Tma september 2020

TMA T h e M e l b o u r n e A n g l i c a n

Does COVID-19 say adieu? page 19

Lockdown a pilgrimage, says Archbishop of York page 3

September 2020, No 595

Anglicans meet need in lockdown

The Revd John Carrick issues his video invitation to Deakin students.

Refugees in detention at the Mantra Bell City Hotel in Preston.

Churches offer international students bags of help and hope

Leading local Anglican joins campaign to house detained refugees

by Mark Brolly

International students have been among the main groups to fall through the cracks of government support offered to Australians during the COVID-19 pandemic. But churches in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs have stepped up to lend a hand and provide hope to them.

St Thomas’ Burwood runs an annual Food Drive to provide help to the needy “in Burwood and Beyond”, but the pan-

demic put paid to that, too, this year. So the church turned its attention to those hit hardest by the impacts of the global virus and international students – often unable to return home as Australia’s borders were shut, losing the jobs that helped them pay for food and rent and being denied benefits such as JobSeeker – stood out.

The Lead Minister of St Thomas’, the Revd John Carrick, said the bags for this Continued on page 6

by Mark Brolly

A prominent Melbourne Anglican is one of many Australians prepared to open their homes to refugees being kept in indefinite immigration detention.

Ms Leigh Mackay, a Canon Emerita of St Paul’s Cathedral and a former Registrar of the Melbourne diocese, told TMA that the @HomeSafeWithUs campaign reflected community anxiety about asylum seekers being kept in detention in Australia.

“I think the risk of COVID infection in detention settings is an added pressure on the Government,” Ms Mackay said.

“When this proposal came up for offering a place to people who would not be dependent on the Government ...

I thought I would volunteer.

“I have been a supporter of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre for a very long time and also the Brigidine

Ken Spackman resigns after 12 years

by Mark Brolly

M

r Ken Spackman has resigned after 12 years in some of the most senior roles in the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne.

Archbishop Philip Freier made the 19 August announcement of Mr Spackman’s resignation as Chief Executive Officer of the Melbourne Anglican Diocesan Corporation (MADC) “with great regret”. The resignation took effect on 28 August.

Ne w Z e a l a n d - b o r n M r Spackman and his family are moving to Mallacoota, with which he has had a long connection. During the tragic 2019-20 summer bushfires, he and his family opened their holiday units to those needing accommodation, including Red Cross volunteers and Country Fire Authority fire-fighters.

No successor to Mr Spackman has been named yet.

“Ken is leaving after 12 years of service to the Melbourne diocese,” Dr Freier wrote in a staff bulletin.

human resources and payroll, as well as for redress to survivors of abuse.

Mr Spackman, in his Business Services role, has had a close involvement with Anglican Funds and the Anglican Development Fund.

He completed 11 years as Registrar in March last year but has continued in the role of CEO of MADC until now.

“Ken has been involved in some challenging times for the diocese, not least our responses to the Global Financial Crisis and the Royal Commission into Institutional Mr Ken Spackman: clarity and Sexual Abuse, and I am grateful for transparency. his calm and dedicated profession“He joined in 2008 as Registrar and alism throughout his long years of General Manager, Business Services, service,” Archbishop Freier wrote. then oversaw the transition of the “During his time with the Diocese of diocese’s administration to the Melbourne Ken has been a valued Melbourne Anglican Diocesan colleague and active participant in Corporation, becoming its first all aspects of the life of the diocese.

CEO.” “I greatly regret that the present MADC, which was incorporated times do not allow us to publicly in 2015, fulfils employment-related appreciate Ken’s service and give responsibilities for lay staff and him the farewell that I would have clergy in the diocese, and is respon- liked. Members of the diocesan sible for business services including synod have become accustomed

Photo: Jean Ker Walsh.

Continued on page 10

Long road back for diocese as COVID peak passes

to Ken’s careful presentations and explanation of the financial dealings of the diocese and owe him a great debt of appreciation for his commitment to clarity and transparency in these matters. There are many other achievements that could properly be recognised at this time.

Amongst these, the establishment of a Records and Archives Centre for the diocese in North Fitzroy and the refurbishment of the 209 Flinders Lane office premises stand out as material legacies of his initiative and leadership.

“I wish Ken the very best for his future endeavours and give thanks to God for his Christian service over these past years.”

Mr Spackman said it had been an honour and privilege to serve alongside Archbishop Freier for 12 years.

“His steadfast leadership, clear and confident faith, warmth and understanding have been a highlight and have meant that I have stayed under his leadership longer than I

The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne faces a long and difficult road back to normality as Victoria recovers from the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, Bishop Paul Barker has told TMA. And while stage four restrictions may ease within weeks, Melbourne Archbishop Philip Freier – in a recent YouTube message – reflected on what a difficult burden the restrictions had been.

The stage four lockdown was a “sobering time for those of us who are living in Victoria and especially the

Continued on page 2

Continued on page 12

by Stephen Cauchi

PLUS: Singing the Lord’s song in a strange (online) land: church music during lockdown (pp 7, 9)

THE ARCHBISHOP WRITES

Let thankfulness flower in desert of adversity I guess that it should come as no surprise, but I have noticed that people I have spoken with recently have been thinking a lot about life. Some have more time and less distraction, an environment conducive to deeper reflection. For others, the pressures of home schooling and the confines of inhabiting a home environment for most of the time bring to the surface other reflections about life and its priorities.

It is always good for our thoughts to go to thankfulness, and there is a lot that I have heard people say they are thankful for in the midst of the many difficulties that the present days confront us all with.

I’ve noticed the greater awareness we all have of our own mortality and vulnerability in this context and how that has stimulated more supportive responses in the language used and in action. “Keep safe” and “keep well” seem often to be the heartfelt

“There is much that our wider society can learn out of these present testing times about thankfulness that will help us all personally and be better for us as a society.”

words of blessing that are given and received at the end of many interactions. Thankfulness is a theme that occurs in many parts of Holy Scripture. In the Book of Psalms, it can be a personal declaration of intent addressed towards God as in Psalms 9 and 35, or as an encouragement for others to gather in thanksgiving with the psalmist as in Psalms 95 and 100. Whatever the context, thankfulness along with praise and sacrifice are recurring themes

about the proper approach that we as God’s creatures should have towards our Creator.

At the Eucharist we follow the accounts in Luke 22 and 1 Corinthians 11 where, we are told, Jesus gave thanks to the Father as he broke the bread and shared the cup with his disciples. As we, so many years and generations after that time, gather to share the Holy Communion we recall Jesus’ words but most of all stir within ourselves thankfulness for all that

Latest Angles diocesan podcast talks COVID-19 and suffering

by Chris Shearer

Waylaid by the effects of Victoria’s first and then second lockdown, diocesan podcast Angles on Science, Faith and Culture returns this month with a special episode on COVID-19 in Australia, and growing through suffering.

Podcast host the Revd Dr Chris Mulherin is joined by pulmonologist and immunologist Dr Bruce Robinson in a conversation that was originally broadcast during the 12th Conference on Science and Christianity (COSAC), which ran from 10 to 12 July and was organised by Christians in Science and Technology (ISCAST).

Dr Mulherin and Dr Robinson talk through the issues around creating a vaccine for the coronavirus, the broader impacts the pandemic is having on Australian society, how we might face the suffering that comes from traumatic events both personal and planet-wide, and whether there is hope in what appears to be an increasingly difficult future.

This is the fourth episode of Angles, which is a collaboration between the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne and ISCAST. You can listen to it by searching for Angles on Science, Faith and Culture on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your podcatcher of choice, or find it directly at https://angles.buzzsprout.com/

Clergy Moves Vacant Appointments as of 24 August 2020: Activation of appointment processes will be on a case by case basis; St Michael & All Angels Beaumaris; St Barnabas, Balwyn; St Stephen, Belmont; St Edward, Blackburn South; St Faith, Burwood; St Mary, Caulfield with St Clement, Elsternwick; St Luke, Cockatoo [from December 2020]; Darebin South; St James, Glen Iris; St Hilary’s Kew, North Balwyn and Mont Albert, North; Holy Trinity, Hampton Park; Holy Trinity Lara with Christ Church, Little River; Hume Anglican Parish; St Nicholas Mordialloc; Upper Yarra; All Saints Newtown/Geelong West; Anglican Parish of Yarraville Appointments: ANBALAGAN, The Revd Lawrence Devarajan, appointed Renewal of Priest-in-Charge, Tamil Christian Congregation of Victoria, effective 23 July 2020 CARR, The Revd Paul, appointed Incumbent [from Priest-in-Charge], St Stephen, Gardenvale, effective 12 October 2020 HANNA, The Revd Canon Farag Ibranham Girgis, appointed Incumbent [from Priest-in-Charge], Holy Trinity, Coburg, effective 21 May 2020 TAYLOR, The Revd Neil, appointed Chaplain, Barwon Prison, effective 20 August 2020 Permission to Officiate: SILVESTER, The Revd Christine, appointed Permission to Officiate as Priest, Diocese of Melbourne, effective 28 February 2020

God has done for us. Our words link the eucharistic actions of Jesus and his death on the cross as we come with our thankfulness for what the Father has done in the sending his Messiah Son. “Culture conflict” might be too strong a phrase but there is always some tension between this essential Christian disposition towards thankfulness and much of the language and sentiment we otherwise hear expressed around us. It is a challenge for Christians to live up

Ken Spackman – from page 1 have served any other leader in my career,” he said.

Mr Spackman also said he was extremely proud of all that Business Services and staff at the Anglican Centre had achieved and the support they had offered to Anglicans across the diocese. His executive team was an exceptionally talented set of individuals, while working with the Episcopate as a member of the Senior Leadership Team had been profound “and their encouragement of me in my fledgling theological studies has been incredible”.

“I believed that God called me to this role in 2008 and equally, although leaving has been a hard decision for many reasons, it is clear to me that the time is right and I have, since making that decision, seen the familiar footprints of the God behind me, the God beside me and the God ahead of me,” Mr Spackman said.

“I am looking forward to life in a slow lane and using all that I have learned and experienced in a new arena, working with and assisting in the bushfire recovery in Mallacoota.”

STREAMING SERVICES at St Paul’s Cathedral

Sundays 8am BCP Eucharist with Sermon 10am Sung Eucharist with Hymns, all-age Bible Talk and Sermon 1pm Mandarin Eucharist 華語崇拜 Weekdays 12.15pm Lunchtime Eucharist (Wednesday & Friday) 2.30pm Choral Evensong (Mondays*) 5.10pm Choral Evensong (Tuesdays)

*Broadcast on C31 (digital 44) at 2.30pm only

www.cathedral.org.au/worship

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to this vision and we might often feel admonished by the disposition of others as we struggle with our own anxiety. Even so, there is much that our wider society can learn out of these present testing times about thankfulness that will help us all personally and be better for us as a society.

Cultivating the habit of mind to turn your thinking to thankfulness may just be the opportunity that you have in the weeks and months ahead. Out of the present adversity, this may be the “desert flower” that will enliven both your personal prayer and your participation in the Church’s liturgy. Bless you each, and those whom you love, as you journey these next weeks to whatever lies beyond these days of Stage 4 restrictions.

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The Melbourne Anglican ISSN 1324-5724

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Permission to Officiate Renewal: YU, The Revd Prof Dr Victor, appointed Permission to Officiate as Deacon, Diocese of Melbourne, effective 20 August 2020 For Vacant Parishes listing contact registrar@melbourneanglican.org.au See Tributes at www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au Clergy Moves is compiled by the Registry Office and all correspondence should go to registrar@melbourneanglican.org.au

2 • THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020

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Lockdown a pilgrimage, says Archbishop of York

by Stephen Cauchi

T

he Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, told attendees at a webinar offered by St Peter’s Eastern Hill last month that the COVID lockdown was like a pilgrimage on the Camino trail, despite it being a punishing and unfair experience.

Archbishop Cottrell, who hosted a webinar entitled “Pilgrimage in Lockdown: Walking the Way in a Time of Isolation”, was appointed Archbishop of York and Primate of England in July, replacing John Sentamu.

He is the most senior bishop of the Church of England apart from Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. As Bishop of Chelmsford, he visited St Peter’s in 2015.

The Revd Canon Professor Dorothy Lee, from Trinity College, welcomed Archbishop Cottrell as an “outstanding leader in the Church” who “focused very much on liturgy and mission, on issues of justice and inclusion”.

St Peter’s Vicar, Father Hugh Kempster, said that Archbishop Cottrell had “touched so many of our hearts and our minds and inspired us in mission” when he visited.

Archbishop Cottrell told the webinar that lockdown was similar to solitary confinement, the “highest punishment” available. It was “really, really tough” for those living in small apartments.

Those saying COVID was a “great leveller” and “no respecter of status or position” were wrong: “It’s been the poor who have suffered the most, it’s always the way.”

But although solitary confinement was a punishment on one hand, solitude was also “the great invitation of the spiritual life”.

The Desert Fathers movement of the third and fourth centuries – Christians who retreated into the Egyptian desert in search of solitude and spirituality – was an early example of this.

Desert Father Abba Moses, he

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said, would tell novices seeking spiritual wisdom: “Don’t go to me: go to your cell and your cell will teach you everything”.

In the same way, “go to your sitting room and your sitting room will teach you everything”.

However, Archbishop Cottrell noted that “I’ve found that a very challenging thing to live with over these past five or six months … everything else can be taken away from you in lockdown except encounter

“It’s been the poor who have suffered the most, it’s always the way.”

with God and encounter with self ”.

But there was an opportunity during lockdown “to make an interior journey” where “I will deepen my encounter with God and also deepen my encounter with myself ”.

“What have you discovered about yourself over the past five or six months?” he asked.

Archbishop Cottrell said that lockdown had given him time to indulge his hobby of printmaking and there was “nothing wrong with watching the television”.

“I’ve watched more television in the last few months than I’ve watched in the previous 20 years and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it,” he said.

US crime drama series Breaking Bad was “fantastic”, he said.

“I’ve encountered things about myself and things have kind of risen up within me that I’ve rediscovered. So for me, I’ve been on a journey and that journey … is like a pilgrimage.”

This was a “sobering but also liberating discovery”, he said – “just how little I actually needed.”

“That’s when I discovered what the Lord’s Prayer means … please Lord, give me enough for today and save me, stop me, prevent me from wanting more than my share.

“That’s the first lesson I think the world needs to learn during this terrible pandemic. The whole planet is screaming out for us to learn what enough looks like.”

In the pre-lockdown world, we were “addicted to being busy”, he said. But instead of feeling “cross and frustrated”, people now had a chance to encounter God and self in a fresh way and appreciate everyday beautiful things – even the grass in the backyard.

“We need to learn to look at them and to spend time with them and to appreciate them differently,” he said.

“If you make your goal the destination, then you’ll never know how to travel well. So much misery is heaped upon the world by those who move quickly and think only of the end.”

In the question and answer session following his presentation, Archbishop Cottrell acknowledged that lockdown had meant a “very long Eucharistic fast”.

“For those of us for whom the Archbishop Stephen Cottrell: We need to learn what “enough” looks like.

Eucharist is central to our spirituThe Camino walk along north- ality, it’s really, really hard not to ern Spain to the Cathedral of receive communion – really hard,” Santiago de Compostela was “the he said. great pilgrimage walk”, he said. “It He recalled fondly his time at was without doubt the most signifi- Eastern Hill in 2015: “I loved your cant thing I’ve done spiritually for a liturgy and I loved what you do. I very, very long time.” was very impressed with the work He said he had learned many that you were trying to do and things on the walk, and had written were doing with the poor in your a book about the experience. bit of Melbourne.”

Archbishop Cottrell said he He conceded that, as a result “learned what enough looks like” of the pandemic, there was the on the walk, and the meaning of possibility that “very dark and the verse “give us this day our daily difficult forces which divide us bread”. will take hold”. But he was also He discovered he only needed “hopeful” of a chance to build a two sets of clothing – “wash one, wear “better normal”. one” – and often did not know where The webinar was held on 26 he would sleep or eat that night.

August.

“Everything else can be taken away from you in lockdown except encounter with God and encounter with self.”

THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020 • 3

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COVID shows institutions ‘not fit for purpose’

by Stephen Cauchi

I

nstitutional failure is the root cause of COVID-19, and more pandemics are likely unless it is fixed, Melbourne political academic Professor Joe Camilleri OAM has told the Progressive Christian Network of Victoria.

In a Z oom presentation entitled Life after COVID-19: An opportunity to reimagine the future, Professor Camilleri said the pandemic showed up the ineffectiveness of institutions in Australia and overseas.

“The point I want to make, the principal point, is that [the pandemic] is a symptom of a much deeper ailment.

“Our social [and] economic arrangements, our decision-making processes and our institutions, are basically not fit for purpose.”

There had been a number of pandemics since the Spanish Flu of 1918 and there would be more in the future, said Professor Camilleri, an Emeritus Professor of Politics at La Trobe University and member of the Religion and Social Policy Network, University of Divinity.

“How unready and unprepared the world has been in spite of this recurrence of epidemics and pandemics for the last 100 years.”

The World Health Organisation was “systematically disregarded by many national governments” and underfunded. Despite its global role, its budget was less than Victoria’s health budget.

Australia’s institutions had also underperformed, he said: “What was Australia’s national plan for a pandemic? The responses have been ad hoc.”

However, Australia had performed much better than many overseas countries. The response in the UK and the US had been “nothing short of appalling”.

China’s suppression of the virus, by contrast, was “nothing short of remarkable”.

Other east Asian countries had also done a good job of suppression, including Malaysia, South Korea, Vietnam and, to a lesser extent, Japan.

East Asian countries, in fact, had done “remarkably better” than Europe and North America. “And that is because of a very strong sense of discipline within these populations, a profound sense of collective responsibility, and once they detect authentic authority, just about everyone follows suit”.

The fact that many East Asian states – such as China and Vietnam – were non-democratic was not the explanation, he said, as

Professor Joe Camilleri.

“Deforestation and encroachment on diverse wildlife habitats is helping diseases to spread from animals and to humans more frequently and with dire consequences.”

South Korea had also successfully This risky contact increases managed the virus. “the chances of certain viruses …

Professor Camilleri added that spilling over into people and then the “primary cause of this and pre- mutating in ways that are very difvious pandemics” was “undoubt- ficult to control”. edly … the environment, and what To fix institutional failure,

Melbourne School of Theology celebrates 100 years

by Ruth Redpath

One hundred years ago, on Monday 13 September, 1920, the first lecture of the Melbourne Bible Institute (MBI) took place in a school room at the rear of the Prahran Congregational Church, now the theatrette “Chapel off Chapel”. The sole student that day was a returned soldier, preparing for missionary service in China. The teacher was the Revd C.H. Nash, appointed as Principal by an energetic group of evangelical laymen, who desired to train lay men and women for pioneer ministry in Asia, the Pacific Islands and Indigenous communities.

Mr Nash had trained for the Anglican ministry at Ridley Hall, Cambridge and had previously ministered as incumbent of Christ Church Geelong, and St Columb’s Hawthorn, where his leadership and considerable teaching gifts were recognised

MST

and developed. He served as a Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne from 1903-07. By the time he retired from MBI in 1942, over 1000 students had completed the two-year course of biblical studies, of whom 70 per cent had gone to serve overseas or in other full-time ministry.

Since then, MBI has developed from a residential campus in Armadale, thence to

The Revd C.H. Nash (centre, above open Bible).

4 • THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020

we the human species have been doing to it”.

“The experts have been telling us for some considerable time that deforestation and encroachment on diverse wildlife habitats is helping diseases to spread from animals and to humans more frequently and with dire consequences.”

Professor Camilleri, who is also Managing Director of Alexandria Agenda, a new venture in ethical consulting in diversity, education and governance, said that “biodiversity loss can create landscapes that increase risky human–wildlife contact”.

Lilydale as the Bible College of Victoria, and now, since 2011, to Wantirna as Melbourne School of Theology (MST), affiliated to the Australian College of Theology. MST offers a wide range of courses from undergraduate to postgraduate levels, many of which are also available in Mandarin, Cantonese and Korean. There are also opportunities to undertake specialist studies in MST’s Arthur Jeffrey Centre for the study of Islam and the recently established Centre for Theology and Psychology.

In this centenary year, MST gives thanks to God for its past and remains committed to its founders’ vision in the spiritual formation of its students and in the equipping of them for gospel service in church and workplace, in Australia and overseas.

The Revd Canon Dr Ruth Redpath is a volunteer with the MST Centenary Working Group.

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said Professor Camilleri, citizens needed to get more involved with public policy. Institutions and policies needed to be subjected to “very, very careful scrutiny”.

“I’m trying to get away from the idea that it’s government. Things go wrong and you say, ‘Oh, how awful, the government’. Well, it might be awful … but you have to ask the question, ‘what is it the citizen can do?’

“Maybe the pandemic has a silver lining to it if it helps at least a number of citizens to give much more serious thought to some of those larger questions.”

There had to be a renewed focus, or “overarching obligation”, to the common good, said Professor Camilleri.

“The message I suppose I’m trying to convey is where government is a laggard, then it’s up to civil society to make its voice heard and say we find that unacceptable – our voices must be heard.”

Professor Camilleri also noted that, “overwhelmingly”, lower socio-economic groups in Australia and overseas were the main victims of COVID-19.

He gave his address on 26 July.

To view Professor Camilleri’s address, visit https://www.facebook.com/ sacredspirit.stonnington/

New Canon for Chinese ministry

by Mark Brolly

The Vicar of St Timothy’s Bulleen, the Revd Ben Lui Wong, has been appointed Canon to the Archbishop to focus on Chinese ministry.

