Free bird

A great banner and excellent worship Sunday night. Rick - one of our ordained ministers - took that quintessential Aussie phrase 'no worries mate' and gave it theological and liturgical significance. Talked about how the phrase can be received as a gift, as an acknowledgment that my actions have intruded on someone else, yet that person graciously accepts my apology and lets go of any hurt or resentment. All summed up in that simple phrase "No worries mate."

And up on the wall a banner with a bird flying. The somewhat cryptic name of this blog refers to the logo of the Uniting Church in Australia. I have heard it praised and said to be well ahead of its time and remarkably contemporary for a logo designed in the 1970s. This is true, and the symbolism of the logo is very sound. But to me it looks like a bird in a cage. As if the UCA has defined the parameters and life is always symmetrical. So it was good to see a bird free of its cage - even within a linear layout. The banner was a light blue - white dove in centre with a heart below. No solid outlines anywhere. I liked it very much.

The gospel for the day was from Matthew chapter 6:

²And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?⁸²⁹ And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

No worries!