It may seem like an unusual choice of topic for New Year’s Day, but I have decided to focus my thoughts on the theme of Exile, for three reasons. Firstly, this theme confronts us in the lections of the Christmas season, in the words of the prophet of the Exile, and the Story of the flight of the Holy family to Egypt.. The second reason for choosing exile as our theme is that the most transformative part of my own spiritual journey happened in the seven years between the breakdown of my first marriage in 1993 and my commencement as minister at the Hamilton Broadmeadow Congregation in the year 2000. This was my time of exile, and by sharing this part of my testimony I hope to give you a glimpse of who I am, as we start to get to know one another. Finally, as it is my conviction that most people have at least one experience in their lives that is akin to exile, we can, by reflecting on the biblical perspective of the process, be helped to better understand the way through the turmoil to new life and joy in our Christian journey.

The biblical Exile of 582 BC saw large numbers of Israelites captured by the Babylonian military and taken to a foreign land. Apart from the grinding dislocation from family and community, the people were also unceremoniously wrenched from two primary elements of meaning and structure. One was the Temple in Jerusalem, which was held to contain the very presence of God in the Ark of the Covenant. The other was the King, who would protect them, tax them, conscript them and generally tell them what to do. The things we accept to feel safe and secure! In the face of all this loss the people lament “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” What was worse, their prophets interpreted this hiatus as an act of God’s judgment on them, a kind of karmic consequence for the bad behaviour of Israel and Judah for their straying from God’s ways of love and justice.

When a minister of a congregation experiences marital separation, the almost inevitable consequence is the end of that placement, along with the loss of many friends. This, along with living separately from one’s family creates a sense of deep grief. The losses are multiple and complex, and each one contributes to the sense of being cut off from everything which formerly provided a sense of security. When guilt and shame are added to that toxic mix, life truly becomes a struggle for survival in all sorts of ways. (Included in this was the experience of having to queue up at Centrelink for the first time, and ask for unemployment benefits.) Loneliness is one of the few constant companions.

I offer this as one personal example of how one might experience exile. There are all sorts of reasons why exile can come about. Sometimes one is cut off from crucial life and community support through no fault of one’s own. This happened to a lot of people during COVID. Natural disasters such as are being commonly experienced in the floods of Northern NSW and Pakistan for example, can leave people suddenly and cruelly in the lurch. Such undeserved suffering was in the mind of Rabbi Kushner when he wrote the book “When Bad Things Happen to Good People”. Then there are those circumstances which a person can bring upon themselves, when we fear that our suffering is a judgement of God.

In the end though, the way back is a well-worn path. Jeremiah describes it as a great restorative journey home, as the God who scattered Israel “…will gather him and keep him as a shepherd of a flock”.

My central assertion, my crucial point in today’s message is that, no matter how we got into exile, in the grace of God there is a way back which can leave us changed for the better in all sorts of ways. This “way back” consists, in my understanding of three main elements- seemingly paradoxical, yet connected:

1. Getting on with it.

There is a lovely story from Novocastrian Trevor Dickenson, author of “The Book of Newcastle”. He says “I was a whinging Pom… By 2009 when I had made the first drawings in this book, I had already lived in Newcastle for seven years, but still felt disconnected. I had arrived in 2002 from London with my wife Jo and two children. Through chance and convenience we settled in the same Waratah house that Jo’s father grew up in. I worked from home designing textiles and graphics for UK and Sydney fashion companies, mainly communicating by email. I felt like my life was spent in front of a screen, emailing my work down a black hole and getting little response. I missed England and missed my extended English family. I’m sure I came across as the classic whingeing Pom, when in reality I was depressed. I was grieving for my old life while trying to make a new life. I also knew that going back would solve nothing. I reached the point where I had to sort myself out and work harder on my mental health. The way to do that was to connect with Newcastle.” Hence the book of his amazing sketches.

The first reaction to the awful experience of exile is often lament. It’s not wrong, in fact, it is both healthy and biblical. So the grieving Israelites mourn with the refrain of the psalmist “By the rivers of Babylon we lay down. There we wept as we remembered Zion” But the lament must eventually cease, lest it become an unending alienating whinge. So the Prophet Jeremiah says God’s word to them “I have sent you into exile. Build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters…(29:5-14)” In other words, when you have had a good cry, GET ON WITH IT. Accept where you are. The fact is that the God you thought you left behind in the Temple of Jerusalem is right there with you.

Coming to terms with one’s sense of guilt and shame is important, but you cannot move forward and carry it as a dead weight, or wallow in it for too long. If we truly believe that we are redeemed in the saving love of Christ, that we are a forgiven people, we need to get to the point of forgiving ourselves, and get on with it. We must live where we are now planted, even if the soil that sustains us is not exactly to our liking. My “getting on with it” involved many things, including three jobs which I would never have considered in normal times, yet they were part of my salvation.

2. Thinking about it

Both surviving exile and being enriched in the experience does not just happen by itself, or by hoping for the best. I was playing a round of golf at Merewether recently, and all four of us were struggling. Someone said something about hoping for better on the next hole, when one wise fellow quoted Aristotle to us: “It will not happen if you just expect it. You have to inspect it!” This reminded me of the wisdom of two other great minds from far different eras. Socrates was reputed to say at his trial “The unexamined life is not worth living”, and Einstein, who gave us this definition of insanity, as “doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.”.

There is a work of reflection and introspection that needs to be done when one is in exile, in order to come out of the experience in a different place from where we went in. The question we need to ask of ourselves is-“What needs to change in my own heart and mind?”

I know that many people have a visceral resistance to introspection, which they will quickly proclaim to be “navel-gazing”. The bottom line is that in any experience of grief and loss, we need to do the emotional work, which for men in particular may be one of the new skills for living in the changed circumstances.

I was faced with such a challenge when working with men at the Steelworks leading up to the 1999 closure. We foresaw the huge loss that was coming for so many who had worked there all their lives, many with non-transferable skills. How were they supposed to cope? I mentioned an idea I had to one of the workers, about gathering groups of men to talk about what was happening to them. His response was swift- “We fellows do not sit around talking like hens”. In fact, this is not true. There is actually no great difficulty getting men to share concerns and deep feelings when there is a level of trust in the room. The hardest thing is to actually get them into the room in the first place! What we worked towards in those groups was helping one another find our depth. (I did not call it spirituality for obvious reasons). These men, typically, were used to battling their way out of their difficulties, but sometimes that is not possible. Newer, deeper emotional resources need to be mined get a different result, and we are all capable of it, if we can just overcome our fear of others seeing what is going on the inside. (This is not necessarily just an issue for one gender)

3. Seeing the Grace in it all (God’s saving love)

The final question is, “Where is God in all of this?” The prophets understood that banishment into exile was both a punishment of a disobedient people, and also a process by which they might be redeemed and restored. Thus understood, the experience of exile, with all its crushing blows, is also an experience of grace. When I look back on the gracious way that this process unfolded for me, I can hardly believe it. I was pretty much on my own. It was as if the church I love was saying to me “Go and bleed somewhere else, and after that let’s see what happens”. The first job I got was driving taxis in Wollongong for three nights a week, earning $5 an hour for a 12 hour shift. Talk about alien territory! Most of the other drivers were Turkish, and I did not really know what I was doing, and yet I survived, partly due to a few other drivers, (guarding angels if you like- one a Pom and the other a Turk) who looked out for me. Then, irony of ironies, I scored a job as an adolescent and family counsellor with Campbelltown Care Force, the community wing of the Sydney Anglican Church. Again, I found myself in alien territory (Though a qualified and trained counsellor, I had never done clinically-based counselling) and again, the forces of grace were at hand to help me through as I reached out to people whose lives, like mine, were in states of chaos. And, then, as if God had not yet had enough fun, I landed the job of full time chaplain at the Newcastle steelworks, a working environment which, for one whose blood pressure rises even at the thought of going into Bunnings or IKEA, was both alien to my experience and to my very nature. And yet those five years ended up being the most fulfilling and life-changing of all. Grace had become an undeniable reality in the most unexpected environment of all.

And so my time of exile, which started with a crash in 1993, came to an end early in the year 2000. As the closure of the Steelworks was happening, I was approached by Hamilton Broadmeadow UC about taking up the ministry placement there. I was not ready to leave just then, but they came back and asked again when the time was ripe. Just before Easter 2000, seven years to the week since I left my earlier congregation, I was inducted in to the Ministry of Hamilton Broadmeadow, a ministry which was to run for eleven years, where I was restored into my church community, embraced, and given the opportunity to serve in a new way. “He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd doth his flock” (Jeremiah 31:10b.)

To sum up; I am saying three things about the creative experience of exile:

1. Accepting where we are, and then getting on with it

2. Learning new ways of living in the strange place in which we find ourselves, especially by reflecting on the experience and allowing ourselves to changed on the inside.

3. Holding to the faith that understands God’s Grace as the crucial element in bringing us back home, changed, transformed, restored to the community of Christ, ready to serve anew. “Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow.” (Jeremiah 31:13). New life in Christ has begun.

Brian Brown

Anchor 1

“CALLED TO SERVE”

The Willows Uniting Church 8th January 2023

Isaiah 42:1-9, Matthew 3:13-17

The call to serve echoes in the space at the very centre of the invitation of Jesus Christ to follow him. One of the greatest disservices that has ever been perpetrated on the life and witness of the Christian church is the idea that a person’s response to the call of Christ can be disconnected from the call to serve.

I could, at the risk of being seen to be unduly negative and critical, give some examples of what I mean, but I am instead going to leave that to your imagination. (Well, I might just slip in one or two along the way). I would rather, however, emphasis the positive by giving a number of examples, which will I hope explain why I feel so strongly about this.

Here is one that will be familiar to most of you, I am sure. Later we will sing the hymn Amazing Grace, written by a former slave trader John Newton. When Newton was converted to the Christian faith during a violent storm at sea (it’s amazing how violent storms at sea tend to focus the mind on things of life and death significance), he changed his profession to that of clergy. As his faith matured, Newton’s remorse over his involvement in the slave trade surfaced, and he became an ardent abolitionist, working closely in this ministry of service to humanity with William Wilberforce. And so “Brother, sister let me serve you” replaced his earlier call of “Brother sister, let me sell you.” As St Paul puts it, “Whom he calls he justifies, and whom he justifies he sanctifies…”

When I was in theological college, we students, being arrogantly sure of ourselves and our understanding of the ways of God, could not understand how the various theologians we studied could be so different from one another, even if all of them had Germanic surnames starting with the same letter- Barth, Bonhoeffer, Brueggemann Brunner… The wise professor explained it this way- “in order to understand how a scholar thinks about God and the world, read their biography.” As another has said “What we see depends on where we stand”.

Now I am no academic theologian, even if my initials are BB, but I would like to share with you just a little of my background in order to let you see how I come to stand where I do; why when I read the scriptures for this week I want to preach a sermon entitled “Called to Serve”.

What do I mean by “Service”? One formal definition says “Actions and programs of support, care, nurture, advocacy and prophetic action as commonly exhibited in the church’s community service agencies and other mission and service focussed entities of the (church).” More generally, it can be anything we do that serves the needs of others, especially those who were the focus of Jesus’ ministry- the poor, the disadvantaged, the oppressed, the displaced, the young and the vulnerable.

Now let me share with you how I came to the point of seeing Christian service as being at the heart of the Gospel. I had a typical Christian upbringing for a child of my era- Sunday School while my parents slept in, Confirmation at 15 because everyone else did, then the good fortune to fall in with a vibrant Methodist youth group at age 19. I quickly began to take the gospel challenge seriously, became a Local Preacher at 21, and candidated for the Methodist ministry at age 24. I was as evangelically conservative and biblically literalist as the next candidate, but there was something else that was having a subversive and influential effect on the way I understood what it meant to follow Christ in a deeply cruel and seriously unjust society.

On reflection, I understand this influence to go right back to my childhood, where I absorbed rather than understood what was going on around me. I suppose it all came to a head one Friday evening in 1965. (I was born in 1950 so the arithmetic is easy). My parents had friends in for cards that evening, and my father, having run out of cigarettes, sent me to the corner shop at a major intersection just down the road. It was raining, and as I approached the shop I saw a large motor-bike on its side, and a broken bag of potatoes. Looking around, I then saw the broken African man lying on the pavement, with a woman standing by helplessly. I went over to discover that the shinbone of his left leg was sticking through the skin. As he lay there on the concrete in a stream of water, I could think of nothing else to do but sit down and cradle his head in my lap while waiting for the ambulance.

A little while later, a doctor who was driving home stopped, and administered a morphine injection, leaving me instructions to tell the ambulance officers this when they arrived. He will never know, as he drove away to his warm home, how much I wanted him to stay and take control.

When the White ambulance officers who drove the ambulance for Blacks arrived, and placed the patient on a stretcher, one of them, in walking around the man’s feet, bumped his left ankle. When the injured man cried out in pain, the officer said words that are now seared into my mind, words he could not and never would say to a White patient- “Don’t be such a baby!” I went home drenched by more than rain, and without my father’s cigarettes. I won’t say that that one incident changed my life, but it surely, along with many other experiences, helped set its course. Among other things, it ensured that I would or could never countenance a version of the Christian faith that allowed for a comfortable personal relationship with God without demanding a life on the edge, where the needs of the community intersect with the call of Christ to humble, and where necessary, sacrificial service. I know that I failed many times to maintain the gospel standard of service, but I will never be able to forget what it is and what it calls us to.

When the church reads about the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, it naturally and understandably relates this prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ, the hoped for Messiah. That is not to say that the Hebrew scriptures uniformly expected this kind of Messiah, in fact for many, a warrior king like David was much preferred, someone who would eject the Romans, or any other interlopers for that matter, from Zion. Nevertheless, at Easter we know that this is whose life, death and resurrection we celebrate, the one by whose stripes we are healed.

There is nothing wrong with this interpretation of the prophecy, as long as we understand that when it was originally written, it was more probably with the nation of Israel in mind as the Suffering Servant, a holy nation, dedicated to God, and to the service of its people. Such a nation would be looking, not to its own aggrandisement or accumulation of wealth and power, but to the costly, compassionate care of its people, its neighbours and the foreigners in its midst.

So it is that when Matthew, in the 25th chapter of his Gospel, talks about the separation of the sheep and the goats on the basis of whether or not they cared for the poor and needy in their midst, it is the NATIONS that are being called to account (Matthew 25:32). Is the nation a suffering servant of its people, or is it a ravaging wolf, dedicated to its own prosperity at the neglect of the weak and vulnerable?

To cut a very long story short, the nations have by and large never seen this as their main responsibility, and it is the Christian church that is now the intended recipient of the Suffering Servant mantle, called to the task of care and justice and advocacy. In so doing it is showing what Christ is like, the one who proclaimed, in the words of the Prophet, “I have come to bring good news to the poor…” The Christian Church is called to serve in the way of Christ as are the individuals, you and I, who are part of the Community of Faith. This should, from an inspection of the gospel record, be self-evident, but, being a human organisation, has found ways to try and avoid this responsibility, as the waters of cheap grace flow around the rock of ages that they cannot dislodge.

To illustrate, let me take you back to South Africa, 1975, as I begin my first year as probationer minister to three suburban churches on the outskirts of Durban (It’s called being thrown in the deep end) These congregations are doing OK, with just a bit of evidence of the Wesleyan tradition of caring for the disadvantaged. Ten miles or so up the road, another local church of a different denomination is full to overflowing, a legend of the Pinetown ecclesiastical community. Is the charismatic pastor the key to this success? Probably. I also suspect that it had something to do with the words in large print on the notice-board: “NO POLITICS ARE PREACHED FROM THIS PULPIT” In Apartheid South Africa, that is code for “We are not going to bother your consciences about the dreadful injustices that are being perpetrated around you on people of racial classifications other than yours.” The Jesus we embrace is not always the Suffering Servant of Isaiah. We sometimes derive from what we assume about him a cut price brand of grace, a grace anything but amazing. For the nation’s churches to say “we will not get involved in the politics” is in fact a political decision in itself, giving at least tacit support to the status quo, and one that has benefitted the cruellest of regimes from Nazism to the current invasion of Ukraine. Karl Barth radically changed the direction of theology in the 20th century in reaction to the acquiescence of the German Church to the horrors of Hitler. Meanwhile, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed by the Gestapo for trying to put a spanner in the works of that genocidal regime. Suffering servants indeed! The Suffering Servant is, by definition, one who gets involved in the nitty gritty of life, when the chips are down and the fists are swinging. The Suffering Servant always takes sides for the common good, and often pays the price for their courage.

Of course, the Gospels leave us in no doubt as to who Jesus is, and the extent to which a ministry of service lies at the heart of the Gospel. This is foreshadowed when he submits himself to baptism by John, placing himself in a humble space as one who is of and with his community, not there to be served, but to serve. The gospels then link this story with that of Jesus in the wilderness, where he explicitly rejects the devil’s temptation to embrace wealth, power and self-interest, instead entrenching himself the way of suffering service.

And so, in the light of all this, what does it mean to belong to a church which at best has a strong and vibrant ethos of Christian ethics, a church that embraces a ministry of service in the way of Jesus?

When I could no longer stomach the regime I grew up with, or imagine raising my infant children there, I applied to the UCA to enter its ministry. I had already applied and had been rejected by UK Methodist church on the grounds that they knew what was best for me. The Uniting Church Synod General Secretary’s response was swift: ‘Come as you are. You are welcome.’ Our ethos of inclusion is as close to unconditional as we can humanly get it, a stance which has at times attracted strong criticism from both within our own fellowship, and among the wider church. We will continue to wear that, under the conviction that being spiritually mature is consistent with a ministry of unconditional welcome and humble service.

More than that, our church, at its best, demonstrates at all levels of its functioning, a willingness to embrace the challenge to bring spirituality and service together. We try and honour the observation of Jesus that a tree is known by the fruit it bears, and that, as St Francis of Assisi observed, we preach by our deeds. So it was that as I wandered around this property a few days ago, I observed the signs of a congregation that understands the call to serve inherent in its commitment to Jesus Christ; from the welcome banner in the foyer, to the instructions about maintaining a Safe Place for congregation and community alike, to a labyrinth that says we see no separation between our spiritual pursuits and our ministry of service. Renowned South African theologian John De Gruchy reminds us of our calling to “…a spirituality which enables a lived experience of God, with people and with creation, fed by a longing for justice and wholeness and resistance to all that thwarts wellbeing.” (Public Theology as Christian Witness).

Part of the reason why I chose the word “service” to summarise my intended direction for this year was influenced by the fact that I will be working with you, part of the time, for part of the year. I understand that you are in a grieving space following the resignation of your former and long-serving minister, Rev Kenneth Brown. His gifts and skills for ministry will be missed, and the future is uncertain as you embark on that uncertain journey to engage future ministry. You do of course have many gifted congregants who are willing to further serve where the gaps appear. You nevertheless need time and space to grieve and be restored, and I aim to honour that need in our life together.

I also know that service is a two way street, so let me close with words from a modern hymn by Richard Gillard:

“Brother sister, let me serve you, let me be as Christ to you; pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too.” AMEN

Brian Brown. 8/1/23

Anchor 2

HOLDING IT ALL TOGETHER

Sunday 5th February 2023, Boolaroo Uniting Church, Matthew 5:13-20, 1 Corinthians 2:1-16

I call this message “Holding it all together” because I believe with all my heart that the church’s calling is to do just that- to keep the spiritual practices of our faith, including those actions that enact the love of God in the world, when we add value to those around us like the salt of the earth, and shine a light in dark places so all may be saved. Because faith without works is dead.

John Newton, author of the hymn Amazing Grace, is an excellent example. His career as a cruel slave trader came to crashing halt one night during a frightening storm at sea. In the midst of it, he became converted to the Christian faith, stopped his heinous slaving, and became a minister of the Gospel. As he grew in faith he became involved with Wilberforce in the politics of abolition. From greedy cruelty in dark places, he became a light to the world. Amazing grace indeed! Holding it all together.

The metaphors Jesus uses in the Sermon on the Mount speak clearly of this. Salt is useful in a number of ways, all of which have in common that it ADDS VALUE to what it mixes with. Salt preserves food, enhances taste, disinfects wounds. Remember how we used to gargle with salt water when we had a sore throat?

We sometimes speak in high praise of a particular person as ‘salt of the earth’, usually someone who is down to earth, who gives energy to those around them; is kind and generous.

Jesus says to his followers that they are the salt of the earth. Some are fishers; not in salt water, but no doubt their catch would be salted down to preserve it in the hot climate without refrigeration. They are good men, who, for all their faults, are learning how to be better.

Then he calls them “The light of the world”. Now this is not a term we often use in praise of our fellows. It seems overblown, a bit too spiritual; a heavy burden to carry. I can imaging Peter turning to his colleagues and saying “What the…” It is perhaps helpful to hear this metaphor as applying to a community rather that an individual- a “city set on a hill”. This is the high calling of the Christian Church. At best this is what we are, when we are not going silent or underground for one reason or the other.

But what does it mean in practice to be salt and light? What did Jesus intend? Answers are to be found in the scriptures either side of this passage. For instance, Matthew places these salt and light sayings right after the Beatitudes where Jesus lays out the marks of a life that is blessed; humility, meekness, a drive to do the right thing, mercy, purity, peacemaking. Practical virtues. Those who embody these virtues are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

Then, in what follows the “salt” and “light” sayings, Jesus equates salt and light behaviour with fulfilling the whole law of God. In fact, he says, you will have to do a whole lot better than those who claim to be righteous enactors of the law- the Scribes and the Pharisees- who say one thing and do another.

I leave it to your creative imagination to work out what it means for you to live a life that qualifies you for the title of “Salt of the earth”. And this and all churches need to delve in the cupboards and drawers of their communal homes to find the batteries that will power the lights that they will set upon a hill to show the world what God’s goodness is like.

Now let me take you back for a moment to the gospel passage and make one more observation. Note that when Jesus affirms his gathered followers as salt and light, in both cases he issues a warning about how these gifts can be squandered. “If the salt should lose its flavour…” “No one puts a lamp under a bushel basket”

What is his point here? Why introduce such notes of negativity? The clue lies in the criticism of the lack of righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees; they who should know better, and have fallen into the trap- the same trap that hounds and restricts the church today. The trap is that they have thought that righteousness begins and ends with religious practices like prayer and fasting and reciting the law by heart, without the righteous deeds that should accompany this show of piety. Words without actions. Trees without fruit. The salt has lost its flavour. The light has been masked by empty piety. Their pious disguise has fallen apart.

The great 16th Century reformer John Calvin assures us that if a person it chosen and elected by God, it is impossible to fall away from grace (apparently the salt cannot loses its flavour). Martin Luther dismissed the teaching of the Book of James as “An Epistle of straw” because it says that faith without works is dead; and Billy Graham, great evangelist as he was, said little about what concrete social action should follow the act of repentance and belief in Jesus.

I think John Wesley had a better grasp than any of them about “holding it all together”. He was a true evangelist. He preached repentance and conversion to the masses with an effectiveness which some say prevented a bloody revolution in Britain like happened in France. He also served the literally poor and hungry. His Sunday Schools were started, not in order to teach the young about Jesus, but illiterate children to read and write. He knew how to hold it all together. OK, there are shady parts to his biography but he was, by and large, salt and light. And he also taught that a person of faith can fall away from grace if their behaviour falls away from doing the right thing; if the salt loses its flavour.

The great irony of a singular focus on the personal spiritual life as be all and end all of what it means to be a person of faith is that it is clearly unbiblical, and there is in fact a huge chunk of the Bible to support Jesus’ teaching about holding it all together. The biggest section is the Books of the Prophets, which have one core message. They all call the People of Israel to repentance for their social misdeeds. They call out kings for their corrupt rule and lives. They excoriate the hypocritical religio/political leaders, who parade around in a pompous show of piety for their cruelty to the vulnerable, naming them wolves in sheep’s clothing who prey on the poor the so-called “little ones. Jesus himself, who stands squarely in this prophetic tradition, has extra-harsh words for those who cause such little ones to stumble. And if you want a core sample of this prophetic proclamation, there is no better place to drill down than Isaiah 58. You heard it read earlier in full. It is too much to take in in one go. In summary it says this:

- God’s people are sinning by pretending to be good and do good

- They practice religious rituals like prayer and fasting, then go out and do things like beating up their workers.

- True fasting is, firstly, being repentant about our misdeeds. Secondly, it is about acting justly in the community, feeding the hungry, freeing the oppressed, housing the homeless, keeping the Sabbath.

-If you do this, God will richly bless you AND YOUR LIGHT SHALL BREAK FORTH LIKE THE DAWN

As one commentator writes, “Isaiah 58 mocks worship preoccupied with ritual and blind to human oppression and need. It subverts a religion, no matter how passionate and busy, that ignores the ordinance of God and social arrangements that leave people dehumanised and enslaved. Authentic worship occurs when the liturgy is joined to the hands-on involvement with the hungry and the homeless . . . This passage) undergirds the statement of Jesus to the disciples that they are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. “Light” and “salt” are functional metaphors. By their very nature they do something, and do it openly….No more than the people of Israel of Isaiah’s day can the disciples retreat into private spirituality. Their call is to the market-place, to the public arena.”

Terrible things can happen when the church or individuals, separate their professed faith from their public action. We may wonder how the pious Lutheran Church could quietly acquiesce to Hitler, and its pastors preach under a swastika in the midst of open genocide, but then, their founder Luther himself supported the German nobles as they cruelly crushed a Peasant’s Revolt. South African Apartheid could have been ended much earlier had the Dutch Reformed Church not waited until the 1990’s to declare it a heresy. The Robodebt scandal, currently under scrutiny by a Royal Commission, could have been averted had professing Christians in high office not turned a blind eye to its illegality, or the reports of multiple suicides that followed this dehumanising process.

Christian is as Christian does. At our best, we hold it all together. Spirituality and social justice; prayer and pastoral care, salt and light.

AMEN

Brian Brown. 5/2/23

Anchor 3

“STICKS AND STONES”

Sunday 12th February 2023, The Willows Uniting Church, Matthew 5:21-26

Today I am addressing the issue of the place of respect in community and church. What does respect look like in its action and its absence? If we truly mean it when we sing “Let us build a house where all may dwell, where all may safely live”, what part does respect play in that process?

A troubled young woman comes to a trusted elder with a question: “My boyfriend has just proposed to me, but we have not been together all that long, and I am unsure if he is the person I want to spend the rest of my life with?” The wise elder replies “I cannot advise you if you should marry this fellow or not. What I can suggest is that you take a bit of time to note a few things. Watch how he relates to his mother. How does he get on with his siblings. How does he treat the family dog? When you are out and the waiter spills his drink, how does he react. When he gets angry, how well does he control his impulses. Because in the end, when the gloss wears off, this is how he is going to treat you. With respect?

The critical consequences of disrespect are evident in a number of ways in society today. On average, in Australia, one woman a week dies at the hand of their partner. The damage is compounded by psychological and sexual abuse, where children are often involved. The statistics of older women living in cars, broke and broken, are horrendous. How did it come to this fatal lack of disrespect?

Of course, the internet and social media has exacerbated the problem exponentially. For example, teenage suicide as the result of social media trolling is at epidemic levels. Bullies are often also cowards, and do their dirty work while hidden from sight. Even email can become a disaster area, not to mention Twitter. I have learned the hard way that “Reply” and “Send” are the two most dangerous buttons on the screen. We can get angry and stay respectful, but it takes self-control.

In today’s Gospel reading, Matthew 5:21-26, Jesus addresses the issue of the consequences of disrespectful anger. It seems on the face of it that Jesus is criticising the emotion of anger itself, however I do not think is the intention. For instance, he says “if you are angry with your brother or sister you will be liable to judgment.” I suspect the judgment will be on how the person responds in the midst of their anger. How do they control the angry impulse? Do they lash out, smash their racquet, metaphorically or physically, or do they find a creative way to manage their disrespectful outburst? Do they engage in conflict and remain respectful?

Things then get more serious with the hurling of insults, like calling a person a “you fool”. While I see the threat of hell-fire as metaphorical, the danger to the recipient is real. The saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me” is NOT true., even as a short term strategy to cope with the schoolyard bully. This is especially so with unfettered social media, where words and images do all the damage. For this awful abuse of fragile people, there should indeed be hell to pay. Respect?

Here are two Gospel stories that indicate the nature of true respect, or lack of it. When Jesus visits the home of Simon the Pharisee he is given none of the normal courtesies due to a guest. It takes a woman of the street to wash his feet as the social more requires. According to Jesus’ observation at the end of this passage, her act of respect covers a multitude of sins. Then, at the Last Supper, Jesus washes his disciple’s feet, a courtesy usually carried out by the household servants. The one who came not to be served but to serve, shows that true respect is unconditional. Jesus treats with respect those who are the least used to getting it. Later, a secular counsellor, Carl Rogers, emphasised the importance of treating a client in therapy with unconditional positive regard.

And so to psychiatrist Scott Peck, a later convert to Christianity and author of The Road Less Travelled, on the value of respect in the community of faith. The story he tells today is called The Rabbi’s Gift. (A narration by Peck can be seen on Youtube, while the text of the story can also be located on the internet.)

The point here is not that a revival of respect will automatically initiate a revival of an aging and declining monastic community. Our task is to do the groundwork, and see what the Spirit does with that. The reality is that even in the best of communities there is disruption, argument, disagreement gatekeeping, anger and hostility. It’s how we manage it that counts; how we notice, acknowledge and control our negative impulses so that the energy created by the conflict is converted into positive, restorative relationships. A true community of faith is built upon a foundation of fundamental respect and unconditional positive regard.

Even if we find ourselves at odds with someone here for what we consider to be an excellent reason, it is far better to find something we respect them for than to think or call them a fool. Who knows, that person you consider in your unabated anger to be an idiot…they might just be the Messiah!

Scott Peck’s story also gives a shout-out to the value of self-respect. Sticks and stones may break your bones, and names can surely hurt you, but when your self-respect is strong, nothing, no abuse, no scourging, no humiliation can take away you sense of self worth. Think about it like this: If you or I had been one of the 12 at the Last Supper, Jesus would have washed our feet too.

With some people respect seems to comes naturally. We might refer to such as ‘the salt of the earth’. Much of it, hopefully, we learned by absorption in the family home, or from valued mentors at school and church. In following the way of Jesus, we may have embraced the value of “doing to others as we would have them do to us”. We also find, even, now, in an ever changing world, that there is still a lot to learn, such as to using inclusive language and appropriate pronouns when people need us to respect their difference. To learn what LGBTIQ+ means instead of just sniggering when someone adds yet another letter to the list. To listen to the Indigenous Voices from the Heart rather than allowing ourselves to be drawn into yet another destructive culture war.

The good news is that there is a strong and growing current of influence in the community that advocates for respect of those groups who are seriously disadvantaged by its absence. I did an informal analysis of Australians of the Year back to 1960, to see who we most highly value and respect as a nation. In the early years the awards tended to favour gifted experts like sports persons, entertainers and scientists. Then around the time of Patrick McGorry and Rosie Batty, the trend shifted towards advocates for those disadvantaged groups for whom respect is in short supply. Then, for the last three years, we have had Grace Tame on behalf of survivors of sexual assault, Dylan Alcott as an advocate for disability, and now Taryn Brumfitt, who works for the benefit of that group who are particularly vulnerable on Instagram, for example, to the ridicule of a person’s body image; especially so-called “fat-shaming”. Whoever picks these winners has my wholehearted respect.

The sticks and stones and words we throw are the infected carriers of disrespect. Respect costs us nothing except a willingness to stay awake to its necessity in any situation, even in the very community of faith of which we are a part.

Brian Brown 12.2.202

Anchor 4

"THE STEP OF FAITH" BOOLAROO UC, Sunday 5th March 2023

Today I am going to reflect on the actual step of faith that takes us from a position of belief onto a path to a new future on the way of the transformed life.

To illustrate this, let me describe a scene from the film “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”. Indiana and his father are following a set of archaeological clues to find the Holy Grail, the cup that Jesus used at the last Supper. As they near the destination, Jones’ father is shot by a Nazi officer. Now Jones needs to find the Grail and bring it back to save his father’s life.

The final clue leads him to the edge of a precipice with no discernable way across. Yet the riddle tells him to step out at that very point. Finally, and against all instincts, he places his foot over the edge, to find solid ground there. A stone bridge spans the chasm, but so cleverly camouflaged as to be invisible to the naked eye. This step of faith leads Jones to the Grail, and the day is saved.

Indiana Jones believed the truth of the clues, but it took a step of faith to reach his goal.

I’m not sure if Abram’s step into the unknown beyond his village and his kin was quite as dramatic, but the consequences changed the course of biblical history. Humanity, like the antelope, has a built-in survival mechanism that keeps them as close to the centre of the herd as possible, and yet Abram is called to obey a voice telling him to put it all at risk. I’m not sure in what way he heard the voice telling him to leave home for an unknown future. What we do know was that he was faced with a choice to take one of two paths- go or stay. He chose the road less travelled, and that made all the difference.

The step of faith into the unknown requires courage. Jungian psychologist Joseph Campbell describes what he calls the “hero’s journey”, that begins when the person leaves the safe confines of the “village”-a metaphor for whatever contains and sustains us- and sets out on a journey into the unknown, where they are now protected by supernatural forces as a new world opens up to them. He uses many examples from Greek mythology, and from the scriptures of the major religions to illustrate the point. St Paul, for example, names a long list of biblical “heroes” whose willingness to choose the step in faith builds the salvation history of a people preparing to receive the Messiah.

His own story is of one who is trapped in a lifeless entanglement of Pharasaic devotion to the law. It is only when his eyes are opened by the Spirit of Christ on the road to Damascus that he realises that he has to change direction and choose another road, which leads him on to the missionary journeys and letters for which he is famous.

So too, conflicted Nicodemus hesitates at the point when his unease with life in the sterile Pharisaic village urges him to go and seek the deeper wisdom of the strange and unsettling new rabbi in their midst. When the writer of John’s Gospel says that Nicodemus came to Jesus “by night”, we can be sure that he does not just mean that Nicodemus came under cover of darkness to avoid being seen by his religious brethren. John always uses such dualisms as “day” and “night’, “light “ and “darkness” to convey deeper meanings. In this context “by night” conveys the sense of Nicodemus’ lack of deeper spiritual insight, and into which Jesus brings enlightened wisdom about the ways of the Spirit.

We know that this encounter was effective because Nicodemus is identified later in the Gospel as defending Jesus in the Sanhedrin, and finally, helping Joseph of Aramithea recover the body of Jesus from the Romans, and embalm and bury him. He has left behind the life of stultifying law, and embarked on the risky but ultimately transforming path of faith.

One can speculate what might happen if a person like Abraham or Paul or Nicodemus, or any one of us, hears the call to move out of dark and restricted spaces and onto the way of faith, but fail to heed the call. Joseph Campbell puts it this way:

“The myths and folk tales of the whole world make clear that the refusal (to take the step of faith) is essentially a refusal to give up what one takes to be in one’s own interest. The future is regarded not in terms of a (transforming) series of deaths and births, but as though one’s present system of ideals, virtues, goals, and advantages were to be fixed and made secure.”

Joseph Campbell “The Hero with a thousand faces”

I read this and hear the echoes of Paul’s confession of his former entrapped life- “…circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, a Hebrew born of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” But having stepped out in faith on a different road, leaving all of that behind, he can now say “Yet whatever gains I had there, I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.” (Philippians 3:5-7)

This leads me inevitably to ask the question about how such enlightened thinking applies to us in the present day. The call to take a step in faith is not a once in a lifetime event, but a recurring challenge to face the renewing future, the refusal of which leaves us stuck where we are, stuck in a non life-giving past; and the acceptance of which takes courage and hope. It may seem that all that lies before us is an empty chasm which makes the Grail quest hopeless, and yet the step in faith brings with it the solid ground the of a transformed life.

This is a question for every one of us who hear the Gospel week by week and wonder what it is that God is asking each one of us. The hymn-writer articulates the challenge thus- “Faith will not grow from words alone…our faith must feel its way about”; and then, in the final verse, “Faith takes the little that we know, and calls for hope, and tells us : Go! Love and take courage, come what may; Christ will be with us on the way."

It is also a question for a church that knows deep down that no matter how comforting and supporting is the fellowship, something crucial is missing. Children and young people, for example. It is as if the changing climate in society has dried up the glacier that once fed the institutional church with the refreshing energy of the younger generations. If we are honest, we have to ask ourselves whether or not we were among the climate change deniers in the face of the call to take another road when the writing was on the wall! Without some radical new direction, what sustained us in the past will not sustain us into the future. How then do we refresh our mission in the world that has moved on without us? Having said that, we worship a God who is full of surprises, so we should keep open our ears and eyes, not to mention our hearts and minds. THE STORY IS NOT OVER.

The “Hero’s journey” is a quest for which we are never too old. After all, Abram was 75 years old when he lefts Haran with his wife, and they had not yet even started a family! Joseph Campbell finds a recurring theme in mythology that the “hero” inevitably finds supernatural help to complete their quest, and in the Bible, Jesus promises that “I will be with you always, even to the end of the age”.

The way of faith is a choice to step out onto a new road, a new and risky path- to leave behind that which holds us back and weighs us down. At a point of my life when faced with the choice to embark on such a new journey, this poem of Robert Frost challenged me to the point that I committed it to memory:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveller, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh! I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads onto way,

I doubted I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost. “The Road Not Taken”

Who knows where the step in faith will lead us? For the Spirit blows where it wills. But this we know, by faith- it is the road that leads us home.

Anchor 5

BEYOND INCLUSION The Willows Uniting Church 12 March 2023

Very early in my ministry I came across a book, neither the name nor the author of which I can remember, which addressed the basics of building an effective community of faith. The very first thing upon which the author insisted was “Pay special attention to the process of inclusion.”

Of course, inclusion is not the be all and end all of community building, but without it, nothing much else can happen. I have worked very hard through my congregational ministry to try and make newcomers welcome, and people at the “soft core” of the congregation feel that they have an important place in the fellowship. In doing this I have found it crucial to have a team of commissioned and trained leaders (elders), whose calling in the Uniting Church is to work with the minister in the ministries of worship and pastoral care in particular, but also in leadership of outreach activities. In addition to Eldership, the Uniting Church, very early in its life, instigated a quota system for its meetings whereby at least one third needed to be women, and at least one third men. (It is no longer a regulation, mainly because it is now ingrained best practice in our communal psyche- just like seatbelts, and unlike masks).

Thus inclusion is not just about bringing people into the fold, but also the involvement of the people in the roles of Christ’s ministry.

Such an ethos is central to who we are as a church. That the ministry of inclusion is highly valued is clearly shown whenever Uniting Churches participate in the National Church Life Survey, where the affirmation of the aim to include all people in our fellowship as that characteristic which we most highly value runs at between 70 and 80%.

I recently listened to a podcast where Sharon Hollis, President of the Uniting Church Assembly, interviewed Rev Amelia Koh-Butler. Amelia spoke about how her Chinese family enrolled her in a church school, then disowned her when she was “thoroughly converted” to the Christian faith. In that church, she “hit the glass ceiling” of women’s participation in leadership aged 19, and finally found her way into the Uniting Church where she was warmly welcomed and enabled to take leadership positions without any gender restrictions whatsoever.

I have no doubt whatsoever that such radical and inclusion is a key way in which we can reflect the image of the God we serve. Unfortunately our ministry theology and practice has not always reflected this, and the picture that the wider community get of the church through the popular media in no way gives us credit for who we are at our best. After all, when is it ever said that the Wayside Chapel or the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in King’s Cross are both Uniting Church Ministries, or that Lifeline, the go-to phone number for anyone who may be distressed by what they see and hear on TV, was founded by a Methodist Minister? The negatively biased representations of the church in the popular press is one of the reasons that we need to be open to new ways of understanding and speaking about God that more clearly reflect the inclusive love of Christ, rather that the sometimes aggressive and judgmental God of the Hebrew scriptures, and the gender bias of some of the Epistles.

And what better way to do this than to learn and sing the great hymn of Brian Wren: “Bring many names, beautiful and good”. If the words and ideas are somewhat confronting on first hearing, we should remember that all of our classifications of God, especially the devoted “Father” of Jesus’ prayers, are metaphors that give but a limited glimpse of the how God interacts with God’s people. Wren’s images of God are inclusive of women and men, old and young. He also, with a whimsical sense of humour, describes God as transcending our gendered expectations of women and men, where the energies of both animus and anima can flow freely in each.

But then, just in case we have fallen for the idea that God can be contained in human images, the last verse erupts in a eulogy of the breathtaking breadth and depth of God’s mystery- “Great living God, never fully known, joyful darkness far beyond our seeing…”

And just in case we have fallen too much in love with the idea that as long as we are an inclusive church we have done our job, along comes the Jesus of the Gospels to tear that illusion to threads.

Take, for example, John’s Jesus as he interacts with the Woman at the Well. In John chapter 4 just his first four words are enough- “Give me a drink”! For one thing, in Jesus’ world, Jews are not allowed to share a cup with Gentiles, let alone hold a public conversation with a Samaritan, let alone a woman. This act of civil disobedience demonstrates the dramatic originality of one who is not seeking to draw this woman into his Jewish fellowship, but is placing himself outside the closed world of his religion in order the reach with saving love into hers. In so doing he makes himself vulnerable in all sorts of ways, a risk that is just not there when all we are trying to do is include others in our world. This interaction is one of those situations where it is impossible to make any progress without being willing to break something, namely, the Jewish laws about cultural and gender interaction.

In a second example, also from John, the Pharisees who are trying to entrap Jesus into defying their religious law, bring to him “…a woman caught in the act of adultery…”, and want to know if he agrees that she should be stoned according to the Law of Moses. Jesus does not immediately answer, but stoops down to write something with his finger, in the dust. Now, much ink has been expended trying to work out what he actually wrote, but I am here today to tell you what it was that I would have liked it to be: “WHERE IS THE MAN”! He then stands to silence their confused babble with those words, so well known and usually quoted out of context “Let anyone among you who is without sin cast the first stone”.

Jesus has, once again, stepped outside the comfort zone to advocate for the needy and the vulnerable- not to condone her action but to forgive it, and stand up against the ugly hypocrites who prefer to pick on the easier target.

