Opera & Sunday

I have to admit, the Sydney OH doesn't look impressive size-wise from the Harbor, especially when you see it next to the Harbor Bridge, which is enormous. However, when you get up close to it, it's really quite beautiful. And big.

The scalloped lines of the roof are I think meant to resemble the sails of the boats that pass through the Harbor each day. I had read that the roof was tiled with self-cleaning tiles (I imagined little scrubber bubbles magically appearing to whisk off any dirt), but didn't realize how small they were - only about 2 inches square. What I enjoyed most about the OH were the details: How the lines of the roof came together like a Chinese fan, and how instead of having overhead lighting in the women's bathroom, each toilet stall had an illuminated TP dispensor. Pretty sweet. We saw My Fair Lady (yes, Mom, I got a program) and saw the most incredible costumes and sets I've ever seen on a stage production. This was definitely not a low-budget affair...

On Sunday, Ash and I relaxed at the house until she had to go to work. Because she's the greatest friend ever, she arranged for her friend Nadia to come pick me up and take me to the service, since Ash couldn't take me herself. Now, I had been looking forward to attending a service at "Small Boat, Big Sea" (cool name for a church, yea?) because it's held in an art gallery. HOW AMAZING. The church is part of the emergent church movement, and is very non-traditional. I might actually say it's a contemporary worship service, where as most "contemporary services" as we know them are actually of the mid-90's era. Which was 15 years ago. Which is not contemporary. However, I digress - if you really want to know more about my thoughts on that subject, just email me. Anyway SBBS is a dynamic, small church located just outside Manly and some of the artists that exhibit and run the art gallery (called the Art Sanctuary Gallery)

Anyway, SBBS follows the "BELLS" liturgy which stands for Blessing, Eating, Listening, Learning and Symba-something or other (they pray for a specific member of the community). So within the service, the members end up eating dinner together, catching up on life, spending time in prayer alone with God and learning about Him. I really enjoyed the rhythm of the service, and even more enjoyed talking with Nadia and David about the visual arts and faith. One of the frustrating and exciting aspects of being a visual artist within the context of a Christian life is that since the split with the Catholic Church, protestant believers and churches haven't fostered the visual arts at all. I believe that as society has moved into the Post-Modern Era, with a lot of focus given to contemporary design, there has been a huge resurgence of appreciation for the arts in general culture. Unfortunately, within the culture of the American church there's been a lack of encouragement for visual artists to use their gifts for the Lord. I was particularly interested to meet Nadia and David, with the hopes of continuing a conversation with them about being a Christian and being an artist and how those two facets of life can be intertwined in a worship setting. So I have email addresses(o:

Anyway - I need to either get to bed or get up and pack, as Ash and I are heading out to the Hunter Valley Wine Country tomorrow and tomorrow evening are taking our first overnight bus ride up to Byron Bay to start our 2 week long sight-seeing tour! WOOOOOO!