Healing and home

Rev. Dr Katherine Rainger
Rev. Dr Katherine Rainger

By Rev. Dr Katherine Rainger, Senior Chaplain

Five Winter Personality Types
A getting-to-know you question during group activities is ‘what is your favourite season?’ My answer to that question has always been a resounding ‘yes’ to summer. However, this weekend’s winter sunshine and the whimsical art of Ella Brissenden titled ‘Five Winter Personality Types’ has given me a new appreciation for winter. I wonder if you see yourself as ‘The Hermit’, ‘The Sun Chaser’, ‘The Marshmallow’, ‘The It’s Not Cold I Promise Friend’ or ‘The Soup Connoisseur’? May you enjoy your work, rest, and play in these winter days.

Anglicare Winter Appeal and winter coat drive
Many thanks to those who contributed to the Anglicare Winter Appeal by sending in grocery donations. Jason Haines from St John’s Care came and picked up the donations this morning and will stock the shelves ready to assist Canberrans. Anglicare continues to advocate for policy changes to ensure everyone has access to suitable housing.

Thanks also to Junior School Round Square for organising the winter coat drive, another way to meet an immediate need.

Junior school and Secondary School Anglicare Pantry donations


Refugee Week: 19th – 25th June

The statistics of people needing to flee their homes are sobering. 'As at the end of 2020, there were 82.4 million people who had been forcibly displaced from their homes. Of these, around 48 million were displaced within their own country (internally displaced), while 26.4 million are refugees' (read more here).

Within each of these statistics there is a personal story. The theme for Refugee Week is Healing. The film Scattered People looks at the healing that comes through music as two Iranian refugees, Mas and Saha, share music with Australian artists such as Missy Higgins, John Butler, Archie Roach, Katie Noonan, Dan Sultan and Baker Boy. The trailer is worth watching as a glimpse into the stories of those who came to Australia seeking asylum and the healing power of music. As someone says in the film, 'refugee is not an identity, it’s an experience'.

NAIDOC Week: 3rd – 10th July Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!
NAIDOC Week is a time to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. As Canberrans, the Connection exhibition at the National Museum of Australia is a fantastic audio-visual celebration of culture and connection to Country across these lands now called Australia. Namarag Nature Space provides connection with Ngunawal land and people. Other local NAIDOC week events can be found here.

The theme for this year’s NAIDOC Week is Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! The artist who designed this year’s poster, Ryhia Dank, a young Gudanji/Wakaja artist from the Northern Territory, offers profound insight into her artistic practice and her response to this year’s theme here. Connection with family and Country and the ongoing quest for justice are themes in her work.

Jesus, healing and home
If you’ve stuck with me this far through my reflection, thank you! As I’ve said before, Christian spirituality has an outward and an inward focus as we seek to love the world that God loves, while also receiving love from God and others. We cannot solve every problem in the world, but we can be attentive to where God might be calling us to play our part both locally and further afield.

The story of Zacchaeus in The Gospel of Luke is powerful narrative of the healing that comes personally for Zacchaeus as he welcomes Jesus into his home, and how this changes the way he relates to those around him by making amends with all those he has taken advantage of.

Safina Stewart, an artist from Wuthathi Country and Mabuiag Island, creates work that speaks of Jesus, healing and home. Students in both the Junior School and Secondary School have interacted with Safina Stewart’s artwork Tree of Life. Safina’s moving reflection on Jesus, healing and home can be read here.

Winter blessings as we find and walk the path together,
Rev. Katherine

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