Thank you to the Principals who attended the recent Principals Retreat from 23-25 August. The retreat was based at Kingaroy, with a day at Cherbourg and a day at the Bunya Mountains. I really appreciated this time with you and hope you too found value in this experience. We’ve had very positive feedback reflecting the need for Principals to make time to disconnect from their busy roles, to find refreshment through the natural environment and time to spend with Colleagues. We were blessed to engage Dr Meg Noack who developed the program and led the retreat. The following is a reflection from Rev Brenton Altmann (LEQ Director – Identity and Formation) and Jodi Blackwell, (LEQ Assistant Director – Identity and Formation), who coordinated the retreat and managed the logistics.
Tanya Crooks
The Whipbird Café, the Ration Shed and Bush University are now all familiar places to the Principals who attended the “Journey Encounters” retreat at Kingaroy. Facilitated by Dr Meg Noack, an intrepid group of Principals embarked on a three-day retreat that created space for reflection, story sharing and challenging encounters. The retreat provided opportunities to make connections and deepen understanding of some of the challenges with our First Nations brothers and sisters. Our time spent at the Ration Shed at Cherbourg, is where we met Uncle Eric, who in a very gracious way presented us with the challenging history of Cherbourg, whilst at the same time being hopeful and positive about the potential way forward as we continue to work towards reconciliation.
Hospitality was a central theme of the retreat and we were blessed to experience this as we watched the sunset and shared stories around the campfire on the Bethany Lawn (on the Bjelke-Petersen property). It was a privilege to be immersed in family history, share a delightful meal and experience the hospitality of the Bjelke-Peterson family. Our final day began with breakfast in the Bunya Mountains, as the Noacks opened their home and blessed us with incredible hospitality to sustain us through the rest of the day. Beginning at Fisher’s lookout with a smoking ceremony, we were led by local guide Shannon to the Bush University where we also took time to share our stories with one another in what is known as a yarning circle. Shannon educated us on bush tucker and bush medicine, whilst at the same time delighting us with his humour.
At the heart of this spiritual retreat were our encounters with God’s word and sharing some of the less familiar encounters of those journeying with Jesus. Through Reader’s theatre, including thoughts from the Gospel writers, we journeyed with the Woman at the well, Simon of Cyrene and the travellers on the road to Emmaus, creating opportunity for reflective moments as we travelled together and journeyed to the next destination of the retreat. Special thanks to Dr Meg Noack and Karen Bjelke-Peterson for being such gracious custodians of hospitality.
