Ahhh blissss...

Yesterday (Saturday) I had the most blissful day I've had in a very long time (which, given how generally happy and excited I am about being here and doing what I'm doing, is really saying something.)

My friend and colleague, Martin, was visiting from Rochester, and we spent the day exploring my local ministry patch. We started with a trip to Beechworth, where Martin worked hard to single-handedly prop up the rural economy with a bit of retail therapy and Christmas shopping. I teased him mercilessly about this, but he got the better of me in the end, which will become apparent soon.

We then swung by the Beechworth church, where we were both impressed by the liturgical elegance of the worship space, decked out in its coordinated Advent purple. (I'll try to remember to take my camera next time I go to Beechworth, and post a pic here for your edification). It's really nice to have someone in the congregation who has such a great liturgical and artistic sense. I had had a conversation with this woman a few days prior about how we might use seasonal purple around the sanctuary, and no sooner had we spoken about it, than it was done! :-)

On the way out of Beechworth heading for Yackandandah, (and hello to the old bears who I am guessing will be reading this after my mention of Yack triggered your Google alert :-), we took a detour via the Beechworth scenic drive around the gorge- something I hadn't done before. It was great to see the vastness of the gorge, and enjoy the scenery.

Then on to Yack, to inspect our little stone church; followed by some well-earned morning tea at the Yack bakery (although by this time it was around noon). Then a wander down the main drag of town, and another new discovery- a fantastic little gallery called Spiritus, housed in the old Yackandandah Motor Garage Premises at the bottom end of the main street.

The ambience and kind of items on sale there reminded me very much of the gallery shops lining Salamanca Place in Hobart, so I felt very much at home. I even discovered some jewellery by a Hobart metal sculptor, Bruce Pringle, whose work is very distinctive (I have a pendant and earrings he made, which are favourites).

But by far the most eye-catching item in the place was the very large wooden cross (about 1.5m high, I think), with a stylised metal representation of Christ on it, which was displayed in the window. Martin and I spent quite some time admiring this, and wondering about its presence so prominently in this place. I couldn't help myself, and had to ask the gallery owner about it, wondering who had made it. She told me about the artists (one local and one from Lithuania), and in the process of this discussion, I noticed a smaller version of the cross (about half the size) propped up near the larger one.

The cross, shown in front of my fireplace

At this point, I was reminded quite acutely of the fact that neither the Beechworth nor Yackandandah churches have a cross of any kind in them, and my mind started wandering down the path of contemplating how magnificent this (smaller) cross would look in a church. The gallery owner offered to let me borrow the smaller cross to 'test drive' it in the Yack church, to see what the congregation thought about it, but I was so struck by the artistic beauty and liturgical elegance of the piece, that I just had to buy it, and this way, it will remain my property, which can hang in one of the churches for a while, and when I leave, I can take it with me.

The fact that it's not a bare, or 'empty' cross, but has even a stylised Christ hanging on it might pose some problems for some of my parishioners (as in the Uniting Church, and most Protestant churches, it is not our tradition to use a 'crucifix', depicting the body of Christ hanging on the cross, but rather an empty cross, symbolising the fact that "he's not here, he is risen"), but I guess the best thing to do is see what happens. It is a beautifully evocative work of art, and I think introducing it at Easter time could be a good move.

More detail of the metal sculpture

After the purchase, Martin became my 'cross-bearer', carrying said item as we made our way up the street to the car. We discovered that carrying a large cross up the main street of a country town is a great conversation starter (funny that!). The price tag on the cross was significantly more than the total Martin had spent on his purchases during the morning, so we agreed that I 'won' the prize for propping up the rural economy the most that day.

So we took our purchases home to Myrtleford, where I packed the eski with a picnic lunch (and of course, some lovely Gapsted Moscato) and we headed for Buffalo River Dam. The weather was perfect for a picnic, and we found a picnic table in the shade and enjoyed our lunch, with a luscious view of the lake and its serene surrounds. We had packed a lot into the day, and it would have been wonderful to stretch out on the grass and have a snooze in the shade for an hour or so, but Martin needed to head home, and I needed to head to Wangaratta to pick up my next house guest, Barbara, from Tassie.

The blissful scenery of Buffalo River Dam
(oh, and Martin in the foreground! :-)

So all in all, it was a fabulous day, and despite being full of activity, was very refreshing and relaxing. Have I mentioned recently how much I love living here in the north east? :-)