Stephanie+Quan's+Reflection

Getting to know Wikispaces
My group was given "Christianity" as the religion to do research on, when Miss. Stokes first gave us the assignment of making a wikispace, i found it difficult to use, confusing and very frustrating. It wasn't like facebook or myspace, where things were much more simpler. We were given the task to create a website on a particular religion. Our group is made up of 4 people :Miranda, Socheata, Stephanie N and me, so we divided each of the major parts so that we had equal amounts of work to do. It took some time to get use to using 'wikispaces', learning how to change the font of text, add media, pages...After playing around with the website, adding images and information on our website, wikispaces turned out to be alot more enjoyable than expected.

Doing the 8 Aspects
Part of creating the site was to research on the 8 aspects of Christianity, i researched on Christianity rituals, social structure, ethics and symbols. I thought some of the information i read about the Christianity was quite interesting and i managed to summarise some information to add on to our wiki. Through doing research on some of the main aspects of Christianity i was able to learn new facts and information i didn't know about before doing the 'wiki spaces' assignment. There was many sacred places and churches that i didn't know about before and the many symbols of Christianity was also new to me.

Class Discussion
There were times when we were not booked in computer rooms, during this time Miss. Stokes along with the class would discuss about the many aspects of faith, prayer and humanity. We talked about how different religions expressed their values and traditions. These discussions were based on our knowledge on different religions practices. I found these discussions quite interesting as the constant ideas and sometimes friendly arguments was a fun way to learn more new things.

Difficulties
Some of the difficulties our group had to face was that at the start no one really knew how to use wiki and every time we had to do it in class, it was like a really boring chore. Also Miranda is moving houses which meant that she wouldn't be able to finish her assigned sections, however we managed to get most of the work done, so that was alright. Further more, in our 2nd last lesson, the whole class went up to the small hall to have a discussion about where we were at in the assignment and what we have taken out of the experience as a whole. I managed to record our discussion with Miss. Stokes however due to some computer problems, the short recording couldn't be uploaded although on a more positive note we manages to find some great media like videos and music to replace this.

Conclusion
Overall, i thought the wikispaces assignment was something new and quite enjoyable to do. Although it was really annoying at the start as we confronted many difficulties in trying to make our website a success, seeing the results at the end and what out website looked like finished made me feel very happy that i was able to contribute in making a website that now students from everywhere can have a look at and hopefully have a broader knowledge on the religion of Christianity.

 =Jesus and Dialogue in the Gospels =  //**The Canaanite Woman’s faith**// **Matthew 15: 21-28**

 In Matthew’s gospel, chapter fifth teen verses twenty one to twenty eight, we are told a story of a Canaanite woman who is seeking Jesus help to heal her demon possessed daughter. Jesus crosses into territory beyond Israel and finds there a Canaanite woman who pleads for him to have mercy, “Have mercy on me Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon” (verse 22). Jesus tested the woman of her faith and in response to her great faith; Jesus heals her daughter who is possessed by a demon.

In the story of The Canaanite Woman’s faith, it is present that Jesus is dialoguing with the disciples when the they are calling repeatedly for Jesus to get rid of the woman, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us” (verse 23). We also see that Jesus is dialoguing with the Canaanite women, pleading incessantly for God's "mercy" and addressing Jesus as "Lord" and "Son of David." Jesus, however, seems somewhat out of character. He will not even respond to her. Only when the disciples tell him to get rid of the Women that he says, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (verse 24). Although the women is not put off by these words and once again persists in addressing Jesus as "Lord," he seems to reject her again with a comment about not throwing to the dogs what belongs to the children but the women continues to plead with Jesus. Jesus acknowledges and praises the "great faith" (verse 28) of this woman and commands that her plea be granted. It is no sooner spoken than it is done. The woman's daughter is healed instantly.

We see many forms of humanity taking place in this story, including the discrimination the disciples had to the non-Jewish women, they show signs of not wanting to relate with her, referring to gentiles as a “dog”. Other forms of humanity are also seen when Jesus is directly responding to her words, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (verse 24). Although it is not easy to find, it is evident that “prayer” was evident in the story of the Canaanite Woman’s Faith, when she is pleading to Jesus for his help, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David…” (verse 22) this is considered a form of prayer because she talks as if she is speaking to God. Faith is a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny, we see in this reading that Jesus is testing the woman’s faith by continuously putting her down through his words, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs” (verse 26). However, the woman persists in Jesus help and eventually her plea is granted.

The movement towards peace and goodwill is when Jesus steps out and shocks the disciples by reaching out and healing the Canaanites Woman’s daughter, which is uncommon in that time period. Jesus action resulted in many significant changes to everyone. The disciples realised that it was wrong for them to discriminate someone because of their background; maybe they even took something out of this and learn to follow Jesus actions. Furthermore the woman’s life has changed as she no longer needs to worry about her daughter’s well being, and that the daughter is now healed. Jesus himself has changed after this event as he now is more experienced as he discovers that he is able to help a lot of people.

Before meeting Boori and learning about his life time experiences, I didn’t really realise how cruelly aboriginals were treated in the past. I didn’t really care about the subject and thought of it as something that just happened. However after hearing him speak, tell his stories and hardships I now understand what it was like to be in his shoes. My whole attitude and mindset changed towards what I thought of aboriginals before and now I have a wider understand and knowledge on where he is coming from.