Musings - Toowong Uniting Church

The Stillpoint Centre
Providing a “Still point in a
turning world” by responding
to a call to:
Mediate the invitation of
Jesus for deep peace and
soulful rest
Learn from His gentle and
humble heart
Share with people in their
struggles and searching,
recognising that each
person’s story is different.
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
1.
Musings John Woolcock
3.
Walking Meditatively
Bruce Warwick
5.
Retreat at Manly
“Living Prayerfully”
6.
Loves’s Melody Sings
Shirley Sargeant
7.
Beyond Personal Piety
Charles Ringma
8.
Making Friends with
Scripture
Patrick Oliver
9.
Dealing with Suffering
Neil Pembroke
10. Praying with Icons
Dianne Minnaar
UPDATE — May 2013
Musings . . .
by John Woolcock
M
ost of us have heard about the Human Genome
Project in which a team of 2,500 scientists
looked at our “instruction book” which is the complete
DNA sequence of Homo sapiens. DNA carries
information by a series of chemical bases that are
abbreviated A, C, G and T. The order of those letters
carries out the information that then gets passed from
parent to child down through the generations. How
many of those letters does it take to specify the
biological properties of a human being? The answer is
about 3 billion – and this information is inside each
cell of our body. Every time the cell divides, it’s got to
copy the whole thing. If we wanted to read aloud the
human genome, starting with A, C, G, T, T, G, C, T and
proceeding right through to the end, it would take us
24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 31 years before we’d
be finished! As Francis Collins, the project leader, says:
“You have that information inside each cell of your
body, which is just a phenomenal thing to
contemplate, and you got that from your parents.”
In his book, A Brief History of Time, physicist Stephen
Hawking writes that the initial conditions for the
(contd on next page)
16 Grove Street Toowong PO Box 70, TOOWONG QLD 4066
Tel: 3217 8992 [email protected] www.stillpoint.org.au
“Musings . . . “ (contd)
Over 300 years ago and without the
insights of modern science, Joseph
Addison wrote these words:
universe – its density and rate of
expansion – would have to be very finely
tuned for the formation of stars and
planets and creatures like us. If the
overall density of the universe were
changed by even 0.0000000000001
percent, no stars or galaxies could have
formed. Hawking adds, “If the rate of
expansion one second after the big bang
had been smaller by even one part in a
hundred thousand million million, the
universe would have recollapsed before
it ever reached its present size.” And
referring specifically to the Big Bang,
Hawking concludes, “It would be very
difficult to explain why the universe
should have begun in just this way
except as the act of a God who intended
to create beings like us.”
When all your mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view,
I’m lost in wonder, love and praise.
We live in a world that teems with
things of wonder. Perhaps most
wonderful of all is the knowledge that
we can have a relationship with the
Creator of all these things of wonder.
Each of us needs to deliberately set the
time aside in our busyness to do that
wondering and relating.
Stillpoint exists for such a purpose.
Stillpoint events coming up soon
The New Monasticism with Irene Alexander. Four consecutive Wednesday
evenings on 8, 15, 22 and 29 May (7:15—9:15) at Stillpoint, 16 Grove Street,
Toowong.
Stillpoint Silent Retreat at the Presentation Spirituality Centre, Manly
(more information on page 5), led by Patrick Oliver. Friday evening 7 June—
Sunday afternoon 9 June. Registrations close on Tuesday 21 May (please complete
registration form on page 12).
Weaving Our Journeys with Dawn Courtman, at Stillpoint (9.30am-11.30am)
on Fridays, 14 June and 16 August.
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FINANCES
OPENING HOURS
This is the time of the year when we
ask our friends and supporters to
contribute financially to Stillpoint.
The enclosed Supporters Brochure
gives the various options by which
donations may be made. Our current
financial position is sound, aided
significantly by the very generous
rental agreement with the owners of
the property, Toowong Uniting
Church. We are planning to upgrade
the downstairs area into a dedicated
chapel, for individual or group use.
We also hope to be able to offer
subsidies to those with limited
financial capacity, to attend
Stillpoint events. We would welcome
your participation in supporting the
ministry of Stillpoint.
