You may have heard the news about an incident in our town last Friday (02-02-07) where eight young people were involved in a car accident. Two are deceased ( 14 yo) and a third is looking pretty bad. I’m the Vicar here (or Rector for Sydney-siders) and I’d like to get some people praying for our town.

This kind of thing has a huge impact on a small town like ours. we have 1300 in town and 6000 in the district. It will fall to me to do the two funerals, to spend time at the High school with the staff and the students and to be the defacto pastor to most of the other families.

Please pray for the job that we as a church, and me in particualr, do in the coming weeks as we try to deal with the grief and the shock and somehow present the good face of Christ to the community.

Please also pray that the Media will back off. they keep asking “How such a tragedy will effect the town”? I’d reackon the town would cope better if they stopped sniffing around and filing false and misleading reports.

At the moment there is alot of stress and alot of pain inm people’s lives. Please pray that I can offer some hope in a very genuine and careful way.

Thanks Simon.

Have prayed for you and the people affected.

Hi Simon,

I too have just prayed after reading your post.

Simon Manchester’s tract “At a Time Like This: Some answers for loss and grief” is excellent. I highly recommend having copies on hand, which can be given to people to read in their own time and own space. Check it out:

Hi Simon,

Just to let you know that I am praying for your situation - and will ask others at church to also pray.

Are there other grief counsellors in town ? Or who can come from afar to help ? A wider population of over of 7,000 seems a lot for a few folk to deal with in a sudden grief emergency and its flow-on effects. And who supports the carers ?

On a wider front, does anyone know if there are any Anglican ( or other Christian ) organisations who currently exists, who are able to respond and send a team in to this sort of situation ? Or is just left to the locals to cope as best they can ?

Warialda Accident

Sorry if I made it sound like I was the only one here. The Education department have made counsellors available for students and staff, as have the Hunter New England Area Health for families. We don’t actually start school until tomorrow (western region) so we’re trying to get everything in place because that will be when it gets really busy and hard.

We also have an Anglican Counselling service that has made themselves available.

Generally the response has been pretty good like that, but you can’t force people to talk.

Thank you Angela for that Information handout about grief.

Also keeping you and the people affected in prayer.

Sandy

(Good to see you pressing on, Simon, as a colleague from the same year at college!)

...We also have an Anglican Counselling service that has made themselves available.

Generally the response has been pretty good like that, but you can’t force people to talk.

So true. It is good that you and others have informed them of the people/services/resources available if and when they are ready to talk.

I pray that out of this tragedy, the good news of eternal life will be made known and gladly received by many. One of the seminal events in my childhood was the death of my friend’s father. The memories are still strong. I thank God that He is eternal and infinite yet knows what it means to loose a cherished loved one.

Be assured of our prayers, Simon.