Wondering Pilgrim

Jonah the Bogan

Jonah was Israel’s bogan*.

He drove a lime green V8 ute* with a bright chrome roo bar, chrome twin exhausts, chrome wheel rims and a CB radio with a tall antenna from which, on important national days, he could fly his country’s flag. The esky* toting vehicle was festooned with bumper stickers – “Love it or leave it”, and “[Beep] off, we’re full.”

Jonah was a great supporter of Ezra’s renationalisation program. When the Emperor of Persia introduced his policy that cultivated cultural diversity by allowing annexed nations to return to their homelands, the exiled people of Israel returned to Jerusalem with great rejoicing.

Here was their chance to rebuild and become a people with a national identity again. Ezra was a dedicated public servant charged with the responsibility of making it happen. He reintroduced people to the Torah, establishing strong adherence to the Hebrew tradition. He legislated against mixed marriages, retrospectively and he enforced the rule with meticulous ardour. The Hebrew line had to be kept pure.

Hebrew nationalism, a corrective to several generations of identity absorption, was on the rise.

“Hebrew, Hebrew, Hebrew, oi, oi, oi!” was the new cry.

And Jonah was there in the stands, initiating the Mexican wave with patriotic fervour.

The sages of Israel looked at all this and were worried. In the fervour to re-establish Hebrew tradition, the actual core of their identity was being lost – YHWH’s promise to Abraham that their ultimate purpose was to be a blessing to all nations.

So the wise ones gave to Ezra, and to the new people of Israel, and to us all, a story where Jonah becomes the reluctant instrument of blessing to their greatest historic nemesis – Nineveh.

Jonah the bogan, fighting and struggling against the Epiphany of YHWH, finding himself in tremendous conflict as his exclusive outlook is turned upside down, finds himself transformed into the Billy Graham of the Ancient Mediterranean world.

People have been responding to such epiphanies ever since.

* bogan – Aussie version of redneck

*ute – sedan like truck

*esky – coolbox for keeping shrimps and chilling drinks

Once upon a time in multicultural Australia – Eureka Street

As our much feted and controversial national day approaches, it is good to read thoughtful, reflective pieces on our collective and individual struggles with national identity.As usual, Australia’s more recent arrivals have much to teach us. Identity is discovered through involvement.:

Once upon a time in multicultural Australia – Eureka Street.

Online Causes – how effective are they?

I have often wondered how effective email campaigns and petitions for worthy causes are. As a card carrying member of several, it is not unusual for me to receive half a dozen pleas on any particular day urging support for a pressing purpose.

Today, at the urging of AVAAZ, I made a submission to the Australian Government’s Convergence Review, stating my views in support of limits on media ownership.
I also, at the behest of GetUp, donated to an advertising campaign in continued support of effective poker reform legislation.

The funny thing with both of these is my feeling of déja vu – we’ve been down this road before, yet here we are again. Some have observed that popular ground swells in relation to certain government initiatives are noted by legislators to the extent that they will act with some sort of appeasement. When the furore has died down, they will quietly enact the legislation anyway.

It is feared that this may be occurring currently with the SOPA and PIPA legislation before the US Congress and Senate, the effect of which would seriously curtail the flow of information on the internet. The growing crescendo of opposing voices from constituents is causing some backpedalling and “shelving” of the legislation. It is already evident that the papers will remain on the shelf only until next month, when it is rescheduled for debate. By then, no doubt the legislators and their sponsors hope, the furore will have died down and everyone will have returned to the acidie of unawareness.

So there is no doubt that popular email campaigns for social and political change are effective – they have provoked counter strategies to neutralise the people power they represent.
Such campaigns rely however, not just on the easy stroke of a key to support a cause, but continuing alert to what happens beyond the initial drive and a monitoring of how promises in response to such campaigns are expedited.

The question of the year

When my friend and colleague Denis returned from interviewing survivors of the Christchurch earthquake one year on, he noted that a common question was “Where is God in all this?” Denis reflected that perhaps the more pertinent question is “Where am I in all this?”