Canon Wong, who will remain at Bulleen, is already Chinese Ministry Coordinator in the Melbourne diocese under Bishop Paul Barker’s supervision.

Late last year, the Revd Farag Hanna – Vicar of Holy Trinity Coburg, which has services in English and Arabic – was appointed Canon to the Archbishop to focus on ministry to Arabic-speaking people from countries including Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon.

Canon Wong said his appointment came at a difficult time for the Chinese community in Australia, with tensions between Canberra and Beijing and with COVID-19 restricting travel.

He said many Chinese people here looked to the Church “because we don’t have any political agenda and people are concerned”.

Most Chinese Australians still had family in China and some had businesses there. In some cases, the husband was working in China while his family lived in Australia. “… In COVID meetings for Bible studies, the numbers are just increasing on Zoom,” Canon Wong said.

Halfway through the third week of the latest online Bible studies program last month, 40 new people had joined – half of them from overseas, including mainland China and Hong Kong. They were friends and family, including parents and siblings, of people already attending the meetings.

Canon Wong said he was very grateful for the appointment and the

The Revd Ben Lui Wong.

opportunity it provided for Chinese ministers to have a voice at diocesan senior staff meetings, which include Archbishop Philip Freier.

With regular meetings of Chinese clergy he could take issues from the Chinese ministers and community directly to the Archbishop and senior diocesan staff.

Canon Wong said most Chinese clergy worked under non-Chinese vicars and ministry to the Chinese community was just one aspect of a parish. Some Chinese clergy hardly ever attended deanery meetings, partly because of language issues.

“Their voices can’t be heard in the past ... but I think now, this is a very good channel between the centre of the diocese and the frontline ministry workers,” he said.

The appointments of these Canons seeks to give effect to the diocesan Vision and Directions 2017-25 strategy, which calls for the building of new leaders who have a multicultural Identity and to assist in initiating 10 new multicultural congregations (either language- or ethnic-specific), increasing by 50 per cent the number of multicultural Priests-in-Charge and Vicars and in developing diverse ministry models. www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au

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‘Honest and unflinching’: Anglican’s book award in 2019 for their book The Fountain of Public Prosperity: Evangelical Christians in Australian History 1740–1914.

They were shortlisted in 2020 for the book’s sequel, Attending to the

by Stephen Cauchi

F

or the third year running a Sydney Anglican academic has taken out the Australian Christian Book of the Year award, with Natasha Moore winning for her work For the Love of God: How the Church is Better and Worse Than You Ever Imagined.

Dr Moore, a research fellow at the not-for-profit media company the Centre for Public Christianity (CPX), wrote For the Love of God with CPX colleagues John Dickson, Simon Smart and Justine Toh. CPX also published the book and produced a documentary and discussion guides to accompany the book.

The judges wrote that For the Love of God was “an honest and unflinching response to the question: Would the world be better off without Christianity?”

The book was a “bold yet balanced appraisal” of the “best and worst of what Christians have done over two millennia”, they wrote.

“Natasha Moore and her collaborators confront the failure of those who claimed to follow Christ but were responsible for the Crusades, the Inquisition and the abuse of children.

“The ease with which Christians through the ages have ignored both the teaching of Jesus and the dissenting voices of contemporary prophets is a caution. The authors also show how – when they obey Jesus – Christians have contributed

“Ultimately we want to point people back to Jesus …” to what is beautiful and beneficial in National Soul 1914-2014. culture and society.

Sydney University historian “In a time of social media echo Meredith Lake, who attends chambers, fact-free opinion bubbles All Saints’ Anglican Church in and divisive culture wars, this sort Petersham, won in 2018 for her book of fair and generous commentary is The Bible in Australia. invaluable.”

Dr Moore told the online presDr Moore, who attends Christ entation that despite being a longChurch Inner West in Sydney, time student of Christian history, accepted the award at an online research for the book had unveiled presentation on 13 August. many surprises.

The $3000 award – presented by Christians had done both the Society for Promoting Christian “extremely terrible things” and Knowledge Australia, also known “totally transformed how we in as SparkLit – is usually presented the West think about the sick, the at St Alfred’s Anglican Church in vulnerable, how they ought to be Blackburn North. treated, how every person should Macquarie University Professor be treated”. of History Stuart Piggin, who English social reformer and attends the Anglican parish of nurse Florence Nightingale – a Hunters Hill, and American histo- “kickass Christian I really admire” rian and Baptist Robert Linder won who died 110 years ago to the day –

exemplified the latter qualities, said Dr Moore.

She said one of the book’s aims was to “encourage a humility” among Christians.

“It’s very easy to get defensive when people are like, ‘Christians are terrible, they do all these things, the church has done all this harm’.

“It’s really easy to go ‘That’s not true, you’ve got that wrong, that’s a bit exaggerated’. Whereas actually Christians should be people who can say, ‘Yes, we messed up, we’re really imperfect and often there’s a lot of darkness to our hearts and our histories’. ” Christians “go to church every Sunday … and confess their sins. It shouldn’t be difficult for us, of all people, to say yes, we’ve messed this up.”

Conversations in public life about history or other topics were not marked by humility or concession of points, noted Dr Moore.

“So it’d be great if Christians can lead the way on that a little bit more than we do already.”

Dr Moore said that an IPSOS poll taken in 20 countries in 2017 found that 60 per cent believed religion did more harm than good in the world. In Australia, the figure was 63 per cent.

For the Love of God would be a good gift for someone who belonged in that category, she said.

It was a book for everyone, not just Christians.

“Ultimately we want to point peo-

ple back to Jesus … here’s the tune that he wrote, sometimes Christians have played it atrociously and it’s really hard to listen to but … it remains, we think, the most beautiful tune that’s ever been written.”

The other books on the shortlist of 10 were Is Jesus History? by John Dickson; I Will Avenge by P. Howard Smith; A Lot With a Little

by Tim Costello; Metanoia by Anna McGahan; Not Home Yet by Ian K. Smith; Science and Christianity: Understanding the conflict myth by Chris Mulherin; A Short Book About Paul by Paul Barnett; Where to Start With Islam by Samuel Green.

Daniel Li from Victoria won the 2020 Young Australian Christian Writer Award with his manuscript Being Mulaney while Phoebe Worseldine from Victoria won the 2020 Australian Christian Teen Writer Award with her composition Through Smoke and Flames.

The judges were Darren Cronshaw, a pastor at the Auburn Life Baptist Church in Melbourne and Professor of Missional Leadership with the Australian College of Ministries; Barney Zwartz, a senior fellow with the Centre for Public Christianity and media consultant to Archbishop Philip Freier; and Judith Nichols, who has a doctorate in classics and ancient history and coordinates women’s ministry at Dalkeith Anglican Church, Perth.

To view the award night presentation, visit http://sparklit.org/awards/

New blog hopes to tackle planet’s biggest issues through rediscovering ‘indwelling Spirit’ Former TMA editor Roland Ashby’s newest venture has ambitious aims: to offer a more hopeful future in these dark and anxious times.

The tool for this project is his new blog, thelivingwater.com. au, in which Mr Ashby explores contemplative wisdom and consciousness, which he says offer a different way of considering and tackling the great existential threats of our time.

“I can only see as a way forward the evolution of a contemplative consciousness and wisdom,” he said. “I think that people therefore

need to develop contemplative practices, whether that is meditation or whether that’s mindfulness or something else. But I think humanity needs to become much more contemplative in its consciousness.

“The contemplative tradition has tended to be dismissed as something that’s for the religious elite, or that’s for the monastics, not for the average Christian. Well I think we have to move beyond that. I think we have to understand that there is such a wealth of wisdom here that is so needed for our time that we have turn to

the contemplative tradition now because that is really our hope for the future,” he said.

Mr Ashby said that most people weren’t aware what the contemplative traditions of Christianity involved, but that they were by and large “very simple” practices.

“We all have within us the indwelling Spirit, or what [Anglican Solitary] Maggie Ross calls “deep mind”: the deep, vital self where we could find the strength and the hope that we need for the future,” he said.

Through the blog Mr Ashby

hopes to promote four key strands: contemplative consciousness and wisdom not only within the Church but also wider secular society; Christian meditation and contemplative prayer; social

justice and care for creation; and interfaith dialogue, understanding, peace and reconciliation.

“I think if we manage to connect with the indwelling Spirit we’ll then find the strength and the courage and the compassion and the wisdom that’s needed to meet the great challenges of our time,” he said.

“Hopefully this blog will help people to rediscover their own tradition and find that it is accessible and not just for an elite: it’s for everybody.”

See: www.thelivingwater.com.au

A Gift in your Will can make a real difference Through Anglicare Victoria you can help change the lives of so many vulnerable children, youth and families living across Victoria.

Will could make a real difference, please contact our Relationship Manager - Gifts in Wills.

Phone: (03) 9412 6197 Email: peter.burt@anglicarevic.org.au

www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au

THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020 • 5

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Stitching for a difference continues in lockdown

by Irene Donohoue Clyne

T

he Dream Stitches workroom at St Aidan’s Hall in Box Hill is silent now. The purposeful whirring of sewing machines has been silenced, the buzz of conversations and moments of laughter have faded and only the deep silence of an empty room remains. Each week some 40 women – students and teachers – gathered for this important ministry program which formed a community out of women learning to sew and those with the skills to teach them. Now students and teachers have retreated into lockdown, into isolation.

Yet the very virus which has closed Dream Stitches: Migrant and Refugee Women’s Sewing Program has given us a new purpose. Out of sight, in their own homes, the women of Dream

Bev Trease from Dream Stitches (left) and Natasha Lannin from the Alfred Hospital.

Stitches are making face masks.

The first batch of 700 was delivered as a gift to medical researchers at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne early in the first wave of COVID-

19. Subsequently 300 masks were commissioned by Anglicare, which is a partner of Dream Stitches Inc. To support Anglicare’s work in rebuilding communities damaged by

the bushfires, recently 25 colourful handmade quilts have been lovingly crafted for distribution to families in need in Gippsland. A disability group also ordered 200 masks and private sales continue to keep the new mask-making going.

This community-based migrant and refugee women’s sewing program has not only been teaching new skills to women often isolated in the wider community but also building their confidence to live in their new country. Some of the students have become so skilled that they have undertaken commissioned sewing for which they are paid. Next time you see a choir robe at St Paul’s Cathedral it is most likely to have been made by a woman who escaped a refugee camp in Africa or oppression in the Middle East, or who was sponsored to come from Myanmar. The skilled

craftswomen of Dream Stitches also make bespoke church vestments, altar clothes and purificators.

After nearly 16 years of service to our multicultural community, it will take more than COVID-19 to silence Dream Stitches Inc. In their isolation at home, the women of Dream Stitches are continuing to sew. We have been grateful for the support of the Melbourne Anglican Foundation, Anglican parishes, philanthropic organisations, service clubs and many generous donors who have made our work possible.

If you would like to support Dreams Stitches or seek further information, please contact us via our home page www.dreamstitches. org.au Irene Donohoue Clyne is on the Dream Stitches Committee.

Churches offer international students bags of help and hope – from page 1 year’s Food Drive had already been bought when restrictions were imposed “and we wanted to do something”.

As one of the chaplains at Deakin University’s nearby Burwood campus, Mr Carrick made a video to international students inviting them to seek help from his church. The students – including some from Monash University who live in the Burwood area – come from regions and countries as diverse as South-East Asia, India, the Philippines, mainland China, Hong Kong, Africa and South America.

“We’re really grateful for you coming to Australia to study and just want to recognise your contribution and be of assistance and help in any way that we can,” Mr Carrick told them on the video.

So with the help of the Christian Union on campus, up to 85 students

have turned up at St Thomas’ on Saturdays around lunchtime in recent months for a “Hope-Filled Bag” containing items including washing powder, toiletries, food

Anglican churches supporting the program, along with New Hope Baptist Church and Whitehorse Churches Care. Companies, too, have joined in, including Bendigo

“We aim to help as long as we can and as long as people are willing to give and we can assist them, we will.”

The Revd John Carrick, St Thomas’ Burwood (culturally appropriate items such as noodles, lentils, sauces, spices and coconut milk) and, more recently, face masks and fabrics to make masks.

St Mark’s Forest Hill, St Peter’s Box Hill and Holy Name Anglican in Vermont South are among the

Bank in Ashburton, Bakers Delight and a company that supplies the contents of vending machines on campuses around Melbourne, Altavend Solutions Pty Ltd, which donated snacks and soft drinks familiar to international students.

More recently, St Thomas’

has joined Full Gospel Assembly Melbourne, based in Box Hill North, in providing cooked meals for the students. The meals are prepared at the respective churches and picked up from an address in Burwood by the students. At St Thomas’, one team of volunteers each week, often families (some of them from overseas themselves, from places such as Hong Kong and South Africa), has a $200 budget and uses the church’s commercialstandard kitchen to do the food preparation.

After helping students, donated food and money is forwarded to the City of Whitehorse Council COVID-19 Response, Uniting East Burwood Centre, the Salvation Army at Box Hill, St Vincent de Paul Victoria, the Eastern Emergency Relief Network, Box Hill Community Information and Support, Anglicare Box Hill and

Whitehorse Churches Care Food Relief Centre.

“We aim to help as long as we can and as long as people are willing to give and we can assist them, we will,” Mr Carrick said.

“That goodwill is out there and the church is committed during this time to providing help if it’s at all possible to do so.

“I think for some of us, we are sailing through this pandemic quite comfortably – we still have our jobs, we have less expenses, we’re not spending the discretionary cash we used to spend. I think this time is providing us with opportunities and I think at St Tom’s by the time the pandemic came, we were able to adapt pretty quickly. Those systems were already in place.

“I feel as churches, we should be doing this regardless and the pandemic has provided us with an opportunity to do so.”

Engaging with families more important, and more rewarding, than ever during the pandemic people are participating in the church … as they no longer perceive the church as being a relevant place to find community.”

Now might be the time when it seems more difficult – even impossible – to build community and to engage with families. But now is most likely the time when it has become more urgent than ever.

Whether you have many families in your church, or none, it is highly likely that there are families you could connect with who could be helped by the mission and ministry of your church community.

by Dorothy Hughes

As we continue through a 2020 that has caused every aspect of life to be reshaped by our response to COVID-19, all our operational assumptions about being and doing church have been shaken up, tipped out and either discarded or reworked into forms that we hope and pray will serve to get us through this time of restrictions and disruptions.

How are the children being nurtured and helped? Are they visible and are their voices being heard in the online, and offline, expressions of the gathered church? Are you supporting parents to frame their family life through the lens of life lived by faith, as they live with all the pressure of supervising their children’s remote learning, working from home themselves, or the fear of bringing COVID-19 home from their workplace, or dealing with a job loss? Are not these tasks of the community of faith more important than ever?

What is God teaching the church? Reading the history of God’s people through the lens of

the Old Testament prophets, as I’ve been doing lately, is a healthy reminder that God is actively engaged in forming and reforming a community of faith that reflects the character of God: “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” (Psalm 86.15). These are qualities we all badly need right now, and surely children and their families need the mission and ministry of the church to activate and engage them in this communal life of faith now more than ever!

Gail Adcock, reflecting on 1 Corinthians 12.12-27, makes the point “that God designed the church to be a diverse body, consisting of a variety of people, backgrounds, ages, cultures … we need people of different ages as much as we need a variety of gifts and abilities to undertake the work of the church” (The Essential Guide

6 • THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020

“How are the children being nurtured and helped? Are they visible and are their voices being heard …?” to Family Ministry, BRF, 2020).

She also comments: “Recent research by the Church of England also highlights how fewer young

A strategy proving to be of benefit in many churches around the world is that of bringing all ages together in the regular activi-

ties of the church, and providing opportunities for all to connect meaningfully with those both older and younger than them.

Being intergenerational is more about mindset than programs. The benefits include an increased sense of belonging to the “whole” church community, a counter to individualism that tends to isolation rather than unity; being a powerful witness to the equal worth of each and every person in the eyes of God; a network of support as people transition through the seasons of life (particularly this season!); giving all people (particularly the more vulnerable) a voice; helping everyone grow in faith as opportunities are increased to share in life and mission together.

The end result is likely to be a church that has become more robust and more prepared for whatever disruptions lie ahead.

Dorothy Hughes is the diocesan Children and Families Ministry Facilitator. You can contact her at childrenandfamilies@melbourne anglican.org.au www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au

AROUND MELBOURNE

TMA

Young composer’s fine solo effort in lockdown

by Mark Brolly

T

he 24-year-old Director of Music at two Melbourne Anglican churches has written a Mass for Solo Voice, to be performed entirely by a cantor rather than choir and congregation, for services under COVID-19 restrictions.

Mr Timothy Mallis, who has been Director of Music at St Batholomew’s Burnley since 2018 and in the same post at St Stephen’s Richmond since last year, said the Mass for Solo Voice was an unusual project for several reasons.

“Firstly, it is not often at St Bart’s or St Stephen’s that Mass settings are not congregational,” he said.

“There is a great sense of communion when a congregation and singers are united in song.

“However, when small in-person services briefly returned in late April, it quickly became apparent that congregational singing would pose significant risk of spreading infection. The choral community has been locked in a state of perpetual abstention during this time due to the ease of coronavirus spreading through the vast quanti-

“There was a need for the Mass to be easy enough for a trained singer to almost sight-read the work ...”

ties of droplets and micro-droplets produced when singing in groups.

As a result, our cantors each week sang a solo Mass setting ... However, it became quickly apparent that there were a limited number of quality Mass settings written specifically for solo voice.

“Secondly, there was a need for the Mass to be easy enough for a

Timothy Mallis: always been more interested in the creation of music than performing it.

trained singer to almost sight-read the work ... [the] music needs to be difficult enough to be creative and interesting while easy enough to be

quickly rehearsed.”

Alexander Owens premiered the work on 21 June.

Melbourne-born Mr Mallis has

had a lifelong passion for music, taking piano lessons from a young age and joining the Australian Boys Choir, a connection he maintains through singing with its adult group, The Vocal Consort. “... I seemed to thrive on learning music and took a keen interest in composition,” he said. “I have always been more interested in the creation of music than the performance and showmanship side of the artform.”

Jazz is one unexpected influence in his compositions, while he is also a surtitlist, working with repetiteurs and directors to project translated lyrics of operas for audiences at Victorian Opera and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra performances.

Last year, Mr Mallis won the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney’s inaugural Archbishop’s Prize for new composers and had his work performed at the annual Christmas Concert at St Mary’s Cathedral.

“My association with liturgical music is likely to continue into the future given the flexible opportunities to compose, perform and improvise at the organ,” he said.

‘Missa Brevis’ for a COVID-19 world a Mass setting for our time

by Rodney Wetherell

At the online Sung Eucharist from St Paul’s Cathedral on Sunday 16 August, there was the now-usual handful of robed personnel, including Dean Andreas Loewe, and no congregation. I was surprised and delighted to hear the world premiere of a Mass setting for our time, ‘Missa Brevis, COVID-19’, specially composed by Joseph Twist. The two cantors were Philip Nicholls, Director of Music, and Cathedral Leading Musician Kristy Biber.

T h e M i s s a B re v i s c a m e out of a phone call in March between Philip Nicholls and Sam Allchurch, Director of Music at Christ Church St Laurence in Sydney. In search of lockdownsuitable music, they contacted Queensland composer Joseph

Composer Joe Twist.

Photo: Georg Popov, www.joetwist.com

(Joe) Twist, who has lived in Los Angeles for several years, working on scores for such movies as The Jungle Book, Baywatch and Zoolander 2. He has also composed quite a lot of choral music for Australian choirs.

Having returned to Queensland in March to sit out the pandemic, Twist accepted the commission to compose a Missa Brevis, and this was finally performed in both churches on 16 August.

I aske d Jo e w he t he r he approached church music differently. “Yes”, he said, “I put on a slightly different hat. It’s more serious – I love the sense of mystery and wonder in religion, but I also enjoy the theatrics of worship. The music is an essential part of that, and I don’t hold back.” On the Kyrie, he said its lamenting tone owed something

to the Byzantine world, and there are influences from Celtic music.

Philip Nicholls was delighted by what he received as a result of this joint commissioning by St Paul’s and Christ Church St Laurence. “Joe Twist’s music for the setting displays a unique compositional voice, whilst paying homage to the Australian and international canon,” he said.

He spoke of “vast landscapes of active reconciliation and boundless grace”.

I am sure this Mass setting will be heard again at the Cathedral and elsewhere.

Rodney Wetherell is a retired ABC producer who worships at St Martin’s Hawksburn, and attends Evensong and special services at St Paul’s Cathedral.

2020 Martyrs Appeal

Honouring the Martyrs

To educate is to empower

ABM’s 2020 New Guinea Martyrs Appeal brings you stories from young Papua New Guineans who have benefitted from the legacy of the Martyrs, and who are set to carry on their tradition.

To donate to this appeal, please visit abmission.org/Martyrs2020 www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au

THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020 • 7

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Candles at curfew Victorians from all walks of life have embraced the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne Dr Philip Freier’s “Candles at Curfew” initiative. Coinciding with the introduction of stage four lockdowns in Melbourne on 5 August, which included an 8pm to 5am curfew, Dr Freier encouraged Victorians to remember each other in their shared experiences by lighting a candle in a window of their homes at 8pm.

The Dean of Melbourne, the Very Revd Dr Andreas Loewe, who has helped share the initiative via social media resources and prayers on the St Paul’s Cathedral website, said the response had been positive and had spread beyond the Anglican community.