(during Primary School Terms 2013)
15 April – 21 June;
8 July – 20 September;
8 October – 13 December.
Monday
10.00-3.00
Tuesday
10.00-3.00 & 7.30-8.30pm
Wednesday
10.00-3.00
Thursday
10.00-3.00

Fridays, weekends and school
holidays by appointment
CONTEMPLATIVE
MEDITATION EVENINGS
Tuesdays 7.30-8.30pm
The Stillpoint Centre Ltd
Incorporating the Stillpoint Library
– an ATO endorsed Deductible
Gift Recipient
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28 May
Prayer of Silence
(Centring Prayer)
30 July
Journalling
27 August
Guided meditation:
Bread of Life
29 October
Walking on Water
26 November
Christmas Reflection
Stillpoint Reflection Day
led by Bruce Warwick
WALKING MEDITATIVELY
Sunshine Coast. Saturday 25 May, 10 am to 3 pm
Meet at Unit 7, 12 Robe Street, Currimundi.
T
he rhythm of walking can be a
wonderful help to us in settling
into an awareness of the bountiful
presence of the God who is not
elsewhere. This is not a day for
“power walking!” It's a day for
stillness and renewal, a day to slow
down and use all your
senses for noticing, all
the while attending
with “the inner ear
deep within your
chest.” After a brief
introduction and a
time to move into a
reflective space, the
group will be set free
to walk a path
through the coastal bush and along
the beach from Currimundi to Dicky
Beach, spending time with the plants
and birds, the elements, and the sea
itself. After lunch, we will sample
some different ways to walk,
including super slow walking and
walking with a breath prayer. No real
level of fitness is required!
What to bring: Comfortable
walking shoes, a hat, sunscreen, a
light back pack in which you can carry
a journal and pen to write or draw, a
packed lunch, and a water bottle.
Bruce Warwick is director of Soul
Whispers
Australia, a
ministry of
retreats and
spiritual direction
based on
Coochiemudlo
Island in Moreton
Bay. Soul
Whispers holds an
annual walking
weekend for men at Binna Burra
during which men experience a day
of walking in silence in the rainforest,
and other experiences of walking in
the context of sharing the male
spiritual journey.
Registrations (see form on page 12)
close on Tuesday 21 May.
Cost: $25 or concession $20.
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Stillpoint Retreat
Friday evening 7 June–Sunday afternoon 9 June 2013
“Living Prayerfully”
Led by Patrick Oliver
Many of the great scriptural themes find their way into the presentations of
literature, film, opera and stage. In this retreat, Patrick takes some examples of
literature, stage and screen to illustrate how we are invited to imbibe the qualities
of a life of prayerfulness. Probably we've already been living these qualities in our
daily life for many years, but we might not have recognised how countless little
and big decisions to love have transformed our perceptions and our soul.
This silent retreat, from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, will look at themes
from three works —Goethe's Faust, the movie Apollo 13, and the musical Les
Miserables—to illustrate these qualities of a prayerful life. There will be both
input and reflection time during the retreat.
Venue: The Presentation Spirituality Centre, 26 Kooralgin Street, Manly Qld.
The Centre has wonderful views of Moreton Bay and accommodates up to 20
people in private rooms. All meals and linen provided.
The retreat commences with the evening meal at 6:00pm Friday, and concludes
with afternoon tea 3:00pm Sunday.
Cost: $250 / Concession $230. Please forward payment with your registration
form. Registrations cannot be confirmed until payment is received.
Registrations close Tuesday 21 May 2013. Please complete the form on page 12.
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Stillpoint Reflection Day
Saturday, 22 June, 9am-3pm
Loves’s Melody Sings
A DAY FOR REFLECTION as we allow music to lead us into the heart of God
A
merican science
fiction author
Orson Scott Card once
said, “Music isn't just a
pleasure, a transient
satisfaction. It's a need,
a deep hunger; and
when the music is right, it's joy. Love.
A foretaste of heaven. A comfort in
grief. Is it too much to think that perhaps God speaks to us sometimes
through music? How, then, could I be
so ungrateful as to refuse the message?”
of unrest to a world of
peace, and see reality
in a new way, as if we
were sitting by a
mountain lake and
contemplating hills
and woods and clouds
in the tranquil and fathomless water.’
My approach to this Reflection Day will
metaphorically follow the music that
draws us into God’s embrace. Come to
listen and spend time with God.”
We’ll gather at 9am for a cuppa while
people arrive, and begin at 9.30am.
Morning tea will be provided, but
please bring your own lunch. Cost is
$25, or concession $20 – please complete your registration by Tuesday
18 June 2013, using the form on page
12.
