rhythm+hue
My musings, writings, observations, ideas, & thoughts about God, Life, and following Jesus in Suburbia.
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Sharing the heart and soul of The Dining Room
Myself, David K, and three other volunteers from The Dining Room spoke tonight at a gathering of local churches that have joined together to provide some welfare assistance as a group in their area. We were invited to speak about The Dining Room to a group of church leaders, volunteers and people who had been actively providing welfare assistance for the past ten years. (more…)
Posted in Australia, Jesus, Kingdom, Social Justice, church life, croydon, prayer |
No Comments »GetUp!- Mandatory Detention Campaign
While there have been some fantastic bits of news about the Federal Government changing Mandatory Detention brought in by the Howard Gov’t, the opposition (gee - the old Howard gov’t) wants to block it. Please add your name to the petition urging them and the governemt to take this through to the end and end mandatory detention for immigration and assylum seekers.
This video is awesome and helps make the message clear.
Go here to sign up!
Posted in Australia, GetUp!, Social Justice, human rights |
No Comments »St. Vinnies - This Time it’s Personal - really?
You may know I have previously had a rant about the quality of the food that the local St. Vinnies hands out to those in need. However, I have just seen the latest ad campaign that they will be running and want to share it here and let you know that while I think it is great, the campaign might raise funds and tickle the tear-ducts and wallets of Mr & Mrs Aussie Consumer, but that means nothing if the services you are providing are given with the same thoughtfulness and effort that the fund raising is made with.
As a Catholic charity, I would hope that the main motivation of the group is to serve and love like Jesus - and not contribute to the bottom line of the Catholic church (or that matter any church group, I’m not trying to pick on the Catholic church especially!). (more…)
Posted in Australia, Media, Social Justice, TV Ad |
No Comments »Come On!
Hey all, please take the time to click on the lips to the right of here and support me to shut up for the Homeless! So far, I have raised $2 - can’t we do better than that! Please support this cause!
Click here - http://www.everydayhero.com.au/Neal_Taylor
Posted in Australia, Fund raiser, Social Justice, church life, human rights, missional |
No Comments »Victims of Fashion: Worker Abuse in USAmerican Sweatshops
The film, “Victims of Fashion” is about local sweatshops and the effects they have on the workers in the USAmerica economy, exposing audiences that sweatshop use is not only a problem in developing countries, but within USAmerican borders as well.
By: Tyler Garner, Jarrel Phillips, Jay Yu, and Tania Cervantes. This item is part of the collection: Bay Area Video Coalition: Youth. Producer: Tyler Garner, Jarrel Phillips, Jay Yu, and Tania Cervantes.
Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike.
Posted in Social Justice, USA, human rights |
No Comments »What is going on?
I wrote the following one evening recently but have been unsure whether to publish it… tell me what you think.
In the course of my studies I have been researching homelessness and poverty in Australia, and in particular, Melbourne, and recently I had the great pleasure to go meet a lovely woman who works for the Salvation Army at a Crisis center here in Melbourne. After a tour of the fantastic facilities and meeting the others staff, we sat for a coffee and chat. A great hour and I was extremely thankful for the chat.
But, it further fueled my righteous anger to understand that local churches weren’t offering to help this crisis centre - something that we have found at The Dining Room (TDR). However, before I rant, I must say that there are some churches and schools in the area who are helping TDR, but let me emphasize - some out of many. We have some churches in the local area that are perched on acres of land, some with schools on the property and some without, and some with empty buildings and some that have a handful of people meeting in them.
Posted in Australia, Church, Fund raiser, Politics, Social Justice, church life, croydon, human rights, prayer |
No Comments »Great Article about The Dining Room
The local paper, The Leader ran an article about The Dining Room, where I volunteer and am doing my placement for my course. It is an interview with David Knoop, the social worker who handles The Dining Room. Have a read - I would love to hear your comments.
Posted in Social Justice, croydon |
No Comments »Wake Up Woolworths!
I was going to the local shopping centre the other day and there were these folks standing outside the doors to the shopping centre handing out fliers and leaflets that were very bold in their stark black & white with blood red lettering helping make their point. Curious, I was given a flier as the guy who handed it to me gave me his spiel that he had probably told many, many times that day. But it was what he had to say that caught my interest and I want to share with you now.
Here’s what they had to say….. (more…)
Posted in Australia, Social Justice, health, protest |
No Comments »HUSH for Homelessness
Mission Australia are running this very cool event next month, HUSH for the Homeless, inviting us to experience what it’s like to be voiceless!They are challenging us all to experience what it is like to be voiceless, by not speaking for an hour (or more!) on Wednesday 2 July 2008, and to seek sponsorship for the silence!
Tonight, as temperatures drop and winter takes hold, almost 100,000 Australians have no place to call home. Of these people, almost 50% are yet to have their 25th birthday and 10,000 are children aged under 12! This is why Mission Australia is running HUSH for Homelessness; an event to raise money to assist homeless men, women and children across the country.
HUSH for Homelessness symbolises the ‘invisible’ and ‘voiceless’ lives that homeless Australians lead.
All donations raised will go to support the work that Mission Australia do around the country with the homeless, including the provision of crisis and transitional accomodation and support services.
I have registered! Please check out my HUSH page here. I encourage you all to join, as an individual, or group and support this effort for an organisation that is taking what the Aussie Gov’t (and for that matter many churches) talk about and make a difference by doing something.
Go here to register and find out some more information! And please, if you do register - raise some sponsors!
Posted in Australia, Compassion, Fund raiser, Personal, Social Justice, Web, church life, life |
No Comments »Feast of the Refuse
I have been involved with some work with the homeless and poor as I have mentioned earlier… Recently I became aware that some of the aid agencies and churches in the outer Eastern Area here in Melbourne have been handing out food, including meat that is past it’s expiry date. Now this may be ok for some products and something that may have just expired, but what makes me angry is the fact that it is meat and other goods like canned fish that are being handed out with clearly expired labels!
Not only is this revolting and dangerous to say the least considering that babies and children may be eating this meat etc, and that the organisations send a slip of paper with the hamper that recognises the food is out of date and that they hold no responsibility, but where do we get off deciding that just because they are getting welfare or aid they deserve anything of less quality than we would eat! I know many of these organisations and churches are on a shoe string but I would place a bet that the pastors or aid workers themselves would be laothe to touch some of the food that is handed out as welfare here.
This sickens me and makes me weep for the church! So much for inviting them to feast in Luke 14:15!
The aid organisations I am talking about - one was a church in Croydon and the other a para-church organisation - St Vincents De Paul! Come on people! We can sit in our million dollar buildings, with thoudands of dollars in AV equipment, take communion and sing songs to the words on the screen, yet feel it is ok to give someone who has less than us the crumbs, no not the crumbs, the waste from our excess consumption!
Posted in Australia, Kingdom, Social Justice, church life, croydon, failure |
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