“Since we launched Candles at Curfew we have seen many share in this intentional ministry of literally living out Jesus’ instruction to be ‘lights in the world’,” he said. “People of other faiths and none have told me that they are lighting a candle at 8pm each night. Do join us in this simple act, and share with us in praying for our city and state and its leaders, and a swift end to the pandemic.”

Above, GWAC’s first service, December 1995; top left, founding pastors on their first visit to the current site of GWAC; the dedication of the new building; the building in its current form; and the Revd Bree Mills during a livestreamed service.

GWAC celebrates a quarter century

by Bree Mills

Twenty-five years ago, three missionally oriented churches combined to reach the growing area of Glen Waverley. Led by visionary leaders willing to step out and take a risk, this required significant sacrifice, both from the leadership and the churches, and a strong desire to demonstrate a united witness to the local community. In those days it was pioneering, a new experiment; one driven not by desperation, but by hope of a more effective witness to the local community. A heart still alive and well in the Glen Waverley Anglican Church (GWAC) community today.

Prayers for end to pandemic In this time of pandemic, the National Council of Churches in Australia is encouraging churches to observe another special time of prayer on 26 to 27 September.

“It is comforting when we know we are all praying together to our Saviour,” wrote NCCA President Bishop Philip Huggins in a message to Australian church leaders.

“Some of our member churches have international partners who are also focusing their prayers on 26-27 September, so we will be part of a global time of prayer.

“As you know, we all share a strong belief in the efficacy of our prayers.

“We make our prayers together for an end to this pandemic, with all this involves, trusting Jesus’ word to us – God wills to ‘give good things to those who ask’ (Matthew 7:11).”

He offered the following prayer:

“Gracious God, trusting in your providence and presence, we bring our prayer for an end to this pandemic.

We pray for your strengthening of those offering costly leadership during this crisis.

We pray for all who are ill.

We pray for those anxious about getting ill.

We pray for those full of grief.

We remember those who have died.

We pray for your grace to sustain us as we do what we can in our context.

We ask these things, as you encourage us so to do.

‘Ask and it will be given you.’ (Matthew 7:7).

In resurrection faith, we offer our heartfelt prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.”

8 • THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020

23 August should have been a Sunday of celebration for the GWAC community. As for other churches, celebrations of key events have been put on hold, and we await the day when we can join together again in a physical celebration. A small marker of this event is a message and prayer from one of the founding pastors, Bishop John Harrower, and a series of photos of the journey that has been the last 25 years. It is our hope, even in this season, that the heart for reaching and serving the Glen Waverley community is alive and well in each household as they connect in their neighbourhoods and workplaces. That we may continue to be a source of

hope for Glen Waverley as we demonstrate and proclaim the Gospel in all we do and say.

GWAC has a rich history of pioneering mission, raising and sending workers into the harvest field and seeking to be a source of light and hope on the hill for Glen Waverley. None of this would have been possible if we had stayed as three separate parishes, working independently.

We give thanks for all God has done over these past 25 years, for all he is doing in this season, and all he will continue to do in the seasons to come.

The Revd Bree Mills is Senior Associate Pastor at Glen Waverley Anglican Church.

Restoring Shoreham’s hidden chapel

by Alison Bunting

Recalling his 11-year-old self being nudged in a night procession into an open-air chapel, flaming torches illuminating the arching vault of eucalyptus boughs, a canopy of stars beyond, and the realisation that God was here too and not just “in church”, is an experience that has remained fresh in the mind of Dr Bill Genat.

Dr Genat is a Shoreham resident and President of the Cyril Young Memorial Chapel Association, a group committed to the restoration of this small Shoreham chapel with a big history.

Bordering the Buxton Woodland Reserve, and situated at the rear of the former YMCA property on Westernport Bay, Camp Buxton, the chapel was an integral component of the YMCA’s ethos of promoting a balance between body, mind and spirit within the youth who passed through its programs and who participated both in services and meditative thought and prayer sessions.

Built with volunteer labour from local Moorooduc stone, and now lying substantially on Shire Council land, the chapel is a “liv-

ing war memorial” in the midst of nature. The chapel is dedicated to the memory of Cyril Young, and the pulpit to his younger brother Ivan. Both former YMCA campers and later leaders, these young men died while serving in World War II. As an RAAF pilot, Ivan was shot down over Alamein in 1942 and Cyril, a young Army Captain, died in 1945 as a prisoner of war in North Borneo.

After the war, an International Older Boys’ Camp was held at Camp Buxton. Boys from diverse faith traditions across the AsiaPacific, including Japan, attended the camp and were present at the chapel opening, a grand affair on 22 December 1951 and attended by the then Governor of Victoria, Sir Dallas Brookes.

Today, the chapel’s stone has deteriorated somewhat, but the local group, together with members of the Young family and the full support of the Shire Council, is determined to save this historic, visionary chapel, which embodies the YMCA’s ethos of inclusivity, and reconciliation.

Alison Bunting is on the committee of the Cyril Young Memorial Chapel Association.

The Association is seeking contact with former campers and all interested in the restoration of this historic chapel. Please email shorehambushchapel@gmail.com See advert on page 21. www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au

IN FOCUS

TMA

How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange (online) land?

W

There is much that we are missing about gathering, in person, as the people of God – and congregational singing is one of the hardest elements of a worship service to replicate online.

Parishioner Ellaine Downie spoke to two worship leaders in Melbourne parishes about how they are responding to the challenge.

hether you belong to a church filled with tech-savvy filmmakers or a crowd of the digitally naïve, this year everyone has had to respond to the challenge of doing church in the online world. Due to COVID19, churches have been launching themselves into cyberspace at a great rate, using a range of innovative video computer technologies.

Everybody has suddenly had to expand their technical horizons: from finding people with skills in filming and video editing to teaching parishioners of all ages to use programs such as Zoom. All the while working within diocesan, state and federal lockdown restrictions on numbers allowed at church gatherings. And always

having to rethink new methods when the goalposts move every couple of weeks.

Within the limitations of lockdown, churches of all shapes and sizes have been forced to ask themselves the same question: if we can’t meet together physically, how do we now do church?

Rethinking church When it comes to online church, most of us probably come with preconceived ideas: deep down we want it to be as “normal as possible”. But after 20 weeks organising online services, Angela Chandler, Children and Families Minister at St Mark’s Forest Hill, says: “In fact, there is nothing ‘normal’ about doing church online. What works

live does not necessarily work online.”

For their online services most churches have been trying to maintain the common elements of a live service – Bible readings, prayers, music, sermon, kids’ talks, prayer book liturgy and so on. But despite these familiar rituals, the primary disadvantage of church online is, of course, that it doesn’t look or feel the same as meeting together in one building. Major parts of our Christian experience of worship are missing, and everyone feels a sense of loss.

This is particularly so with congregational singing.

Singing worship songs helps develop our sense of Christian community, both physically and

The Revd Elizabeth Webster, Assistant Curate, St Hilary’s Network

Angela Chandler, Children and Families Minister, St Mark’s Forest Hill

A photo created for ‘The Blessing’. The singers were recorded individually, one after another.

How do you manage music and “congregational” singing in your online church services?

We are a big church and would normally have about 80 to 90 volunteer musicians playing each month, covering six live services. But restrictions by the government and the diocese meant that at the start of the first lockdown we could only use clergy to record services in the church space. Thankfully several of our staff are also good musicians.

As restrictions eased we have been able to include volunteers in small worship bands recorded onsite.

We normally livestream our service, including the sermon from the church, and edit in pre-recorded Bible readings and prayers recorded by people in their homes.

What have been some of your challenges doing music for online church?

We are a large church and blessed by having enough people with technical skills in filming and editing, so we were able to set up the church as an ad hoc TV studio. We wanted to present the best music we could, as similar as possible to our pre-COVID services.

Maintaining our sense of Christian community www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au

their contributions to worship.

From an organisational viewpoint, it was difficult to find the balance between caring for people and at the same time trying to provide the best music that we could.

The Revd Elizabeth Webster.

However moving online actually created some problems that we really did not anticipate.

Were these technological problems?

No – although there are always some technical glitches. Surprisingly, the problems were not so much technological as pastoral.

We normally have many musicians and other volunteers participating in “upfront” activities in our services. When we could only allow five people in the church building to record, it meant choosing only three or four for a music group. Many volunteers who had been serving faithfully for years found themselves with no role to play. A significant number began grieving the loss of We all recognise that online church is not the same as meeting face-to-face in familiar surroundings. But it seems that our churches are making it a priority to find ways online to help maintain our sense of Christian community.

Despite some initial angst, we must acknowledge that

emotionally, as well as reinforcing the understanding of our faith.

But despite the sophistication of the new video technologies, one of the hardest aspects to recreate online is this sense of belonging together – something which congregational singing enhances so much.

I discussed this dilemma with two experienced worship leaders / musicians currently producing online services. These two churches have taken quite different approaches to providing worship music for their congregations in this new medium. Each is discovering different ways to be effective while also having to confront their own particular challenges.

Have you found a solution?

We have recently expanded to two services per week, and we are also consciously trying to include a larger number of musicians, especially singers. We are now using a sophisticated computer program that allows each singer to record their part at home.

The separate parts are edited together and it creates a kind of “mosaic” video, with many faces and voices.

We recently did a version of “The Blessing” which was really lovely.

We are now attempting to do more congregational songs in this manner so that people can see and hear several people singing, not just one. We hope this approach helps create the sense of being part of our bigger Christian community and will encourage people to more easily join in singing in at home.

Watch “The Blessing” at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=hG9lq8f3vyI

“Our churches are making it a priority to find ways online to help maintain our sense of Christian community.”

How are you doing music for your online services at St Mark’s?

We have a team of about 18 musicians but we have not attempted to record small bands in the church building.

We have avoided the difficulties of restrictions by using songs recorded by parishioners in their own homes. Usually a family or a couple sing the congregational songs.

While the sermon is recorded in the church, most of the service is recorded in homes – the Bible readings, prayers and music are then edited in with the sermon into one video.

For variety, we add in archival footage showing our congregation singing from various previous church events, such as weddings. This helps to provide the congregational sound people are used to hearing in church and shows them their own familiar worship space.

What is the thinking behind your approach to online services?

The key thing we are trying to do with our services is to make connections with our community.

We asked ourselves: “What do our people need?

What are the things that only we can give them?”

So we have resisted using online YouTube resources from professional Christian musicians: all of what we do is “home grown”. We have always emphasised being inclusive, rather than aiming for performance standard in worship. You can get wonderful music and teaching from other places, probably better than we can do it, but no one else can give our congregation their own people.

And what people in our community are feeding back about our online services is: “We love seeing our church family and we loved seeing that person whose name we never knew – because now we do!”

we have been blessed in the process: by video computer technology being provided in our hour of need; by the many volunteers and clergy spending hours planning, filming, editing, recording videos; by our musicians’ attempts to help us sing together in this strange cyber-land.

Despite some clunky efforts online, every church is doing its best to help us experience a semblance of fellowship in this time of isolation.

And for this we are thankful to God. Ellaine Downie is a member of the St Hilary’s Network.

THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020 • 9

ACROSS AUSTRALIA

TMA

Extend foster care age to 21: church agency head A

n extension of foster care from the age of 18 to 21 across Australia would dramatically improve youth unemployment and homelessness, the head of a Victorian Anglican agency told the national Youth Future Summit last month.

Mr Paul McDonald, the Chair of Home Stretch and CEO of Anglicare Victoria, said governments working together to extend the foster care age would give vulnerable young people the best chance of a positive future.

Home Stretch is a group of concerned organisations and individuals that advocate that youth in the Outof-Home Care system should be able to remain in care until 21.

Mr McDonald said the Federal Government should cover half of the cost of extending care across the country, which would be paid back in an estimated $1.8 billion in total savings to the Commonwealth over the next decade.

“Support for all forms of state care currently terminates when young people turn 18, plunging them into a world of uncertainty and dramatically reduced opportunity due to COVID-19,” he told the Summit on 24 August. “Extending care is an extremely effective and simple reform that would make a huge difference to the lives of hundreds of young people every year.

“At the moment, two in every five

Paul McDonald.

young people leaving care across the country at age 18 will be homeless within a year. Almost half of the young men leaving care will be in the criminal justice system.

“At a state level, the governments of Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia in particular are failing our young people. They are acting as neglectful state parents of 17-year-olds in the way they are forcing them to exit care arrangements into a country ravaged by COVID-19. Across the country, 85 per cent of all young people choose to continue living with their parents until they are 21 or older.

“Research in Australia and overseas shows that young people

thrive when care is extended by just three years. It leads to major improvements in education and employment, physical and mental health and forming positive personal relationships.”

Research by Deloitte Access Economics showed that every dollar invested in extending out-of-home care would be paid back at least twice over in savings.

The Deloitte Research showed the following benefits of extending care to the age of 21: • Homelessness would be halved, from 39 per cent; • Rates of higher education participation would increase by 2.5 times; • Arrests and hospitalisation would fall; • Alcohol and drug dependence would drop from 15.8 per cent to 2.5 per cent’ • The costs of delivering additional government services would decrease $1.8 billion for the Commonwealth and $2.4 billion overall; and • Young people would enjoy improved mental and physical health, reducing intergenerational disadvantage and increasing in social connectedness.

Mr McDonald said the release of the interim report from the National Youth Commission Australia into youth employment showed the scope of the problems confronting young

Kasy Chambers.

people in a radically transformed national economy.

“Young people are often overlooked in favour of initiatives targeted at older families, pensioners or the middle class,” he said. “Systemic changes to education and training support, mental health and housing are important to help young people establish themselves at a particularly challenging time.”.

The national Youth Futures Summit was organised by the National Youth Commission Australia in a virtual format. * Anglicare Australia has called for urgent relief for renters and a boost to social housing.

The organisation’s Executive

Director, Ms Kasy Chambers, said a survey released by Better Renting showed that renters were bearing the brunt of this downturn. Many were losing their incomes and some were scared of losing their homes.

“This survey shows that a majority of renters have lost some – or all – of their income, and many are only staying afloat because of the JobSeeker increase,” Ms Chambers said, adding that the situation was “a ticking time bomb”.

“We must raise the rate of these payments for good. If they are cut, renters will be pushed even deeper into poverty or homelessness.”

Ms Chambers said JobSeeker cuts and an end to protections would push many people to the brink.

“Rent deferrals and eviction moratoriums are ending soon, but the problem has only been kicked down the road. Some renters are in arrears for thousands of dollars, and many are facing cuts to JobSeeker at the same time. This is a ticking time bomb.

“The Government has been telling renters in crisis to talk directly to their landlord. That’s not good enough. Today’s survey found that only nine per cent of affected renters have been able to get a rent reduction.

“Renters will be recovering from this pandemic for months and years Continued on page 13

Leading local Anglican joins campaign to house detained refugees – continued from page 1 Asylum Seeker Project at Albert Park and I have just really been donating things to them over the years.”

The @HomeSafeWithUs coalition of 19 refugee support groups includes the Brigidine project, Grandmothers for Refugees, Rural Australians for Refugees and the Refugee Advocacy Network.

Ms Mackay, a parishioner of Christ Church South Yarra, said she had taken in an asylum seeker for about six months a couple of years ago. With the current campaign, she had been asked to specify what she had available and indicated two upstairs spare bedrooms and a bathroom – suitable for a couple or two single people.

“I think it would have to be for a reasonable period, I am imagining six months initially...”

“Moz”, a Kurdish refugee who was detained on Manus Island and in Port Moresby from 2013 until he

was transferred to Melbourne last year, has been locked up 24 hours a day in the Mantra Bell City Hotel in Preston since November last year.

He said the @HomeSafeWithUs campaign was a very positive action “because it says ... we have friends and family and we are not criminals”.

“Why do we have to be treated this way? We would like to live with our friends and family. I have found hundreds of friends who are like my real family.”

Moz said his blood family – five brothers, one sister and his parents – remained in his homeland.

“I think this is a good way for the Australian Government to know that we are not alone and we don’t expect them to spend money on us to find accommodation or support.

“When we were on Manus, we were in touch with these friends for a long time, they know us and they

are like family. Every day we are in touch with them, they call us.”

He said the Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Peter Dutton, and acting Immigration Minister Mr Alan Tudge had threatened to confiscate the mobile phones of those in detention and urged Australians to support a campaign on 1 September, #ShameAlanTudge, to let the Minister know that refugees needed their phones. “(For) more than 2500 days we have been locked up by their Government but my message to the Australian people is love, my message is beauty and love,” Moz said.

A spokesperson for the Refugee Action Network and the @HomeSafeWithUs coalition, Ms Pamela Curr, said offers had been made from people across Australia ready and willing to open their homes as a viable alternative to keeping refugees in indefinite immi-

gration detention. There were 160 beds available across the country ready for refugees now, with more offers expected in coming weeks and community agencies ready to assist.

“There is no good reason to continue depriving refugees of their freedom,” Ms Curr said.

“These are not convicted people serving a court-ordered sentence.

They are victims of the arbitrary policy of indefinite detention and the refusal to recognise the refugee status of anyone who arrived by boat seeking asylum after the 19 July 2013. This policy contravenes our obligations under the UN Refugee Convention.

“More than seven years later, with the country gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Government should accept this offer from communities across the country as the timely and viable alternative to endless detention.”

The initiative follows the reopening of Christmas Island as a detention facility for people who had served prison sentences and who were in line for deportation but unable to travel under global pandemic restrictions. There were concerns that refugees currently held in hotels and other immigration detention centres in the eastern states would be transferred “out of sight” to Yongah Hill in Northam, about 100 kilometres east of Perth.

“They have begun moving detainees around like pawns on a chess board,” Ms Curr said. “It is so costly and unnecessary, when there are warm, safe beds and people waiting to welcome refugees into their homes.

“Hundreds of refugees have been supported in home host arrangements over many years right across Australia, and this is absolutely the best option now.”

PLEASE REPORT ABUSE CALL 1800 135 246 The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne does not tolerate abuse, harassment or other misconduct within our communities. If any person has concerns about the behaviour of a church worker, past or present, they can contact Kooyoora Ltd.

10 • THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020

We are deeply distressed that there have been occasions when abuse and misconduct have occurred in our communities. Kooyoora Ltd is independent of the Diocese and receives and manages complaints about abuse and misconduct by members of the clergy and church workers.

The Diocese of Melbourne is committed to doing all that is possible to ensure that abuse does not occur. All complaints of abuse are taken very seriously and we do all we can to lessen harm. We offer respect, pastoral care and ongoing long-term support to anyone who makes a complaint.

You can contact Kooyoora Ltd by calling 1800 135 246 For further information: www.kooyoora.org.au www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au

ACROSS AUSTRALIA

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Archbishops raise ethical concerns about potential COVID-19 vaccine’s link to abortion

by Mark Brolly

S

y d n e y ’ s A rc h b i s h o p Glenn Davies has joined his Roman Catholic counterpart, Archbishop Anthony Fisher, and Australia’s Greek Orthodox Archbishop Makarios in calling for ethical research into COVID-19 vaccines, after expressing concern that the Federal Government had “chosen to throw its lot in” with one being developed at Oxford University that is making use of a cell-line cultured from an electively aborted human foetus.

In a joint letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison released on 24 August, the three Archbishops wrote that along with many Australians, they were praying that a vaccine might be developed to help end the coronavirus pandemic.

But they were disappointed that of the 167 candidate vaccines for COVID-19 identified by the World Health Organisation, 29 of which were already in clinical evaluation, the Commonwealth had selected one making use of tissue from a foetus that had been aborted.

“This is not an anti-vaccination stance, it is a positive call for ethical research,” the Archbishops wrote.

“Vaccines are a good thing yet consistent with our view of the protection of human life in the womb, it is vital that they be produced within an ethically scientific framework.

“Some will have no ethical problem with using tissue from electively aborted foetuses for medical purposes. Others may regard the use of a cell-line derived from an abortion performed back in the 1970s as now sufficiently removed from the abortion itself to be excusable. But others again will draw a straight line from the ending of a human life in abortion through the cultivation of the cell-line to the use for manufacturing this vaccine; even if the cells have been propagated for years in a laboratory far removed from the abortion, that line of connection remains. They will be concerned not to benefit in any way from the death of the lit-

tle girl whose cells were taken and Dr Davies told ABC Radio’s AM cultivated, nor to be trivialising that program on 25 August that it was death, and not to be encouraging “reprehensible” to use such tissue for the foetal tissue industry.” science and that he would have to The church leaders’ letter fol- think very seriously about whether lowed the Government’s announce- he would get the COVID-19 vaccine ment on 19 August that Australians if it came from Oxford University. would be among the first in the Asked whether he would wait for a second vaccine if the first was from Oxford University, he said: “I probably would, but that would be a personal decision of mine and not a

tion is right for ethical, moral and spiritual reasons, nonetheless for the greater good and protection of our world, they will embrace this if it helps to establish a cure. In this way they accept that the use of aborted foetuses is serving a vital purpose, whilst at the same time not condoning the act of abortion itself. Others, because of their faith, will not countenance this under any circumstances.