Shirley Sargeant, who will facilitate
this Reflection Day on Saturday
22 June, doesn’t play an instrument,
nor can she read music – but she loves
to listen to music. “I have found that
music can lead me in a deep, matchless
way, into a sacred space seated at
God’s feet. As Albert Schweitzer said,
‘Music gives voice to joy, sorrow, tears,
lamentation, laughter … in such a way
that we are transported from the world
"Bach gave us God's Word. Mozart gave us
God's laughter. Beethoven gave us God's fire.
God gave us Music that we might pray without words."
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Beyond Personal Piety:
Contemplation and Action
Charles Ringma
There is little doubt that there is a
hunger for spiritual connection in the
modern world. There is an interest in
the spiritual classics such as
Augustine's “Confessions” and the
writings of Henri Nouwen and Thomas
Merton. People are also showing a
growing fascination with monastic
communities. And across
denominational boundaries people are
looking for a wisdom that will sustain
and empower them in their daily lives.
not only about me. Narcissism is a
significant reality in our modern world.
The seminar series “Beyond Personal
Piety” seeks to wrestle with the above
tensions. It suggests that we live with
grace and with a task. Wellbeing can’t
just be personal. It must also be
communal. And contemplation should
lead to action.
The four nights of the seminar seeks to
celebrate the spiritual quest but joins
this with the challenge to love and serve
the neighbour. Thus the seminar
explores what a missional spirituality
might look like. We would love you to
join us.
A further indication of the change of
direction in our contemporary world is
that people are beginning to move
away from the psychiatrist with his/
her regime of drugs to seek help with
spiritual directors who journey with
people in their search for meaning
rather than the quick fix of personal
problems.
“Beyond Personal Piety” will be held on
four consecutive Wednesday evenings
on 10, 17, 24 and 31 July (7:15-9:15), at
Stillpoint, 16 Grove Street, Toowong.
In all of these very positive changes
there lies an invitation and a
challenge. The invitation is to move
towards personal wellbeing and
wholeness. The challenge is that this is
Cost: $80 (concession $65). Please
register by Monday 8 July, using the
form on page 12.
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Stillpoint Spacious Saturday
Saturday 20 July, 9.30—3.30pm
Making Friends
with Scripture
Patrick Oliver
Spacious Saturdays are days at Stillpoint for teaching, learning, and being.
Days to contemplatively enjoy the graciousness and spaciousness of God.
M
ingredients in this learning,
and how can scripture
show us the light and
shadow, the receiving and
struggling, the trusting and
suffering of Love? From
this vantage point, we can
recognise how the purpose
of the scriptures is to try to
free us – individually and communally
– to live from within the mega-story of
being truly human – and therefore be
sharers in divinity.
any people
can find they
have difficulty in
approaching the
Jewish and Christian
scriptures. What is
meant by “believing
in the scriptures”?
How can we bring
not only our intelligence but also our
lived experience to our understanding
of the bible? How can we see it as a
description of the mega-story of what
it means to be human — and therefore
what it means to be sharers in the very
life of the Trinity?
This is our first Spacious Saturday, and
will be a combination of input from
Patrick, group sharing and quiet time.
The day will contain both teaching and
space for reflection, so participants can
get in touch with the God of the
scriptures in their own lives.
As the years go by, we can experience a
change in our understandings of what
terms like “conversion” might mean
for us, and changes in what we see as
really mattering in life. How can the
scriptures teach us about what it really
means to love? What are the
Cost: $40 (concession $35).
Register by Tuesday 16 July using the
form on page 12.
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Stillpoint Reflection Day
Saturday, 24 August 9am– 3.oopm
Dealing with Suffering
T
here is a wondrous, beautiful, and
joyful side to life. And there is a
dark, oppressive, and painful side.
Like everyone else, Christians struggle
to cope in the face of suffering. We
wrestle with the meaning of it; we
struggle to find God in it; and, in the
end, we hang on for dear life as we try
to get through it.
come, to think about the meaning of
suffering and ways that Christian
thinkers have located God in it. He will
also guide the participants in approaches to prayer in the midst of personal pain.
During this day of reflection, Neil
Pembroke will assist those who
Registrations close on Tuesday
12 August—see the form on page 12.
Cost: $25 (concession $20).
WE NEED YOU!
