Category Archives: Wembley Downs

Advent Voices: a manifesto against our latest law

08 Monday Dec 2014

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Isaiah 61:1-7 is repeated in Luke 4 by Jesus when he announces the blueprint of his operations.
It is the antithesis of the Immigration Bill allowed by the Australian Senate last Thursday night.

It is a strong Advent voice that calls the Australian people to account.
It comes not as warning, but as proclamation of the inevitable, in spite of our mean machinations:

Good news is there for the oppressed;
Binding is present for the broken-hearted;
Liberty for captives is proclaimed, as is release for prisoners!

Australian people, get on board and stop fighting the inevitable! This legislation is a feeble whimper against the storm of goodwill and compassion that our population will find once again because the unspeakable horror that this law exposes us to will wake us up.

 

 

Onesimus wept

11 Monday Nov 2013

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Denis Ladbrook leads reflection on the Philemon simulation

Denis Ladbrook leads reflection on the Philemon simulation

Church yesterday was an exercise in role-playing the 1st century church that met in the home of Philemon of Colossae. Creative imagination saw Philemon, his presumed wife Apphia and his presumed son and heir Archippus presiding over our regular congregation who had variously become the merchants, stewards and household slaves that met in Philemon’s atrium as a house-church.
The church meeting was in full swing when a messenger arrived bearing a letter from Philemon’s esteemed mentor, Paul. The porter was permitted to admit the messenger, who turned out to be Onesimus, a slave who had absconded Philemon’s household some time before.

Freeze-motion techniques enabled each group of participants to respond to what was about to unfold.

  • Philemon is suddenly confronted with a householder’s shame – a runaway slave.
  • Apphia presumably adhered to the strict Greco-Roman customs of managing the household. The absconding slave had disrupted the smooth manner of organising domestic arrangements.
  • The household slaves glanced uneasily. Onesimus’ disappearance had caused them trouble and some shifting in the pecking order.
  • Merchant guests and retinues forming the congregation were particularly interested in what was about to unfold. What would be the implications for their own household order?

Our role-players slipped into their roles as a forlorn Onesimus stood before Philemon clutching the scroll he had brought. Cat-calls, wise-cracks and incriminations filled the hall. Then Philemon commanded Onesimus to read the message aloud.

In faltering voice, Onesimus read the scroll which is the letter of Paul to Philemon.  Interjections from the gathered church continued and then abruptly stopped. The person playing Onesimus had stopped reading and was weeping real tears.  He had become Onesimus… and we had become the ones whom the apostle was directly addressing through Philemon.

It would have been easy to step in and halt the exercise. But no – now was the time to let the church be the church. The role play continued to its conclusion, but it was no longer a role play. It was church no longer separated by centuries, culture and tradition from its roots. The church in 1st century Collossae and 21st century Wembley Downs had become one.

The Onesimus in us all had become restored once more.

We could have explored further the issue of slavery and why it took 1700 years for Christians to raise a voice towards its abolition. Even now human bondage is deeply entrenched in our world community, deemed by multiple interests to be an economic reality that can’t really be completely dismantled (who made the clothes we wear right now, and under what conditions?). The Philemon exercise demonstrated unmistakably, however,  the radical dimensions of communal transformation that can take place even within inequitable and oppressive systems. The quest to transform human identity in the way of Christ does not stop within the church community, but it certainly starts there – and is nurtured there.

This exercise was inspired by the work of Dr Greg Jenks,  a presenter at the Common Dreams Conference, Canberra, 2013. 

Peace is a Pair of Shoes

10 Monday Dec 2012

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deprimo-homelessI love preaching at my church – it opens up so much thoughtful dialogue.

This week we tackled the Advent theme of peace in relation to charitable giving.

It had been the week of a photo of a NYPD cop buying a pair of shoes for a homeless vagabond. It had gone viral. Something of the juxtaposition of officialdom, destitution and the approaching season of good will touched our collective hearts. Within a few days investigative journalism had done a number on the homeless guy, raising cynical questions of his worthiness and the naivety of the “do-gooder” charity dollar.

But Advent Peace, announced in the words of John the son of Zechariah, comes in the phrases “Prepare the way of the Lord… make his paths straight…” – and those who hear have to work out an immediate response when need confronts them.

Will I be ripped off? And if so, does it matter?

