Inaugural Morpeth Jazz Festival

15th to 17th May 2009

For many years, the Morpeth Jazz Festival was a fixture in the Jazz Calendar.

In 2008, the Anglican, Catholic and Uniting churches of Morpeth decided to bring jazz back to Morpeth as a community event starting in 2009.

St. James' hosted a Jazz Dinner Dance on Friday night to get the Jazz Festival started. The wonderful sound of the New Orleans Jazz Quartet entertained us as we ate, laughed and danced the night away.

Over the weekend there were a variety of jazz sessions held at the Anglican, Catholic and Uniting churches, as well as at various other places in Morpeth. 

On Sunday morning, we celebrated together at an Ecumenical Gospel Service at St. James' with the music of the New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band.

 

2008 Pilgrimage to Uluru

 Fr Roger planted the seed, interested to see if there was enough interest to have a group form St. James' to travel to the centre of Australia on a spiritual pilgrimage. There was enough interest to consider taking a few cars for the journey. The interested parties got together to look at the practicalities of this trip. What resulted over the next ten months was that a wonderful parish event was planned and fulfilled. From the original interested party of five, driving cars; we enlarged our plans and ended up with a fully chartered coach with driver, support vehicles and a fully self contained kitchen trailer to cater for the 42 people who participated in the pilgrimage to Uluru!!! The group was largely members of the parish and included people aged 6 to 70+. Members of parishes of Merewether and Forster/Tuncurry were also included as well as friends of friends, from Morpeth to Queensland our group came together to share what was to be an incredible experience.

So on July 5th, 2008,  in the spirit of our patron saint, the adventurous parishioners left a Morpeth winter, embarking on a 15 day adventure travelling some 7000 kilometers and visiting iconic places in Australian culture.

Cobar, Broken Hill, Woomera, Coober Pedy, Yulara and Alice Springs were our destinations and our places of ‘rest’. We experienced the hospitality of the destitute aboriginal community of Wilcannia; the vastness of our own country; Fr Roger’s cooking; the community of fellow Christians in isolation, in areas like Coober Pedy; Fr Roger’s cooking; the presence of Uluru, and the enormity of the Olgas; the pioneering spirit of great Australians like John Flynn, Pro Hart, the people of the Alice and the people of the Royal Flying Doctor Service; Fr Roger’s cooking; the spirituality of the MacDonnell Ranges, and the truly iconic aussie spirit. It is impossible to list the ultimate high point of the trip as it was commented on that each day seemed to exceed the expectations reached the day before, but it could be chosen from the landscape (made better by our wonderful coach driver John); touching Uluru, or seeing it come to life at sunrise or sunset; our Eucharist in the river bed at Simpsons Gap; the camel, helicopter and motor bike rides; the deeper friendships that developed among ‘old’ friends; or the ‘surprise’ wedding of Mark Lucas and Vanessa Porter.

At Sunset at Yulara, under the blue cnopies of our shelters and in the red dirt, and among the hundreds of campers Mark and Vanessa shared their union (and a wedding cake made by a biker turned pastry chef from Coober Pedy) with 40 fellow pilgrims – truly a privileged memory for all who were present. Another high point was the knowledge that while we were away there were other parishioners back at Morpeth praying for us, and with us.  This truly offered a sense of place to those on the journey.  Beginning and ending our trip within the walls of St James with family and friends, fellow parishioners…this helped the travelers to focus on where we were from and what we were part of.

One of the goals of the pilgrimage was to experience the outback and the spirituality it offers, and that the experience would continue to enrich the spiritual journey of the whole parish. Memories have been made, as has greater and deeper friendships as a result of our Pilgrimage to ‘the centre’.

"However sceptical one may be about the basis of pilgrimage and the legends surrounding it, one cannot help being affected by it.  Maybe it's the simplicity of the life and the closeness to nature that makes one conscious of deeper realities and I hope, as a result, I have learned to be a better person, or at least I will try to be."   

 

Narnia Magic

The magic of CS Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia has been brought to life at St. James' Anglican Church, Morpeth. About 50 children aged between eight and twelve participated in Welcome to Narnia, a week-long holiday program presented by the Maitland Deanery of the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle. The program explored drama, craft, games and discussion which connected the story of Narnia with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Program co-ordinator Reverend Wendy Gilbert said the program aimed to develop a sense of community between the children and the church. "The children have come along, had a lot of fun and know the church is a place of safety," she said. The program started on Monday with children stepping inside the antique wardrobe, pushing through the fur coats and entering the land of Narnia. The program had a different focus each day, based on specific issues in the film. Greeted by Christmas trees and the unmistakeable lamp post, the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve learned the importance of forming friendships and were told how Narnia was cursed with no Christmas for 100 years. The children learned about family relationships on Tuesday, while they looked at Aslan being on the move on Wednesday. Father Christmas made a guest appearance, handing out life tools and a life auction was held where children could bid for values that were important to them. Children will explore life without Aslan and life with Aslan today and tomorrow. Rev Gilbert was hopeful that the children would some day meet Aslan by another name.

By Sara Thornton in The Lower Hunter Star Thursday July 13, 2006