Morwell

August 16, 2009

Our visit to Morwell was overshadowed by the death during the week of elder Max Cranwell and his daughter Leanne in the Kokoda plane crash. Max had read the Bible in church the previous week for ministry candidate Phil Court who is a local lad and has been preaching pulpit supply at Morwell from time to time. Leanne was married to the cousin of one of my own members from Scots' Church, and leaves behind a young family.

Phil was quite shaken by this event when he called to tell me about it, and the congregation was in a state of shock. Max's wife Phyllis and their three remaining children were all in church, struggling to come to terms with what had transpired and not at all sure yet what arrangements will be made for the funerals.

I assured the family and the congregation that the whole Presbyterian Church was behind them in prayer and condolence.

When Phil discovered that he would be preaching either side of the moderator's visit to Morwell, he suggested we preach a series of three sermons in a row that would give this vacant congregation a (small but worthwhile) sense of continuity. He chose the theme of the "I am" sayings of Jesus and I chose to take John 8:58... "Before Abraham was, I am." It's a saying that links Jesus to the presence and the essence of the Godhead as revealed in the Abrahamic covenant and in the burning bush that confronted Moses in the desert.

The parish has been vacant since Bob Boan retired a couple of years ago and none of the elders seemed confident of finding a minister to call anytime soon. But in the meantime, they have been blessed with the attendance of a handful of young people, including one family with small children, who are connected to the local campus of Monash University. This has given them both an ethnic diversity and generational diversity that might not otherwise have been the case. A good indication that they are happy to relate to the younger generation and the student community is that the Bible reading was done by a dude wearing jeans, runners and a hoodie!

After church we had morning tea, followed by a sing-a-long of favourite hymns around the piano played by one of the Uni students, filling in time until it was late enough to sit down for lunch! That's one of the problems with a 9:30am start... you're not likely to have a fellowship lunch after it, unless it's a special occasion such as the visit of a moderator.