UpperRoom - Plan

Hey guys here is what was suggested as a The Upper Room Project program for 2010.

I think most people’s names were written by them but if it is news to you then someone has volunteered you. Surprise!

Is the Llama one for real? It sounds fun.

November is a good time for a NCYC11 catch up/plan sort of thing?? or it’s also the day before Mel cup so something on gambling?? Fashion? Hats?

A night on election stuff would be good once we know when that will be….??? Uniting Justice are pulling resources together again.

May 3  - Music that rocks your world - Neil & Rob

June 7 - India Reflections - Hannah

July 5  - Permaculture - Di

Aug 2 - East Timor (Oil schemes and general) Jane, Amé, Megan, Di

Sept 6 - A Buddhist Take - Ken

(Sept  17-19  morepraxis gathering - its in your diary’s right?)

Oct 4 - LLamas (Laughter workshop) Nick & Di

Nov 1 -

Dec 6 - Christmas

alas…

Pauline Hanson took her house off the market yesterday. And just when we have over 450 people who have committed to giving $100 to buying her house to give to a group of Muslim refugees, and some media interest in the fabulous response…

I sent the following message to the facebook group members this morning. It would be great if you’d think of contributing too…

Thanks so much for joining the group. There’s nothing quite like a feeling of solidarity to make one feel like we have a chance to change the conversation.





You may have read that Pauline took her house off the market late yesterday due to ‘media pressure’. This is sad on many, many levels – one of which was that we were beginning to get some media interest in this group, which would have been great simply because there’s nothing better than being able to say ‘enough’ out loud…



Can I make a request? That you still give the $100 you were going to spend on the house, and instead donate it to the Hotham Mission Asylum Seeker Project? You can find out more about them, and donate to them here. They have been well respected for their work in this area for many, many years.

 Best of all, there is an option to send a message with your donation. If you earmark it ‘Fund for Muslim Housing’, they will be able to focus your money into that area, and also record how much money has been donated in reaction to Pauline’s remarks. And somehow, we’ll find a way to let Pauline – and the broader community – know that her outrageous statements are simply fuel for our generosity… Not only will we be contributing to something good, but doing it directly in response to her really has to piss her off…




And let me know if you think we should set up a group ‘Every time Pauline makes racist claims, I’ll donate $10 to the fund for Muslim housing…’

chapel opening at Barwon Prison

We blessed the new chapel at Barwon Prison yesterday. The chapel is gorgeous; designed by one of the inmates, and built by some of the men. They were rightly proud as punch.

the liturgy went as follows:

Welcome to the Land:
This chapel is on land of which the Wauthurong people have been the custodians since time immemorial. We honour the elders of the Wauthurong and commit ourselves to working for reconciliation with them.

Gathering:
We gather in this place,
people of vastly different beliefs
holding to the faith we have in common:
that there is a story
waiting to be told
of justice
hope
and love.

We gather in this chapel
to set it apart with our prayers
as somewhere those stories can be given life.

Statement of purpose
This chapel is built of dirt, and we bring into it the elements of fire and water.

Together, these three symbols tell of the most fundamental realities of our world: that life is, at once, fragile and resilient.

They remind us of the things that are most fundamental about each of our lives:
We are human -
fragile and flawed,
needing a place to belong to and a people to be part of,
reliant on forgiveness and mercy,
dependent on the promise that life can begin again.

Because while earth, fire and water are the building blocks of the world,
they are only brought to life
by a breath of grace and hope and love

So we add our prayers for life to this building,
to set it apart,
so that it will be a place where we can bring the stories of our lives -
the dirt, the pain and the promise -
and pray that here they can be held and changed
by grace, hope and love.

Music and reflection

Readings:

In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Praise be to God, Lord of the universe
Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Master of the Day of Judgment
You alone we worship; You alone we ask for help
Guide us in the right path
the path of those whom You blessed.
Amen.
(Muslim Prayer)

Isaiah 58:1, 6-8 (from the Hebrew Scriptures)
Shout out, do not hold back!
Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

Luke 4:16-19 (from the Christian scriptures)
When Jesus came up to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free.”

Comments by Jenny Hayes

Blessing of the chapel and chaplains:

Because we know that love, forgiveness, mercy and hope are not purely of human making, we ask a blessing on this chapel and the chaplains who will serve here:

Chaplains: We commit ourselves to being people of compassion
Congregation: May all who come here find welcome

Chaplains: We commit ourselves to embodying the truths of forgiveness and mercy
Congregation: May all who come here find grace and love

Chaplains: We commit ourselves to holding faith and hope for those who cannot
Congregation: May all who come here find courage and life

Chaplains: We commit ourselves to speaking truth and justice
Congregations: May all who come here find liberation and transformation, and may this will be a place of true reconciliation and restoration.
Amen.

Prayers:
We hold before each other
and we hold before God,
those things for which we would give thanks:
for the hands of those who built this chapel
investing it with their time, their commitment, their abilities,
we give thanks for those who will tell stories of healing and hope in this place
and for those who will bring their stories of fragility and failing
in the faith that they can be restored.

We hold before each other
and we hold before God
those people for whom we would pray:
for those who feel the pain and insecurity and distress of this last week’s events,
for those who have no hope,
for those who are waiting for justice,
for those who are waiting for forgiveness,
for those who do not yet know they need it.

We hold before each other
and we hold God,
our prayer that justice will be done
that hope will come,
and that all that is broken will be restored to wholeness.
Amen.

Sending out

May all be filled with joy and peace.
May all beings everywhere,
The strong and the weak,
The great and the small,
The meek and the powerful,
The short and the long,
The subtle and the gross:

May all beings everywhere,
Both seen and unseen,
Dwelling far off or nearby,
Being, or waiting to become:
May all be filled with lasting joy.
(Buddhist prayer)

And now, go from this place with hope
Take the promises found here into the places you return
Carry with you the strength of the Source of all Life
and may peace be yours until we meet again.