“Vaccines are a good thing, yet consistent with our view of the protection of human life in the womb, it is vital that they be produced within an ethically scientific framework.” world to receive a COVID-19 vac- decision that I would bind anyone’s “Whatever one’s views, it needs cine, if it proved successful, through conscience with.” to be recognised that such is the an agreement with UK-based drug Australia’s Deputy Chief Medical appalling nature of the world’s company AstraZeneca. Under the Officer, Dr Nick Coatsworth, told current suffering from coronavirus, deal, every Australian would be the same program that there were there may well be a need for comable to receive the University of strong ethical regulations surround- promise and acceptance of such a Oxford COVID-19 vaccine for free, ing the use of any human cell. vaccine development, and that this should trials prove successful, safe Archbishop Fisher, a bioethicist, is an issue where there is no totally and effective. told Sydney’s Catholic Weekly that he ‘right or wrong’ response possible, Archbishop Davies said after personally did not believe it would whatever is done.” releasing the letter that it was not be unethical to use the Oxford vacAn outspoken NSW priest yet known which vaccine might cine if there was no alternative avail- said singing from the same hymn prove effective against the insidi- able as it would not be co-operating sheet in times of crisis made both ous disease, “but we must not allow with a past or future abortion. common and ethical sense, so people to be placed in a moral bind “But I am deeply troubled by it,” the Archbishops’ suggestion of an on such an important issue”. he said, adding that its use would be Oxford vaccine boycott “seems so “Vaccines are a good thing, yet unnecessarily socially divisive. wildly out of tune with contempoMelbourne Assistant Bishop Kate rary Australia”. consistent with our view of the Father Peter MacLeod-Miller, protection of human life in the Prowd acknowledged the dilemma womb, it is vital that they be pro- in her weekly online Keep Calm and Rector of St Matthew’s Albury, duced within an ethically scientific Sparkle On newsletter on 28 August. wrote to The Age newspaper: framework,” he said. “For this “How do we lead God’s Church “Exceptionalism, entitlement and reason, I call on the Government in such circumstances?” she asked. privilege are at the heart of the to not be restrictive and to explore “Of course, every Christian, lay and problem of ‘church leaders’ who the several alternative lines of ordained must make up their own lead prayers for a vaccine but, not research which do not depend upon mind, and this will involve wrestling liking the answer, send it back to the the use of foetal tissue. When they with the issue prayerfully and hope- kitchen. Most ordinary Christian get access to a vaccine, Australians fully allowing for open, rigorous and people are genuinely hopeful and should have every confidence that respectful debate. How easy it is to want the best for all Australians. It the one being offered is ethically point the moral finger at The Other! is nonsense to place the interests of uncontroversial and poses no moral “Some will argue that although any foetus or prelate above finding a dilemma.” they don’t personally believe abor- vaccine to defend human life.”

A former Australian leader of the Jesuits, Father William Uren, wrote to the paper: “Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher and his ecumenical colleagues in their criticism of the projected use of the AstraZeneca vaccine do not seem to have recognised the fact there are bioethicists, both Catholic and Anglican among them, who believe that the subsequent use of such foetal cell lines, far from aggravating the immorality of the original abortion, at least to some degree, redeems it. This subsequent use is not a justification of the original abortion, and, equally certainly, one should not abort in order to generate the foetal cells. But, once the abortion has taken place, rather than consigning the foetus to the hospital waste, the derivation of such cell lines from the foetus for vaccination or for other morally acceptable uses may well be considered morally responsible rather than ethically compromised.”

Another correspondent, Stefan Kos of Toorak, wrote that the three Archbishops of Sydney should be commended for their courageous stand in defence of proper ethical standards in medicine.

“The foetus didn’t give consent to being killed and its body parts used for medical research,” he wrote. “Just forget about it you say? It happened 50 years ago and you can’t be responsible for that? That would be true if we were animals with no conscience.

Like many unethical approaches to science and technologies, disadvantages come back to complicate apparent technical advantages.”

But a former clergyman and retired doctor and psychiatrist, Dr Peter Evans of Malvern, wrote that non-Christian religions had no such objection as that expressed by the three Archbishops. He warned of the “anxiety and distress such outdated moral theology causes in the hearts and minds of the faithful”.

“It has happened before. There is no need for religion in making moral judgments. We all have personal conscience, reason and human empathy that tell us what is right and what is wrong.”

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THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020 • 11

ACROSS AUSTRALIA / WIDER WORLD

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Australians rally to Lebanese after Beirut blasts A

ustralian Anglican relief and development agencies, including Melbournebased Anglican Overseas Aid (AOA) and the Anglican Board of Mission (ABM), have responded to the massive explosions in the port of Beirut on 5 August, which killed about 220 people, injured thousands of others and damaged the homes of more than 300,000 people in the Lebanese capital.

AOA said it would direct donated funds through the ACT Alliance, of which it is a member, to Lebanon.

ABM said it would use taxdeductible donations to provide food parcels, hygiene and sanitation The aftermath: Lebanon faced an economic crisis and COVID-19 before kits, and basic medical supplies to the blast. those affected by the explosion.

Donors could also make a non- stored at the port, and damaged tax-deductible donation for the hospitals and health facilities,” repair of church facilities.

ACFID’s website said. “The loss The Sydney diocese’s Anglican of the port of Beirut provides a Aid said it would distribute significant challenge for Lebanon, a donations through the Baptist country already grappling with an Association of Lebanon, via local ongoing economic crisis, and the churches. impacts of COVID-19.”

The Australian Council for The Anglican Communion News Inter nat iona l D e velopment Service reported that All Saints (ACFID) said its members, which Anglican Church on Lebanon’s include several religious agen- Mediterranean shore had received cies, and their local partners were “material damage” in the explosions. working with local authorities and The second of the blasts is communities to provide shelter, thought to have occurred when food, water and emergency supplies 2750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate Jerusalem, whose diocese includes to families affected by the explosion. being stored in a port warehouse Lebanon, launched an emergency They were supporting local health- was ignited by flames or sparks appeal to aid the diocesan response. care efforts and supporting the from the first blast. The resulting “Since the explosion, we have reunification of families separated explosion – estimated to have been been in constant communication by the disaster. equivalent to 1.2 kilotons of TNT with Imad Zoorob, Archdeacon “The blast devastated entire – could be heard more than 240 over Lebanon and Syria, who also neighbourhoods, destroyed more kilometres away in Cyprus. serves as the Rector of All Saints than 80 per cent of the food stock Archbishop Suheil Dawani of Episcopal Church in Beirut, located

“There is a lot of despair ... with the economic meltdown, the COVID-19 pandemic – and now this.”

about a mile from where the blast took place”, Archbishop Suheil said.

“In the aftermath of the explosion, he was able to assess the status of our two resident congregations there, as well as the damage to All Saints and to our complex at the Near Eastern School of Theology (NEST).

“The good news is that no member of our congregations was killed or seriously hurt. However, All Saints’ Parish Hall and Vestry were damaged, likely requiring tens of thousands of dollars of repairs.

Miraculously, the stained glass in the church nave and sanctuary held firm so there is no damage there, though there is some in the sacristy. There is also no damage to Saint Luke’s School in the more distant mountains. On the other hand, many of our parishioners’ apartments suffered damage, as did our Anglican Centre at NEST.” The Diocese’s St Luke’s Centre for Disabled Children, closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, was not damaged.

“The explosion was massive. So much was damaged, not only at All Saints, but parishioners’ homes”, Archdeacon Imad said. “Thank God none of the parishioners was hurt, but I’m busy working to sort out the church and support at least 18 people affected by the explosion. I am working with the diocese to help financially and to clean their homes.”

A member of the Parochial Church Council at All Saints, Mr Colin Gibson, said: “There is a lot of despair. People feel at the end of their tether, with the economic

meltdown, the COVID-19 pandemic – and now this.”

Ms Rachel Carnegie, Executive Director of the Anglican Alliance, said the economic situation in Lebanon was already desperate even before the explosion.

“The Anglican Alliance was in touch already with the Province to hear how the local church was responding to the devastating economic crisis,” Ms Carnegie said.

“Accounts were emerging of people in acute difficulties. Amongst these, some of the most marginalised, in this case foreign domestic workers, were being turned out of homes and left destitute on the streets as their employers could no longer afford to keep them.

“The Anglican Alliance has connected with partners in the Communion, especially Episcopal Relief & Development, to help support the church in Lebanon in helping these highly vulnerable migrants, many from Africa. The humanitarian situation has of course been rendered even more desperate by last week’s disaster.”

She said support for Archbishop Suheil’s emergency appeal “will be crucial to rebuild lives, hope and the church institutions – some of which are being rebuilt a third time after the former years of conflict”.

[with ACNS] To donate via Anglican Overseas Aid, phone 1800 249 880.

To donate to the Anglican Board of Mission’s Beirut Emergency Appeal, visit https://www.abmission.org/

Long road back for diocese as COVID peak passes – from page 1 greater Melbourne area”, said “I suspect we will have masks ish councils. “Some people will be Archbishop Freier. for a year, I think we’ll have some keen to go back and do as much He said that Melbourne’s curfew restrictions for at least a year. I as possible and others will be was especially inconvenient, but think that will affect church ser- reticent and say, ‘No, I don’t want also “a real opportunity for us as vices, [especially] singing, for a to go back, it’s not safe yet’.

Christians to reflect very deeply on year or more.”

“When a neighbouring parish who it is we put our trust in”.

Churches may be able to reo- opens up but your parish doesn’t Bishop Barker, whose episcopate pen in October or November, he – or vice-versa – that creates some of Jumbunna covers Melbourne’s said. “We might be able to have 10 problems,” he said. “These tensouthern and eastern suburbs, pre- or 20 people like we got in June sions I think will be very wearying dicted that restrictions would ease but I’m not sure that we’re going for clergy.” to stage three on 13 September and to get to 50 or more until next There would also be “some then lower again a month or two year. people who never go back”. later.

“Of course, Christmas will be As part of stage four restricBut there would be restrictions significantly affected.” tions, all churches – including op of some kind for a long time, he Reopening churches would shops and staff offices – have been told TMA. “create issues” for clergy and par- shut since 5 August.

Many clergy were struggling with working from home, he said.

“While most vicarages have a study, when you’ve got children home there’s often no space. Some find that pretty hard as well.

“I think a lot of clergy are tired.

I think a lot of clergy are sick of Zoom.”

Clergy were still able to visit parishioners where “absolutely needed” for care-giving.

Clergy and laypeople, as with the general population, were also struggling with other aspects of the restrictions. “The hard thing is lack of contact with family and

friends. There’ll be some people restricted in their exercise. But one hour of exercise within five kilometres is not unreasonable.

“It’s the lack of contact with grandchildren, grandparents. (It’s) hard.”

Despite security fears around closed churches, Bishop Barker said he had “not heard of any security issue like theft or breakin or graffiti, thankfully, in the last few weeks.”

However, the wild storm that lashed Melbourne on 27 August had damaged a vicarage in Upwey, he said.

National Briefs

school prepared them to find a sense of meaning and purpose in life, according to a survey that sought to measure the contribution of Australian secondary school graduates to the “common good” of society, rather than only the academic success of the individual.

The Cardus Education Survey Australia Project surveyed a nationally representative sample of almost 5000 graduates aged 25-39 who graduated from secondary school between 1998 and 2011. Researchers Dr Albert Cheng and Dr Darren Iselin then analysed the influence of the Government, Catholic, Independent and Christian schooling sectors in Australia on the academic, vocational, social and civic development of their graduates. Most graduates from all four sectors agreed that their schools emphasised academic

excellence, leadership, interaction with society and culture and character development. Catholic (87%) and Christian (80%) school graduates were more likely to report an emphasis on religious values than Government (21%) and Independent (65%) school graduates. Catholic school graduates had the highest annual household incomes, whilst Independent school graduates completed the highest levels of post-secondary school qualifications. Three out of every five graduates from all school sectors donated money to charity.

Volunteering was less common, practised by one third of graduates, but Independent (48%) and Christian school graduates (40%) were more likely to volunteer in a variety of organisations such as those that cared for the poor or environment.

Sydney Synod looks to 2021 double Sydney’s Archbishop Glenn Davies, after consultation with the Standing Committee, has decided not to call Synod in October. A special Synod in August to elect the next Archbishop had already been cancelled and Archbishop Davies, originally due to retire in July, will now stay on until next March. “Since my retirement as Archbishop will now take place in March next year, we have set aside the week beginning April 19, 2021 for a special session of the 52nd Synod for the purpose of electing an Archbishop,” he said. “If it is not feasible to hold the first day of the first ordinary session of the 52nd Synod before that week, then Monday, April 19 will become the first day of the first session presided

over by Bishop (Peter) Hayward, as the Administrator. The Election Synod will then be conducted over Tuesday-Friday, April 20-23.”

more. Nearly a half (47 per cent) said they had thought more about their mortality and the meaning of life. “The research is showing that this COVID situation has rattled Australians praying more Australians and got them thinking during COVID-19 about the big purpose of life,” Mr Churches have closed their doors, McCrindle said. “It’s got them rebut more Australians are opening prioritising their life.” Professor their minds to spirituality and Stephen Pickard, Director of the prayer, The Age reported on 23 Public and Contextual Theology August. Researchers have found Research Centre at Charles Sturt Australians say they have been University, said the uncertainty and praying more during the COVID- stress of the coronavirus pandemic 19 crisis, suggesting the pandemic had “opened up a crack in the unihas led many to reassess their verse as we know it” and for some priorities in life. Social researcher “a window to God’s presence around Mark McCrindle surveyed 1002 us in a way we hadn’t anticipated”. people between 24 and 28 July and found more than a third (35 Survey measures schools per cent) said they were praying and the Common Good more and 41 per cent were think- About three-quarters of graduing about God more. A quarter ates from Christian secondary said they were reading the Bible schools in Australia felt their

12 • THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020

www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au

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WIDER WORLD

to have suffered atomic bombing, we want to fulfil that responsibilmessage of trust and ity. In the midst of the current hope – and determination not COVID-19 pandemic, we want to to repeat the mistakes of the remember all who are anxious at past – was delivered by the Anglican this time, and pray that we may Church in Japan, Nippon Sei Ko Kai all understand that it is trust and (NSKK), to mark the 75th anniver- hope in God and our neighbours sary of the end of World War II. – not discrimination and prejudice Like other planned events for – which are the key to achieving 2020, commemorations of the peace.”

Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic Pope Francis wrote to Hidehiko bombings had been cancelled owing Yusaki, the Governor of the to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hiroshima Prefecture, on the anniChurch’s Provincial Secretary, Jesse versary of the Hiroshima bombing, Yahag, said. that “the use of atomic energy for But the anniversar y was purposes of war is immoral, just as an important one for Japanese the possessing of nuclear weapons Christians. is immoral ... All people need to “Although Japan has not yet rati- lay down the weapons of war, and fied the Treaty on the Prohibition especially the most powerful and of Nuclear Weapons, through its destructive weapon: nuclear arms Statement on War Responsibility that can cripple and destroy whole the NSKK confesses that each of us cities, whole countries”. bears responsibility for the war, and The World Council of Churches states that we will continue to share issued a statement: “As a wide coaour experiences regarding the war, lition of faith-based communities and swear that we will never make from around the world, we have such a mistake again,” Mr Yahag committed to speaking with one said. voice that rejects the existential “As Christians living in search threat to humanity that nuclear of peace in the only nation ever weapons pose. We reaffirm that

fresh opportunity to contemplate the horrors of nuclear weapons and redouble our efforts in working and praying for their elimination.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was criticised for announcing plans for Victory over Japan (VJ) Day anniversary celebrations with no reference to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Peace Pledge Union’s Remembrance Project manager, Mr Geoff Tibbs, said: “Boris Johnson and his ministers are encouraging us to celebrate VJ Day without even mentioning the nuclear bombings.

This is a shameful attempt to erase history and play down the horrors of war.

“The Government is right to encourage remembrance for Allied troops who died in the war, including the 12,000 British people who died due to horrific mistreatment in Japanese captivity. It gives a lopsided view of history if Japanese victims are not included as well as British victims and those of other nationalities. Children, as well as adults, are being given a misleading impression of the events of World War Two.” [Church Times]

Japanese Christians remember end of WWII with ‘peace, trust, and hope’

by Maddy Fry

A

World Briefs WCC leader outlines how COVID-19 must change mission Dr Agnes Aboum of the Anglican Church of Kenya has laid out key challenges for the world’s churches as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, in her address as Moderator of the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) Executive Committee. Dr Aboum told global ecumenical leaders that while COVID-19 had negatively affected churches’ ability to spread hope and care for the vulnerable in person, there were many more areas where the churches’ mission priorities needed to shift to help mitigate the social and economic impact of the pandemic on poor and vulnerable communities. She said churches needed to raise awareness of how the pandemic

had affected societies more widely than by its direct impact on public health. But Dr Aboum said churches were well-positioned to lead communities by their own COVID-19 responses – by advocating for the most vulnerable communities and providing an example of best practice.

[Anglican Taonga, NZ/ACNS] Milwaukee bishop calls for ‘righteous anger’ after shooting of Jacob Blake by police In the aftermath of another shooting of an African American by police, church leaders in Wisconsin are expressing grief and outrage, but not surprise. On 23 August, protests and riots flared in Kenosha, south of Milwaukee, where earlier that evening police shot Jacob Blake in the back at close range. Blake was taken to

Hiroshima Peace Memorial.

the presence of even one nuclear weapon violates the core principles of our different faith traditions and threatens the unimaginable destruction of everything we hold dear.”

In the UK, 168 church leaders of eight denominations united in calling on the Government to cancel plans to develop a new generation of nuclear weapons, in a statement coordinated by the Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

Among those who signed the statement were Archbishop Stephen Cottrell of York and the Roman Catholic Archbishops of Liverpool and Birmingham, Archbishops Malcolm McMahon and Bernard Longley respectively.

A co-chair of Christian CND, Mr Martin Tiller, said: “It is encouraging to see so many Christian leaders coming together to call for an end to nuclear weapons. The anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki give us a

hospital in a serious condition, it was sad news to wake to before the clergy and the General Synod but his father said he was out of dawn, “but thanks be to God no wrote to Baroness Stowell, who surgery and in stable condition. In one was hurt”. Dean Curtis said chairs the Charity Commission, a statement, Milwaukee’s Episcopal that although the blaze had grim urging her to intervene to address Church Bishop Steven Miller said potential, there didn’t appear to be “the failures of the Archbishops’ he shared in the outrage caused by any structural damage. But while Council of the Church of England this shooting and many like it. “We the fire had left a mess, it was not to devise a safe, consistent and fair lament yet another shooting of an anything like the fires in the cathe- system of redress” for victims and unarmed Black man, Jacob Blake, drals of Paris or Nantes, adding: survivors of abuse. In his formal by law enforcement. One such “And it’s nothing in comparison to response, Dr Gibbs deflected critishooting is one too many, and yet what our brothers and sisters in cism of the National Safeguarding in our nation the numbers of such Christchurch have had to deal with.” Team (NST) and its core-groups shootings continue. We join those [Anglican Taonga/ACNS] system, and said that the NST who call for a complete and imparshould be trusted and respected. tial investigation of this travesty,” Safeguarding bishop sides with But he later told Radio 4: “In one Bishop Miller wrote.

[ENS] critics of the C of E’s policy sense, I welcome this letter, because The Church of England’s lead it adds weight to my desire to bring Fire damages Dunedin Cathedral bishop on safeguarding, Bishop about the kind of root-and-branch St Paul’s Cathedral in Dunedin Jonathan Gibbs of Huddersfield, change that we all long for: in sustained damage to its apse roof has agreed that the C of E’s system particular in the way in which we and sanctuary after a fire broke needs “root-and-branch change” to respond to survivors, the way in out in the cathedral roof on 10 improve its response to abuse sur- which we deal with complaints, the August. The Dean of Dunedin, Dr vivors. Last month, abuse survivors, way in which we change the culture Tony Curtis, told Anglican Taonga lawyers, academics and members of of the Church.” [Church Times]

Extend foster care age to 21 – from page 10 to come. They need certainty. That means real relief, not a delayed cut-off.

“The Government must step up and offer relief for renters. And they must raise the rate of JobSeeker for good.

“In the midst of this crisis, we need to make sure renters can keep a roof over their heads – and stop any more Australians from falling into homelessness.”

In a separate statement, Anglicare Australia called for an urgent boost to social housing in the Federal Budget next month. The call followed the release of new heat maps for Homelessness Week by the Everybody’s Home campaign.

Ms Chambers said people who were homeless – or at risk of homelessness – were at the forefront of this pandemic.

“They should be at the forefront of the response,” she said. www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au

“These maps show that 116,000 Australians are homeless on any given night. Social housing is the best way to put a roof over their heads, and get secure homes for people who are at risk of becoming homeless.

“But these maps also show that we have a shortfall of at least 430,000 social homes across the country. We must end this shortfall to tackle homelessness, and stop more people from falling into crisis.”

Ms Chambers said social housing would offer relief for people who were on the brink of homelessness. It also increased GDP and created construction jobs for the regions that needed it most.

The planned JobSeeker cut could push many more into homelessness and put even more pressure on social housing, she warned.

“Since these figures were collected, hundreds of thousands

of Australians have lost their jobs.

Many of them will face deep cuts to JobSeeker in the next few months.

“Without action, hundreds of thousands of people will be pushed into poverty and homelessness.

“If the next budget focused on tax cuts and phasing-out payments, it will do terrible damage to many thousands of people in our communities. Instead we should be ramping up support, and building homes for people who need them.

“There is no time to waste. Social housing projects will bring more jobs than renovations and get off the ground more quickly than roads or rail. It also brings longerterm benefits.

“For years, the community and business sectors have called for social housing to boost the economy.

Now it’s time for the Government to act before it’s too late.”

