MARY, PICK UP YOUR ACCORDION AND PLAY
1. Mary, pick up your accordion and play, lay down your baby for a while.
It's time to celebrate,
it's time to stay up late —
maybe your song'll make him smile.
2. Mary, pick up your accordion and play, find us a simple harmony.
We could be instruments,
all kinds of instruments,
making a human symphony.
Open up our ears — open up our eyes, touch our weary world with your lullaby.
3. Mary, pick up your accordion and play one song that everyone can share. Then we can sing along,
then we can all belong —
ev-er-y nation ev'rywhere.
4. Mary, pick up your accordion and play music we've never heard before:
keep on surprising us,
revitalising us —
don't stop, just play a couple more!
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The poster for the 1998 Adelaide Festival of Arts caused quite a storm. It depicted Mary holding, not the baby Jesus, but a piano accordion, and the poster was in the style of an Orthodox Christian icon. It was condemned by church leaders, some individuals tore posters down, many letters were written to the newspaper. I thought it was a pity that the Christian community responded so negatively. Even if the Festival organisers meant to offend, it was an ideal opportunity to build bridges with non- Christians, to share a glimpse of the unusual God we believe in, and not to be party poopers. Jesus compared heaven to a party on more than one occasion, and his first miracle was providing an excess of wine for a wedding feast. |
ALWS 5/10/23
To say I've been inactive on my website is a serious understatement! I've written nothing here since early 2021.
So, does this mean the world has stopped for us, that nothing is happening?
A major event for us in 2022 was moving house in October. We had been in Modbury Heights since July 1993.Now we're back in Klemzig.
In May we travelled to the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia, seeing work supported by Australian Lutheran World Service. Dorothy and I are Ambassadors for the ALWS programme, Lives You Touch. We are encouraging people to leave money in their will for the work of ALWS. We committed to leave a third of our will many years ago and hope many others can touch lives in this way.
Since then we have visited Box Hill & Loxton with Jonathan & Julie Krause as part of the Asante presentations, promoting the cause of ALWS. Still to come this year are Asante events in Toowoomba & Rochedale (Nov 26 & 27) and Perth (Dec 10)
Looking forward to seeing many people on these occasions.