5 September 2010Giving thanks for the oceans "The last fallen mahogany would lie perceptibly on the landscape, and the last black rhino would be obvious in its loneliness, but a marine species may disappear beneath the waves unobserved and the sea would seem to roll on the same as always.
Ray (1988) The above quote appears at the foot of each email we receive from our son David. Twelve years of formative childhood by the sea at Dee Why nurtured in David a love of the ocean, first through surfing and then scuba diving. David is now a marine biologist aware of the threatened species “beneath the waves.” I mention that here because today we are going to focus on the oceans as one crucial element, of God’s created order. The oceans cover 70% of Earth’s surface. The well-being of Earth is therefore very much dependent on the well-being of the oceans which are effectively the lungs of the earth, instead of rainforests as commonly thought. Through photosynthesis algae extract carbon dioxide from the air to grow, and provide food to fish and other aquatic animals, so preventing carbon from returning to the atmosphere. There is so much to learn about the world in which we live, and the way God has created it in interrelated wholeness. So then, let us give thanks for the creative Spirit of God that moved across the waters in the act of creation, and commit ourselves anew to care for the eco-system God has entrusted to us. 29 Audust 2010Hospitality Earlier this week Margaret and I enjoyed the hospitality of a young Turkish family as they broke the daily fast during Ramadan with an Iftar dinner at sunset. They were gracious hosts to their guests from a variety of cultural backgrounds: Bangladesh, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, the Torres Strait & Turkey, as well as those of us from Anglican, Catholic and Uniting traditions. The innocence of their pre-school children also contributed to the happy gathering. How appropriate, given those wonderful words from Hebrews set down in the lectionary for today:
“Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:1, 2) As we reflect on these words it might be helpful to recall similar occasions when we have experienced true hospitality, and what it was about the hospitality that made it such a special occasion and memory for us. We might also recall times when we were surprised to find ourselves entertaining an ‘angel’ in our homes. Henri Nouwen, in his book “Reaching Out”, observes: “The paradox of hospitality is that it wants to create emptiness – not a fearful emptiness, but a friendly emptiness where strangers can enter and discover themselves as created free – free to sing their own songs, speak their own languages, dance their own dances; and also free to leave and follow their own vocations.” Such was the hospitality Jesus affirmed when he witnessed it in others, and demonstrated in his own life. This morning, as we gather for worship, may we be reminded of the hospitality of God toward us and all people; the freedom to come as we are and experience unconditional love. Let us give thanks and open ourselves to the hospitality of God. 22 August 2010I remember Janet Wood telling a story about her husband, Rev Dr D’Arcy Wood, and his struggles getting a passport. Because D’Arcy had been born in Tonga, gaining an Australian passport had some complications. At the time, he was President of the Uniting Church and needed his passport to go to a World Council of Churches meeting in Geneva. He explained the importance of his trip to a passport official. In an effort to help, the woman behind the desk said to him “Could you get a letter from your Archbishop”. At which point, Janet says, he drew himself up to his full height and said “I am the Archbishop!” The woman in today’s gospel story could never draw herself up to her full height. She spent her life approaching people in a submissive posture. She could only look at their feet or maybe their knees. But this is a story in which a person is finally able to look people straight in the eye. Luke is depicting a scene which demonstrates that Jesus frees people from whatever it is that weighs them down so they can live life with their heads held up. We too can hold our heads up because we are beloved of God. And as disciples of Christ we are called to walk alongside those who are weighed down by poverty or injustice, and to work to free them from their burdens. This weeks reflection prepared by Robyn Triglone 15 August 2010Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses... One of this morning’s readings is from the letter to the Hebrews and contains those beautiful words: ‘since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.’ The words are an important reminder of the way faith is passed on from one generation to the next. But faith is not only communicated by what these ‘saints’ taught but through the example of their lives. There are certainly the great saints of the church but, for many of us I sense, the true ‘saints’ may well have been parents, Sunday school teachers, or other unassuming members of the churches we attended in childhood. I remember Keith Perrin, a gentle giant of a man – a dairy farmer – with forearms like tree trunks. He had fought in the Islands during the war but was much more at home in peace on the farm. On Sundays he became our Sunday school teacher. I don’t remember very much, if anything, of what he taught us, but he did so with so much sincerity and warmth that I still see his round happy face before me now as I write. It was clear from the gentle way he lived who was the ‘pioneer and perfecter’ of his life. However the passage also reminds us of the importance of ‘encouragement’ in nurturing faith. The derivation of ‘encouragement’ is ‘en-‘ expressing conversion into a specified state, and ‘cor’ or ‘cour’ meaning heart. To encourage someone is literally to ‘give heart.’ I wonder. Who are the people who gave us heart in order to embrace the joys and challenges of life in all its complexity? Let us give thanks. 