The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. In the previous edition, I announced that Matt Anslow had come on board as Manna Matters editor for one day a week. Unfortunately, Matt’s other part-time work was made redundant and he has had to accept a full-time role somewhere else. So this will be Matt’s last edition editing Manna Matters (for the time being, at least!). He will still be contributing some more articles and joining in with the Manna Cast (see back page) for a while. I will be sorry to lose Matt—he was a rare catch in terms of skills, ideas, and insight.
Manna Gum’s new podcast, the MannaCast (one of Matt’s initiatives), is now up and running. You can access it through the Manna Gum website or the web address on the back page. This is a fairly new medium for both of us, so your feedback is very welcome (as well as any five-star reviews you’d like to leave us on iTunes)!
In November, the Manna Gum Reference Group and other members met for our AGM. For those who don’t know, Manna Gum is an incorporated association. Now that Matt is finishing up, I am once again “the employee” of Manna Gum, however, it is also dependent on the unpaid contribution of a number of other people. In particular, Kim takes care of administration, Colin Taylor proof-reads written material, David Cook assists with IT stuff and numbers of other of our Long Gully community help with mailouts. Finally, there is the Reference Group, made up of Peter Chapman, Kim Cornford, Greg Hewson, Lauren Ash, Anthea Taylor and Simon Holt. Its role is to keep Manna Gum accountable to its purposes, to help discern the direction of the ministry, to provide pastoral oversight and to act as a sounding board.
The bulk of my time at the moment is spent in research and writing. After a difficult mid-year period with different members of the family quite unwell, things have settled down to some normality (whatever that is at the moment).
There is not a lot more to report. It has been a difficult, topsy-turvy year and for me the importance of the season of Advent has been brought into sharper focus. The more I am conscious of the depth of brokenness in the world (and in me), the more I find myself waiting in hope and expectation of the coming of the One Who Saves, ‘like dawn breaking on us from on high’ (Lk 1:78). I pray that we all might have a fresh encounter with Christ this Christmas.
Jonathan Cornford