Enough.

It’s been a week of justified indignation at the havoc wrought by intolerance … so last night when Pauline Hanson popped up on the tv to say she wouldn’t sell her house to a muslim, it was a final straw.

We’ve started a campaign: to find 20 000 people who would give $100 to collectively buy Pauline’s house, then give it to a group of Muslim refugees.

If you’re on facebook, you can join up here. If you’re not, just let me know you want to be part of it. Enough, dammit.

MPH Road trip Action 4 All

The Act to End Poverty

Labour Start Action - Philippines

Philippines: Locked-out Alta Mode garment workers fight against union-busting

The embattled workers of Alta Mode Inc., a garments factory in the Mactan export zone and subcontractor for global brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch, are appealing for solidarity. Since February 15, a hundred workers have camped out in the main gates of the Mactan export zone, one of the biggest in the Philippines, after they were locked out. The Alta Mode Workers Union, an affiliate of the Partido ng Manggagawa [Labor Party-Philippines], is demanding that they return to work. The workers have proof that management’s claims of monetary losses are lies. The Alta Mode Workers Union accuses the company of closing the factory in order to bust the union.

Over the course of a year of struggle, Alta Mode workers have held a sit down strike, barged into the export zone compound and camped out beside the factory premises. The fight of the Alta Mode workers is a struggle for job security and workers rights. Since labor unrest broke out at Alta Mode, workers have struggled over illegal shutdowns, erratic working days and inhuman production quotas. After workers organized, management interfered in the exercise of the right to unionize with aim of defeating union certification. No union has survived in the three decades-long history of the Mactan export zone, proving the no union, no strike policy of export zones.

Click here for an email action

for info here

ANZAC day Feature Clip

The Herd - I was only 19 - Redgum Cover

Reflection: Lest we Forget

Below is a reflection from Dave about ANZAC day…

We need to celebrate courage and comradeship wherever we find it. Wherever we find it among our soldiers in combat we need to celebrate it loud and clear. But if we choose to celebrate ANZAC day, we need to do it with extreme caution, lest we forget that our celebration of those legends can be used to victimize succeeding generations of soldiers

A well-known Aussie Vietnam Vet who died recently was Bill ‘Kookaburra’ Coolburra. As a 19-year-old indigenous volunteer, Bill was among the first Australian combat troops into Vietnam. He was a part of a group of ’sappers’ (army engineers) known as tunnel rats, who had one of the most dangerous and stressful jobs of the war. His task was to clear the huge underground tunnel networks used by the North Vietnamese.

‘We had to descend into dark tunnels searching for Viet Cong with a torch and a pistol. Bill recalled. Some of the tunnels were so small you had to inch your way along on your belly, hoping the next bend didn’t have a VC waiting for you with a shotgun to blow your face off. The tunnels were dark and had their own smell.  As a result I have been unable to sleep in the dark since.

When Bill reflected on his time in Vietnam he said, ‘I saw some terrible things done to village people and the memories have haunted me ever since.’ It took me a long time to get over the sounds of helicopters flying over my home and even in these later years certain sounds have scared me. ‘I witnessed ‘helicopter interrogation’ (dangling a VC prisoner from a helicopter and threatening to drop them if they did not reveal enemy locations) and ‘I always felt guilty that I could do nothing to stop it happening.’

‘I saw many other things that have made life a living hell since returning home.’ Bill said. ‘I have seen many of my old friends destroyed by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and many who lost their families as a result of the stress on them.

We tend to assume that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is due to fear of death and injury. But research by psychiatrist-paratrooper Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman, shows that PTSD is due more to ‘the guilt of killing than the’fear of being killed ‘ and’the more men we turn into killers the more Psychiatric Casualties (PCs) we create.

Keep reading here

the story waiting to be told

I’m curating the opening of the new chapel in Barwon Prison next week. It’s an interfaith chapel and service. These are a couple of moments from the service:

Gathering:
We gather in this place,
people of vastly different beliefs
holding to the faith we have in common:
that there is a story
waiting to be told
of justice
hope
and love.

We gather in this chapel
to set it apart with our prayers
as somewhere those stories can be given life.

Purpose:
This chapel is built of dirt, and we bring into it the elements of fire and water.

Together, these three symbols tell of the most fundamental realities of our world: that life is, at once, fragile and resilient.

They remind us of the things that are most fundamental about each of our lives:
We are human -
fragile and flawed,
needing a place to belong to and a people to be part of,
reliant on forgiveness and mercy,
dependent on the promise that life can begin again.

Because while earth, fire and water are the building blocks of the world,
they are only brought to life
by a breath of grace and hope and love

So we add our prayers for life to this building,
to set it apart,
so that it will be a place where we can bring the stories of our lives -
the dirt, the pain and the promise -
and pray that here they can be held and changed
by grace, hope and love.

Robin Hood tax

I am Robin Hood!!

A tiny tax on bankers that would reduce global financial instability and give billions to tackle poverty and climate change, here and abroad.

This tax � levied principally on short term speculative trading � has the power to raise billions every year. It would give a vital boost to health care, our schools � as well as tackling poverty and climate change around the world.

Our goal � to see Australia endorse a Robin Hood Tax at the G20 meeting in June.�Nobel Laureates,�leading economists, and prominent world leaders agree.

Not complicated. Just brilliant.

On April 23, Treasurer Wayne Swan will attend the G20 Finance Ministers� Meeting in Washington where the Robin Hood Tax will be discussed.

So�Email the minister today�even it will only take a minute

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