Easter in Healesville

It's my first Easter in Healesville, and things seem to have gone ok! It's hard to know what the "usual" is, and being so early in the year I haven't really got to know the people and community yet.

However, I think all went well! Good Friday was remembered with a small group of us journeying through Luke's account of Jesus' trial and crucifixion. We shared in a great morning tea of fresh hot cross buns from Beechworth Bakery.

This mornings Pam spoke in two parts, and I led the service. We had an alarm sounding somewhere outside the church which caused a bit of a distraction. We had two people visit us from Sydney today too! It was great to have people under 30!!!

I used a DVD to sing "All Hail the Power of Jesus Name" to end this mornings service - note to self: Don't try again, it didn't really work!!!

I think that the second batch of hot cross buns and Easter eggs helped people forgive me and forget the dvd!!!

During the week I handed out around 800 Easter eggs to the shop keepers in town! It was great being able to give people something and not ask for anything in return.

Sometime last night someone decided to tag the sign out the front of the church. It doesn't really worry me, as we will either clean it or replace it - no point expending energy over something like that. However it seems to worry some of the congregation more. Part of me wonders that with my intentional Easter sharing during the week, and some great advances on connecting with and serving Healesville High that distractions like graffiti can steer us away from what we are really meant to be doing. I don't want to let this minor distraction stop us from serving the community and introducing people to the Kingdom of God.

So please pray for God's Kingdom to come in Healesville! Here are some of initiatives starting soon:
- UFO's Crafe Group; a new craft morning once a month for "unfinished objects" to start on Tues 1 April (no joke!)
- Our "Fresh Friday Munch" monthly community lunch; I have a meeting this week to work out objectives etc.
- CRE in Healesville Primary; I start in term 2 with both grade 6 classes
- Breakfast program at Healesville High; I start working with a group of year 10's in term 2
- A new project with some at-risk years 9 & 10 boys at Healesville High - a funding submission has been made to the Shire of Yarra Ranges, which includes a multi-faceted partnership including Healesville Salvos!
- For my professional ethics assignment that I really need to write this week!