It neatly swings us to a fresh line of questing, particularly in this season of Epiphany that, according to Christian tradition, almost blinds us to the glory of the revealed presence of God. Such presence draws the magi to Bethlehem, the crowds to the Jordan, and Andrew,Peter, Philip,and Nathanael to the side of Jesus.

Such a question hits us when we are confronted with some transcendent moment of awareness, an instant of the numinous, where the universe seems to call our name towards something bigger and greater than our being. For a while, our routine distractions fade into the background as we ponder the ramifications of this wider awareness. Such moments alter career paths, uproot places of living and set new pathways in life.

They manifest differently according to the layers of life we have experienced. Someone neatly divided the average human course into three stages – roughly exploration and discovery (0-30 years), development and consolidation (30-60 years), and reflection and entropy/ascendancy (60+ years)

It occurred to me that such arbitrary categorisation (if such a thing helps) is illustrated by the various ways that the four disciples in today’s text in John 1 respond to their “call”.

Andrew and Simon (Peter) have been with John the Baptist – they witness Jesus’ baptism and John’s feting of him. Their quest is to find out as much as they can and they go after him. He asks them what they are looking for and they wonder obliquiely where he is staying. He invites them to come and see. Seems a bit like the exploration and discovery stage.

Philip is simply called. “Follow me,” Jesus says. And Philip’s mode of following is to catch on quickly to what it’s all about and set out to expand the territory of Jesus’ influence. Philip is the Great Introducer – just about every time we encounter him from this point he is introducing potential disciples. This is a work of development and consolidation.

I imagine Nathanael in a hammock under the fig tree – it is perhaps a metaphor of contemplation. He’s seen a lot of life – been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Philip invites him to meet someone worth talking to. Nathaniel’s response sounds curmudgeonly, skeptical and world weary, but neverthless he goes. He discovers that he is known and the moment of mutual recognition is enought to move him from entropy to ascendancy.

Reflecting on Nathanael, and the possibility that he is responding to this “call” in the latter stages of life, reminded me of this TED talk by Jane Fonda.

So, “Where am I in all this?” may well be the best question of the year.

The Iron Lady – a Greek Tragedy

Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher — Image via Wikipedia

Some have criticised this film because of an “undue focus” of the Thatcher years through her latter life dementia. I thought it aptly portrayed how ardent idealism (whether it be on the conservative or revolutionary side of politics) can alienate ourselves not only from those closest to us, but ultimately from ourselves. It cast a highly personal light on the political touchpoints of the Thatcher rule – the mine closures, general strikes, IRA bombings, the Falkland Islands, the Reagan connection and the end of the Cold War. Regardless of whether Margaret Thatcher engaged or enraged you, the screenplay and brilliant characterisation by Meryl Streep made it difficult not to empathise with elderly private citizen Dame Margaret Thatcher coming to terms with her personal losses, while at the same time pondering the legacy of her political reign. Born into a grocer’s family, she wanted to make a difference, to show that anyone can make the changes they see as important through hard work and no compromise. Absolute principles ruled the day even at the cost of relationship. There are poignant moments in the screenplay where this is made abundantly clear, but why would I spoil the movie if you are yet to see it?

Tea and Sugar Train

Image via Wikipedia

Imagine living out in the middle of nowhere, 1000 kilometers from anywhere. Nothing to see but flat horizon all around. A few prefab huts… and a slender steel ribbon disappearing in both directions, your only link to places east and west. Every day or so the behemoths trundle past with their long trail of passengers and cargo, but they don’t stop. Once a week, however, your train comes, and your small collection of neighbours gathers and becomes a village marketplace as the mini community restocks, banks, and collects mail from the Tea and Sugar train.

It was good to poke around the engines and carriages of this piece of history at the Port Adelaide Railway Museum.

Guess where…?

I’m back!

