State of emergency ?!?

At long last, there is some acknowledgment from our elected leaders that remote aboriginal communities are in urgent need of support and help.

National debate rages over the form this is taking. At its worst it looks like a sledgehammer approach to communities that are already fragile and vulnerable. At its best it enacts a measure that is admittedly interventionist in preparation for longer term measures to assist sustainability, health, safety and security. Subtexts of political opportunism, hypocrisy in the wake of deafness to previous pleas and the shadows of paternalism abound.

So, in the light of my previous post’s reflection on Lee Camp’s offerings om “mere discipleship,” what role does Christ’s church have to play in all this. History gives us a mixed bag of inappropriate interventionism in aboriginal affairs and admirable service in the name of the Suffering Servant.

Some challenges of mere discipleship

<!–[if gte vml 1]> <![endif]–><!–[if !vml]–><!–[endif]–>We’ve been workshopping the first three chapters of Lee Camp’s Mere Discipleship (Baker, 2003).

 

In summary, Camp lays out in winsome fashion a very clear distinction between what some would call “institutional Christianity” and radical (ie grassroots) Christian faith. Cultural myopia makes it very difficult for many to see that there is a difference between the two. Camp addresses at length the effect in the 4th Century AD of the official legitimisation of Christian faith under Roman Emperor Constantine and poses some challenging issues.

 

Does the end justify the means? Much of Christian history says yes. Radical discipleship, in contrast, puts as much emphasis on the Way as the End. The Way is modelled by the One who did not coerce, but “emptied himself” in suffering service, calling on his followers to do the same. The End is that God’s love might be revealed and the world transformed. Mostly we at the workshop gave this a tick.

 

“What can we do about…?” This is probably the most vexatious issue raised by Camp, particularly for a social justice orientated mob like us. Most of us are oriented to fixing things through various institutional means – setting up structured programmes, working in sync with government bodies, lobbying members of parliament. Camp asserts that this approach may compromise our fundamental identity, particularly where it seems that we identify ourselves more with the nation-state than with the call to the reign of God as embodied in Jesus. So do we do nothing about welfare for refugees and the sorry plight of Australia’s aborigines?

Not quite, Camp seems to suggest. Shift your orientation. Let what you do emanate from your being a follower of Jesus, not because, in sync with the state, you can fix something as if you are in charge and in control.

I guess this can be illustrated by this church’s experience in assisting refugee resettlement over many years. Initially it occurred as a cooperative venture with the State. All went sweetly – we were on the same page. Several years ago, government policy changed to the degree that assistance by the churches was no longer required and refugee resettlement became much more institutionalised. We suddenly found ourselves at odds with government policies that reduced recognition of refugees as such and the assistance to which they were entitled. This sorted us out somewhat. Who would we continue to acknowledge in this matter, particularly as our contact with affected refugee families continued unabated? Would we listen to Caesar or the Suffering Servant? Suddenly our much activity called us back to the essence of our being. As we continued our assistance in the name of Christ, some of us found ourselves for the first time venturing into the arena of civil disobedience along with vilification from those who believed Christians should always toe the government line.

 

As I write, a fierce national debate is in full swing over the Prime Minister’s declared state of emergency in remote aboriginal communities. I’ll put down some thoughts about this in the next entry.

 

In the meantime, those who were at the workshop (or otherwise) might like to use the comment facility here to extend the discussion. Just press the “comments” link at the end of this post and write in your tuppence worth. Sign off as “Anonymous” if comment in the public arena causes you anxiety. This is a place where the world can hear your voice, so make good use of it!

Stem cell research – the way of compassion

The current debate on embryonic research has come to the fore this week. In the media, the storm is over whether church hierarchies are exercising undue coercion in influencing politicians of their flock who may be inclined to vote against church teachings.

The effect of this media focus, of course, muddies the waters by introducing the age old controversy of the relationship of church and state.