8 August 2010...for people on the way Paragraph 3 of the Basis of Union, the formative document of the Uniting Church in Australia states “The Church is a pilgrim people, always on the way towards a promised goal; here the Church does not have a continuing city but seeks one to come. On the way Christ feeds the Church with Word and Sacraments, and it has the gift of the Spirit in order that it may not lose the way.” I was reminded of these words by this morning’s reading from Hebrews that refers to the example of faith given by Abraham and Sarah who were prepared to leave their own country and set out for another land that God had promised them. It was a giant step in faith, but through their courage new possibilities emerged. It may be good to take a few minutes to recall and reflect on our own pilgrimage through life, and where that journey has taken us. We may not have travelled far on a geographic basis but nonetheless will have had many different experiences. Some memories may be happy satisfying ones, whilst others are of sad and testing times. However, when viewed as steps along the way, these experiences become an affirmation of life pointing us towards a future as yet unrealised. Viewed in this way, the journey’s end becomes less important, although its promise does free us to live in, and embrace, the present moment as an unfolding process of fulfilment. This sense of promise is beautifully expressed in the famous ‘I have a dream’ speech of Martin Luther King Jr, American civil rights campaigner in the 1960s: This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. Perhaps that is what it means to be “a pilgrim people, always on the way towards a promised goal.” 1 August 2010“Give unto Caesar …” Just in case you hadn’t noticed, there is a federal election campaign on at the moment and we still have three long weeks to go. At such times we may find ourselves asking what role the church has to play in the political process. Jesus’ famous saying: “give unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar and unto God those things which belongs to God” is frequently interpreted to mean church leaders should avoid political comment as the secular and spiritual areas of life are quite separate. It is, however, possibly one of the most misunderstood passages of Scripture. Rather than driving a line between the spiritual and secular, any self-respecting Jew who heard Jesus say “give unto God what belongs to God” would know exactly what that meant, for everything belongs to God. For a first century Jewish person it would be inconceivable that any aspect of life was beyond the sphere of God. When one reflects on the way the Gospel informs our personal lives and relationships, it is difficult to see how, as Christians, we can make secular decisions without also considering them from the perspective of the Gospel, with its emphasis on compassion and justice, and our relationship with God. It was interesting that even before the elections began one Christian organisation arranged a televised debate between the two major leaders – even pre Gillard – to ascertain which of the parties may have a more ‘Christian’ agenda. I wonder, however, if that is possible or realistic. Can anyone claim there is only one true Christian position on the many complex issues in our daily lives or the body politic of our nation? Life is not clear cut. There are many gray areas in the issues we confront. Perhaps all we can do is study the Scriptures and discuss with other Christian friends what we understand the Gospel is saying to us in our own time and place. Even more simply, from our understanding of the Gospel we could ask what would Jesus think, feel, say or do about those issues that concern us today. 25 July 2010The Lord’s Prayer One wet Wednesday morning a couple of years ago I found myself standing in the rain with several hundred other people at the Redfern community centre to hear and see our former PM Kevin Rudd offer an apology to the ‘Stolen Generations’ on a large outdoor screen provided by Sydney City Council. A sense of expectancy grew as ABC TV crossed to federal parliament. The first words heard were parliamentary members intoning the words of the prayer with which they commence each session: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done….”
Most of the members, I sense, wanted to get through the prayer and on to the business at hand. But, standing in the rain, I found myself silently praying, “yes God, let us glimpse for a moment what it might be like for your kingdom to come into the body politic of our nation; for ordinary Australians like me to understand how healing can come when pain and sorrow is acknowledged and forgiveness received.” Standing on the ‘Block’ I began to realize just how radical the prayer that Jesus taught us is. As Sri Lankan jurist C. G Weeramantry, a judge of the International Court of Justice, suggests in his book, ‘The Lord’s Prayer’, when we pray ‘Our Father’ we are not only acknowledging the intimacy of God’s love for ourselves, but the ‘our’ reminds us God’s love is universal, and “all human beings are placed in a single group bonded in a common relationship to their Creator”. We cannot pray to ‘our Father’ and leave unacknowledged the hurts and social dislocation suffered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sisters and brothers following European settlement. At one and the same time, when we utter ‘Our Father’, we experience intimately the love and grace of God in our own lives, but also the interrelatedness of life in relationship with God and all humanity. Or, as Weeramantry observes, in praying the Lord’s Prayer we are reminded of “the seamless web of humanity” in which we all share. 18 July 2010Making space for ourselves It’s 3.00 or 4.00 am in the morning, perhaps earlier, and, for whatever reason, we have woken up. As we attempt to go back to sleep, thoughts flood into our minds and we are wide awake. The more we seek to block them out – work pressures or deadlines, concerns about family or other relationships, worries about our financial situation or whatever – the more distracted and anxious we become. And Jesus said: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken from her.”
