20180508 -Tuesday

20180508 -Tuesday – 

I thought I was going to Hunter Valley tonight to be judged about my post  so I prepared the following, but nobody spoke to me about it at all which distresses me very much. I only went to the class in order to sort the matter out- 

Well here is what I prepared

Dear Everyone,

I was not expecting the extreme reaction that there was to my post on Tuesday. It hit me like a bolt out of the blue.

I have been trying to analyse the post and the reaction to it ever since.

So I am going to ask you all to do something for me. I am going to ask you to imagine that the post came from our Lord Jesus Christ and that it was delivered in the first century, shortly after Jesus death on the cross.

If you do this, you will know as the words are read to you which ones are His and are legitimate and which ones are mine and illegitimate.

So here goes.

I woke up this morning in tears. During the night I had been struggling with too much data, too much input, too many people, to many “Why” questions and only coming up with “How” answers. 

I sent out some SOSs for help during the night, and there in my inbox was my answer, but it was too late to keep my emotions in check, so I probably cried for about 10 minutes.

Gail was driving Karen and ?? Thurlow to the airport this morning because they were going o/seas. I rang Gail (upstairs) and asked if I REALLY had to get up and shower and be dressed in time for their arrival?

Gail laughed and said, “Stay in bed till midday if you like,” so, well I am up now, and it is only 11.00 am. 

I have been in the Hunter Valley now for some 6-7 weeks. My already overloaded “friend” list has grown exponentially during those weeks and I have struggled to retain names and faces and everyone’s stories. It is like I have stepped into a whole new life. 

Every day I have struggled with my nerves and my driving, but by now I am at last familiar with where to go left or right, and so my stress levels have subsided. I have had to stop by the side of the road on numerous occasions and sleep for half an hour because my energy levels are running out faster than I have need of them.

I have heard the “politics” of the whole area and am now familiar with the dramas of the region. Hunter Valley, I have found is a regions full of some of the most wonderful people I have met (apart from all you Adelaideians) in my life. There is a spirit of love and joy here that is second to none, but there are so many people in pain.

I have prayed for Paul’s wisdom. He had “the care of all the ecclesia’s” and I now know what that means. I now know why he wrote in Romans about the factions of Paul and Apollos etc. and these divisions run through family groupings and there is so much pain and I know that the “blame game” is alive and well.

And that is why I woke up crying this morning because I can’t solve all the problems. I love all those on either side of the “great divide,” but I don’t have the wisdom the background knowledge, the judgmental skills. I just want everyone to love each other. 

But I know and recognise that there are problems there which may need to be taken to the law of the Land, and I just hope there are wise people here who can navigate that minefield. So that side of the story I will leave quite alone. 

But the division between brothers and sisters Paul has shown the way. He told Euodias, and Syntyche to just “get over it,”to be of the same mind, to forget the history and just put your arms around each other and love each other and leave the details to God (Php 4:2). 

I can hear a billion “yes but’s” here but I am not equipped to handle them, all I can say is what Paul has already said. To love each other.

So that’s all I have to say on all of that.

But I soo love you all. You have been so kind and welcoming to me. Gail has been so wonderful and caring I will never be able to repay her for loving me all this time. We have shared a lot of tears and I have tried to tolerate Ant and the cat, but without much success I am afraid. You are kinder and more tolerant than me.

My TRAILER, is all fixed. Simon Sawell certainly directed me aright there. He sent me to “Kenny” at Nelson’s Bay, who took me to “Ian” at Soldier’s point Metal, and he did the trick. My whole camper trailer is up and running. I may need a service before I leave, but that is all.

So my dear and beloved Hunter Valley and Boolooroo and Gosford friends, God willing I will be “departing these shores” on Monday 14th of May, 2018 for shores unknown, even to me. Will let you know where I am headed, which will be somewhere into the “blue horizon.” 

I have been the 14th May and I think the 7th July to fill in, so open to suggestions.

Love to all

Now, if you have been visualising these words as coming from Jesus, you will know where I have said His words and where I have said my own, words and have been propounding my own righteousness and not God’s 

Ok. Now for the responses I received from you here at Hunter Valley. 

From a sister,

Dear Aunty Fay,

Maryanne

It’s been lovely to see you over the past several weeks that you have been a part of our community. I’ve enjoyed listening to your stories and reminiscing on past events, etc.

On Sunday, you mentioned to me that you thought that if you were to be around for very much longer, that you may consider me to be a friend. I rather hope that may be the case notwithstanding the amount of time we have known each other. We are Sisters in Christ after all.

As such, I hope you won’t mind my saying that I was surprised and not a little perturbed at reading your Facebook journal entry for Tuesday. You have almost 1000 friends on Facebook and now they know that you know/are familiar with the “politics” and dramas of the Hunter Valley region/Ecclesia.

