On Friday Helen and I spent the morning with Stephen Holmes at Whittlesea and Kinglake. It was a surreal experience. The whole landscape looks like a war zone.

Standing outside the smouldering ruins of the Kinglake church, it is hard to imagine it was once a building, let alone a place of worship. The magnitude of the task of rebuilding this community is quite paralyzing. Where do you begin?

Stephen is keen for someone with a chainsaw to make him a communion table out of a blackened log, so he can hold service near the site.

We talked about how St Jude's could help. There are some practical things to do, but these seem very small in the scheme of things. We will keep talking and find a way.