Frequently this passage is seen as a question about whether service or spiritual life is the more important. But could it also be an indication of Jesus’ pastoral concern for Martha and that she carve out some space, find some peace, for herself amidst the many demands and responsibilities of her busy life. I am reminded of a poem by Clive Langmead called Night Watch where he describes being on night watch on a ship and becomes aware of the eternal mystery that surrounds him. He reflects: Some peace here Lord, I know.
Some quiet…
Even so, I’m not at rest,
I must concern myself with cares:
Of home, of life, of ladders of success…
Lord,
I know I need them not,
And yet…
Help me to take the silence of this night
Into my soul,
And trust, in peace, until the coming of the Light.
May we too find some space amidst the busy routines and demands of life, and there discover that our lives have ultimate significance because we are in relationship with the eternal mystery in Christ that transcends all life. 11 July 2010Moved by compassion It seems ironic, in the week leading up to this morning when the Parable of the Good Samaritan will be read in churches around the world, that the Australian political scene should be dominated by the spectre of our two major parties vying for the honour of being the toughest on asylum seekers. There is a sense of déjà vu and sadness in me when I read in the ‘Canberra Times’ our current Prime Minister saying asylum seekers will have to live according to our rules if they come to our country and “send their children to school like everyone else…the rules are the rules.” Strange; one of the major motivations for refugee and migrant families I have come to know has been concern for the survival and future of their children. But perhaps the thing that disturbs me most is the reappearance of the term ‘political correctness.’ I wonder, was Jesus simply being ‘politically correct’ when he taught, the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” or to “love God...and your neighbour as yourself.” And what about the ‘Good Samaritan’; is it just a politically correct story intended to stifle debate? Or is it a simple moral/ethical reality that true human community is found where people treat each other with decency. Last Wednesday evening I endured 30 minutes of political posturing on asylum seekers on the ABC ‘s ‘7.30 Report’, mercifully followed by ‘Foreign Correspondent’ and its moving story of Italian-born physiotherapist Alberto Cairo, the Angel of Kabul. Moved with compassion, Cairo went to Afghanistan 20 years ago, the country from which many of our asylum seekers come, and runs the Red Cross Orthopaedic clinic in Kabul, helping those, including children, who have lost limbs through landmines. Julia/Tony, what has your polling told you about we Australians? Are we really like those who “passed by on the other side”, or have we gone near enough to be “moved with compassion.” Yes, Jesus was crucified, not having had the benefit of a ‘two-party preferred’ voting system, but he did live that others might live. 4 July 2010Sending Out What’s in a number? Sometimes a number can mean quite a lot. Many numbers referred to in the Bible are considered to have theological/symbolic significance. The reference to seventy disciples (in some translations seventy-two) in this morning’s Gospel is now generally accepted as symbolic of the known number of nations in the world at the time of Jesus. For the Evangelist Luke, sending out seventy apostles is effectively saying that the mission Jesus commissioned was to the whole world. This was the precursor to the Gentile mission; that Christ had come to heal and restore God’s relationship with all people. In recounting this story, I believe, Luke is seeking to remind us that Jesus had a holistic understanding of the world. God is not only concerned for the ‘children of Israel’ but for all people. We are a part and parcel of the whole and our own destiny is caught up with the well-being of all people in the world. Over the next six weeks, beginning 8.30 am next Sunday, we will be holding a series of conversations on how best we may be at mission in our world, and especially Canberra 2010. That just as Jesus sent out his friends, so too we are called to engage with the world around us and to explore ways of offering the life transforming promise of the Gospel in our own time and place. Come join the conversation. 27 June 2010Ploughing paddocks Have you ever ploughed a paddock? I have; with a Massey Ferguson tractor and the machinery available in the 1960s. Even so it demanded a great deal of concentration to follow the already ploughed furrows across the paddock. Jesus uses this agricultural metaphor in today’s Gospel to describe what it means to follow him. “Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.” And so I did a bit of research on agricultural practices in the Middle East and came up with the following description by Joachim Jeremias:
“The very light Palestinian plough is guided with one hand. This one hand, generally the left, must at the same time keep the plough upright, regulate its depth by pressure, and lift it over the rocks and stones in its path. The ploughman uses the other hand to drive the unruly oxen with a goad about two yards long, fitted with an iron spike At the same time he must continually look between the hindquarters of the oxen, keeping the furrow in sight”.