Is it really necessary to broadcast that to “all and sundry” that you are privy to such things and that pain is being experienced by so many in the Ecclesia/s? To make the comments that you have that, there is much “going on” that you now know about (which is only the business of those about whom it concerns), is to invite gossip and speculation (slander) to the fore and bring unnecessary grief and stress to people already “in pain” because now all Facebook know that there is something to know (which there isn’t). To know “a bit” about a subject is not the same as knowing “all about it”. It is not up to you to worry about, pass judgement on, suggest solutions or try to surmise whether or not you can help to sort anything out. 

To make such comments as you have, that:

You want people to love each other;

You want bro/sis to be of one mind;

The “blame game” is alive and well;

Paul showed the way concerning divisions and that is to “get over it and just love each other”(???!!);

You don’t have enough background knowledge;

You don’t have the judgemental skills;

Those concerned should just love and leave the details to God….

I’m sorry but that looks to me very much like “stirring up trouble” or dropping a bomb and then running for cover to see what happens next.

The facts are that any issues in question are only the business of those people involved and that no one is qualified to openly discuss details of such private matters or pass judgement, suggest solutions, etc. on such a public forum as Facebook.

Lots of love,

A sister xxx 💗🌷

Jeremy

Hi Fay, I think your latest FB post is so inappropriate. You are in no position to be broadcasting your opinion publicly on issues that are so complex that you would not understand. Even if you did, you should have enough wisdom to keep your counsel to yourself. You don’t come into an area, in which you don’t live and comment on local issues, especially when it is abrasive to the very people who have been hosting you. Can i request that you remove the post please.

You seem to have an overdose of a sense of entitlement. You seem to be okay with cuddling up to people you call friends, deceiving them into believing you are being friendly in return, learning of their intimate traumas and struggles of life, and then broadcasting them publicly, with your own added (but unwanted and unsolicited) opinions and judgements . . . as if you have somehow earned the right to abuse and disrespect those who have cared for you. This is a sense of entitlement. If you even knew what it means to “let each esteem other better than themselves” you would have never taken the liberty to write such slander-based-on-gossip. I will leave it to your own conscience about leaving that public post up for all to read an mutter about. I know you really care about others, but your post sends the opposite message.

You are snubbing my objections to your post. Yet you claim to know what it is like to care for the ecclesias. You are disrespecting me and others in our ecclesia. Paul, who *did* actually care for all the ecclesias, said, “Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.” 1 Cor 8:13

Jamin

I will leave you be when you leave me be

You need to take that post down off Facebook

you have upset me enormously you have caused sorrow and sadness to lots and lots of people who are very sensitive about this issue right now

How many people actually have to tell you Fay, that they’re sad and offended and upset before you take any notice

You have the power to fix this problem immediately

stop creating chaos

How many of your brothers and sisters need to line up to tell you to take down something that offends them ?

Do you actually care ?

Why are you being so stubborn – why won’t you back down

what’s in it for you

why under fire and peoples expressed distress are you insisting that you must have this post at all costs remain

You’ve got your post on guard 24 hours a day seven days a week continuing to give me a hard time while you beg for a break ……. because you’ve got to get your eyes straight !!!!!

take the thing down

Do it

What the heck is this dogged determination of yours to dismiss any concern, fear or distress that others have

Why are you prattling on to Maryanne

“this too will pass – if I have sinned God will forgive me I’ll sit in my trailer and shut out the world”

You have created a nightmare

you have people lining up begging you to do such a little thing

so that with one of your little fingers you can ease the burden of many

You have people in black-and-white asking you to ease the burden

You can do it with a stroke of a key – in a second – in an instant if you want

But Your answer is -if I have sinned, God will tell me

I’ll just standby – maybe these people won’t drown…..maybe they won’t die

Why are you breaking the bruise breed and quenching the smoking flax

Take the post down please

Not sure why we went through this charade to get to this point

Janett

Hmm not sure, it sounded like Hunter Valley Ecclesia has a lot of problems. When actually I think you meant the hunter region.

People may misinterpret that Hunter Valley Ecclesia is a disaster, when in fact hardly anyone in HVE is affected . As you know we don’t talk about it.

You may like to change it to hunter valley region. The bit in the 7th paragraph

Fay: Maybe God sees it differently?

I’m very sad, I didn’t realise you were interviewing me for a report you would later put on Facebook!

That was sneaky, you should have told me upfront.

I noticed that you never wrote about Adelaide and all the issues happening over there.

Please remove your post!

You told me and I trusted you when you said, if I write something and someone asks me to take it off I do, I don’t mind.

Was that statement true Aunty Fay?

My son just read your post and said I thought Aunty Fay loved us, why would she do this? Is she not really our friend even though she said she was?

Your post is doing damage to our young people. It’s not helpful

Janett

Well that is most of it.

Now it is your job to make your judgement.

I feel that my post was legitimate

But I will allow you to you be the judge of that. If my words were unwise, I can assure yyou my intentions were good. I  will stand by your judgement. Please keep in mind that I write for my friends.

I say all this very sincerely,

Your sister in Christ,

Fay