The question exercised our very generous congregation somewhat as we examined the protective measures in our charity giving and whether they diminished or enhanced the spirit of hospitality without which charity is simply an exercise in condescension.  This was the topic of post-sermon coffee conversations.

This morning, a church member sent me a link, part of which follows:

James Doty, neurosurgeon and philanthropist, discussing the science of compassion on Radio Australia, speaks of the need to keep an open heart

James Doty: To put it in context, I had made a donation, a significant donation, to a charity that had misused my donation and I was so infuriated by that that I actually sued them. At the time this incident occurred I’d just left this lawyer’s office, and I was actually chastising myself because I gave this money away, these people misused it, am I just a fool? I always believe in people and I’ve been taken advantage of and now I have to deal with this situation which is creating my own stress. And I was walking along in this not so great neighbourhood with my head down actually contemplating about how foolish I was, and I was tapped on the shoulder by an Afro/American young man in his 20s who was not dressed particularly well, and this was in an Afro/American area, an area of poverty. And whether any of us like it or not we have prejudices and my immediate response was this is probably a drug addict who’s trying to get money, who’s just going to take it and spend it on drugs. And the individual said to me, ‘You know my car broke down and could you give me money for the bus, so I can take my mum and I so we can get home?’ And I saw no mum, I saw no car. So now I’m stuck with another dilemma because I’ve just beaten myself up for giving this money away and I’ve got this kid in front of me who I’ve already decided is a drug addict and I think to myself for a few seconds and I go, you know, am I going to believe in the innate goodness of people and just give him the money, and giving him the money regardless of how he uses it, is it going to change my life? No.

So I went ahead and gave him money, and then he thanked me and walked away and then I started the walk to this restaurant where I was having lunch and I was going again through the whole exercise—now I’m doubly beating myself up because I’m saying I’m even more of a fool because I’ve been used by this one group of people and now I’ve just given money away that’s going to be obviously misused.. And then I feel a tap on my shoulder and I turn round and this young man is there and he’s got his mother, and he says to me, ‘You know, I just wanted to introduce you to my mother, I’m so thankful to you for giving me that money.’

You know, so it reinforced of course my basic belief in humanity, you know it brought a tear to my eye, but I think you can always try to keep an open heart as much as possible.

Peace is always linked with the figure of John, the son of Zechariah (aka John the Baptist) during the Advent season. The “peace” associated with his stormy transforming ministry that called for repentance and cleansing is based on the Hebrew concept of shalom – wholeness in relationship with others, oneself and the Divine.

Donating a pair of shoes or a bus fare, no questions asked, may be naive in the eyes of the cynical – but it may also be a nudge from the Divine!

Peace is a Pair of Shoes

10 Monday Dec 2012

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deprimo-homelessI love preaching at my church – it opens up so much thoughtful dialogue.

This week we tackled the Advent theme of peace in relation to charitable giving.

It had been the week of a photo of a NYPD cop buying a pair of shoes for a homeless vagabond. It had gone viral. Something of the juxtaposition of officialdom, destitution and the approaching season of good will touched our collective hearts. Within a few days investigative journalism had done a number on the homeless guy, raising cynical questions of his worthiness and the naivety of the “do-gooder” charity dollar.

But Advent Peace, announced in the words of John the son of Zechariah, comes in the phrases “Prepare the way of the Lord… make his paths straight…” – and those who hear have to work out an immediate response when need confronts them.

Will I be ripped off? And if so, does it matter?

The question exercised our very generous congregation somewhat as we examined the protective measures in our charity giving and whether they diminished or enhanced the spirit of hospitality without which charity is simply an exercise in condescension.  This was the topic of post-sermon coffee conversations.

This morning, a church member sent me a link, part of which follows:

James Doty, neurosurgeon and philanthropist, discussing the science of compassion on Radio Australia, speaks of the need to keep an open heart