I could actually go on all day giving further examples of how the ministry of Christ goes beyond inclusion- how he heals the bleeding woman who touches his robe, how he goes to the home of Zaccheus to bring transformation to the life of the outcast tax-collector, how he tells stories that God is like a shepherd who leaves the 99 in the safely of the fold, and goes onto the wild hillside to find the one that is lost. His very incarnation is about leaving the safety of the heavenly home and entering a world that rejects him from start to finish, from outhouse stable to brutal Calvary.

I saw a compelling image in my twitter feed this week, of an aging Rev Dorothy McRae McMahon, on her walker, crossing the Harbour Bridge, bedecked in a large rainbow scarf on the World Pride Day March- Dorothy, who in her ‘coming out’ as a lesbian placed herself at the un-mercy of vilification from within and without the church, even to the extent of getting faeces in her mailbox at the hands of a Neo Nazi group in Sydney.

I offer this image as an example of what it means to go beyond being inclusive, (which her congregation at Pitt St certainly was), and face the world offering compassion for the vulnerable and the persecuted.

Being inclusive, we open our doors and our hearts to others who seek our company. Beyond inclusion, we venture outside the confines of our safe space, so that we may stand in the world of the other, and perhaps walk a mile in their shoes. Being inclusive requires of us hospitality with a generosity of Spirit, making room for newcomers in our midst, and sometimes sitting with them instead of with our friends. Beyond inclusion, the call is for courageous, selfless compassion. We may even be asked to break something in order to be a part of putting someone together again. In this mode, we reflect the image and follow in the way of the one who came not to be served, but to serve.

Brian Brown

Anchor 6

WHERE DID THAT COME FROM? Boolaroo Uniting Church Palm Sunday 2nd April 2023

I think that we can all identify with a situation where someone does something quite out of character on the spur of the moment. A flash of anger, a flood of tears, an act of violence or even a spontaneous and unexpected act of kindness, draws from us the surprised or even shocked response “Where did THAT come from?”

The issue I am keen to highlight during this Holy Week is the behaviour of a number of the players in this drama who behave seemingly quite out of character, and in various ways bring negative and destructive forces down upon Jesus’ head. Some try to explain it as God’s plan that Jesus be crucified, divinely organised so that people would act in certain ways to bring it about. I don’t buy that. For one thing, the little that I do understand about the divine nature on the basis of the Gospel accounts leaves me no room to accept how any good father could behave in that cruel and callous way, let alone one who is “all compassion”. I am looking rather for an explanation that arises from the human survival instinct.

I therefore find enlightening the theories of psychiatrists and psychologists of the late 19th and early 20th century, about the depth and power of the human unconscious mind. Through techniques such as the analysis of their patients’ dreams, and by delving into the legends and mythologies of ancient cultures, they began to explain where some of the curious and at times deeply destructive actions of human beings have their origins.

Psychologist Carl Jung and others proposed the existence of strong unconscious energies to which they gave the name “the shadow”. Unconscious energies which exist in every person, and have a way of affecting and even driving our behaviour in ways over which we seem to have little or no control. Our shadow, they said, consists of the things we have suppressed over time because they seemed to be unacceptable in our culture or family. The problem is that these suppressed energies have a way of festering deep within us, and, when neglected, can erupt with seemingly disproportionate force in the sort of actions to which we habitually respond: WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?

The golf course is one place that seems to trigger such outbursts, such as when a golfer throws a club when they cannot get out of a bunker, or releases a volley of swearing when the one metre putt lips the cup and stays out. Such outbursts are relatively harmless, unless the thrown club actually hits a fellow player. But uncontrolled shadow forces can really do a lot of harm, and especially when they come from the collective shadow of a community or nation that decides to abuse or invade their neighbour.

I would suggest that these insights help us to understand some of the seemingly inexplicable actions of otherwise decent people that contributed to the suffering and eventual death of Jesus. For example, how could it be that the crowds, who welcomed Jesus and his disciples as they entered Jerusalem with loud and vocal support, just are few days later are baying for his blood, having switched their allegiance to the criminal Barabbas? Where did that come from?

We do, of course, know how fickle crowds can be. A packed stadium of spectators can cheer their team onto the field, then boo them off at full time when their hopes and expectations of a crushing victory have been dashed by a rash of penalties and dropped ball. We can understand the disappointment, but where is the loyalty towards players who are, no doubt themselves bitterly disappointed by their own efforts. As the hymn-writer also asks, “What drives this rage and spite?”

Jung would call such behaviour “Shadow projection”. The energies, both good and bad, that fester in our unconscious, find an outlet as they are dumped upon others, both positively or negatively.

Remember, for example, the huge outpouring of grief and anguish following the death of Princess Diana in that needless traffic crash in a Paris tunnel? Yes, she was beautiful, and kind, and had been badly treated, yet the reaction still seemed out of all proportion from a community that hardly knew her. It could even be argued that all of the hopes and dreams and expectations and adoration that had been projected onto her frail being actually contributed to her demise. After all, how could she possibly live up to all of that?

Then, on the other hand, recall how a Melbourne footy crowed bayed for the blood of Adam Goodes because he stood up to them as a proud Aboriginal man. He became the singular focus of all their racist anger, which they could express in the worst possible way because there was safety in their numbers. In so doing, the mindless projection of their dark, prejudiced shadow ruined a wonderful career. You could say that they crucified him. Where did that come from? It came from the powerful collective shadow of mob instinct, when in the midst of a driving herd mentality, they basically lost control of their better selves.

When we blame others for the very things of which we are guilty, we are projecting from our own shadow those things we unconsciously despise in ourselves. It seems far easier to see what we dislike out there than in here. One way to own our shadow is to become aware how much we are blaming and who we are blaming, and to then withdraw the projection. This is better than making the footballers responsible for our joy or our disappointment, instead of asking ourselves what is missing in our lives that we need to rely on such fickle circumstances to be fulfilled.

Long before modern psychology, St Paul understood how a person, driven by unconscious forces, could say and do awful things, seemingly way out of character with their best selves. In Romans 7 he says “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing that I hate”. And this is AFTER his conversion to faith in Christ. His explanation of why this is so differs from that of Jung, but the antidote is similar. When we confess our sin, we seek absolution so that we can start again in a new way. When we identify our shadow projections and the harm they cause to ourselves and others, we gain new self knowledge by making the unconscious conscious, and bring our shadow behaviour into the light of day where it can be seen and dealt with.

As believers in Christ, we are not alone here. Normal human beings, no matter how talented or gifted or mature they are, cannot forever carry the weight of the shadow projections of the people. Eventually, this invisible yet irresistible energy will bring them down or wear them out. And it can be truly said that this is part of what contributed to Jesus’ death. Yet Jesus was no normal human being, and by his grace and willingness to self-sacrifice gave all who witnessed the last week of his life the opportunity to look within themselves and find there both the sin that kills and the grace that saves.

Jesus puts his finger right on the shadow characteristics of the greed that betrays him and the fear that denies him, the rage and spite that condemns an innocent man, the childish bullying of the mocking and scourging of him, and the casual brutality with which he is tortured to death on a cross of wood. He prays with deep grace and insight, “Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing!” (We may at times instinctively prefer to side with cartoonist Michael Leunig, who after some or other outrage of human inhumanity wrote “Father do NOT forgive them. They know exactly what they are doing!”)

In this sense, it can be truly said that he died for our sins, and indeed, that he died that we might be forgiven.

The rest is up to us to own our own shadow; to withdraw the shadow projections that we place upon others and start to take responsibility for our own behaviour; to look within ourselves for the answers that will change our lives for the better, and have what Jesus wanted to give us- life in all its fullness.

How we go about this in practice is a topic for another day, or a matter of conversation. Let me simply say here that one way to bring our unconscious impulses into the light of day is to seek the counsel of a trusted friend. It is quite common for others who know us well to see things in us that we cannot. If we let them know that it is safe to do so, they may well be able to enlighten us in ways that enhance our transformation towards life in all its fullness.

It is also comforting to know that those early psychologists also proposed that not only does the shadow world contain dark and destructive forces- it also contains gold: the strong, positive and beautiful energies we unknowingly hold within ourselves. But that is another story, befitting the day of Resurrection.

Brian Brown.

Anchor 7

“GOLD IN THE SHADOW”. EASTER SUNDAY, 9th April 2023 THE WILLOWS Uniting Church

I confess that I have always found Easter Sunday to be the hardest service of the year to prepare for. One reason is that it is such a short time between Good Friday and today. As such it is very difficult to move into the headspace of resurrection joy while still immersed in the tragedy of Holy Week.

More so, I believe, for a congregation still coming to terms with the difficult events of late last year, and then, just a few days ago, grieving the death of a beloved member of the community of faith.

Psychologically, we just cannot healthily move that quickly. Traversing these deep waters takes time. As poet and priest Noel Davis has written of his own journey of transforming grief, “It takes time to bake a loaf of bread, to grind, to knead, to wait…time for friends to break and share their lives. ….It takes time to still within and merge with life, time in the wild to let a river slow you down….”

And so, again this year, I found myself struggling with decisions such as which Gospel account of the Resurrection to choose. I ended up with the lectionary choice of John’s Gospel- the longest account, and the most, may I say, “polished”, having been compiled some decades after the synoptic accounts.

I love John’s work, as he strives to go deeply into the spirit of the story, but my heart is drawn back inexorably to St Mark, the briefest, the most “down to earth” account. Mark’s story gets me closest to the reality of what it must have been like for the shattered disciples, both men and women, so soon after the torture and crucifixion of their beloved friend and teacher.

That is not an experience you get over in five minutes, whatever might be implied by or said from an empty tomb, or whatever the words of a man dressed in white clothes might suggest about something bigger than usual going on. These followers of Jesus must have been deeply traumatised by what they had gone through, especially those who had fallen asleep at the crucial moment, or denied knowing him when the chips were down. One had already taken his own life in shame. The men especially were still in physical danger from the Jewish authorities. The women, even after giving testimony of their encounter with the risen Christ, were not believed by the male disciples, who considered their story, (according to St Luke), to be an “idle tale”! In Mark’s account there are no angel messengers to rely on. You have to make up your own mind about what is implied by “…a young man dressed in a white robe” giving them directions while sitting in the otherwise empty tomb. On top of that, the original and shorter ending of Mark has the disciples fleeing in terror, “for they were afraid.”

It is misguided, and I believe, spiritually unhelpful, to come to this day thinking that everything is done and dusted; that everything is now put right. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his time of deep suffering, ‘…or is what remains in me like a defeated army fleeing in disarray from a victory already won?”

Yes, we know Jesus is risen. He is risen indeed! But where are we if not left, like the disciples, with a lot of catching up to do. We need time to process the griefs of our lives. We need space to try and deal with the sorrow that haunts us in our knowledge of the frailties and disruptions that arise from the shadows of our souls?

And if that sounds like too harsh a reality for such a happy day, let me now offer you some indication of the direction in which our hope may lie.

For in fact, the shadows that lurk within our unconscious lives are not all full of destructive potential. Jung and others talk also about what they call the “golden shadow” within us. This is the creative potential that we have yet to recognise, not yet brought out of the tomb of our lives and into the golden light of day. Under the guise of teaching us humility, there may have been those who have caused us to suppress a whole lot of gifted potential; to bury it away, unused.

Who will roll away the stone at the entrance to our inner selves? How can this transformative energy be released? The answer to such a question may not be as straightforward as we might like, but just knowing it is there can be the start of a new journey. This journey may in some ways resemble the one when Jesus called a whole bunch of unlikely disciples whose potential to transform the world he alone could see at the time. At that point, all they needed to do was say “YES” to one who, they sensed, was different from all the rest.

But perhaps you would like some corroborating evidence about this “golden shadow within”, let it too be considered an “idle tale”?

Let me share with you a poem by the 13C Sufi mystic Rumi. It’s cryptic, but you will get the connection, I am sure:

THE PICKAXE

Some commentary on I was a hidden treasure,

and desired to be known: tear down

this house. A hundred thousand new houses

can be built from the transparent yellow carnelian

buried beneath it, and the only way to get to that

is to do the work of demolishing and then

digging under the foundations. With that value

in hand all the new construction will be done

without effort. And anyway, sooner or later this house

will fall down on its own. The jewelled treasure will be

uncovered, but it won’t be yours then. The buried

wealth is your pay for doing the demolition,

the pick and shovel work. If you wait and just

let it happen, you’d bite your hand and say,

“I didn’t do as I should have.” This

is a rented house. You don’t own the deed.

You have a lease, and you’ve set up a little shop,

where you barely make a living sewing patches

on torn clothing. Yet only a few feet underneath

Are two veins, pure red and bright gold carnelian.

Quick! Take the pickaxe and pry the foundation.

You’ve got to quit this seamstress work.

What does patch-sewing mean, you ask. Eating

and drinking. The heavy cloak of the body

is always getting torn. You patch it with food,

and other restless ego-satisfactions. Rip up

one board from the shop floor and look into

the basement. You’ll see two glints in the dirt.

“The Essential Rumi”. Translations by Coleman Barks

A golden shadow deep in our unconscious psyche; glittering minerals of priceless spiritual value beneath the foundations of our humdrum everyday lives. And what did Jesus say about it? “The Kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

Gold in the shadow. Priceless minerals under the house. Treasure buried in the field. These are like spiritual trig points to help us find what we are looking for, alerting humanity to the existence and location of as yet undiscovered and unearthed potential of our inner lives.

What Jesus did not say here (though see, for example, Psalm 126 verse 6) is that the fields in which treasure is buried are often the places of our pain. Rumi hints that the house beneath which the priceless minerals lie is the place of bored desperation; and the golden shadow is often revealed in souls that are broken open in grief. The followers of Jesus may well have been deeply traumatised, heart-sick and shaking with fear when they came to the place where they supposed Jesus had been buried, but, thank God, AT LEAST THEY WERE LOOKING IN THE RIGHT PLACE.

Brian Brown

Anchor 8

IN PERILOUS PURSUIT OF PURITY Boolaroo, 7/5/23

As we move towards the end of the season of Easter, it is worth recalling that great resurrection hymn “The day of resurrection, earth tell it out abroad….” In particular, I would like to draw to your attention to the prayer that the hymn writer makes on our behalf in verse 2: “Our hearts be pure from evil, that we may see aright, the Lord in rays eternal of resurrection light”. I am guessing that John of Damascus had a scripture in mind when he wrote that- “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”. And while it is well that we aspire to such a high ideal as purity, you may notice from the title of this address that the voyage to this particular destination is never plain sailing; as illustrated by this story:

“The water of life, wishing to make itself known on the face of the earth, bubbled up in an artesian well and flowed without effort or limit. People came to drink of the magic water and were nourished by it, since it was so clean and pure and invigorating. But humankind was not content to leave things in this Edenic state. Gradually they began to fence the well, charge admission, claim ownership of the property around it, make elaborate laws as to who could come to the well, put locks on the gates. Soon the well was the property of the powerful and the elite. The water was angry and offended, and began to bubble up in another place. The people who owned the property around the first well were so engrossed in their power systems and ownership that they did not notice the water had vanished. They continued selling the non-existent water, and few people noticed the true power had gone. But some dissatisfied people searched with great courage and found the new artesian well. Soon that well was under control of the property owners and the same fate overtook it. The spring took itself to another place!” Owning Your Own Shadow by Robert Johnson. P1

Of all of the lofty ideals to which humanity chooses to aspire, purity would have to be about the most difficult to achieve and sustain. Part of the reason is that as soon as one begins to gain something of the quality of a purer life, pride at this achievement and the attempt to contain it begins to sully the very thing that one has been aiming for. It is very hard to keep white clothes clean.

Another problem with the pursuit of purity is that it almost inevitably invites comparisons with the lives of others, whose state may then begin to appear to be a dirty grey by comparison.

Finally, the fall from such an elevated position is long and hard. Sooner or later, those separate ones who hold themselves in such high regard will come unstuck, as the shadow forces of their psyches, which in their quest for purity they have fought so hard to contain and hide, bursts forth in an ugly show of force with a fury and intemperance. Such a performance makes a complete mockery their supposed superiority.

Take, for example, the Jewish Sanhedrin, Israel’s court of justice. It is reported in Acts that, in response to Stephen’s direct criticism of their outrageous behaviour, “… they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen….they covered their ears and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.”

That’s another thing about professed purity- it tends to have a very thin skin!

This is the same Sanhedrin, including the High Priests and Pharisees, Sadducees and Elders that meet to trump up false charges against Jesus and condemn him of blasphemy. Then, not satisfied with the verdict, they too rush at him, verbally and physically abuse him in their spiteful rage.

The lengths some people will go to maintain their purity! Among this religious leadership it is the Pharisees who most exemplify this ambition. Their name means “The separated ones”. They seek to teach and enforce not only the rules for ritual purity of the Hebrew Scriptures, but also an oral code that adds detail to cover all areas of the Jewish everyday life. They tell people what to eat, who they can talk to, how far one can walk on the Sabbath.

So, what starts as a pool of pure, clean water of ritual devotion quickly becomes a dirty stagnant pond that fails to refresh those who seek its healing and refreshing power. Irony of ironies, the Pharisees cannot see what is happening, so when Jesus wades in and begins challenging the religious poverty of those who should know better, they whip around and begin to attack him as if their very lives depended upon it.

In so doing, they constantly clash with Jesus about things such as healing on the Sabbath, or whether or not his disciples have ritually washed their hands before eating. And when Jesus heals a man blind from birth by getting him to wash in the pool of Siloam, they do everything in their power to discredit the healing. As Jesus says, because they say that they see, they prove themselves to be are blind.

And so it is that those who so want to be close to God keep making the rookie error of thinking that purity is something they can achieve by force of the will. Trying to entrench their position, they build exclusionary walls to control the flow and keep out the contamination. In similar fashion, almost any cult or sect that we can think of tries to control the lives of its devotees from the cradle to the grave. They do so with hard and fast, black and white rules, the breaching of which results in the harshest of penalties, such as shunning and excommunication. The results are often serious, and sometimes disastrous, as we have recent witnessed in the mass deaths by starvation in a pseudo-Christian group in Kenya.

And it’s not just those weird sects that display this unnerving proclivity to knock others around when they fail to conform to the cultural norms of the powers that be, or fail to live within the rules of theological, ritual or behavioural piety. Back in the 16th Century, revered Reformer John Calvin has a man burned at the stake because he refuses to believe in the virginity of Mary the mother of Jesus. Those of us who grew up in Methodism were taught that standards of purity could be easily breached by gambling, smoking and drinking alcohol. As trainee ministers we would poke gentle fun at our predecessors claiming that they counselled young people to avoid pre-marital sex on the grounds that it could lead to dancing. Standing at a traffic light recently, Helen was asked by an Orthodox Jew if she wouldn’t mind pressing the button to allow pedestrians to cross as he was not allowed to use an electrical appliance. I was once at a dinner where I was seated next to a rabbi. When the meals were served, everything he received was on a plastic plate, with everything wrapped in plastic, including his own utensils. I could not help feeling somewhat alienated by what seemed to be an echo of the words of the Pharisee in the temple, who says in Jesus Parable “I thank you God that I am not as other men….” The repeated and mostly unlearned lesson of history is that purity can never be sustained by prohibition alone.

There is ample clear teaching in the scripture about the value of purity. The Psalmist asks the question “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in His holy place”. He then answers his own question with “The one who has clean hands and a pure heart…” But why should any of us think for a moment that the term “clean hands” was meant literally in this context? Jesus honours the piety of those who hold themselves to a high standard with the Beatitude “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” I am sure however that there would not be one person here who would imagine that the purity to which he refers has any more than an incidental reference to hand-washing or choice of diet, or the company a person keeps. In fact, just the opposite, for Jesus deliberately kept company with those lepers and sinners from whom the Pharisees would have recoiled in horror. As Jesus once said, it is not what goes into a person’s mouth that makes them unclean, but what comes out of it!

Picking up on what I have been saying recently about the power of the unconscious shadow, we might suspect that excessive emphasis on purity that overlooks the contradictions of an otherwise impure life is clearly the function of repressed psychic energy. We see it when those who bang the pulpit about social and personal evil themselves break out with the same actions they have previously condemned. Consider, for example, the professing Christian politician who runs for office on a platform of “family values”, only to find themselves in a compromising relationship with a staffer; or the homophobic preacher who is exposed for having a secret same sex relationship of his own. There are deep and dangerous traps in the path of those who in their supposed purity hold themselves above reproach. To those it should be said, “beware the shadow”.

Is it not better to have a few foibles that remind us that we are human, and keep us from the false elevations of an overblown ego? If we love to draw lines in the sand for others to conform with, we need to be alert to the possibility that we are simply setting up boundaries to reassure ourselves that we are better than most when it comes to living lives with clean hands and pure hearts.

Jesus teaches a pure law: the law of love. This love develops in us clean and healthy thoughts, words and deeds that come from within. Such love expresses itself in inclusion, and beyond inclusion to interaction and engagement; not a false piety that grows in the stagnant and polluted space of withdrawal and isolation. There are indeed many ways to understand the teachings of the great religions and philosophers. What Jesus, in particular, shows me is that whenever I say or think “I am better than you”, I am wrong, and the pure water of the Spirit starts to flow elsewhere. Also, whenever I say or think “You are loved, and we are one in the love of God”, I am right. And whenever I say “I am right”, there could be trouble ahead!

Brian Brown

Anchor 9

“On New and Risky Paths” The Ethos of the UCA (Expanded with material drawn from historical sources) Delivered to The Willows 14.5.2023

Who are you, when you are at your best? What characteristic spirit is manifested in you attitudes, your aspirations and, most importantly, in your actions. Who are you in your essence?

At our recent Church Council meeting we were discussing the recommendations of the Hunter Presbytery following the Faith and Witness Consultation with this congregation and Boolaroo. One of the recommendations referred to Uniting Church ethos, and the importance of reflecting this in the life and witness of our church. At this point one person asked the obvious question- “What actually is our ethos?”

Firstly, what is “ethos”? One dictionary defines it as “The characteristic spirit of a culture, era or community as manifested in its attitudes and aspirations” I would add “in its actions” on the basis of Micah 6:8- “What does the Lord require of you but that you do justly…” Christian is as Christian does. Applying this to the Uniting Church, how do we characteristically behave on the basis of who we believe we are? In other words what is our DNA, and who are we; and further, who are we when we are at our best?

The following is a succinct summary of Uniting Church ethos, from a disturbingly unlikely source: Chat GPT!

The ethos of the Uniting Church in Australia is rooted in principles of inclusivity, diversity and social justice. It seeks to be a welcoming and inclusive community that embraces diversity in all its forms, including race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, ability, and socio-economic status. The church is committed to promoting social justice and advocating for the rights of marginalized and oppressed communities, both in Australia and around the world.

The Uniting Church in Australia also places a strong emphasis on ecumenical and interfaith relations, seeking to build bridges of understanding and cooperation with other Christian denominations and religions.

At the heart of the Uniting Church's ethos is the belief that all people are created in the image of God and are worthy of love, respect, and dignity. The church seeks to embody these values through its worship, community life, and outreach activities, and to make a positive difference in the world by working for justice, peace, and reconciliation.

In 2015 I was commissioned by the Synod of NSW/ACT to write a paper on the Uniting Church’s Theology of Service as part of the Synod’s Mission Plan. The following is an extract from that paper:

The ethos of the Uniting Church, that is, its fundamental character, guiding beliefs and ideals are enshrined in and drawn from a number of sources including the scriptures and its foundational and other key documents. (see summary below) The church also uses the term DNA, which indicates that its character is inherited from its Judeo-Christian tradition, and particularly from the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational denominations that came together to form the Uniting Church.

The name “Uniting Church in Australia” is itself descriptive of ethos. “Uniting” indicates openness to becoming something for which we strive- a people on the way to the promised goal. “In Australia” indicates that we are not “of” this nation but stand in a prophetic and pastoral (or serving) relationship to the community in which we are located.

Ethos is also perceived when the church as a whole expresses its conviction about what it holds to be of primary importance. For example, in the 2011 National Church Life Survey, church attendees from Uniting Churches throughout Australia, when responding to the question “Which of the following aspects do you most like about the Uniting Church as a denomination” rated “Inclusiveness of all types of people” well above the other 11 options (71.6% chose this category in its top three selections). “Provision of community services (e.g. preschools and aged care)” at 25.4% was the second choice, and “Social Justice emphasis”, at 21.6%, fourth. Notably, inclusion, community service and social justice are all categories related to the service ministry of the Uniting Church.

The ethos of the Uniting Church affirms all people as equally entitled to flourish, and actively seeks to demonstrate fairness in offering service to all without reference to race, class, culture, economic status or sexuality. In so doing it aims to restore a level playing field by focussing on improved quality of life for those who may be in a position of disadvantage. It takes inspiration from the recorded experience of the early church as it lived in community whose worship, witness and service was inclusive and generous to all (e.g Acts 2:43-47 and 4:32-37), the revelation to Peter that Jews and Gentiles were equally under God’s grace (Acts chapter 10), and the conviction of fundamental equality under God of people formerly divided by culture and custom (Galatians 3:28-29).

The Uniting Church seeks to go beyond gender equality to specifically affirm and promote the leadership of women, to the point where the gifts and skills of women and men are fully appreciated and utilised.

The Church is committed to promoting the benefits of a multi-cultural community, and to ongoing covenanting with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote the interests of Australia’s First Peoples, and foster mutual respect and understanding.

The following are expressions of Uniting Church ethos embedded in some of its key documents:

The Basis of Union

The Basis of Union affirms that The Uniting Church is centred on Christ, (paragraphs 3 and 4) with all of the faith and ethical implications of that allegiance. It expresses an openness to learn new things in terms of Christian scholarship and the influence of contemporary society and thought (paragraph 11). It describes the church as being “the people of God on the way to the promised end” (paragraph 18). By implication, it has not “arrived” and needs to be open to correction.

The Basis of Union affirms (paragraph 13) the gifts of all who are called to serve Christ within the Community of Faith, and seeks to find a place for everyone’s service. Further, it affirms in its form of government (paragraph 15) the interrelationship of and mutual respect between its various councils. Service within the Uniting Church therefore assumes the participation of each one and each part for the good of the whole community. Former Uniting Church Assembly President Alistair Macrae says that “The church, and hopefully agencies related to the church, is the steward of a vision that is radical and universal, of social order that is without fear, oppression and the violence of exclusion because it is one where each recognizes their dependence on all and each is seen as having an irreplaceable gift for all.”

Writing with special reference to social responsibility in the first twenty years of the Uniting Church, Bronwyn Pike draws the following three characteristics from the Basis of Union:

“*to be a fellowship of reconciliation- following the example of Jesus who brought

reconciliation at an individual, interpersonal and societal level

* to be a pilgrim people- continually wrestling with our place in contemporary

culture (and)

* entwine word, sacrament and service- recognizing that the separation of these diminishes the mission of the church at both congregational and agency level.” (Emilsen, 168/9).

The Statement to the Nation

The Uniting Church’s “Statement to the Nation: Inaugural Assembly, June 1977”, expresses an ethos of passionate intention to be a church that reaches out wholeheartedly and with compassion to the vulnerable, disadvantaged and dispossessed with in prophetic and pastoral acts of justice and mercy. The Uniting Church’s witness in the midst of the Australian community is determined by the affirmation “that the first allegiance of Christians is God…”. The statement recognizes that such a commitment will sometimes lead the church into conflict with the rulers of the day. The statement does not claim that such service to Christ’s poor should be the primary focus of all churches, but that “In the Uniting Church our response to the gospel will continue to involve us in social and national affairs.”

Faith Foundations

The Faith Foundations document locates the ministry of service of UnitingCare Australia in an ethos described particularly in terms radical equality, inclusive unity and ministry with the vulnerable poor. “We witness God’s love extended to all people, with no discrimination on the grounds of age, gender, sexuality, class, culture creed or cultural origin.” Under “Core Values”, worship, witness and service are grouped “to give greater expression to unity of God’s love for the world and the church as a loving agency, a church that cares and works together for justice”. Under “Multiculturalism” the document speaks of “A commitment to transformative action”, emphasizing the power of social engagement to be a witness that can bring about a change of hearts and minds. Under the heading “Service”, UnitingCare Australia commits to “continue to give care and hospitality to those who have been victimized and hurt by their involvement in Australian society.”

In summary, Uniting Church ethos is consistent with the key theme “Towards Wholeness”. As this term acknowledges, Uniting Church ethos is not “cut and dried” but develops with the church’s own willingness to be open to new spiritual insight and leading. The expansive base of Uniting Church ethos encourages service with compassion, courage and generosity of spirit, embracing those who may be excluded by other parts of society.

The Common Good from a Christian Perspective

The ministry of service in the Uniting Church operates from the understanding that it is the will of God that all creation might flourish under God’s reign. We seek the Common Good because God is uncommonly good.

“When it comes to life in the world, to follow Christ means to care for others (as well as for oneself) and work toward their flourishing, so that life would go well for all and so all would learn how to lead their lives well….A vision of human flourishing and the common good is the main thing that Christian faith brings into the public debate…. For this, in the end, is what the Christian faith as a prophetic religion is all about- being an instrument of God for the sake of human flourishing, in this life and the next.” (Miroslav Wolf. A Public Faith.)

Finally, here are a few stories to illustrate the nature of a church that is open and embracing of change, and willing to stand out from the ecclesiastical crowd when necessary.

Same-gender marriage: When the Australian Government responded to a surge of community support for an amended Marriage Act to include same gender unions, the UCA stood almost alone among the churches in support of the change. Then, when the Act was amended the Uniting Church was the first to allow its ministers and congregations to officiate and participate in same gender marriage ceremonies, should they feel so inclined.

Divestment from investments in fossil fuel: In line with its evolving environmental convictions the NSW/Act Synod, in 2014, under its theme Uniting for the Common Good, gained the consensus of over 500 diverse participants, both clergy and laity, to begin to divest itself of such investments. As the first church organisation to do so, it expressed its solidarity with the poor, who are usually the first and most impacted victims of climate change.

When the Roman Catholic Church withdrew its support from a group of its Sisters who were aiming to establish a Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in Sydney’s King Cross, the Uniting Church’s UnitingCare, under the leadership of Rev Harry Herbert took up the cause. The MSIC is now a lifesaver and beacon of hope for drug addicts in the area. The UCA is also at the forefront of efforts to decriminalise the use of recreational drugs.

Love Make a Way: At the height of the Federal Government’s efforts to Stop the Boats, a group of young (mainly UCA) Christians prayed for a solution to the Immigration detention of refugee children. LMAW organised sit-in vigils in the electoral offices of high profile Government and Opposition politicians such as Tony Abbott, Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten to try and influence a change to a more compassionate approach to the crisis involving refugees and asylum seekers. Participants were sometimes arrested, then released or charged. Later, the Grandmothers against the Detention of Refugee Children (GADRAC) took up a similar cause, using rallies and street protests to get their message across. The NSW/ACT Synod joined in many of these actions, and the Pitt St Congregation hosted a public Service of Lament in solidarity with those who were suffering the consequences of this cruel and punitive policy.

Who are we when we are at our best? Are we open to embracing change, when to stay the same has become a dry and barren state of being because the spring of living water has left us in frustration and gone to spring up elsewhere? Do we dare to be different when time makes ancient good uncouth? Are we ever alert to the biblical imperative to be engaged in prophetic ministry for the Common Good?

Are we a people of vision, holding on to the Divine assurance from the Book of Revelation- “Behold, I am making all things new.” Are we willing to move forward in faith, leaving behinds the baggage or former days? Will we affirm, with our founders, in the words of the Basis of Union: “We are a people on the way to the promised goal”?

Brian Brown May 2023

Anchor 10

PENTECOST FROM BELOW Delivered to Boolaroo Uniting Church - 4th June 2023

Psalm 8:1 “O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth”.

Over recent decades the church in Australia has managed by and large to move Christmas out of its wintry European context, and reframe the season as one where “the red dust is over the town”, rather than snow. We have not, however, made a similar contextual adjustment to our thinking about Pentecost.

When traditional European religious culture speaks of the human experience of God, it usually expresses this in terms of God “coming down” to be among humanity, or humanity having to reach up for the Divine. They built lofty cathedrals that emphasise the vertical quality of the divine human relationship. “He came down to earth from heaven, who is God and Lord of all”, and disappeared into the clouds at the Ascension. Pentecost is depicted in biblical tongues of fire descending to anoint the first apostles, along with a seemingly extra-terrestrial “rushing mighty wind”.

In his initial work on Australian spirituality “Edge of the Sacred”, David Tacey reflects on the nature of Aboriginal spirituality where the ancestral supernatural is experienced in the landscape itself, where sacred space is often located below one’s feet, and power and energy arises from deep down. In the language of Jungian depth psychology, emergence from the unconscious into consciousness finds a dramatic geological parallel in the great uplifts of the Central Australian landscapes, of which the sandstone monolith of Uluru is the most dramatic.

In summary, Tacey considers the European Australian to be afraid of such natural forces, which is why we tend to congregate on the eastern edge of the continent- as in AD Hope’s poem Australia, “…Where second-hand Europeans pullulate timidly on the edge of an alien shore”.

Tacey proposes that “…whereas the old European alchemists made gold in their dark, vapourous chambers, we in Australia… discover symbolic gold by direct encounter with the landscape….Our spiritual way here cannot be…a work against nature. There is too much nature in Australia, too much rock, too much prima materia or untransformed nature….The entire heroic fantasy about subduing nature, conquering Gaia (or Everest) or controlling mother earth is a European fantasy, which can never work in Australia. The very notion that spirit is opposed to matter cannot take root here. Our spiritual mode will have to be ecological, a work with nature.”

Perhaps this is why so many are morally offended when, having ripped the overburden from the earth to reach the coal below, mining companies sell the residual asset to a shell company, which, faced with the huge clean-up bill, files for bankruptcy. There was in fact never any genuine intention of remediating the land.

In drawing the parallel with a Jungian understanding of the human psyche, Tacey goes on, “But the Australian landscape is like the unconscious itself; if you respect it and realise the ego can never hope to assimilate, conquer or transform it, you are allowed to survive. That is, and must be, our humble, Aboriginal way, a shamanic way. Poet Les Murray has said that the sheer space and size of this country is ‘one of the great, poorly explored resources of this country’, since ‘in the huge spaces of the outback, ordinary souls expand into splendid.’”

Spending six days in Central Australia in 2021 has given me just a glimmer of understanding about what drives the raw spirituality of the land, starting with Uluru. It was only as I stood there watching this awesome spectacle through the phases of its day, and saw its near vertical striations that I began to understand how it was formed- how the sediments of an eroding mountain range were compressed from above by rising seas, and heated from below, to form the solid grey sandstone, which was later thrust skyward and twisted by the near unimaginable force of shifting tectonic plates, while most of the great rock still remained underground. As it stood there and weathered, it accumulated its rouge makeup from the oxidising iron on its skin.

Meanwhile, not all that far away, a similar process was happening which eventually exposed the many heads of Kata Tjuka (formerly known as The Olgas). Here, the rock is not the same solid sandstone as Uluru, but a hard-baked conglomerate.

Then, well down the road towards Alice Springs, sits the glorious King’s Canyon, where dramatic chasms were formed through the literal splitting then eroding of the giant rock masses, leaving in places sheer cliffs. The forces of the earth itself have created, over some 350 million years, landscapes of dramatic beauty which aroused in some people, and certainly this country’s original inhabitants, a profound sense of being in the midst of the spiritual in the cathedrals from down under.

The Todd River in Alice Springs, has none of the awesome geological wonder of the others, but makes a cogent point. As our tour guide at the Telegraph Station said, here even the rivers flow upside down. The water is in fact usually below the surface, and as such was able to sustain a significant population of intrepid frontiers-people who created and maintained the telegraph link from Adelaide to Darwin. Refreshment from below.

The point I am trying to make today is about the potential for enrichment of our spiritual experience and psychic health by engaging with an earthed and grounded spirituality, one that is inspired by a first-hand experience of the land and the landscape. It need not compete with our more traditional spiritual experience, but perhaps gives us a new dynamic in the experience of Pentecost “from below”, as it were. Like the literal emergence of Uluru, in spiritual practices like meditation we can draw from below our consciousness a healing energy which we might otherwise have never found from looking for God in the sky. In such spaces we may find a “Garden of Eden” like that of King’s Canyon in the crevices of our own souls, a place to go to for much-needed nourishment and inspiration.

(I am not implying that there is no vertical dimension to Aboriginal spirituality. With the kind of night skies available to them, who would not gaze upward for spiritual direction in the signs and visions of the sacred? Yet even here, I am led to believe, indigenous astronomy was somewhat different. For example, while our astronomic and astrological forebears saw meaning in constellations of stars, the Aboriginal astronomers looked at the spaces created between the astrological formations, and saw the giant dark emu outlined there.)

We can glean from gospel references to the spirituality of Jesus that being in the quiet, even desolate places and spaces can bring deep comfort and enormous energy. Following his baptism, he faced his demons in the wilderness, and was ministered to by angels. Grieving the death of John the Baptist, he took his followers to a quiet place, as he did when the needy crowds threatened to overwhelm them. He respected the temple, but railed at its misuse, and in extreme distress, he went to the Garden of Gethsemane.

In such places, and in such practices, we meet God and find ourselves. Just as music would be banal without the rests between the notes, spiritual seekers find nurture in the resting places, the dark emptiness, the COVID lockdowns of our lives. By staying with the experience of wilderness, be it literal or metaphorical, we invite the rising within our spirits of the formerly repressed unconscious forces which cause havoc in the dark, but are an enriching golden shadow energy when brought into the light of the conscious mind. We choose to embrace peace and replenishing restfulness rather than anxiously accumulate a stockpile of toilet paper. Life is enriched in its complexity, the breadth and depth of its experience. In its vertical and its horizontal dimensions we draw energy from above and below. Spiritual practice draws power from a singular focus in an enduring present moment. This can happen in a lush crevice of a Central Australian canyon, a quiet pew in a European cathedral, or even in the single-minded nurturing of what grows in our own back yard. I also see spiritual drawing power in the curiously Aussie activity of the grey nomads in their open-ended excursions to the interior and beyond. The questions of the first half of life are different to those of the second, and we must seek answers in a different way and place. Les Murray was right- “In the huge spaces of the outback, ordinary souls expand to splendid.”

A D Hope caught a glimpse of the transformational possibilities for pale-skinned newbies in this awesomely vast and untapped wilderness of spiritual possibility: “Yet there are some like me turn gladly home from the lush jungle of modern thought, to find the Arabian desert of the human mind, hoping if still from the deserts the prophets come. Such savage and scarlet as no green hills dare, springs in that waste, some spirit which escapes the learned doubt, the chatter of cultured apes which is called civilisation over there.”

Valuable though it is, there is a place beyond “learned doubt”, a rich wilderness where, as the one who found his calling there said, “You shall find rest for your souls.”

Brian Brown

Anchor 11

“YES I KNOW! Don’t talk about it” Delivered to The Willows Uniting Church 11.6.2023

Genesis 12:1-9, Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

It is an interesting quirk of human nature that people will do all they can to avoid talking about the very things they most need to address. Like the extended family coming together for a significant occasion, and studiously avoiding the elephant in the room; or a congregation that gingerly steps around the metaphorical dead dog in the church foyer because nobody wants to touch it. Of course, unsuspecting newcomers trip over it every time.

(The reference to the “dead dog” relates to what is known as a “Dead Dog audit”, where an organisation engages an independent person with a fresh set of eyes to inspect their premises and processes, looking for obvious but neglected issues that the regulars have become used to and do not notice anymore. So the story goes, a dog died on the front steps of a church. Those who first saw it were concerned, but did not have a way to remove it, so left it for the property committee to handle- and so on…In the end nothing was done, and the congregation got so used to it lying there that they stopped noticing it, or simply got used to stepping around it.)

When the prophets at Bethel come out to tell Elisha that God is about to take his mentor Elijah away from him that very day, Elisha says “Yes I know. Don’t talk about it” My message to you today is that, in spite of the potential discomfort; we need to talk about grief and loss.

Not only because we as a community are suffering a succession of losses, including the abrupt end of a long-term ministry, and the death of friends who have served here faithfully over many years;

We need to talk about grief and loss, not only because every time we arrive for worship we notice the gaps in the fellowship- children, young people, friends who have left due to unresolved conflict.

We need to talk about grief and loss, not only because the empty pews and our growing greyness of hair reminds us that life, including our own, is fragile and transitory

We need to talk about grief and loss, not only because, of all the people you meet today, approximately one in four is in the midst of dealing with significant loss- illness, lessening of independence, trauma of some kind somewhere in the family.

We need to talk about grief and loss, not only because things are changing so fast around us that we can barely keep up, and if we insist on business as usual, this church will die.

We need to talk about grief and loss, not only because new “unprecedented” climate events somewhere in the world are telling us that time is running out for humanity to save itself from ecological disaster, and very few people with the power to do so are inclined to do anything about it.

We need to talk about grief and loss, not only because belligerent nations are amassing ever more deadly arsenals, a small fragment of which, if released in anger, could cause mass annihilation.

Not only because of any of these hovering threats, but because of all of them combined; we need to talk about grief and loss.

I can talk about it, because I have travelled this road many times and understand the processes involved.

And I will talk about it, because it is my job here to do so. (I am cautious around elephants, and do not particularly like handling dead dogs, but some things have to be done to prevent the far worse consequences of just leaving them there.)

You see, grief not faced is grief that accumulates. We need to deal with it when it comes. If we do not, every new loss adds to the burden, until the weight of it all overwhelms us.

Grief is multiple. For example, the loss of a job can include not only loss of income but also loss of the social benefits of the workplace, loss of independence, along with potentially spiralling health loss. Unmanaged, it can take your life, figuratively, and occasionally, even literally.

Grief is complex. While we understand that grief resolution tends to follow a more or less predictable path in most cases, no two situations are the same, and we can move back and forth through the stages. All grief involves loss of attachment, but the way it affects us can vary from situation to situation.

We need to talk about grief and loss because only then can we truly discover what is at stake, and how we can go about healing, and ideally, about transformation.

As a church, we need to talk about the findings of the Hunter Presbytery Mission Vision and Strategic report: “The Hunter Presbytery stands at the crossroads of life. The choice we have is to structure ourselves for life and growth, or let the current situation take its course towards decline”.

We may not want to talk about it, because to do so is painful. Can we not just be left in peace to enjoy what is left of who we are and what we have, then quietly slip away at the end? Well we could, but that would be a denial of everything we have learned about the call to serve Christ in the common good, and counteract everything we have invested in lives that continue to be transformed in the power of God’s Spirit.