World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel The Palestine Israel Ecumenical Network (PIEN) has developed resources for use by churches during the World Council of Churches’ World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel this month.

It describes the resources as “simple things you can do to assist in raising awareness and show solidarity to the people in the Holy Land”.

This year’s World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel, which runs from 13 to 21 September and includes the International Day of Prayer for Peace on 21 September, has the theme “Creative Solidarity in Common Fragility”.

Visit https://pien.org.au/ Prayer and Bible study resources are also available from the World Council of Churches’ website: https://www.oikoumene.org THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020 • 13

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Breaking free from stereotypes on Father’s Day Father’s Day is an opportunity to give dads the space to break free from limiting stereotypes, writes Robyn Andréo-Boosey.

should behave and express their emotions – or not. The Man Box, a recent study conducted by Jesuit Social Services, found that men are

A

s we approach Father’s Day, most of us would agree that what we want to express is celebration and gratitude for a parent’s efforts to nurture their children and allow them to grow and flourish. Yet it seems that we do so with little imagination.

A quick Google search shows us that the messages we give fathers on Father’s Day are riddled with stereotypes. We see this in advertisements, in the card selection, and in the array of gifts we are invited to purchase.

“No big deal”; “It’s just a card”; “It’s only a bit of fun”, I hear you say.

On its own, one card may not seem particularly harmful, but it is in the cumulative effect that the problem becomes more apparent.

Indeed, put together with similar content found in other cards, in daily adverts, in music, books and films, as well as in the messages we get from family and friends, this builds a picture that shapes our perceptions and thinking.

expectations shape their lives significantly. The evidence backs this up and reveals that masculine stereotypes contribute to men’s

“There is still a lot of pressure for men to live up to masculine stereotypes …”

In Australia, there is still a lot of pressure for men to live up to masculine stereotypes and to suppress the parts of themselves that do not fit society’s mould. The code men are supposed to conform to is comprehensive: it includes what they should like or dislike, what they should be good at, and how they

exposed to these social pressures from a young age; many report that they have been told since they were boys that a “real man” behaves in a certain way.

Whilst men conform to these expectations to varying degrees, a significant proportion of young Australian men confirm that these

high rates of suicide, depression and anxiety, as well as violence against women.

Research shows that most Australians do not agree with such outdated and unhealthy notions.

The case for change is in fact compelling: men freed from the weight of these masculine stereotypes enjoy much higher levels of physical and mental wellbeing – in turn, this has positive effects for the rest of the community.

As well as expressing our love

and appreciation for the dads we know, Father’s Day is a great opportunity to reflect on the stereotypes we notice in advertising, the media and the social contexts we live in. Everyone has a role to play in challenging these harmful ideas and shifting the narrative.

Let us start a conversation about them: what gender stereotypes do we notice? What discussions could we have with children and adults alike about them? When and how could we challenge them?

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that being a good dad is really just about being a good parent and a good human being. For Christians, it comes back to following Christ’s example and teaching – and inviting children to discover God’s love for us.

This Father’s Day, let us celebrate and express our thanks for the dads in our lives by allowing them the space to break free from these narrow stereotypes.

Robyn Andréo-Boosey is Manager of the Diocese of Melbourne’s Preventing Violence Against Women Program.

No time to sleepwalk out of hibernation in uncertain days Full JobKeeper and JobSeeker should be keepers The 2019 Melbourne Synod passed my motion supporting a considerable increase to Newstart. The pandemic was more powerful than Synod, but we reflected the consensus of social welfare and business leaders that Newstart should be increased on human rights, health and economic grounds.

Originally a measure by Hawke Labor in the ’90s at 90 per cent of the aged pension, to incentivise youth job-seeking, the advent of chronic, long-term unemployment made it inadequate, onerous and stigmatising.

Further, Newstart’s being indexed by the Howard government to inflation, not average wages (unlike the pension), has made it

The coronavirus pandemic is exposing structural weaknesses and inequalities in society, writes Gordon Preece, Melbourne priest and chair of the diocese’s Social Responsibilities Committee, in the first of three articles for TMA. Melburnians are hopefully about to awake from our second state-wide economic hibernation and see whether we have a bear (falling) or bull (rising) market, or a “snapback” market (Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s earlier phrase).

As God’s people we need to discern the signs of the times to help shape our future society in light of the coming Kingdom and City of God. Over these three months I invite you to eavesdrop on Diocesan Social Responsibilities Committee (SRC) meetings on awakening our spiritual and democratic discernment so we don’t sleepwalk into the future. “It is now the moment for you to wake from sleep, for salvation is nearer … than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near.

Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light … the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 13:11-14).

This article addresses earlier social defects which the pandemic has magnified, particularly for the unemployed and under-employed.

In October TMA I’ll address the quieting or cancelling of the critical sectors of society, including the church. And in November I’ll evaluate the 6 October Federal Budget as a moral document.

Pre-existing social conditions and COVID-19 Understandably, a pandemic named novel coronavirus attracts seemingly endless descriptions of being “unprecedented”, “once in a century” and so on. But this hides the fact that pandemics exploit pre-existing conditions or vulner-

abilities, for example those of our natural environment which is suffering as a result of climate change, and as humans invade habitats and eat exotic animals.

Pandemics also probe structural weaknesses in our social ecology or body politic, disproportionately affecting people with precarious housing or work conditions, stressed in space and time, on the streets or in cramped high-rise public housing like “vertical cruise ships”, as acting Australian Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly put it.

Others are workers in abattoirs, aged care facilities, the gig economy, security workers, short-term visa workers, refugees and prisoners, child care workers. Teachers, students and workers in various vulnerable roles in global education, tourism and transport networks.

The health dangers of globalisation, long warned of by epidemiologists, have come home to roost. And in a perfect storm, where global agencies and supply chains for PPE and essentials are severely stretched, and the need for global communication and cooperation is essential, COVID-19 followed the rise of populist nationalists like Trump, Johnson, Bolsonaro, Erdogan, Duterte, Putin etc.

These “leaders” flagrantly flout medical advice, rolling the dice on their people’s health, lives and livelihoods. They pose like macho-men, without masks, and violate social distancing. As antiscience populists, they authorise ill-informed, impatient, self-sovereign individualists, demanding economies and entertainments be reopened prematurely. This leads

14 • THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020

of Australia. The expectation of further cuts early in 2021, possibly back to $40 a day, makes no economic or equitable sense. The reductions as they currently stand leave 1.6 million workers struggling to survive on a bare $58 a day, up from Newstart’s $40, but below the poverty line. The original increase was premised on having one wave of the pandemic.

Now that a second wave has hit Victoria and threatens NSW, and affects Australia’s supply chain, the original increase should be retained.

The government’s pragmatism is giving way to its default ideology, leaked by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s back-to-the-’80s lionising of Thatcher and Reagan austerity, except for increased spending on warfare over welfare.

The idea that originally increasing JobSeeker created a disincentive to work was from dolebludger anecdotage, blind to there currently being only one job vacancy for every 13 people on JobSeeker or Youth Allowance. These COVID-19 compensation measures (including turning super savings into job insurance) are too little too late to address major generational and gender justice implications likely utterly inadequate at around 60 per to lead to at least another decade of cent of the pension pre-coronavirus demoralisation for younger people supplement. Most on Newstart and many women still reeling from couldn’t afford rent, food and trans- the GFC. port to seek work. With an IMF God’s people need to wake up predicted circa 9 per cent unem- to these challenges so that Australia ployment rate by year’s end, and as doesn’t sleepwalk into becoming a many likely under-employed, this “hiber-nation”. is a massive generational injustice, risking a new generation of despair, The Revd Dr Gordon Preece is Chair the COVID-generation. of the Diocese of Melbourne’s Social The renaming of Newstart and Responsibilities Committee, Director doubling of JobSeeker benefits until of Ethos and Religion and Social 29 September was a positive step.

Policy, University of Divinity, and Sadly, the government cut them by Senior Policy Officer for Catholic around 20 per cent, contrary to the Social Services Victoria. Ethos’ Going advice of 60 per cent of economists Viral edition is available from surveyed, and the Business Council info@ethos.org.au

“As God’s people we need to discern the signs of the times to help shape our future society in light of the coming Kingdom and City of God.” to a stop–start–stop rhythm, like a teenage learner driver immune to instruction.

Now that blame and buckpassing has begun we should still be prayerfully thankful (1 Tim. 2:13) that our leaders, federal and state, Liberal and Labor, have generally been much better, clearer and more unified than the leaders above.

Earlier in the pandemic, Christian (Porter) met Sally (McManus) halfway and Scott met Dan, IR regulations were relaxed to enable businesses, like my daughter’s, to stay afloat and many jobs to be kept, actively or in storage, and JobSeeker was increased.

www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au

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Exiled, how can church offer hope and renewal?

The pandemic has exposed our deepest human need for community and spirituality, but it has also highlighted the church’s marginal role in the life of our society, writes Rob Culhane. How might the church look in a post-pandemic world, and how should it respond to this once in a century event?

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OVID-19 has challenged all the established patterns of daily life and church practice.

Many activities have been interrupted or discarded due to the need for social distancing, and we have become its complicit hostage in our homes, describing this novel event as “living in iso”.

The pandemic has also exposed, amongst many other things, the systemic racism, poverty and disempowerment of those not part of the “white society” of the United States, and in particular African Americans. The Black Lives Matter movement has also highlighted that a similar situation exists in Australia, where racism, violence against our Indigenous people and their disproportionate incarceration continues. Chinese Australians or those who may look “Asian” have also experienced increased racism because they are blamed for the spread of the virus, leaving them wary of where they stand in our society.

Furthermore, the pandemic has exposed the lack of any protection for those working in the so-called “gig” economy, those who lack legal protection, access to pensions, sick pay, holiday entitlement or parental leave. Their exploitation has created a two-tier society of inequality.

Many of the services we enjoy are provided by “gig” workers, who include school teachers, dentists, lawyers, doctors and others on yearly contracts, but general indifference to them differs little from the English during the Georgian era who remained unconcerned about the institution of slavery that provided the sugar which sweetened their tea. Loving one’s neighbour requires our political action and economic support of the nearly one million people who are in this position – and, it must be noted, action by us when we use our credit card online as it is this group of gig workers who provide the goods and services we enjoy.

Finally, the pandemic has exposed our deepest human need for community and connection with a narrative which transcends individual meaning. This is often stated as “spirituality” or God. Attention has turned to what will happen in the future.

Understandably, there is an expectation that a vaccine will save us and the economy, and that our church life will bounce back to continue as it was before. Many hope that those who have clicked onto their church’s online services will convert their interest into regular church attendance. Some optimistic voices suggest that those who have felt the absence of community and meaning in life will be motivated to search for what that their previous lifestyle had prevented them from seeing until the disruption caused

by COVID-19. Thus, the pandemic www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au

is considered to have created an opportunity for renewed outreach to this group.

My concern is to caution those expecting a return to the days of glory or increased interest in what the church offers even if a vaccine is developed. Prior to the pandemic the church in Australia was in decline, with congregations financially struggling and their buildings being sold. Social distancing and the closure of churches will have reinforced for some that their worship attendance and connection with church activities are unimportant because they hold to a private and interiorised faith which they believe can be maintained independently of a vital church connection.

This should not surprise us, as prior to the pandemic church attendance was already considered an optional activity and one which competed with other amusements and family commitments on Sunday. But, and this must also be noted, social isolation has reminded many Christians of what they cherish about their church, namely fellowship, encouragement and a community which is a visible expression of the body of Christ where they are nourished by Word and sacrament. This remembrance has created a yearning and deep appreciation whose resumption they look forward to.

So, what might be our response and where do we start? It is helpful to begin by recognising that we, as God’s people, have been in this situation before. Our community life and the spiritual practices which support our faith have been disrupted, and we have lost our routines. This also occurred to God’s people in the period called “the Exile”, when they were forcibly taken by the Babylonians from Judea to Babylon in 587 BC. Jerusalem, along with its temple, the focus of their religious life, were destroyed. They were dispossessed of their land, and their identity as a nation which belonged to God was also destroyed. Their inability to celebrate their religious festivals, and living as foreigners in Babylon under the oppression of the world

power of the day, created an overwhelming crisis. Many of the Psalms, the second part of Isaiah, Lamentations, the books of Daniel, Ezekiel and other portions of the Minor Prophets reflect this period of dejection and loss of hope – as well as how God will deliver his people again and how they might

of the church has been highlighted by the precarious financial situation it faces and the generous provision of the JobKeeper allowance which has ameliorated the loss of church incomes so that clergy salaries can be paid.

It should not surprise us that we are considered by society a marginal or irrelevant group to daily life as numerically, we are a minority faith among the competing claims of other religions and gods.

Furthermore, we are challenged by the expectation that we conform to many policies and support programs promoted by governments which, in good conscience, may differ with our principles. We have become, in effect, social, cultural and political exiles. To be an exile need not be a literal separation from a place or former home, but from the religious life which defined our identity and gave us hope. Exiles have a mindset, a way of understanding who they are and where they stand in relationship to the majority culture. Exiles grieve over what has been lost and famillive as exiles under the rule of a iar that nourished their faith and foreign power. experience of God. In like manner, we have become The New Testament, particularly exiles. The closed doors of our the letters of 1 Peter and Revelation, churches have sent a message that emphasise that Christians are we have become a hidden com- already exiles, living under the munity, and a possibly irrelevant or dominating cultural and political powerless one. It suggests we are power of the day. Exiles remember no longer a dominant institution – not just the past or the “glory days”, in society as we once thought. The but God’s faithfulness and particupandemic may have highlighted larly who they are as his people (1 the church’s marginal role in the Pet 2:9-10). They harbour in their life of our society, but it was one hearts a future hope of restoration

“A church community ... can be relevant to its community by welcoming others who by race, culture or status are also hidden and on the margins of our society.

Is not this what Jesus himself did?” that had already begun in the West and is called post-Christendom.

Christendom began in 313 AD when the Roman Emperor Constantine legalised Christianity to unite his empire under one religion. The church was incorporated into the aims of the Roman empire by sharing power with the state so that it might Christianise the culture and serve alongside the institutions of society. But this union of shared ideals and mutual interdependence of church and state have essentially ended. The city or state will not be a new Jerusalem as it was once thought or hoped for in Christendom; that utopian dream is over. The recent events of the pandemic have highlighted this by the inability of the church to provide meaningful, widespread, social and medical support as it once did. It has been necessary for the state to prop up the institutions of society and it has displayed its economic power by its ability to provide much-needed welfare support. In contrast, the reduced role

by God, rather than caving into despair. Their calling connects them to the future that God has for them, but this calling also requires their commitment to God’s lifestyle and values (1 Pet 4:2-5), and treatment of others, inside and outside of the church community (2 Pet 1:34; Rom 12:9-18). Exiles remember God’s sovereign rule over human affairs, and reinstate the confession of this reality of God against the claims made by the alternative gods and “lords” who promise health, wealth and peace as an alternative to Christ’s Lordship.

After the pandemic, our churches will not essentially change in practice. Many will be smaller, but small does not mean ineffective – unless we are judged by modern corporate standards. One need only think of the small grain of mustard seed faith (Mk 4:31); the image of God’s kingdom as a small amount of yeast leavening the flour (Matt 13:33; Lk 13:21); and what was achieved by only five loaves and two fish (Matt 15:34; Mk 6:38; Lk

9:16; Jn 6:9). And how can we forget the inconspicuous offering of two coins by the widow (Mk 12:42; Lk 21:2)? As we readjust our mindset to see where we are in relationship to society, we must also remember the riches of God, the power of the gospel, the hope and the reality of forgiveness, peace and joy, which are devalued and sidelined by our materialistic and aspirational culture, one which must be named as a god of this age. As a marginal people, exiles, our churches will need to be intentional about a process of spiritual formation of their members and their children, so they not only understand the faith, but express it in spiritual practices. The alternative is they will become disciples of McWorld, not Christ. Thus living as exiles, God’s people create meaningful rituals to reinforce their faith and to remind them that they listen to a different voice and have seen a different future than what is promoted by the majority culture.

A vital role for the church postpandemic is its expression of a vital, life-giving community. Admittedly, we have not always been great at doing this, but we have not always been bad either. But it is surprising how even a small community of disciples of Christ can respond to the desire for a connection with others and God, and is able to address the issues in the first part of this essay of racism and economic injustice – if we are willing. We will need to break free from our captivity that “white” culture is normal and our preference to accept only those like us. But a church community, whether big or small, can be relevant to its community by welcoming others who by race, culture or status are also hidden and on the margins of our society.

Is not this what Jesus himself did?

What we do (for good or ill) is noticed by those outside our doors.

For example, during a famine in Galatia, c. 362 AD (modern Turkey today), the emperor Julian was incensed that Christians whom he called Galilaeans cared for the starving and dying (The Letters of Julian, Letter 22). Julian is remembered by historians for his campaign to restore the pagan gods yet he had to criticise the pagan priests for their lack of interest and failure to care for the starving masses.

Contrary to the rank self-interest of his court, the Christians’ actions astounded him. We do not grow by offering something “relevant” or a Christianised self-help program to happiness, but something meaningful to the deepest need of every person: the invitation of Jesus to come and share a meal with him and join his community where they are welcomed for who they are (Lk 19:1-10). Thus church in a post-pandemic world can offer a homecoming to the lost son, the wayward, the crushed, the disillusioned and express by word and deed what we will eventually be in Christ at the renewal of all things.

The Revd Rob Culhane is a recently retired priest and part of the Living Well Centre, which trains and support spiritual directors. He has recently completed a Master of Theological Studies at Yarra Theological Union.

THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020 • 15

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Leaders must trust the science on climate, too The time is now – ahead of the October budget announcements – to tell our politicians they need to take action on the crisis that is climate change, writes Marguerite Marshall.

fuels, according to a plan by multiaward winning think tank Beyond Zero Emissions. These include jobs in developing renewable energy, building (including social hous-

nomic recovery advisory board the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission, chaired by Neville Power, former CEO of Fortescue Metals Group.

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enerally our leaders have acted wisely in this pandemic because they took the advice of medical experts. So Australia, apart from Victoria, is emerging out of this crisis relatively well, certainly in comparison with most of the world.

Yet alongside this huge challenge is another that needs attention now for the sake of a safe future. That is climate change, which experts say will devastate our world unless we act effectively now.

G l o b a l l y, s u p e r - s t o r m s , droughts, bushfires, bleaching of coral reefs, food insecurity and sea level rise are happening now at 1°C of warming since pre-industrial times. The world is on track for at least a catastrophic 3°C of warming, according to climate experts such as the UN International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The IPCC recommends limiting warming to 1.5oC, which will require the very rapid decarbonisation of the global economy to reach net zero emissions well before mid-century.

Christians, like most people, find it difficult to deal with major crises. But we have hope. We know that God is at the centre of life and we need to use our God-given gifts to love others.

Humanity has all the scientific, technical and industrial knowledge needed to solve the climate emergency and to usher in a healthier world, says the IPCC. Fossil fuels are the major source of carbon dioxide, producing about 80 per cent of the world’s energy, according to the UN International Renewable Energy Agency.

Fossil fuels must be replaced

“Humanity has all the scientific, technical and industrial knowledge needed to solve the climate emergency and to usher in a healthier world.”

with clean reliable renewable energy as soon as possible. Renewable energy can provide reliable power with the use of such technology as thermal storage, batteries, pumped hydro and smart grids.

Renowned economist Professor Ross Garnaut says renewables could meet 100 per cent of Australia’s electricity requirements by the 2030s, and at lower prices.

Even in this devastating pandemic there is hope. As we rebuild our economy we have an important opportunity to make major changes, which would help create a safe climate.

Australia could create one million new jobs without using fossil

ing), manufacturing, transport, recycling, land use and training.

The Climate Council recently launched a 76,000 clean jobs plan that state and territory governments can start implementing immediately.

Seventy per cent of these jobs are in construction, administrative, support and logistics services – sectors where 80,000 workers have already lost their jobs.

Forty-two per cent of the job opportunities are for regional Australians.

Yet the Federal Government is being urged to support a dramatic expansion of gas supply with tax incentives and finance, by its eco-

For more viewpoints, visit our website: http://tma.melbourneanglican.org.au/opinion

The government should instead cut subsidies for fossil fuels, says Tim Buckley of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. And Ross Garnaut says that governments must underwrite new investment in renewable energy electricity supply and provide regulatory certainty.

But is Australia too small an economy to make a difference to global emissions? No. Australia is the world’s largest coal exporter and the third largest fossil fuel exporter, according to the Australia Institute.

So will our future safety be decided by business interests, who are not seizing the opportunities that renewable energy presents them?

Christians have a mandate to love others. So we must do what we can to ensure a safe climate future for all.

At the 2016 Census, 52 per cent of Australians reported a Christian affiliation. Together we can make a difference. We can join our church’s climate change bodies and so strengthen their voices to governments.

Our governments are making decisions now about rebuilding our economy for the October budget announcements. Now is the time to contact them and say we want them to respond to the science of climate change in the way they have responded to COVID-19. They need to develop clean new industries, as outlined in the Beyond Zero Emissions million jobs and the Climate Council 76,000 clean jobs plans. We can write to our local MPs, preferably representing groups such as our congregations.

Together we can influence elections such as council elections later this year by lobbying our representatives. We can join the international divesting fossil fuel shares campaign. We can make personal changes like installing solar panels and encouraging our families, friends, workplaces and schools to do likewise.

We can pray that the Spirit of Truth will prevail so that, as in the pandemic, governments will act wisely by consulting experts and acting accordingly. This would help keep a safe climate for our children and grandchildren.

