By Rev. Dr Katherine Rainger, Senior Chaplain

"God has done all this, so that we will look for him and reach out and find him. He isn’t far from any of us, and gives us the power to live, to move, and to be who we are."

- Acts 17:27

Last Friday was a wonderful day of celebrating Christmas in July throughout the college. Mountains of donations for Anglicare partner St John’s Care were collected. Nearly $1500 was raised for St John’s Care through donations and fundraising by the prefects and Radford Awareness and Service (RAS). Thank you to everyone who took part.

One of the things that I appreciate about the work that St John’s Care does is the way they treat each person who comes to their service as a person with a story and a person who should be treated with respect and dignity. They also look at the whole person and acknowledge the different factors that are at play in their lives.

When Jesus interacted with people, he saw the whole person. He realised that a person is connected to a family and a community. Jesus recognised that people had a story and physical, emotional and spiritual needs. The encounters in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 7, are a great example of the diversity of people whom Jesus encountered: a Roman official, used to giving orders, who realises his need for Jesus when a beloved servant is sick; a widow who has lost a son; and a woman who is deemed an outcast and blesses Jesus much to the chagrin of the other dinner guests.

In each of these encounters, Jesus is fully present to the person, who they are and their needs.

This year’s Dirrum Dirrum Festival theme is sonder, defined as “the realisation that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own,” captured here in this video. The festival is a great chance for the community to come together to hear each other’s stories, as well as to hear the stories of speakers, musicians and stall holders.

If we are to experience sonder, we need to slow down enough to hear from God, ourselves and each other. This prayer by Michael Leunig captures this way of being:

Dear God,

We pray for another way of being:
another way of knowing.

Across the difficult terrain of our existence
we have attempted to build a highway
and in so doing have lost our footpath.
God lead us to our footpath:
Lead us there where in simplicity
we may move at the speed of natural creatures
and feel the earth's love beneath our feet.
Lead us there where step-by-step we may feel
the movement of creation in our hearts.
And lead us there where side-by-side
we may feel the embrace of the common soul.
Nothing can be loved at speed.

God lead us to the slow path; to the joyous insights
of the pilgrim; another way of knowing: another way of being.

Amen.