Category: Penny Jones

Praying in Anglican Ways

14/11/2016

It was a delight last Saturday to share in one of the first official workshops of 'Praying in Anglican Ways': a resource I developed last year, with Penny Jones' and Jonathan Sargeant's assistance, for the 360 series of educational resources produced through the Anglican Church Southern Queensland. The aim has been to provide an introduction to the depth and variety of Anglican spirituality which forms part of the extraordinary rich Christian tradition as a whole. For so much is taken for granted, confined to narrow channels, or simply not explored. Using Dr Corinne Ware's Spirituality Wheel as one way in, and employing some of my own 'Whole Body' approaches to faith and spirituality, four broad pathways are highlighted (what, in 'whole body' terms, I call 'head', 'heart', feet' and 'hands'). This offers participants opportunities to share together something of the wide range of Anglican spiritualities, deepening and widening their own journeys and understanding better those of others. It is also adaptable to other, less denominational groups, but that may be something for the future. This is part of the work I hope to be further involved in when I begin my new role next year. For more information about the 360 courses and ACSQ educational work, check out the Formed Faith website, or check out some of our You Tube clips on the link below...

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out of the joy of children

5/2/2015

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Penny and I were delightfully taken aback when the president of Toowomba's Garden City mosque invited us, with a few other Christian leaders, to the recent post-wedding reception of his son Adnun Abdullah Khan and new daughter-in-law Farhana Haider Chowdhury. It was lovely expression of the growing multicultural friendships across our community in Toowoomba and another step in the deepening of our relationships. One of the most beautiful moments was when one of the little Muslim girls present came up excitedly to greet Penny. She was in one of Penny's classes at The Glennie School last year and she had spotted Penny as one of the few grown-ups other than her family to whom she really wanted to say hello! In such moments God smiles most kindly on her many children of different faith.

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work on Toowoomba City Labyrinth begins

21/8/2014

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Great to see - and hear - work beginning on the first stage of our labyrinth on the St Luke's Toowoomba site today. The project will place a petite Chartres design labyrinth in the grounds of the church building, beneath the wonderful east end window (a copy of the oldest window - the 'Blue Virgin' - in Chartres Cathedral, one of the great European medieval cathedrals associated with Christian labyrinths). We hope that this will further develop the 'sacred tourism' and 'spiritual garden' potential of the St Luke's site (the 'Chartres of the South'?), offering a valuable extra tool for contemplative prayer, experiential spirituality, healing and reconciliation. My wife and colleague, the Revd. Penny Jones (seen left pretending to actually dig out the foundations) is a fully trained and accredited labyrinth facilitator with the Veriditas international labyrinth movement. She has already run workshops in Toowoomba, as well as elsewhere, and we look forward to this being a beautiful addition to life in Toowoomba. More information about our project can be found on the Toowoomba City Labyrinth site.

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celebrating the journey

5/6/2014

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Last Sunday it was both moving and a delight to celebrate the 20 years anniversary of the ordinations to the priesthood of my wife and colleague Penny Jones and our Glennie School chaplain Kate Powell. Both were part of the historic wave of female ordinations in England in 1994. As part of the gathering they shared something of their own journeys, including the pain and struggle to ordination (and, in Kate's case, the opposition of her own bishop, in Chichester, which led to her ordination by another bishop in a parish church at East Grinstead). The choice of songs, readings and poetry was telling and uplifting and it was a huge pleasure to be joined by people from the wider community as well as Glennie School and the Anglican parish of St Luke. We were reminded how this is but one more step on the journey of God's liberation of women and men: a 'teacup in a storm', offering comfort and encouragement. A particular joy was also the presence of other women from other denominations and religious faiths (including Venerable Wu Chin, from the Pure Land Buddhists, who brought a lovely gift of typical hospitality).

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Praying in Anglican Ways

out of the joy of children

work on Toowoomba City Labyrinth begins

celebrating the journey

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