As we proceed along the road together in this Christian community, our informal narrative is littered with unresolved grief, though little is said. “Yes I know” says Elisha to the prophets at Bethel. “Don’t talk about it”! However, if you listen carefully you will hear it, and if you look closely enough you will see it. If you are willing to peer below the surface of a basically happy, cheerful and satisfied community persona you will identify another visage. From it you may hear a tone of frustration, or a sense of being stuck and stagnating.

If we listen with quiet attentiveness, we will hear things we never heard before, A good counsellor also learns to listen for what is not being said, as much if not more than the words that are spoken. For example, today’s narrative about Abram and Sarai tells the story of a brave older couple who leave behind everything that is familiar to them including their kith and kin to go on a journey far away to an unknown destination, and start a family.

The narrative is all about their faith in the face of seemingly impossible odds, which St Paul eulogises in the passage from Romans. Now, it might be because I have packed up and left my secure places a number of times over the years that I am emotionally drawn, not so much to the amazing journey, but to the emotional and psychological cost of it all. They lose their roots. They leave so much behind, and at such great cost. But don’t talk about that! Talk about their faith. Talk about their obedience. Talk about their amazing procreative energies. But do not talk about what they have lost, and what, in the midst of the amazing journey, they would most undoubtedly have grieved.

Likewise the call of Matthew the Tax Collector seems, according to the narrator, to be all upside. His life is transformed. All of the things that made him feel ashamed of himself have been left behind. But what has he lost! A reliable source of income, a whole circle of like-minded friends and business associates, the protection of the Roman military on whose behalf he collected the taxes. Matthew has gone out on a limb, to a place that can be cold and windy, if not downright dangerous. But do not speak honestly about the cost of discipleship, because you might put people off!

And what about the woman who had been haemorrhaging continuously for 12 years? That shocking fact and its unbearable social and health consequences are quickly passed over to emphasise her amazing faith, and the extraordinary sensitivity and healing power of Jesus. Suddenly everything is made right. Similarly, in the narrative of the raising of the Synagogue leader’s daughter, the mourning rituals are in full swing, engulfing shattered family when Jesus intervenes and raises her back to life.

The risk of only seeing the upside in these stories is that the ministry of Jesus can be perceived as a quick fix, a focus which can bring a dangerous unreality to the everyday human experiences of suffering and loss. I heard a story once about a pastor who believed so deeply in these healing miracles that when his own daughter tragically died, he insisted on staying to pray at the graveside that she be physically resurrected.

I have also heard of churches that refuse to worship on Good Friday, but go straight from Palm Sunday to Easter Day, because victorious living need not take account of the darkness of death.

The truth is that in nearly all, if not in all cases, people who die young or tragically, are not physically resuscitated back to business as usual. There is no successful detour around the pain of loss and grief, no sudden muting of the mourners’ wails. Jesus calls us to life in all its fullness, and that fullness is chock-a-block with reality, be it abiding peace and joy, be it seemingly overwhelming pain and suffering.

The fact is that any change, be it for better or for worse, takes courage to face; because any change involves a disconnection from something that sustained our lives and fuelled our well-being. We heard a reflective musical piece earlier called Samwise the Brave, from Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings. Sam was indeed the courageous ally of ring-bearer, Frodo Baggins. They face many challenges and dangers on the journey to Mount Doom. However, the bravest thing that Sam had to do was wave Frodo, and the wizard Gandalf goodbye, as those two heroes sailed into the West, to another, unreachable world. Not only did Sam have to bear the unbearable loss of his closest friend; he then had to take up the leadership of their group, to confront the evil that still lurked, threatening to destroy their hard–won new community of Middle Earth. We tend to dwell on the faith of Abram and Sarai, but to my eye, their greatest virtue was the courage to face an unknown future. Likewise the woman whose physical affliction would have made her an “unclean” outcast from her community. The Gospels talk about her great faith, but what about the courage to venture, in her highly vulnerable state, into the swelling crowd in the first place. Hers is surely a hero’s journey.

We need to talk about grief and loss. Over the next few months I invite you to an experience of discovery where we explore the nature of grief and loss. I am not naïve enough to suggest that a few sermons on the subject is all that is needed, but you have to start somewhere. As we reflect on the process of moving from the loss itself to its eventual resolution, we will discover what is the work that we need to do for this to be a journey of transformation. My decision to offer this to you is solidly based on the most profound insight of my whole ministry, which is expressed by Walther Brueggemann in these words “Only those who embrace the reality of death will receive new life” It’s about having the courage to accept the reality of our losses, and allowing ourselves to feel and express the pain. It’s about learning new ways to live in the absence of that which is lost, and finally reinvesting our energy in new life. It’s the process of moving from endings to new beginnings, which as Christians we call death and resurrection. Only those who face the losses in their lives with open eyes will receive the Pentecostal spirit of renewal.

By doing nothing, we simply transition from one disaster to the next, and noting significant will change.

Or, we can embrace Jesus’ promise of transformation to life in all its fullness, and walk with courage and faith on the journey to the promised goal, bearing one another’s burdens and sharing one another’s joy. As the Psalmist says: “Those who go forth weeping, bearing precious seed, will doubtless return with joy, carrying their sheaves.”

Brian Brown. “The Willows” Uniting Church. June 2023

Anchor 12

“MOVING FORWARD TO A NEW FUTURE” - delivered to The Willows and Boolaroo congregation 2nd July 2023

“How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long?” (Psalm 13)

The process of moving from slavery to liberation, from stagnation to revitalisation, from death to new life is a well-worn path. It is attested to in all great literature, both religious and secular. It is taught in the curriculae of secular psychology as well as the training in pastoral care.

It can be summed up in the words of the great Old Testament scholar Walther Brueggemann: “Only those who embrace the reality of death will receive new life.” The word “embrace” is instructive. It implies open-hearted, intimate engagement with the energies associated with our grieving.

It starts with embracing the reality of that which we have lost. In the last week before the closure of the steelworks in 1999, one of the workers I met on my rounds said to me, “You know, the steelworks is not going to shut. Management is just waiting until we walk out the gate on the last day, then they are going to turn around and rehire us at a lower rate of pay.”

In some way denial is a gift in that it softens the blow of loss. When the prophets at Bethel approached Elisha about Elijah’s imminent departure, Elisha was not ready to talk about what he deep down knew to be true. It was only when he saw Elijah part the waters of the Jordan that he realised what was at stake for the people of God. The transition of leadership from Elijah to Elisha was a critically important process. It was then that he asked Elijah for a double portion of his power. Elijah’s response is as astute as it is instructive: ”If you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted to you. If not, it will not.” In the open-eyed facing of the critical moment of Elijah’s departure, as he stared his astounding loss in the face, Elisha put his feet on the path of power. Had he chosen to turn away, he would have left that holy place both broken-hearted AND empty-handed.

If we want to move forward in power, we start by bravely looking reality in the face, even if it makes us want to weep. In closing our eyes to reality, harsh as it may be, we miss a critical moment on the journey to transformation.

Of course, by choosing to watch Elijah depart, Elisha inevitably exposes himself to the pain and shock of Elijah’s dramatic assumption into heaven. His response is to cry out in lament “Father, father! The chariots of God and its horsemen!” Then when Elijah disappears, Elisha, in a dramatic expression of his broken-heartedness, rends apart his garments.

With the impact of reality comes the waves of pain. In their seminal work called “Healing Pain”, Nini Lieck and Marieanne Davidsen-Nielsen describe the so-called “second task of grief recovery”, the dealing with the emotions of grief, as “…the central feature both in crisis intervention and in grief therapy.” They go on to say that “the great majority of the 600 people we have worked with in the grief group had come to a halt mainly on the second task.” The truth is that most of us are pain avoiders, who will take all other options first. Not only that, we often baulk when we see it in others. Australian poet Les Murray hits the nail on the head with his disturbingly insightful poem “An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow”:

“The word goes round Repins.

the murmur goes round Lorenzini’s.

At Tattersalls, men look up from their sheets of numbers.

At the Stock Exchange scribblers forget the chalk in their hands

and men with bread in their pockets leave the Greek Club;

there’s a fellow crying in Martin Place. They can’t stop him.

The traffic in George St is banked up for half a mile,

and drained of motion. The crowds are edgy with talk

and more crowds come hurrying. Many run in back streets

which minutes ago were busy main streets, pointing:

there’s a fellow weeping down there. No one can stop him.”

Actually, crying is not mandatory for grief resolution. I rarely cry. Sometimes I wish I could cry more. Many do shed therapeutic tears, and there are also other ways. Elisha cries out words of lament, then tears his clothes. Dramatic action can do it, like for the woman who has been through a particularly painful divorce. She gathers a handful of close friends, and goes to a secluded beach where they light a campfire. She tells the painful story of the loss of her marriage partner. They share her distress, and then she takes out her wedding dress from a bag, and throws it on the fire.

A time honoured biblical response to loss, as with the Israelites when they were taken into Exile, is to cry out in lament. Hear, for example, the anguish of the Psalmist “How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long?” or Jesus’ lament over his beloved people: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often have I desired to gather your children as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you were not willing. See, your house is left to you desolate.”

In Brueggemann’s understanding of the way from slavery to liberation, lament is a key component. These anguished utterances are not so much a criticism of God as a way of expressing deeply felt inner pain. They bypass the rulers who oppress them, with a direct plea to God to save and restore them. By way of contrast, WH Auden’s poem “Stop the clocks, turn off the telephones” is more a cry to the universe, or to anyone who will listen.

Some people find it helpful to write a letter to the person they have lost, to unlock and release the energies of their grief. When I was working with steelworks employees who wanted help to face the loss of their jobs, we invited them draw a tombstone, and write an epitaph to their job on it. Some were grateful and positive, others were angry and bitter. Just don’t tell me than men are unable to express difficult emotions, given the right support!

There is no way to healthily sidestep this part of the grief resolution journey. To shut it all down is to invite stagnation, and risk missing the golden opportunity to grow from the experience. The emotion of grief is an inner energy that, suppressed, can bog us down or tear us apart. Released, it fuels our journey to the next phase, as we learn the new skills we will need for the new thing that God is doing in our lives.

Michael Leunig wrote of the process of dealing with our pain in this prayer:

God help us

If our world should grow dark;

And there is no way of seeing or knowing.

Grant us the courage and trust

To touch and be touched

To find our way onwards by feeling. (From “The Prayer Tree”)

The redemptive power of healthy emotional release also goes beyond the grieving individual, to become a gift for those who share the space with them. Les Murray’s poem continues:

The man we surround, the man no one approaches

simply weeps, and does not cover it, weeps

not like a child, not like the wind, like a man

and does not declaim it, nor beat his breast , nor even

sob very loudly-yet the dignity of his weeping

holds us back from his space, the hollow he makes around him

in the midday light, in his pentagram of sorrow,

and uniforms back in the crowd who tried to seize him

stare out at him, and feel, with amazement, their minds

longing for tears as children for a rainbow.

Some will say, in the years to come, a halo

or force stood around him. There is no such thing.

Some will say they were shocked and would have stopped him

but they will not have been there. The fiercest manhood,

the toughest reserve, the slickest wit among us

trembles with silence, and burns with unexpected

judgments of peace. Some in the concourse scream

who thought themselves happy. Only the smallest children

and such as look out of Paradise come near him

and sit at his feet, with dogs and dusty pigeons...

Notice, when you read the stories of Jesus’ ministry, how often the writers note his feeling responses to those around him. Weeping at the tomb of Lazarus, livid at the traders in the temple, joyful when his disciples return triumphant from their missions. When he approaches the bereaved widow of Nain, the Greek word for how he hurts for her is translated “compassion”. It also means pity or sympathy, a literally gut-churning feeling. Jesus’ humanity includes deeply felt emotions that fuel his healing power.

Les Murray again:

Ridiculous, says a man near me, and stops

his mouth with his hands, as if it uttered vomit-

and I see a woman, shining, stretch her hand

and shake as she receives the gift of weeping,

as many as follow her also receive it

and many weep for sheer acceptance ,and more

refuse to weep for fear of all acceptance,

but the weeping man, like the earth, requires nothing,

the man who weeps ignores us, and cries out

of his writhen face and ordinary body

not words, but grief, not messages, but sorrow

hard as the earth, sheer, present as the sea-

and when he stops he simply walks between us

mopping his face with the dignity of one

man who has wept, and now has finished weeping.

Evading believers, he hurries off down Pitt St.

The man in the poem grieves, and moves on. The Psalms of Lament characteristically begin with a cry of anguish, but end with the outpouring of hope- Psalm 13- “But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.”

Similarly, in the Book of Revelation chapter 21, the Spirit of Christ proclaims a vision of a new heaven and a new earth, a place where there will be no more tears, no more grieving. This is the hope, the goal, the inheritance of those who walk the way of Jesus to the end. Until then, we grieve that we may be healed; and that we may be a healing presence for others in their own place of pain.

Brian Brown

Anchor 13

Anchor 14

"But to what will I compare this generation?" 9th July 2023 The Willows

“But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, “We played but you did not dance; we wailed but you did not mourn.” (Matthew 11:16-17)

The key question for me from this somewhat cryptic analogy is this: to what extent is “this generation” of which Jesus speaks comparable to our current cohort? If the comparison is valid, what is it that we need to hear, that we currently resist with childish stubbornness and dangerous indifference?

The background to this encounter with the curious and argumentative Jewish crowds is an exchange between Jesus and the disciples of imprisoned John the Baptist, who wants to know if Jesus really is the expected Messiah. Jesus points them to his works of power, and his message of good news to the poor.

Jesus then addresses the gathered crowd, challenging their perception of John, telling them that The Baptist is a messenger of even greater stature than the quintessential prophet Elijah. The implication is that they have misjudged the messenger, and therefore, missed the message. His comparison of them to children in the marketplace is best described thus by an eminent commentator:

“The parable depicts a generation that cannot come to grips with either John or Jesus. Children pipe happy songs and their friends refuse to dance; they play mournful tunes and their friends refuse to weep. The friends are totally non-responsive. They apparently have no intention of joining in the music. John came as a sober figure, a teetotaller who ate a strange diet, and he was labelled demon possessed. Jesus came as a convivial character, eating and drinking with all sorts of people, and he was dismissed as a glutton and a drunkard.”

“This generation” has been given every opportunity to hear, but they refuse. Take, for example the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. They are the privileged sites, where Jesus has done many mighty works. Citizens have more than enough evidence to discern who he is. But instead of being moved by what they see, they have remained blasé. Their resistance leaves them in a worse state than the pagan cities of Tyre, Sidon and Sodom.”

The comparison between the unbelieving Israelite citizens and their non-Jewish neighbours is reminiscent of Jesus’ confrontation with the crowd following his first sermon at Nazareth (Luke Chapter 4). The locals initially speak well of him, then ask questions about his parentage. He responds by telling them that no prophet is accepted in their home town. He reminds them how Elijah and Elisha reached out to the needy outside of Israel, like the Widow of Zarapeth and Naaman the Syrian. “When they heard this, all in the Synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of town, and led him to the brow of a hill that they might hurl him off a cliff.” (Luke 4:28).

In order to decide whether Jesus’ excoriation of that generation has any relevance for this one, we need to examine just what it is that he is calling out in them. Then, if the cap fits…!

Jesus is calling out three things in particular in the attitude and behaviour of the crowd, the same people who have been schooled to expect the Messiah:

1. A stubborn unwillingness to get involved in, or commit themselves to, the drama that the prophet enacts in their midst. Nor are they moved to respond to the obvious signs of power in the ministry of their long awaited Messiah. They will not “play the game” in spite of Jesus’ gracious invitation, or John’s more forceful exhortation.

2. Their obtuse attempt to deflect the impact of the divine confrontation with their poverty of spirit by shooting the messengers that God sends into their midst. “John has a demon so we do not have to listen to him. Jesus is a glutton and a drunkard who mixes with people we do not rate for company. Why should we follow him?”

3. Their show narrow-minded tribalism in the face of the universal message of welcome to all who would receive the kingdom into their hearts.

If we are willing to look for possible parallels, we could ask a question like: ‘Where today do we find this tendency for people to behave like children, with their stubborn refusal to be part of the dance of joy or join the lament of the suffering going on around them? And where might we see unwelcome truth being deflected by the shooting of messengers with the arrows of savage criticism of their characters, or their dress, or their accent, or their ‘woke-ness’, or their skin colour, rather than taking their sincere message to heart? And how does parochial tribalism create a barrier between people and their ability to see the truth that is there in front of them?

The temptation within our untransformed human nature is to distance ourselves from blame. In today’s scriptures, both Jesus and Paul interrogate this avoidance behaviour. To what extent are we willing to admit our own disengagement from the dramas that swirl around us, or to excuse our unresponsiveness on the grounds that we don’t like the look or the tone of those calling us to account. You see, Jesus and Paul are addressing their own people- the so-called chosen ones. If they came back here today, they would be addressing, among others, the Christian Church. That means us!

It’s a hard message to bear. The fact is that if we are honest, few could deny our stubborn unwillingness to change. And are we not all guilty at times of the tendency to deflect the criticism we do not want to hear onto the other. And if we think that we are immune from the distorting influence of tribal parochialism, let me tell you what happened in one particular NSW lounge-room when Queensland scored the last minute try to rob us of our victory in Origin 1. The fury we felt towards the referee and linesman for not spotting what we saw as an obvious forward pass actually had much more to do with our deep disappointment at the loss, rather than an objective assessment of the quality of their eyesight!

It is sobering to note that both John the Baptist and Jesus were murdered for their outspokenness- John because he called the Jews a brood of vipers, and called out Herod for his promiscuousness; Jesus because he spoke truth to power and named their hypocrisy and cruelty. Today, there are modern prophets in jail for exposing war crimes. Others are subjected to secret trials for blowing the whistle on dirty dealing of their governments. And as the planet gets hotter by the day, what reputable climate scientist would not be justified in saying- “We wailed, but you did not mourn.”

Given all of this, you have to hand it to St Paul! In some ways he comes across as arrogant, and yet in today’s passage from Romans he owns the self-destructiveness inner forces that cause him to do the very things he does not want to do because he knows they are not helpful, and realises how much he leaves undone that he really should have done. This honest self-reflection drives him to despair. No shooting the messenger here! This is a clear and honest mea culpa (An acknowledgment of a personal error or fault.)

The fact is that when Paul says “I” he also means “we” because in truth, what afflicts him afflicts everyone. After all, which one of us, if asked to make a list of the things that we do that we know were better not done, would not be able to put pen to paper? This is part of the human condition, an addiction to standards well below what we know to reflect our best selves. I don’t like the term “original sin” because it can be a way of abdicating responsibility for our choices, but it is hard to deny the existence of an “entropy” that drags us down and causes us to produce standards of attitude and behaviour that do us no credit.

Enough about the disease! What about a cure?

A healing of the afflictions of stubborn indifference, deflecting of blame and one-eyed parochialism (the quality of showing interest only in a narrow range of matters, especially those that directly affect yourself, your town, or your country) starts in a willingness to confess our all too human tendencies to look everywhere but within our own hearts to find the solution to the problems that beset us.

Jesus says “Come to me all you who labour and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest.” Pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps is a both physical and ethical impossibility. We need help, and sometimes, urgently. There are times when, without Christ’s gracious intervention, we are as trapped as those five souls encased in the submersible “Titan”, which, even on dry land, could only be opened from the outside. I know. I have been there! At my lowest point, it has been grace that has saved me.

The very first recorded exhortation of Jesus as he begins his ministry, is “Repent and believe the good news”. (Mark 1:15) We need help- someone to lift the burden from our backs. “Come to me, all who labour and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest!” When I talk about confession and repentance, I am not just talking about a routine and generalised liturgical response in a church service, week after week, with no expectation or even intention of change. I am referring to the genuine sorrow that comes with the knowledge of falling short, and the deep intention to try and do better next time. So that when we leave the place of prayer, we are, like the tax-collector in the parable, justified, forgiven, and lighter for it.

Honest, self-reflective confession is indeed good for the soul, and the burden lifted by the forgiveness of Christ is relief for our whole beings. It sometimes even includes actually going and putting something right - like leaving your gift at the altar, so to speak, and restoring the relationship with an alienated brother or sister. Ultimately, it means discipleship in the way of Christ, where we have the courage to be our best selves, to stand out from that crowd, and like Jesus, be good news to the poor.

Brian Brown

Anchor 15

"TAKING SIDES" - 17th September 2023 – The Willows

Since I was last here, Helen and I have travelled half-way around the world on our holiday to Europe. We flew from Sydney to Budapest via Dubai, and spent three days in the Hungarian capital before embarking on the Viking River Cruise through Austria, Germany and Holland to Amsterdam. We then flew to Toulouse where we hired a car, and spent 12 days in the small southern French town of Entraygue Sur Truyeire, from where we visited various places of interest in the surrounding countryside. After three days in Paris, seeing the city all scrubbed up for the Rugby World Cup and next year’s Olympic games, we flew home.

Today’s excursion into the scriptures begins in the passage of Paul to the Roman church. It then moves to the turbulent story of the Israelites’ escape from Egypt of the Book of Exodus, before a brief stopover in the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. We finally arrive back where we started, in the letter to the Romans, when I will attempt to try and integrate the key and contrasting biblical perspectives from this wide range of inspired discourse. The two key questions for me in all of this are “When is it right for us to take sides in the issues of our day and community, as opposed to letting our differences go; and how can our experience of Christian community help us live and work together even in our differences”.

Some time ago I was preparing a wedding ceremony with a couple of personal friends. The wife-to-be was strongly committed to her church and faith, and the prospective husband was not. When it came to the issue of what religious content might be included in the liturgy, the man said “I am happy to go with what she wants. This is not a hill I need to die on.” In other words, he was willing to not make an issue of the use of God language, even though it was not personally meaningful to him.

Sometimes we have to take our stand for what we believe, but not every hill of difference is one we have to die on.

Another example comes from my experience of being a part of a multi-faith discussion group, held in the home of a young Muslim man that I met at the chess club. When he met us at the door the first time, Helen asked about taking of our shoes. “If you like“ he said, offering her a handshake. Now, as we know, removing shoes and limiting physical contact across genders are very important to Muslim people, but this man considered hospitality to strangers as more important than upholding strict religious customs. For our host, making us feel at home and welcome was more important than upholding certain strict rules about what should and should not happen in a practicing Muslim home. This is the better witness to the grace of the God he serves. For him, religions rules of engagement were not a hill he chose to die on. And how different would our world be if this were the normal order of priorities in our communal lives

And so, when we think about some of the things that cause division in the community, or in the community of faith, we really should be asking ourselves the question “Was THAT important enough to justify such a level of conflict and division, or was that not something that we could have just let go, and saved our energy and our unity for the things that REALLY matter?

In today’s Romans passage Paul confronts the Christian community for making a big issue about which foods are and are not permissible for Christians to eat. He also challenges those who make a fuss about one day of the week being more important than another. He says, in effect, “if that is your preference, fine, but let’s not divide the community by taking sides about the things that do not ultimately matter.“ Can’t we just live and let live when it comes to such non-fatal preferences?

One sign of mature Christianity community is the ability to discern between that which is of relative rather than ultimate concern- when to live with difference, and when it is imperative to take sides.

Having said that, how do we know when it is right to take sides in a conflict? For me is comes down to the issue of human suffering and vulnerability, which appears to be a biblical principle on which divine decisions are made about which are the hills worth dying on- or even, dare I say it, worth killing for. This is abundantly clear in the whole process of God calling Moses to lead the people of Israel out of slavery, to the wholesale slaughter of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. When God calls Moses at the burning bush he says “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt: I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed I know their sufferings…” So God calls Moses, saying I AM ON THEIR SIDE. Go to Pharaoh, and tell him to let my people go.

We all know the story, of how a trembling Moses confronts Pharaoh with God’s message that Pharaoh’s treatment of the Israelite slaves is definite not OK. We remember how, when Pharaoh maintains his hardness of heart there are a graduated series of plagues of punishment, until, with the slaughter of the first-born Egyptians, Pharaoh finally relents. But of course, he changes his mind again, the consequence being the wholesale drowning of his army.

I am well aware that this story is difficult to reconcile with the love of God as shown in Jesus. Does God not love everyone, including Egyptian children and soldiers? In fact, God loves the whole creation; everything. And when some distort that creation, then God is forced to take sides so that everyone has a chance to live proper lives. Some cannot be allowed to destroy life.

One could go on all day giving examples, from the Books of Moses to the book of Judges, from Kings and Chronicles to the 17 books of the major and minor prophets, right through to the Gospels of Jesus, of how God takes sides with the little ones, the beaten-down ones, the deprived and homeless ones. In fact, the greater percentage of the bible is prophetic literature which describes and tells forth divine judgement on the ways of the nations, their leaders, and sometimes their people. In story after story, GOD CHOOSES TO TAKE SIDES TO RESTORE JUSTICE AND EQUITY, and one prophet after another makes clear the divine imperative to either repent or perish.

Of course, the prophets inevitably suffer a variety of difficult fates for their obedience to the Divine will, even to the point that the hill on which they choose to stand becomes the hill on which they die.

As a young man I was deeply moved and influenced by the great prophetic ministers of my day- people like Rev Dr Beyers Naude of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa who was excommunicated for his prophetic witness against the heresy of Apartheid. When I was studying, theologians like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was martyred for his stand against Hitler, loomed large in the curriculum. I was also greatly influenced by the great civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King, who was killed for his prophetic leadership during the Civil Rights movement in the USA. I read and reread his sermons which were published under the title “Strength to Love”. It was however the following words, spoken at age 36, in Selma Alabama, just before he was assassinated, that I find the most memorable: “Deep down in our non-violent creed is the conviction there are some things so dear, some things so precious, some things so eternally true, that they're worth dying for. And if a man happens to be 36-years-old, as I happen to be, and some great truth stands before the door of his life--some great opportunity to stand up for that which is right…(and if that man) might be afraid his home will get bombed, or he's afraid that he will lose his job, or he's afraid that he will get shot, or beaten down by state troopers, and he may go on and live until he's 80. However, his cessation of breathing in his life is merely the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.” These words really lit a fire of conviction in me about the call to witness where God is taking sides, even when the consequences could involve what Bonhoeffer called “costly grace”.

When the Scribes and the Pharisees confronted Jesus about the breaking of petty rules of eating and drinking, his response was “You strain off a gnat and gulp down a camel. You tithe dill and mint and cumin, and neglect the weightier matters of the law. You load heavy burden on the backs of my people.” If effect, his message was “I am on their side here, not yours”. Had Jesus been more tactful, had he compromised with the ruling religious, or made a pact with the Romans, he could have extended his life, and arguably done more good. He knew though what Martin Luther King knew, that to compromise in order to extend one’s physical life would come at the expense of spiritual power and authority. When he chose to take his stand, to take sides with the poor, the marginalised and the dispossessed, he chose the hill upon which he would die.

As I read the scriptures for today, seeing the prophetic witness of Moses and the pastoral concern of Paul side by side, it occurs to me that focussing on minor differences of religious conviction can be a way of avoiding much more critical issues of faith and action. When it comes to being accountable to God, (Romans 14:12) what are the things that really matter? Is it about the types of foods that are going into someone else’s mouth, or is it about the words of life or death that are coming out of ours? Is it about preferencing one day of the week over another, or about honouring God in the everyday?

Jesus’ Parable of the Unforgiving Servant teaches that living justly as forgiven people is critical to our spiritual well-being, as well as making a big difference to the lives of others. It is also a reminder of the heart of the Gospel- “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” This is elevated ground - an excellent place to take a stand, a biblically legitimate cause for taking sides, an honourable hill to die on

Coming right back to the words of Paul to the Romans, we are forced to deal with this paradox: God makes judgments about right and wrong, and God’s prophets are called to tell the world what side God is on. At the same time, within the fellowship of the church, Paul’s injunction is this: “Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister?” I’m just so glad to belong to a church that honours its prophetic tradition, which stands ready, willing and able to speak truth to power. At the same time, we hold just as strongly the pastoral conviction that our congregations provide and maintain a safe place for people to come together in our unity and diversity, to celebrate our agreements and deal creatively with our conflicts. As Rev Seforosa Carroll wrote in With Love to the World, “This important passage reminds us and challenges us to examine how intentional we are in creating spaces of welcome and belonging in the church” And so, whatever side we might find ourselves on in whatever issue confronts us, we continue to hold one another in the deepest respect

This is true Christian community, of which hymn-writer Shirley Murray writes as follows: “When menace melts away, so shall God’s will be done, the climate of the world be peace and Christ its Sun; Our currency be love, and kindliness our law, our food and faith be shared as one for evermore”

Brian Brown

Sunday 1st October 2023 Warners Bay and Boolaroo UC

“Using the Servant’s Entrance” HUMILITY IN MISSION

(Philippians 2:1-13, Matthew 21:23-32)

When Helen and I were in Amsterdam as part of our recent European trip, we decided to walk from the Rijksmuseum back to our hotel on one of the canals. One of us was sure that they knew the way. At one point we came to a major road, where the decision was made to turn left. About half an hour later the crowds were thinning out, and the shops becoming seedier. At this point it was decided that we must have made a mistake, so we ate humble pie and asked a local which way to go. It turns out that the left turn should have been a right turn, and we retraced our steps to arrive at the hotel an hour behind schedule. In case you are wondering, we are still together!

I had a friend, now deceased, who reminded me of a cartoon I once saw. A family of four are sitting in their minivan at an intersection, with a police car behind them. One of the children is leaning out of the car window with a hastily written sign. “Please help us. We are lost. Mum is crying, and dad will not ask for directions!” My friend was one of the nicest people I knew, and spiritually mature, but sometimes humility is one of the last virtues we acquire!

The last story in this trilogy is probably mythical, but it could have happened. “Plowing at night through rough and foggy seas, a battleship’s radar suddenly indicates an object directly in its path. The ship’s captain sends a radio signal – “We are on a collision course. Advise you change direction 10 degrees north.”

A response crackles over the radio. “Negative. Unable to do that. We advise you change direction ten degrees south.”

The captain can now see a blinking light from the approaching object. He bellows a perturbed reply- “I’m a ship’s captain. Change course 10 degrees north, NOW.”

“I’m a seaman second class” comes the reply. “I cannot comply with your order. Advise that you change course 10 degrees south to avoid imminent collision.”

By now the captain is furious- “This is a battleship. Change your course immediately!”

Back comes the calm reply “This is a lighthouse. Your call.”

The captain changed course.

“Do not think too highly of yourself than you ought” Says St Paul to the Roman church, “but think with sober judgment…”

Finding our way forward through the fogs and storms of life is no easy task. Sometimes we have to admit we are lost, lest our pride and arrogance drive us onto the rocks. It is then that the biblical injunctions to embrace humility can stand us in good stead.

For the Jewish religious leaders who opposed Jesus every step of the way, the narrow way to salvation was impossible to find, because while they thought that they could see more clearly than others, they were actually blind to the deeper spiritual path along which Jesus came to lead. On the other hand, the redeeming feature of the lost and lowly strugglers who heard Jesus gladly was that, with their life experience of struggle and disadvantage, it was not too hard to accept that the way into the fellowship with God was through the servant’s entrance.

What embracing the way of humility means to each of us personally, and where we find ourselves on that particular journey, is not my main concern. In my experience, people who have reached the age and stage of the average member of this congregation have well and truly had most of the corners knocked off them, and have a sober estimate of who they are. I remember as a trainee minister in my twenties thinking I knew pretty much all there was to know about matters theological. Nowadays I find that I know less than I used to. The saving grace in this is that I now have a better idea of the difference between a battleship and a lighthouse, between my ego and my better self. Life does get a bit easier when we came to accept how much we don’t know.

I want to speak rather about what humility means for the Church and this one in particular.

We have recently been receiving strong signals from The Hunter Presbytery, initially as a result of the Life and Witness consultation following the resignation of Rev Kenneth Brown, and more recently following the visit here of the Presbytery Mission consultant, Rev Rod Pattenden. Having met with the congregation, and twice with Church Council, Rod has given us a list of recommendations on reorganising our Mission. Church Council Chairperson Garry Porter has begun to share these recommendations with you. The way into future ministry here is the compiling of a plan containing concrete missional objectives, based on listening to the needs of the community around us. Accepting such a direction tells the world that this is a church that knows that the way of following Jesus is through the servant’s entrance.

Now, I know it can be hard taking advice or direction from others, especially when we may have been lead to believe that they are not much more qualified than an able seaman second class. After all, are we not the captain of our own ship? The fact is that in crisis, where the message is coming from a lighthouse, a change of course is not really an optional extra. Perhaps it might help the humble pie to go down when we realise that the true lighthouse is not in fact the Hunter Presbytery, but Jesus himself, of whom the Presbytery is but a conduit.

The actual gold standard for the church is Jesus’ mission plan for his disciples, and his emerging community of faith. The way Jesus calls us to follow his servant leadership can be discerned in many ways though the Gospel record, but the most concise expression is his quote from the prophet Isaiah when he was invited to address the congregation in the Synagogue at Nazareth- “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” This proclamation was initially well received, but when the implications became clear, they were enraged and tried to throw him over a nearby cliff.

The words of the Prophet give us the biblical framework for mission. Our task is to fill in the detail from our own context and experience.

Finally may I share with you a few key thoughts from a deeply insightful writer on Church Mission. In Kennon Callhan’s first chapter of his book “Twelve Keys to an Effective Church”. He says “Missional objectives start with a longing to help, and people sometimes discover that longing to help as they lie awake at night, restless and disturbed.”

He talks about how mission-focussed churches become “living legends on the community grape-vine”, perhaps for just one thing that they do. This recognition is however not the aim. Humility would not allow that. It happens when a church is more interested in helping than being helped, more interested in loving than being loved. Ironically enough, people seek out churches who give themselves away. People stay away from churches whose only interest is self-interest.

It is my hope and belief that there are exciting times ahead in the mission of this church. As I look around I see green shoots of hope in the way people care for each other, the groups who are engaging in conversation about the ways of the Spirit in their lives, and the impulse to share with the needy though such programs as the Christmas Blankets Appeal. The way forward to the blossoming of mission in this place depends on picking up the signals we are being sent, and interpreting them with humble hearts. This demands all of the passion, all of the love, all of the commitment that we can give. As a great theologian of the 20th century Emil Brunner, once said, “Mission work does not arise from any arrogance in the Christian Church. Mission is its cause and its life. The church exists by mission as a fire exists by burning”. In other words, it’s either that, or nothing.

Brian Brown

Anchor 16

MOVING FORWARD TO THE PROMISE GOAL

presented to the congregation of Warners Bay Uniting Church, 8th October 2023

Philippians 3:4b-14; Matthew 21:33-46

The following story is an oldie but a goodie, so hopefully worth repeating in the context of talking about mission:

On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur there was a once a crude little life-saving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves, they went out day or night tirelessly searching for the lost.

Many lives were saved by this wonderful little station, so that it became famous. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding areas, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews were trained. The little life-saving station grew.

Some of the new members of the life-saving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and so poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. So they replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in an enlarged building. Now the life-saving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they re-decorated it beautifully and furnished it as a sort of club.

Less of the members were now interested in going to sea on life-saving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work. The mission of lifesaving was still given lip service but most were too busy or lacked the necessary commitment to take part in the life-saving activities personally.

About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet, and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick, and some of them had black skin, and some spoke a strange language, and the beautiful new club was considerably messed up. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside.

At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club's life-saving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal life pattern of the club. But some members insisted that life-saving was their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a life-saving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the lives of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own life-saving station down the coast. They did.

As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. They evolved into a club and yet another life-saving station was founded. If you visit the seacoast today you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are still frequent in those waters, only now most of the people drown.

The term “mission” can conjure various images, from a bearded man in a pith helmet trudging around the African jungle to a building in the city offering various services to the community, Such as the Mission to Seamen in Hannell St Newcastle. Many a cartoon depicts the upper half of the unfortunate missionary sticking out of the top of a large cooking pot, indicating that his efforts to bring light into their darkness has not been readily appreciated by the locals. It is in fact true that some missionary activities have done more harm than good to the local culture, while others, especially those bringing health and healing, have been a godsend. The name Albert Schweitzer springs to mind, he who said “Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him.”

In thinking about mission in our local context and in these days, it is important to clarify what it means, especially within the ethos of the Uniting Church

Firstly, mission is not the same as evangelism, though they are related. One definition of evangelism is “To so present Jesus Christ that others will come to put their faith in him”. Mission, on the other hand, seeks to listen and observe in order to identify needs in the community and find ways to meet them. It is true that sometimes a person who receives the missional ministry of the church chooses to convert to the Christian Church, but that is not the main aim of the mission. Nothing in Jesus’ great missional statement in Luke 4 mentions anything about a required response to his bringing of good news to the poor.

So I could stand here now and extol to you the virtues of electric cars, and show you my new MG4 in the car park. I could tell you how much money and emissions I will be saving, and how it can go from 0-100 in 7 seconds, and has a fully charged range of 450kms. The key words here are “tell you”. The evangelist may not be a great listener; but the church that seeks to be in mission with its community starts right there. Mission respects the integrity of the local context and culture. That is why, when constructing its mission plan, the church starts by listening, rather than by assuming what the community needs, including having their minds changed about what they believe about God or electric cars. Kennon Callahan says “Churches with effective mission have tended to identify specific hurts and hopes with which they have shared their principal leadership and financial resources.”

True Christian Mission is unconditional in what it delivers, seeking no reward or recognition. For example, the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross, while its name suggests a church connection, nowhere badges itself as a Uniting Church endeavour. Nor does the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, or the Wesley Mission. Nor did Lifeline before it became completely community-based.

Yet they are, or were, all true missions of our church.

Another part of the missional nature of these and other endeavours is that they are ready, when appropriate, to “give themselves away” when the right time comes.

Let me offer you an example of how one church did this. The Bathurst Uniting Church was my first placement, so I saw it firsthand. Firstly, the minister and Elders discerned a gap in services to young people in need. So they lobbied for funding which enabled the commencement of The Bathurst Youth Service, housed on church property in William St. and overseen by the Church Council. A similar process led to the establishment of a Lifeline Counselling Centre, and a third, to the establishment of a local Senior Citizen’s Group. These three programs had in common that they were the result of a listening and consultative process, and were established to meet specific needs.

My understanding is that all three missional activities have long since been handed over into the control of the governance of the local and wider community. This frees the local church to discern new missional ventures.

In a similar way, the Church Council at Hamilton Uniting handed over the governance of the Margaret Jurd College, initially a project of the Newcastle Youth Service, to the Hunter Presbytery and community-based Board. This school now stands head and shoulders above all of the other church schools I know in its outreach to challenged and disadvantaged young people. Started by Margaret Jurd in a disused pub in Stockton, it now takes students to year 12, and has a strong program of helping students from school into paid employment. Missional activities should never be for the aggrandisement of the church, but should be of the Gospel values of love and humility.

The practical issue facing this congregation is that, before it can call a new ministry agent, there has to be in place a concrete and achievable mission plan. The Hamilton Congregation went through a similar process about seven years ago. The minister had left, and the church could not afford a full time replacement. At the same time, they had been trying for ages to devise a plan to redevelop the building next door, which was becoming decrepit and dangerous. A small Mission Planning team was assembled, including a few suitably gifted people from the wider community, which simultaneously worked with other agencies of the Presbytery and Synod to plan and build the redevelopment. This process had to achieve two things- it had to show how the new building would house community groups in such a way as to have a missional impetus, and it had to achieve an income stream that, together with the congregational offerings and income from other sources such as the Bill’s Place coffee and op shop, could finance and support a full-time ministry placement. All of that is now in place.

The compilation of such a Mission Plan here would initially need, in my opinion, the commitment of about six people from this congregation, who would be willing to meet regularly over a period of about six months to put the Plan together. It is my conviction that these people are here in the congregation, and would be willing to make this task a priority for that period of time. I’m not talking about people already heavily committed to keeping the church running. They have enough to do. If it’s you I am talking to, feel free to let me know in your own time. (I could say “no pressure” but I have experienced God’s call on my life as pressure at certain times. It has led me to unexpected places.)

Today, we revisit St Paul’s words to the Philippians in chapter three. These words inspired the formulators of the Uniting Church’s basis of Union to affirm that “We are a people ON THE WAY to the promised goal.” While we live and breathe, our work is not yet done. Likewise, we do not hold this space by divine right, but in terms of Jesus’ parable, we are tenants working in God’s vineyard, and it is to the landlord that we owe primary allegiance. Our ongoing responsiveness to God’s call is a condition of our discipleship, and at the end of the day, we are simply doing our duty.

Let me conclude with a true story that hopefully reinforces the parable with which we begun:

The city church was popular with the community as a chosen wedding venue, having up to five services on a Saturday. Because of the steps leading into the front entrance, it was difficult to bring in a person in a wheelchair, so the property committee had a temporary ramp built with two steel channels for the wheels. The gradient made for a difficult manoeuvre, but the main problem arose the day a person arrived in a motorised wheelchair. In the end they had to suffer the indignity of being carried into the church.

The matter was raised with the congregation, and plans devised for a permanent ramp of regulation gradient into the front door. When the plans were viewed, some raised the objection that the ramp would spoil the look of the church. Others suggested that affected people could be brought in though a back entrance. Others again argued that the project was far too expensive for the benefit that it would achieve. At that time, an elderly member died, and left a sum of money to be used “at the discretion of the minister”, which covered a third of the cost of the pathway. The various pros and cons were discussed, and finally a majority of the congregation voted to go ahead. The need was identified and met, not only for physically challenged guests, but also elderly church members who came to find the new way into the church to be a real boon when they came to the stage of needing to use a walker.

As the old Methodist Covenant Service used to say, “Sometimes we can please God and please ourselves. At other times, we cannot please God except by denying ourselves” I would add, “and sometimes we just have to jump in, not knowing which it will be.”

Brian Brown

Anchor 17

Anchor 18

“BUT YOU…”

Presented to The Willows and Boolaroo Uniting Churches 5 November 2023

Today’s message is about leadership.

I cannot think of a more critical time for national and international leadership in the history of the world. I find it hard to identify leaders who are steeped in the ways of justice and righteousness. I see national leaders greedy for power, hungry for wealth. I see whole peoples being trampled underfoot. I see a lazy and culpable disregard for the health of the planet. Frankly, a lot of the time I am in despair. I feel like the psalmist “How long must we cry our till justice rolls down like a river”.

