Moe and Yarram

August 9, 2009 (click on pics for larger view)

Its a theme that we're going to have to get used to in Gippsland.... Moe and Yarram are both vacant. To be honest, I'm not sure what the formal structures and linkages are in this Presbytery. Are these two preaching places in the one parish - thus looking for just one minister to serve both places? Or are they two distinct parishes, each vacant? Either way, it is not going to be easy for them either to find a new minister or to regularly supply the pulpit during the vacancy. (And I'm not sure why Yarram is linked to Moe, when either Sale or Morwell would be closer? But really, that's none of my business and I am confident the Presbytery has its own good reasons.)

A small but faithful band of folk turned up for worship at Moe and stayed behind afterwards for lunch. I'm told it is the first time in at least three years that they have had lunch together. If nothing else, the Moderator's visit can be used to stimulate some social fellowship within the congregation.

There was one family with five children, the oldest similar ages to our Duncan, so he was delighted to have a couple of boys to knock around with after church and Alison and I also enjoyed the banter, which made our departure a little bit tardy. The drive to Yarram was further than we had expected, including the obligatory photo-op stops, especially to take in the power stations that dominate so much of this area. We were very nearly late for a 2pm service!

At Moe, the organist warned me that the small congregation at Yarram were without any musicians to lead the singing. Suitable early warning would have seen me dust off my guitar and bring it with me, but that wasn't possible at this late stage, so I just had to take a deep breath and lead the singing a cappella. Turned out to be one of the highlights of my travels so far: a congregation of only about a dozen people, filling a small but beautiful church with songs of praise and adoration! I had trimmed the service down to just 3 hymns, because of my own fears and inadequacies, but in the middle of it I asked if we might sign a fourth hymn, so good and uplifting was the singing.

When we left Yarram, we couldn't decide which was the best route home - head north towards Traralgon and back along the Princes Freeway, or to take the South Gippsland Highway through Welshpool, Foster, Leongatha, etc. We decided to let the GPS unit pick its own route and it set us off in a northerly direction. We bagan to wonder about the wisdom of this when the road we were on got smaller and narrower and pretty soon the tarmac stopped and we carried on our merry way up a winding unsealed mountain road.

We found ourselves in the Tarra Bulga National Park and we were treated to some spectacular scenery - not least of all an immanse valley of black twigs that used to be trees. The bushfires in this area earlier in the year didn't get much publicity, I guess because they didn't destroy nearly so much property or lives as the fires in Murindindi, but this must have been a huge fire that burned for many days, weeks or maybe even months. It was quite awesome and majestic. Unfortunately, the sun was quite low and photographs just don't do it justice.