yesterday and enjoyed the stunning variety of fruit, veg, seafood, clothing stalls, deli's, and the general mayhem of a massive city market (see this link for more about the queen vic.)

isaac's grandma, seizing every opportunity to spoil him in these early days, bought him a superman toy.  we all had a good laugh reading the packaging 'narrative'.  if you have seen the latest superman movie it is especially funny.

here it is and a photo of the text from this fantastic toy manufactured by the good people of china...

'The superman is in several years the trial return to the home towns and did not succeed,hence re- return to New York, but unfortunate is he discovers that own lover Louis silk has already had the male friend and a child the......"