At the other end of the spectrum, the issue of leadership is especially relevant given that this congregation is about to elect a re-formed Church Council, which we propose be called a Mission Council in keeping with its new focus. This Mission Council will be an amalgamation of the administrative work of the former Church Council, and at least 50% of people chosen specifically for their passion and experience in ministry. It’s on a different scale to national and world leadership, but the principles are similar, and just as important in their own way.

Now the concept of “leadership” can mean different things to different people. The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tsu said that the best leader was one when, at the completion of their time in leadership, the people would say “We did it ourselves”. At quite another level, former US President and actor Ronald Reagan said “If they don’t not see the light, then apply the heat.”

These two men’s ideas are poles apart, but what they have in common is the thought of the leader as an individual.

This was also true in the Methodist tradition, where the minister was pretty much considered to be “the boss”. He (as it usually was) would do everything in the service including all the prayers, readings and of course the sermon. He would also usually read the first verse of every hymn before it was sung. I have even known of a few who, if the organist was away, would rush to the keyboard and play the hymn tunes as well.

Well, times have certainly changed, have they not? These days worship liturgy is indeed “the work of the people”, (“laos” means people, “ergos” means work) where ideally not only are the roles shared, but so too is the planning both for individual services, and for the liturgical year ahead.

Shared leadership in the church took a step forward when the new Uniting Church embraced the concept of Eldership* (see footnote) from the Presbyterian tradition, and expanded it to form a Council of Elders, whose responsibility is to share leadership, along with the minister in the areas of pastoral care, worship, education and so on. Ministers in the UCA are not THE BOSS of the congregation, though they may be considered to be the overall ministry team leader. The Church Council is the primary decision-making body, of which the minister is an ex officio member, and the regulations require that 50% of that body consists of elected elders, to ensure that there is a clear focus on ministry, along with the administration.

Our understanding of the leadership needed for our day is crucial. We need to identify the gifts and strengths of those who are to be called, those who will encourage the whole congregation in their faith, hope and love, and embrace the style of leadership to which Jesus calls his followers. And when those leaders are identified and chosen by the gathered congregation, every one of us is involved in an act of leadership ourselves.

The bible contains a lot of material about leadership, with many examples both good and bad, and some insights as to the way chosen leaders need to conduct themselves. At the top end, so to speak, great leaders were anointed by God for specific tasks. Like David, for example, they were not always the obvious choice. When we delve into our three readings for today, we see those great anointed leaders, Joshua, Paul, and Jesus expanding the leadership role to embrace those who followed them. Let’s take a quick look.

Firstly, from the Book of JOSHUA chapter 2, the leader of the Israelites was chosen by God to carry on the mantle of Moses: Today’s passage is all about leadership, specifically describing the process by which the Israelites would enter the Promised Land. In obedience to God, Joshua says to the gathered tribes “Now select 12 men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe.” The leaders are selected by the people because they know their own.

I can quite literally lift these words from Joshua and say to you “Now select 12 (or so) to lead this congregation across the difficult currents of our day and into a new and exciting time and place. Only make sure that among these elected are at least 4 women and at least 4 men, because times have changed, and so must we!

Secondly, 1 THESSALONIANS chapter2: For me the key for today in this passage is to be found in a tucked away in verses 11 and 12, where Paul says ”As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father with his children, urging and encouraging you and pleading that you live a life worthy of God.”

You know this choice of words by the author really intrigues me: “urging”, “encouraging” “pleading”. WHY? Are these not the people of whom the apostles say “our message of the gospel came to you not in word only but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” (1:5). Are these not new converts who are powerfully convinced of the reality of Jesus Christ? Why did they have to be urged? Why did they have to be encouraged? Why did they have to be pleaded with? What went wrong?

Why? Because they were human. Because the first flush of love can quickly be spent under the weight of the daily grind. Because the early commitment to give all can be heavily impacted by the threats against those who seek to hold the moral and ethical line in the midst of hostile forces. Because lassitude can afflict us all, and perhaps particularly as we get older and tireder. Because sometimes we have to dig and delve a bit to expose our best selves.

The scriptures carry an urgent message of encouragement and pleading to regroup, to stand firm and strong together, not expending precious energy in internal conflicts and interpersonal grudges.

And finally, from the MATTHEW chapter 23 passage: There are two words ensconced in the heart of today’s passage, that put the focus firmly where it needs to be; two words that switch from the line of attack on the hypocritical religious leaders to a call to service of those who have become followers.

Those words are “BUT YOU….”. Now we all know that when “but” is used in a sentence, it calls us to attend to everything that follows it. So, if someone we respect says to us “I know you have tried your hardest but…” we fear what is to come next. However, if they say “I have been disappointed in you up to now, but…”, we get ready for some welcome praise. Or, when someone says “I am not a racist but…” we should prepare ourselves to hear them say something critical of another group”.

When Jesus says “BUT YOU…” he is calling the attention of his hearers away from the long diatribes against the Scribes and Pharisees, and back onto themselves lest they project all of their attention away from themselves and their own spiritual journey.

And when he says BUT YOU, he means YOU. And ME. He is saying, in effect, “I have just torn strips off the Scribes and Pharisees, and you have probably enjoyed that, BUT YOU…The greatest among you shall be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.” This is the kind of leader Jesus was- a servant leader with all the authority in the world because of it, and this is the kind of leaders and followers he calls us to be.

Thus is the established order turned upside down. Thus is the Church of God called back to mission and ministry. Others may have lost their way. Others may have been led away down other paths. BUT YOU, you are called and chosen to get on with it.

And so, as every member of this congregation takes at least some responsibility for the leadership process, the first task is simple. Nominate for election those people you consider to be the able administrators and leaders to serve on the new Mission Council. Discern their gifts and invite them to represent you. Discern those folk who have administrative skill to keep the church running efficiently. Discern those who have the ministry gifts and skills to serve as Elders. They may be tried and proven. They might also be someone for whom this is a new challenge. The congregation will then discern by their vote on 26th November who is chosen to lead in this service of Christ.

I know the hurdles. I have heard the cynicism. I am aware that some are tired through much service, and may be ready to take some well-deserved rest. When faced with such situations I am always encouraged by the process by which Gideon’s army was chosen. Those who are left when everyone else has gone home are the ones who get the job done. The saying “God marches with the big battalions” is just another way of saying that God’s power seems to have been usurped by those who have the biggest armies and the best weapons. But that saying is not biblical. What IS biblical is this: “Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit says the Lord.”

AMEN

* The ministry of Eldership was embraced by the newly formed Uniting Church as a way of sharing the leadership roles of the congregation among those who the congregation discerned to have gifts and skills for the task. Initially, and in the tradition of the Presbyterian Church, Elders were given lists of congregation members and asked to maintain pastoral contact with them on a regular basis or as needed. This was not as successful in some places as the UCA might have hoped, because many chosen for Eldership were not necessarily the best suited for this particular task. Also, in some cases it did not account for the caring relationships already existing in the congregation.

Elders are elected to exercise leadership in all areas of the Church’s ministry and mission, alongside the Minister. Our Regulations call for the Church Council (Which we propose be renamed “Mission Council” to have a membership that includes at least 50% Elders, so that both the administrative and ministry work of the church can be given appropriate focus.

To be clear, all members of the congregation are welcome and encouraged to participate in the ministry and mission of the congregation, in whatever area they may feel suited. They do not have to be Elders to do so. Elders are there to provide leadership, as well as usually having “hands on” roles in some ministry area(s). All Elders are entitled to be part of the Church (Mission) Council, though some may chose to not do so.

Brian Brown

Anchor 19

“READY AND WAITING” Joshua 24:1-3a; 14-25, Matthew25: 1-13

Presented to The Willows Congregation, 12th November 2023

Last week, when I spoke about leadership, I mentioned a few quotes that portrayed different opinions as to what good leadership looked like. The gentle Chinese philosopher Lao Tsu spoke of the best leaders as those who left people believing that they had done it themselves. On the other hand, we had a smile about the more stringent pronouncement of Ronald Reagan- “If they do not see the light, then apply the heat.”

Ironically, the tenor of today’s readings tends towards this latter Reaganesque emphasis. Both Joshua and Jesus display a strong sense of urgency in their admonitions to their respective audiences.

Different times call for different tactics. Joshua speaks to the Israelites in the days immediately preceding his own death. The leadership is about to change. This is no time for complacency in their attitude, or ambiguity in their allegiance to God. The Jesus of Matthew’s Gospel is himself speaking to the people in his own dying days. His followers are about to be tested in the extreme crisis of his execution. This is no time to expect that they can sit back and let others take responsibility for charging their lamps with oil, of being prepared for cataclysmic change.

Be prepared! I remember embracing this motto when I was inducted into Cubs, as a young boy. You had to learn to tie a bowline around your waist without looking, in case you fell into deep water and someone threw you a rope. You had to know a round turn and two half hitches in case you had to secure the leg of an elephant to a nearby tree trunk. In these and many other ways we were trained, also later in the Boy Scouts, to be competent and responsible citizens, not expecting others to pick up after us, nor letting our lack of planning become someone else’s emergency. I also learned from my best friend’s father how to tie on a fishing hook using a half blood knot, and locking it using an extra loop. If the big one is going to get away, as some inevitably do, you do not want the extra mortification of a lazy failed knot.

It seems that at least half of the young female population of the Israel of Jesus’ day may not have had the opportunity to receive similar disciplined training or if they did, they did not take it seriously. When the time came for them to wait for the coming of the bridegroom, they did not have spare oil to charge their lamps. Somewhere along the line they had lost their focus, become distracted. They were not prepared and ready.

The judgment of them in Jesus’ parable seems unduly harsh. Is there no place of forgiveness here? Jesus often uses hyperbole in his parables to ram home his point, because the times are urgent, and people need to be ready for anything at any time.

Similarly, Joshua pulls no punches as he addresses the people about what he suspects is their less than wholehearted allegiance to the God of Israel. Three times he challenges them to put away the idols of the local deities of which they have become enamoured in their travels. Three times they insist that they are fully committed to the God of Israel. Even then he remains unconvinced as to their sincerity. As I read this again the damning words of the Spirit of Christ in The Book of Revelation to the Church of Laodicea came to mind “You are neither hot nor cold, and I will spew you out of my mouth.” Maybe Ronald Reagan had a point- “If they do not see the light, then apply the heat.”

In summary, the scriptures of the day carry a clear and pointed message- it does not pay to forget the basics. You will not get away with it. It does not pay to hedge your bets and have divided allegiances. God will not forgive you!

Well, there would be few people in the developed world who still have to remember to charge their lamps with oil. On the other hand, we all have to know how to charge our devices with electricity. Nowadays we do not mark our golf-cards with a pencil. It’s all done on our mobile phones. A few weeks ago I got to the course to find that I had not put my iphone on the charger overnight, and had to struggle get though the round on about 10% charge.

Even more exacting is learning the process of charging an electric car, including and remembering to do it at home on a sunny day.

So much for day-to-day practicalities. Jesus and Joshua had more on their minds than routine maintenance and preparedness. They lived in desperate days when anything could happen, even matters of life and death. Their exacting message is about the preparedness of the whole person, body mind and spirit, for the seen and unseen challenges that lay ahead.

In our day, as in theirs, it is not just a matter of getting prepared for what we can foresee to be looming crises. We may well bemoan the obvious increase in catastrophic climate disasters around the world. Well may we grieve the cataclysmic conflicts in Ukraine and Israel/Palestine. But these are all foreseeable given the scientific predictability of global warming, or the inevitability of the disgustingly lucrative international arms trade, where the liberal use of weapons of war is making big money for vested interests in human suffering. It is also about being prepared for the unforseen; knowing that anything can happen. According to ancient philosopher Lao Tsu “The superior man is on his guard against what is not yet in sight and is on the alert for what is not yet within hearing” (from the I Ching - The Book of Changes)

In the course of my ministry I have on many occasions been with people who were faced with sudden calamity, or had sustained a tragic loss that they could see coming, but even then found themselves unprepared for its impact. There are indeed some things about which no amount of preparation can protect us. The import of today’s scriptures is however that there are things that we can do, indeed we MUST do to prepare ourselves and our community for whatever lies ahead. One of these things, as Joshua emphasises, is that we are clear and strong about where our allegiances lie. “Choose this day who you will serve.” Among other things being disciplined followers of the way of Jesus ensures that when the chips are down, we will not end up on the wrong side of history.

There is also a further step, which comes though the words of Jesus “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” This is obviously not an instruction to forego our afternoon nap! It’s about the discipline of inner spiritual work, which engenders in its devotees a strength and fitness that is ready for anything. Those who have done the inner work are inevitably in a better position to cope than those who have not. Furthermore, those who are prepared in the sense that they have become part of a supportive community are almost always better off in facing a crisis than those who are alone. Where the stars really align is when the supportive community is one where there are resources beyond the physical presence of friends and family. They include training and instruction in spiritual disciplines; discipline that prepares us for the psychological and spiritual impact of the unforseen catastrophe, or simply major life changes that we must all inevitably face. The church, which at its best offers good religion to support and uphold its members through the storms of life, is an ideal environment. I am sure that many of you here can attest to that.

Now it’s time for a confession. You were kind, earlier in the service, to forgive me without knowing what for! I did the same for you, because we like to embrace the high ideal of unconditional acceptance. The fact is that I have always struggled to maintain spiritual discipline to the extent that I know is good for me. On my own, I am basically slack, and open to the idea of another cup of tea or some other distraction when meditation or study or an act of service is the more healthy option. What I know about myself is that this is probably not going to change much in the future, as I seek to sustain my good intentions for more than a few days.

What I also know about myself is that I tend to thrive in a group setting, or when I have a specific commitment to fulfil. For example, being in this time of Supply ministry, where my focus is on this church’s journey, is good for me as well. Sometimes we need to make ourselves accountable to one another in what we aim for in the spiritual life and the discipline of inner work.

What I am leading up to say is that as this church community moves across the Jordan and into a new future, being prepared and ready is going to make a lot of difference to how the transition is achieved. And it may well be a good thing for the newly elected Elders to contemplate how best to guide the fellowship into areas where spiritual growth is the main focus. Ideally I would like to work with you along those lines in the time I remain with you, though I hesitate to promise too much and then not be in a position to deliver.

Transitions are a part of life, and some are bigger than others. What I like to think is that where we are headed now will be more than simply a transition, but also a transformation of this community to a new day of ministry and mission. To miss the moment due to unnecessary distractions may not be unforgivable, but would be regrettable to say the least. I hope that we can all choose at least some level of commitment to the task, and express that willingness of the spirit as we sing our response in the words of Charles Wesley- “A charge to keep I have…” AMEN

Brian Brown

SIGNS OF HOPE

Presented to the congregations of Warners Bay and Boolaroo on SUNDAY 3rd DECEMBER 2023

“From the fig tree learn its lesson; as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.” (Matthew 24: 32)

On the first Sunday of Advent we are called to renewed hope in the fulfillment of God’s promise to come into the midst of humanity with power and grace. The signs of hope are there if we are willing to open our eyes and see them.

There is much in today’s Gospel reading that is bewildering, disturbing and difficult to understand. Those who have tried to anticipate the future based on a literal interpretation of such apocalyptic predictions have ended up confounding themselves, not to mention others who have drunk the “coolaid”, so to speak.

A sign is simply that- a sign. It points somewhere. The sign is not the thing to which it points. It might confirm for us that we are on the right road, or perhaps that we might need to adjust our direction. Signs can also be open to interpretation. When we were walking in Ireland about eight years ago, we learned that an Irish mile was not always necessarily a literal 1.6 kilometres.

Having said that, signs of hope can be critically important in helping us to restore our faith in the journey we are on, and lifting our energy to enable us to keep going.

Let me share with you two experiences I have had of seeing signs of hope during difficult times of my life journey. Let me say first that I am not one of those people who is quick to grasp at straws, or confuse genuine hope with wishful thinking. I can only tell you about two things that actually happened, and what they meant to me. How others might interpret these events is up to them.

The first happened when I was living through the difficult consequences of a failed marriage. I was driving taxis at the time, and had applied for a job as an adolescent and family counsellor with “Careforce”, the community care wing of the Sydney Anglican Church. This unlikely scenario was in itself full of irony, and I was hugely surprised to actually be offered the job. I remember going into the study of the place I was house sitting at the time to pray. The scene from the study window was of the rolling hills and dairy farms of Gerroa. As I looked, I saw a cow lying on its side in the top corner of the paddock nearest the house. It seemed to be in distress, and as I watched I realised that it was in labour. It eventually gave birth, and I held my breath as the newborn calf struggled to life. As both mother and calf staggered to their feet the thought hit me that I had seen a sign of hope for the future. While part of me whispered a prayer of thanks, one side of my brain was trying to calculate the odds of that thing happening in just that spot and that exact time.

A sign of hope. This was in fact a critical turning point in my life. I only stayed in that role for 18 months, but it lead to my placement as Chaplain at the steelworks from 1995 to 2000, thence to Hamilton UC for eleven years before three years at head office in Sydney.

The sign of hope is itself not the most important thing. What really matters is where it points, and how we take up the challenge it invites us to. Last Sunday, during the service before the Special Congregational Meeting, I mentioned that looking out at probably the largest congregation I had seen at The Willows during my time here was a positive sign for the future. It told me that here was a community of faith who were willing to accept a proposed direction, and rise to the challenge to bring it to fulfilment. I cannot say dogmatically that I am right, but am happy to take that view until I am proved wrong.

Jesus uses a budding fig tree to illustrate how the present can indicate the future. The new leaves and branches herald the coming of summer. One way to respond to such a sign is simply to rejoice that things are again unfolding as they always have, and so there is nothing to worry about. Or, we can be happy about the change of season, and then start to get ourselves ready for the new challenge that the different season requires of us. As I said, the sign is not the thing. The thing is, what will we do when the sign hope points us in a particular direction?

I could now get us bogged down in the treacherous marshes of national and international conflict, but I won’t. I am sure that we give such things ample time and energy anyway. What I am more concerned about here and now is how this church rebuilds a platform for its mission, so that when we do look outward to a world and a local community in distress, we do so while building on a firm foundation of faith, hope and love.

There are signs of hope if we are willing to see them. I think it was on my very first Sunday here and at Boolaroo that I showed you a photo of the flowering gum in our native garden at home. Well, to call it a “flowering gum” at that time was a gross exaggeration, given that it had one single blossom. Now, one could either call that a sign of hope or a premonition of disaster. I used it to say that times were indeed tough, both for the tree and for this congregation, and invite the interpretation that this single blossom was a small sign of hope, both for the tree and for the church.

Now let me show you the flowering gum as it was earlier this week. (two photos of the tree in full bloom)

In the season of Advent, we look forward with hope, love, peace and joy to the coming of Jesus into a world that itself was running out of hopeful options. I am hoping that, as we move through these Advent themes, we will reflect about where God is pointing us in terms of the fulfilment of that hope.

I said I had two experiences of signs of hope to share with you, and some may be wondering what the other one was. It was 2011, in the months before taking up my role as Synod Moderator. Someone who should have known better was making trouble for me, and I had just fielded a difficult phone-call before walking to a property committee meeting in Hamilton. As I left the house I saw a young owl sitting on the gatepost, less that a metre from where I would pass. I fully expected it to fly away, but it just sat there. Fifty yards down the street I realised that I had left my folder at home, so retraced my steps, walking back past the immoveable owl. I called Helen to come and look at this unusual phenomenon. We stood a few metres from the owl discussing if it might be hurt. I must have then briefly looked away. When I turned again, the owl was gone. What I am reporting to you is the literal truth. What each of us might make of it can vary depending on how we interpret the world around us; how we understand the ways of the Spirit. My conclusion was not so much that God sent a young owl to reassure me, but rather that the appearance and unusual behaviour of the bird reminded me that God is faithful, and that I had indeed been called to that particular path. What I drew from that experience was indeed subjective, but helped sustain me through a sometimes exacting and difficult three years.

Friends, we can choose how we are going to interpret the signs of the times. Are they signs of hope, are they portents of disaster, or are they nothing but wishful thinking? We cannot always be sure. What we see sometimes depends on where we stand. What we do know however is that the way we respond will have a bearing on how things actually turn out. So, lets try and make hope real. Let’s make the hopeful road by walking it together.

Brian Brown

Anchor 20

THE FORGOTTEN VIRTUE

Presented to Warners Bay UC Sunday 10th December 2023

Of all the virtues that are named and described in the Christian Scriptures, as well as other sacred writings, it seems to me that peace is the one most quickly discarded and forgotten when the chips are down. When humanity is under threat, the survival instinct, that most potent and amoral inner drive, brings out the animal in us. When war is raging, in whatever sphere of the human experience, cries for justice and compassion are drowned out in the furious fight for survival and dominance.

Viewed from the safe distance of the decades it is almost impossible for us to comprehend how the major genocidal slaughters of innocent people could have come about. Nothing seems to have been able to halt the crude cruelty of Hitler, or Pinochet or Pol Pot or Mao Tse Tung, to name just a few. And now, the devastation of Ukraine and Gaza comes right into our lounge-rooms and no one, seemingly has the power to stop it. Dear God, where is peace?

Great efforts have been made in the aftermath of some of the worst conflicts in recent times. The League of Nations and then The United Nations have been two heroic attempts to rebuild the structures of world peace, but even they seem feebly impotent in the face of the veto of compassion and common sense by the so-called major powers.

In a ground-breaking South African musical of the 1960s called Ipi Tombi, with a fully African cast, at one point the narrator laments “The men are preparing for battle. A war over cattle? Dear God! Where is peace?” It all seems so silly, so unnecessarily wasteful, so frustratingly unstoppable.

One obvious conclusion in reflection on these things is that peace, the forgotten virtue, never just breaks out in the way that war does. It either arrives in the wake of utter exhaustion, or because of exhaustive efforts by heroic peacemakers to bring warring parties together. Engendering peace is plain hard work. Someone has to repent. Parties have to turn around. Reparations have to be made, and if it is not done properly, then they will simply just kick the can of war a little way down the road.

When we think about the virtue of peace we can understand it in roughly three categories- peace among nations and tribes, interpersonal peace among our local communities, friends and families, and intrapersonal peace, that which dwells within our own hearts and expresses itself in our individual lives. But from the macro to the micro spheres, the principles are roughly the same.

In Jesus’ day, the people lived under Roman occupation, in an Empire famous for its so-called “Roman Peace” which was peace imposed by force. If you conformed, you would be left alone. If you did not, you would face excruciating visible punishment, designed to show everyone else what was at stake should they step out of line. Basically every totalitarian regime known to humanity has used this tactic to control their populations; along with some that call themselves “liberal democracies” while denying a large chunk of the population under their control any democratic rights. “Roman Peace” never leads to a just society except perhaps in tiny enclaves of compassion and resistance.

True and lasting peace, on the other hand, is the peace that is enabled by the implementation of restorative justice. Good examples of this are hard to find. One is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa at the end of the Apartheid era. Much healing was enabled in this coming together of perpetrators of violence and their victims. Yet even this heroic effort led by Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu has become depleted under the corruption of the new regime. Peace, the forgotten virtue, is hard to achieve, and even harder to keep hold of with the passage of time.

Thankfully, we do tend to get better results in the smaller samples of interpersonal engagement. We currently have wonderful neighbours, and regularly give thanks for them. But we need to work at it. It does not just happen. Likewise, our church communities and our families can be a real mixed bag. We sometimes behave in ways that squander the positive energy that we need for community building. We sometimes fight over the most trivial of issues, painfully unaware of the deeper energies that these surface conflicts disguise. And sometimes, when we get it all together, we celebrate true peace in our midst.

Having said that, it also has to be true that there is no interpersonal conflict or struggle that cannot be improved by our own efforts to work hard for a peaceful solution. When it comes to war and peace, we are either part of the problem or part of the solution. The call to repentance by John the Baptist, then of Jesus himself, is a call to turn OURSELVES around and find new and creative ways of doing things, including being peacemakers.

Let me offer you a challenge, when I suggest that in your lives, as in mine, there is likely at least one situation that can be improved in the next week if and when we make an honest attempt at peace. It could even be before we go home today. If we are not serious about this, we are simply wasting one another’s time.

International relationships, community and family relationships, intrapersonal peace. The peace within our own hearts and minds. The peace that passes all understanding. This can be the toughest one. I remember a quote of Gandhi, when asked about how he dealt with his enemies. His response- “The British Empire is the easiest to deal with. The Indian people- they are harder work. But the hardest of all is Mahatma Gandhi!”

Dear God, where is peace?

Yet there are those in our midst who have been more influential than most in bringing the forgotten virtue to the forefront. The Quakers, who developed as a movement after the Civil War in Britain in the 17th Century, are a peace church. They are by conviction and policy, pacifists. Their view about international conflict is that it needs to be pre-empted rather than solved. Their way in this regard is through regular small acts of kindness and compassion, that both demonstrate what peace can be like, and instil harmony among people. They also bear witness in their pacifism to the futility of war, and many have suffered great hardship, even martyrdom, as a result. But for a church that professes to follow Jesus, it’s hard to argue that they are wrong.

I had a friend in South Africa called Billy Paddock, who felt so strongly about the injustices of the system that he refused to serve in the military under conscription. He was jailed, and the last I heard of him, much later, was that he had his arm broken in prison.

The high price of peace. And he was White. And an Anglican.

Another crucial gift of the Quakers is how to use silence as a spiritual discipline to engender inner and interpersonal peace. Most if not all of the time in their meetings, or “sittings” as they call them, is spent in silence, or silent meditation. People may speak if they feel led by the Spirit to do so, but silence is the major part. Peace is the common factor in their lives, from the breadth of international relationships to the quiet of their own hearts.

It sounds easy, but it is not. It is something of which we have to remind ourselves regularly. The human heart and mind are quick to run of down futile paths of fear and anger and self-recrimination. The way of peace is forgotten. I found this quote in a novel that featured sayings of the Chinese philosopher Lao Tsu: “The heart thinks constantly. This cannot be changed, but the movements of the heart- that is, a person’s thoughts, should restrict themselves to the immediate situation. All thinking beyond this only makes the heart sore”.

Having sought this path throughout my adult life, I have learned that for the individual, the regular spiritual discipline of quiet meditation is best achieved in community. At one stage I was a regular visitor to the Benedictine Abbey at Jamberoo, and took part in their programs of meditation and biblical reflections. The nuns worshipped together five times a day. People are sometimes critical of what seems like a sheltered existence, but they have learned that their spiritual practices can only be maintained in the discipline of the order.

Likewise, the Quakers find their strength to carry out small acts of kindness and compassion, as well as brave public stands for peace on the back of their regular silent sitting together to hear the Spirit. As I reflect on this I become more and more convinced that the way forward, for this and other communities of faith starts in such a quiet place. The ways in which we may be called to be at mission and in service in our community cannot simply be impose by hard thinking, but must arise from the fertile depths of disciplined communal contemplation.

It is only as we gently draw ourselves back to the eternal present that peace, the forgotten virtue, emerges into our consciousness. This is meditation, or, if you like, meditative prayer. I suspect that this might just be the key to where we rediscover the forgotten virtue, that pearl of great price, the finding of which leads to the peace of God that passes all understanding.

It starts in here. And in here.

AMEN

Anchor 21

Anchor 22

COMING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

Presented to Warners Bay UC and Boolaroo UC Christmas Day 25th December 2023

Coming home for Christmas can at times be a fraught event, as the following story illustrates.

An old man in Scotland called his son Malcolm in London the day before Christmas Eve and said “I hate to ruin your day but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough.”

“Dad, what are you talking about?” Malcolm screamed.

“We cannot stand the sight of each other any longer,” his father said. “We are sick of each other and I’m sick of talking about this, so you can call your sister in Leeds and tell her.”

Frantic, Malcolm called his sister Isla, who exploded.

“Like hell they are getting divorced!” she shouted. “I’ll take care of this.”

She called Scotland immediately and screamed at her father, “You are NOT getting divorced. Don’t do a single thing until I get there. I’m calling Rick back and we’ll both be there tomorrow. Until then, do not do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?” and hung up.

The old man put down the phone, turned to his wife and said, “Sorted! They’re coming home for Christmas and they are paying their own way.”

The idea of being home for Christmas is such an evocative one, is it not, even if in reality we have moved far from the childhood environments that so fiercely fuel our nostalgia at this time.

For many, the revisiting of the fading photographs of how it once was is as likely to energise memories that feed our pain as much as our joy.

In the Christmas edition of the Synod Magazine Insights, our new Moderator Rev Faimata Havea Hiliau reflects on her memories of “home”. She says “Being home stirred strong memories of love, loss and lessons. Driving down the main street and passing the housing commission home where I grew up. I remembered the good times, but also the challenges I faced as a child, teenager and as a young woman.”

In the struggle to maintain the best of the festive spirit without unnecessary conflict many of us who have children and grandchildren have to choose between visiting expectant in-laws, and where there have been separations, there may be three or even four “homes” to choose from.

Even those families that are still mainly intact and in place know that the expectations of the big day can often give way to disappointment, as the saying is once again true, “It is better to travel hopefully that to arrive.”

We will do our best to make the best of it, and how good that “best” can be! For some, however, it is better to not put all our eggs in the “Happy Christmas family at home” basket. Even if it is true for us, when our love expands beyond our own family circle, we must surely have empathy for those who are “homeless” at Christmas, whatever homelessness means for them.

On that first Christmas, Joseph returned home to Bethlehem with his betrothed Mary. They were required to be there to register for the Roman census, and Mary needed a bed on which to rest, and a place to give birth. I’m told that the origin of the term “Silent night” was when Joseph came out of the crowded inn and sheepishly said to Mary “I know, I know. I should have booked when you told me to.” A very silent night followed! Imagine coming home in this state and not even being able to get a room at the local! Joseph was home, but where was his family? No home and family Christmas for them, unless you include the cattle and sheep, the shepherds and the angels.

In fact, for Jesus, home was never that idyllic place we dream about. When King Herod tried to kill him, and all the boys under two, he and his family became refugees in Egypt. Taken to Jerusalem aged 12, he preferred to hang out with the wise scribes in the temple than go home with his parents. Later, when the authorities complained to Jesus’ mother and brothers about his eccentric behaviour they tried to rein him in, only to be told that they were no longer his primary relationships. And when he preached his first home-town sermon his fellow Nazarines tried to throw him over a cliff. As he himself once said “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.”

So if we are thinking about what it means to come home for Christmas, we might need to expand the boundaries in order to find the safe abiding place that “home’ evokes in our hearts and minds.

At one level, home is wherever we are at the time. Helen and I have moved eight times in our thirty years together, but everywhere we have been has had a Christmas tree. When the Israelites were in exile, the prophet told them to make homes and families where they were, even if it was among foreigners. Indeed, when they returned to their home country, the place was so devastated as to be unrecognisable. Funny how history is still repeating itself, and will do so until we learn its lessons.

To be true to the spirit of Christmas, we really have to reflect on the deepest sense on what it means to come home; because all around the world, and even in this country, the traditional concept of home is a distant if not impossible dream. Washed away by floodwaters, blasted to smithereens by military onslaught, stolen by an abusive partner, what passes for home might be a hospital bed in a bombed out city, or a hastily erected and badly under-resourced refugee camp on some marginal wasteland, or a shelter where the main common identifying element of the occupants are their bruises and their tears.

For life to have meaning, for Christmas to be real, we have to find home deeper down than we might have ever thought. In one sense, home is not so much where we live as where we abide. Home is where we are among our primary relationships; with those whose scars identify us as being of the same clan. Home is a community that may be fluid in its membership, but at its heart are core beliefs that guide our attitudes, our convictions and our behaviours.

I love the definition of family as “those who, when you knock on the door, have to let you in’. Or “home is where the heart is”. In fact, you do not need to be blood relatives for this to happen. This can just as easily happen in Civic Park today as volunteers gather to feed the homeless. “God is love, and those who live in love live in God and God lives in them”. This is the true abiding place of the believer in the way of Jesus, the ones who seek to walk his road.

True homecoming of the soul is when the loving father embraces the prodigal while asking no questions.

True homecoming of the mind is when we live by the ethic of “Do to others as you would have them do to you”.

True homecoming of the heart is when we put this teaching first “Love one another as I have loved you “ and “Love your neighbour as yourself”; when we come home to Christ, and to our best selves.

And when we produce in our lives the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control, it becomes clear that we abide in the Holy Spirit of God.

And in these days, when that sort of abiding place may look like a dim mirage, it is even more important than ever to commit to the frail hope that lies in the manger of Bethlehem; and in so doing, come home to ourselves as we truly, deeply are.

To quote the Moderator “So perhaps home is not so much a place or a location, but a home is where we meet Christ in our struggles and our joys.”

In my opinion, the best that we can say is that we are on the way home; home to a Christ-centred state of mind that never settles for the disadvantage of others, an ethic so deeply ingrained that we would give anything to not see a child hurt.

And in this, we have truly come home for Christmas.

Anchor 23

A WORD TO POINT THE WAY.

Presented to Warners Bay UC and Boolaroo UC 7th January 2024

Well, here we are at the start of another new year. Hopefully, by now we have evaluated the one that is past, taken its lessons on board, and are ready to move forward down another road less travelled. But does that road have a name?

Last year I shared with you that my name for that road, a label and signpost to help keep me on track, was “service”. Specifically, this involved being here with you at Warners Bay and Boolaroo Uniting. I also continued driving for Little Wings, taking sick country children and their families to and from Cessnock or Williamtown airport, and other places.

This was for me a very satisfying and rewarding journey of service, in spite of a few bumps and bruises along the way. Sadly, 2023 was also a year of some particularly nasty episodes of natural and human-induced disaster, some of which is ongoing Sometimes our service seems so meagre in the face of it, and we have to steel ourselves in the discipline of not giving up, nor shutting our eyes to it all.

In 2024 I am not expecting radical change, but am ready to embrace a few changes of emphasis. I will not be driving for Little Wings any more, partly because there are three new drivers in the Hunter, but mostly because at nearly 74, I am not as confident as I was about driving a van with such precious human cargo. My role here will also increase to a certain extent, and this is where my service will be focussed.

So, what is my word for 2024, my magnetic north for navigational purposes? My wife Helen recently directed my attention to an article in the Guardian by journalist Jane Hutcheon of “One plus One” fame. Jane used the term “mortality alarm” to describe her panic at the point that she realised how far she had come down the one-way street called “life”. This led her to a significant change of lifestyle. The light-bulb moment for her was an observation by a 74 year old British physician that while biological ageing is the main cause of health problems beyond 90, much of what we attribute to ageing- stiffness, getting out of breath, tiredness and weakness is simply the result of LACK OF FITNESS.

This really rings a bell with me. I have increasingly allowed myself to regard ageing like a series of staged retreats from what I was once able to do. I still experience that, but am realising that it is not nearly as much of a fait accompli as I once thought. To be sure, I am never going to be able to run 90 kms in 9 hours as I could in my 20s, however, having to stop for a rest two thirds up the flight of steps at Merewether baths is not a limitation that I am now willing to accept.

Jane Hutcheon tells us that to sustain reasonable fitness in ageing requires a weekly routine that includes brisk walking, some vigorous aerobic activity, and a few sessions of muscle strengthening exercises. Sadly, good as it is in so many ways, 27 holes of golf a week is not enough.

You may have worked out by now that my word for this year is HEALTH. Of course, it is not all about physical health. Mind games like chess and scrabble, along with reading, are excellent, but for me, that is fun, so easy to commit to. It is the physical and spiritual disciplines that require the most work, and in some ways resemble the rigours of manual labour.

You may well be asking what this has to do with the gospel- a fair question that occurred to me too. We know from the Hebrew scriptures that a long life, and prosperity as well, was seen by the Jews as a blessing from God. This is made clear, for example, in the Book of Job. This is understandable given that in those days, life after death and heaven were not part of the picture, so you had to make the most of what you had in the here and now. However, in the accounts of the communities where Jesus spent most of his time, there is very little about health and fitness as we understand it. There were no gyms, no ambulances, no Medicare. There were physicians, but the average person was poor, and the doctors did not come cheap. There appeared to be little time for leisure, and the word “retirement” was not in the Greek or Aramaic lexicon.

It is therefore understandable that people flocked to effective healers like Jesus, to the point where even he became overwhelmed by their demands.

To discover a Gospel perspective about health and fitness, we need to examine texts like the healing of the ten lepers, or indeed, of the woman who had been bleeding for ten years. In the former story, ten are healed, and only one comes back, which prompts Jesus to indicate that his healing has a deeper spiritual quality than the others, saying “Your faith has made you well”. Likewise, Jesus commends the faith of the woman who touches the hem of his garment. A Gospel understanding of healing and health leads to an understanding of wholeness, where wellbeing is about all parts of our lives, both individual and communal. One could sum it up in the words of Jesus in John 10:10. “I have come that you might have life, life in all is fullness.”

The gospel presentation of wholeness helps us to see that while words such as “service”. “faith” and “health” help describe different aspects of our spiritual journey, they are by no means unrelated, rather part of the organic whole of our lives in Christ.

And, hard as it is to do so in the society within which our characters are formed, we are also encouraged to try and move away from the stark focus on health as an individual quality. This challenge became clear during the Covid epidemic, which forced us to see health from a social responsibility point of view. I am not sure that we actually passed the test.

Today, most importantly, and in the context of this community of faith, I want to address the question “What are the marks of a healthy church?” What does it take for a congregation such as this to maintain and improve its communal health and energy in the face of the natural entropy of ageing? What does it mean to move beyond an individualistic preoccupation of health? And how does our faith, health and service form an organic and indivisible whole as we journey together into the new year?

“What are the marks of a healthy church?” I would love you to give some thought to this question in the coming week; and, if you like, write down your observations for me. If you are quick, they may get incorporated in next week’s address, when I will be sharing my understanding based on the observations of four decades of ministry.

If Jane Hutcheon’s mentor is correct, that it is not simply ageing but lack of fitness that is slowing us down, that insight would be a huge help as we face the formidable task of regrowing this church in ways that we cannot yet imagine.

Helen and I will be starting sessions at the gym next week. As much as this does not really enthuse me, I know myself well enough to understand that when discipline is concerned, be it physical or spiritual, commitment to a group really is the best way to ensure that what I desire actually happens. I also look forward to new ways of meeting together this year that will provide the opportunity for us to go deeper into the spiritual life. In so doing, we may be helped to develop an ever more healthy spirituality where we bear one another’s burdens and share one another’s joys.

So may this New Year be for each of you, and for all of us, a time of enrichment, a journey together in health, faith and service; indeed, life in all its fullness.

Anchor 24

MARKS OF A HEALTHY CHURCH

Presented to Warners Bay Uniting Church 14th January 2024

If you were to choose just one word that for you describes a mark of a healthy church, what would that one word be?

One of the healthy things about this church is the strong and thoughtful response I received to my question last week- “What do you see as the marks of a healthy church?” I now have a long list of words, phrases and ideas that together form an impressive lexicon of health. Thank you.

Added to that, we have a rich resource in the bible, particularly in the letters of Paul and others. They address the issue directly because they are writing to a diverse range of Christian congregations, many of which are struggling in their fledgling state. For example, the extract from Romans 12 we heard read this morning is a litany of the “Marks of a true Christian”. What follows is all about healthy relationships both in the church and in the wider community. The lectionary reading from 1 Corinthians 6, which we did not read, is strong medicine indeed, but says at its core that a healthy church respects healthy boundaries, an issue that has become particularly problematic in recent times, even necessitation a Royal Commission to set it straight.

Again, while the Book of Revelation is best known for its apocalyptic material, giving rise to fanciful ideas about when the end times will be, it is also in one place strongly focussed on what is and is not going well in the so called Seven Churches of Revelation. Each of the churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea has the spiritual ruler run over them, with varying results. While some are deemed healthy- for example, Thyatira is affirmed for its love, faith, service and patient endurance, Laodicea, on the other hand, is excoriated by the Spirit: “You are neither cold not hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm…I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” That is known as a wake-up call!

In the Gospels, we find much evidence in the teaching of Jesus as to what is of the most value- for example in the Beatitudes, Today, however, I just want to emphasise one thing, as it arises from the Gospel passage from John. When Jesus sees Nathaniel, he says to the others, “Here is a man in whom there is no guile”. In other words, what you see is what you get. A Nathaniel might tell you things you do not want to hear, but you would, I hope, want to value the honesty of his responses, like the ironic retort “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Meanwhile, back in the here and now, I tried to classify the responses I received during the week. They go something like this:

*A healthy church has its foundations on God, expressed primarily in worship.

*A healthy church is caring in its attention to the needs of its people, and those of the wider community; not only responding to the need to bind the wounds of those who suffer, but also to challenge the systems that engender suffering either by omission or deliberate cruelty.

*In terms of its ethos, or, if you like, its character, a healthy church is united in its diversity and embracing of difference.

*A healthy church, as it looks to its wider relationships, is authentic, open and expectant.

I do not today want to try and comment on this rich range of responses as to what constitutes a healthy church. The very diversity of them is healthy in itself. I am just going to settle on one word, to focuses my thoughts.

By now you may have settled on something in response to my opening question. What I invite you to do is write that word on the rectangle of cardboard that you received as you arrived, and pop it into the box on the foyer table. Some nice pens are available there, or you might also like to take the cardboard rectangle home and decorate it according to your artistic ability. We can then gather them and display them in some way that a person more gifted than I can devise. In this way we can hold in front of us the values that underpin our intention to keep putting healthy ways of being church into practice.

So let me offer you my “healthy” word, starting with a story.

A newly crowned King of a small but wealthy Kingdom wanted to make an impression, not only on his own people, but also on the monarchs and rulers of the lands around his. So he decided to build a beautiful, ornate fountain in the city square. It took many months and a significant amount of the little kingdom’s wealth to build the fountain, but finally the day approached when the magnificent structure would be unveiled, in the presence of all the surrounding rulers, lords and ladies.

The day before the big event, the King sent an edict to all of the townspeople. He decreed that each family in the kingdom should, on the night before the unveiling, bring a pail of milk, climb the hill behind the town, and pour the milk into the reservoir from which the fountain would be fed. How impressed his rivals would be when they saw this display of wealth, unity and generosity!

That night, one could see a seemingly never-ending line of lights as people climbed the hill with their pails.

