January 16, 2012
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 22,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 8 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Click here to see the complete report.
November 17, 2011
For the last two years Anglicans of Second Life has organised a Posada in world. For those unfamiliar with the tradition, it comes from Mexico and originally involved the young people of the community dressing up as Mary and Joseph and going from house to house in the village. They asked for a room for the night and announced to the people that Jesus was soon to be born. A full scale nativity play was then acted out on Christmas Eve at their church and the stable scene was completed with Mary and Joseph.
This tradition is celebrated nowadays with figures of Mary and Joseph being hosted in different places each night of Advent. When they stay in a place it offers a chance for a party for friends and family of the host. The form this takes varies but may include worship and carols and a telling of the message of Christmas and perhaps food and drink. It’s more important that it’s a time of gathering together than that it is something elaborate.
In the last two years we have had the opportunity to meet new people, to visit different churches and locations, and to enjoy the build up to Christmas. It would be wonderful to do the same this year. Can you offer Mary and Joseph a place to stay for a night? On Advent Sunday (27th November) in the noon service, the figures of Mary and Joseph will be handed to the first host. Each evening, at a time convenient to you and the next host, Mary and Joseph will move on. On Christmas Eve they will return to Epiphany Island and take up residence in our stable scene in the Peace Garden.
If you would like to help, please let Helene Milena or Cady Enoch know as soon as possible. The full list of hosts does not have to be in place by Advent Sunday, but the first few are needed as soon as possible. Last year we had people volunteering while the Posada was already underway.
If you host Mary and Joseph we can advertise any event you may be having via group notices and you will be able to use the group IM to remind members of the community of the event if you wish. It would be wonderful if you could take a photo of Mary and Joseph in your home, church or other venue and send it to Cady plus a brief diary entry of what happened that day. For the last two years we have created a lovely memory book in world of the journey Mary and Joseph took over Advent.
Helene Milena – Lay Pastor
November 10, 2011
On Friday 11 November at 12.45pm we will start our listening course. This is designed to help those who find themselves listening to others, perhaps family, friends, fellow church members, maybe even strangers, and who want to be better equipped to do so.
We will look at the biblical view of the person, what a caring relationship is like, and look at some of the skills needed to listen effectively. If you think this would help you, do come along to the Parish House and join us. This first session will be by way of introduction and give us time to get to know one another a little and to consider just what pastoral care of this sort actually means in practice.
The course will be conducted in voice so you should have the means to use voice in SL, preferably using a headset or mic and earphone, to avoid feedback.
Helene Milena – Lay Pastor
November 8, 2011
On Sunday at the noon SLT service we dedicated our new cathedral building and also took the opportunity to rededicate ourselves by renewing our baptism vows. The service was led by Helene Milena and Able Shepherd.
Imagine arriving at church only to find someone there turning you away with the message that God refuses to listen to you! What a shock! Yet this is what was happening to the people of Israel in Amos’ day. He was telling them that God would not accept their sacrifices or their music which was offered in worship of him. The problem was not the sacrifices but the hypocrisy of the people. They were observing the requirements of their faith outwardly but it was having no impact on the way they behaved. What God wanted was justice and righteousness because when they are in abundance, the people flourish.
The message applies to us also as I said in my reflection which is given below. The readings of the day were Psalm 70, Amos 5:18-24, Matthew 25:1-13. (more…)
November 3, 2011
Our Treasurer, Tithe Sixpence
First off, many apologies for the lack of updates in the past few months. RL and all that… Anyway, I thought this would be a good time to give an overview of the AoSL financial situation, as well as a picture of where things are at present.
I have updated the Financial Support page on this blog. In it, I have outlined our need for donations, what our current budget is and how it was arrived at, and ways you can lend your support. I have also simplified the Paypal donation option, so you can now make a one time payment to help support our ministry, in any amount that works for you!
As of the end of October 2011 we have raised 24% of our yearly goal amount. Since our next tier payment will be due in May 2012, we are halfway through the current donation cycle. Simply put, we are at the 50% time point, but only at the 24% donation point.
I am confident that we can meet our budget goals by the time our next tier payment is due, but we can’t do it without your help! We deeply appreciate any donation you are able to make, no matter how small. We know from your many words of support that our ministry is a meaningful part of many of your lives, and our goal is to do everything in our power to help ensure our ability to continue our SL ministry to you.
Thank you for all of the support you have shown us in many ways. If you are in a position to help us financially, that is great! But if you are not, please know that you are no less welcome, and that you contribute to our ministry simply by being part of it! And, if you have any ideas about how we might boost our fundraising efforts, we would love to hear from you!