The Australian Religious Response to Climate Change has suggestions and resources to help faith communities can take action. Visit https://www. arrcc.org.au/green_recovery.

Marguerite Marshall is a Uniting Church member and was trained by Al Gore as a climate reality leader.

www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au

Reflections on rage, racism and Jesus “How do we reconcile what Jesus says about loving our enemies with the words of vengeance in the Psalms?” It’s a complex and profound question. It’s about reconciling seemingly irreconcilable parts of scripture. It’s about how we respond to, and process, anger and injustice.

It’s also about how we read scripture, and the Psalms in particular.

The Revd Alex Zunica, Senior Associate Minister (Carlton Campus) at St Jude’s Anglican Church, Carlton.

Why Christians should be thinking about ‘climate justice’ Two young Christians, Oscar Delaney and Catherine Ward, share their perspectives on the importance of working for climate justice.

16 • THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020

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FAITH / SCIENCE

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Lament a powerful way to enter God’s own grief

by Roland Ashby

Christine Gobius is no stranger to lament, a deep place of grief.

She first encountered it through not being able to have children, and then “rediscovered” it when her house was flooded in the 2011 Brisbane floods.

“It was devastating. Our home was inundated, with the whole of the ground floor submerged, and 60cm of upstairs underwater.”

Christine, who is National Director of mission agency Interserve Australia, spoke to TMA following her address on the theme of Heartache and Hope: The Transforming Power of Grief in an Age of Eco-anxiety, at the ISCAST Conference on Science and Christianity, held online 10 to 12 July.

Katherine Shields, who joined her in the presentation, is Creation Care Advocate and Youth Worker for Interserve Australia. She told TMA that she began to experience deep grief when she heard about the Northern Pacific garbage patch.

“It was while I was studying for a degree in marine biology seven years ago. The patch, which was then the size of Texas, is rubbish floating in the middle of the Pacific.

Around 90 per cent of seabirds who’ve died in the area are found to have plastic in their stomachs.”

She also expressed concern about the effect of climate change on the people that Interserve seeks to serve in Central Asia. “There are increased suicide rates among

compassion is. Compassion literally means ‘suffering with’. So the process of lament actually grows compassion in us. This has helped me rediscover that God is the God of Compassion. He is a God who suffers with us.”

She also realised that her grief, her compassion and passion for justice, came from God. “Lament is an invitation from God because he isn’t necessarily entering our pain so much as inviting us to enter his.

Throughout the Bible we see many needs as well as our material and examples of God grieving, Jesus physical needs”. grieving and the Spirit grieving.”

In her 30-year involvement For this reason, she says, with Interserve she says she has lament is also a place of deep hope, always been inspired by its found“because if God cares about these ing women. “It was started in 1852 things he’ll do something about in India by women and focussed them. Hope becomes grounded in largely on providing education and Dr Christine Gobius says lament is important because it helps us respond who God is”. healthcare for women. One woman out of a place that reflects God’s love.

Katherine also believes that in particular has touched my heart farmers because of a similar situ- “because this statement didn’t allow environmental destruction is – Rosalie Harvey, who served for ation to what we have in Australia for a process of grieving, or asking largely caused by greed, apathy 50 years from the late 1800s. She and selfishness, which makes it a established a village for people – drought, floods and the unpredict- questions, or reflecting on the ability of significant weather events. human contribution to such disas- key discipleship issue. “Realising with leprosy, who were essentially Air pollution, biodiversity loss and ters ... and deforestation, land use, that this is a spiritual issue is core outcast, as well as a home for abanunsustainable fishing and logging urban sprawl and our consumer to following Jesus,” she says. doned babies. are also major problems,” she says. lifestyles are all part of that”.

Christine agrees. “God calls “Another strong personal source Christine said her grief turned She began to understand the us to be responsible stewards of inspiration for me is that she had to anger when her pastor said at the importance of lament because “it and caretakers of a consecrated a great passion for the care of anichurch service one week after the is a place where you sit with the creation.” mals, setting up an animal hospital floods: “We don’t understand why pain, and by sitting with people Christine was drawn to vet- as well as a relief corps of bullocks God allows such devastating events and engaging in the pain and erinary science, she says, because to provide rest for the bullocks that and we don’t need to understand lamenting, God is able to help us “I wanted a role involved with both carried water to the town every day because Jesus is returning to put respond out of a place that reflects people and agriculture that would from a nearby river.” an end to such suffering.” his love – love for others and love serve disadvantaged communiChristine, a scientist with a for Him.” ties.” She joined Interserve in her Visit https://ISCASTCOSAC.org PhD in Veterinary Science who Katherine added that by being mid-20s, attracted by Interserve’s has studied climate change, inter- able to sit with our own pain “it “holistic approach to mission and Roland Ashby is the former Editor of national development and theology allows us to sit with other people in the understanding that God’s love TMA. See his blog, Living Water, at at Master’s level, said she was angry their pain, and that’s exactly what for us encompasses our spiritual www.thelivingwater.com.au

Technology not neutral and can be ‘idolatrous and disenchanting’

by Stephen Cauchi

Technology such as smartphones and virtual reality can have an idolatrous and secularising impact on people’s thinking which Christians must resist, ISCAST’s 12th Conference on Science and Christianity, COSAC 2020, was told.

“Technology can deform our imagination; the Christian story must reform it,” said Brisbane Presbyterian pastor the Revd Nathan Campbell in his presentation, Rage Against the Machines: How Dreams of High-Tech Utopia Shape the Secular Imagination and Drive Us From Hope.

“Technology in its forming of us is not neutral,” he said. “It comes with a mythology – a vision of the human life of what a good life and good future looks like – and this formative impact is both idolatrous and disenchanting, or secularising.”

Mr Campbell said he was drawing on the work of the 20th century Canadian media academic Marshall McLuhan who coined the phrase “the medium is the message”.

This was “the idea that we make our tools that we’re going to use to shape the world, and from then on, they shape us”.

Even apparently primitive technology such as the clock had this “shaping” effect, said Mr Campbell.

“The introduction of this piece of machinery made us operate like machines. The clock made us www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au

run like clockwork in a clock-like universe.”

Clocks and our ability to measure time were changing our relationship with the world: “Time is ever present and we have this obsession with the present, with life and the second hand.”

“We’ll be able to program a future that our brains believe is real … a soaring sensorium that will imitate, model and link to its mirror image, the human brain.

“We will become immortal there. It will enable us to combine work and play in a new way. Even

promised by Telstra in an ad from a few years ago, which stated: “We live in a magical world. We never have to wake up from our dreams. Our restless minds now free to wonder at the wonder of technology; at the magic we’ve created.”

The myth that technology will

“The computer in our pocket … has the capacity to be idolatrous; fitting in with a religious mythology and shaping us.”

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos was so convinced that this was leading to short-term thinking, and damaging our ability to do long-term planning, that he’s building a 10,000 year clock.

“This clock will chime every thousand years, and is a monument to long term thinking – an attempt to undo some of the work on our psyche that the clock is doing.”

However, the digital world – particularly virtual reality – had the potential to impact human thinking far more than the clock, he said.

Virtual reality in the future may be so common and realistic that people may have trouble distinguishing reality from a computer simulation, he said. Indeed, some believed we already are living in a computer simulation.

the music will be better there.

Cyberspace will be the new, clean, virtual Eden to which we will all emigrate when this physical world becomes an unliveable eco-disaster,” said Mr Campbell.

“Our technology, our smartphones, aren’t neutral; they shape us … away from God and towards a different eschatology to the one offered by the Bible.”

The Amazon Prime TV show Upload referred to this. “In Upload, a life well lived earns you a chance to digitise your brain … so that you can enjoy life in a digital heaven, where you can continue purchasing your way to happiness so long as you have credit.”

But technology not only offered a digital heaven, but a digital “present”.

It promised a “magical” life like that

produce a thriving, flourishing life – either now or in a digital heaven – was religious language, said Mr Campbell.

“When we buy into this mythology it forms us, but it also changes how we engage with religion and the supernatural,” he said.

“The computer in our pocket … like other technologies, has the capacity to be idolatrous; fitting in with a religious mythology and shaping us.”

The Old Testament made clear that idols were deceptive: “As the Psalmist says ‘those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them’.”

US technology entrepreneur David Rose said that smartphones “do not care about enchantment”, said Mr Campbell.

Mr Rose stated that “the smartphone does not have a predecessor in our folklore and fairy tales.

“There is no magic device I know of whose possessor stares zombielike into it, playing a meaningless game, or texting about nothing. It does not fulfil a deep fundamental human desire in an enchanting way.

“In my nightmare, the cold, black slab [the smartphone] has rearchitected everything – our living and working spaces, our schools, airports, even bars and restaurants.

We interact with screens 90 per cent of our waking hours. The result is a colder, more isolated, less humane world.”

Mr Campbell said he agreed with Mr Rose’s analysis, calling the world of the smartphone “disenchanting and dehumanising”. “[It] leaves us in a machine like world without God in the picture … this is no hope at all.

“And if we Christians are meant to be people marked by and formed by our own hope, our own eschatology … anticipating life for eternity with the living God, then technology and its myths risk pushing us in the wrong direction.”

ISCAST (Christians in Science and Technology) held the COSAC 2020 conference online on 10 to 12 July.

All 56 talks from the conference are available to buy through the COSAC website where you will find details of the program, all the talks and the speakers: https://ISCASTCOSAC.org

THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020 • 17

THEOLOGY The Revd Anthea McCall is Acting Dean of the Anglican Institute and lecturer in Bible and Languages at Ridley College.

Much to learn from Centurion’s amazing faith The kind of deep faith shown by the Centurion in the Gospels, and often by new Christians, can sometimes be a struggle for mature Christians.

But we are still invited to amaze, even shock, Jesus with our faith, writes Anthea McCall.

In most areas of life we operate by merit. If we want a job we plead our merits, for example. And when it comes to faith we can operate out of a merit mentality.

But the humble person knows

Jesus’ authority. He understands something about Jesus. He knows that Jesus only needs to say the word and his servant will be healed. He knows from his own experience as a Roman officer that if he gives a

S

ometimes people say things that surprise you.

Children often surprise you with their wise observations of everyday life – like Annie, age eight, who said “If you want a kitten, start out by asking for a horse.”

Sometimes children stun adults by showing spiritual insight far beyond their years. Likewise, new Christians can express spiritual truths which mature followers don’t always grasp.

What could possibly amaze Jesus? Is it possible to do something that would momentarily disorient him?

You would think not. But there is. At the end of Luke 7: 1-10 it says: “When Jesus heard this he was amazed, and he turned to the crowds and said ‘I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.’”

What is it about this man and his faith that is amazing? There is much to learn here.

Jesus is the one he needs. So often in life it is when we are out of our depth that we make the most progress in faith.

command, those under him obey immediately, because his words have the backing of Rome. So just as he has power in his earthly sphere of influence, Jesus has power over matMercy not merit ters of sickness and death. This is the Then the passage highlights his power of Jesus’ authoritative word. It humble approach to Jesus. The cenhas all the backing of God behind it. turion sends a delegation of Jewish Jesus doesn’t even have to be present Powerlessness not power leaders to ask Jesus to come to him. to perform the miracle. He just says The first surprise is that this man is But when they get to Jesus they say, the word and it happens. a Gentile, so he is an outsider to the “This man deserves to have you do Jesus is genuinely taken aback by people of God. He is also an officer this because he loves our nation this man’s response. Jesus’ challengof the Roman army occupying Israel. and has built our synagogue.” They Dear Advertiser, ing punchline is: “I haven’t found In Capernaum, he would have been plead his merit as a benefactor, and Thank they are undeserving.

God doesn’t this sort of faith even in Israel”. The you for advertising with TMA (The Melbourne Anglican). a big fish. And he was used to being this they feel, places Jesus under look at the outside, rather the people of God had been taught and have received your artwork, and have checked it as carefully as in control. some sort of obligation to him. We inside.

We know he sees right into trained by God for thousands of possible. However, to be completely certain, please check that the ad below But now he finds himself pow- Graciously Jesus doesn’t make any has our reproduced hearts. None of us can go to years so that they could be called as you expected. If not, please call Bryce immediately on erless. He has a servant who was comment, but goes with them.

God9653 and plead the household of faith. Yet none of (03) 4219. on the basis of merit. precious to him – and close to death.

Yet before Jesus gets to the house, It can sound demeaning to say them had got it right about faith in No doubt, the Centurion had tried a different delegation arrives with a “I am notArtwork However this is the Son ofand Godvisually like thischecked centurion. in compatible program 9 worthy”.opened everything - the doctors had come message from the centurion, “Lord, not about having a low self-image, Artwork placed in InDesign preflighted graphics etc.) and gone, but there’s nothing that don’t trouble yourself, for I do not rather understanding of one- and The challenge(fonts, before Christians 9 a true can be done. deserve to have you come under self in the light of God’s Christians, covenant people created fromholiness, InDesign CS4 (this PDF the willnew be placed in TMA) 9andPDF But then the Centurion hears my roof. That is why I did not even love mercy. This centurion of God, are called to have faith like preflighted (checked X/1a standard) that Jesus is in town. Now he must consider myself worthy to come to instinctively this truthagainst thisPDF centurion.

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So instead of making by recognising our own powerlessPDF test-printed on PostScript printer 9 of Jesus because of his ness in the face of our problems, recorded the stir that was caused by The centurion’s speech is very demands PDFhe Emailed client with for approval Jesus – his preaching, his healing, different. He pleads his unworthi- own simplytocomes humbly approaching our Lord, and 9worth, his eating with sinners, his teaching ness before Jesus. empty hands. believing that Jesus has all authority about forgiveness even of enemies, There we see the two different in heaven and on earth. and finally the call to build one’s life ways we can approach God – one Unquestioning authority Such faith can be a struggle for on his words. on the basis of merit, the other Thirdly, the centurion places us. In fact sometimes it’s the outAnd the Centurion knows this pleading for mercy. unquestioning dependence on siders, or the new Christians, who

“God doesn’t look at the outside, rather the inside.

We know he sees right into our hearts.”

For an Anglican Approach THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NEAR: STUDIES ON THE READINGS FOR YEAR B Saturday 28 November 2020 | 9.30am–12.30pm

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18 • THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020

have more faith than those of us who have been following Jesus for many years.

Why is that?

Firstly, rather than humble dependence, our faith might fall into a merit mentality. In our prayers we might see ourselves or others as worthy recipients. This trap was made evident recently when a friend said to me “You’ve done so much for the church, God owes you one.” As if my own “goodness” earns God’s response to my problem. When we start calculating like that, we end up approaching God out of a warped view of ourselves and a warped view of God based on merit, not mercy.

Secondly, our faith might doubt Jesus’ authority. The faith of Luke 7 is uncomplicated. It believes the evidence about Jesus and that nothing is outside his authority. Yet, how much of our faith is “Lord, if you could just pretty please, do this for me?, or “I don’t know if this prayer is too big to ask, Jesus, but …”.

We can be sceptical of a straightforward faith which prays bold prayers. And as Anglicans, we might be afraid of a “name it and claim it” religion which reduces faith to “God said it. I believe it. Just ask it. And God will do it.”

Or thirdly, perhaps we have become cynical. We have prayed for healings, and yet don’t see the answers. We become reluctant to ask such prayers, or at least, lower our expectations. This is a genuine struggle that every Christian faces.

Certainly we live in the “in between times” between Jesus’ first and second coming. We feel the tension between the arrival of the kingdom of God in Jesus, yet not fully being face to face with him in the place where all hardship, death and disease will be banished. We believe Jesus has all power and authority, yet we still live in a fallen world.

Yet in the face of these struggles and temptations, we are still invited to shock Jesus by our faith. This passage urges us to imitate the amazing faith of the Centurion, not always knowing (or seeing) how God will answer our prayers.

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GROWING IN FAITH

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Longing to say adieu to COVID-19 Significant encounters with God often emerge from situations of disruption and chaos, writes Graeme Garrett.

W

e certainly wish it would. The sooner the better. After all, the virus has forced many an unwanted farewell on us. Adieu to social and family gatherings. Adieu to normal school, university and vocational training for young people. Adieu to travel options and freedom of movement.

Adieu to businesses, personal livelihoods and jobs. Adieu to hopes and dreams.

And adieu to people – how many thousands throughout the world?

Loved. And now lost.

So many adieus. We feel overwhelmed, confused, sorrowful, angry, frightened, at a loss. And long for the time when we can say our pent-up adieu in return. Get lost COVID-19. And good riddance!

Adieu means farewell. Separation, breaking apart, letting go. And all the anguish – or relief! – that comes with it. But adieu also means – literally – “to God” (à Dieu). The English word goodbye has a similar, if also recedingly faint, theological echo arising from the mists of its linguistic origins: “God be with you”.

Is it possible that COVID-19’s many adieus carry something of this ancient lineage hidden within their unwelcome disruptions of our lives? Is it possible to ask – without sounding simply offensive – where is God in this grief and confusion?

Does COVID-19 say à Dieu?

I don’t know. Which is just another ignorance to join the dance of that whirlwind of unknowing in which I am presently enveloped.

But perhaps this is worth pondering. The Jewish/Christian tradition is littered with memories of profound moments of confusion, grief, suffering and death, moments filled, we might say, with outrageous adieus, both personal and public, in which significant (often disruptive) encounters with God took place. Think of the experiences of Elijah, Jeremiah, Job and Saul of Tarsus. Think of Mary of appears. “Then Moses drew near Nazareth, Mary Magdalene and to the thick darkness where God the distraught Widow of Nain. was”(Ex 20.21, italics added). The Remember Gethsemane, Calvary, Exodus has been interpreted as an and the unused tomb of Joseph of act of liberation from oppression, as Arimathea. The dark night of the a journey to a better place. There are soul and the bright light of revelagood reasons for seeing it that way. tion, in these stories at least, seem to But the trouble with hindsight is be inextricably entangled. that it isn’t available in the uproar of A pivotal story of adieu stands the moment. People were afraid and out – the Exodus, morally ambigubewildered. Let’s get back to where ous though the story is. Exodus is we came from. In Egypt, at least we not an individual experience, not knew where we were and who we a personal dark night of the soul. were. “This wilderness [will] kill the It involves a whole nation. The whole assembly with hunger” (Ex Israelites are all caught up in it, 16.3). If God is reckoned to be in this ready or not. Murder, power poli“thick darkness”, let Moses check it tics, oppression, plague, dislocation, out. We’ll keep our distance, thank homelessness, suffering, hunger, you! fatigue, hopeless wandering in a Moses did. And God spoke. trackless wasteland, and no end When he came down from Mount in sight. “On the third new moon Sinai, Moses was bearing what we after the Israelites had gone out of Nothing was secure. “All the people know as the ten commandments. the land of Egypt … they came into … were afraid and trembled and What did this à Dieu experience the wilderness of Sinai,” the text says stood at a distance” (Ex 20.18). They uncover in the tumult of all that (Ex 19.1). A barren, inhospitable, had already said adieu to so much. chaos and darkness? Put simply, it godforsaken crag of rock in the mid- Were they now to say adieu to life boils down to the challenge to idendle of the desert. Nature herself was itself? tify what matters most when we are troubled. Thunder, lightning, smoke, At this the low point of experi- up against it. Two things: First, “do darkened the sky above, earth ence, one of the most disconcerting not make for yourself an idol”, espetremors shook the ground beneath. yet intriguing verses in all Scripture cially not one in your own image

“We feel overwhelmed, confused, sorrowful, angry, frightened, at a loss. And long for the time when we can say our pent-up adieu in return.”

Prayer Diary SEPTEMBER

Sun 6: Pray for the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (Abp Thabo Makgoba); Diocese of Sydney (Abp Glenn Davies, Regional Bps Chris Edwards, Michael S tead, Peter Hay ward, Peter Lin, Malcolm Richards, Gary Koo, Clergy & People); Brighton Grammar School (Ross Featherston, Principal; Chester Lord, Chaplain); St Oswald’s Glen Iris (Glenn Loughrey); St Stephen’s Warrandyte – Pastoral Service (Bp Paul Barker); Mon 7: Diocese of Tasmania (Bp Richard Condie, Missioner Bp Chris Jones, Clergy & People);: Chaplain to Anglican Centre staff (Clemence Taplin); Glenroy/ Hadfield w. St Linus’, Merlynston (Jo-Anne Wells); Tue 8: Diocese of The Murray (Bp Keith Dalby, Clergy & People); Archdeaconry of Box Hill (Dianne Sharrock); Parish of St Matthew’s, All Saints’ Greensborough (Dave Fuller); Wed 9: Diocese of The Nor thern Territory (Bp Greg Anderson, Clergy & People); Beaconhills College (Tony Sheumack, Principal; Peggy Kruse, Chaplain); St Stephen’s Greythorn (Rod Morris); Thu 10: Diocese of Wangarat ta (Bp Clarence Bester, Clergy & People); Communit y of the Holy Name (Sr Carol Tanner); Parish of St Cuthbert’s, Grovedale w. St Wilfrid’s, Mount Duneed (Stephen Copland); Fri 11: Diocese of Willochra (Bp John Stead, Clergy & People); Cross-Cultural Ministry; St Alban’s Hamlyn Heights (Jon Taylor); Sat 12: Anglicare Australia (Bp Chris Jones, Chair; Kasy Chambers, Exec www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au

Director); Converge International (Jenny George, CEO, and Chaplains); Holy Trinity Hampton (Ross Duncan); Sun 13: Pray for the Anglican Church of South America (Bp Gregory James Venables); Theological Colleges, Church Schools & Church Kindergar tens; Camberwell Girls’ Grammar School (Debbie Dunwoody, Principal; Helen Creed, Chaplain); Holy Trinity Hastings (Tim Anderson); St Eanswythe’s Altona and St Clement’s Altona Meadows – Pastoral Service (Abp Philip Freier); St Aidan’s Parkdale – Pastoral Service (Bp Paul Barker); St Augustine’s Moreland – Pastoral Visit (Bp Genieve Blackwell); Mon 14: Mission Agencies of the Anglican Church of Australia; Deacons’ Ministry; St Martin’s Hawksburn (Luke Hopkins); Tue 15: Religious Orders serving within the Anglican Church of Australia; Archdeaconry of Dandenong; Christ Church Hawthorn (Andrew Dircks); Wed 16: Locums and all retired clergy; Camberwell Grammar School (Paul Hicks, Principal; Charles Bu t ler, Chaplain); St Columb’s Hawthorn (Mike Flynn, Paul Hughes); Thu 17: Anglican Church of Australia (Primate Abp Geoffrey Smith, General Secretary Anne Hywood, the General Synod & the Standing Commit tee); Diocesan Building Committee; St John’s Healesville w. St Paul’s Yarra Glen (Matt Smith); Fri 18: Diocese of Adelaide (Abp Geoff Smith, Asst Bps Denise Ferguson, Timothy Harris, Christopher McLeod; Clergy & People); Diocesan Finance; St John’s Highton ( Will Orpwood,

(Ex 20.2-4). Humans are neither the only nor the ultimate meaning of things. Second, look out for others, including animals, caught up in the turmoil with you. Disloyalty, disrespect, greed, lying, killing, seeking unjust advantage, are the seeds of death. Best not to scatter them (Ex 20.12-17).