While I have not followed the particular debate closely, it seems to me that in its purest form, without ascribing dubious motivation to either side, the dilemma is this:

Medical science has identified the possibility of advancing technique and know-how in alleviating some identified forms of human suffering using the results of stem-cell research. The broadest and most effective treatment is possible through embryonic stem-cell applications, as opposed to more limited adult stem-cell results. The most effective application, however, involves the destruction of human embryos.

The values competing for ascendancy all call on large measures of human compassion. It is right that we should use all our available knowledge to alleviate human suffering. It is right that we should preserve dignity and respect for all human life and potential.

Standing by and watching our fellow human beings suffer debilitating wasting diseases when we know a potential cure is possible is unacceptable. Sacrificing another human life, even in embryonic form, to alleviate another’s pain is unacceptable. If the bill succeeds however, the former will have been deemed in legislation to be less unacceptable than the latter, even with corollaries that provide ethical safeguards.

To leave the argument pared down to these opposing propositions, however, does not do justice to the angst of the debate. Behind every proposition is a human story, told with pain, love and tears. We often shield ourselves from the vulnerability of these stories by retreating to a doctrinaire stance, building a wall of defiance from behind which we fire our bullets at the other side.

My appeal is this. For many of us, the lines are already drawn in this debate and we know where we stand even if it’s somewhere in the middle and we are undecided. For some, there is urgency for resolution. For Easter people, however, the way of compassionate listening and engagement is still open. Become informed. Talk to your MP, as many are advising, and listen to the issues that they are weighing. Respectfully offer your perspective. Above all, remain vulnerable, open and alive to the Spirit’s compassion being enabled within you. This is the way of Jesus.

Dropping by

Yes, it’s been a long time – well over six weeks since I’ve logged a blog! Not that this pilgrim no longer has anything to wonder about. Life has been so full of wonderful things to record and reflect on that there simply hasn’t been time to come here and record them. Part of the challenge is that I need to look at a serious upgrade of my equipment – the old laptop is groaning under the weight of chores I am assigning it and dial-up seems to make a major production of anything I am attempting on the web. End of financial year approaches and thus a range of possibilities. Keep watching!

Bonhoeffer, Zimbabwe and the Prodigal Son

In recent times I have often used the illustration of a rope with its many strands to urge the contemplation of how the seemingly unrelated issues with which we wrestle can provide a unifying strength. This last week has seen me attempting to come to grips with Bonhoeffer’s approach to ethics, a challenge to participate in a meaningful way to the crisis in Zimbabwe, and the Parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15). I also attended a Dayspring workshop with Steve Wirth on Contemplative Dialogue, possibly a promising tool in the context of the three seemingly disparate strands of the rope I was attempting to plait! Why these particular strands?

  • Dietrich Bonhoeffer – I am conducting a study series for two congregations based on his life and thought in relation to Hitler and the Third Reich. A grassroots approach to discipleship and ethics saw him involved in a failed plot to overthrow the regime. He was arrested, imprisoned and finally executed. During this time he continued to write. His thought and commitment is relevant to issues before us as church and nation today.
  • Zimbabwe – we have affective bonds within my congregation with the people of this nation – we are involved with the housing and education of AIDS orphans, a farming project and water bores. In the light of the escalation of officially sanctioned violence over the last week, people are asking what more they can do. The Bonhoeffer studies are heightening such questions,
  • The Parable of the Lost Son was in yesterday’s lectionary. The sermon had to somehow address the unusual “ethics” within this story. The fresh discovery that the story makes no sense at all from an ethical point of view was somewhat liberating for those of us caught on the barbed wire fence of the ethical system suggested by Bonhoeffer. We came to an understanding of another awareness central to Bonhoeffer’s thinking – that of grace. Grace that is costly to both the giver and the receiver. The critical elder brother, self-expelled into the outer darkness because he couldn’t bare the celebrations, also experienced the offer of grace. The father came out from the party to be with him in his self imposed misery, not to commiserate, but to gently entice him to the place where there was light, joy and the possibility of reconciliation with his brother. Whether the elder brother received grace is unknown. Did he eventually go into the celebrations?