The next morning, when all were gathered, and after a fanfare of trumpets, the sluice-gates were opened. All eyes were on the fountain. The King was beaming from ear to ear. Suddenly, the liquid erupted from the fountain in huge arcs. The problem was, it was not milk, as all were expecting, but water.

My word that helps describes a mark of a healthy church is GENEROSITY, an attribute that can sometimes be best defined in its negative.

True generosity in one of the richest of virtues. It is the essence of Jesus story about the widow’s mite. It lies at the heart of the Gospel call to the rich man who wanted to know the way to attain eternal life, to “Give all you have to the poor and come, follow me.”

In its converse lies the so-called wicked problem of how to reverse the terrible danger of global heating. 2023 was the hottest year on record. It was also the year when more fossil fuel was burned than ever before. The tragic consequences are not rocket science to understand, nor is the fact that few nations will do anything serious about it, because they cannot trust others to do likewise. To turn the situation around requires a generosity of spirit that is willing to risk giving when others do not, to be motivated by compassion to give and not count the cost.

Generosity is a sign of a healthy church. This is true whether we are talking about the inordinate amount of time some give in the service of this community, or the free offering of our gifts and skills. (St Paul says that every Christian has at least one spiritual gift, and when they are shared, the church becomes whole in its ministry). There is also no doubt that the churches with the deepest understanding and practice of generous, regular and proportionate financial stewardship are the ones who are able to gather to themselves the skilled and gifted people and other resources that are able to bring effective ministry in new and challenging times.

My word, “generosity”, does not say it all, but it has the propensity to be infectious, bleeding its energy into other aspects of the church’s ethos. Sometimes, when we focus on one good thing, it helps other good things to happen around it. I am sure that the same would be true of the “mark of a healthy church” that you have already identified. So if you have one such word, why not throw it into the mix. Write it on the card and so share it with the rest of us. (OK- a phrase is allowed too).

And one final thing. May I challenge you to take the word that you have chosen, reflect on what it means in practice, and see if, in so doing, you may be inspired to develop its power in your life day to day, and in the community of faith. By adopting such behaviour, both you and I contribute to the marks of a healthy church through our attitudes and actions.

Anchor 25

BEYOND RESPECT

Isaiah 40:21-31, Mark 1:29-39

Presented to Warners Bay UC and Boolaroo UC on Sunday 4th February 2024

Today/next week we will commission new leaders to the roles of Mission Council and eldership in the North Lake Macquarie congregation. This is the start of a new phase in our community’s life. In my case, the preparations go back to last January when I started in part-time ministry among you. With this in mind, today I want to start by revisiting some material I shared with you in February last year.

In February 2023 I addressed you in a message entitled “Sticks and Stones”, about the impact of respect in the life of the church. That day we viewed a video of Scott Peck telling the story of the Rabbi’s Gift, when an aging and failing Monastic order becomes revitalised when the monks are told that one of them is the Messiah. As the members of that community start to look at their colleagues with new and more appreciative eyes, the positive energy among them becomes palpable to the point when visitors to the place start to notice. In that story, this leads to a revival and resurgence of the monastic order.

How we relate to each other is a primary and critical element of the ongoing success and failure of our community. It undergirds and empowers the vitality of whatever Mission Plan we choose to devise for our future here. It starts when we take a new look at what it means to respect one another.

That sermon and all the others are easily accessible on our excellent website. It is worth revisiting because it helps to provide a baseline for the things that are now starting to happen as this church moves forward with its mission planning. The topic arose from my first impressions and observations of this community. In one sense, what was theory then needs to become practice now.

So what does it mean to practice respect in the life of the church, or anywhere else for that matter?

I find respect a hard word to define, yet we all know exactly what it means, don’t we? Some people are easy to respect. Others less so, and when we are struggling we might say things like “Well, they have to earn my respect”.

I want to suggest that the baseline of respect is not whether or not we earn it, but on the basis of our common humanity. If we start there and try to look beyond our initial impressions of others, our assumptions of what moves and drives them, we can create some space in which mutual respect can begin to take root and grow. When I stop making assumptions about why that other person does not seem interested in talking to me, and take a step towards them, it can be amazing what I might find there that I knew little or nothing about. They could even be the Messiah, or, if not, at least have some qualities that enhance the spiritual depth of the community as a whole.

If only we would stop reacting to the real or imagined insults to our fragile sensitivities, and start redirecting our energies towards new respect for the other.

In an interview printed in today’s Sydney Morning Herald, the acclaimed Australian actor Rebecca Gibney speaks about the importance of treating everyone we work with the same, be they the one who brings us our cup of coffee to the director of the show. The baseline is respect on the basis of our common humanity.

This can, of course, be nearly impossible at the edges of our tolerance. For example, when I see images on the TV of an aggressive group of males in black garb and masks and neo-Nazi affiliations carrying slogans like “Australia for the White Man”, I recoil, and find myself joining the chorus in favour of demasking and humiliating the bearers of such dangerous ideologies. I have zero respect for them. If I am honest, they frighten me.

And then, when I recover and re-enter the space where I am my best self, I start asking question like “How did it get to this? What has happened in these people’s lives that they could embrace such repulsive ideas and seek to inflict them on the rest of us. How did they get these ugly scars? Who beat and abused them?” And so on.

My point is this- NOT that anything goes. NOT that respect is cheap. It is to start from the baseline of our common humanity, and IF POSSIBLE, have some compassion for the other who I do not yet really know.

So far so good. Today’s main point however, is this. If respect is the baseline, where do we go from there?

You see, we can respect someone and still keep our distance. On the other hand, as Gibney asserts, we do not have to actually WORK with idiots! We can be respectful in most cases without cost. We can respect someone and still not invest anything of ourselves in the relationship. Respect is good a far as it goes, and sometimes it is necessary before we can get any further. But where do we go from there? What lies beyond respect?

Take Jesus, for example. I am sure that he grew up to be a respected figure in his community before he called his disciples and started his ministry and mission. Some called him “Rabbi”. He was even invited to read the Hebrew scriptures in the local Synagogue at Nazareth. But when he approaches some of the local fishers and says to them “Follow me”, something beyond respect comes into play. Beyond respect, they are called to TRUST him. With their lives! And very soon that trust is put to the test, as they come to him saying that big crowds are turning up in response to his teaching and healing, and he calls them away from the big moment and into the mountains to pray.

Not only that. To have called them in the first place indicates that he must have had basic respect for them as human beings. Then, when he makes his choices, he commits himself to trust them. (We know that did not always work out, but you have to start somewhere.)

And when the prophet proclaims, in the name of God, “I will raise you up on wings as of eagles. You will run and not be weary, you will walk and not faint”; what is called for in response from us is TRUST in the mercy and compassion of God, and God’s energising Spirit.

BEYOND INCLUSION LIES TRUST, the biggest investment of our selves that we could ever be asked to make.

Trust can take time to build. When the church calls leaders to take office amongst them, whether those leaders succeed or fail will depend to quite a large extent on the trust invested in them by those who elected them. Some congregations expect positive results from those they have called and elected to lead while continuing to pump negative energy into the communal atmosphere. I can remember a respected mentor, speaking from their long experience of ministry, saying to me as a bright and shiny young probationer in my first congregation: “They will tell you they want you to bring change and new things, and then they will oppose your every effort to do so with every fibre of their beings.”

In my experience that is an exaggeration, if not wholly untrue!

Next week/today some new elders, and members of the newly elected Mission Council will be commissioned for the roles to which we have elected them. They are ready for this. That is not to say that some are feeling a bit shaky or unsure of the road ahead. (I am sure that Jesus’ first disciples felt the same, often). Most importantly, they are called to this role at a special, no, crucial, time.

I ask you to trust them. That does not mean they will always get it right. What it does mean is that they will run much further on your respect, trust and positive energy. Also, they will be better enabled to walk and not faint if they do not find themselves having to constantly deal with an oxygen-poor atmosphere of criticism and distrust. Their challenge, when they take the vows of office, is to trust the God who called them and the congregation that has elected them. Our challenge, as we respond with our own vows, is to take an audit of the amount of positive or negative energy we contribute to the situation and do what it takes to ensure a net positive number.

This is, of course, basic Christianity. Rebecca Gibney again: “My belief is that we are here to help one another. I would hope that we are here to do some good; to love one another; to treat them the way you would have them treat you. Don’t judge. Show compassion. It’s very simple.”

Along the way, we will all face choices, as did Jesus’ disciples. At one point Jesus’ popularity started to wane as it became clear that in choosing the road to Jerusalem he was choosing the way of suffering. He asked his disciples ‘Will you too now leave me?” Peter answered for the group, “Where else would we go? You are the true way.” In essence, his answer was WE TRUST YOU.

Likewise, along our way together, there will be times when we may question one another’s judgment. After all, none of us is perfect. We then face a simple decision- ‘Will I choose to succumb to the impulse to be offended on suspicion, or will I give my friends and colleagues the benefit of the doubt. Will I not only respect them, but beyond respect, will I choose to trust them?

I do trust them. May they rise up on wings as of eagles, flying high on the updraft of the Spirit. May they run with strength and walk with enthusiasm on the energy of the support and prayers of the community of faith.

Amen

Brian Brown

BEYOND TRUST Sunday 11th February 2024 Mark 8:34-38, 9:2-9

Presented to Warners Bay UC on Sunday 11th February 2024

I really like the word BEYOND- but you have probably guessed that by now! It implies that which cannot yet be seen, but can perhaps be imagined. It is what lies around the bend in the road, or on the other side of the hill; or even over the horizon.

That which lies beyond can be tantalising, frightening, challenging. Last night we attended the opening of an art exhibition at the Back to Back Gallery in Cooks Hill. A painting that caught my eye was entitled “Profusion of Yellow”. Yet it was what lay beyond the sea of canola that drew my eye - ridges of mauve and purple hills lying beyond the fields. It made me want to go there and explore what lay beyond the immediate focus of the artwork.

Some prefer to not know what lies beyond. Others cannot wait to find out. The majority are probably like the people of this congregation who, when we gathered for a conversation about worship, said “We are happy with where we are, and we know that we need to move beyond that.”

It is a feature of the way Jesus went about calling and preparing his disciples for ministry to keep taking them beyond where they were to where they needed to be. While they respected him, when he called them to follow him beyond the narrow confines of the village and their fishing boats they had to move beyond respect to risk trusting him with their future.

In the process they also moved from being an inclusive community of friends to a place down the road where they met those with whom they had never spent time before. Their task was not to just widen the place of their tent, but to actually embrace people that their law forbade them to associate with. This challenged them to the core of their survival instincts. When he told the story of the good Samaritan they were forced into a new way of thinking where the other, the formerly shunned stranger was not only the hero who risked the robbers to tend to the injured traveller, but showed compassion way beyond the capabilities of they religious leaders, who preferred to cross by on the other side. Beyond the tight knit Jewish community lay an environment where racism was now off the agenda.

This was a tough school indeed, and a learning curve steeper than they could have ever imagined when they trusted him enough to get up, leave the old life behind, and follow him. The call to commitment that lay beyond the act of trust demanded radical change by the renewal of their minds in how they thought about God and others, and an opening of their hearts to the way of vulnerable, unconditional love. Beyond trust to commitment.

Then, today, we hear how he took three of them up the mountain, where they see him in a brand new light. Sometimes you need the rarefied air and higher vantage point to see the world through new eyes. Peter, of course, tries to normalise the situation by offering to build a camp there - get things back under control and into the comfort zone!

As Jesus pulls us forward into the mystery of the beyond, our love of the status quo is always there to try and drag us back to the apparent safety of the village.

A theologian of my early era had a saying “When Jesus calls a person, he bids them come and die”. (The quote actually says “When Jesus calls a man he bids him come and die”, but right there is just another thing we have to get beyond if our church hopes to speak the language of the postmodern era). The Christian martyr and theologian Bonhoeffer talked about cheap grace as wanting to embrace the way of salvation without being willing to pay the price of following. Today’s Gospel reading springs immediately to mind- “If any want to become my followers let them deny themselves, take up my cross and follow me” Beyond trust to commitment!

Today the focus is on new elders and members of the new mission council as we commission them for the task to which they have been called and elected. Elders in the Uniting Church are leaders in the various areas of ministry in which we engage: pastoral care, worship, social action and so on. Members of the mission council are responsible for the overall direction of the congregation. Some elders will serve on the mission council to ensure that matters of ministry get equal prominence with the heavy lifting of church administration, such as finance and property.

The risk here is that we will find ourselves not actually going beyond anything, but staying just one safe step away from the days when the minister did everything while the congregation cheered (or booed, as the case may be); the old chaplaincy model of congregational ministry. We could, today, if we are not careful, just expand that model to include a handful more people, while the great gulf remains fixed between this leadership group and the rest of the congregation.

The fact is that every single member of this congregation is called to serve God in this place. St Paul makes the point that every believer in Jesus is given at least one gift within which to exercise its corresponding form of service (You can read more about it in 1Corinthians 12 and Romans 12, and elsewhere.) We are one body with many parts, and those who do what some would consider the more minor or menial tasks are just as important as everyone else, IF NOT MORE SO.

You will notice that after this message we will be invited to affirm or reaffirm our faith, thus taking our stand at the heart of the Gospel. Then, with the taking of the commissioning vows, we will actually be entering into a conversation between the candidates and the rest of the congregation. Today, the call is to each one of us to commit or recommit ourselves to Jesus Christ, then, in trust go beyond trust to a new level of service.

So I ask you, today, will you commit or recommit your life to Jesus as an act of trust? And, beyond that, will you decide to embrace the role of Christ’s servant in this congregation, where we serve him also by serving one another, and all who lie beyond the safety of what we already know?

Anchor 26

WORDS OF COMFORT AND HOPE? Sunday 3rd March 2024

Exodus 20:1-17 and John 2:13-22 Presented to Warners Bay Uniting Church and Boolaroo Uniting Church

At a recent funeral of member of our congregation I gave a brief address under the heading “Words of Comfort and Hope” in which I reminded people of the story about Jesus and his disciples sailing into a storm while attempting a night crossing of the Sea of Galilee. When the ferocious waves threaten to engulf their craft, these hardened sailors panic and wake Jesus who has been sleeping in the stern. Jesus then addresses the elements with words that calm the storm. For the disciples, these are timely words of comfort and hope.

Some words have the power to bring calm and solace amidst the storms of huge emotional upheaval, such as deep bereavement and an unspeakable sense of loss. It does not matter whether or not we take the Gospel story literally. What really matters is that our hope is reawakened by its images of transforming power. It means that we too can be conveyors of words of comfort and hope to those who need to be held and loved. Call it ‘following in the way of Jesus’ if you like!

Among the sixty-six books that make up the Christian Bible there are many passages that reassure us with such words of comfort and hope. But what about when the scriptures seem to be a more awkward fit in the times in which we live; or when they seem to face us with internal contradictions that run counter to our simple understanding about the Bible as God’s Word to us? Today’s readings are such a case in point.

Let’s take the ten commandments for example. Today I just want to use a tiny sliver of this seemingly timeless text and view it through the lens of our changing times.

“When Ruth Bader Ginsberg, (who was later to become the first woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court of the USA) was a thirteen year old she wrote an article for her school magazine that started as follows: “Since the beginning of time, the world has known four great documents, great because of all the benefits to humanity which came about as a result of their fine ideals and principles. The first was the Ten Commandments, which was given to Moses while he was leading the Israelites through the wilderness to the land of Canaan. Today people of almost every religion respect and accept them as a code of ethics, and standard of behaviour.”

She could, of course, be forgiven, at such a tender age, for not spotting something very odd in that great document, something even we ourselves may not have noticed, which would surely later ring bells for her in her ongoing struggle to be recognised as a woman in a space where men dominated almost exclusively.” Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house, you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox or donkey or anything else that belongs to your neighbour.”

So, what do we actually do with this text that simply assumes that women are the possession of their husbands, along with the slaves and the domestic animals? Is this in fact the law of God as God intended it for all time, literally written in stone? Or do we need to think twice about it, on the basis that only a man who lived in a society of entrenched patriarchal power and privilege, could have written that; a society where the wife is the property of the husband, alongside his slaves, his ox or his donkey or anything else that belongs to him.

And lest we simply want to brush it off as quaint, of “men being men”, we need to know that in nearby parts of the Bible are described some of the awful consequences of this entrenched thinking. Take for example, the so-called “Jealousy test” described in Numbers 5:11-31. It is too long to read here, but it describes the process whereby a man who is jealous because he thinks his wife is having an affair can take her to the priest, who first humiliates her, then forces her to drink holy water mixed with the sweepings of the temple floor. If she gets sick, she is guilty, and can be further punished. Think of the awful ongoing consequences of such behaviour that entrenches women as objects of use and abuse. Even today, for example, when one Australian woman a week dies as a result of family violence.

(Johanna Siebert of the Shiloh Project argues that this text “not only describes but also legitimises gender-based violence in marriage.” Now, we could brush this off as just one of those passages about which we need to pay no attention as based on superstition, but there are many churches today that still teach the bible as verbally inspired and infallible from Genesis to Revelation and everything in between. They may argue that because Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 that God’s wisdom is beyond our understanding, we should just take everything as read. However, given the potential for its abuse, we need to take care what we wave through as legitimate biblical teaching for all time.)

And so, while we honour the ten commandments as part of the common ground of wisdom, words for the ages, and embrace their just intent, we also need to be open to adapt our thinking according to the times in which we live. For women, or any other inequitably treated group in society, comfort and hope can only come when we challenge ingrained structures of oppressive power.

The fact is that Jesus himself was able to deal with the ancient texts in a way that both affirmed them and indicated the ways in which they could be transformed for his own day. As the living Word of God, lawgiver in the succession of Moses, and a prophet in the spiritual line of Elijah he takes the law and applies it in a revolutionary way. In Matthew chapter 5:17 he first says “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill” And then he says, not once, not twice, but six times “You have heard that it was said…but I say to you…”. For example, in Matthew 5:38 “You have heard that it was said ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ but I say to you ‘do not resist the evil doer, but turn the other cheek’.” Again “You have heard that it was said ‘”You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy” but I say to you “love your enemies and do good to those who hate you.” He does not mean that the ancient scriptures were redundant, but that it was time to find their deeper, transformed value. So while “Do not covet…” is an ethic for all time, continuing to view women as the property of men, on the same level as slaves and domestic animals most certainly is not!

The John’s Gospel reading itself, where Jesus drives the money-changers from the temple, is another example of how the text can confront us and take us out of our comfort zone. For one thing, John, unlike Mark, Matthew and Luke places the cleansing of the Temple at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. And so while his first demonstration of power is to take ordinary water and turn it into extraordinarily good wine, his second is to take the entrenched profiteers and send them running from the temple precinct to avoid his whip of cords. Those who think they can use the structures of religion to rip off the poor; those who have ignored the vast expanses of their own prophetic literature about leaders being wolves in sheep’s clothing; those who demand obedience from the people but run riot themselves; these are the first ones to face the wrath of the one who sees the world with new and purer eyes.

When Jesus drives the moneychangers out of the temple, he challenges the heart of corruption that makes a profit from the devotion of the people, treating them as of lesser value, and therefore not worthy of justice.

There is a time to say “this is not right” and challenge it. Sometimes, for words of comfort and hope to become real for those who are disadvantaged and dispossessed, someone else first has to hear words of criticism and judgment. This, for John, is where Jesus is a prophet who calls out the corrupt and powerful of his time, in the name of God. I think that for those of us who prefer a more gentle, personal approach to our faith, this upfront confrontation with the injustice of society can come as a bit of a shock.

Along with that, some find it hard to reconcile the anger of Jesus in this dramatic action with his own words “You have heard that it was said “Do not kill, but I say to you that if you are angry with your brother or sister you will be liable to judgment…”

It is here that I want to make the critical point of this message; and it is this- While we call the Bible, all sixty-six books of it written over many centuries and from multiple sources, “The Word of God”; it is Jesus himself who is fundamentally and primarily the Word of God. As John himself wrote “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God…and he came and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth”. It follows therefore that when Jesus says “You have heard that it was said…but I say to you,..“ it is he , and not the text, that is the primary authority.

Jesus himself is the heart of the Gospel, a Gospel that with words of comfort and hope give us a warm invitation to walk with God, along with a challenging and demanding set of standards of how we are to treat one another, especially those on the outside of the structures of power. For example, in a society that has not yet learned equal respect for women and men, he accepts an outcast woman at a well, a woman who has been the property of five husbands, and he makes her feel accepted and understood; it is he who heals a lonely, and desperate woman who touches his garment; it is he who tells Simon the Pharisee that the woman from the street who crashed Simon’s party has shown him (Jesus) more love and respect than all the Pharisees put together; it is he who tells the religious leaders of his day that the tax collectors and the prostitutes will precede them into heaven. Also, in a society that differentiates between people on the basis of race, culture and creed, he shocks the bigoted racists of his day by making a despised Samaritan the hero of perhaps the best-known bible story apart from the crucifixion.

And it is just this heroic confrontation with evil that reaches its crescendo at the Cross of Calvary- a confrontation that starts in the wilderness where the devil quotes scripture in a vain effort to deflect him from the course of sacrificial love to which his God has called him. Under divine obedience, he chooses the road to Jerusalem, in so doing sailing into a storm that not even words of comfort and hope could still.

And he calls us to follow him.

Anchor 27

Anchor 28

FELLOWSHIP IN THE SPIRIT SUNDAY 7/4/24

Ps. 133, 1John 1:1- 2:2, Acts 4:32-35 Presented to Warners Bay UC and Boolaroo UC

I must confess that I find the word “Fellowship” both overused and misunderstood in the Christian Church. As it is the central theme running through the lectionary readings for today I want to focus on how its true meaning can guide us in our life together.

Fellowship is one of the four central functions of the church. Together with worship, teaching, and service, fellowship helps form the wholeness of the Christian communal experience. Every part is essential, and they work in unity with one another. While some members are professionally trained for these roles (for example the word Deacon comes from the Greek word for service, i.e. diakonia), the whole community play their part across the range of functions.

A powerful example of how true fellowship works comes from the first part of JR Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” Trilogy- the so-called “Fellowship of the Ring”. For those who do not know it, the story begins in the peaceful land of the Shire, where Frodo Baggins, a young Hobbit, inherits a mysterious ring from his uncle, Bilbo Baggins. Gandalf the good wizard reveals to Frodo that the ring is the One Ring, forged by the dark lord Sauron to rule Middle-earth and bring about its destruction. Realizing the danger the ring poses, Frodo embarks on a perilous journey to destroy it in the fires of Mount Doom, where it was created. Accompanied by his loyal friends - Sam, Merry, and Pippin, Frodo encounters various allies and adversaries, including the enigmatic ranger Strider (later revealed to be Aragorn, the heir to the throne of Gondor), the wise elf Legolas, the brave dwarf Gimli, and the noble warrior Boromir. Together the form the “Fellowship of the Ring”.

As they travel towards Mount Doom, the Fellowship faces numerous trials and dangers, including attacks by Sauron's minions and the treacherous lure of the ring itself. Eventually, the fellowship is divided, with Frodo and Sam continuing the quest alone while the rest of the group defends the realm of Gondor against Sauron's attacks.

"The Fellowship of the Ring" is a tale of friendship, courage, and the struggle against evil. It provides transferable insights into what true fellowship is, also the faults and fractures by which it can be torn apart.

Drawing from scripture, and Tolkien’s illustration, I want to suggest four core elements of Fellowship in the Spirit. From this I invite you to draw comparisons with this fellowship, that we might be guided by scripture and inspired in our life together:

1. Commitment to a goal beyond its own self-interest and well-being.

The Fellowship of the Ring has one primary goal- the destruction of the Ring of Power in the fires of mount Doom where it was created. As the story develops, the biggest threat to the group is the divided loyalty of one member of the group, who covets the ring in order to give power to his own kingdom. Commitment to a goal beyond our own self interest and well-being entails sometimes giving up our own agenda to achieve consensus. In this case, if the ring of Power is not destroyed, they will all perish. A terrible modern equivalent is the refusal of countries to avoid nuclear armament.

What would you say is the primary goal of this fellowship?

2. Commitment to the well-being of others in the fellowship. In Philippians 2 St Paul addresses the nature of fellowship in the Spirit as centring around humility. “If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, and sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Be of the same mind as Christ Jesus…”

In the fellowship of the Ring, the loyalty of Frodo’s friend Sam is a crucial element of the success of the Mission to destroy the Ring of Power.

In what sense can it be said that this fellowship is of those who truly have one another’s best interests at heart? And if and where that is not the case, how do we fix it?

3. Commitment to the ethics and standards beyond and above the surrounding culture. True fellowship in the Spirit is fellowship with Christ and the Father. Say’s the writer of 1 John, “…and truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ.” It follows that the way the members of the fellowship behave is consistent with the ethical standards of Christ’s teaching, with love at the centre. So it is that the community of Acts 4 were able to give their testimony to the resurrection with great power and grace, because they lived in such a way that there was no needy person among them. Their beliefs and convictions were confirmed by the way they lived in fellowship with one another.

Are we guided primarily by Gospel values of compassion and justice, or do the ways of the world sometimes seduce us to embrace their apparent power?

4. Combining of the gifts and skill of the members, especially the least. The Fellowship of the Ring was a diverse group indeed, It had a strong leader in Aragorn, a gifted archer in the elf Legolas, a fierce axe-wielding dwarf in Gimli, a miracle worker in Gandalf and a noble warrior in Boromir. Above all, it was to the smallest that the ring of power was entrusted, as the one least likely to be overwhelmed by the desire it created in people to want to possess its power. Every member of the group was critical to the success of the mission, as their gifts and skills came together. St Paul writes eloquently about how Christians each have at least one spiritual gift to contribute to the well-being of the fellowship. He also writes many words warning those with the more spectacular gifts to stay humble about it. He likens us to members of the body, that work together, none of which is any use by itself. He also exhorts the valuing of what seem to be the lesser members, giving them the higher honour.

The biblical principles of fellowship in the spirit are echoed in various ways and places in great literature, especially the sagas that describe the ongoing and seemingly never-ending struggles between good and evil. We also know these things from personal experience- from the schoolyard to the college, the workplace to the sports-field, from our nuclear and extended families to our friends and our church. Our personal contribution to Fellowship in the Spirit is a portable gift we take with us wherever we go. We hold to a primary goal worth pursuing with all our hearts, a concern for the wellbeing of others that focusses our actions, a commitment to the values of no less than Christ himself, that bears witness to who we are and whose we are. Finally, we hold to a conviction that stands in contrast to prevailing selfish individualism. Unity is indeed strength, and unity in the Spirit is its highest form.

SEASONS GONE SOUTH presented to Warners Bay UC, Sunday 14th April 2024

In the course of my preparation for today I came across a poem at the back of the With Love to the World bible reading commentaries. The author, Alison Bleyerveen followed her poem with a brief explanation of her own difficult journey through recent Easters, including this comment; ”The powerful yet poorly grasped words of Jesus ‘I have called you friends’ and his subsequent abandonment, seemed a sorrowful truth that did not yield easily to a 24 hour mourning period swept away by the church triumphant and hollow certitudes.”

The question her heartfelt words raised for me was “What is real here?” What is resurrection if it is unable to speak to our present reality; is not making any difference ‘on the ground’ as it were? Do we not need to take a fresh look at it, not through the lens of first century religious experience, but through our own eyes? (To be honest it is a question I have asked over and over again in the course of my Christian journey).

Here is her poem Seasons gone South:

What if resurrection is…

not Northern Star

but Southern Cross

and mellow Autumn’s

mournful song

of grief and loss…

What if resurrection is…

more God is not

than God is here,

more there in leaves

stripped bare

as life’s signs disappear…

What if resurrection is…

an apophatic exhalation,

a deep not knowing exaltation

as Winter Spirit fills the lungs

in warming fire

and foreign tongues…

What if resurrection is…

not found in creeds

but caring deeds

in stranger ways

and softened gaze…

What if resurrection is…

not 2000 years

of Western tradition,

but in attrition…

dying, sighing, letting go

of all we thought

we had to know…

What if our reality is different to the norm, the orthodox, the endlessly repeated certainties that do not cut it when the chips are down?

My Easter included watching about half an hour of St Peters Papal Vigil. Immaculately crafted and practiced liturgy with not a word or a hair out of place, adorned with white gowned ruff collared choirboys singing with prepubescent pitch and clarity. Scripture readings linked with choral intonations, a Papal homily with interpretation on delay, saying all the usual things about resurrection.

And as I watched, all I could think about was what was happening a proverbial stone’s throw away across the Mediterranean Sea, where children lie slaughtered among the Gazan ruins, annihilated with weapons we and our cousin democracies helped to provide.

And there was nothing in the Papal Vigil to connect the coinciding experiences of Rome and Rafa.

I know we cannot stare brutal reality in the face all the time. I know that sometimes our denial is a shield against going mad with the horror of it all. But as I watched the dramatic theatre of a Papal Vigil I also knew, as certainly as five decades of gospel immersion have assured me…if the choice lay between Rome and Rafa, I know in which theatre Jesus would be operating.

What I witnessed in the Easter ritual was an ill-fitting template of first century religious experience placed over the top of what is happening in the here and now, distorting if not obliterating it from our spiritual consciousness.

Today’s scripture readings paint a picture of stunned disciples gradually coming to terms with the emerging reality of the presence of their crucified then risen Lord. They also describe how the same people, having just been participants in the miraculous healing of a lame man in the temple, come out swinging with prophetic words that cut to the hearts of the hypocritical powerful. These are those first century Christians who were now praising God in Pentecostal tongues, and winning the hearts of many in the community with their gracious and sacrificial generosity.

And if we are honest, much as we wish it to be the case, that is not our reality. Frankly, I identify more closely with the struggles and questioning of Alison Bleyerveen’s poem than Luke’s dramatic representation of victorious resurrection life being lived out and empowered by divine presence.

We MUST ask the question WHAT IS REAL FOR US?

I would love to meet the risen Christ in the way those first disciples did; but did he not say to them “I must leave you so the Spirit can come.” Is he not now ascended to the father? What does it realistically mean for me to be in a relationship with the crucified risen Christ?

At Pentecost the writer of Acts says that the gathered throng all spoke in tongues as a sign of being filled with Holy Spirit. When the Charismatic movement was in full swing in the 70s and 80s, some were teaching that a person could not be born again unless they spoke in tongues. This is what I mean by trying to fit a first century template over a 21st century Christian reality. Are we to live in constant disappointment and defeat because we do not experience the holy Spirit as those early Christian did, or our Pentecostal neighbours? WHAT IS REAL FOR US?

It’s a different world, a contrasting reality, perhaps even a parallel universe. There are connections, isolated points of contact, some flashes of recognition between their experience and ours (depending on who we are), but what would the text read like if we were writing it NOW. What is the good news to which we would be testifying, and the resurrection life of our own experience rather than a second hand story?

In other words, WHAT IS OUR REALITY? And would it not be better if we started there as Alison did, rather than yet again imposing someone else’s template of how life should be over the top of our earthed and grounded experience?

For example, last Wednesday evening just up the road at the university, I thought I caught a glimpse of the crucified risen Christ in the impassioned testimonies of the homeless, the disabled, the climate advocates at the Hunter Community Alliance Inaugural Assembly. Amid the thousand strong crowd that packed the Great Hall were over 160 Uniting church congregants from this Presbytery, not to mention others from Uniting and Wesley Mission. The material shared with us in the testimonies was more than enough for ten Mission Plans. And as the leaders confronted State and Federal politicians with the need for systemic change to fix the housing and rental crisis, a system broken by the greed of the few at great cost to the many; also the need for disability sector reform and renewable energy acceleration, I thought I recognised the voice of Jesus as he called the leaders of his day to account for their lack of justice and carelessness in the face of inequity. Our church was in the forefront of this communal surge of energy for reform, with the slogan “Keeping faith, doing justice, building community”. THIS IS REAL, THIS IS NOW. This is a genuine resurrection vision in our region, and our church is filled with the Spirit’s energy to make it work.

This may not be a vision that is capturing the attention of THIS congregation at this moment in time. Yet it is not something to be forced, like that piece of jigsaw puzzle that looks just right for the space, but isn’t. The question we have to ask is not “why are we not living up to the great deeds of the early church in Acts”, or even, of The Hunter Presbytery, but; “what is real for us, now.” “Not, “what program shall we subject ourselves to”, but “how might the spirit move in our midst to amplify the gifts that we hold in common as this church here in Warners Bay.” Not, “what is the first century template and how does it fit,” but “what are the biblical principles we draw from it that divinely inspire us to embrace a resurrection of our own?”

So- WHO ARE WE?

We may not currently be able to bear witness to healing miracles as described in the Bible, but we do have a Pastoral Care Team that reaches out with prayer and pastoral visitation, living the witness as called for by Jesus in the parable of the sheep and the goats. LET’S START WITH WHAT IS REAL AND GO FROM THERE. We may not expect our members to sell their property and give all the proceeds to the church to share out among the needy, like the early church did - a wonderful example of idealistic community that probably broke down before long for all sorts of reasons of human nature. We do however have a highly competent Finance and Property Committee that manages the generously given finances of this church so that we can continue the ministry to which we are called. LET’S START WITH WHAT IS REAL AND GO FROM THERE. We also have five new elders and a few stalwart leaders who are working hard for the present and future of this congregation. The numbers are small and the workload is heavy, BUT LET US START WITH WHAT IS REAL AND GO FROM THERE.

Whatever we do, it has to be real. It has to take us as we are, where we are, and by God’s grace and inspire us to be infused with resurrection hope and Pentecostal power.

This is what I hear Alison Bleyerveen trying to say. What is real for her is not an Easter that leads to summer and Pentecostal autumn harvest, but one that stares into the face of bleak winter and finds there the warm hearths of relational community.

Whatever we do, it has to ring true. Whoever we are, being authentic is our best witness.

So here is the final stanza of Alison Bleyerveen’s poem. (Of everything in the poem that moves me, nothing compares with these closing words…)

”What if resurrection comes

Not in lamb and bunny springing

But in hearts attuned to singing

Of harrowed hell

And the great love of friends

Walking each other home…”

Whatever else is going on in this place; as I witness the ministry of genuine, loving fellowship, I know that, whatever else might be missing, THIS IS REAL! A fellowship of friends, walking each other home.

Here I see a glimpse of resurrection, an expression of the life of the Spirit; reality I believe we can work with - a wonderful place to start.

Brian Brown.

Anchor 29

“A QUANTUM LEAP” PART 1

Presented to Warners Bay Uniting Church congregation and Boolaroo Uniting Church Congregation on Sunday 5th May 2024

One might have thought that human beings would have learned over the millennia that violence solves nothing. And yet, more-so than at any time in recent memory, deadly conflict rages in multiple arenas, from national and international conflagrations to normally peaceful university campuses to the kitchens of our homes.

When we are being overwhelmed with such an epidemic of violence, it is difficult to stand back and gain perspective about what is happening.

The issues are broad and the root causes run deep- far too complex to be adequately addressed here today. But they do belong here, I’m sorry to say, and some things have to be faced by the Christian Church, within which, historically speaking, some of the fault lies.

We are also members of our community and will inevitably come across expressions of entrenched problematic attitudes which can be like seeds that eventually lead to a horrible harvest of hatred, violence and death. Sometimes they may seem trivial to some of us- and that in itself is part of the problem.

Next week I will address the specific issue of gendered violence, a horrific situation where 4 women a week are dying in Australia. Police in NSW report that 60% of their callouts -500 a day are family violence related, (and how many calls are not made that should be?)

I now want to take a step back in time, into the text from Acts, where Peter is confronted with his own deep-seated prejudices about everyone in his widespread and complex community who is not Jewish. His religious community has taught him all his life to keep his distance from the uncircumcised Gentile, who is, according to the laws and social customs of his religion, somewhat unclean and not fit to eat with, let alone share knives and forks. (The word Gentile literally means “not a Jew”, just like in Apartheid South Africa, where everyone who was not “European” was “non-white”, and you were disallowed by law from sitting on the same park bench, among many other things.)

I referred earlier in the service to the familiar story of how Peter has a dream that reveals to him that God makes no such distinctions. God does not treat people differently due to their culture or race. And so, it is now permissible to baptise Non-Jews into Christian faith, because clearly the Holy Spirit makes no such distinctions.

Peter has had to make many changes of attitude since becoming a follower of Jesus, including leaving his boats behind on the familiar shores of the Sea of Galilee, but this is his quantum leap- from deep-seated and strongly held attitudes to others who are different on the basis of the teaching of his own religion- its scriptures and oral instruction.

This is the first point I want to make, especially for those who have insisted that every word in the Bible is inspired and somehow infallible and inerrant for all time, and therefore we have to abide by it all even when it clearly conflicts with the teachings of Jesus. This also means ignoring the scientific and social knowledge that come to us in the almost twenty centuries since the canon of Christian scripture was decided. In having to face the corrective inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Peter finds himself holding a biblical and religious jigsaw piece with “superiority” written on it, that no longer fits the emerging picture. The ancient template of Jewish chosen-ness over all other religions and cultures is made obsolete by divine revelation. “Behold,” says the Spirit of Christ in the Book of Revelation “I am making all things new.” So the New Testament is revealing things unknown by the Old, and calling for a change of heart at the most fundamental level of what it means to be a good human being. A theological and social quantum leap, in fact.

Here in the person of the Apostle Peter we get the great leap forward in spiritual understanding of how to treat one another - it is no less than what St Paul calls “transformation by the renewal of our minds”. It takes courage to make the basic change. Theologically speaking it is like the church of the 12th century trying to come to terms with Galileo’s discovery that it is the sun and not the earth that is the centre of our solar system. So upset were they that they had him jailed, an illustration as to the lengths to which human beings will go to hold on to their blind prejudices. (Proposing quantum leaps can be an overrated pastime, especially for those whose task it is to shine the light into the dangerous darkness of ignorance and prejudice).

So let’s not ourselves be conned into repeating the error of the Jewish faith, and consider our faith and practice superior to all the others. It’s the same trap, the same rusty and distorted template we have inherited from less enlightened times.

Next week I will be saying more about how we might deal with those New Testament scriptures that proclaim the headship of the man, and the subordinate place of the woman. In spite of this, somewhere along the line, St Paul had his own quantum leap, which enabled him to write these inspired words in Galatians: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” Galatians 3:28-29. Somewhere along the line, this pharisaic and legalistic Jew who hated Jesus and the church was now boldly proclaiming a faith of love, equity and justice.

John’s Gospel and Fourth Letter both emphasise the same point- we love as an act of obedience. Even when our base instincts drag us back into the rut of prejudice, another force needs to be at work in us, bringing us back to our senses. It is never easy. Raised in a society of deeply ingrained, legally enshrined and theologically justified racism, I find myself having to deal with my own persistent absorbed biases. So often, my Christian thought is my second thought, after the initial reaction - a mini repentance each time, when the loving response is actually an act of the will. And no doubt Peter, even in his new understanding of God’s acceptance of all, would have found himself having to come back to the altar of repentance with his confession of already condemned attitude of superiority.

Sadly, these revelations that are enshrined in the text of the New Testament have been, by and large, not embraced by the church in general. Over the centuries, and right up to the present day, the three great Abrahamic religions- Judaism, Christianity and Islam have all expounded doctrines of moral and spiritual superiority over other religions and philosophies, including each other, in clear contradiction to Peter’s quantum leap of understanding of what God wants. So to the Jew you are a Gentile, to the Christian you are a Pagan, to Islam you are the Infidel. And so numberless atrocities have been committed on behalf of each of these “Great’ Faiths. The Four Crusades of the Middle Ages are just one horrific example, as self-righteous “Christian” armies marched to and from the Holy Land, sacking and killing as they came and went. Secular dictators like Hitler have also used the human propensity to vilify others on the basis of cultural or racial difference to devastating effect.

Peter had to move, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to find a new template of love and acceptance that we read of today in the Gospel and the letter of John, by which to measure the value of the members of the growing church. St Paul also had to move, under the conviction of the spirit of Jesus, to brand new ways of seeing his faith.

So, if f we are honest, we have to concede that the church that has been a big part of the problem for centuries must now turn around and seek to right the wrongs that it has helped to perpetrate and exacerbate. We need to see it. We need to know how it happened, and come to the repentant place that Peter did and say “Now I see”, and in seeing, be brave catalysts for change and healing in the crisis of violence around us. We need to make the quantum leap.

Let us not use or abuse scripture or religious tradition to justify impoverishment and suffering of any sheep that are not of this fold, lest in so doing we find ourselves on the wrong side of the will of God.

Let us not claim outdated biblical sanction to assert the headship of one gender over the other, thus enabling violent abuse of power.

Let us search the scriptures for where they reveal the heart of God, the places where the saints of old made their quantum leap of faith from the old to the new.

And let us search our own hearts and minds lest we ourselves continue to embrace the prejudices and biases on the basis of ancient and outmoded convictions that contribute to the alienation of those who are different.

Let us make that quantum leap like Peter and Paul did, leaving no obsolete boats on all too familiar shores, and follow Jesus into the new way of obedient love of god and one another.

And when we make that leap, where will we land? You know what I would love to see before I finish my time with you at the end of this year - a Mission Plan that includes, in some form, a ministry of outreach to the disempowered in our community. Let’s be a church that helps set the record straight about who Jesus is, what the bible actually teaches at its heart, and what it means in practice to love one another as he has loved us, in equity and justice. For the love of God is this - that we obey his commandments.

Brian Brown

Anchor 30

Anchor 31

A QUANTUM LEAP PART 2

WARNERS BAY UNITING CHURCH SUNDAY 12th MAY 2024

Everywhere you look in the media at the moment, be it print or social, TV, or radio, everyone is talking about the Domestic Violence epidemic, where men are taking the lives of their female partners at the rate of 4 a week. This does not include incidents such as the Bondi Junction Mall massacre, which had a clear misogynistic motive in the madness. Last Tuesday’s Sydney Morning Herald had six articles up on the website, one of which by Jenna Price I will include in full as an appendix to this sermon on the website, and one by Chanel Contos in the Saturday Paper which I will also reference.

There is so much information and commentary that it would be impossible if not also unnecessary for me to include it here. I am hoping that everyone is paying attention to this appalling National Emergency.

Today I just want to address two main things, then conclude with what this means for the Christian Church by way of missional response.

