Aussie 14 August Awfully messy

Messy Church Aussie-style: we took over a local church called Chaos, who kindly allowed us their anchoring presence and community and some of whom threw themselves into helping out with an afternoon Messy Church. The teenagers were fabulous and moved furniture, led a craft and welcomed people with huge glee. The children made a great welcoming team. (‘Were you made welcome?’ I asked one visitor nervously as we hadn’t had much time to sort out roles. ‘Oh yes!’ she said. ‘Two small girls jumped out at me on the path and shouted “Welcome to Messy Church!” before I even got through the door!’) Some of the adults patiently prepared a very complicated marbling ink kit, which took about three hours to set up and five minutes to do… The prayer in the celebration would have worked better had we known how many people would be there: folded paper simply can’t float on water and open poetically when you have 130 pieces on top of each other in a small font. Alas. But such things don’t make for a disaster and a good time was had by most, I think. They certainly stayed eating sausages and ice cream for a good long time afterwards.
Interesting fact that apparently it is uber-cool to be able to boast of a grungy convict past. ‘My family came over on the First Fleet’ is hugely prestigious. Another interesting fact: there is a dramatic tension and conflict over whether the pavlova was invented in New Zealand or Australia. I have not yet done wide research into Peach Melbas, as I do not wish to be the cause of riots in the streets over here too.