What does all this look like when twined together? Not much that will give answers to the dilemmas of justice that confront contemporary living. We have to work things out the best way we can (that’s basically what Bonhoeffer was saying, pointing to love for neighbour and the modelling of Jesus as his guiding principles). What we are offered is a stance – the stance of grace.

The overwhelming message from church leaders in Zimbabwe with whom we have had contact is that of courageous grace. This is shown through forthrightness in their will to care compassionately for and encourage their people, often against breathtaking odds. They are working out of an ethic that is saturated with grace.

Maybe our most important task is to learn from them.

Lamenting Jerusalem – Second Sunday in Lent

Luke 13:31-35 sees Jesus lamenting over Jerusalem – a centre of power and influence in his part of the world in his time – probably no different from any other city we know, ancient or modern. There was one difference however. Jerusalem was heir to the Abrahamic covenant – a divine initiative that would see it at the centre of a universal realm governed by what the Hebrew people called shalom – a radical vision of peace uniting all nations – indeed all creation under the compassion and grace of the Creator of all things.

Jerusalem, however, serially fell prey to corruption and political power plays, just as our own cities and power centres do – one only needs to look at this week’s headlines involving both Perth and Canberra to recognise as much.

What is one to do? The same as Jesus did. Refuse to be silent about the reign of God until somebody executes you. Then refuse to lie down, break the law again and be raised!

This was Fr John Dear’s challenge to a packed gathering in Perth this weekend as he called for radical obedience to non-violent peace-making. He knew what he was talking about. He has been arrested and jailed many times in the USA for expressions of opposition in the name of Jesus to warfare. Visit www.johndear.org for a fascinating and challenging insight to his ministry.

Thinking Christology now and then – another symposium reflection

Again, I only caught a part of this presentation. Stephen Curkpatrick never fails to give me a bone to take away and gnaw. Stephen has a particular gift with terminology that can, at the same time, irritate and open up fresh pathways of conceptual understanding.

The gist of his presentation was to compare and assess Christology from earlier and more classic “nominative” points of view to more current “vocative” perspectives – “nominative” being the Greek propensity for naming and classifying and “vocative” relating, in Hebrew fashion, to identifying and answering the “call” or “summons” within the phenomena.

My mind wonders to contemplate that, as products of the Enlightenment, the rational processes of our pioneer thinkers may have been very much at home in the nominative, yet there was an ardent passion responding vocatively to that which they named.

I ponder how that tension finds expression in my own circles – how carefully we try to articulate, name and classify the collective elements of our faith, witness and mission and possibly miss that which is vocative within, or at least dilute it with our rush to classify. Of course the other danger is present, that of becoming so ardently passionate over that which calls us that we fail to spend the patience and discipline required to give it the nominative form that enables communication and team-building. I give thanks that the local congregation to which I belong, for the most part, seems to hold the tension nicely.

Stephen left us with some further interesting ponderables:

* “Consider: Jesus Christ exceeds our expectations of the exemplary, representing a unique trajectory in humanity with possibilities we can only engage in faith as response to the vocative word.”
* “Consider: Grace alone is able to redress the human inequalities within love, goodwill, forgiveness, imagination and hope.”
* Consider: the triune story is integral to ecumenical expression of the uniqueness of Christian testimony, identity and mission.

Ecumenism & Churches of Christ – a CCTC Symposium Reflection

Working together into the future: ecumenism and Churches of Christ

I missed the earlier presentations on identity and the Restoration Movement, but suspect that these would have been related to the kinds of conundrums that were inevitably raised here. The questions were not new but were arising in fresh contexts.

How does a movement such as ours, marked by its simplicity, structural lightness and commitment to unity based on New Testament principles defend its continuing existence when it can be argued that much of its raison d’être has been absorbed into the contemporary spectrum of today’s church? Is it time to invoke the Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery and cease to exist, “being absorbed into the body of Christ at large?”