The first is to talk about the embedded critical element of disrespect, of objectifying and of dehumanising women, which enables the perpetrator to somehow imagine that they have a right to exert coercive or even violent power over them. This phenomenon has centuries of misogyny behind it. Its genesis can be subtle and its influence insidious. Eventually it penetrates the minds of those who for whatever reason feel driven or entitled to dominate another person’s life.

As members of our community and extended families we will inevitably come across expressions of entrenched problematic attitudes which can be like seeds that eventually lead to a horrible harvest of hatred, violence and death. Sometimes they may seem trivial to some of us - and that in itself is part of the problem. I hesitated before deciding to tell the following story for that very reason:

Last Tuesday I played golf with a man I had not met before. He was a congenial fellow and we all got on well. Towards the end, the conversation turned to a group of women known as the Merewether Minors, who play a more relaxed competition where newcomers can learn the game with their senior mentors. He disclosed that his wife had recently joined, and when I commented on how seriously they take it, his response was “I think for them it’s all about the skirts”. I let it go, and am now sorry I did, especially when I discovered later that he is among the highest paid business executives in Newcastle, responsible for hundreds of employees. The fact is that the Merewether Minors take their golfing experience very seriously. I know this because my wife Helen is their co-captain, and spends most of Tuesday working out the winners, including who beat who on a countback!

A close friend and sociologist to whom I sent a draft of this address commented …and this the typical patriarchal response- “Let them worry their pretty little heads about fashion while you and I are playing the real game!”

The tumour of sexist attitudes and misogyny is not benign. Sadly the cancer cells are already in the lymph nodes. Change in such basic ingrained attitudes and perspective takes radical treatment which at times can be very uncomfortable for the bearer, partly because they probably view the need for corrective treatment as unnecessary.

Meanwhile, the co-captain of the Merewether Minors and I have recently finished watching an excellent crime fiction series on SBS called Blue Lights; which centres around a police unit dealing with drug crime on the streets of Belfast. At one point, a young female officer confronts a male senior officer about putting a new recruit in unnecessary danger. His response to her is “put a muzzle on it”. Her instinctive backhander to his cheek almost costs her the job, but another male officer speaks up for her as a witness to his canine insult. ‘Put a muzzle on it” betrays his crude and reflexive assessment of her as less than person - a dog in fact.

The implied dehumanising and objectifying in this fictional story has some deeply worrying parallels in real life. Just recently, a group of male classmates of the Yarra Valley High School, decided to classify their female classmates according to the following categories: “wifeys, cuties, mid, object, get out, and unrapable”. In the resulting furore, it seems that some fathers are taking the “boys will be boys” attitudes which sadly helps to explain how this could happen in the first place. Note the category “object”. Can you imagine how an already unconfident young woman, desperate as she might be for acceptance, might feel when she saw this? Or “unrapable”. It is not a quantum leap to understand that for a young woman on the edge, this could lead to very serious consequences such as self-harm, substance abuse or even suicide. Quite apart from that, what does “wifey” or “cutie” say about how these young men might be thinking about the eligible females in their future?

Once you objectify someone and classify them as an “it’ rather than a person of value, it becomes easier to abuse them.

The church through history has a poor track record in this regard. Consider for example the Middle Ages practice of taking women with property and influence and accusing them of witchcraft. There is a show trial, a lamentable test of their guilt or innocence, then drowning or burning. If I may rephrase the old saying “Give a bitch/witch a bad name and hang her”. A bit more precious feminine influence goes down the drain, and the property goes to the church. The Salem trials in the USA are no different.

Back to 2024, where the struggle to reign in domestic or gendered violence is made a whole lot harder with the proliferation of technology and access to social media. Police are concerned about the growing epidemic of stalking and intimidation and coercive control that is enabled by so-called “smart” technology. Women can be stalked at every point. Every move is seen, every transaction monitored. They tell of the experience of one victim of her partner’s violence. She reported being alone in her kitchen and hearing his disembodied voice saying “I’m watching you, bitch”. (I have omitted a few embellishing descriptors). So much for “smart” fridges!

We need to be on the alert for dehumanising of people, as “dogs’ for example, or objectifying them into categories in which they are patronised, disrespected and deprived of human value. From there it is a short step to the abuse of coercive control and violence.

I now want to address how our faith practices, along with our biblical and theological understandings might hinder or help us to build a robust and compassionate response to this national emergency of family violence.

What certainly does not help is this:

1Corinthians14:33-36 “As in the churches of the saints, women should be silent….. For they are not permitted to speak but should be subordinate, as the law says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church”

This scripture establishes the heirarchy. But on what basis? Because ‘the law’ teaches it’? Paul goes on “All women should keep quiet in the meeting as the Jewish law says, they must not be in charge”

But there is more!

“Christ is supreme over every man, and the husband is supreme over his wife” Is it all that far from there to ‘I’m watching you, bitch”?

“1Corinthians 11”Christ is supreme over every man, the husband is supreme over his wife. Women should have their heads covered - a man does not need to cover his head, because he reflects the image and glory of God, but the woman reflects the glory of the man.” And so on. I have not even started on the letter of Peter.

At one level it is almost comical, at another, tragic. While some churches in recent decades have come to accept new understandings about what is at the heart of the scriptures rather than the letter of the ancient law or custom, so many others have held the literalist line. I know personally of a woman who went to her pastor to disclose that her husband, a member of the church, was being violently abusive to her. She was told to go back to him and submit to his authority, on the basis of the so-called “infallible scriptures” I have just read to you.

To be fair to St Paul, he also wrote these spirit-inspired words “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” Galatians3:28-29. If only we paid more attention to this than to the other! (Some speak in Paul’s defence that he was only trying to protect the community from possible persecution if they behaved in radical new egalitarian ways. But even if this is true, it shows us that what may have been considered inspired truth for Paul’s time was only so relative to the times in which he was living - a template that no longer fits an equal and just society.

There is a huge issue here, that may require a quantum leap of mind-renewal for some, that goes to how we view the authority of the Bible in our journey of faith and practice of discipleship. The Bible is a complex compendium of 66 books, written over centuries by a wide variety of male authors, often based on oral storytelling, with a wide range of motives and perspectives.

With modern scholarship at our fingertips, how can we still justify the attitude that one can take any bit out of anywhere and say that this is authoritative and inspired for all time. Some passages are highly inappropriate in our modern civilised world. Others are downright immoral and/or illegal, like putting a child to death for disobedience, or a jealous husband taking his wife to the temple priest to be physically abused to find out if she has been unfaithful.

Cutting to the chase, the heart of the Bible is the Gospels, and the heart of the gospels is Jesus. In him we read the account of a man who knew how to treat women with courtesy, respect and compassion. We do not worship the bible. We worship Jesus, and if we follow him, we will be well on the way to our own healing and reconciliation of our gendered relationships. From there, maybe we can help others.

I have more to say about the good theology that supports the gospel heart of compassionate relationships, the positive work of our church in its mission to victims and perpetrators of gendered violence, and the importance of calling our political leadership to account for the example they set. On good advice I have left it for another day. May I just ask this: as followers of Jesus can we take this message to heart in such a way that, as we develop new ways forward in mission, we become a shining example of what it means to care for victims of violence. Can we find practical ways to reach out to them and one another with the gentleness and deep respect that Jesus showed us in his life. Can we get excited about becoming a church that helps set the record straight about where the heart of the bible is located, who Jesus is, what is appropriate respectful behaviour between men and women. Would it not be great to be able to offer some practical form of ministry to those who are caught in the trap of family violence? For the love of God is this - that we obey his commandments to love one another, and like Jesus, bring good news to the poor, sight to the blind and release to the captives.

Recommended reading:

Chanel Contos: “We are fighting the same battles our grandmothers did” The Saturday Paper #498. May 4-10, 2024.

Jenna Price. “Not all men abuse women. But is this how it starts?” Sydney Morning Herald 7/5/24, as follows:

I’m struggling to imagine how a bunch of schoolboys might have thought this was OK. Here we are, just a few months after the public service “hotties” list debacle and now the lads at a posh private school Yarra Valley Grammar have ranked their female classmates from “unrapable” to “Wifey material”

This is happening at a co-ed school. A school with kids on track to being MPs, to being our best and brightest, filled with young men who will do well in life. But I want you to think about the young women who were designated by their male peers as “unrapable.” It was designed to make the girls feel small and insignificant, yes, but also to provide a bond among the boys, companionable in their disregard for women. Unrapable? Safe, yes of course, thank God, but so repellent that sexual assault was too good for them. Two of the boys involved were expelled on Tuesday, and the school has referred the matter to the Victorian police.

Think of these girls while you are telling me that “boys will be boys”. And the wifeys/cuties? Flattered maybe because we still believe that what men think about us matters. Think of the boys, too. the next time someone writes “not all men”. Or say its men of colour. Or poor men. That they are the perpetrators. I took some time to look at the students who go to Yarra Valley grammar.

Over 60% of the students are from the top economic quartile of Australian society. Another 25 % are from the next quartile down. If you don’t understand the journey from deeming someone unrapable to becoming a rapist, you don’t understand what happens to women in this nation of ours. Nice boys from nice homes make that journey. Just ask Chanel Contos in “Teach us consent”.

Let me tell you what I know about perpetration. The idea that there are bad men out there and that you can tell them apart from good men is entirely wrong. You cannot judge a murderer by the colour of their skin or their postcode. And yes, perpetrators of murder are a significant problem in this country, but they are in some miserable respects the smallest of our problems.

The men who assault women leave a trail of destruction in our hospitals. Even during the peak Covid years, during the year ending June 2022, nine in ten hospitalisations for assault injury by a partner nationally were women. That is nearly 14 women a day. And there may be as many as another 14 who will never tell anyone how they broke their arm, got their black eye, how their lips split.

There seems to be a backlash against the concept of respect and the role a lack of it plays in domestic violence. OK then. Whatever you call it, how men treat women matters. Respect. Decency. Would it be too much to ask even for kindness? Obviously from a small group of the Yarra Valley lads, it would. Of course, it is not to say these boys will go down that path, but it is interesting to look at the data on this issue.

Research fellow at the ANU Hayley Boxall has been studying perpetration for years. She says perpetrators are not homogeneous populations.

“This suggestion that perpetrators are all from disenfranchised marginalised backgrounds is wrong” she says. “Indigenous men are over-represented in the group. About one-third of men who kill women are white middle-aged men, the kind of men who might be considered a success in their lives, high functioning adults in other domains of their lives, maybe owning a business.”

At an individual level the facts don’t discriminate. All people across all walks of life. It is not just men from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. You’d never pick those boys from Yarra Grammar out of a line-up if you are imagining what a perpetrator would look like.

“They are controlling, manipulative, emotionally abusive” she says. And she says that one of the problems of interviewing perpetrators is that there is a chance they will lie.

Goerge Karystianis, a research fellow, and Tony Butler, a professor of medicine and health, both at the university of NSW, have analysed nearly half a million domestic violence police event narratives from 2005 to 2016. Domestic Violence perpetrators are usually between 25 and 44 years old, and they exercise a combination of physical and psychological violence - mostly at home.

Just over one in ten Domestic Violence events recorded a mention of mental illness linked to a perpetrator ranging from mood disorders to substance abuse. Police data represent a powerful opportunity to fill in the knowledge gaps in DV surveillance from a perpetrator perspective, And Karystianis and Butler have been working with several state police agencies on establishing a national surveillance system. DV watch. I asked Karystianis what he knows about social class. He says the team has postcode data but is yet to analyse it.

In 2019, in the Journal of Family Violence, my wonderful colleagues found previous family violence behaviour and prior contact with the justice system were all missed opportunities for intervention. Five years later, those opportunities for intervention are still missed. That’s another 300 dead women.

In the first week of June, ANROWS, which researches women’s safety in Australia, will announce the successful applications for $2 million worth of grants for research into perpetration. It’s done over a decade of work in the area, but my best advice to politicians is this - act on what we know already. It’s one thing to have research findings - it’s another to fund frontline service and to fund findings.

We know so much already - if only we acted on what we knew.

Jenna Price is a regular columnist and visiting fellow at the ANU. She has been writing about violence against women for 45 years.

Anchor 32

FIT FOR DUTY

Presented to Warners Bay UC and Boolaroo UC 2.6.2024

I am hearing a saying more and more these days, and find myself using it too: “Ageing is not for the fainthearted.” This has mainly to do with the changes that accompany the passing of the years. Sometimes it feels like a staged retreat from the active lifestyle of middle age to being in some ways less able. I read recently of a gerontologist who names the three great fears of our later years: Fear of falling, fear of dementia, and fear of not being able to look after ourselves. Aging is not for the fainthearted as we face a series of losses with which we have to deal if we are to sustain a happy and fulfilling life. That, I believe, is something that can happen right into old age.

Now I must also hastily add that LIFE ITSELF is not for the fainthearted, particularly if we accept Jesus’ invitation to live it in all its fullness. As a noted sociologist has shown, there are a series of challenges that face us right through our lives - tasks that need to be achieved before we can happily move on to the next stage. One example is that which faces young adults, who, having gained independence from their original home, are now seeking social intimacy with other adults. Where once we had young adult church groups, now there are dating apps. Not for the fainthearted - so I’m told!

There is one more challenge that needs to be named here today: living out the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and following in his way of love. THIS TOO IS NOT FOR THE FAINTHEARTED.

In this week’s edition of With Love to the World, the commentator refers to a quote about the Mark reading where Martin Kahler describes Mark’s Gospel as a “passion narrative with an extended introduction”. We will have noticed that here the conflict surrounding Jesus happens almost from Day one. A whole gamut of conspirators collude to call his work into question on the basis of what is and is not allowed on the sabbath, claiming that he is breaking the Mosaic Law. Because Jesus’ actions are about sustaining life and health, he refuses to concede their point - but the Easter die is cast. If it is not difficult it is not the gospel, and committed, courageous and compassionate following of this dangerous man is not for the fainthearted.

I know this is difficult territory, but I would like to try and encourage you to see how, hard as ageing is, hard as following the way of Jesus is, hard as is life itself, how we approach the challenges can make all the difference to the quality of our life experience.

I am also not going to trot out the truism that however hard it is, someone else is doing it harder. In my experience that really does not help, because everyone’s pain tends to fill them, even though from the outside it may seem less severe than that of others.

Instead I am going to talk about health and wholeness. I want to propose some parallels between physical health and spiritual health, but more importantly that they are not two separate things, but are organically enmeshed. I certainly will not be the first to propose that health and wholeness go together, or that the healing of the body is ideally achieved along with that of the mind and spirit due to their intimate interconnection. (I am hoping that one day Bob Batey may expand on this on the basis of his extensive experience as a physician.)

Let me put this in terms of “Being Ready” for the challenges of whatever life stage we are in.

At the beginning of the year I told you that my word for 2024 was HEALTH, spurred on by the notion that feelings of weakness, breathlessness and loss of mobility, let’s say in our 70s, is not so much a matter of ageing as lack of fitness. Having bought in to this conviction, Helen and I set out to improve our strength, flexibility and aerobic fitness. Six months later, we are attending the gym once a week, jogging 5kms twice a week, and doing some of the gym exercises at home. In between this we play golf twice a week. Apart from the golf, all of this amounts to about 5 hours a week, and $10 for the gym, not counting the visit to the Grumpy Baker at The Junction after the Friday walk.

One measure of our progress came a few Saturdays ago, when Helen ran the Carrington Park Run in under 38 minutes, in the process breaking not only her personal best, but mine as well. Now I have a history of running going way back, and Helen had never run in her life before January this year, apart I am sure, from chasing young children during that challenging life stage.

Strength, flexibility and aerobic fitness - all of these can be improved into old age, all things being equal.

Now, when I chose “health” as my word for this year, I was not seeing it only in physical terms. Along with the resolution to get the body back into shape was the desire to do more work in the spiritual disciplines, and to do at least some of it here in this Christian fellowship. And so we have finally got together a small group of people who are willing to meet at 6pm on Wednesday evenings of weeks one and three to explore the spiritual life in more depth and detail. What I want to do today though is draw the parallels between physical and spiritual health.

Just as building muscles in the gym requires repetition, sometimes until it hurts, so too does building spiritual strength require a commitment to a time and place where that task is the main focus.

Just as running 5km personal bests requires getting up early at least once a week to run five and a quarter kms, so too does spiritual fitness require a willingness to move out of our comfort zone and work at it. (someone described spiritual growth as “manual labour”) May I hastily add that achieving this for most people is greatly helped by doing it with someone else, whether it is partner, or a group of friends who have arranged to meet you at the corner of your street at 6-30am or whenever. (all right, 8am followed by coffee). When I was first getting serious about church and Jesus it was emphasised what we should each be doing by way of prayer and bible study, but often without the support that a young person especially may need to actually get it done. For me and many of my colleagues, failure was much more often the result than success. (I think about half of my cohort from theological college in South Africa left the ministry in the first 10 years).

Finally, flexibility. We are now in an era where the rigid orthodoxy of the Christian faith is being challenged from all sides, just as Jesus challenged it from the very beginning. And, to my mind rightly so. At the same time there are so many refreshing new ideas about the Christian life that make it possible for me to still be an enthusiastic practitioner of the faith at 74.

WE grow and change when we are FLEXIBLE. We need to strengthen our core so that we can stand strong where the gospel calls us to do so, and also move where the wind of the Spirit blows us. We do not need to be afraid of new ideas, or some of the common grounds of wisdom we that come to us from other faiths and philosophies.

I have spoken today on the dynamics of health and aging, the gospel challenge to us as individuals to embrace strength, fitness and flexibility. Finally, may I just make a quick mention of an insight that came in an email from David Barrow of the Hunter Community Alliance. It is about the critical importance of ACTION in enlivening an organisation. He says “Action to the organisation is as oxygen to the body. Actions have a desired reaction, intentionality, creative tension and outcomes. Organisations that are just relationships are social clubs. Organisations that are all goal, burn their people out. Organisations that do not act, die. “

My encouragement to you today is about the potential in each one of us, no matter our age or our stage, to move on in improved health and strength and durability. It is too early to shut up shop. It is tragic to close our minds to new possibilities just when the world is opening up so many new vistas to us. And in all the massive challenges that the world is throwing up at us, why would the people of God, of all people, shirk the challenge?

As the great Old Testament scholar and modern prophet Walter Brueggemann said, when reflecting critically on the sermons of the young seminarians, exhortations full of “oughts” and “shoulds”; “I have found myself discovering that mostly I do not need more advice, but strength. I do not need new information, but the courage, freedom and authorisation to act on what I have already been given in the Gospel.

After all, we are not dead yet!

DOES MARK MATTER?

Presented to Warners Bay UC, 9th June 2024

Today I want to emphasise the crucial importance of the Gospel of Mark in revealing to us just how the life and ministry of Jesus guides us into the way of Christian faith and discipleship. When I say Mark I am not excluding Matthew and Luke, who use a lot of Mark’s material while adding some of their own. For simplicity’s sake I will leave John alone for now.

I find it important to do this because I see how the Christian church has come to emphasise the theology of St Paul, in some cases almost to the exclusion of the earthly ministry of Jesus. It is as if all that really matters is the crucifixion. So, for example, when a notable Anglican Archbishop of Sydney retired recently, he had one short bible reading- 1Corinthians 2:2 “For while I was with you I was determined to know nothing but Christ crucified.”

To illustrate what I mean let me share with you two stories from my crucially formative few years around 1970.

The first was the evangelistic movement of Billy Graham, and those who followed him. Our youth group went to a rally one Friday night that was being addressed by a burly America preacher in a beige suit and holding a large red bible. He led us down a now familiar path to salvation, based on the four-word slogan “Recognise, Realise, Repent and Receive”. He quoted Romans 2:23 to impress upon us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”, and from Roman 6:23 that the wages of this sin is death - specifically, death without faith that meant spending the rest of eternity burning in hell. What to do about it? He now quoted Acts 16:31, Paul to the Philippian jailer “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved”. He then told a story about Jesus travelling the road from Jerusalem to Jericho for the last time, his point being that this could be the last time we were faced by Jesus with the choice to confess our sins and believe in him, so better to do it now rather than die as an unbeliever in a road accident on the way home, and spend eternity burning in hell. Well, at 19 I was not really that much in touch with my own mortality, but given what he was suggesting I decided that it might be good life insurance to go forward in act of recognition of my sin and faith in Jesus.

To be honest, that night did not make much difference at all to how I felt, except for the growing sense that I had been cleverly manipulated to choose what seemed to be a no-brainer, without much conviction about what I was doing. Intellectually I was already beginning to wrestle with the idea of a God who would consign someone like me to a fiery hell on the basis of a handful of relatively common teenage misdeeds. Somehow the punishment did not seem to fit the crime.

The second major life influence on my late teenage and early 20s was the preaching and example of our Methodist minister, who delivered his Sunday services in a clerical collar and black academic preaching gown. He was the father of one of our youth group members and we used to call him “batman”. With no lectionary for guidance it was left to the preacher to indulge their biblical biases week after week, so a diet of the Gospels it was, with a nod to the Hebrew Scriptures and St Paul from time to time. Week by week, Sunday by Sunday we heard a story of Jesus the healer, a gospel message of how to live a life of love, or a parable to help us understand the nature of the God of Jesus. There was always an illustration for interest, and sometimes some thought-provoking verses of Keats or Milton or some other spiritual poet. No ranting and raving, no hellfire and brimstone, no gratuitous horror stories of what Jesus went through on the cross. It is interesting though, when faced with such grace, that one quickly comes to one’s own conclusions about how one is shaping up. I knew I needed to change, and the example of Jesus gave me a clear guidance on how.

Nobody, but nobody gives you the whole picture, but I am deeply grateful that with Rev John Brash, kindly liberal that he was, we got to the heart of the matter, which is that the Christian life is about following Jesus.

Jumping from there to my first year of ordained ministry I had cause to study Mark’s Gospel asking one specific question; “What is the Gospel understanding of what it means to be saved?” I chose Mark as the shortest, earliest and most concise Gospel, a collection of formerly oral stories and sayings and recollections from the life of Jesus.

Now, in Mark there are no stars or shepherds, no virgin or manger or wise men. It starts with John the Baptist getting the people ready for Jesu’s ministry by calling them to get their lives straightened out. Jesus arrives and is baptised by John, and the Spirit descends to bless him. Jesus then spends 40 days in the desert resisting the temptation to strive for his own greatness, then arrives with the great exhortation: “The right time has come and the kingdom of God is near. Turn away from your sins and believe the good News”. Repentance here does not mean say a prayer of confession to show you are sorry. It means exactly what is says - “turn away”, start off in a new direction. Put your feet on a new road. Follow me. Jesus then goes and finds some people to do exactly that, and they sign up for the program that is going to demand everything of them, even moving away from their families and their sustaining professions.

And then they start WORK. Very quickly, the opposing forces start forming against them - Pharisees and Herodians. Not only that; the family of Jesus turn up to take him home and settle him down.

This issue of Jesu’s mother and brothers coming to take control of him is problematic for the church, especially those that make as their priority what they call “Family values”. Once, when Jesus called someone to follow him, they sought to excuse themselves by pleading the priorities of ‘family values’ - “Let me first bury my father”, (meaning, let me stay and support my parents until they die) to which the uncompromising Jesus replies “Let the dead bury their dead. You come and follow me.”

What I learn from the Gospel of Mark is about the priority of following Jesus above all else. It is not just a matter of making a decision for Christ that leaves us with the assurance that our names are now written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. True confession must inevitably be followed by a decision to move in a new direction, which in Christian terms is to follow Jesus wherever he leads. It’s a big call. The Jesus of Mark, and Luke and Matthew and John is as uncompromising as he is compassionate, as demanding as he is forgiving. For example, when he and his disciples approach the time when he decides to turn his face towards Jerusalem and death, he tries to tell them what lies ahead. The first time, in Mark 8, Peter rebukes him and says “That is never going to happen”. The second time, in Mark 9, they start discussing who is the greatest among them. He says to them, in effect “You really do not get it, do you. The first will be last, and the last, first”. The third time he tells them, in Mark 10, James and John come to him and ask him to give them pride of place alongside him in the kingdom. What they are about to discover is the truth of Samuel’s assertion to the leaders of Israel - if you choose for yourself a king, you will find out soon enough that much more will be required of you that you first imagined!

The way of Jesus is not the easy way. In fact, say Jesus, it is a narrow road and a steep and difficult path that leads to salvation, and few there are that find it. Salvation in the Gospel of Mark is not so much about belief as about following.

Something I would like to illustrate with the following story: (Story of the rich man, Mark 10:17-27)

When I finally decided that the way of Jesus was the way for me, it was not at an evangelistic rally under threat of hellfire, but in the quietness of my own room, with full understanding of the implications that such a decision would have on my life - the joys that lay in store and the hard sacrifices that would inevitably be expected of me. I realised that the economics degree I was then studying, with all of the potential earnings of such an occupation, needed to be left behind on the shores of Galilee, as it were. You cannot walk two roads at once. Nobody told me I had to, in fact there were few family members who were somewhat dubious about what I was up to.

Now, I want to affirm that the writings of St Paul had added immeasurable riches to our understanding of the spiritual life. His conversion experience was unique, and he entered the missionary work of the gospel with all his heart and mind and strength. When he said to the Philippian jailer “Believe in the lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved”, he was sharing with this frightened man exactly what he himself had experienced. I do however want to invite you today to consider a broadened Gospel understanding of what it means to be saved - that starts with repentance and a determination to take a new and different road and leads on in servant ministry of Good News to the poor.

Two men plead for an answer to the same great question “What must I do to be saved? “ (or, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”) The answer Jesus gives the rich man in Mark is almost diametrically opposed to the one given by Paul in Acts. Which one is right? It depends where our heart lies at the time. Repentance can mean very different things to different people, according to what we need to do to put our feet on a new and different path, what Jesus calls the way to life in all its fullness.

Al I can say for myself in answer to my initial rhetorical question is. Yes, Mark matters because when all is said and done, it is Jesus I am looking for.

Anchor 33

Anchor 34

“That’s where I need to go” The steep and rocky path to transformation.

presented to Warners Bay UC and Boolaroo UC on 9th July 2024

Last time I spoke here I addressed you on the topic of how Mark’s Gospel presents the challenge to follow Jesus, including making the hard decision that go with sacrificial service.

I contrasted it with the version popularised by the Crusade evangelists of the 1960s, which presented the choice in terms of what one might call The Great Escape from the eternally deadly consequences of our sin. The altar call invariably included words like “All you have to do is…”, and, by the way, the Lord loves a cheerful giver!

Well, we are still in Mark, and will be for a while longer, so there is no respite from the strident and passionate call of Jesus to his disciples, and all who heard him, to follow him all the way to Jerusalem and beyond. Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom requires no passport for entry save through the narrow door of the servant’s entrance.

At a recent ethical ministry training day we were introduced to a song by the group Indigo, entitled The Wood Song. The lyrics embrace the metaphor of Jesus and his disciples striking a storm as they cross the Sea of Galilee, which for me echoes and reinforces the gospel imperative to engage with the trials, tests and challenges of the way of Jesus:

The thin horizon of a plan is almost clear
My friends and I have had a tough time
Bruising our brains hard up against change
All the old dogs and the magician
Now I see we're in the boat in two by twos
Only the heart that we have for a tool we could use
And the very close quarters are hard to get used to
Love weighs the hull down with its weight
But the wood is tired and the wood is old
And we'll make it fine if the weather holds
But if the weather holds we'll have missed the point
That's where I need to go.

No way construction of this tricky plan
Was built by other than a greater hand
With a love that passes all our understanding
Watching closely over the journey
Yeah but what it takes to cross the great divide
Seems more than all the courage I can muster up inside
Although we get to have some answers when we reach the other side
The prize is always worth the rocky ride
But the wood is tired and the wood is old
And we'll make it fine if the weather holds
But if the weather holds we'll have missed the point
That's where I need to go.

Sometimes I ask to sneak a closer look
Skip to the final chapter of the book
And then maybe steer us clear from some of the pain it took
To get us where we are this far yeah
But the question drowns in its futility
And even I have got to laugh at me
No one gets to miss the storm of what will be
Just holding on for the ride
The wood is tired and the wood is old
We'll make it fine if the weather holds
But if the weather holds we'll have missed the point
That's where I need to go.

We have recently heard again the story of Jesus and his disciples encountering a savage storm as they cross the Sea of Galilee. In taking such a journey two things need to be noted:1. Turbulence can never be ruled out, and 2.Jesus is in the boat.

Nor can turbulence be ruled out when Jesus chooses to plot a course for his missionary journey that goes back through the village where he grew up. Now, given that he has already had one run in with his family as they try to prevent him from risking the ire of the Jewish authorities, one might have through that he would lead his followers directly to the villages where they were to be gladly received, and where great deeds of power could be accomplished. But no, let’s go home first, and what is more, let’s go to the synagogue! “That’s where I need to go”.

For the record, I choose to believe that the reason Jesus did this was because he needed his family’s love, affirmation and support. (Mark in particular emphasises the humanity of Jesus.) Family are the people who, when you knock on the door, have to let you in. Aren’t they? Well, clearly, not always! But they are in the area, so why not call? In fact, this time it is the “locals’ who arc up and push back at Jesus- for reasons about which we can only speculate, though I suspect that jealousy is lurking in there somewhere; or hostility because he show them up for the narrowness of their lives.

Whatever the reason, the experience is woven into the tapestry of their formation for mission. “We’ll make it fine if the weather holds, but if the weather holds we’ll have missed the point. THAT’S WHERE I NEED TO GO”

St Paul’s thorn in the flesh plays a similar part in the building of compassionate resilience in the face of the tests, trials and challenges of the missionary journey. When injury cannot be avoided, but the journey has to continue anyway, this is where we find that Jesus’ presence is real and energising. “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness”. Jesus is in the boat.

Both of today’s passages emphasise the value and necessity of the ordeal. Jesus and Paul are upfront about the cost of discipleship. As Bonhoeffer points out in his book of that name, ‘cheap grace’ is a perversion of the call to discipleship; Christianity lite, if you like.

As The lyrics of the Wood Song insist, this pathway of Jesus is not for the fainthearted:

Yeah but what it takes to cross the great divide
Seems more than all the courage I can muster up inside
Although we get to have some answers when we reach the other side
The prize is always worth the rocky ride.

And later:

Jesus does not shirk the return journey to his home town because he knows the value, even the necessity of the ordeal. In his awesome exposition of what it takes to navigate a successful life’s journey, Hero with a Thousand faces, Joseph Campbell talks about the first step being Leaving the Village.

Indeed, the home town is the place of nurturing. This is where we learn to trust in the safety of the family circle, where we get to stretch our fledgling wings in a big backyard, where we make friends to test our strength and loyalty. And then we must leave the village, either physically or metaphorically, or both, and risk wider world with its unfamiliar ways; small fish again in the big and daunting pond. Along the way there will be tests and trials, but for those who have the faith and the courage, there will be divine help when and where they need it (The Lord of the Rings saga has a similar theme). In the Gospels the helper is Jesus, asleep in the boat, but not unconscious to the fears of his friends.

Campbell also draws from myth and legend to describe the fate of those who never dare to leave the safety of the known way. Some people spend all their time, energy and resources trying to avoid suffering for as long as possible. He draws on the myths and folktales of the whole world to make clear that…”the refusal is essentially a refusal to give up what it takes to be in one’s own interest. The future is regarded not in terms of an unremitting series of deaths and births, but as though one’s present system of ideals, virtues, goals and advantages were to be made fixed and secure.”

Some people, when they retire, take to a life of incessant cruising, usually with the same company. Others again, if they are wealthy enough, actually live on the same cruise ship. If the weather holds, fine. If not, out go the stabilisers. Or it could be golf, or whatever is good for us in reasonable doses, but spiritually stultifying when consumed at the cost of life in all its fullness.

Indeed, we humans are past masters at defending the space, securing the perimeters of our restricted experience. Jesus calls us beyond the fortresses of our minds to the risks and rewards of service to the common good. Along the way, if we stay with it, we will benefit from the purifying effects of failure and disappointment; the winnowing effect of sitting quietly in the uncomfortable spaces until we face what in our incessant cruising we have been trying to avoid, the maturing influence of frustrating imperfection.

People who get out on the road and take risks and face failure will have a lot more disappointment and problems than those who stay at home and just say NO to every new challenge that confronts them. Mark’s Peter is a good example. But he is the one who has Christendom’s most noted church named in his honour.

My friends, we are right now called to face challenges we have not faced before. The gospel urges us to accept change that puts us clearly out of the comfort zone; to get into the wooden boat even though we cannot trust either the creaking timbers or the weather forecast. Why? Because that’s where we need to go. In this particular boat there are no back seats!

We all have our faults, which from time to time can become anything from mildly frustrating to downright maddening. Leaving the community, either spiritually or by emotional withdrawal is not the answer. Nor is just taking a back seat. Learning to live together in the messy middle is the right choice for those who are on the way to the promised goal, knowing that we have not yet arrived, but also, as Archie Roach puts it, that it is not too late to keep trying. As it says in the song:

Now I see we're in the boat in two by twos
Only the heart that we have for a tool we could use
And the very close quarters are hard to get used to
Love weighs the hull down with its weight.

I see a Gospel pathway forward for this community of faith. We now have a mission statement, and it’s up to us to prove that it is true. Until we choose to put it into practice, it is truly only words on a page. In so doing there are a few bullets we have to bite, a few servants’ quarters doors we still have to go through. And there is always the possibility of picking up a thorn or two when we go barefoot on holy ground.

We could just hope and pray that the weather holds, but then we will have missed the point.

Let’s not miss the point. Missing the mark (from the Greek word ‘harmartia’ which describes the archer who unintentionally misses the target) is one of the bible’s definitions of sin. Let’s not miss the boat because were too busy checking the weather app on our mobile phones. Jesus is already in this boat. Beyond that, “only the heart we have for a tool we could use” BUT “That’s where I need to go”.

the song featured is by Indigo Girls – The Wood Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0tUkepNqiA

SERMON: OLD AND BLOODY PATHS.

Presented to Warners Bay UC and Boolaroo UC Sunday 14th July 2024

When I was working at the NSW Synod I had the opportunity to visit our United Theological College in Sydney to meet with the students and teaching staff. I was busy extolling what I saw as the virtue of our Synod theme “ON NEW AND RISKY PATHS, when the New Testament professor, a dour Scot, turned to me (or maybe turned ON me) and said “For myself, I prefer old and bloody paths”. Indeed, the gospel writers do not shirk the gory bits. This is also referred to in the letter to the Hebrews, where the writer says, talking about the surrounding cloud of witnesses, “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted sin to the point of shedding your blood.” Clearly, in this time of significant persecution, others had.

Including John the Baptist, who never shirked the opportunity to tell it like it was to the powers of his day, including calling them a “brood of vipers”. Mark actually begins his Gospel with the ministry of John, making it very clear that he is no more and no less than the forerunner of Jesus. And both of them are in the succession of the vocal and persecuted prophets who went before them blowing the whistle on abuse of power, often finding themselves on old and bloody paths.

I had hoped, having been on the theme of the costly discipleship for a while now, to move to some easier terrain. But staying faithful to the gospel text, as the lectionary sets it out, precludes us from avoiding the really hard parts. Now, if we had been Mark’s editor we might have mounted an argument against including the gory story of John’s beheading on the grounds of gratuitous violence. But as honest seekers of gospel truth we need to ask another question, i.e. why did he include it?

One obvious answer is that it is a precursor to and foreshadowing of the arrest and execution of Jesus. Mark shows in both cases how far the powerful will go to save their own reputations or authority. Even when kings and governors actually admire and even fear their antagonists, in the end, they will always act to save themselves, whatever the cost. Meanwhile the little people suffer and pay a heavy price for their resistance. At the same time, political expediency will often see the pardoning of those who really need to be called to account- people like Barabbas, who Pontius Pilate released to the baying crowd.

And so, for example, an idealistic young woman is jailed for 3 months for stopping a coal train, while a convicted felon with multiple charges outstanding including alleged rape and paedophilia is free and in the running for the most powerful position in the world, and the architects of the deadly Robo-debt scheme have not even yet been named.

And so, for example, the man who blew the whistle on ADF war crimes in Afghanistan sits in jail for 5 years while at the same time one of the alleged perpetrators in getting a medal from King Charles III.

And so, for example, the whistle blower who sprung the Howard government for its espionage against tiny East Timor to gain an unfair advantage in negotiations over Timor Gap gas escapes jail by the skin of his teeth because the Albanese government does not want to deny the wishes of Ramos Horta in case he turns his country’s allegiance to China.

I have been saying that some interpretations of the Christian Faith avoid the costly path of discipleship, offering cheap grace instead. At first glance I wondered whether the writer to the Ephesians was doing just that in his euphoric first chapter. I see now though that Ephesians 1 and Mark 6 are not offering competing choices of which path we prefer. The church in Ephesus that Paul wrote to is not being offered pie in the sky when they die. These early churches went through heavy persecution. Their experience was both a new and risky path and an old and bloody path. When he says “You have been chosen as part of the divine plan where God is bringing all creation together” it is not because that their name was drawn out of a lottery - it’s not that sort of chosen - but because they have stood up for Christ when it was singularly unpopular to do so. We choose Christ and Christ chooses us. I am not clear about the order, but in practice it really does not matter.

Old and bloody ways; new and risky paths. I want to offer you just a few more or less contemporary examples of Christians who have taken the route of whistleblower martyrdom and paid the ultimate price for their courage and loyalty. Two people who have walked in the way of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, and anti-Nazi dissident, remains a significant figure whose life and writings continue to inspire and challenge. Born in 1906, Bonhoeffer grew up in a well-educated family, fostering a deep spiritual and intellectual foundation. His theological studies led him to grapple with the essence of Christianity amidst the rise of Hitler's regime.

Bonhoeffer's commitment to faith was not merely theoretical but profoundly practical. He advocated for a "religionless Christianity" that was deeply engaged with the world's suffering and injustices. His seminal work "The Cost of Discipleship" emphasized the importance of active obedience to Christ and living out one's faith in ethical action, not just words. He said that if we are looking for Jesus we should seek him in similar places to where he was found during his ministry in Palestine. Yes, he spent some time in the Temple and Synagogues, and we too might find Jesus in church. But most of his time was out in the community among the sick and the suffering, the blind, the lame and the oppressed. So that is where he will also be found today by those who earnestly seek him.

In the years leading up to WWII Bonhoeffer witnessed the growing persecution and elimination of those the Nazis deemed did not fit the standards of the pure Germanic race - the disabled, the communists, the homosexuals, the Jews. His convictions were similar to those of Pastor Martin Niemoller, whose change of heart about the Nazi regime is captured in the following quote: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

During the tumultuous years of World War II, Bonhoeffer's opposition to the Nazi regime led him to participate actively in the resistance movement. His involvement in various plots against Hitler ultimately led to his arrest in 1943 and subsequent imprisonment in the notorious Flossenbürg concentration camp.

Throughout his life, Dietrich Bonhoeffer maintained a disciplined approach to faith and life. This discipline extended to his personal habits, including his diet. Bonhoeffer was known for his asceticism, often adhering to a simple and sparse diet. This austerity reflected not only his personal convictions but also his commitment to living in solidarity with those who suffered.

In the face of tremendous adversity and despite the horrors he witnessed in the concentration camps, Bonhoeffer's faith remained steadfast. His letters and writings from prison reflect a deep spiritual maturity and unwavering trust in God, even as he faced imminent death.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed on April 9, 1945, just weeks before the Allies liberated the camp. His life and legacy continue to resonate today, challenging believers to consider the true cost of discipleship and the radical implications of following Christ in a broken world.

My final example of the old and bloody path re-walked is that of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who was martyred for his opposition to attacks on the poor; whose story is dramatized in this video animation: (video)

As the writer to the Hebrews put it, you and I have not yet resisted sin to the point of the shedding of our blood. Nor will most Christians be called to go this far, as best I can presently tell. For one thing, our faith has become domesticated to the point where it is almost too comfortable to challenge without getting an aggressive or defensive reaction. Mostly we would prefer to avoid old and bloody paths, or even new and risky ones.

On the other hand, people have surprised me enough during the course of my life and ministry to be careful to not rule anything out. Sometimes circumstances occur where folk rise to the occasion in unexpected ways, like running into a burning house to try and save children from a murderous parent. I suspect that each one of us has been through enough in the course of our lives, and under the gospel challenge, to be capable of almost anything if and when the circumstances require or allow. We know cruelty and injustice when we see it. We are invited with every news bulletin we watch to feel the pain of the oppressed and the afflicted. Even when our courage has failed us in circumstances where it seemed too risky to take a stand, who of us have never said ‘The next time that happens I WILL say something, I WILL do something, I WILL stand up for what is right.

As Christians we are called to another level of being in the world. As followers of Jesus, we need to be able to step back from the populist clamour for the blood of the innocent, and see more clearly where love and justice lie. Having seen it, to reset our lives for the common good.

As the songwriter prays “Teach me to do what is right, walk in the darkness, shine in the light and may love be the path I walk along.” A new and risky path. An old and bloody path. The road less travelled. The way of Jesus.

Anchor 35

THE MARKS OF A HEALTHY CHURCH - PART 2

Presented to Warners Bay Uniting Church and Boolaroo Uniting Church on Sunday 4th August 2024.

Way back on the 14th January of this year I addressed you on the theme of “Marks of a healthy church”.
I invited you that day to choose one word which described a mark of a healthy church. I have now collated those cards and placed them on cardboard (show to the congregation.) In the process I have grouped them in such a way as to show where the emphases lie. This grouping itself tells us something interesting, but more of that later.

Today I want to do two things; firstly to look closely at chapter 4 of the Letter to the Church at Ephesus, with a view to determining what St Paul thought were key aspects of a healthy Christian Community; and secondly to focus on your perceptions as shown on the chart. Hopefully we will be able to bring together these two pieces of work in such a way as to make the move from identifying the signs of health, to actually becoming that church as we embrace those marks and embody them in the way we are together.

This is not an easy path to walk. Paul’s letters in particular are full of admonitions and even occasional blatant criticism (you foolish Galatians…) One repeating challenge in Paul’s letters are for the churches to grow up! In 1Corinthians 3 He says that while the people had to start on spiritual baby food, they are still not ready to move to solids! In the famous 1 Corinthians 13 he says of himself “…When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.: when I became an adult I put an end to childish ways.” And now, in today’s Ephesians passage, the same theme arises- “We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine…but speaking the truth in love we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. (4:15).

