COMING MAY 18, 7:30
We are hosting a panel discussion (and Q&A) at the Kirk on May 18 (7:30pm) entitled The Spectre of Death. The panel will be composed of Dr Anthony Rees, Rev Mary Pearson, and Rev Dr Raymond Joso.
The interest of the night is less about life after death and more about life before death (in the sense of before a horizon). How does death shape life? Give life its meaning and shape? Indeed how does the reality of death create life as we know it? Beyond this why is it that death elicits a mix of revulsion and fascination, denial and purpose? The panel and Q&A will help us consider theological and biblical resources that can help us respond to these questions, shape the way we live, enrich the practices we develop to face and mark death.
The problem with all thinking about death, as I see it, is that it takes death for granted. Death is an absolute circumstance to us, and therefore we have great difficulty thinking that death may be unnecessary. But if that is so, the question then becomes one of what death adds to life, of what is it good for, and what it does. If the answer to that question is that death makes room for more life, the question then becomes one of what that might be good for. Certainly, more life opens up the possibility of new life, and new life alters the balance of existing conditions, creating challenges to which they must adapt, which is to say yet more change. Death is what makes evolution possible. We are just as unneccessary as death, and however odd it may sound, our presence here is more closely attached to death than to life. Death created us.
Karl Ove Knausgaard, The Morning Star (Penguin Random House, 2020).
Any Questions? Email forestkirkuc@gmail.com
Meet the Panel
Meet the Panel
Rev Dr Raymond Joso is an ordained Uniting Church Minister and currently in placement as the Director of Mission Enablement for the Synod of NSW and the ACT. Before this placement, he was the minister for the Uniting Church Indonesian Congregation, and Sydney Cheil Korean Uniting Church.Raymond has significant experience in facilitating strategic mission planning and change processes in both presbytery and congregational contexts. He loves to encourage ministers and lay leaders to explore new forms of ministry and to challenge the church to make space for new missional expressions to grow. He also contributes to leadership for missional thinking and building capacity for the church engaging with the community.
Raymond is committed to sharing good news stories and learnings to inspire and encourage the broader church in their missional activity.
Rev Mary Pearson
"My roots are in Scotland where, post university, I spent a short time working as a medical social worker, then trained as a teacher and worked with deaf children. I married and had 2 children, then spent time as part of the resident group at Iona Abbey and joined the ecumenical dispersed Iona Community (of which I am still a member). Later, having separated and then divorced, I worked for The Save the Children Fund setting up a programme for parents and under 5s in a deprived area of Edinburgh where I also lived as part of a small community with connections to Iona. I emigrated to New Zealand and married my husband Clive and had another son. I started to study theology in Dunedin and was accepted for ministry training, but we then moved to Sydney where I candidated again and trained at UTC. My first congregation was in Parramatta where, as a result of a neighbourhood programme we set up, I became involved with inter-faith activities, particularly the Muslim Affinity Intercultural Foundation. I was one of the original disaster recovery chaplains. After 7 years I became a mental health chaplain, originally at Rozelle hospital which closed and then moved to Concord Centre for Mental Health. I officially retired from there but have had a number of supply ministry positions, particularly at Lindfield for 3 years. While in mental health chaplaincy I trained to become a pastoral supervisor with Transforming Practices which is now my main occupation along with also being a supervisor trainer."
Dr Anthony Rees is Senior Lecturer in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at United Theological College and is the Associate Head of the School of Theology of Charles Sturt University. He is the author of three books, most recently a monograph on the biblical figure of Moses and his relationships with other men. Other recent projects include papers on the relationship between wilderness traditions and return migration, and the monstrous problem of creation, engaging biblical texts and novels by Mary Shelley and Kazuo Ishiguro.
Raymond is committed to sharing good news stories and learnings to inspire and encourage the broader church in their missional activity.
Rev Mary Pearson
"My roots are in Scotland where, post university, I spent a short time working as a medical social worker, then trained as a teacher and worked with deaf children. I married and had 2 children, then spent time as part of the resident group at Iona Abbey and joined the ecumenical dispersed Iona Community (of which I am still a member). Later, having separated and then divorced, I worked for The Save the Children Fund setting up a programme for parents and under 5s in a deprived area of Edinburgh where I also lived as part of a small community with connections to Iona. I emigrated to New Zealand and married my husband Clive and had another son. I started to study theology in Dunedin and was accepted for ministry training, but we then moved to Sydney where I candidated again and trained at UTC. My first congregation was in Parramatta where, as a result of a neighbourhood programme we set up, I became involved with inter-faith activities, particularly the Muslim Affinity Intercultural Foundation. I was one of the original disaster recovery chaplains. After 7 years I became a mental health chaplain, originally at Rozelle hospital which closed and then moved to Concord Centre for Mental Health. I officially retired from there but have had a number of supply ministry positions, particularly at Lindfield for 3 years. While in mental health chaplaincy I trained to become a pastoral supervisor with Transforming Practices which is now my main occupation along with also being a supervisor trainer."
Dr Anthony Rees is Senior Lecturer in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at United Theological College and is the Associate Head of the School of Theology of Charles Sturt University. He is the author of three books, most recently a monograph on the biblical figure of Moses and his relationships with other men. Other recent projects include papers on the relationship between wilderness traditions and return migration, and the monstrous problem of creation, engaging biblical texts and novels by Mary Shelley and Kazuo Ishiguro.
PAST EVENTS
You're invited to a community forum on
awareness, prevention, and responses
to domestic violence and abuse.
Friday June 17, 7:30pm
at the Kirk.
Family and domestic violence and abuse remains a pervasive issue in our community. We are confronted with statistics, tragic stories on the news, and advertising on bus stops reminding us of the complexity of the situation and imploring us to intervene when we spot red flags.
And yet, many still wonder how to best respond to disclosures or suspicions of abuse, how to respond when someone makes a troubling comment, and how to be someone that a loved one could trust with their story.
This evening is designed to assist with those questions, to help us feel ready to respond positively when we might need to.
The evening features an expert panel comprising:
CEO of Women and Children First (which oversees three local women's & children's refuges)
A member of the Court Advocate's Office
A Professional Counsellor (experienced working with DVA survivors)
Trained Instructor of Bystander Training (who teaches how to be an active and impactful bystander)
The night will also include personal testimony and a time to submit questions to the panel.
Email the church if you have any questions.