James Doty: To put it in context, I had made a donation, a significant donation, to a charity that had misused my donation and I was so infuriated by that that I actually sued them. At the time this incident occurred I’d just left this lawyer’s office, and I was actually chastising myself because I gave this money away, these people misused it, am I just a fool? I always believe in people and I’ve been taken advantage of and now I have to deal with this situation which is creating my own stress. And I was walking along in this not so great neighbourhood with my head down actually contemplating about how foolish I was, and I was tapped on the shoulder by an Afro/American young man in his 20s who was not dressed particularly well, and this was in an Afro/American area, an area of poverty. And whether any of us like it or not we have prejudices and my immediate response was this is probably a drug addict who’s trying to get money, who’s just going to take it and spend it on drugs. And the individual said to me, ‘You know my car broke down and could you give me money for the bus, so I can take my mum and I so we can get home?’ And I saw no mum, I saw no car. So now I’m stuck with another dilemma because I’ve just beaten myself up for giving this money away and I’ve got this kid in front of me who I’ve already decided is a drug addict and I think to myself for a few seconds and I go, you know, am I going to believe in the innate goodness of people and just give him the money, and giving him the money regardless of how he uses it, is it going to change my life? No.

So I went ahead and gave him money, and then he thanked me and walked away and then I started the walk to this restaurant where I was having lunch and I was going again through the whole exercise—now I’m doubly beating myself up because I’m saying I’m even more of a fool because I’ve been used by this one group of people and now I’ve just given money away that’s going to be obviously misused.. And then I feel a tap on my shoulder and I turn round and this young man is there and he’s got his mother, and he says to me, ‘You know, I just wanted to introduce you to my mother, I’m so thankful to you for giving me that money.’

You know, so it reinforced of course my basic belief in humanity, you know it brought a tear to my eye, but I think you can always try to keep an open heart as much as possible.

Peace is always linked with the figure of John, the son of Zechariah (aka John the Baptist) during the Advent season. The “peace” associated with his stormy transforming ministry that called for repentance and cleansing is based on the Hebrew concept of shalom – wholeness in relationship with others, oneself and the Divine.

Donating a pair of shoes or a bus fare, no questions asked, may be naive in the eyes of the cynical – but it may also be a nudge from the Divine!

Markathon!

20 Monday Feb 2012

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First page of the Gospel of Mark, by Sargis Pi...

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“Let’s do a public community reading of Mark’s gospel!”

“Oh yeah!” I thought. “Who’s going to come?”

So 40 people aged from 7 to 90 gathered on a hot Sunday evening for our first public community reading of Mark’s gospel. It took 90 minutes, three narrators, and about 12 voices to read various characters. (For some reason I was allocated the voices of the unclean spirits and Judas!)

By the time the women fled the open tomb (we used Mark’s short ending), several observations could be made:

  • the event had a strong effect on all gathered , from youngest to oldest – some commented that they had come to appreciate Mark’s gospel in a new light
  • although Mark is an action gospel, Jesus still had plenty to say – lots of “red letter” words.
  • Mark’s gospel has a continuity of narrative that is easily missed through a habitual selective focus on its many vignettes.
  • Immersion in a total public reading of the gospel leads to a sense of participation in the flow of the narrative.

Some will wonder whether this non-analytical approach short changed us. No worries –  internationally renowned New Testament scholar, Professor William (Bill) Loader will be conducting a series on Mark’s gospel over the weeks between now and Easter. We combine with the Wembley Downs Uniting Church who will be hosting the series.  The topics are:

26 February – “Good News” according to Mark – what does salvation and faith and eternal life look like in Mark – in comparison with others?

4 March – Mark on Scripture – looking at the controversy stories and how they reflect different approaches to Scripture.

11 March –  An evening with Herod the Great: Sex and Power in the world of Jesus and Mark (a lot of fun as well as informative)

18 March – Mark on Miracles – looking at the problems and possibilities posed by miracle stories for Mark and other NT writers.

25 March – Mark on being human and being God – looking at the conflicting models of humanness, Jesus and God between Jesus and the disciples.

Should be fun!

 

 

 

Keeping the Startle in Christmas

22 Thursday Dec 2011

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Silverfish!

One of the biggest challenges for those of us charged with narrating the Nativity each year is to allow the essence of the story to emerge through the sentiment and tinsel and, yes, the celebratory drudgery that many deem it their annual obligation to tolerate.

A few Christmases ago, we ordered a heavy duty set of Nativity figures to display at the front of the church. They arrived, mere outlines cut out of marine plywood, blank and unadorned – white canvas upon which we amateur artists were invited to take acrylic paints and fill in appropriately. Being who we are, we saw this as an opportunity to make a statement beyond what might be expected of the traditional manger scene. We kept all the original players – Mary, Joseph, shepherds, magi and, of course, sheep, cattle and camels. Rather than paint the life-size figures, we dressed them in fabrics depicting ancient middle eastern dress, but used posed photographs of various members of the congregation who were quite happy to model Melchior, Joseph or a shepherd.