So, along with David having to cop the wrath of the prophet Nathan, or the eager bread-seeking crowds being admonished by Jesus to first seek the bread of life, a mature church is one that can receive hard words like grown-ups, and sift them to discover if the caps fits and if so, to wear it.

And so to Ephesians 4, which starts “I therefore beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling in which you have been called…” It is worth reading the first 3 chapters to clarify what the “therefore” refers to. In a nutshell, it is the basis of the gospel that has brought this group of people from death to life. (In the book of Romans, Paul does the same thing, but far more extensively, taking eleven chapters to outline the gospel of salvation before getting to the great THEREFORE in chapter 12: “I appeal to you therefore…to present your bodies as a living sacrifice….Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your minds.”)

So what is it that Paul is begging of the Ephesians?
Firstly, it is that they exhibit the fruit of the Spirit in their communal life. Elsewhere he lists the fruit of the Spirit as “love, joy peace, patience, kindness goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.’ In Ephesians he emphasises humility, gentleness, patience and love. Many of these words reappear in what you have written as marks of a healthy church. Thinking about your own life, what might be the one fruit that stands out above the rest?

Secondly he emphasises UNITY- “Making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit” The early churches of Paul’s time were no different from any other human community in habitually finding ways to disagree, to change allegiances, and split themselves apart. (like children who take their bat and ball and go home.)

Thirdly, he talks about the gifts of the Spirit- those God-given and Spirit-inspired abilities which, when used for the common good, build up and empower the mission of the church. In this letter he specifies prophets, pastors, evangelists and teachers. Biblical scholars have identified thirty or so other so-called spiritual gifts in the Bible, so there are in fact a lot more to choose from. There are the more spectacular gifts of miracles and healing, and also the less showy but just as important ministry of service. Paul teaches elsewhere that every Christian has at least one spiritual gift they can exercise for the good of the whole church. Thinking about your own life, what one gift might be your special one?

To summarise Ephesians Chapter 4, the marks of a healthy church are shown in the unity of mature adult Christians who exhibit the fruit spirit-inspired Christian humility, patience, gentleness and love and exercise their spiritual gifts for the good of the whole body of Christ CF (1 Cor 13). UNITY, MATURITY, SPIRITUAL GIFTS, and SPIRITUAL FRUITS.

When I now go back and look at the diagram, what jumps out at me is that the vast majority of marks identified here would, in Pauline terms, fit loosely into the category of spiritual fruits. Those most often mentioned are “love” and “caring”. The question is, what makes them actual spiritual qualities, when we know that such qualities can sometimes be found in any number of social or sporting or service clubs? What is it that give our caring a healing quality, and our love the power to transform the love of another? Does our humility, gentleness and patience actually help us to bear witness to Jesus in such a way that another two might be drawn to the one who gives us life in all its fullness.

And when we think about the spiritual gifts (of which just a few appear at the bottom of the diagram,) what is it that transforms what we are good at into a spiritual gift, so that, again, what we do well becomes infused with a spiritual quality that helps to change the world.

Finally, how might we grow in giftedness and fruitfulness, developing those special qualities that enable a healthy church to do its core work of mission?

For me, the answer seems to lie in the top line- connection with God in our exercising of the spiritual disciplines such as worship, prayer and meditation and the studying of sacred spiritual texts. Conversations that focus on the deeper areas of our lives also help to open us to spiritual insight. It also helps as we find ways to exercise our giftedness in service of others, and display the fruits of love, care, gentleness and generosity, among many others. As we delve ever more deeply into the ways of the Spirit, all that we do and everything we are is exposed to the possibility of divine transformation. If our giftedness is to be spiritual giftedness, and our fruitfulness is to be spiritual fruitfulness, what better way than to marinate the fruit in the Spirit, or consecrate our giftedness to the holiness of God.

As Jesus says in John 6, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but the food that endures to eternal life” and “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty”.
Immersed in Christ, his church emerges mature, united, gifted and fruitful.

Anchor 36

MARKS OF A HEALTHY CHURCH. Part 3

Presented to Warners Bay Uniting Church & Boolaroo Uniting Church on Sunday 18th August 2024

Over the last while we have been giving some thought as to what a healthy church might look like. We have delved into the scriptures, most recently the letter to the Ephesians, to seek a standard by which we can measure ourselves. Last week we noted the importance St Paul places on unity, the exercising of the gifts of the Spirit such as service and hospitality, and showing the fruit of the Spirit- love, joy peace and so on, in our communal lives. We have also drawn on our own experience and observation to come up with a board full of descriptors of what a healthy church should look like. Both the words we have chosen and the emphasis of St Paul is on the primacy and centrality of love. And in both cases, love is linked to a whole lot of other words like, faith, hope, kindness, and caring and generosity.

This all has a wonderful ring to it, and who could possibly argue that this is what a healthy church embraces at its heart. If only if it were that easy!

The fact that it is NOT that easy becomes clear when St Paul says; in the passage we just heard read (Ephesians 5:15-20), “Be careful then how you live”! He goes on to indicate some of the crucial choices we are called upon to make in order to be a church that bears witness to Jesus Christ, who is the beating heart of the Gospel as follows:

“Choose not as unwise people but as wise.”

“Choose to make the most of your time.”

‘Choose to be not foolish, but discerning of the will of God.”

“Choose to not get drunk on alcohol, but imbibe plentifully of the Holy Spirit.”

“Choose to worship God wholeheartedly and with great thankfulness.”

CHOOSE WISELY!

In the Gospels, there are a number of occasions when Jesus says things like STAY AWAKE; or BE READY. There is no time for complacency, especially when we find ourselves constantly challenged to bear witness to the love of God in Jesus, in a cruel, careless and ungenerous world. The Christian Church is called to be an alternative community, and the marks of its health are the marks of love, along with the other virtues we have named.

Now, I feel that there is one more thing to say about this issue of the marks of a healthy church, and it is this: it is one thing to say that we are a church that holds love to be at the centre of all that we do, but in some ways love can be a nebulous word. In fact, the word “agape’ which is used in the gospels to describe the love of God, is the most general of at least four different words for love in common Greek. And that is important, because the more we delve into the world of the Spirit, the more we realise that God cannot be easily contained within the limits of human language. And so in Brian Wren’s great hymn “Bring many names, beautiful and good…” he gets to the last verse having run out of metaphors, and says “Great living God, never fully known, joyful darkness far beyond our seeing…”

And so, getting back to our quest to name and own the marks of a healthy church, it might be more helpful to go to some of the many corollaries in order to try and pin them down what love means in practice. For example, in 1Corinthians chapter 13 Paul says “Love is…patient, kind, forgiving, not jealous, not conceited and not proud...”

For myself, there is one virtue, one expression of love that stands a bit taller that the others. It is one of the first things I would look for as a mark of a truly Christian community. And that virtue is love expressed as generosity.

Generosity is a challenging mark because it can be measured and quantified. You may remember back in January I told you the story of the young king who wanted to impress the surrounding kingdoms by building a beautiful fountain. Having summoned them all to the grand opening, he instructed his subject to each take a bucket of milk the night before, climb the hill to the reservoir, and pour their milk into it. The next day, at the height of the festivities, when the sluice gates were opened, and the king expected the impressive show of milk to flow from the fountain, all that emerged was water! Why? Because everyone though that their bucket of water would not be noticed among the abundance of their neighbour’s milk.

One way that generosity can be measured is in its absence. It is like citizens who say “why should our country make sacrifices to our GDP by limiting the extraction and use of fossil fuel when that other country over there is not doing the same?” Why indeed? The choice to be generous is based on our morals and our ethics. As UC minister Rob McFarlane says, “Our future is wrapped up in being an alternative to the mainstream, of pricking the conscience of the self-satisfied, and offering another way to live.”

Some of the most powerful moments in the Gospels are when Jesus makes the point about the divine quality of generosity. He tells about a vineyard owner who summonses the unemployed from the town square to come and help him with the harvest. Some come early and work all day, some come at midday, and some in the mid-afternoon. When they all get paid the same, the early risers begin to complain. “It’s not fair. We have toiled all day and we only get as much as the ones who worked for a few hours!” And Jesus, speaking for the vineyard owner says those shattering words - “Are you jealous because I am generous?” As the great Lucan commentator points out - “Those who only worked a few hours also have hungry children at home”. A similar theme runs through the story of the Prodigal Son. When the elder brother sees the father’s generosity towards the younger son, in spite of the prodigal having just squandered his inheritance on poor choices like debauchery, Jesus has the father say to him. “Why are you angry over my generosity to your brother. You are with me always. It is all here for you.” Finally, as Jesus and his disciples are standing watching the rich people bringing their ostentatious gifts to the temple, he directs their gaze to the poor widow, who brings her tiny fraction to God. He says, in effect, “This is true generosity, because she gave all she had.”

I know a man who is married to a woman who some might describe as “generous to a fault” (implying that too much generosity might just not be a good thing). And every now and then he feels a bit jealous when he sees her openheartedness towards others. “Do we have to take wine and chocolates and desert to this dinner?” “Yes, we do”. “But why?” “Because I value my friends.” At this point he remembers that he is the most fortunate recipient of all of her generosity, and he pulls himself together with renewed appreciation of this impressive mark of a healthy life. Her generosity lifts his standards!

The poet David Foster puts it like this:

Don’t give everything.

How many times have you heard them say

Don’t give everything.

You would think that they

Had given everything and lost, but hardly

A thing could be further from the truth.

They lost because they did not give everything.

They thought they had nothing to give

But everything is nothing until it is given

To someone else, then it becomes something.

Beyond a certain threshold to give is to acquire, and we

Should not care that others have universally failed, when it is so obvious to us why: I say

The laws of nature are functioning perfectly:

The threshold will extend us till we die.

Of all of the marks of a healthy church, generosity is one of the most challenging, as well as one of the most rewarding, because the possibilities it offers are limitless. And until we are ready to die in agony on a cross to lay down our lives for our friends, or to stand up for the weak and go to prison for the common good, the threshold of generosity will indeed extend us till we die.

So then,

“Choose not as unwise people but as wise.”

“Choose to make the most of your time.”

‘Choose to be not foolish, but discerning of the will of God.”

“Choose to not get drunk on wine but imbibe plentifully of the Holy Spirit.”

“Choose to worship God wholeheartedly and with great thankfulness.”

CHOOSE WISELY!

Anchor 37

WASHING HANDS/WASHING FEET. Reframing the Purity Code

Presented to Warners Bay Uniting Church & Boolaroo Uniting Church on Sunday 1st September 2024

“Beyond the purity code.”

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and keep oneself unstained by the world.” James 1:27. He also says “Be doers of the word and not hearers only.”

Today I will explore the tension between understanding religion in terms of obedience to an institutional set of rules, and action for justice in the world.

When doing so there is a temptation to take sides and make the case for one over the other. The legalistic Scribes and Pharisees as described in the Gospels are depicted as the rigid defenders of the Laws and traditions of Judaism against Jesus, whose prophetic message of care of the weak clashes with theirs constantly. Here the law and the prophets are placed in dualistic opposition to each other. Ideally though they can come together in an organic whole, and they do so in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Today’s Gospel story is a good case in point. The Pharisees take Jesus to task for allowing his followers to eat without washing their hands. Mark then explains Jewish customs of handwashing and food washing for his Gentile readers. Jesus’ riposte is to quote the prophet Isaiah to point out what he also says in many other places, that the religious leaders insist on adherence to traditional customs while neglecting far more important requirements of the law, such as acts of love and care of the neediest in their community. We might note here that in the interplay between the Law and the Prophets, we see that the function of the prophet is to keep the ways of the law honest and on track.

When we look at the Epistle and Gospel reading together, we find them both asking the question “What does it mean to be pure?” Both passages are a critique of the idea that purity somehow comes from correct rituals, when ignoring what Jesus calls “the weightier matters of the law”, which address love, justice and compassion.

On reading these accounts again I was reminded of an incident when I attended a lunchtime Multifaith gathering hosted by the then Premier of NSW, Barry O’Farrell. When lunches were served, we were all brought our meal in the normal way, except for the Rabbi sitting next to me. His meal was brought on a special plate covered with gladwrap, and separate wrapped disposable eating utensils. I just could not help the sense arising in me of a barrier being been placed between us; an imposed sense of separateness that had nothing to do with actual hygiene. I could respect the original wisdom of cleanliness, but struggled with the ongoing separation of a certain group on the grounds of their religious status.

Another way that Jesus sought to confront the pettiness and hypocrisy of traditional rules was to say of the Pharisees “You strain off a gnat and gulp down a camel.” In other words, they paid careful attention to the minutiae of the rules, while ignoring the huge injustices and class discrepancies of their community, especially the distressed widows and orphans, people who their laws did not protect when they should have. As I observe with a significant amount of horror the awful slaughter going on in the Holy Land at this time, I cannot help but want to respond to Jesus by saying “How right you are”.

I had a similar feeling about the furore that was created by a banner at the opening of the Paris Olympics, that seemed to some to depict a corrupted version of the Last Supper. Various Church leaders were up in arms at something they saw to be defiling a core depiction of the Christian Faith. At the same time, there seems to be a terrible complicit silence about actual outrageous cruelty being enacted on innocents in certain parts of the world. Are we still “straining off a gnat and gulping down a camel”?

Jesus also teaches in this passage that it is not what we eat or drink that defiles or energises us, but what comes out of our mouths and out in our actions. (The tree will be known by the fruit it bears.)

James in his Epistle comes at it another way: that our right living comes to us as a gift from God. “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of lights…” This implies that the living out of our best efforts come to us from the outside- a gift from God.

These two teachings are not contradictory but rather complementary. They remind us that what we consistently expose ourselves to will seep into our minds and hearts and brains like microplastics, and affect the performance of our lives in word and deed. (Some things seem innocent enough, but in effect can be as destructive as putting diesel fuel into a petrol engine.)

To summarise the teaching of James in today’s passage; If you want to be on message as far as the spiritual/religious life is concerned, there are two things to watch out for:

* Distance yourselves from what has a negative or divisive influence on your life, including those who do not bridle their tongues. (Here is another seeming ambiguity- holding oneself separate for fear of contamination by the world can lead to an unattractive and superior pharisaism - Jesus never did that; and yet there is a good argument to distance/rid oneself of company that is toxic to one’s spiritual and mental health. For example, there is one person who used to play regularly at my golf club who is also a former South African. I always hesitate to enter into deeper conversation with my fellow expatriates due to the often strong differences of opinion that arise. And so it was one day when our sharing about where we lived deteriorated into his diatribe about the Black people, to whom he referred by a particularly derogatory descriptor that I would not repeat here. When I challenged him about his inappropriate language he just laughed and refused to change his tone. I never played with him again. I had to separate myself from the toxicity and spite that he exuded. James thus reframes the “Purity code” in terms of the avoidance of destructive influence. Secondly,

* Ask yourselves: “How does your life reflect a practical empathy for those who are suffering, especially the ones who society treats unfairly.”

Getting back to Jesus, the key distinction that he brings to the “Law and Prophets” interaction can be summed up as “it is good to wash your hands and your fruit before you eat. What God actually wants, much more than that, is for you to wash each other’s feet”.

On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus stands with Moses and Elijah- the embodiment of the Law and the Prophets. But Jesus himself is the single divine embodiment of the legal and the prophetic. He holds the two together as one. Law and justice. Purity and compassion. The so-called Purity code of the Pharisees, embodied in the Rabbi as one who stands separated and superior to those around him, is reframed by a sense of the purity that comes from serving the needy, and from holding oneself unsullied from life’s corrupting influences. Jesus defines the unity of law and prophecy in his teaching, where he says (Matt 5:17) “Do you think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets? I have come not to abolish but to fulfill” and elsewhere. “Do to others as you would have them do to you - this is the whole law and the prophets. This is right teaching, and right action.”

In other words, it is good that we wash our hands before eating, and that we wash our fruit when we get back from the market. What is best is when we wash one another’s feet. As he says to his disciples on the eve of his death, “If I your lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you should also do as I have done to you. John13:14-15.

And as Jesus does before him, James reframes the purity code thus: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and keep oneself unstained by the world.” James 1:27 And the blessing of James to his readers comes in a previous verse, where he says “But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers that act - they will be blessed in their doing.”

Anchor 38

RECREATING WHOLENESS. Sunday 8TH September 2024 Warners Bay UC

Last week we engaged with the issue of the Purity Code of the Israelites in the time of Jesus. We witnessed a confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees (the “separated ones”) over Jesus disciples’ failure to wash their hands before dinner. We heard Jesus scold the Pharisees for insisting on adherence to minute and petty customs, while neglecting the weightier matters of the law, like protecting the weak of their community instead of putting heavy burdens on their backs.

The letter writer James entered the conversation, with wisdom about the nature of true religion. The Code he supported was one of keeping a wise distance from contaminating influences, and steering clear of people whose toxicity would drain their energy. The second part of his code was about caring for widows and orphans, whose needs were ignored in Jewish laws about inheritance.

Jesus Code of ethics is summarised thus- “Do to others as you would have them do to you”, and follows this in one Gospel by saying “This is the whole law and the prophets.”

Jesus and James convince me that true spiritual purity includes both a careful attention to avoiding contaminating and toxic influences; and loving our neighbours as ourselves. And who is my neighbour? In one parable it is the Good Samaritan, who by Jewish law or custom must be avoided. Purists like the Priest and the Levite, also avoid one of their own who has been struck down by robbers, in order to avoid becoming ritually contaminated while on their priestly duties. (although I am sure that if they really wanted to help they would have found a way.)

All right; now that is settled. Jesus and James have us back on the straight path by reframing the purity code to reflect how true religion should be lived.

Or maybe not? If you listen carefully to today’s Gospel reading you might see trouble ahead, as Jesus, tired out from his travelling and looking for a bit of peace and quiet, enters a house where he hopes to be left alone to rest. But he is spotted and confronted by a woman who would dearly love him to heal her mentally ill daughter. Now this is difficult, for this woman is not just any woman, by a SYRO-PHONECIAN woman, and therefore off limits to him according to the strict purity code of his religion.

I would be very surprised if anyone here has not found themselves in such a situation, where all you want do is relax and get a well earned rest, and someone has a need that they ask you to attend to. If it’s family, you probably just sigh and get on with it. How much harder is it when the person who needs a piece of you is someone you do not really know, or particularly like? (I note that American Politician JD Vance sees part of the solution to their childcare issue is for grandparents to step up, along with uncles and aunts!)

As a minister I have often been confronted with such people, many of whom feel that it is the church’s responsibility to supply their needs of the moment, such as petrol money for an urgent trip to see family in Sydney, and because it’s the weekend there is nowhere else they can get help. I used to put my hand into my pocket, if only to get rid of them (yes, I admit it) but in later years have become more cynical on the basis that 99 times out of a hundred their story is made up. Like the man who approached me in Hamilton with the heart-wrenching story about how his son had just that morning been killed in a motorbike crash in the Northern Rivers, and could we help him with petrol money to get there? I said we would help if we could, but before committing the church funds, I needed to check on a few things. So I rang the police in the town he named, only to be told that there had been no road fatalities that day. He went off to get more details, but did not return. Another scam thwarted!

Then the call came one wet Saturday night as I was doing final sermon preparation, and suffering from a headache. The fellow, who was calling from Newcastle Police Station, told me that he had become stranded in Newcastle because the rail line north was flooded. Also, he could not get accommodation because he was a bit of a hippy, and nobody would welcome him into their inn, in spite of his good credit card. He also claimed to be part of a Uniting Church back home. Convinced this was another tall story I told him I was not in a position to help. He said to me “And so the Pharisee crossed over to the other side of the road”. I said to him “And why should your lack of planning become my emergency?” and hung up.

However I could not rest, so I rang the pastor in the town my caller had mentioned. “Oh yes” he said. ‘He is one of ours. He looks a bit like a hobo but he is honest.” Thoroughly chastened, I booked a room by phone at the local Irish pub, collected the poor fellow from the police station, and took him to his lodgings. He was in church the next morning.

Back now to the story of Jesus and the woman from the region of Tyre and Sidon. Here is a typical situation of two people finding themselves with a clash of pressing needs. He is desperate for rest; she is beside herself on account of her daughter’s malady. So who is going to give in to whom? The dilemma with the troubling dialogue has been well and truly ploughed over by scholars trying to explain why Jesus’ response is so rudely uncharacteristic, considering his own distaste for rules that separate people from one another, petty regulations that prevent some from receiving the ministry they need and deserve. Let’s face it, if Peter had said those words “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs”, we would have been all over him. “Typical Peter - rough as guts. Always putting his foot in his mouth.” It sounds very much like straight out racism and deep ugly prejudice.

The most popular interpretation, on the basis of Jesus being Jesus, is that he could not have meant his words to be taken literally, but was trying to position the situation in order for the woman’s faith to come to the fore. That may be the case.

I prefer to take his words at face value, rather than with the overlay about what we are supposed to believe about Jesus, (much of it based on assumptions by those with an agenda to run). For me, his crass denigration of a foreigner is the curious exception that proves the compassionate rule.

So let me ask you a question I often ask of myself. Have you never found yourself reacting ungraciously when someone, say, from another culture puts their hand up and asks for a favour? “They come over here and expect to just get everything they want” Or a minority group who we are willing to put up with as far as it goes, but “please do not ask for special treatment like having extra questions in the census to count all of the variations of your sexuality.”

I am not trying to justify Jesus’ response by referring to our own basic instincts. I simply want to point out that in a society where racism is so embedded, where one has grown up with attitudes that reinforce our instinctual drive to bolster the protections around our own spaces, we both need and welcome the opportunity to think twice about our reactions, and do better when we have reflected on them.

As Jesus does.

The woman herself displays admirable restraint, and perhaps even a sense of humour in her response, which puts Jesus back into his compassionate space. Some parents, even when humiliated, will do anything to get the best care for their children. And she got it from him. The one who taught “do to others as you would have them do to you” but who may in his state of exhaustion have momentarily forgot that he had already reframed the petty rules and customs of the Pharisees, came through with the desperately needed healing. His compassion and grace for the woman and the child trumped his need for a peaceful night.

You may or may not want to accept this interpretation of Jesus’ actions on the day. That’s fine. The text is not clearcut; and I am glad, because it makes us think - not only about the humanity of Jesus, but about how we might learn from his journey, and so better direct our own.

Where it ends up however is with wholeness restored. The child is healed. The mother is mightily relieved. Jesus? well, I suggest that he would have slept better that night for having done what he did, rather than having fitful dreams about when he likened a distraught mother to a dog on the spur of the moment.

I can follow this Jesus. I do not need him to be perfect in every sense of the word. In fact, his ability to wrestle with his own inner conflict and still come out of it with ethics intact gives me hope that I can do it too, at least some of the time.

We need this Jesus to be our leader who transforms our lives and prepares us to face a broken world with all of its terrible demands.

Our Creation is, at least partially, broken. It cries out in anguish at the terrible misuse of its riches and its beauty. Every night another cyclone, a flood, a landslide, multiple fires. We treat it as something to be used and discarded like a plastic bag or a spent battery. We do not like to think about it because when we do we just feel helpless, tired out from the journey. “I know’” we cry. “Go away and leave me alone. I cannot do anything about it. It’s not my fault.”

And yet, Jesus still calls us to follow him into the world and its people desperately in need of a recreated wholeness.

When a soldier pulls a trigger, or a man strikes his woman, or messages are sent via the web that crush a teenager’s soul, or a little girl loses her mind to the demon of mental illness for no apparent reason, the world awaits the presence and power of mercy and the generosity of healing. Hopefully, though we, like Jesus, may be dog-tired, we will still be not too tired to care.

Like it or not, we are all in this together. I don’t know where it ends, but perhaps we can speculate where it starts. Like when we say something brutal, then repent, and enact a work of faith that heals the heart of a mother and mind of her little one.

Anchor 39

The Church as Salt

Rev Suzanne Stanton Director of Mission at Uniting

Warners Bay Uniting Church Sunday 29 September 2024

Mark 9:38-50 (NRSV)

38 John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us."

39 But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.

40 Whoever is not against us is for us.

41 For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

42 "If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.

43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.

45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. ,

47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell,

48 where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.

49 "For everyone will be salted with fire.

50 Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."

Matthew 5:13-14 (NRSV)

13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

14 "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.

Whenever I visit a Congregation to preach if I don’t already know them I try and spend a little time learning something about them, usually by looking at their website.

When I visited the website for this congregation I found a really rich place, and I ended up spending more time than I expected exploring it and this has given me some of the inspiration for this reflection today, so it was time well spent.

Three items on the website really resonated with me and the work that I do as Director of Mission in Uniting, and the work of the Mission team within Uniting. These were a reflection by Brian Brown entitled “Called to Serve” that reflects on whom we are called to serve and how. Another by Brian with the title “On New and Risky Paths” explored the ethos of the Uniting Church. The third was a reflection from just a few months ago by Graham Hill, exploring “What is Mission?”

Before looking at the website, when I was considering which text to use today I was also inspired to explore the metaphor of salt – which is contained in the Gospel reading from Mark.

Not long after I started my role in Uniting, just over two years ago, I came across a book called “The Church as Salt”. In it Sally Douglas explores the metaphor of salt, in a very Uniting Church way, and with examples of ministry in “salty” Uniting church faith communities and congregations, and connected to the Uniting Church’s foundational document, the Basis of Union.

When I saw the gospel text for today I was inspired to look at this book again. It is very much a book about the Uniting church seeking to understand its identity and purpose in a much-changed world from the days when many denominations and churches were larger, and far more visible, and where the church’s place in society was established and secure.

As the blurb on the back of the books says:

“The Jesus community is called to be the salt of the earth, a metaphor that contains rich and disruptive challenge. Salt is little. We weep salty tears and grow up in dark salty wombs. Salt preserves. Salt draws out taste and too much salt spoils everything.”

Douglas’ book calls those who read it to consider how we continue to be the Jesus community in this much changed world through considering the metaphor of church as salt.

I don’t think I am the person to discern that for this community, what it might mean for you to be a “salty” community here, but today I do hope to leave you with some food for thought and encouragement as you continue in discernment and reflection on how to be the church in this time and place. This is a task that every church community I believe always has to be continually engaged in.

Today I’d like to share some reflections on the work of the team that I am a part of does, and how I understand us as a salty presence in the very large organisation that Uniting has grown to be.

When I first read the Gospel text for today I was put off by the strong language and the tone of condemnation – I do not usually resonate with texts that feel threatening and angry, whoever they might be directed at. However, when I explored a little further and looked at the text in broader context and consulted Douglas’ book I found the text to actually be connected to some foundational elements of the ethos of the Uniting Church and Uniting. Douglas says it better than I could so I’ll read from her book:

(Earlier) In Mark, we hear about an argument between Jesus’ male disciples. They have been disputing among themselves which one of them is the most important (Mark 9:33-34). The author of Mark makes it clear that they really haven’t been listening to Jesus’ words for some time. In Mark 8 and 9, Jesus repeatedly talks about the reality that divine power looks very different to human power. Jesus says he is going to be betrayed and violently killed and, what is more, Jesus says that to be a follower of Jesus means entering into this way of humble non-retaliation and self-giving (Mark 8:31-38, 9:30-32 see also 10:32-34).

In this Gospel, Jesus knows they have been fighting and when they are in the privacy of the house Jesus challenges them, asking them about the nature of their conflict. We are told that Jesus responds to their power plays by drawing their attention to a child. Jesus brings this child to the centre, a little one, considered entirely unimportant on the patriarchal and hierarchical worldview of the (times) Common Era. Jesus then goes on to proclaim the unthinkable: Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not only me but the one who sent me (Mark 9:37).

Here Jesus is effectively saying, “Look, the one you think of as the least important, is where you will find me and where you will find God.” In Sally Douglas’ words Jesus tells the disciples to “Get you heads checked”.

… Jesus then makes it clear that the ‘little ones’ must be safeguarded in Christian community and that there will be severe consequences for those who hurt them (Mark 9:42-48). In these graphic words hope is proclaimed. Here it is proclaimed that those who think they can hurt children, or vulnerable people, and get away with it, will be exposed and will, ultimately, face costly consequences.

One reason why Uniting exists today is because members of the Uniting Church and its predecessor churches have understood and taken seriously over many decades God’s call to serve those on the margins, those who are young, those who are vulnerable. This is core to who we are, core to our ethos and values as part of the Uniting Church. And it is one of the ways in which we are the “salt of the earth”.

The possible loss of this saltiness is what challenges me. There is a risk that Uniting will lose its “saltiness” and its essence and connection to the ethos of the Uniting Church and the way of Jesus. It is now a huge organisation of around 12,000 employed staff and over 1,000 volunteers serving well over 100,000 people each year. The services Uniting provides span the whole of people’s lives from children in their early years through to those living with disability, families in distress, people living with mental illness, those in prison and hospitals, and those who are in the later years of their lives. While some people choose to receive services from Uniting, many come to Uniting at the most vulnerable times in their lives and with no choice about it.

Today it can sometimes be difficult, even for me, to articulate how the wider Uniting Church and Uniting are related. No analogy or metaphor is perfect, just as neither church or Uniting have been perfect in how they have served the most vulnerable in our society at every time in the past.

It is in the midst of this imperfection that the team I am a part of seeks to work.

And in this huge organisation of around 12,000 employees our team in the Mission Directorate is only around 100 people. It was in pondering this that I first found Douglas’ work interesting to consider. The Mission Directorate in Uniting has one of the smallest teams, and smallest budgets. We do sometimes get forgotten and people mistakenly think we are likely to judge others and seek to convert people to our beliefs. It’s part of my role to correct these misconceptions and ensure we are equipped to keep being a Jesus inspired presence in the organisation.

When I first started in my role people from the wider church would ask me how I planned to ensure that Uniting remained connected to its foundations. To be honest, I wasn’t sure then and I’m still not sure now how that is to be done comprehensively – other than to step out in faith everyday and to persevere and to trust that a few grains of salt can go a long way and can infuse the whole of the organisation, to keep it connected to the ethos that gave it life.

But I find incredible hope and privilege in my work and the work of the team I am a part of. There are three pillars to our work and they connect to those three things I began by talking about, service of those who are vulnerable, in alignment with the ethos of the Uniting Church and connecting our work with where God is at work in the world today.

Our first pillar of work is called Foundations: just as congregations are called to be the salt that preserves the story of the way of Jesus, and to faithfully reinterpret it in their own lives in these times, so our team have the role of reminding the people of Uniting today of what lies at the foundation of their work, and to keep them connected to the way of Jesus, even if they themselves do not hold to Christian faith or any faith practice at all. This work is both harder and easier than I imagined. Jesus and his teachings are generally respected by many however the church has sometimes hurt people and there is much work to do to rehabilitate people’s understanding of the essence of our faith: that each and every person is beloved of God and therefore worthy of respect, dignity and love. This is the salty work of preservation: carrying an authentic story of our faith into the future.

Secondly, Spiritual and Pastoral Care: this is where most of the team work – the visible, embodied presence of the Body of Christ in Uniting and the community. They are the salt that cleanses and bathes wounds, embodying grace and ministering to those seeking meaning and purpose, those in need of healing and seeking wholeness. Our Chaplains and Pastoral Practitioners remind me of the images of the early church communities Douglas describes in her book – sometimes looked upon with confusion and even on occasion suspicion but transforming lives and quietly doing the work of infusing God’s love into places of darkness and pain, as well as celebrating the extraordinary and ordinary moments of life.

And finally, Collaboration: discovering where can we be at work joining in the Mission of God in the community today. This part of the team supports Uniting’s Advocacy work and looks for opportunities to partner with the church in Community Development initiatives. Here we seek to connect people together in places where opportunities emerge – we go looking for where God is already at work and we aim to connect people from the church and Uniting together to enhance what God is already doing, just as salt seasons and enhances the flavour of food.

PAUSE

Sally Douglas concludes her book with her view, both hopeful and challenging, that despite much of the rhetoric that exists in the Uniting Church and beyond, that the church is not dying, it is being refined.

She describes our possible future – a church where people shed salty tears of both sadness and joy, communities of radical solidarity weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice. Communities that demonstrate a different way of growing that is less about becoming successful according to the standards of society today and more by recognising that growth in people’s lives and the life of the church is often hard to see, vulnerable, fragile and unpredictable, in the same way that new life grows in the salty darkness of a woman’s womb.

These images may not sound hopeful when we are immersed in a culture that praises people for always staying positive and that commends and celebrates growth that is obvious, swift and conquering all.

The metaphor of the church and those who follow in the way of Jesus as the salt of the earth challenges those images of growth and calls the church into something I think is deeper and more authentic – and more likely to bring healing, wholeness and reconciliation for those who have been on the margins and who often don’t find a place in a world where material success is seen as the standard to aspire to. This is a church more likely to be able to serve the little ones that the text from the Gospel of Mark speaks of the little ones whose interests Jesus preferences.

My personal task and calling is to see the very large, highly diverse and outcomes driven organisation that I work in also able to retain its ability to see each and every person as precious to God, worthy of dignity and love, according to the ethos and theology of the church that began its ministry and mission.

In this congregation I cannot speak for your hopes and dreams as followers of Jesus in this community, but I pray for your ongoing discernment and ability to listen and watch for where God is already at work in your midst, and for you to continue to find your place in that work, being salt for this community and the world.

Rev Suzanne Stanton Director of Mission at Uniting

Anchor 40

WHAT’S IN A RENAME?

Presented to Warners Bay Uniting Church and Boolaroo Uniting Church 6th October 2024

This theme of “names” did not arise, as it usually does, from the lectionary readings for the day, but rather from the song “El Shaddai” which was played at church gathering recently, and passed on to me. In Hebrew tradition names are extremely important due to the meaning they are intended to carry- in this case “God Almighty”. Another such example is the name “Jireh” which honours God as Provider.

Beyond that there is a lot of re-naming that goes on in the Bible, usually at the point of a major change in a person’s life, where they take on a new responsibility. Even in our own culture, it is often the case that a person gets one name at birth, and another along the way, for whatever reason. So, if my sister Sue turned up here, which she won’t because she lives in England, she would be referring to me as “Bill”. The reason for this goes back to my primary school days when I was made goalkeeper for the school team. My father, who was English, and who loved using nicknames, started calling me “Bill” after a Scot, William Brown, who won an English Premiership in goal for Tottenham Hotspur. The anointing did not actually improve anything, but to my direct family and their friends, it was always “Bill” from there.

In the multi-racial context where I grew up, the African people had a penchant for renaming their White employer or members of their families with, in our case, Zulu names. They tended to not let on about this. I think this was their way of trying to counter the obvious power imbalance, using humour. The code name could be complimentary or not, depending on how they assessed the character of their employer; or simply just descriptive, such as when our household servant named me “biscuit boy”.

In high school, we had nicknames for some of our teachers, which in a funny way was also a kind of, at least in our minds, restoring of a measure of power balance. So, our history teacher, who had a big face was called “face” (but not to his face). And our maths teacher, who waged an unequal struggle with Durban’s humidity, was simply “Smelly”. The strictest of the lot, our geography teacher was simply “Des”, even though absolutely unusable out in the open!

What’s in a name? It could be pride or shame. The labels that can arise, such as from today’s gospel reading- like “divorcee” or “adulterer” describe something real or imagined, but the inference tends to stick long after its importance has thankfully become irrelevant. Or perhaps the Psalmist we heard today could be called out as “self-righteous” of having a “victim mentality”. So for me, the question “What’s in a re-name” is an important one, and worthy of our energy, especially when it celebrates a moving on into a new phase of life.

In the Hebrew scriptures, key leaders usually got a new name when they were ‘commissioned”, as it were - anointed to a new role. So, in Genesis 17, Abram becomes Abraham, the so-called “ancestor of a multitude of nations”. Later, Jacob wrestles with the Angel, and is renamed “Israel” for his ability to struggle and persevere. Strangely, for some reason, this new name does not stick

It is of course easy to pick the name-changes in the Gospels, especially Simon, who becomes Peter on the basis of his rocklike qualities. Later, the bombastic and pharisaic Christian-hater Saul of Tarsus becomes Paul (humble/small) at the time of his conversion. Such name-changes either anticipate the new role a person is going to play, or recognises the qualities that are about to be enlisted in the cause of the Gospel.

Some names need to change to restore the dignity of a person or a people. It was common in South Africa for a Black person to be given an anglicised username, usually because we could not be bothered to try and learn the real one. So our Black house workers were “Friday” and “William” respectively. Only later, while on a church training program, did I think to question the young man who introduced himself as “Harold”. In response, he told us that his real African name was “Siphewe”. Siphewe Madondo- It’s not that hard really, especially when you write it down. In Australia, “Ayers Rock” was ‘discovered’ in 1873 by one William Gosse and named after the South Australian Chief Secretary. It took over a century for the light to dawn that Aboriginal people had been living in the shadow of this monolith for tens of thousands of years, so maybe we should ask them what it is called! “Great pebble” indeed!

Even churches can sometimes rename themselves, to indicate a new way of being. The Uniting Church came into being with a strong intention of being open to other denominations, hence the “ing’ ending. I assume “The Willows” used to actually mean something in relation to the surrounding environment, and later became a gentle and welcoming name for a reception/function centre. I wonder, if it was renamed, what would we be challenging ourselves to aspire to? I believe that we actually have material to work with here, given some new ventures in mission that are happening in our midst. Last week I had a look at the newly furnished area that is now being used by the Newcastle Birth Movement. Our property group have done an amazing job in rearranging many things in order for this transformation to happen. It is a bit like walking into the welcoming space of a family living room, and I can just imagine how amazingly helpful this is going to be to the little community who will be using the space on their special journey before and following the birth of their children. I felt moved, almost to tears, by the kindness and generosity of this church community in embracing this group right into the womb, as it were, of these facilities. Who knows what might grow from there. And who knows if some renaming might arise from this and other missional endeavours, such as the Seasons of Growth program, the support of the work of the Reach program, and our engagement with the work of Special Religious Education in our area.

What is in a name? Honour, or dishonour; respect or derogation, a moniker of the recognition of the person’s value, or a way to put the other down?

As the scriptures attest, there is a time for re-naming; a time for recognising the start of a new journey. That time is usually at some significant moment of change, of stepping up, of responding to a call from a higher power.

I would be interested to hear some of the stories that reside in this gathering, of changes of name; of renaming, and why and how they came about. They usually signify a change, a shift of energy, the start of something new. The reanointing can in itself give a person the courage and motivation to live up to the new name; or at least, in my case, to aspire to the impossible goal of being the keeper of a Premiership-winning team net.

I saw this quote recently- “We are always just one breath away from a new beginning”. I wonder if any of us here today might have the imagination to conceive that they just might find themselves the worthy recipient of a new name, one consistent with a new cause before which they arise and say “Here I am. Send me”?

Rev Dr Brian Brown

El Shaddai Amy Grant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qJMl95lb9k

Anchor 41

IN APPRECIATION OF COMPETENCE

Presented to Warners Bay Uniting Church on Sunday 20th October 2024

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, remembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.” TS Elliot “Little Gidding” from Four Quartets.

It can be so easy, can it not, to sometimes overlook the obvious. Poets can sometimes be tantalisingly cryptic, but not this line of TS Eliot as he describes the “hidden waterfall” as- “Not known because not looked for”.

My message today is confessional as I share with you an eventual seeing of some things formerly missed - not seen because not looked for!

I cannot tell you how many times I have referred in my preaching to the passage from Mark 10:35-45, words which expound the central theme of the call to discipleship and the cost thereof.

When I came home to them again this week I realised to my shame that more often than not my emphasis has been on the weakness, the obtuseness and therefore the failure of the disciples as savagely exposed here and elsewhere by the Gospel writer called Mark. The heart of Jesus’ message here is about sacrificial service and servant discipleship. I have instead tended to labour the point, as Mark does in his eighth, ninth and tenth chapters of how the disciples deflect Jesus’ message about going to their fate in a hostile Jerusalem, and in their protestations they seek an easier way.

At the end of the passage we arrive at the crucial words “You know that among the Gentiles those who they recognise as their rulers lord it over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be the slave of all. For the son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” And when we do, it is so easy, from there, to imply that for us and for the congregation too, our return to type is to fall yet again into deficit, and implied failure to commit when the going gets tough.

The preacher may then invite us to see how we, like the disciples, James and John, would prefer seats of honour at the table of the Lord. Or, like Peter, we do not want to hear Jesus speaking about his death; and like the disciples talking behind Jesus’ back on the road, we have a preference for greatness over suffering.

So when I saw this passage again on the lectionary agenda I wondered what I could possibly think of to say that would be different from all the other times.

So I suppose I could say that this time, it is as if I am returning home to very familiar territory, but there is something here that I may just be seeing for the first time. A lightbulb moment if you like

Such a moment came last Sunday in the Annual Congregational Meeting. There came a point when I looked around the assembled group of 35 faithful people, and realised that I could not see one who was not deeply involved in one way or another in the ongoing work of the congregation, week in and week out. I could do this because after nearly two years I have got to know you - some better than others, but well enough to have observed you at work, and to have heard some of the stories of your lives both in and beyond the congregation. As I looked out at you, I felt a welling up of appreciation for who you are and what you do. In so many ways you live up to the high calling of Jesus.

Yes, there may a few deficits too, the odd deflection from the task of mission, but then again, too few to mention. And these were not the things that were opening my eyes to a new appreciation of what this home now means to me.

And one thing came home to me in those few moments; and it was an appreciation of the COMPETENCE I saw in all of you, and each of you.

For when I look around this church, to the people and to the buildings, I see a consistently shining examples of COMPETENCE - from the flower arrangements to those who lead in the various areas of worship; from the standard of pastoral care to the PA system; from the keeping of accounts to the diligence of those on the rosters at Bunnings or cleaning. This is a congregation that does most if not all things at a consistently high standard.

Now I know that some people, perhaps especially Christians of the pious variety, might question the elevating of competence in the life of the church above other things. “What about Commitment to Jesus” They might exclaim. Or “Compassion - surely Jesus teaches us that love is the most important thing.”

Let me share with you an insight of church missional growth from Kennon Callahan. He says that when a growing church is discerning who should be called into leadership positions, we need to reverse the usual order of things - Commitment, Compassion and Competence - and start at the other end to look first for competence, then compassion then commitment. Callahan sees Competence as the benchmark.

Look first and foremost for signs of competence to do the tasks that are assigned to us. For our standards must be at least as high as those of the surrounding community, and in some things, even higher.