Centuries later, Jesus famously summed up the story. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And love your neighbour as yourself. “There is no other commandment (i.e., no other à Dieu revelation) greater than these,” he said (Mk 12.29-30).

Significant encounters with God do seem to emerge again and again from situations of disruption and chaos. That can’t be accidental. The appearance of real love – the unrelenting love that created the heavens and the earth – inevitably uncovers the presence and operation of unlove and anti-love in ourselves and in our society. Disloyalty, disrespect, greed, lying and the rest are unsheltered by the divine presence. When the light shines, the darkness stands out.

Does COVID-19 say adieu?

It depends. Will we risk entering the “thick darkness” and face the structural injustices that mark the politics and economics that have brought us to this current place?

Will we acknowledge and take responsibility for our part in the troubled state of nature all around?

Or will we choose to go back to the place we came from?

The Revd Dr Graeme Garrett is a retired Anglican priest, a theologian and member of the adjunct staff of Trinity College Theological School.

(Can also be downloaded from https://www.melbourneanglican.org.au/spiritual-resources/) Christopher Lynch); Sat 19: Diocese of Armidale (Bp Rick Lewers, Clergy & People); Spiritual Health Victoria Council (Cheryl Holmes, CEO); Church of the Epiphany Hoppers Crossing (Glenn Buijs, Joel Snibson); Sun 20: Pray for the Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan (Abp Justin Badi Arama); Diocese of Ballarat (Bp Garry Weatherill, Clergy & People); Caulfield Grammar School (Ashleigh Martin, Principal; Ryan Holt, Amanda Lyons and Kate Jacob, Chaplains); Parish of St Paul’s, Inverleigh w. St John’s, Bannockburn and Church of the Epiphany, Meredith (Tim Smith); Parish of St John’s, Cranbourne w. Christ Church, Tooradin – Pastoral Service (Bp Paul Barker) ; St Agnes Glenhuntly – Pastoral Visit (Bp Genieve Blackwell); Christ Church Newpor t – Pastoral Service (Bp Kate Prowd); Mon 21: Diocese of Bathurst (Bp Mark Calder, Clergy & People); Diocesan Liturgical Commit tee; St George’s Ivanhoe East (John Sanderson, Linda Fiske, Richard Wilson); Tue 22: Diocese of Bendigo (Bp Matt Brain, Clergy & People); Archdeaconry of Essendon (Vanessa Bennet t); St James’ Ivanhoe (Stephen May, Jessica Cheung, Steve Faragher); Wed 23: Diocese of Brisbane (Abp Phillip Aspinall, Regional Bps Jeremy Greaves, Cameron Venables, John Roundhill, Clergy & People); Christ Church Grammar School (Neil Andary, Principal; Linda Fiske, Chaplain); Christ Church Kensington (David Moore); Thu 24: Diocese of Bunbury (Bp Ian Cout ts, Clergy & People); Diocesan

Proper t y C ommi t tee; S t Hilar y ’s Net work (Chris Appleby (L ocum), Richard Bruce, Mat t Campbell, Tim Horman, Mark Juers, Wendy Wade, Elizabeth Webster, Stephen Zhang); Fri 25: Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn (Bp Mark Shor t, Asst Bps Stephen Pickard, Carol Wagner, Clergy & People); Diocesan Provincial Council; Holy Trinity Kew (Robert Newton, Rick Cheung, Lesley Dixon); Sat 26: Ministry to the Defence Force (Bishop Grant Dibden, Chaplains & Members of the Defence Forces); St James’ and St Peter’s Kilsyth-Montrose (Janice O’Gorman); Sun 27: Pray for the Province of the Episcopal Church of Sudan ( Abp Ezekiel Kumir Kondo); Diocese of Gippsland (Bp Richard Treloar, Clergy & People); Firbank Grammar School (Jenny Williams, Principal; Christine Croft, chaplain); All Saints’ Kooyong (Kuncoro Rusman, Lachlan Thompson, Daniel Abraham); St John’s Bentleigh – Pastoral Service (Abp Philip Freier); Christ Church Ber wick – Pastoral Service (Bp Paul Barker); St Michael’s Carlton Nor th – Pastoral Visit (Bp Genieve Blackwell); Red Door Church, Parish of Caroline Springs – Pastoral Service (Bp Kate Prowd); Mon 28: Diocese of Grafton (Bp Murray Harvey, Clergy & People); Diocesan Risk Management and Insurance (Matthew Wilson, Manager); Parish of St Thomas’, Langwarrin w. St Peter’s, Pearcedale (James Connor); Tue 29: Ministry with the Aboriginal people of Australia (Bp Chris McLeod, National Aboriginal Bishop, Aboriginal

Clergy & People); Archdeaconry of Frankston (Helen Phillips); St John the Baptist Lilydale (Matthew Connolly).

Wed 30: Ministry with the Torres Strait Islander people of Australia (Torres S trait Islander Clergy & People); Geelong Grammar School (Rebecca Cody, Principal; Gordon L ingard, Howard Parkinson, Chaplains); Parish of Longbeach Chelsea (Suzanne Bluett).

OCTOBER

Thu 1: Diocese of Melbourne (Abp Philip Freier, Asst Bps Paul Barker, Bradly Billings, Genieve Black well, Kate Prowd, Clergy & People); Archdeaconry of Geelong (Jill McCoy); St George’s Malvern (Brenda Williams); Fri 2: Diocese of Newcastle (Bp Peter Stuart, Asst Bps Charlie Murry, Sonia Roulston, Clergy & People); Hume Anglican Grammar School (Bill Sweeney, Principal; Peter Waterhouse, Chaplain); St John the Evangelist Malvern East (Alex Ross); Sat 3: Diocese of North Queensland (Bp Keith Joseph, Clergy & People); Melbourne Anglican Diocesan Schools Commission (Richard St John, Chair, Rick Tudor, Deputy Chair); Holy Trinity Melbourne East (Grant Edgcumbe).

Sun 4: Pray for the Anglican Church of Tanzania (Abp Maimbo Mndolwa); Diocese of North West Australia (Bp Gar y Nelson, Clergy & People); St James’ Old Cathedral Melbourne West (Mat thew Williams, Michael Raiter, Jessica Naylor-Tatterson); St Michael & All Angels, Beaumaris – Pastoral Service (Bp Paul Barker).

THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020 • 19

OVER TO YOU

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Similarities, contrasts in tale of two pandemics H istorian Mary Sheehan, who is researching the Spanish flu pandemic in Victoria for her doctorate, has discovered some fascinating similarities and contrasts between the 1918-19 pandemic and COVID-19 a century later.

As I write, our churches are in lockdown, and the wearing of masks is mandatory whenever we are outside.

In 1919, masks were only mandatory if you were attending an “indoor church” – one of the few mass gatherings allowed during the Spanish flu pandemic.

God’s inclusive love for all people I am prompted to write in response to two articles from August TMA. Firstly the article about what was described as Gafcon’s “Australasian Celebration” (of what was unclear?) and secondly the tributes to two giants of ministry to the vulnerable and marginalised in Melbourne – the Revd Don Edgar OAM, and the Revd Jonathon Chambers. Vale.

These tributes were juxtaposed as must be with the challenges facing Melbourne Anglicans in supporting their communities through a very troubling and confronting second wave of COVID-19 infections and life disruption. These are the real and pressing challenges for us right now and yet we have ongoing ideological conflict about who is allowed to be “in” the church and who is “not welcome”.

When will the scriptural truth lived out through faithful witness to God’s inclusive love for all people become the shared song of General Synod and the broader leadership of the church? When will we move away from talking about schism and conflict to talking about embracing the richness of diversity as has been the genius of the Anglican Church over many centuries? When will expressing my personal and confirmed belief that the love that my daughters have for their partners is equal in God’s sight not draw accusations of being unfaithful to the scriptures and un-Anglican? As a member of General Synod and of the Standing Committee itself I look forward to every meeting and every discussion expecting genuine respect for diversity and inclusion – but my hope is fading.

Dr Leanne Beagley Travancore

There are parallels between the Spanish flu pandemic and COVID-19.

Spiritual temperature in society needs to rise An underlying issue in our great state lowers the spiritual temperature. It is a lack of recognition of God for society’s benefit. Some leaders forget God, meaning a different dynamic is at work and some Government decisions are outside of previous values that included Scriptural truth.

In 40 years of parish work I supported politicians of Labor, Liberal and other persuasions. They were respectful of the Judeo-Christian view. Progressive values now driving Government are mostly inner-suburban and left wing.

But left wing politicians I knew in North Carlton respected God’s truth in a way not seen today. Some leaders now are only responsive to their own convictions. When their convictions differ from others, they believe they are right to do what they believe regardless. Several impacts are not right.

Volunteerism’s established contribution to society makes it surprising that Government opposes important aspects. Its abandonment of volunteer teaching of Christian religious education in its schools hurts. The thinking of ordinary people has been discarded and state school children are denied exposure to faith. The appalling dismantling of the CFA volunteer structure is obvious. And Puffing Billy’s volunteer Preservation Society has been divested of all involvement in the management of the railway and fundraising activities in favour of a governmentappointed board. Disillusioned, many volunteers have not renewed their membership.

Progressive reform impacts education, law and order, and health.

Compared internationally, educa-

tionally children are falling behind.

In mathematics mean performance has been steadily declining over 15 years, a concern in this technological era. A lenient approach to drugs has developed despite drug-fuelled drivers causing accidents rarely seen before. Our health department has been weakened. It only had 63 staff when the virus hit compared to some 300 staff in the Government’s media department.

Something with more authority than human social reform is needed. Social reform best proceeds on the basis of God’s truth, not human constructions. Health Minister Jenny Mikakos recently quoted Jesus: “The truth will set you free” (John 8:32). I recalled the context of Jesus being challenged about his authority by oppositional Pharisees. In John 8:26 Jesus says: “He who sent me is true; and what I have heard from Him I tell the world.” Jesus revealed God’s truth to us about salvation, and principles for a rounded society.

As Anglicans we must live out our beliefs, reengaging with leaders about what our faith offers. I hope the spiritual temperature will rise.

The Revd Neil Bach Ringwood North Chair of Leon and Mildred Morris Foundation and Anglican Evangelical Trust Little of God in sexuality debate The recent Gafcon gathering as reported in August TMA is a worrying sign for the Australian Anglican Church and indeed the entire communion of the Anglican Church.

I find it most distressing that a small group among us Australian Anglicans are setting the agenda on what should not be a divisive

The fine in 1919 for disobeying stay-at-home orders was 20 pounds – about $1600 in today’s money, very close to the current penalty of $1652.

There was a host of kooky remedies for the flu epidemic.

Smoking a pipe, drinking quinine tonic wine and eating Arnott’s Shredded Wheatmeal biscuits were spruiked as sure ways to halt the pandemic and keep the family safe.

Government was forced to clamp down on these spurious claims.

The pandemic eventually dissipated by about October 1919. Some 3500 Victorians died – making

COVID-19 a milder pandemic in comparison.

Better times lay ahead, with the Roaring Twenties just around the corner.

So take heart, ever yone!

Certainly COVID-19 has been tough – but as with earlier pandemics, it will end eventually, and good times will be in store once more.

God keep us all in His peace and love through this time, and help us look toward the dawn.

issue, that is marriage equality.

Anglicans have always found compromise when faced with difficult topics; why is it that we cannot find a compromise on this issue? I also ask how we as a Church have allowed a schismatic group that is Gafcon to potentially overrun our synod and General Synod.

How did we get here? I daresay that there is very little of God in this debate. The God of scripture is one who condemns those who make extra rules on who can be included and who is excluded in the Kingdom. Jesus simply put it this way: love the Lord your God and love your neighbour as yourself.

In 2017 when marriage equality was passed through parliament in Australia we indeed saw God’s will come into fruition. Surprised as I was with the result, I turned to the scriptures for answers. I have come to realise that the way we have read scripture had been tainted by differing agendas in translation throughout recent history. For example I learnt the word homosexual was not even used in scripture until the 20th century.

People like me are not revisionists as accused, but rather true scholars of scripture seeking the truth of God’s word apart from old rivalries, divisive arguments and undercurrent agendas.

I beg our General Synod to please not debate the issue of whether marriage equality can be allowed in our Church but instead focus on how as a Church we can exist with one another where different dioceses and parishes have discerned scripture differently.

St Anselm, Society of St Francis In July TMA I first read of the life-changing “gap year” of the Community of St Anselm at Lambeth Palace and read Roland Ashby’s article with interest. I felt estranged from it as an Anglican Franciscan friar. I noted that he spoke of its Catholic spirituality, Franciscan and Benedictine, as it seemed to neglect the richness of post-Reformation religious community experience. I felt askew and somewhat adrift and wrote to reflect on my ponderings to the Dean of the Community, the Revd Simon Lewis, who informed me that there had been very real input from Brother Samuel of my own Society of Saint Francis and a contemporary Anglican Benedictine community. This to my mind gave it a new flavour and balance and the input it needed as a brief about a contemporary monastic and religious movement.

Kaye Gooch Prahran

Noel Jeffs SSF Alexandria, NSW

TMA T h e M e l b o u r n e A n g l i c a n

Over to You is a forum for civil and respectful dialogue about material published in TMA, or issues affecting the church or society more broadly.

Please email letters (preferably no longer than 250 words) to editor@melbourneanglican.org.au Letters may be edited for clarity, length and grammar.

The Revd Stuart Asquith RAAF Base, Townsville, Queensland

REPORTING CHILD ABUSE If a child is in immediate danger at any point What is Child Abuse?

Abuse and neglect includes but is not limited to: physical abuse, emotional abuse, family violence, sexual abuse, spiritual abuse, grooming, neglect

Who can report neglect and abuse of a child under the age of 18?

Children, parents, staff, volunteers, anyone

IMPORTANT CONTACT NUMBERS 20 • THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020

POLICE

000

What sorts of things must be reported?

All child safety concerns must be reported: • Disclosure of abuse and harm • Allegations, suspicions or observations • Breaches of the Code of Conduct CHILD PROTECTION

1300 360 391

CALL 000

All suspicions or reports of child abuse must be reported to the groups below: • Ministry Supervisor • Child Safe Officer • Kooyoora Professional Standards

KOOYOORA PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

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www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au

BOOKS

TMA

Holding in tension ‘two ways of seeing’ On Being Blackfella’s Young Fella: Is Being Aboriginal Enough?, by Glenn Loughrey (Coventry, 2020)

between two aspects of personal identity, living immersed in and being fully part of two different cultures, whose protocols and priorities, thoughtforms and even languages for encapsulating reality are so differently aligned. “The question that troubles me most personally is why

reviewed by Duncan Reid

T

his is a disturbing book, for a number of reasons. It starts with an acknowledgement of country that goes beyond the conventional words you’ll hear at any citizenship ceremony: “I also acknowledge that this land was stolen and those who stole it have no intentions of giving in back any time soon.” It ends with the seemingly uncompromising statement “We do not need Christianity … we do not need a saviour or an intervening god” – the “we” meaning Aboriginal people: “We do not need salvation … We are Aboriginal, that is all we need to be.” A strange thing, you might think, to hear from an Anglican priest.

In between the beginning and the end is an extended account of the author’s growing up in a farming family totally in tune with the land they were working, but unable to borrow to buy the farm because of the exclusion of Aboriginal people from civic life in Australia prior to 1967. As if all this were not disturbing enough, there is the added discomfort about how this book came to be written: a public dialogue with a well-known Iona hymn writer, ostensibly about connections between Aboriginal and

“Becoming Anglican was one of the whitest things a blackfella could do ...

Being an Anglican priest was and is the ultimate sign of assimilation …”

Celtic spiritualities, but hijacked, the author felt, by a total focus on the latter of these spiritualities as Celtic Christianity instead of Celtic spirituality. Even well-meaning whitefellas, is seems, can get caught up in the domination game, perhaps even without realising we’re doing it.

The author wakes at night thinking “that perhaps, just perhaps … there is no such category as Aboriginal spirituality”.

And yet this is not an angry book. Rather, it’s a book that grapples deeply, painfully and honestly with the experience of being pulled

I find myself in this place where I have to hold in tension the two ways of seeing. It would be so much easier to be one or the other”, he writes.

Above all this book is about an Aboriginality that, in the words of another local Aboriginal Anglican priest, “is most often preserved in the form of a memory and a deepdown sorrow pertaining to what has been lost or stolen – land, kin, dreaming”.

What we hear in this book is something of that deep-down sorrow, a sorrow that sits in unresolved tension with the equally deep sense of calling to follow Jesus, and to

ministry in his name: “Becoming Anglican was one of the whitest things a blackfella could do,” Glenn Loughrey writes. “Being an Anglican priest was and is the ultimate sign of assimilation …”.

Loughrey, who is Vicar of St Oswald’s Glen Iris, has written elsewhere about his faith and his sense of church, and how these need to find authentic Australian expressions. His sincerity about these things is not to be doubted.

This book is about his Aboriginality, and he has a great deal to say about this, much more than can be summarised in a short review. The central point he makes is that the Australian Indigenous worldview is a “philosophy of enough, enough not as a deficit but as sufficient”. This is a message we need to hear as Christians and as Australians, and indeed, as a human being in the 21st century. It will demand some sacrifices from us, intellectual sacrifices of long-cherished assumptions, about the world, ourselves and our faith. Or at least, about how our faith is expressed.

The one who stands at the centre of our faith is still there, but he may just surprise us by starting to look a bit more Aboriginal.

The Revd Dr Duncan Reid is Head of Religious Education at Camberwell Girls Grammar School, and Adjunct faculty member, Trinity College Theological School.

Devastating critique of teaching that promotes abuse The Headship of Men and the Abuse of Women: Are They Related In Any Way?, by Kevin Giles (Cascade Books, 2020) reviewed by Penny Mulvey

a number of detailed addendums – with a devastating message.

Giles quotes both scholarly research and personal narratives which make clear that churches that continue to teach male patriarchy are enabling domestic violence.

It is profoundly sad even to think there is a need for this book. It is, after all, 2020. And I am writing this for a Christian publication.

How can it be that the Church in which I was baptised and confirmed has to be told – no, not just told, but retold, again and again – that its teaching is leading to domestic violence?

Kevin Giles, ordained into the He says that while many compleAnglican Diocese of Sydney many mentarians resile from the word decades ago, has written another “patriarchy”, they continue to teach book on the issue of male headship that God has appointed men to lead in the Sydney Diocese and other in the church and the home. He conservative evangelical churches describes this as biblical patriarchy. that teach “complementarianism”.

Giles’ anger about the harm that The Headship of Men and the complementarian Churches – both Abuse of Women is a highly acces- in the developed and the develsible book – a mere 88 pages, plus oping worlds – are inflicting on

“Giles believes men and women were created equal …”

women, is palpable in every word he writes.

There can be no confusion about Giles’ intent. As he expands on his concerns about the damage inflicted by both patriarchy and complementarianism, he writes in italics: “The problem with this is that virtually all the scholarly studies on domestic abuse and violence agree that the patriarchal premise, men should lead, making all the important decisions, and women should be submissive, is the most consistent predicator of violence against women.”

Giles’ passion brings to mind Jesus overturning the tables of the money-changers in the Temple.

At what point does a Church become so blinded by its theological convictions that its members actually debate whether a woman can divorce her husband because of domestic abuse?

While the book could benefit from a closer proofing, this does not detract from the clarity with which Giles presents his case. He defines the problem: the abuse of women in the world and the church. He unpacks the horrors of

Request for Diocesan Office Holders

Old altar – in good condition – seeking new home.

1.5m long, 0.7m wide, 1.0m high Free for pick-up.

Contact Ruth 0425 776 313, priest@stphilipsmtwaverley.com www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au

The Governance and Nominations Committee is seeking expressions of interest from worshipping Anglicans who may be interested in volunteering as members of Diocesan committees or those of other Anglican entities within the Diocese of Melbourne.

