the Ultimate YMCA national convention

I back on the Frisbee pulpit again this weekend.
(I'm assuming that to mean that my previous 'sermon' went down well.)
Australia's YMCA are having their National Convention in Canberra this weekend, including a multi-faith experience/service on Sunday morning. As the convention’s theme is ‘Active and Involved’, Gordon (who seems himself to be active and involved everywhere) thought it would be good to have a Frisbee ‘stall’ alongside the Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims.
So, after the Aboriginal smoking ceremony, and a welcome by Julia Gillard (deputy Prime Minister of Aus), delegates can pick two of the five ‘experiences’ to attend for this multi-faith service: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or Ultimate Frisbee!

Here’s my little blurb for the flyer:

Active and Involved – Ultimate Frisbee
Frisbee: (friz-bee) n. archaic – ancient fertility ritual involving graceful movements and the symbolic passing of a upturned round bowl. Accompanied by negotiations over alleged infringements or errors. Long abandoned by civilised societies.

“We used to say that Frisbee is really a religion - 'Frisbeeterians,' we'd call ourselves. When we die, we don't go to purgatory, we just land up on the roof and lie there” Ed Headrick, inventor of the Frisbee.

Ultimate Frisbee is not really a faith, but it is followed and played with as much devotion as if it were. Learn about the ‘spirit of the game’, how to play, and why it’s a great devotion to have. Perfect for being ‘active and involved.’


I’m interested to see who chooses the ‘Ultimate path to enlightenment’! ;) If you want to, we’re at the National Convention Centre in Civic spreading the good news of frisbee. The program starts at 9:00 this Sunday.

becoming myself

A succinct Hasidic tale for monday:

Rabbi Zusya, when he was an old man, said, “In the coming world, they will not
ask me: ‘Why were you not Moses?’ They will ask me: ‘Why were you not Zusya?’”

saving lives

The Journey
Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice—
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do—
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Mary Oliver, New and Selected Poems

source: Inward/outward

Party-animal god

And, here's the week's third and final piece on Joy for my advent reflections.
Party time!

Advent reflection 3 - A God of Joy

For the kingdom of God is not food and drink
but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
~ Romans 14:17

Of all the adjectives used to describe the kingdom of God, I’m rather surprised at the choice of Joy. Somehow my childhood images of angels playing harps on fluffy clouds, doesn’t really seem like Party Central. Wasn’t the joke that the party was always downstairs with the devil and all the good music?

Thankfully, the image of God as an old, boring, stern white man does not find any support in Scripture. In contrast, the God of the Israelites is a God who is full of Joy. We may even go as far to say that this God is a party animal God! It follows then that God’s reign/kingdom would be full of Joy.

What would be the overarching description that you would give you your experience of God’s reign? I hope that Joy is in there somewhere amongst the adjectives.

Let us reflect some more extent of this Joyfulness, and the celebratory God we serve:

In the Jewish Scriptures, where the notion of ‘the kingdom of God’ finds it’s roots, the Lord mandates 46 different festivals and parties for Israel in their year. That’s almost party a week!

In just the first 5 books (the Torah) of the Jewish Bible, God institutes 7 sacred festivals. What’s more, three were considered as ‘major feasts’: the Feast of Passover (Pesach), the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot).

These are often called ‘pilgrim feasts’ because all adult males were required to travel to the sanctuary to take part (Deuteronomy 16:16). There’s no VIP list, or ‘by invite only’ in this Kingdom. Everyone is invited, even mandated, to come to the party.

What’s more, if 7 days of partying wasn’t enough, when the 7 day Tabernacles festival ended, there was one more day of partying to celebrate the fact they had just had a week long celebration! Phew! It was called the Last Great Day, the 8th, an extra day of assembly. No work was permitted on this day and the people once again gathered at the Tabernacle to join their Joyful God.

This advent, whether your waiting is sad, nostalgic, peaceful, or at ease, may it lead you closer to the Joy of the promise of advent, when we can once more party and sing:

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing.

my alternative sports wishlist

If, for some obscure reason, i was unable to play ultimate frisbee anymore, I have a mental list of a few other alternative sports I'd like to try my hand at:

parkour
adventure racing
moutain biking
rock climbing (my last climb was 3 years ago)

Capoeria is not on the list, as I'm already doing it. Extreme ironing never really excited me. Sports involving being underwater, or in the sky, seem to scare me. [Kudos therefore to my braver friends: Lu-dogg who has recently taken up kite-surfing, Nic who is a very experienced sky diver, and Dan the scuba man]

Anyway, I've just discovered a new sport that has some potential: Extreme kayaking.
Take a look at this BBC report of some clowns brave people who kayaked down a 300ft dam wall.

Phenomenal or phenomenally stupid? Here's the BBC's full picture and caption:

James Davies captured this image of extreme kayaking
at Llyn Brianne reservoir in Carmarthenshire. The activity
over the 300ft overspill has been condemned by Welsh Water,
which has threatened action. Photo: James Davies Photography, Swansea

Any other alternative sports out there that you have tried/want to try?
[rhetorical question to my non-existent blog readers ;)]

Images from the BBC/James Davies

travel advisory

Quantas had a 2-for-1 deal on international flights yesterday, so Julie and I scooped up tickets home for half price. Hooray! We’ll be visiting for 3 weeks over Easter next year, and be back in Australia-land just in time for Aus Nationals in Perth. Unfortunately it does mean I’ll miss New Zealand Nationals in early April, but sometimes Frisbee has to take the back seat for family and friends!

I’m already looking forward to the visit. We’re going to be in Jozi, Durbs and Cape Town, so as to see all our friends that we miss so much. If you are in either of the cities, please pencil the dates in your diary (28Mar-18April).

Hooray

He won!
Watching the news unfold at the Australian Labor Party's HQ with colleagues. McCain has just conceded graciously, now we're waiting for Barack to speak in Chicago.
Needless to say, we haven't done much work today (luckily most of the bosses were out).

For a laugh, Moby had a rather humorous post recently wondering where right-wing Republicans could emigrate to if Obama won. He concludes that Oklahoma, Iran or Saudi Arabia seems the only solace for them.