This is a story for all the tea/teapot lovers, mainly Jemma Castle and my mum who first introduced me to teapots.

Last week I bought a teapot from the St Vincent de Paul. It was $2 which I thought was a bit of bargain but the volunteer didn’t seem to agree with me. She asked, “what do you want that for?” I told her I wanted to to make tea. She appeard somewhat perplexed and said, “well you can have it for a $1”. I only had a $2 coin so I gave her that and said I was happy to pay two.

So I took my new/old teapot and began my journey home. I was still pretty chuffed with my purchase, even if the woman didn’t share my enthusiasm. I had not requested a bag so had to walk all through Chatswood carrying my teapot, for the world to see. And then on the train it sat perched in my lap while I read my book. I admit I may have looked a little bit silly and I was feeling starting to feel somewhat embarassed when people started to look at me and my teapot but I was suprised at how suprised people seemed to be. It was as if they had never seen a teapot before.

I guess in this day and age where everything is so efficient and quick and busy is our mantra teapots must be out. I mean if one wishes to make tea with a teapot they must first boil the water (preferably from cold) and then pour it over the tea leaves. Then cover it with a cosy and wait for a couple of minutes for it to brew. Finally it is ready for pouring. Then if one wishes to truly enjoy their tea they must stop what they are doing, sit down and drink. It is true this takes much more time than having a tea bag but I am grateful for that. I am grateful that everything good is not necessarily efficient. I am grateful for this daily reminder to stop, to take a rest, and enjoy the simple things that God has given us.

It’s not a very creative title I know but appropriate for what I am going to write about and I can not deny I am such a fan of the slogan. It’s the daggiest thing ever but it so works.

I guess it is old news now but I am pleased that Kevin Rudd won the election. While my initial enthusiasm for him dwindled as he became more and more conservative (so much so I didn’t even vote for him in the end) I still think he will be better PM than John Howard and I am holding on to hope for a more just Australia. I am holding out hope for an answer to my election prayer. While I don’t think he will address all the issue on my list I am looking forward to a withdrawal of our troops from Iraq, a slight increase in foreign aid, the ratification of Kyoto, a dropping back of workchoices, some improvements in health and education and a rethink of the NT intervention.

So Tom you can tell anyone who heard your sermon that even though it is quite cloudy today the sun is shining a little brighter for me.

Today in my quiet time I wanted to pray for the election. I find that sort of thing hard though and wasn’t sure what I would say. So I opened the Bible to the Psalms which I am reading at the moment and I happened to be up to psalm 72 which is this:

Give the gift of wise rule to the king, O God,
the gift of just rule to the crown prince.
May he judge your people rightly,
be honorable to your meek and lowly.
Let the mountains give exuberant witness;
shape the hills with the contours of right living.
Please stand up for the poor,
help the children of the needy,
come down hard on the cruel tyrants.
Outlast the sun, outlive the moon—
age after age after age.
Be rainfall on cut grass,
earth-refreshing rain showers.
Let righteousness burst into blossom
and peace abound until the moon fades to nothing.
Rule from sea to sea,
from the River to the Rim.

Foes will fall on their knees before God,
his enemies lick the dust.
Kings remote and legendary will pay homage,
kings rich and resplendent will turn over their wealth.
All kings will fall down and worship,
and godless nations sign up to serve him,
Because he rescues the poor at the first sign of need,
the destitute who have run out of luck.
He opens a place in his heart for the down-and-out,
he restores the wretched of the earth.
He frees them from tyranny and torture—
when they bleed, he bleeds;
when they die, he dies.

This is now my prayer for the election.

The last couple of days have been pretty full farewelling Jo. On Saturday Jo had her farewell party. I couldn’t make it as I had to work. This was very disappointing for me but I did get to go to Coogee beach with her in the evening. This is a bit of a tradition for Jo and I who have on a few occasions, when one of us had to work/study on a Saturday, gone there for a swim. It was my first beach swim of the season and it was beautiful. Matt, Louisa, Martin, Ryan, Tom and Jessica also joined us so that was fun too and we had a BBQ.

On Sunday I went to Jo’s church to pray with the community there for her and on Monday we had our last house dinner. We went to China town for noodles and beer. Tuesday was Jo’s last day so we had out last swim and pancakes and went to the car wash to wash our cars. Another tradition. The day before Jem left we did this and the day Jon left Tom got his car washed too. In the evening we went to communuity dinner and we prayed again for Jo and then finally yesterday we dropped at the airport.

It has been a pretty sad time for me. I am going to miss Jo a lot. Her constant and gentle presence in our home, her ability to listen and reflect compassionately, her committment to people, her energy and her sense of fun. I am going to miss talking to her, praying with her, eating with her and watching seachange with her.

On the other hand, I know this is something she has wanted to do for a long time and so I am excited about what she is doing. Well, like Tom said, I am excited about what God is doing through her and that even though it is a long way away we will all be able to support her different ways.

I am inspired by the fact that I am surrounded by people, my friends and family, who do not aspire to live easy, comfortable, risk free lives. I am inspired by the fact they are people who do not seek money, privelege or power. Instead they seek to live serving others and God in the pursuit of justice. For many that will be here in Sydney but for others it will be in other states or countries and so while this means that we as a community will often be farewelling someone I am grateful as it inspires me too. And I am excited about the adventures God will lead people on and I hope that we continue to do this together no matter where we are.

Finding it hard to get motivated at work. Lots of jobs I do not want to do today and boy oh boy have I managed to procrastinate. All non urgent, not very important jobs are done. Inbox is pretty empty. And I have spent way too much time on the net. My facebook page has all these added applications and now I am blogging. It is silly really cause if I had just done them when I got in, they would probably be over and I would feel much better.

My mum lives in Alice Springs, my dad lives in Tamworth and my sister lives in Melbourne however today they are all in Sydney so we hung out. We went to Coogee Beach for lunch to celebrate me finishing uni and then we checked out the Sculptures by the Sea. We didn’t get to see all of it as it was very wet and we had to sit in a shelter for awhile but we had fun anyway. I quite like the beach when it is stormy, at those times it really feels like the ocean is trying to say something. It was great to have them all around. I couldn’t imagine three people who I’d rather spend my first day not being a student with.

It was my mum’s birthday too yesterday so Happy Birthday Mum. I love you heaps and looking forward to seeing you.

It’s not Martin’s birthday today it was Friday but this weekend has pretty much been taken up with birthday events. On Friday night Matt, Gem, Martin and I went to the Peruvian restaurant for dinner. It was quiet but that was all we could really handle after the previous week and we had a good time. The food was really, really yummy, I think they may have a new and better chief as I think it’s the best it has ever been. I bought Martin a massage, he has been saying he wants one for ages now so I finally got around to getting it. While I was there buying I could not resist the temptation of buying myself one and that way I could keep him company. So on Saturday afternoon we went. It really was a totally unnecessary luxury but I guess if you only do these thing every couple of years it’s okay and it was very relaxing. I was thinking a massage course could be fun and that it would be a really nice skill to be able to offer one’s friends and family when they need it. Especially if they could never afford to actually pay one.

Back to birthday events…. In the evening we had Martin’s party. Another really fun event, with just the right amount of people, mostly good weather, yummy BBQ and wine, some great music (live and not so live) and really interesting conversations. Thanks to everyone that came. And thanks Martin for having a party and putting up with my stresses and just being you. I love you heaps.

One more assessment to go and then uni is over……

So it is almost nine ao clock and we have finished dinner, washed up and had tea. I like that. It feels so much better than going to dinnner on a full stomach. Also, I went for a swim after work. I like that too. It really clears my head and I sleep heaps better.