Of all movements, we seem to sit astride the range of traditions most easily. In most states, there are significant partnerships with the Baptists. We also punch above our weight in more formal, but diminishing, ecumenical arrangements across a number of traditions in several states. We are generally renowned for our proactive energy and commitment to all that expresses visible unity amongst Christians in fulfilment of the vision of Christ’s prayer in John 17.

To dissolve would be to surrender an important contribution to the Australian Christian landscape. We would also lose over 200 years of formed DNA. In spite of ourselves and our altruistic vision, we have become another “tribe” amongst many, and somehow there is a feeling that the human race would be depleted if this tribe disappeared.

Perhaps we are not so much at a crossroads but in a trackless wilderness in terms of our ecumenical expression. I suspect that where we can contribute well, we will continue to do so. We continue to exhibit great diversity amongst ourselves in terms of how we give expression to the vision of the call to Christian unity. In these post-modern times our very looseness on the ground can be a blessing, though its accompanying frustrations sometimes cause it to feel like a curse.

Captain’s Log

Day 1

Fair sailing along the Mundaring –Kalgoorlie Pipeline, then to Norseman. Traversing dry wheat country where the signs of encroaching salt are ominous, then the goldfields. Coolgardie, with its wide streets and grand buildings, is practically a ghost town these days – 750 kms

Day 2

Swift passage through a lonely stretch to Eucla. Amazing inventiveness of crew as they played “I Spy” most of the way – 700 kms.

 

Day 3

Another lonely stretch. At Nundroo we encountered a “come aboard” request from an elderly aboriginal man with whom I had struck up a conversation. A dilemma as we were loaded to the gunwhales and there was no room – but what of our “hospitality” claim? We were assured at the roadhouse that he was well cared for, so drove on to Ceduna,
Cooling off at the end of Ceduna’s jetty we encountered a fellow voyager intent on mustering his teenage crew in counting the planks on the deck. First mate Jenny obliged by pulling out a tape measure to ascertain the width of the plank to aid whatever maths they were working on! – 500 kms.
Day 4

A shorter run across Eyre Peninsular to Port Augusta. Some interesting diversions, such as Wirulla’s inland seaport and the world’s greatest galah at Kimba. Accommodation along the way has been surprisingly good, as we only booked basic. At Port Augusta this included Foxtel and a spa! Pays to travel off-peak. 400 kms.

Day 5

An easy run into Adelaide along a busy road. Flagged down by a becalmed vessel towing a barge (car & caravan). His phone wasn’t working and mine had been cooked by the Nullarbor’s heat. Drove ahead and phoned for help. GPS helped us negotiate some new roads to Mum’s place. Saturday afternoon – an hour left to stock up supplies and head for our week’s digs at Semaphore. ATM denied access to our account and shredded Jenny’s card. 24 hour help line told us to wait until business hours on Monday. Other account inaccessible due to clash odf monthly clearing with public holiday resulting in six day delay. Strange feeling to be stranded in one’s hometown cashless and wondering what’s happened to one’s treasure chest. Booked into caravan park anyway as we had prepaid accommodation. Desk informed us we had overpaid and refunded $170 cash! Jehovah Jireh!

Days 6-13

Shore leave and visits with friends and family. Bank sorted out its “human error” and accounts restored. Climaxed with induction of my nephew, Mark Riessen, as team leader at Blackwood, one of Adelaide’s leading churches. A big load for a 30 year old, but I believe Mark’s up to it!

Days 13-17

Set sail for Melbourne with overnight anchorage at Horsham. With new tollways and freeways to negotiate, very glad of GPS. Several days rubbernecking – Federation Square and the holy of holies, Melbourne Cricket Ground, seemed to be the highlights. Coracle in dry dock to scrape the barnacles and be fitted for return journey. Replaced fan-belt and some sections of the exhaust system. Jenny and Lachlan finally left for Perth on big bird, leaving me alone for the first time in almost three weeks. Only for half an hour! Met long ago colleague Peter Nelson at airport and immediately promoted him to First Mate as coracle set out for CCTC Centennial Symposium.