The effect was that the Christmas creche had a startling effect on those who saw it. The figures gathered around the Christ child were not exotic and foreign, but people they knew. “That’s us!” came the involuntary exclamation several times. “You know what – you’re right!” I replied. The traditional message of Immanuel – God with us – had snuck in at a different level and startled Christmas worshipers as surely as the messengers startled the shepherds on the outskirts of Bethlehem.

We aren’t putting the figures out this year. Silverfish have been feasting, and maybe the impact has softened anyway.

We are searching for another way to keep the startle in Christmas. We have two days left. We might just wait and see what happens!

After all, the unexpected usually emerges out of something going wrong.

Mice ate the organ bellows rendering the little Austrian church without a musical instrument one Christmas Eve. The pastor hurriedly wrote  a simple a capella carol. We sing it today as “Silent Night.”

Who knows what the silverfish will bring?

Advent Reflection: Peace – not absence of conflict

05 Monday Dec 2011

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Jan Brueghel the Elder, John the Baptist preaching

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It may strike one as absurd that a day given to reflecting on peace revolves around that fiery wild figure that stormed out of the Judaean desert preaching repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins. John the Baptist seems an incongruous figure for what we imagine to be peace – serene narcosis wrapped in fluffy cotton wool where the daily grind can’t “get at us.”

Consider the elements of true peace however, based on the Semitic languages shalom (Hebrew) or salaam (Arabic and its derivatives), alluding to wholeness in relationship with self, others, the environment and the Divine. It seems to me that one has to navigate some conflict to achieve each of those summits.

Well known New Testament scholar Bill Loader, at the local Uniting Church commissioning service for their local minister, noted three surprises in Mark’s use of the John the Baptist episode to open his discussion of  what the “good news” of Jesus was all about. I summarise and paraphrase, hopefully accurately, his points as I heard them. But go here for Bill’s online commentary on this passage.

First, there is the lack of apocalyptic judgement often associated with John the Baptist’s ministry. Change is in the wind, people are being called to change, but the use of Isaiah’s words are couched in the language and context of comfort and strength. The world is full of people bearing a heavy weight of oppression , poverty and injustice, but change is possible and imminent.

The second surprise is the universality of John the Baptist’s message. All are invited to the baptism he offers – poor and rich, sick and well, Jew and Greek, peasant and soldier. There is no particularity, the invitation to change is for all. It begins with “repentance”, literally “turning to face a new direction,” or we might think of starting again with a blank page. The word used by Mark is metanoia (Koine Greek) “renewing of the mind”.

The third surprise is the incompleteness of his ministry – forgiveness is a beginning, but completeness comes with one who baptises with the Holy Spirit and who demonstrates the presence of God’s reign amongst us through the ministry of the Spirit. Those who wear the name of Christ must get past acting as if it was only about forgiveness and get on with the Spirit ministry of teaching, reconciling, healing and helping build a world that is whole.

It sounded to me a little bit like shalom, salaam, peace.

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“How would gays get on in your church?”

02 Friday Dec 2011

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English: Wedding cake of a same-sex marriage, ...

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It was a simple question.

I gave a simple answer – “The same as anybody else,” I replied.

There was a question behind the question, however. As the topic of same-sex marriage rises to be the star turn at this weekend’s Australian Labor Party conference, anxious attention from both the anti and pro camps tests the waters for support. I have continued to maintain a mugwump’s perspective, described a few months ago here.  I might elaborate further, however, and say that anybody within the sphere of our congregation’s influence who experiences discrimination on the basis of race, gender, religion or sexual orientation is entitled to our advocacy.  No mugwumpery in that regard.

The unasked question, though, is “What will you do when a gay couple asks you to officiate over their union ceremony (whatever nomenclature is granted or not)?”

I will do as I have often done with those who have shared the uniqueness of their journeys through a variety of circumstances that cover the range of life’s disappointments, hopes, fears, and possibilities. Listen carefully (with the ears of the crucified and risen One) and respond accordingly. As with hetero couples, the result may be “Wait.” It may equally be, “Let us design a rite that honours before God where you find yourself to be.” I have no idea where that might lead. I do know that our congregation is mature enough and confident enough to hold such couples and individuals in their journey with respect, love and compassion -and, as with anyone, make room for them to become full participating members of the church community.

