ncyc11 day three

Well, I have just awoken from a two hour nap, and am feeling quite refreshed.
It's not as if today has been all that exhausting, but I suppose I am enjoying a bit of space to chill out while the participants are engaging in their workshops, electives, and community building activities.

For our second bible study this morning, we were a slightly smaller group, with 15 - 20 young people choosing to join other groups. That's OK, you don't really know what a study group is going to be like until you get there, and there's always a bit of readjusting of bible study groups after the first session. It's a shame, though, because the material we were dealing with yesterday was a little more abstract or complex, and today we got a bit more practical and experiential.

We focused on prayer today, the passage from Matthew being where Jesus teaches us how to pray. We began with some conversation around what our experiences of prayer had been like - good, bad, helpful, unhelpful. For some the time we allowed was more than enough, for others, they would have liked a little longer to talk through some of their experiences of prayer. From what I heard, there was a real breadth to the experiences of prayer across the group, from having been present while others prayed but not ever having prayed themselves, to uncomfortable experiences in different traditions, and good, uplifting experiences of prayer within community.
We heard then the portion from Matthew, then some thoughts around what Jesus might be saying, and then we invited the group into a time of silent prayer. We asked them to be still, on their own, in silent prayer, for 15 minutes. And most of the group really engaged with this. We had said that it might be uncomfortable, but for a quite a few, this was clearly not the case. It was a bit long for some, who were not used to praying this way, but it seems to have been a helpful exercise for most of the group. Well done to Nathan for suggesting and leading this.

We offered some brief introductions to other forms of prayer - labyrinths, lighting candles, meditation, journal writing, body prayer, walking as prayer - though in the end didn't get to spend the time on this I had imagined. We were hoping to be able to break into groups and talk more about some of the different forms, have an opportunity to give the body prayer a go, that sort of thing, but the sharing of the space with the catering team is a little pressurised given that lunch follows straight on from the bible studies and we're in one of the dining spaces. So we were asked to be finished by 12.15, and the extra 15 minutes would have been great, as too would be to not have the distractions towards the end of the session and just before lunch of the catering team setting up to be ready ... however, we make the best of what we have, and all in all I think this session was a good one, and am really grateful for the way the group engaged with it.

We had gatherings after lunch for each of the states, to meet each other, hear from the moderator, etc. That was a good opportunity to chat with some other South Aussies, and get our SA on, as Will said!

And now I'm off to a light tea before the new year's eve celebrations kick off - worship then dance party, praise party and thanksgiving for 2010, fireworks and a Tongan feast after midnight!
I hope you all have some good memories for which to be thankful from 2010, are able to find peace with the losses and difficult times from this year, and have much to look forward to in the way of challenges and opportunities for love and laughter.

Happy New Year !