From the time we came back to Australia at the end of 2007 and moved to the house in Mona Vale, AAANZ and our friends, the Longleys have wanted to have a Blessing for this place, our work and the developing community at 1643 Pittwater Rd.
[Left-Mark taking balloons out to the mailbox to mark our house]
After much window washing, cleaning (Mark is a cleaning wonder), cooking, and planning, Saturday 13 March at 3:00 p.m. it happened.
Around 2:30, folks started to arrive for the 'ceremony' at 3. Approximately, thirty people arrived; AAANZ (Anabaptist Association of Australia and New Zealand) members, friends and family of the Longleys, neighbours, members of the Wellspring community, families who are part of the table fellowship and members of Avalon Baptist Church (ABC and that is another story - soon to come).
Left: Mary and our neighbour from down-stairs welcomed folks to tour the house. Our neighbour received Cilentro as a gift for her cooking.]
Both of our new large screen monitors scrolled through photos taken of the changes throughout the last two years - as the termites were expelled and their damage rebuilt, as the garage and the rest of the ground floor were changed into two flats, as the back room was removed and rebuilt by MMM (Mobile Mission Maintenance),
as trees and weeds were removed, and as gardens were weeded, mulched and replanted.
[Left: Our friends, Sally and Jim arriving with food.
Right: Everyone respectfully listens as our neighbour down-stairs speaks. The tall man next to her is a local Anglican Pastor, and next to him is the local member of state parliament. Next to him is one of our neighbours.]
MC, Jim Longley welcomed our guests and introduced the president of AAANZ, Doug Sewell who welcomed everyone again and explained AAANZ and then introduced Mark and Mary. We talked about our vision for our work and 1643. [Left: The yellow sheets were the blessing printed.]
The group moved from area to area around the house blessing the folks who live here, those who will visit and those in our neighbourhood.
[Right: Mary starts the blessing by lighting a candle acknowledging God as the light of the world.]
So many friends and neighbours brought food that we had a beautiful spread for afternoon tea.
[Right: Being a house of peace, Mark received a peace plant.]
The second Saturday of each month our table fellowship meets so we ended the day with that gathering. We were going to order out for pizza but so much good food was left from the home blessing that we just grazed on that. We even had more food to send home with our visitors and Mary put some in the freezer for later use.
During Table Fellowship, we explained some history and beliefs of Anabaptism, followed by discussion, prayer for each other and many conversations.
[The photo on the right was taken on our deck when we were blessing the neighbourhood.]
We felt appreciated, blessed and supported. [The man on the left is the builder who has redone much of our house. Yeah! Our friend, Sally is in the purple. Note the computer screen next to her shoulder showing photos of the house in various stages.]
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