Retired reverend shares the ‘vastness’ of God with Seymour

After serving in multiple roles throughout the region, Rev du Plooy retired from his position in Euroa in January.

He and his wife had just gone from having permanent residency to being Australian citizens, which was a result of their son and his family also making the move to Australia.

Now permanently stationed in the country, Rev du Plooy was ready to put his feet up and kick back in retirement when he received a request for help from the Bishop of the Parish of Central Goulburn.

“The bishop asked me, ‘would you go and help there’, because financially things were not playing out,” he said.

Rev du Plooy decided to “jump into the water”.

Now, he spreads pearls of wisdom throughout Nagambie, Avenel and Seymour as a locum and is helping the church restore its financial position.

One of Rev du Plooy’s pieces of knowledge he hopes to disseminate throughout the region is his idea of faith.

“People often say to me ‘I’m not religious’ and I say ‘neither am I’,” he said.

“Religion builds walls, it excludes. I’m a person of faith.

“Faith liberates where religion imprisons, it tells us the rules and how you must jump and how you must live.

“It’s faith that leads you into self-knowledge and self-awareness, a deep awareness of who you are.”

During his time in Australia, one aspect of the culture here has stood out to Rev du Plooy.

In South Africa, Rev du Plooy said it was common for people to rely on their neighbours and in return offer their own aid, however he said it seemed to be a bit different in Australia.

“I’ve discovered that community is not really ‘the thing’ in Australia — people aren’t shaped by the community,” he said.

“Where I come from, you grow up in that community and you know everyone wherever you go, you know the people, and you can reach out and feel affirmed so when you need something, you can go through your network in your community and you’ll be able to source it.”

Rev du Plooy hopes to connect the people of Seymour to the wider community and, in turn, to God during his time in town.

“The Seymour community is a community that lives alongside the Goulburn River,” he said.

“If you go downstream, you go to the sea and the water joins the sea.

“When you join the sea, you join in the vastness of the ocean and the water and you discover they’re all a part of that vastness.

“And God is that vastness.”