And when we reflect more deeply on the competence being displayed, we come to realise that behind that applied competence is compassion for those we are serving, and commitment to the task as commitment to the way of Jesus.

I think what sometimes happens when we see competent people in action is that their ability to get on with the job and do it well somewhat disguises the heart of compassion that lies beneath. There may also not be a lot of fanfare about their faith, because for them faith is shown by works, without which, as James reminds us, faith is dead!

What I am trying to say is that I really appreciate you, all of you, and in some ways it is because I am progressively seeing you through new eyes. So I am today moving away from my core strategy of challenge, which in itself can tend to imply deficit, to a sincere affirmation of your actual competence, you compassion and your commitment as I see it lived out in the life of the congregation, and in some cases beyond that, to the world. To not do so may be to miss the hidden waterfall that lies at the source of a person’s being, that powers the flow of their life in the Spirit.

I am rethinking too my perspective of those learners of Jesus, who struggled to keep up with him both physically and spiritually and emotionally on the difficult road along which he led them. I think Mark is a bit to blame here too, because he does not hold back in telling negative and critical stories about their apparent failures. From a different point of view we need to affirm that in spite of all of that, eleven out of twelve of them were still there on Easter morning, afraid though they were. Peter let himself down a few times, but he did live up to his new name in the end, becoming a rock upon which Jesus could build his new church. This brave, reliable, spirit-energised competent leader of the church in the most difficult of times DID see that the path of discipleship lay in the way of service, and sacrificial service at that. So too did the arrogant and aggressive Saul of Tarsus, who was renamed “Paul” - the little one, the servant.

I have thought again about who Jesus chose as his disciples and why he chose them. I see four fishermen - competent workers with resilience born of many early mornings and long days. I see a tax collector - excellent with numbers, good on detail; and a man of whom Jesus said was one of no guile. We also need to look more closely to see the women who followed Jesus because if we blink we might miss them. We do know from Luke that they were generous; and from the crucifixion narratives that when the going got really tough they were the last to leave.

In all of this I do not see much indication of Jesus putting priority on religious faith and practice so much as needing followers who could stay the course and get the job done.

And so it is in the teaching of Jesus, that the tree is known by the fruit it bears, and not by self-congratulatory words or showy religiosity. For it is like a father who says to his older son “Will you go out and work in the vineyard?” And the son says “yes,” and does not go. Then of the other son he asks the same thing. And the son says “No, I will not”, then goes out and does it!’

So may I conclude with what I hope is more of an invitation than a challenge: That we see ourselves not so much in terms of deficits like “I am not good enough” or “not committed enough’ or “not compassionate enough’” but rather from the point of view of our competence, through which we show our willingness to serve, often to the point of stretching ourselves beyond our normal tolerances. Perhaps in this way we might be able to come back home to ourselves, yet see that place as if for the first time - Competent. Compassionate. Committed to the way of Jesus.

Thus says John of Patmos, as he channels the revelatory message of the Spirit to the church of Ephesus - “I know your works, your toil, your patience…. Let anyone who has ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.”

Anchor 42

BUT WHO IS MY NEIGHBOUR? Mark 12: 38-44

Presented to Warners Bay Uniting Church and Boolaroo Uniting Church on 3rd November 2024

“Those who say “I love God” and hate their brothers and sisters are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen cannot love God who they have not seen.” (1John vs. 20)

My message today is about the indivisibility of the two commandments to which Jesus refers in today’s Gospel reading from Mark, i.e. to love God, and to love your neighbour as yourself. As we reflect on this, I want to put in front of you a version of the so-called Five Marks of Mission, which make it clear that the whole range of Mission activity of the Christian church centres around the Commandment from Leviticus to love our neighbour as we love ourselves:

Witness to Christ’s saving, forgiving and reconciling love for all people.
Build welcoming, transforming communities of faith
Stand in solidarity with the poor and needy
Challenge violence, injustice and oppression, and work for peace and reconciliation
Strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.

Today’s Gospel reading starts with the question by an admiring scribe to Jesus “Which is the first commandment of all?” Jesus responds by linking two separate parts of the Law of Moses- Deut 6:4 “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God; the Lord alone; You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” And Leviticus 19:18 “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself”. In Jesus’ eyes they are indivisible in forming an organic whole. They remind us of another, related scripture- 1John 4:20, that says “If we cannot love our neighbour who we can see, how can we love God who we cannot see?”

In Luke’s version of the encounter between Jesus and his less friendly inquirer the inevitable question follows- “But who is my neighbour?“ I am sure that he was expecting an easier answer than that given by Jesus, who then tells the Parable of the Good Samaritan! The spiritual leaders who pass by on the other side are entirely focussed on God, (or perhaps themselves?) and their priestly duties at the Temple. The Samaritan is entirely focussed on the need of the one beaten and robbed. Of all of them he alone is the neighbour to the one in need.

The question asked of Jesus in Luke “But who is my neighbour?” indicates that the enquirer is seeking to justify himself. Perhaps he is hoping for some exclusions so that he does not have to feel guilty about someone he has wronged.

The primary point that Jesus is making in all three gospel accounts is that these two separate commandments belong together. (Rope illustration) More than that, they are organically connected like a reef knot - left over right and right over left! The harder you pull, the tighter it gets. If either strand is disconnected to the other, the whole thing falls apart.

Jesus has a clear agenda to reform a religion that has allowed the exercise of pious religious practices in the absence of building transforming communities, caring for the poor and needy, and the challenging of violence, injustice and oppression. In other words, you cannot legitimately claim to love God if that love does not flow out in action to the world.

The question “Who is my neighbour?” is asked by an individual, and the answer calls for an individual act of compassion for someone who is not like themselves. And so we are called to display in our fellowship the marks of a spiritually healthy church, including how we embrace those who seek our fellowship, especially those whose differentness may challenge our individual comfort zones.

But what happens at the “Community of Faith” level when the interconnectedness of the commandments to love both God and our neighbour is ignored or perverted?

I recently watched a series on SBS called “The Congregation”, about a murder in 2004 within an extreme Pentecostal sect located in the town of Knutby in Sweden. The church is run by a powerful, controlling and physically abusive woman Asa Waldau who, along with the male pastor Helge Fossmo, has the people convinced that Jesus is about to return; that he had chosen their church to reappear; and that Asa would become Jesus’ wife. The Pastor, Helge, a rampant sexual predator whose first wife died in mysterious circumstances, sets about grooming a young female congregant Sara Svenson. He eventually, through a series of anonymous text messages from an “unknown” prophet, convinces Sara that God wants her to kill his second wife, and the male neighbour for good measure, as he had also started a sexual relationship with that neighbour’s wife. So Sara goes off, cashes in her savings, buys a gun, and shoots them both.

Part of the coercive control process here is to teach that those who are “chosen” by God can do anything they like. So the people end up losing their moral filters, and can be manipulated at will.

This is an extreme example, but by no means unheard of elsewhere, and quite commonly practiced in churches where the leaders hold autocratic control and brook no contradiction.

The Knutby story illustrates the fatal risk of separating a relationship with God from a relationship with our sisters and brothers. It allows behaviour that is fundamentally flawed, and contrary to the will of God whichever way you look at it.

There are a number of ways in which Christians and their churches can safeguard against such abuse. All of those in ministry leadership in this and other Uniting Churches have recently attended a half-day “Ethics of Safety” Program run by the Synod, to keep us aware of where the boundaries of moral and ethical relationships lie in our community of faith. On this foundation we can move forward with the Missional task 2, of building welcoming transforming Communities of Faith.

As a church which seeks to follow in the way of Christ, we need to be very clear that our primary path to knowing God is through Jesus, who places love at the centre of his life and teaching. We can therefore take our bearings from that mark. So if anyone in the church, in authority or not, tells us to do or believe something that is clearly and obviously contrary to the life and teachings of Christ, we must apply that test immediately. The question “What would Jesus do” might sound a trite, but is actually an excellent place to start. For example, in the Gospels there are many examples of Jesus preference for the poor, and his moral indignation when the vulnerable are badly treated. As John’s letter states, “Those who say they love God yet hate their brothers or sisters are liars”.

May I now offer you a personal example, far less extreme than the Swedish story. Way back in the early days of our relationship, Helen and I began attending a church in Wollongong to see if we could be at home there. On the first evening, we noticed a rough and ready fellow, probably homeless, surreptitiously tearing a page from the hymnbook to roll a cigarette. The following week Helen went equipped with a pack of cigarette papers which he gratefully accepted. That same night the message was based on a gospel account about helping the poor and needy, complete with a skit on the subject by the youth group. During the pastor’s message our new friend began interjecting, to the point where he was warned to desist. When he spoke up once too often, two deacons stood up and manhandled him to the door; closely followed by Helen and me. Our own sense of rejection at that time was too close to the bone to feel at home in a Christian community whose love of God did not appear to connect with the way they treated the stranger in their midst.

The same principle applies to all of the Marks of Mission. The rule of thumb for those who claim to love God is: “what we are we are doing or seeing or thinking in accordance with the commandment to love one’s neighbour as oneself?” That also goes right to the spheres of national and international behaviour, and how we care for the very creation that keeps us alive. For example, it seems incomprehensible to me that the so-called People of the Book seem so disconnected from their spiritual roots that they do not even hold to the very basic ethical teaching in the Mosaic law. “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” sounds crude in this day and age, but its purpose is promoting a proportional response to violence so as to limit the endless cycles of revenge. Yet the indiscriminate slaughter of the innocents continues. At the same time, other nations, whose spiritual roots lie in the other two Abrahamic religions that worship one holy and righteous God, continue to provide the bulk of the weapons in the ongoing armed struggle. In too many places and in too many ways the world’s powers seem to be frighteningly out of control. Now, I may be naïve and overly idealistic, but it seems to me that the way back to sanity starts with the linking of those two great commandments “Love God, and your neighbour as yourself.”

I want to finish on a lighter note. I saw a meme recently on my Twitter feed - a cartoon of a dog greeting their owner as they enter the front door. The caption says “Be the person your dog thinks you are.”

As the writer of John’s first letter reminds his readers; when it comes to loving God and our neighbour, you cannot have one without the other The two belong together in an indivisible union of mercy, generosity and compassion.

Anchor 43

THE DARKEST HOUR…, OR- HOW DID WE GET TO THIS?

Presented to Warners Bay Uniting Church and Boolaroo Uniting Church 17.11.2024

I consider myself extremely fortunate that the seven plus decades of my lifetime have been ones of relative peace and great human progress. At the same time, there have been multiple warnings and portents of dark days ahead. I fear that we are nearing the time where humanity is about to reap what it has sown in the endless mindless pursuit of unbridled power and unsustainable growth. We see it in the expansion of armed conflict between nations, or within them. It spawns population pressures, food scarcity, migration, climate-driven natural disaster, all ramping up of the pressure, and fuelling of apocalyptic conjecture of a dystopian future.

WITH ALL WE KNOW FROM THE HARD LESSONS OF HISTORY; WITH ALL WE HAVE LEARNED FROM SEEMING ENDLESS WARNINGS OF WRITINGS LIKE GEORGE ORWELL’S “1984” AND “ANIMAL FARM”; AND MARGARET ATTWOOD’s “THE HANDMAID’S TALE”; GIVEN THE PERSISTENT RINGING OF ALARMBELLS BY CLIMATE SCIENTISTS OVER AT LEAST FIVE DECADES: HOW DID WE GET TO THIS?

HOW DID WE GET TO THIS - THIS VERTIGENOUS TILTING OF THE PRECARIOUS BALANCE OF POWER; OF HUMAN RATIONALITY; OF CIVILISED INTERPLAY OF HUMAN SOCIETIES?

And then, as if we needed the warnings to be flashed at us in bright lights and upper-case text, we find ourselves confronted with the startling outcome of the US Presidential election. As Commentator Charles Sykes points out:

“Whatever the final margin, the American people have returned this blatantly, dangerously unfit man to power. In the end, nothing mattered. Not the sexual assaults, the frauds, the lies, or the felonies. Not the raw bigotry of his campaign; not the insults, nor the threats. In the most graphic terms imaginable, the American people were warned of the danger. His previously loyal vice president refused to endorse him; his top general called him a ‘total fascist’; some of his closes aides and cabinet members described in detail his erratic character and his indifference to the Constitution.”

“But in the end, Trump was right. He could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot someone and still win a presidential election. But we know now that it was worse. Trump never fired a weapon on a New York City street, but he stood at the centre of our politics and incited a violent mob to attack the U.S. Capitol. And it didn’t matter. And it didn’t matter that he tried to overturn a free and fair election…”

“This is the hardest part about today: realizing that our fellow Americans saw all of that; watched all of that; listened to all of that, and still said, ‘Yes, that’s what we want.’ That’s who we are.”

In the end, nothing else mattered. HOW DID IT COME TO THIS?

(Australian journalist Waleed Aly claims to be far less surprised about this outcome. For him it’s the same old story- “It’s the economy, stupid!” So while Haitian immigrants may be offended that they are being accused of eating their neighbour’s dogs and cats, what matters so much more is how they are going to afford to put food on the table. On the basis of this promise, real or not, they will forgive the insult.)

Today we find ourselves simultaneously confronted with ominous rumblings in the closing chapters of Mark’s Gospel, where talk turns to darker days ahead. As Jesus responds to his disciple’s admiration of the Temple structure, he predicts its coming demolition. Beyond that, he says “For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places, there will be famines…’

My message today is not about party politics. It cannot be, for in these dark times that is an unaffordable extravagance and a dead end in the literal sense of the word. No, this reflection is about:

A. Why people behave in certain ways seemingly without reference to lifelong moral and ethical convictions;

B. How today’s scripture and the way of Jesus in general speaks to that situation; and

C. How we might go about responding creatively to what is facing us in these seemingly cataclysmic days.

A. Psychologist Abraham Maslow gives us one way to understand why people behave in seemingly irrational and contradictory ways, with his so-called “Hierarchy of Needs”. (Maslow’s Hierarchy Pyramid on screen)

1. At the bottom of the pyramid are the basic human physiological needs: food and

water, shelter, and rest. Maslow’s point is that until these needs are met, people

cannot really focus on anything else. So, if a leader promises that the supermarkets

will stay stocked and not overcharge, and adequate housing is on the way, they are

not going to care if that leader is a felon, or abused women, children and migrants.

The leader’s promise of meeting basic needs trumps everything else. And if a

complicit and compliant media amplifies the message, rational analysis is the first

casualty.

2. Second on Maslow’s hierarchy comes safety needs. People like a society that is

controlled and predictable, where hospitals and police are readily available when

we need them. So-called “law and order” elections tap into these very basic needs.

3. If we are fed and watered and sheltered and feel safe in our homes and on our streets, the next thing we long for is love and belonging. We need close relationships, affection, connectedness. Churches that offer these things and pay special attention to the process of inclusion are tapping into this middle order set of needs that Maslow identifies.

4. At the top of Maslow’s pyramid is the need for esteem and respect, and so-called self-actualisation, which we might also call “spiritual growth”. In this space we are more likely to value strong moral and ethical positions. This is important and wonderful, but hard to achieve on an empty stomach. So, according to Eliza Doolittle, “All I want is a room somewhere, far away from the cold night air; with one enormous chair- Wouldn’t it be luvverely! Lots of chocolate for me to eat, lots of coal making lots of heat…” Counting calories are the furthest thing from her mind, along with the carbon emissions of all that coal!

So, in response to the question, “How could it come to this?” Maslow shows that it comes to this when large groups of people are not looked after in a way that meets their most basic needs. In that vulnerable space of perceived or actual deprivation, they are inclined to clutch at straws while not giving a second thought to morals and ethics.

2. Moving from Maslow to Mark, we are invited into a story of how, in a situation of scarcity, or lust for power, the strong attack the weak, take their goods, their land, their people, and demolish the structures that shelter them and stand at the centre of their faith. Sometimes the oppressed fight back, for better or for worse. In these situations, many die, many starve, many end up enslaved and worse. This happened to the residents of Jerusalem in 70AD, around the time when Mark’s Gospel was being written.

When things like this happen, those who look on from afar say “How could it come to this? How could the Romans be so cruel? What happened to justice, or mercy, or love?” The reality is that such things are too far up the Maslow Pyramid. Animals under threat behave in certain predictable ways. And so do humans in the jungles of conflict.

Having said all of that, while we hear the alarm bells ringing then, and ringing now, if we listen we will hear other more hopeful sounds as well.

There are in fact two statements in the Mark passage that indicate that all is not as lost and desperate as it seems. The first is this: Jesus says “When you hear of wars and rumours of wars DO NOT BE ALARMED. THIS MUST TAKE PLACE” and later; “This is the beginning of the birth-pangs.” So, while what is happening is, in a sense, unavoidable, there is also within it a promised and portent of new life that is getting ready to emerge. In other words, WHEN IT COMES TO THIS, DO NOT LOSE HOPE. DO NOT BE AFRAID.

This message of hope is reinforced in the joyful cry from the song of Hannah: ”God raises up the poor from the dust. He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit the seat of honour”. (1 Samuel 2 verse 8)

We must never lose hope, nor do we need to - not by pretending that these present troubles are not happening, but by seeking the good news within it all

Looking at Maslow’s ideas enables us to appreciate the great value that comes when we reach out to one another to ensure that the basic needs of humanity ARE met.

For example, people will flourish in the presence of love and belonging; when we pay attention to one another’s emotional needs; when we avoid unnecessary conflict and alienation; when we build friendship, intimacy and trust.

We also thrive by building a sense of safety and order in our communal lives, so that while the storm is raging around us, there is a safe space among us and within us where we can be at peace and not frightened. “Do not be afraid” says Jesus “Fear not for I am with you always, even until the end of the age.”

Finally, and at the bottom level of the pyramid it is about making sure, so far as it is within our power, that those in positions of authority take seriously the physiological needs of the community at large. Food and drink, shelter and warmth. This means putting aside party-political differences and working for bipartisanship, not only in parliament, but also where we have our personal interactions. We need the politics in our country and community to change for the better, under the influence of those people who believe that moral and ethical behaviour in the public square DOES matter.

It comes back to the question of how we can be our best selves in a time and space where so many are losing the plot, clutching at straws, believing the unbelievable; It means keeping our heads when those around us are losing theirs.

In 1650, English Theologian Thomas Fuller coined the proverb “The darkest hour is just before the dawn” This does not need to be literally true to give comfort to those who yearn for a better world and give of their best selves to help bring it to birth.

Anchor 44

THE VULNERABLE POWER OF HOPE

Presented to Warners Bay Uniting Church and Boolaroo Uniting Church 1st December 2024

As I reflected this week about the Advent theme of Hope, I found myself disconnected from the orthodox theology of the so-called “Second Coming of Jesus” while at the same time being drawn to the idea that genuine Christian hope finds much of its power in its fragility and its vulnerability. This sounds like a contradiction, or at least a paradox. Surely, something that is fragile and potentially fleeting is not going to be of help when people and communities are doing the really hard yards. Do we not need something more rugged and muscular to get us through the times of heartache and struggle, when we just cannot see or feel a way through?

To try and explain this strange phenomenon I find myself turning away from intellectual argument, to rather embrace some poetic images that carry this elusive truth on loftier wings.

The first such image is portrayed in an Emily Dickenson Poem

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

For me there is such power in this image of a tiny bird that survives the harshest conditions while singing its hopeful way into the suffering soul, where its melody brings comfort and reassurance.

The second image is that of the candle- so vulnerable in its smallness, so precarious in any kind of adverse weather, so easily extinguished, yet its light can make the darkest spaces of the heart accessible.

As we sang as the Advent Candle was lit:

Hope is a candle once lit by the prophets,

never consumed though it burns through the years;

dim in the daylight of power and privilege,

when they are gone, hope will shine on.

The power of the candle is as a conveyor of comfort, such as when we light one to honour loved ones no longer with us. It is also as a revealer of hidden evil. As John the Gospeller writes, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never overcome it.”

The little bird; the candle. The third image, so poignant at this time of year, is that of a baby born in difficult times and spartan conditions. According to the Good News, God chooses that which is weak and vulnerable to become the light of the world. While the Jews expect a mighty warrior like David to be their Messiah, to overcome their enemies by force, the principal power of the Kingdom is the hopeful spirit of compassion. As the prophet says “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit says the lord.”

An anonymous hymnwriter from the 15th century conjures yet another picture of fragile beauty to imagine the birth of hope:

“Behold a rose is growing, of loveliest form and grace,

as prophets sang foreknowing; it springs from Jesse’s race,

and comes to perfect flower, in midst of coldest winter,

at deepest midnight’s hour.”

And it is not only in poetic images that the theme of hope springing from vulnerable fragility inspires and amazes us. The lofty prose of the great sagas, myths and legends also takes us by surprise. When their conquering heroes are revealed, they are not the mighty warriors or fire-breathing dragons, but the smallest one, or the cripple. These fragile characters have powers unknown to the dark armies of Sauron and Saruman in Lord of the Rings, or the dreaded Night Walkers of Game of Thrones. It is the little Hobbit Frodo Baggins who finally destroys the Ring of Power in the molten innards of Mount Doom. Similarly, in game of Thrones it is the crippled Bran Stark who finally stabs the heart of the Nightwalker King with the shard of crystal rock, being the only one who could get close enough to do it because he was not considered a threat.

Then there is this other paradox, or irony, that I invite you to consider: when we come seeking hope, not only do we find it imagined in the most surprising places, but also in the unlikeliest of all, in the sense that what we seek is most wonderfully found in our very own hearts. When St Paul says “When I am weak, then I am strong”, he means it literally; and as inheritors of the faith of Jesus, the same can be true for us, when we look beyond the obvious, we find deep within ourselves the potential to be the purveyors of the hope we seek.

The notice board of Kotara South Anglican church says it well: “A world in despair needs people who care”

And so does Emily Dickenson, who gives us an insight that is the mirror image of the first:

If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain;

If I can ease one life the aching, or cool one pain,

or help one fainting robin unto its nest again, I shall not live in vain.

And so the poet who starts our journey with the hope that comes like the melody of a fragile song bird, ends by honouring her and our own compassion by our deeds of love as gentle and as miniscule as returning that tiny struggling robin to its nest.

Here’s the point - the word or deed that brings hope to one struggling person or one fragile bird has an expanding or exponential effect way beyond the energy taken to do it or say it.

My wife Helen tells the story of a Vietnamese Bishop who visited her home when she was hosting a local Amnesty International group. He had been a political prisoner for many years, and this particular AI group had been writing letters consistently to him and the Vietnamese Government over this time. He told them of the huge positive effect that getting one of the few letters that actually got through to the prisoners; how it boosted their morale and their will to live. Just knowing that someone out there knew of their fate and cared about them made the difference between despair and hope, life and death. His presence with them that day was living proof of the leavening effect of acts of hope.

On a much tinier scale, but on the same principle, I try to never leave a café without complimenting the barista on the quality of their coffee. I do it because I am grateful, and also because one never knows what a few small words of encouragement might mean to someone having a bad day.

(On the same principle, I try to never miss a blood donation. For one thing, I am lucky to be among the 2% of people with O negative blood that also does not carry the CMV virus, so can be given to newborns. For the tiny effort of one hour every three months and a three second sting one gets the great satisfaction of knowing that every now and then you may be helping one infant to survive. Not only that, but realising how many other people have their hope invested in that one little life is an escalating bonus. As the scripture says, “Give and it will be given to you - a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put into your lap”)

(That we should never underestimate the potential each one of us has to bring some hope to a world in despair is illustrated in the story of the Starfish Stranding. As a person walked along the beach they noticed hundreds of dying starfish left by the king high tide. Then they saw another person coming along towards them. This person stooped every so often, picked up a starfish, and threw it back into the waves. When the two met, the first person said to the second “Why waste you time? There as so many of them. What you are doing is not going to make a skerrick of difference”. To which the second person responded by bending down, picking up another starfish and throwing it into the sea. With the words “Well, it sure made a difference to that one” and went on his starfish-saving way.)

As the song I have heard repeatedly at various protest events says ”We are foolish people who do nothing, because we know how little one can do”. Jesus turns that lack of imagination on its head as he feeds 5000 people with just five loaves and two fishes.

Friends, our willingness to be vulnerable gives us astonishing ability to bring hope to the lives of others. When we open ourselves to difficult feelings; when we let ourselves see the images of suffering coming out of dreadful war zones; or when we have empathy for those who, unlike us, are still washing around helplessly in the desperate depths of the pyramid of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Or when we risk the refreshing of our grief by lighting a candle for a lost loved one. When all we feel is weak and fragile, THEN, surprisingly, we engage a deeper power within us; THEN we see a broken world with new and more compassionate eyes; THEN the hope that we seek is, amazingly, the hope that we can share with the world.

Giving hope from the heart of our best selves is the most hopeful thing of all. When we are unwearied in our well-doing, when we are too busy bringing hope to others to stand looking to the skies for the second coming of Jesus; then what the scriptures promise will indeed be our hope, for then, Christ will again be seen in our midst. “Now, when these things take place, lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

AMEN

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WALKING TOWARDS THE GOD WHO IS WITH US

Malachi 3: 1-4 Philippians 1: 3-11 Luke 3: 1-6

Presented to Warners Bay Uniting Church, 8th December 2024 by Rev Dr Chris Budden

I have an interest in what is known as Narrative Therapy. The assumption behind the therapy is that we all have a story – a narrative – that holds our explanation of the world; our account of how things are. These narratives hold what has been called the “architecture of our life” or the shape of the world in which we live.

Narrative therapy says that when we have a negative story of the world – because of a series of negative experiences – every new experience gets seen through that negative lens. How can that be changed?

But today I am less interested in how the therapy works than its foundation: we have a story, a set of images and metaphors that hold for us the meaning of existence.

Let me give you an example that comes from our faith tradition.

At the time of the Reformation the church imagined a world that was always in danger of disorder because of sin. The church’s responsibility was to administer the means of grace – baptism, eucharist, confession, absolution - that would both keep the world ordered, and offer forgiveness for the next life. There were a lot of things people needed to do to earn that forgiveness and promise of new life in heaven.

Martin Luther had a new way of imagining the world, in which God’s grace was not controlled by the church but was offered directly to people through faith. And because of that, people could live in ways that anticipated the kingdom, even if it was fulfilled after death.

There was another part of Luther’s view of the world, his story. He believed that God’s grace was also exercised through princes to control evil and disorder, and to help sustain the proper hierarchy between people. Or to put it another way, God kept people in their right place.

Luther believed that God’s grace could break into life in a limited way in the church, but mostly kingdom life was a future thing.

Most of us know that story in some form. The claims about the authority of scripture, the centrality of grace, and the need for holiness weave into our story. What we are usually less aware of was that there was a whole other social and religious movement at that time which imagined the world very differently.

People, a whole lot of ordinary people, believed that God’s grace could break into life; that divine life could come closer to our life. Christ was seen as the saviour, the healer, the nurturer, rather than the judge. People found meaning in the daily and earthy, and not simply the spiritual or heavenly. They stressed inclusiveness and equality in daily life. They looked at the world, and believed that God could break into life, and they could live in anticipation of the kingdom.[1]

Think about the conflict those three ways of imagining the world caused. The church opposed Luther for undermining its authority, and for the dangerous claim that life was controlled by grace as God’s free gift.

And Luther opposed the people because they actually dared to believe that they could live the promises of Jesus now. They said the world should not be hierarchically ordered; all people are equal before God. Everyone should have a voice, and everyone should control their labour, their families, their place and voice in the church, and have a say in the shape of the community. Because this reflected God’s kingdom.

I wonder what story you hold and how you imagine the world? Which bits of the three stories do you hold? In your imagining, what place is there for God’s kingdom to break into the world?

This, you see, is what I think the Advent season is about. It is a challenge to us to imagine a different world; to believe that God’s grace not only entered the world in Jesus, but can keep breaking into the lives of those who journey with him.

Malachi wrote to people deeply broken, and living in a community where they were exploited, and where religious leaders betrayed their trust. They found it hard to imagine a world in which hope existed.

So, Malachi offered them another story, another way of seeing the world. The prophet offers them a vision of the faithfulness of God who will send someone to restore true worship and the covenant. Those who designed the

Lectionary have suggested to us that this promise is starting to be fulfilled in the ministry of John the Baptiser.

Luke starts the story of John by setting John’s ministry in the context of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, the governorship of Pontius Pilate in Galilee and his brother Philip in nearby regions, and when Annas and Ciaphas were high priests.

These are not just historical markers, an attempt to locate John in real history. These are social and political markers; they speak of the messenger of God coming at a time of great suffering, economic hardship, and religious exclusion of ordinary people. They are markers of the dominant story, and dominant way of imagining the world.

One of the first steps in oppressing people – whether through the abuse of individuals or control of whole communities – is to so tie people up in the details of survival that they cannot see what is going on

John speaks to a people who cannot see the big picture, and who cannot imagine another sort of life. And he speaks to them of the Messiah who offers life.

Yes, John calls for repentance, but he offers a baptism that is a sign of being washed clean and acceptable to God. And he says that in the one who is to come everyone – everyone - will see the salvation of God. Not, notice, the judgement of God. The salvation of God.

The most difficult thing for people in the struggle to survive, is to imagine a different world: a world in which they are loved and cared for, and are not to be blamed for all the forces that smash up life.

What we need to remember, what Advent says to us, is that we and everyone are loved so deeply that we can find new ways to live; that there is a divine love that can transform our lives. We need to know that we and those we love really can have a chance to see the salvation offered by God. We need to know that the past will not burden us in ways that deny our ability to live now.

This is what Advent tells us. This is what we discover in this journey to the incarnation. This is what we are asked to imagine, and accept as the structure of our life.

The Messiah – Jesus – so embodies the rich and unexpected grace of God, the deep love of the persons of the triune community that is God – that it is not only possible to imagine new life, it is possible to live it now.

Yes, that life will be risky, and at times difficult. It will be hard to resist the feeling that it would be easier to live the ways of the world, and its sense of reality. It will not always be easy to see where God’s grace is actually breaking into the world.

But that is why you exist. To see God’s life in the world; and to help each other live that life.

So here is the promise and challenge of Advent. How does the story of the birth of Jesus shape how we see the presence and love of God in our lives? Can we imagine that the story of Jesus actually does change our life, and God’s grace is not just for the future but now? Can the story of God’s presence among us in Jesus teach us the steps of a new dance through life?

Here is the social world we are meant to imagine and live in. It is a world shaped by grace and deep love, of welcome and homecoming, and of inclusion and not exclusion. Jesus is not some sort of insurance policy against judgement, but the one who invites us into the presence of God where we discover that it is possible – if we have the courage to imagine and trust – to live in anticipation of the kingdom.

Right now – equality, grace, inclusion, welcoming love. Right now, because as shocking as it might be to us, God’s grace extends to all people. We do not deserve God’s love more than others. It is a gift. Church is not just a sanctuary, but a light to the world.

May the Spirit transform your imagination, help you to see and live by grace, and be a light that shows people the messiah.

[1] See, for example, Peter Matheson, The Imaginative World of the Reformation Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001), 7.

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CHEER UP JOE. THE BABY IS YOURS TOO!

Presented to Warners Bay Uniting Church Sunday 15th December 2024

I am delighted that on this my last service with you, we are following the Advent theme of joy. It gives me the opportunity to share with you what it is that brings me the greatest joy in my vocation of ministry. It is more than what makes me happy. Happiness is by and large a general sense of well-being that can come about on a regular basis if we should be so fortunate. Joy, on the other hand, is more specific to special occasions, particularly following a time of struggle and heartache. Joy is therefore more explosive than simple happiness. It is celebratory, and it can be highly contagious. Today in this service of worship we have opportunities to express our joy as we respond to St Paul’s exhortation in Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, REJOICE!”.

I would like to introduce the source of my greatest joy in ministry by telling you of a dream I had on 31st March 2000. Now, I dream constantly and incessantly, and most of them are long and boring and definitely not uplifting or informative. Occasionally however, I have a dream which I call a BIG dream. My big dreams carry a lot of emotional power, and repay some deep reflection on their meaning. One for example, occurred at a difficult time in my life. I was walking on a beach when a huge wave reared up, threatening to engulf me. I had nowhere to run. Then I woke up. I shared this with my counsellor at the time how frightening was this experience, and wondered if it was some portent of doom. Her response was “But it did not engulf you or destroy you, did it?” In that moment I saw the light of a different interpretation that actually foreshadowed a time of transformation under a gracious hand.

In the dream from March 2000, the night before I took my first service at Hamilton Uniting, I was visiting an aged care facility, and saw a car, a Mini Minor parked inside the building, in the main gathering area. When I got into the driver’s seat I saw on the floor a number of ten cent pieces. My first thought was “Leave them there. They are not yours”; but I picked them up anyway. When I did, I started to see one and two dollar coins where the 10cent pieces had lain. I picked them up too. Before I worked out what to do with them, I woke up.

While reflecting on this big dream I woke up to its meaning in the context of my new ministry. It was this; “Do not neglect the opportunity to pick up the 10c pieces. They may turn out to be far more valuable that you realise now.”

Here is the point - by far the most joyful and enriching part of my ministry, whether in a congregation or at the BHP Steelworks or in a Campbelltown counselling service, is seeing the transformation that can happen in the lives of people as they work their way through the struggles that beset them, and find something of the new and abundant life that Jesus speaks of in John 10 vs 10 “I have come that you might have life- life in all its fullness”. Sometimes I have had a partial hand in that. Sometimes it is by the effort of others who shared their generous and transforming love with those struggling to find their way through disaster or grief or just plain meaninglessness. Sometimes the transformation was not that of an individual but of a community. It is also the sort of change that we long for in the nations of the world, if only the common good could become the priority of the leadership that the people accept.

Last Friday Helen and I attended the volunteers’ Christmas party at Bill’s Place, a community outreach of the Hamilton Uniting Church. As the program unfolded I just sat there and soaked up the joy of a gathering that celebrated raising $80 000 in the past year, $30 000 of which went straight back to community groups such as Women’s Shelters and Rotary Clubs and Uniting World and Frontier Service and a local dog rescue service, and many others besides. This is not just an Op Shop that services the local community, but a place that serves tea, coffee and homemade cake for those who just want to gather in this beautiful space. A lot of 10 cent pieces go into raising $80,000, this miracle of multiplication, of the exponential growth of hope of new things to come, and the absolute joy when they come to fruition. This is the result of a congregation seeing that it is not enough to just keep the door open during the week, but to be willing to move some pews and change the décor so that those who thought they did not belong there could find a space where they could feel at home.

You have it here. In this community is contained both the hope, the potential and the actual achievement which draws forth the joy of actually being part of something real, something inclusive, something transformational in Gospel terms.

Now I need to explain the sermon title. It’s a bit cheeky, but then, I am. In some ways, Joseph is a bit of an afterthought in the Christmas story, if you can even find him in the text as opposed to the nativity scenes around the place. He gets very few mentions compared to Mary, and when he does it comes with a hint of a suspicion that he has been cuckolded, and is therefore on object of sympathy or possibly even derision. He seems to be as useful as a 10 cent piece on the floor of mini minor in an aged care facility. Even thirty years later in the Gospel narrative, when Jesus is in trouble with the crowds, it is his mother and his brothers who go looking for him. No mention of Joseph. Maybe he died? Who knew?

And yet he was the father who raised Jesus, the expected Messiah of the Jews, and the as yet unknown hope of the Gentiles. It is he who with Mary takes the 13 year old boy to Jerusalem, where Jesus gets into conversation with the learned scribes in the Temple. With Mary he raises a family of children, while also working outside the home to earn a living for them. When we use our imagination to fill in the gaps we can surely surmise that this man might just have been gold in the space where God needed him.

I searched the carol section of our hymnbook for mentions of Joseph so we could celebrate his contribution. There is next to nothing. Then I found a modern hymn by Patrick Michaels, who also noticed the gaps and chose to by his poetic imagination amplify the contribution of this background character. The words are as follows;

Joseph, your love brought forth an engagement-

promise to love and share your life with Mary;

thus did great love come from the love between you:

God with us, Jesus.

Joseph you stayed with Mary, strangely pregnant;

fears fled when in a dream God’s holy spirit

told you to cherish Wisdom born of Mary,

bringing us Jesus.

Joseph, your son’s birth, hidden in a cow-shed,

left only you as midwife for the birthing.

You helped and guarded Mary as she laboured,

bringing us Jesus.

Joseph your anxious caring set you dreaming,

dreams full of warning, dreams of death and danger.

Trusting your spirit, you were quick and acted,

saving your Jesus.

Joseph, your loving presence and protection

prompted your son to share with your disciples

his name for love most freeing, deep and faithful:

‘Abba, dear father’.

Joseph, you spirit gives us hope and vision

when life is crisis, chaos, or destruction:

may we, like you, find, growing up among us,

Christ’s loving presence.

Yes…, it takes some imagination to fill in the gaps in Joseph’s story- not trying to deify him but to respect his true value. And may we not also draw on our imagination to hope for what is in store when God lays his hand on our shoulder, saying “You are worth much more than many sparrows.”

You do not need to be a male to put yourself into this story. This is not about gender. I am deeply mindful that through history and in literature is most often the female who is in the background, allowing a man to shine. When I say “Cheer up Joe, the baby is yours too”, you may feel free to hear Joseph or Josephine, or whatever your name is. Each one of us individually, and all of us together, is invited to dream big dreams about our present and our future, to reconsider our value and fulfil our potential. After all, who among us has not walked on a metaphorical beach where life has thrown up a wave of terrifying height and power; and yet we were saved and got through it. And we are still here to hear the invitation to each of us, and to this congregation as it seeks out its new future: Cheer up! Rejoice! The baby is also yours. Pick it up. Nurture it. Hope for its future and rejoice in the transformation its Spirit brings.

And friends, as you do, please also look after each other. Treasure each one as being of inestimable value. After all, who knows - one of you might just be the Messiah! More likely, it is all of you together; Jesus’ body of love to the world.

AMEN

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A “GOOD, DIFFERENT.” CHRISTMAS

Presented to Boolaroo Uniting Church, Christmas Day, 25th December 2024

One of the things that people seem to cherish most about Christmas is its traditional predictability. Whether it be a drive or walk around the neighbourhood to look at the Christmas lights on so many houses, going to church on Christmas morning, the gathering of family for lunch, the opening of presents, we like to feel safe and at home with Christmas as usual. To be able to sing the familiar carols, whether in a church or down at the local park, is so attractive for so many who would otherwise have no space in their lives for this brand of spiritual or religious expression.

I am sure though, that if we sat down and talked, each of us would be able to tell of a Christmas that was different to the norm. Maybe it was a special time overseas visiting extended family; or when you had to work so that others could enjoy their leisure. Perhaps you were missing loved ones. This year Helen and I will be on our own for the rest of the day. It is not that we have not been invited to share the day with friends. We honestly do not mind the quiet day, enjoy the peace and one another’s company. Most of our children and their families are elsewhere this year, our gifts to each other already given and received.

My most “different “Christmas day was spent as a conscript in the South African Defence Force guarding the oil installations at Durban airport. We would spend six-hour shifts on our own up one of the concrete guard towers on the perimeter of the oil-tank area, armed with a 303 rifle and six bullets. In between shifts my mother, father and sister drove out to the army base and met me outside the gate for a brief chat and gift-giving. Then it was back to the boring work while everyone else celebrated.

This Christmas is different for Helen because at this moment she is in Carrington, volunteering at the Newie Christmas Day Park Run. We started doing the Saturday morning 5 km run last January, and today she is giving a bit back to those who have looked after us week by week. For me today is special as it is my last service here at Boolaroo Uniting, having been here once a month for the last two years. Both of these out of the ordinary Christmas Day experiences are like the Aldi ad - “Good. different”.

It is not always easy to be outside the “norm” of happy family Christmases, but by and large I believe it is good for us. We get to see the day from another angle, and occasionally it puts us in the shoes of others who for one reason or another do not get to enjoy the traditional things. Ironically, the first Christmas was very different indeed from the expectations of the Israelites, who were hoping for a military Messiah who would drive the occupying Romans into the Mediterranean Sea by force of arms. The announcement of the angel of the Lord to the shepherds is way different to that: “Do not be afraid; for see - I am bringing you good tidings of great joy for all the people”, and from the angelic host - “Glory to God in highest heaven, and on earth peace among those he favours.” The scriptures make it clear that Jesus’ lineage was of the line of David, but when it came to his modus operandi, it was “Good. Different.” in some important and special ways.

Jesus is the bringer of peace; not in the way of the world, not by force of arms, as the Romans did it, but through love and justice.

As we look around our world today, be it Israel/Palestine, or Russia/Ukraine, ongoing civil war in Sudan, or any other of a number of trouble spots; where the weak and vulnerable, as usual, are bearing the brunt of the suffering; we might begin to realise again that the radically good, radically different message of the first Christmas is more badly needed than ever.

We need something that is “Good. Different.” to sharpen our perceptions of where we can make a difference in a troubled world. Perhaps as we go about our usual activities of Christmas day, we might just find something “good different” happening to us; something unexpected to break the pattern that keeps us from seeing beyond the path we always tend to follow on this day. If we listen we might just hear an alternative voice speaking to us about a new way to see old things. One such voice for me has been that of Michael Leunig, who died just a few days ago. His contribution to the value of Christmas comes by way of this little prayer:

“Love is born

With a dark and troubled face

When hope is dead

And in the most unlikely place Love is born:

love is always born."

I also found this “Wish List” on the December page of his 2021 calendar:

“Sanity, beauty, kindness care

All so simple if you dare

Sweet forgiveness, patience peace,

Chickens, blackbirds, ducks and geese.

Trees and flowers, grass and seeds,
hands and feet and coloured beads.

Cups of tea and distant bells

Clouds and mountains, cooking smells,

A garden path, a wooden chair,

Sanity, beauty, kindness, care."

These are the simple things, that make such a refreshing change in a world where so much seems to run on batteries, where access requires a forgotten password, where all those shiny new things in the centre aisle at Aldi that we never knew we needed just do not seem to fill the aching need in our search for deeper meaning.

Among all of the blessings that we receive on this special day, may there be for us something, somewhere along the way, that enriches us with its “good difference”. A gift that speaks of unexpected thoughtfulness, a word of comfort and hope that shakes us out of our sadness, and invitation to give something of ourselves that we never thought we were capable of.

AMEN

Anchor 48