Thanks for reading this, and I hope to see you in-world soon!
October 24, 2011
How do you respond to the word of God? Most of us have the privilege of being able to read the Bible in our own language, probably in several versions. Bibles, though not cheap, are affordable to most people. We can even access them on the internet. We can do this without fear of reprisal unlike many around the world. But do we really respond to the Word as we ought. In the passage from Nehemiah which is the focus for this year’s Bible Sunday, the Jews wanted to listen to God’s law, to his guidance for living a full life. Once they had heard it read and interpreted, their reaction was inspiring.
The readings at the Sunday noon service in the Cathedral on Epiphany Island were Psalm 119:9-16, Nehemiah 8:1-12, Matthew 24:30-35. My reflection follows: (more…)
October 24, 2011
What does your picture of God include? Who do you think of when you picture God? A stern headmaster, a judge, an angry neighbour, a party animal? Maybe that last one doesn’t fit so well. However, God is often pictured as throwing parties for those he loves, indulging them in good food and wine. The picture Jesus painted in his parable of the wedding banquet shows that God is prepared to invite people who would not be classed as close family or friends, unlike most of us would do. Once invited, the guests have the task of choosing the right outfit to wear. Read on and find out more. (more…)
September 26, 2011
Over recent months there has been work going on with a view to renovating our Cathedral on Epiphany Island. Our current Cathedral was created by Monty Merlin and a small team in 2007. The idea was to create something big, impressive, interesting and it certainly achieved that. Monty did an incredible job, piecing together the sections of the Cathedral with only the most basic building tools in SL. He incorporated many details which have given us the feel of a real cathedral.
The building methods used required many prims and with more prims we find there is more lag, making walking around on the sim tricky at times. Cady, our church warden, has been exploring how to reduce the number of prims on the sim, especially those used for the Cathedral as that is the biggest single item. She has used the newer building techniques such as sculpties and larger prims (but not yet mesh which is very new indeed). The new look Cathedral has been constructed on a building platform above the island and several of our community have responded to invitations to visit it after services. They have been able to give Cady many suggestions on how to improve what was being created which has led to many changes and hours of work.
Most of the work seems to be finished now, though there is no doubt a little fine tuning to do yet. Until the end of October you are invited to visit the new build and see for yourself what has been achieved. Either use the landmark http://slurl.com/secondlife/Epiphany/130/124/650 and take a wander round by yourself or contact any member of the Leadership Team who will be happy to show you around and listen to your comments. Your ideas and suggestions are always welcome.
On 16 and 23 October the noon SLT services will be held in the new Cathedral on the building platform so that we can experience it as a worship space together.
Helene Milena – Lay Pastor
September 26, 2011
At the Leadership Team on 16 July we listened to a presentation on evangelism by ZoeRose Eiren. We revisited the material at our September meeting on Saturday. We were considering how we move forward as a result of what we had heard. We already know that, although we have taken Church into SL, once there we are mostly staying in one place rather than going to find the many who need to meet Jesus. We certainly meet and minister to many people already who come to Epiphany Island. Several of our community have brought friends to our services or have recommended that their friends should seek pastoral care from us. There is still much more that we could do.
We have decided that we will offer a Christian pastoral care/listening course beginning in November as part of our response. So many of those whom we meet need someone to listen to them. It’s good to feel confident that we are doing the right thing when we listen and respond. We hope this course will equip more people to minister to others in this way.
We are also going to continue the conversation and want as many of our community as possible to join in. We will announce times when we plan to meet to chat together. We hope there may also be impromptu conversations on the same subject, perhaps when we meet after services. There could also be conversation here on the blog or on our Facebook page.
The content of ZoeRose’s paper is given here for you to read and consider. Our hope is that we will together hear clearly what God is saying to us and have the courage to do as he asks.
Helene Milena – Lay Pastor
September 26, 2011
Authority is a touchy subject. Those given authority can be quite protective of it and resentful of anyone who might presume to challenge it. It was inevitable that Jesus would cause problems with the chief priests and elders of Israel with his teaching and his actions. On Palm Sunday he completely disrupted the work of those who changed money and sold animals in the outer court of the Temple in Jerusalem. The chief priests had no problem with this selling but Jesus did. God’s house was to be a house of prayer but it had been made into a den of robbers. When Jesus turned up to teach in the Temple the next day, the chief priests were on hand to question by what authority he was doing so. An interesting piece of verbal sparring took place which Jesus won, as you would expect.
The readings at our noon SLT service on Sunday were Psalm 25:1-8, Philippians 2:1-13 and Matthew 21:23-32. My reflection follows:
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