A few years ago my wife became friends with a beautiful couple from the Middle East. I will protect their identity here, but they arrived as asylum seekers on a boat having fled war in their own country. Australia offered them refuge and a future. They were deeply grateful and embraced so much that we take for granted….
It is perhaps the happiest movie ever made. Today, it seems Pollyanna positive, a universe away from every ailment that besets us. No climate change – except rain! No GFC, no terrorism, no mandatory detention centres, no corruption or greed, just a bunch of people gleefully happy to be alive. The cynic dismisses it as fluff, at best…
Board Jottings 20th Jan, 2015The CFMA Board met on Tuesday 20th January and will from now on publish a summary of matters discussed immediately after each board meeting, to include our community in what is being discussed and the direction we are going. Your feedback and input is welcome. If you have a matter you would like the…
Brookfield 7th of Feb 2015 at 7:00am.The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) are a contemplative movement that was birthed almost 400 years ago by Englishman George Fox, a rare mystic from within the Protestant reformation. Our guest speaker is Roger Sawkins. Roger has been involved with the Quakers for over 50 years. Quakers have always been pacifists and are distinguished…
Location: The Brookfield Centre, 139 Brookfield Road, Kenmore Hills.Our first gathering for the year is on Monday 2 February at Brookfield. There is a sausage sizzle at 6.30, and afterwards Richard Fay will talk about the male spiritual journey, building on previous talks and introducing new aspects of this important truth for men. This is a perfect opportunity…
I don’t really have a bucket list, but if I did, I ticked something off it this week. My son and I shared a hot air balloon flight with extended family over the Gold Coast, as a 21st birthday gift. I don’t like heights, and I’m disproportionally long-limbed, which means my centre of gravity is very low, about…
My eldest son and I drove out of Broken Hill after scoffing down a pizza and headed east. The light was good, despite the clock reading 6.30pm. So good, in fact, that it felt like mid afternoon. The sky was clear and dessicatingly hot, hovering in the mid 40s. Our destination for the night, Cobar, was some 450km…
“I am a recovering Higher Power” wrote author Ann Lamott in a recent blog, reflecting on the pain of the death of someone close to her. If she was in charge of the universe, she mused, terrible things would not happen. Yet she knew it would be far worse, some bizarre crossover between Monkey Island and August: Osage…
Our third quarterly men’s breakfast for the year is on Saturday 13 September at 7am at the Brookfield Centre, with Jeff Lawrence. Breakfast is served at 7.30am. Jeff is the pastor of the Brisbane North Church of Christ in Kedron Qld. He is an accredited spiritual director and an experienced and engaging storyteller. Jeff is acutely aware of…
Through the teaching of Trappist monk Fr Thomas Keating, I became aware of what he calls internal programs for happiness; three ways in which the constructed self constantly props up its incessant insecurity. These are: The need for validation by others through affirmation; the need for security and certainty; and the need for power and control. It works…