A small team of volunteers regularly donates their time to keep
Stillpoint open to all. We would like to ease the load on our
volunteers.
If you would like to find out more or be involved, please contact us
by phoning Stillpoint 3217 8992
or email [email protected]

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Stillpoint Spacious Saturdays
7 and 14 September, 9.30—3.30pm
Praying with Icons
Dianne Minnaar
I
cons are not simply art; they are
pathways into contemplative prayer,
doorways into stillness and windows to
heaven. If we sit with them long
enough, we enter into stillness and
communion with God. The primary
power of icons lies in their physicality:
they make the presence of the holy
tangible.
“Annunciation”
Praying with icons is an ancient prayer
practice that involves keeping our eyes
wide open and taking into our heart
what the image visually communicates.
We focus not on what is seen in the
icon, but rather on what is seen
through it. When we gaze at an icon
with our eyes, we absorb its significance with our hearts. With time and
careful attention, if we listen to them
closely enough, we will discern the
voice of God.
Contemporary iconographer, Dianne
Minnaar, will introduce the ancient
tradition of praying with icons over the
two Spacious Saturdays series,
“Gratitude”
(contd on next page)
10
Praying with Icons . . . (contd)
the icons. Practical demonstrations on
the ancient art and technique of icon
painting (writing) will also be shared
over the 2 day series.
The experience of praying with icons
will bring light to your imagination,
reveal emotions in you, open several
layers of meaning for you and awaken
you to a renewed reality.
For more information, see Dianne’s
website:
www.sanctussacredimages.com
“Word of Life”
Praying with Icons, led by Dianne
Minnaar, will be held on two
consecutive Saturdays,
7 and 14 September (9.30am—3.30pm)
at Stillpoint, 16 Grove Street, Toowong.
“Praying with Contemporary Icons”.
Both ancient and contemporary icons,
including a wide variety of her own
icons, will be used at the workshop as a
source of deep reflection. There will be
led input and unhurried time for personal stillness as you learn to pray with
Cost: $80 (concession $65).
Registration closing date is Tuesday 3
September. Please use the form on
page 12.
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REGISTRATION FORM FOR STILLPOINT EVENTS, MAY-SEPTEMBER 2013
NAME
ADDRESS
Postcode
PHONE (
)
MOBILE
EMAIL:
HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE EVENT(S) YOU ARE INTERESTED IN?
RETREAT REGISTRANTS: ANY DIETARY REQUIREMENTS?
I would like to register for the following events (tick those applicable):
REFLECTION DAY: “WALKING MEDITATIVELY”
Saturday 25 May 10am-3pm (Currimundi)
Bruce Warwick
$25/$20
RETREAT “LIVING PRAYERFULLY” (Manly Qld)
Friday 6pm 7 June-Sunday 3.30pm 9 June
Patrick Oliver
$250/
$230
REFLECTION DAY: “LOVE’S MELODY SINGS”
Saturday 22 June 9am-3pm (Stillpoint)
Shirley Sargeant
$25/$20
SEMINAR: “BEYOND PERSONAL PIETY”
Wednesday 10, 17, 24, 31 July 7.15-9.15pm (Stillpoint)
Charles Ringma
$80/$65
SPACIOUS SATURDAY: “MAKING FRIENDS AGAIN WITH SCRIPTURE”
Saturday 20 July 9.30am-3.30pm (Stillpoint)
Patrick Oliver
$40/$35
REFLECTION DAY: “DEALING WITH SUFFERING”
Saturday 24 August 9am-3pm (Stillpoint)
Neil Pembroke
$25/$20
SPACIOUS SATURDAYS: “PRAYING WITH CONTEMPORARY
ICONS” (Stillpoint)
Saturdays 7 & 14 September 9.30am-3.30pm
Dianne Minnaar
$80/$65
I will pay by the following method:
CASH
MONEY ORDER
CHEQUE
FOR THE AMOUNT OF $......................................
DIRECT DEPOSIT
Please include A ONE WORD DESCRIPTION (e.g.
WALKING, OR RETREAT, OR SING, OR BEYOND,
OR FRIENDS, OR SUFFERING, OR ICONS and
Bank name: Bendigo Bank BSB: 633 000
Account name: THE STILLPOINT CENTRE LTD
your name with the Direct Deposit details so that
we can correctly identify your payment.
We will confirm your registration by email or phone
upon receipt of this form and your payment.
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