How do I know? I’ve see it happen before.

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Advent Reflection: Hope, not optimism

28 Monday Nov 2011

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Pollyanna and friends

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Pollyanna gets a bit of stick these days. The name of the main character from Eleanor H Porter’s work of classical children’s fiction has become an epithet for anyone deemed to be unrealistically optimistic. In the novel made even more well known by Walt Disney’s cinema version in 1960, Pollyanna invents “the glad game.” No matter how bad the circumstances, there’s always something to be glad of. Pollyanna receives, as a gift, a pair of crutches instead of the anticipated doll – well, she’s glad she doesn’t need them. Her stern aunt punishes Pollyanna for being late to dinner by banishing her to bread and milk in the kitchen with the maid, and Pollyanna thanks her profusely because she loves bread and milk and can think of no better pastime than chatting with the maid.

I was ten years old when I saw Disney’s movie, and Pollyanna, I think, ingrained in me one of those life commandments – “look for the good in all things” – probably not a bad corrective to my default melancholy disposition.

It strikes me that the season of Advent seems to begin from a melancholic stance. The Isaiah passages emerge from the experience of a people exiled and abandoned, crying out for their loss of culture, connection and place. Their pain reflects the continuous experience of displaced peoples – whether it be the life-threatening journeys of the world’s refugees from hunger and violent conflict, the inheritance of generations of systemic neglect and abuse, or the intervention of sheer bad fortune on hitherto lucky lives. To suggest playing “the glad game” would be inadequate and insensitive. A person who is in dire distress cringes at light-hearted ‘cheer-me-ups’ from the village optimist. At least, allowing oneself to enter the fullness of despair is to engage the honest parlousness of the situation. Sometimes optimism is simply another word for denial.

Isaiah allows us to enter and meditate fully on the archetypal experience of feeling abandoned and adrift. However, he does not leave us there. His whole work is predicated on hope. Hope is different from optimism. It allows full expression and ventilation of that which is wrong; it scrabbles through the rubble to find something that is foundational upon which meaning can be built, and uses this as a means of planning and constructing a way forward.

This is a different process than the one used in Pollyanna’s “glad game.” It is radical surgery of the collective and individual soul. Yesterday my congregation presented the results of some fund raising to Fresh Start, a Perth based drug rehabilitation program pioneered by Dr George O’Neil. Thousands of clients from around the world have successfully found help and hope through the holistic approach of  a program of physical relief, residential accommodation, community support, and spiritual conversation.

I point to Fresh Start as a living sign of hope in our midst. And I am sure Pollyanna would approve!

Stories from the Canning Stock Route

26 Saturday Nov 2011

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Roadside sign at the southern end of the Canni...

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So runs the sub-title of a stunning Aboriginal Art exhibition that is now on tour from the National Museum of Australia. Of course, the Canning Stock Route has had its dominant “whitefella” story told many times. We claim it as the toughest, remotest and (at 1850km) longest historic stock route in the world. Around the 1900s, cattlemen in the East Kimberley ranges sought an effective and competitive means of getting their stock to market. A direct route through the desert to Wiluna was deemed to be both possible and desirable. Conveniently spaced water sources were all that were needed, and the desert Aborigines knew where these were. Cruel methods of manipulation and coercion of Aborigines from the various language groups enabled wells to be sunk alongside the soaks and watercourses along the otherwise arid way. The full story (from “whitefella” perspective) can be explored here.

The interactive art exhibition, Ngurra Kuju Walyja: One Country One People,  allows us to hear the story as told by descendants of the Desert people, a diverse range of language groups that retain the custodianship of the pre stock route boundaries, stories, songs and culture that have helped them retain their identity and replicate it in art form. The stories are fascinating as the now disused stock route serves another purpose in binding these communities together while they continue to find  and assert anew their place in 21st century Australia.

The exhibition is not a “black arm-band” approach to history (to coin a phrase introduced by a former prime minister), but a frank and open exercise in ensuring all voices are heard and that all perspectives are seen, thus affording a total picture rather than enabling us to continue to accept a partial telling as the whole. Apart from tragedy and loss, the stories include humour and appreciation stemming from encounters with the kartiya (n0n-Aborigines).

Such exhibitions go a long way to promoting mutual respect. If you get the chance, go and see!