Some of you know where I’ve been. Others might like to play my little guessing game. There’s only one place where this kind of power pole is prolific (although they do appear in small colonies elsewhere) – they consist of concrete poured between two sets of railway lines and set perpendicular in the ground and they last for years. They have a particular name which I will reveal in the next day or so. This is to guard against the Google/Wikipedia temptations. They are ugly things, but great for timber conservation. Not so good for stray vehicles. People love to hate them and hate to love them, even when some councils use them as canvas for street art.

That’s all the clues – guess away! (before reading any comments)

Trumping the early bird

English: Arrival screen, Airport Lounge, Kirkw... — Image via Wikipedia

I must have inherited it from my father – this need to be excruciatingly punctual. He would always turn up for appointments an hour ahead of time. Hence my alarm sounding at 3 am this morning for a 6.40am flight. Even my taxi driver was surprised I was going to the airport so early. But I had all these questions. What if I have to double back for something I’ve forgotten? What if the flight details change? What if there’s a traffic snarl (at 4.00am yet!). Anyhow, here I am in the airport terminal with an hour to kill. Like father, like son!

Three New Year Symbols

Nativity Wesley Church Perth — Nativity Wesley Uniting Church Perth

Tree of Life Wesley Church Perth — Tree of Life

Scarcely had the New Year started to roll across the world’s last continent than we on the first one were returning from a New Year’s Day service at Wesley Uniting, Perth. This is where we usually go when I have a Sunday off… it’s only a 15 minute drive, far enough away to feel we’ve gone somewhere different, we aren’t known well, and the service is contemplative and thoughtful while informally down to earth. It has a tradition of fine music and sponsors the visual arts (as seen by the two sculptures illustrated). It happened to be a communion service with a baptism. What better way to begin a new year?

Getting there was a struggle. I thought we’d try the Convention Centre car park – reasonably close with easy access and egress to the freeway. (My usual park was cut off by construction work). Parked the car, but the lifts were not working and the stairs were well hidden – nothing for it but to strive towards the light, emerging in an area that was verboten. A horrified security guard observed us floundering around for an exit and kindly obliged by finding a key to open a gate for us. (I hope I’m not being too obtuse with all this New Year symbolism). After the church service and its injection of New Year hope and optimism – we confidently strode back to the Convention Centre (tightly locked up) and began a new search for an entrance to the car park. We explored the full length of the complex, eventually collaring another security guard. He had no idea how to reach the car park and suggested we keep looking! Well at least we had let someone know that our intentions in skulking around that great big barn were honourable. Eventually we did find an opening under a stairwell and ducked in and found the car. Easy access and egress from the freeway! Beyond that, forget it!

So here’s three evocative symbols for the New Year.

The Tree of Life sculpture – presented as part of the Project 54 “Prayer for the Nations” programme coinciding with CHOGM 2012 in Perth. The Tree of Life has been a most enriching symbol in many cultures, finding a visionary culmination in Christian tradition that is described in Revelation 22 where the leaves of the tree “bear the healing of the nations”.

The Nativity sculpture depicting the refugee journey from darkness to hope. Each white box bears a layered contemporary photograph that was revealed Advent calendar style one at a time until Christmas. Associations with Incarnation and the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt put some bite and relevance into the task of keeping our central story in focus.

And then the car park! Effort, exploration and application is needed to bring all these about.

Oh Yes … a New Year

TTT #2... 256365 — Image by paloetic via Flickr

I am aroused from my holiday stupour to be reminded that a New Year is waiting in the wings.

One more country – Samoa – will see it first, having just yesterday moved itself to the left side of the International Date Line. So Samoa, used to being lucky last, now jumps to the head of the queue and leads the charge into 2012!

Resolutions – none from me this year. Postaday went well until about September then went the way of all good intentions. I am however, chuffed that I kept it going so long, made some great connections with fellow bloggers, and am more likely to keep blogging at least several times a week.

Philosophy as one year changes to the next? I can’t improve on all the bon mots appearing on my Face Book page today. So many good positive ones to choose from.
So here’s to 2011 and all that it brought to add to our experiences – good, indifferent, and demanding. And here’s to 2012 that stretches off into the unknown…