The implication is to lay one’s hand to the plough requires dexterity and focused commitment to the task. Following Jesus is challenging, but also brings perspective and purpose to our lives, enabling us to navigate our way through the difficult twists and turns we encounter. The person who intentionally lays their hand to the plough has a focus and basis for responding to, and making decisions about, important areas of life, including our work responsibilities and relationships. Let us then, place our hands to the plough, and allow the Gospel to be the controlling principle that brings perspective to all the challenges we meet along the way. Let us live in joyful obedience and hope through resolute commitment and faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. 20 June 2010With Love to the World Last Monday morning around 6.00 am I went through a small ritual I do each week. I read the four readings set down in the three year lectionary for the coming week, as well as the commentaries on the passages from the daily Bible study guide “With Love to the World.” That morning I found the commentaries thought provoking and helpful and so I flipped over to the back cover to see who had prepared them. The author was our very own Norma Brown. (Norma has provided them for the coming week as well). I must admit my bias as Strathfield Homebush Uniting Church, my last church, is responsible for publishing the guide, originally the brainchild of staff from the United Theological College. Drawing on the skills of Biblical scholars, the guide seeks to prepare people coming to worship on Sunday mornings to more fully enter into worship through having already reflected on the readings for the day. It combines the best of Biblical scholarship with an appreciation of the issues confronting people today in the routines of their daily lives. Each daily commentary is also accompanied by a suggested psalm reading, hymn from Together in Song, a question for reflection and prayer point. I understand we currently order 45 copies an issue for members of our two congregations. Each issue, there are four a year, costs $4.00. Our coordinator, Drude Townsend, would be happy I’m sure, to order a copy for you. Contact Drude via the Church office 6257 4600 So then, let us prepare to listen for God’s Word in our worship and through our daily reflections. Sunday 13 June 2010The Year of Luke Easter and Pentecost are behind us and for the remainder of the year our Gospel readings will be taken from the Gospel of Luke. Luke in fact wrote two volumes, his Gospel which records the life of Jesus, “all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up” (Acts 1:1), and the Acts of the Apostles recording the work of the early apostles and formation of the church. The Holy Spirit is ever present guiding and driving the ministry of Jesus, and provides the link/continuity between the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles Luke appears well educated and writing, in excellent Greek, for a Gentile, rather than Jewish, community. Parts of the Acts suggest Luke may have known Paul well. Luke is possibly writing around 80CE as he draws on material from Mark’s Gospel and is also aware of the destruction of the temple in 70CE The primary emphasis of Luke’s Gospel is captured in Jesus’ sermon in the synagogue in Nazareth where he commences his ministry, and quotes from the prophet Isaiah: “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.” (Luke 4:16 -30) Luke is a universalist, believing the Gospel is intended for the whole world and its people. He is concerned that justice be done and those on the margins of society are included in God’s circle; even to the point that some commentators talk about his ‘bias for the poor.’ Luke believes in the power of forgiveness and grace to heal and transform people’s lives, as evidenced in the parable of the father’s love (Lk 15), emphasising Jesus’ compassion. Luke also draws attention to the role women played in Jesus’ community with implications for the church. So then, let us prepare for the road ahead as we explore the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the ‘Living Word’, as interpreted and expressed by the evangelist Luke. Sunday 6 June 2010He gives us back our lives There is a Buddhist story about a young woman who is bitter and distraught by the death of her first child and goes up to the master to ask for her child’s life to be returned to her. “Yes”, the master replies, “if you can bring me a mustard seed from a house which has never known death”. She eagerly went throughout the town but soon became dispirited at the inevitable response, and returned to the mountain top. “Have you bought the mustard seed?” asked the master. “No” she said, “nor do I seek it any more. My grief has made me blind. I thought that only I had suffered at the hands of death.” “Then why have you returned?” the master inquired. “To ask you to teach me the truth.” And this is how the Buddha replied: “In all the world of humankind and all the world of gods, this alone is the law: All things are impermanent.” I was reminded of the story by this morning’s Gospel in which Jesus restores to life the son of the widow of Nain. Certainly this story had significance to Luke’s readers as a miraculous sign to Jesus’ authority, but for me the power of the story lies in Jesus’ response – we are told he was “moved by compassion” – and his ability to restore not only the son to life, but also the widow. Life is impermanent, death is a reality for all living things, and yet, even so there is some resilient spirit that enables us to claim life is stronger than death. Luke is seeking to assure his readers, and us, that God comes close to us with compassion in testing times and gives us back our life. This is where meaning is found and new life is born. | 