Particularly, we are seeking those with experience and skills in the following areas: • Marketing • Fundraising • Governance • Business Management • Compliance • Legal • Accounting/Finance • Policy • Boards • Property Management • Education • HR • Risk management • Historic restoration/preservation • Property development • Investment • Funds Management Email your resume and a covering letter to the Governance and Nominations Committee Secretary, Pauline Caruana, at pcaruana@melbourneanglican.org.au If you know of someone within your parish that may be interested and suitable, forward this information to them.

domestic abuse and violence. He gives a broader context, cataloguing many of the abuses women in the developing world experience at the hands of men. And he gives a fuller dimension to the “controversial” verses in the Bible that are used to promote the complementarian view.

This is a book with a strong bias.

Giles believes men and women were created equal; that the Apostle Paul was turning male headship “on its head” when he instructed the husband to serve his wife to the point of giving up his life for her. And he wants there to be no misunderstanding. Churches that teach complementarianism must wake up and face the harm they are causing. There is no justification for male headship teaching.

Penny Mulvey has wide experience in communications and the church and secular media. Her present role is as Chief Communications Officer with Bible Society Australia.

C.Y.M.C. Association Inc. Seeks contact with former campers and all interested in the restoration of the historic Cyril Young Memorial Chapel.

Further information: Secretary, CYMC Association Inc. PO Box 307 Shoreham VIC 3916 shorehambushchapel@gmail.com

THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020 • 21

BOOKS

TMA

God is ‘on the front lines’ of pandemic God and the Pandemic: A Christian Reflection on the Coronavirus and Its Aftermath,

by Tom Wright (SPCK Publishing, 2020)

order to make sense of our times.

They are treated with a light touch directing us to Jesus, the focus of the next chapter.

How critical this trajectory for understanding our world is. While ancient Israel was distinctively God’s people, and God dealt with those people nationally, there is no simple, post-New Testament parallel. Which is why we need to

reviewed by Bishop Paul Barker

I

t has been a bewildering year. Diaries for 2020 remain unused. Future planning is fraught. We are overwhelmed with the daily numbers. Flattening curves is the new lingo, and no longer applies to diets. Normal is gone and the new normal remains unknown. We have all become expert epidemiologists, sourdough bakers and masks are no longer just for superheroes or carnivale.

As doors close and curfew shuts us in, as borders close and separation hurts, as isolation takes its gruelling mental toll, we debate the political strategies and long for a vaccine.

We pin our hopes, desperately, on the cleverness of science and the economics to buy their coveted solution.

It is easy to be drawn in to the vortex of a world governed by politics, economics and science. Our secular age looks for little else. We need to resist that pull and search for God. The church in earlier centuries endured pandemics or plagues, both with more frequency as well as having a more theological worldview. The ancient collects addressing plagues repay our frequent use.

While we ought to be grateful for the advances of science which have spared us, we cannot afford to pin

“... there is no simple, post-New Testament parallel. Which is why we need to interpret our world through Jesus.”

our hopes on the secular world.

On the other hand, we need to be cautious that our worldview is biblically theological, and neither superstitious nor mechanically retributive.

Tom Wright’s book, more an

extended essay, directs us to such a biblical theological worldview.

After an introductory chapter, the second chapter is on the Old Testament, touching on prophets and curses, laments and exile, passages that people appeal to in

interpret our world through Jesus.

Wright helps us see that from Jesus, we are directed forwards not backwards, not to analyse causes of tragedy or sickness, but forwards to what God will do and what his kingdom will bring. The Lord’s Prayer directs us to this kingdom, and urges our penitence. We do not need special events or signs to prompt us. We need Jesus. As Wright says, when we look at our world to find answers to what is God doing, but do not have Jesus in the centre, we are losing our way (see pages 19ff).

Wright argues that more than the question, “Why?”, the pandemic ought to drive us to “What?”

What should we do? In Acts and the epistles, he shows examples of practical Christian love, in caring for the poor and needy, and no great theological reflection on why there was a famine or sickness or disaster. We should lament. We should pray, aching prayers in the place of pain, even without words, as in Romans 8, to a God of tears himself. We should be penitent.

And we should love, doing good to all people, working with God to bring good.

Where is God in the pandemic?

On the front lines. Yes, sovereign, but not mechanistically, rather demonstrated in Jesus, the crucified king.

Wright finishes with some brief comments on how the church recovers. There is more to the terrible choice between deaths and bankruptcies, which Wright insightfully likens to pagan gods.

Asclepius, the god of healing, is in context with Mammon, who demands human sacrifice. Mars and Aphrodite look on. I share his pessimism that the outcome will not be a kinder society, nor a more equal one. The poor will suffer more, the wealthy will be vaccinated, safe, rich and secure.

More than ever the church needs to give leadership, to pray, lament, seek justice, demonstrate love, and fix our hope on God, actively working with him for good.

I am more than happy to commend this readable, helpful and engaging book.

Bishop Paul Barker has oversight of the Jumbunna Episcopate.

An invaluable invitation to rethink role of disability in God’s mission Disability in Mission: The Church’s Hidden Treasure, by David C. Deuel and Nathan G. John (Hendrickson, 2019) reviewed by Peter Adam

Disability and world mission: what a remarkable combination!

This is an amazing book. It includes many moving stories of how God uses disability to shape people for His glory, and many moving stories of remarkable ministries of people with disabilities. It is a timely correction to our assumptions that people with disabilities are to be pitied, that physical fitness and attractiveness are a requirement for effective leadership, and our bias in favour of people who are physically attractive, beautiful or striking.

Of course we should know this already.

As Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians, not only is Christ crucified the power and wisdom of God, but God also chooses humble people to belong to his church and be his servants.

We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish 22 • THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020

“As many of us know, God not only comes to us in our greatest weaknesses and vulnerabilities, but also uses them to transform us …”

things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let the

one who boasts boast in the Lord.’

[1 Cor 1:23-31, NIV 11].

And yet how easily we fall into a worldly way of evaluating people, how reluctant we are to face or admit our own weaknesses, and how easily we use worldly standards in assessing someone’s value, and their suitability for ministry or leadership.

A friend of mine was leading a student mission in a posh parish in England. They

had a working-class vicar, and a churchwarden confided to my friend that she thought that they would do much better with a vicar of their own class. My friend replied: “It is a wonder that you accept salvation from a working-class first-century Jew!” As many of us know, God not only comes to us in our greatest weaknesses and vulnerabilities, but also uses them to transform us, and then to enable and enrich our ministries.

Let me encourage you to read the story of Bonnie Armistead, and how her child Anna, with Down syndrome, enriched her life and ministry. J.M. Paul and his wife adopted a boy with profound disability, who shaped them for good, and encouraged many. Barry Funnell tells how his paraplegia transformed him for good, and enabled his ministry. We read of Paul Kasonga, whose leprosy empowered his significant evangelistic ministry in Zambia. And there are many other stories to inspire and challenge you. It is a moving and challenging book, and especially if you are not used to thinking about disability, or world mission, or both.

Wealthy and healthy people run the risk of being paralysed by any limitations and restrictions, as we see in the midst of COVID19. Humble people are thankful to God for the life they have, and look for opportunities to do good, and to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

An invaluable invitation to rethink the essential role of disability and weakness in God’s mission to the world.

The Revd Dr Peter Adam OAM is Vicar Emeritus of St Jude’s Carlton and Canon Emeritus of St Paul’s Cathedral. www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au

DIARY

TMA

On review, the less said the better I

am in the middle of reviewing, for another publication, a book I shall not name here that I am finding rather tedious. I cannot say, with Groucho Marx to satirist S.J. Perelman, that “from the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend reading it.” Rather, I am struggling even to pick it up.

Those who have been diligent enough to read this column in the past – anyone? – know that I have a decided taste for insults. Not my own, of course; I am far too polite to allow a disparaging word ever to cross my lips. But I do enjoy a witty put-down, and readers may be astonished to hear that I have been the subject of a few.

But today I am thinking of reviews, and the sort of studied insult I wish I’d thought of if I weren’t far too well-mannered to employ them. And in lockdown we all need a smile.

Dorothy Parker was a master of both wit and brevity. Many know her famous line about Katherine Hepburn in a Broadway show, that “she ran the whole gamut of emotions from A to B.” Less well known was her dismissal of I Am a Camera in a three-word review: “Me no leica.” Another gem was Parker’s review of a book by Margot Asquith: “The affair between Margot Asquith and Margot Asquith will live as one of the prettiest love stories in all literature.”

The Guardian brilliantly summed up the American television series Dynasty in a seven-word review: “The first two letters should be removed.” American journalist Heywood Broun gave 10 words to another Broadway show: “It opened at 8.40 sharp and closed at 10.40 dull.”

Back to Groucho Marx, who was less than impressed by a first night.

“I didn’t like the play,” he opined, “but then I saw it under adverse conditions – the curtain was up.”

Barney Zwartz

is media adviser to Archbishop Philip Freier and a senior fellow of the Centre for Public Christianity.

Dave Walker, www.cartoonchurch.com

“One can’t judge Lohengrin after a first hearing, and I certainly don’t intend hearing it a second time.”

Criticism can come from unu- gave every satisfaction, though I sual sources. Herbert Beerbohm have to admit that now and again Tree, the 19th century English a passing flatulence did cause it to theatre director, often suffered the break wind.” “Ah,” remarked Irving barbs of colleague Sir Henry Irving. to the horse, “a bit of a critic, eh?”

Irving once needed a horse for a The great opera composer play and, having auditioned sev- Rossini could be quite acerbic. eral, cross-examined the owner of After hearing the Paris premiere his first choice about its experience. of a Wagner opera, Rossini stated: The owner said: “In fact it recently “One can’t judge Lohengrin after a supported Mr Tree in a play and first hearing, and I certainly don’t

intend hearing it a second time.”

Asked to listen to two pieces by a young Italian composer and say which he preferred, Rossini stopped him after the first. “There’s no need to play further,” he said. “I much prefer the second.”

How about this as an enticement to listen to music, written by a Berlin critic about Wallingford Riegger’s Dichotomy: “It sounded as though a pack of rats were being slowly tortured to death, while from time to time a dying cow moaned.”

Sometimes, of course, it is the authors rather than the reviewers whose resentment is justified. One wonders how Edward Gibbon felt in presenting a volume of his masterwork, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, to William, Duke

of Gloucester only to be greeted with a dismissive reply: “Another damned thick square book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh, Mr Gibbon?”

Or how the 18th century poets Derrick and Smart felt on being told – and one feels sure they were told – of Samuel Johnson’s reply on being asked which of them was better: “Sir, there is no settling the point of precedency between a louse and a flea.”

But the best riposte was surely that of composer Max Reger to a German reviewer. He wrote to the critic: “I am sitting in the smallest room of my house. I have your review before me. In a moment it will be behind me.”

Though I admire brevity I, alas, am paid my pittance by the word.

Otherwise, I might be tempted to plagiarise my favourite book review of all, by Ambrose Bierce, author of the Devil’s Dictionary.

Bierce was no stranger to human nature, as his definition of a bore demonstrates: “Someone who speaks when you wish him to listen.” Or economy: “Purchasing the barrel of whiskey you do not need for the price of the cow you cannot afford.” Bierce’s review took just seven words, but utterly said it all: “This book’s covers are too far apart.”

Candle in darkness lightens heart and soul

by Clare Boyd-Macrae

One day, at the start of Melbourne’s second, stricter lockdown, I talked to the man I share a life and children with about how overwhelmed I felt.

Like many who had been stoic, indeed flooded with esprit de corps first time around, I felt thrown by this one.

We are in the middle of moving house – a high-stress life event rendered more complicated by COVID. We are stuck at home all day every day, just the two of us – good training, surely, for retirement. We can’t hug our adult children. We might not be able to visit the grandchild we are expecting in the spring. We miss date nights. Maybe we will never travel again. All of which are first world problems.

But COVID was affecting more than my privileged life. A dear friend who is an asylum seeker lost his habitual, remarkable resilience. Close family www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au

a word for all seasons members have lost jobs. There is so much anxiety. And, completely unrelated to the pandemic, we have a very ill daughter.

My husband listened patiently (he’s had a lot of practice) and then said, “Something that helps me when I am feeling burdened with the pain of others, is to light a candle each morning and commit them to God. I have it burning all day, and every time I see it I think of that person, prayerfully, and know that although I may be able to do nothing else, they are in God’s care. It helps me to hand it over.”

I’ve always had trouble “handing things over”. I’m a

worrier, I’m a mum, I spend a lot of useless energy wondering if there is some way I can sort things for people, knowing there isn’t and wishing there was. The simple, time-honoured gesture of candle lighting helps me bring my griefs and fears and concerns to God, knowing that God’s shoulders are broad and God’s love is fathomless.

“Can you pray for me?” is something people often say. “I’ve lit a candle for so-and-so,” I can say, knowing that it will gently remind me of that person all day long, and will also remind me that there is not much we can control in this world. It prompts

me, anxious worry-wart that I am, to trust in the big love of God. Is candle-lighting some kind of psychological trick or gimmick? Light in darkness is one of the most ancient and profound religious symbols. God as light is one of the most apt metaphors we have (with the added advantage of being non-gender specific). We are bodily creatures, living in this physical world, and we need concrete things like bread and wine, light and water, to remind us of God in all God’s extraordinary depth, beauty and unexpectedness. For Christians, prayer, with or without candles, is a practice grounded in the belief expressed in the prologue to John’s Gospel, “the light (of Christ) shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out”.

Clare Boyd-Macrae’s blog can be found at www.clareboyd-macrae.com

Spirit Words There is no amount of darkness that can extinguish the inner light.

The important thing is not to spend our lives trying to control the environment around us.

The task is to control the environment within us.

Joan D. Chittister

THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020 • 23

IN REVIEW

Battling the forces of darkness on Shetland

by Beryl Rule

C

r i m e n ov e l i s t A n n Cleeves has never been one to shrink from exploring the dark side, as the popular television series based on her Shetland books has shown.

We are near the end of the fifth series on the ABC, and from the start of episode one, when first an amputated arm and then a dismembered head were discovered on Shetland beaches, it was obvious that the faint-hearted viewer would do best to make a speedy return to St Mary Mead.

There are two stars of Shetland – DI Jimmy Perez (a memorably nuanced performance by Douglas Henshall) and the Shetland Islands themselves.

Shetland is an archipelago of over 100 islands, most of them uninhabited, and although some of the action of the TV series has been shot on the Mainland, the main island of Shetland, in the capital, Lerwick, parts of the Scottish coast have also

DI Jimmy Perez (Douglas Henshall) is in a race against time to locate a gang of ruthless people traffickers operating on Shetland.

been extensively used. The scenery contributes to a brooding sense of menace which builds inexorably as this fifth series progresses.

Ann Cleeves wrote of bare hills which “create a landscape of long horizons and big skies”, and these “long horizons”, plus towering granite cliffs, reduce people to insignificance. They have to cope with this environment, but they never command it. The winds are harsh and cold, pinching the faces of Perez and his team as they go about their work, and the narrowness of the islands means the sea is a constant, and often hostile, presence.

A painstaking investigation reveals that the mutilated body parts were those of a young Nigerian man, Daniel, who came to Mainland in search of his younger sister Zezi (Titana Muthui). In a video found on his computer she begs him to give her captors what they want or she will be killed, and Perez comes to the appalled realisation that people traffickers are on Shetland and she is in their hands.

TMA

Since the murder of his wife Fran 10 years before, Perez has centred his life on his stepdaughter Cassie (Erin Armstrong) and his police work.

Passionate about fairness, he hates exploitation and prejudice, and is willing to take on the rich and influential in society, as well as his own superiors in the cause of justice as he sees it. He combines sheer slog with an instinct which helps him link up seemingly unconnected pieces of evidence to form a whole.

But this case challenges him in a new way. Zezi is the same age as his daughter, and his driving determination to rescue her leads to the criticism that he has lost professional detachment and become too emotionally involved.

He is closing in on the smuggling ring, but time is running out. And in the Shetland series, where very bad things often happen to people who don’t deserve them, there are no guarantees of a happy ending.

See episodes of Shetland on iview.

Two more series are to be produced.

Traditions and change clash in newly independent India

by Wendy Knowlton

Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy was always going to provide director Mira Nair and writer Andrew Davies with a sizeable challenge. To do justice to its sprawling scope in six episodes was a daunting task. It is 1951 in post-partition India. The religious, political and social tensions from Brahmphur to Calcutta and Delhi to Lucknow provide the background to the stories of the Mehra, Kapoor, Khan and Chatterjis families and in particular Mrs Rupa Mehra’s quest to find a husband for her daughter, Lata (Tanya Maniktala). The result, whilst not being able to match the achievements of the original, is certainly worth watching.

The first episode opens with the wedding of Lata’s sister Savita (Raskika Dugal) to a man she barely knows – the choice of her emotionally volatile mother. Whilst Savita is compliant, university student Lata

is less inclined to embrace tradition.

Her attraction to Muslim man Kabir (Danesh Razvi), and later to charming poet Amit, horrifies her mother who prefers the solid suitability of shoe factory foreman Haresh and is determined to marry her wayward younger daughter to a boy of her choosing.

Whilst Tanya Maniktala brings a wide-eyed innocence to Lata and captures her youthful impulsiveness, it is Mahira Kakkar as her widowed mother who gets to have real fun. Afflicted with an unfaithful daughter-in-law, a critical father and a child who horrifies her by falling in love with a Muslim, she has much to bewail. Ishaan Khattar captures the immaturity of Savita’s new brotherin-law Maan (Ishaan Khattar) and his transformative obsession when besotted by courtesan Saeeda Bai. And as the object of his devotion, Tabu is mesmerizing. World weary while pretending to value the clients who purchase her music and

Lata (Tanya Maniktala) considers her romantic options in ‘A Suitable Boy’.

company, she is attracted by Maan’s youthful adoration, and the way he embodies the ghazals she soulfully sings.

It is a shame that there is not time to dwell on all that the novel takes at a leisurely pace. The brief scene in

which Lata attempts to convince her university lecturer to accept an essay on James Joyce is a replacement for 11 pages of intellectual wrangling in the book where Lata’s brother-in-law Pran takes on the university’s stuffy English department. The novel

delights in such tangential conversations. Words are treasured. The Chatterjis family often converse in rhyming couplets and Saeeda Bai embraces Urdu love poetry in her haunting songs. There are nods to this fascination in the series, but the imperative to move the story along limits what’s possible.

Nair was insistent that filming took place in India and from the explosions of colour during Holi to the poverty of the countryside to the misty morning when Kabir takes Lata boating on the river, A Suitable Boy transports the viewer to another time and place. Despite some clunky exposition and the necessary sacrifice of much of the novel’s political complexity, this series is a brave attempt to balance the personal dramas of varied families with Lata’s emotional journey whilst providing a glimpse into the trials of an emerging nation.

A Suitable Boy is available on BBC First.

Cheney’s story in Vice provides a timely warning as US presidential election approaches

by Tim Kroenert

Adam McKay’s emergence as a would-be satirist extraordinaire was a long time coming. The filmmaker cut his teeth in sketch comedy, with famed New York improv troupe the Upright Citizens Brigade and as a writer for Saturday Night Live.

Although his IMDB page is stacked with lowbrow laugh-a-thons, many of them starring Will Ferrell, in recent years he’s found more serious targets for his well-honed comedic darts; notably in 2015’s The Big Short, a rambunctious, fourth-wall-breaking takedown of the men behind the 2007 financial crash.

Christian Bale as George Bush’s power-wielding Vice President, Dick Cheney.

For his 2018 follow-up Vice – a biopic of the Bush Jr era Vice rather more scattershot effect. As the can be”. Sure enough, Vice provides President Dick Cheney – McKay film opens, a title card calls Cheney a portrait that is often frustratingly digs from the same bag of surreal “one of the most secretive leaders in opaque but also endlessly compeland metafictive tricks that were so history”, and promises the story we ling, and occasionally downright effective in The Big Short, albeit to a are about to witness is “as true as it cutting.

24 • THE MELBOURNE ANGLICAN • September 2020

The first half of the film follows Cheney (Christian Bale) from his days as an alcoholic Yale drop-out, to his stint as a White House intern during the Nixon administration.

Egged on by the ambitions of his wife Lynne (Amy Adams) and mentor Donald Rumsfeld (Steve Carrell), he goes on to be a key player under Reagan and Bush Sr, developing a fascination for unitary executive theory – a doctrine that vests the office of the President with virtually limitless power – and helping lay the foundation for the rise of conservative powerhouse Fox News.

When his daughter Mary (Alison Pill) comes out as gay, Cheney puts family first, retiring from politics and settling down as CEO of Halliburton. Sardonically, McKay rolls credits, giving both the Cheney clan and the world a neat, happy ending that, of course, wasn’t to be:

Cheney’s deadliest chapter was still to come. The second half of the film explores his accumulation of power as VP to George W. Bush (Sam Rockwell), as he becomes one of the driving forces behind the War on Terror and its raft of associated civic and military horrors.

It’s probably no coincidence that Vice’s arrival on Netflix Australia coincides with the heating-up of the US presidential election race. Over the coming months the world will wait with bated breath to see what will be the fate of one of America’s most controversial Presidents. In the meantime, Vice provides a perspective on the recent history of the party that President represents, through an examination of one of its most influential figures. It serves as a timely reminder of the human cost of allowing power to proceed unchecked. www.tma.melbourneanglican.org.au