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The Anglican Church in Tasmania Search |
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a healthy church...transformingLIFE |
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October 2005 |
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A beautiful Sunny...day morningIt was a nerve-racking few days before the Thanksgiving Gathering and Horses’ Birthday Celebrations on the Hill on Sunday 31st July. The horse neighbourhood had been letter boxed with fliers as well as the local pub and the Bush Bakery. Who would come and what would the weather be like? Praise be to God it was a beautiful Sunny...day morning. The Bishop’s horse had been washed and preened the day before and the naughty thing had rolled in the night, so he had to be cleaned and polished again! At 2.45 the meeting place was a-buzz with horses and people and dogs and cars and TV news cameras. Excitement was in the air and I was nervous. What was going to happen on the hill? Well, we mounted up and some walked or caught a cart and all went well as we wound our way to the top of the hill. A friendly local did several trips in his 4x4 to help the ‘not so able’ to the top. As we reached the meeting place a wedge-tailed eagle soared above us and as I was on the ground and Bishop was still on his horse, I grabbed his leg and said, ‘It’s a sign! God is with us.’ Over 100 people joined us that day and about half were locals. Andrew Legg sang Bob Dylan’s, ‘Man gave names to all the animals’ with the insertion of a special horse verse, some young riders recited a poem they had written, the Good News of Jesus was proclaimed and the community was blessed by the Bishop, all from the top of a hill, which also was breathed on very heavily by a chilling wind straight from the Antarctic. Although the wind was fierce, there seemed a calm that permeated when the story of Jesus was told. Many people joined us around fires back at Sandfly for an early BBQ tea. What an exhausting but fabulous day! Praise be to God for such a brave and adventurous Bishop and for community and for horses great and small.
The Rev. Meredith Campbell has helped to initiate this new ministry.
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