Days 17-20

The symposium and the Class of ‘74 re-union are deserving of separate entries. See blog entries to follow for my reflections on issues raised at the symposium. The Class of ’74 stuff is intelligible only to those who were there and they will be contacted with the address for ongoing conversations.

Day 21

The beginning of a solo return. I detour through Kyneton, my old stamping ground as a student minister way back in ’73 and ’74. The old church has gone and its flock is mostly part of the great communion of saints by now. I have a different reason for being here, however, and that is to spend some hours with a colleague from my Canberra days (1979-1986). He has been in ministry with the Uniting Church in latter decades and has taken early retirement because of the effect of a brain tumour. He and his wife are building a home here, just a street over from where his daughter and her husband’s young family are living. The tumour affects the speech centre of the left hemisphere, manifesting mostly in diminished access to vocabulary. He remains ardently enthusiastic about his capacity for music, however, and looks forward to what he can contribute to the local parish in this area. His enthusiasm and positivity remain as inspiring as ever.

Day 25 – the penultimate.

The little white coracle has done well. I’m ensconced in a nondescript motel room in Cooolgardie. The 3000 kilometres of the last four days have passed benignly, with mild weather and little traffic. Another 600 kms and I’m home.

Today God challenged my generosity. It had to happen – given the combination of the coracle prayer, the aforementioned encounter with the aboriginal man from Nundroo, and the fact of the inspiring generosity of fellow pilgrims. About 40 kms west of the Caiguna roadhouse, camped by the roadside, was a young couple with car and trailer. The man waved me down, seeking a lift to Norseman. His ultimate destination was Esperance, but I wasn’t going there. He told me en route that they had run out of money, food, and petrol and that he had the prospect of selling some goods (in his bag) when he reached Esperance. He could then return to the campsite, collect his wife and car and trailer and resume his journey. The next roadhouse was Balladonia, about two hours away. I cashed him up to buy a can of petrol to get him back to Caiguna and fill up enough to get them all to Esperance as well as buy some food. He offered me a ring that he had hoped to hock, but I said, “That looks special – you should keep it.”

This is uncharacteristically un-miserly of me. I am naturally suspicious of hard-luck stories – unfortunately they are an occupational hazard. But I was not in my occupational mode, he had no expectations or requests other than a ride as far as I could take him, and the initiative came from heavily insistent internal prods that I could not ignore, particularly in the light of an extraordinary generous gesture by one of my acquaintances just before we embarked on this whole journey.

Last night I read some of the latest copy of reo that I had saved on my laptop. It was from an essay by Lucas Taylor dealing with the theme of “gift” in John’s gospel. One point he made was to the effect of how pure gift – that is, gift with no strings attached, no expectation of reciprocation – subverts economic order and vice versa.

The notion of economy extinguishes the beauty of creativity (the bringing into existence
of something for its own sake, regardless of pay off) and ultimately breeds suspicion of every
gift— where are the strings? What is the catch? What are the expectations contingent on
me through the act of receiving this gift? The notion of existence as economy extinguishes
innocence and wonder.

Taylor, Lucas, ‘At the Well: Gift as Witness to Triune Reality in John’s Gospel’ in reo: a Journal of Theology and Ministry, Issue 31, 2007:1

Perhaps these words motivated my senseless and prodigal act of generosity. It felt like grace and amazingly light not having to go through my usual routine of questioning and lining up some form of accountability only to eke out some paltry sum that satisfies neither donor nor recipient but satisfies some law of economics.

If the whole trip, with all its stimulation and rich encounters, afforded only this reflective experience, it will have been worth it!

Day 26

Home and the coracle is berthed. I will soon be back in harness.