Au revoir!

Okay, tomorrow I head off to Bali for ten days – a conference of Uniting Church ministers followed by a weekend staying with members of the Christian community in Blimbingsari. Trust me, seriously not a junket (although congregation members insisted on wishing me well on my ‘holiday’ this morning) – the conference program runs from 9 am to 9 pm every day. But I’m looking forward to some sun and swimming – and getting away from the absolutely bloody freezing Macedon Ranges.

Stay well while I’m away, and spare some prayers/thoughts for my sister who may have an operation while I’m away - or may have an operation in a few weeks’ time - or may not have an operation at all - while if she does have it it may be very simple and quick – or may be major and involve the removal of an ovary. At the moment we just don’t know. So keep her in your prayers, please.

See ya later.

Quote for the day

“In Victorian lifewriting, passionate references to hearts on fire and burning with love are a sure sign that a woman is about to discuss Jesus … People who thought of God as a friend easily linked friends to God … Loving the faraway friend echoed the human love of a Christ simultaneously distant in his divinity yet proximate in his humanity, and prayer thus became a medium of friendship as well as worship.”

Sharon Marcus, Between Women: Friendship, Desire and Marriage in Victorian England, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007, pp. 63-5.

I began by chuckling at the first sentence; by the end of the section I nervously began to suspect that I am in fact an out-of-time Victorian. Bother!

News on my sister

 

My sister is okay. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers – I really appreciate them. Further nitty-gritty details follow.

Could I ask for your prayers, please?

I just heard from my brother-in-law that my sister’s in hospital with suspected appendicitis. His parents are looking after the children overnight; I’ll head down to their place first thing tomorrow morning and do my auntie-ing bit. Feeling pretty worried about my sister. Could you please pray for her and for all of us? Thanks.