BLACK STUMP REPORT

This was the official welcome of Black Stump. After some fabulous, vibrant songs from the Stump band, Fuzz Kitto came out and welcomed all of us. Glen Powell then spoke about the old traditions of the church. Using the example of the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13: 31-35), he explained that many people think the seed grows into a huge mustard tree. Glen showed us images of mustard shrubs and mustard weeds, but explained there were no mustard trees. Such is an example of a tradition formed on misconception. We need to form new, relevant traditions. 

A children's story was read out to us called, "The Three Questions": 
(1) When is the best times to do things?  Now. We only live in the present. We can ONLY do things in the now. 
(2) Who is the most important one? Many people said God, many said everyone who needs our help. Peter's answer was that the most important one is the one we are with.
(3) What is the right thing to do? Whatever needs to be done.

Peter's next point was that to have compassion on someone means to suffer with them. He used Mark 1:40-45 as an example of Jesus touching a leper, and thus becoming unclean himself, in order to heal/cleanse the leper.

Next, Peter went to John 21 and covered the story of Jesus appearing to the disciples after his  resurrection while they had gone fishing. Twice Jesus asked Simon Peter if he "agape" loved him (agape is the Greek word for Godly Love). Simon Peter answered that he "Philo" loved him ("Philo" is the Greek word for friendship love) The third time Jesus changes his question and asked him if he "Philo" loved him. The point was that Jesus meets us in our failings.

His other point was that Jesus calls us to follow him wherever he goes, not the other way around. We often expect Jesus to follow us wherever we go.

He said that it was, "marked by the occasional controversial comment, but generally filled with some very interesting, and often amusing points!" 

Andy took note of some of Tony's more amusing statements:

- "No, I don't speak in tongues - I don't even kiss in tongues"

- "Only difference between worship music and a machine gun is a machine gun has only 100 rounds"

- "I used to marry people between classes"

- "Incidently, my kids names ARE Bart and Lisa and yes, my wife's name IS Marge. Kind of hard to handle when you look like Homer"

- "When Jesus said love your enemies I think He meant we shouldn't kill them" - a recent Jewish convert friend of his talking to him about war

- "Some of you are Anglicans here - I can smell you"

- "The only difference between a Baptist and a terrorist is that you can negotiate with a terrorist"

- "God created us in His image, so we decided to return the favour"

- "Seminary taught me what Jesus MEANT to say - like He was a lousy communicator or something"

Then lunch was had back at camp:

Frankfurters, cheese, bread and sauce. YUM... all under cover from the sporadic rain. (Great set-up guys).

Some people chose to see Fuzz Kitto in the Palladium: 

"Faith Crisper: How to keep your Faith Fresh." 

Fuzz spoke of how there are so many choices in today's society. He used a retail example to explain that this is not necessarily a good thing: There is the phenomenon that people buy less when there are too many choices on the shelves. The moment the retail outlet reduces the choices, the sales go up.

Depression is on the rise. People are attempting to chose everything or nothing. This inevitably leads to failure and dissatisfaction which leads to depression.

So, how to we stay FRESH in our Faith? Fuzz explained this brilliantly using an acronym on the word "Fresh": Faith, Relationship, Enthusiasm, Spirituality, Hope.

Relationships: We need to develop community: church is a place where we connect with God. Small groups keep us accountable so that we don't stray. Network with each other to keep each other fresh.

Enthusiasm: We need to understand the things that sap enthusiasm and counter these things. We need to learn to celebrate well. Times of closure are very important so that we can restart with a fresh approach. We need to remember to live life to the full.

Spirituality: We need to focus on eternal things. Our spirits are eternal whereas our bodies fade. We need to focus on spiritual disciplines: prayer, meditation, quiet time. We need to connect with God through the scriptures. We need to draw on our spiritual well-springs which are different for everybody eg. forest walks, sport, sit in darkness. Find the things that refresh us spiritually.

Hope: We need to focus on our circle of influence and the things that we can do. This includes planning in the long term. We need to continue to learn and develop.

If anyone would like the talk in full, Fuzz encouraged us to email him at fuzz.kitto@spirited.net.au
----

This was a brilliantly funny rendition of a number of bible stories. Stephen has a knack of bringing the stories to life, modernising them and adding a dash of humour,  without actually changing them.

I would recommend everyone to see this man's performance.

Apologies for the photo: He was dynamic and wouldn't stand still :)

Then it was a night of bands. Some people didn't get to bed until the early hours of the morning.

The photo on the right was of Blind who played at 7:20pm in the supper club. 

Andrew Donaldson found himself "in the Big Top for the Official Shire Music night. The first 3 bands in the Big Top were all locals in the form of Access Denied, Crying Out Loud and Anonymous Gift, all of whom put on a particularly good show."