"Chicken Run" and UV creations!

I love Film & Pizza nights! Our Term 2 F&P night was last Saturday, and twenty-three kids in Grades 3 to 6 turned up in St Jude's crypt to eat lots of pizza, watch "Chicken Run", and make UV puppets. These pics are from my mobile phone, so they aren't great, but I know a couple of people took better ones (they have groovier phones!), I'll put them up when I get them.

We started with some games - you had the choice of lobbing hacky-sacks onto targets, then doubling your winnings (sweets) by performing a challenge, like standing on one leg, holding the other leg up with one hand while touching your finger to your nose for a count of ten...; or you could try to flick a coin onto a table - if your coin landed in a circle, you won a prize, but if it landed in a circle of the same value as the coin, you won two prizes!

Then it was time to eat - wow, everyone was starving! Don't they get fed at home any more?? - and to start the movie. Once the chickens had escaped safely from the farmyard with determination and terrific teamwork, we started on the UV puppets. They're very simple, but really effective - you just need some flourescent coloured cardboard, black textas to draw your designs, masking tape to hold them together, and a couple of special effects UV lights hired from a dramatic lighting company (it cost us $20 for two - bargain!) and Bob's your uncle.

And it wasn't only the kids who had a good time - it was great weather for an evening out - not too chilly, and only a sprinkle of rain, so some of the parents chose to make the most of being on Lygon Street on a Saturday evening: one couple road-tested a pub that's under new management, and I overheard two dads who hadn't seen each other for a while, deciding on the spur of the moment to catch up over dinner - great idea!

Why People Don't Go to Church

This is a youtube ad for a church in America - I think it's spot-on! Have a look: Why People Don't Go to Church.

School Holiday Program - Gearing up for Vibe!

Time is flying, and we're getting very excited about Vibe!, it's only two and a half weeks away! Chris Young is working on finishing touches to the program. I'm gathering lots of circus-type equipment - hoola hoops, juggling balls and sticks, parachutes, 'diablos' - you know, they look like huge hour-glasses suspended on a string, and you spin them and toss them and do amazing tricks with them.


Verdi the puppet is getting wriggly in his storage box... Julie, who is a mum in our 9am congregation, has offered to help out with food - and that's great, because she's a fabulous cook!

If you'd like to come along to Vibe!, click on the picture of the jumping kid at the top of the page - it takes you to the Vibe! webpage where you can download the registration form and more info about the program. We're looking forward to seeing you there! :)

Warm bricks outside - warm people inside!

This is a more friendly picture of the outside of St Jude's! Over the past year, the brickwork has been gradually cleaned and restored (it was getting very crumbly, the roof was leaking and plaster was falling off the walls inside) - and underneath all the soot and grime it turns out there was a very pretty Victorian building! There's more work to come, especially on the Lygon Street side. But on the inside, we still love to welcome visitors and newcomers and folk who just want to check out a family church. Do drop in!

A Book Worth A Look!

I'm recommending a book I haven't read yet - I've ordered it, but it's ten days away... but I heard the author this week, and I'm confident it's going to be worth a look. The book is "Is It a Lost Cause?: Having the Heart of God for the Church's Children" (Eerdmans, 1997).

This week a group of staff from St Jude's went to the Melbourne clergy conference, which was held in Bendigo (it actually rained the whole time we were there - yay!) (I mean that sincerely, they're drought stricken up there).

The keynote speaker was Marva Dawn, a theologian from Regent College, Canada, and she was terrific - knows her Bible really well, and is a gentle but very engaging speaker. I've come away convinced over again that what we do in front of kids speaks every bit as loudly as - more loudly than! - what we say. Marva's topic wasn't specifically about children, but often she referred to the impact that something would have on kids who are watching. Like reading the Bible - if we read it, then they learn that reading the Bible is a good thing to do. If we read it carelessly, then they learn that it's not very important. If we read it carefully, then they learn that reading the Bible is important.

I'm reminded of a talk I heard once - can't recall where, or who the fellow was! He said he was on a bus one day, and there were two very small boys sitting together, obviously brothers. They couldn't have been more than four and six. As the speaker swung on the pole of the bus, he heard one of the boys start to sing quietly. He leaned a little closer, and heard him very tunefully sing, "I can feel a Four-X coming on...." His point was, if a child that young can learn to sing a beer advert. what makes us think they're too young to learn more useful, healthful things?!