Insights Autumn 2020

insights Autumn 2020

Courage under

fire

Easter

RADICALLY RESETS

our world view

First Peoples '

Spirituality

W E L C O M E F R O M T H E G E N E R A L S E C R E TA R Y

All in this together I

REV. JANE FRY GENERAL SECRETARY The General Secretary is appointed by the Synod to provide leadership to the Church by actively engaging in strategic thinking about the life, direction, vision and mission of the Church.

depicted in the wonderful ’m profoundly grateful Rublev icon from the fifteenth for – and slightly overawed century. These experiences by – the contribution humanise everyone and bring made by the Uniting Church’s communities closer together Disaster Recovery Chaplains and they also give us a glimpse Network (DRCN) over the into the heart of God. And yes, I last few months. Their do know that they don’t always willingness to offer not only bring out the best in everyone their skills and experience as the sad stories of looting but also their heartfelt and vandalism indicate, but compassionate attention to that too is part of the human individuals and communities story of these times. dealing with overwhelming disasters has simply been When we learn – usually the extraordinary. I know that it hard way – that the status quo was intense, confronting is not nearly as secure as and seemingly we once thought, it relentless can be a profound and I know THESE and perspective that many EXPERIENCES – altering chaplains HUMANISE experience. For started the EVERYONE some people, New Year, AND BRING it’s been a ‘mad exhausted COMMUNITIES as hell’ moment so, please, TOGETHER that has given church, look new energy and after them even urgency to their as you continue activism and advocacy to pray for the recovery in their communities as well and renewal of communities as a sharper awareness around the state. of the bigger picture and the interconnections and Every time we face disasters dependencies of all living like this, it seems we’re things. This is at least a hopeful reminded again that we consequence. are all in this together and dependent not only on each It is hope itself that takes a other but on all forms of battering in circumstances life. In these circumstances, like those we’ve experienced the continued emphasis on over the last few months. As ‘economy’ at the expense of so many have commented, ‘ecology’ seems short-sighted, these are unprecedented problematic and verging on experiences – how many mystifying. That we are ‘all in stories have you heard that this together’ is demonstrated start 'in the 20, 30, 40, 50 etc. in the spontaneous eruptions years that I’ve lived here?' of hospitality that have also been evident across The scale of the destruction devastated communities – and devastation pulls apart all hospitality in the ancient the old securities and leaves sense of welcoming the all our vulnerabilities exposed, stranger. I’m sure that, a situation not greatly helped for many, it has been a by competing political ‘climate’ grace-filled experience agendas. of ‘entertaining angels Disciples live in the tension unawares’ and I’m reminded between being creatures of the biblical story of made in the image of God with Abraham by the oaks of responsibilities to the whole Mamre (Genesis 18: 1ff.)

THE HOLY TRINITY, AN ICON BY ANDREI RUBLEV DEPICTS THE THREE ANGELS THAT VISITED ABRAHAM AT THE OAKS OF MAMRE

creation (stewardship), even as we remain creatures bound to the rest of creation and its circumstances. As Wendell Berry puts it: "The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility.

To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope…"

Disciples also live in the knowledge that God is in the process of creating and redeeming the whole creation and our hope and imagination is always oriented towards the unfolding of God’s coming kin[g]dom. It’s possible that we haven’t always realised just how personally disruptive and challenging living this hope might be and how many times on this journey we will need to change our minds in God’s direction, nevertheless, that is what we’re repeatedly asked to do and asked again in the face of this devastation.

Individually and collectively, can we find the courage to face this unfolding reality and contribute hopefully and heartfully to bringing God’s vision for creation to life?

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Courage under fire

This issue Insights hears the many stories of self-sacrifice, narrow escapes and tragedies, and so much hurt as a result of the bushfires that have been literally burnt into our collective memories. We hear from Churches that opened their doors for displaced families. As communities journey on the long road to recovery, it will be important to keep hearing the voices of those most affected, those who have experienced trauma and the importance placed on mental health as a key consideration of the recovery process.

REGULARS 3 WELCOME 6

YOUR SAY ONLINE

7 NEWS 27 TELL US YOUR STORY 36 MAKING MONEY MATTER 38

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BELIEF MATTERS

41 LECTIONARY REFLECTIONS 44

CULTURE WATCH

The Uniting Church in Australia is one of the country’s largest denominations.

Our vision is that it will be a fellowship of reconciliation, living God’s love, following Jesus Christ and acting for the common good to build a just and compassionate community of faith.

MANAGING EDITOR Adrian Drayton EDITOR Jonathan Foye PRODUCTION/DESIGN Rana Moawad

EDITORIAL/ADVERTISING/ DISTRIBUTION INQUIRIES PHONE 02 8267 4304 FAX 02 9264 4487 ADDRESS Insights, PO Box A2178, Sydney South, NSW, 1235 EMAIL insights@nsw.uca.org.au WEB www.insights.uca.org.au Insights is published by the Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of New South Wales and the ACT. Articles and advertising content do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or of the Uniting Church. Contents copyright. No material from this publication may be copied, photocopied or transmitted by any means without the permission of the Managing Editor.

CIRCULATION: 15,000. ISSN: 1036-7322 Commonwealth of Australia 2020.

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M O D E R AT O R ’ S R E F L E C T I O N

The fear of being forgotten Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.

I REV. SIMON HANSFORD MODERATOR The Moderator is elected to give prophetic and pastoral leadership to the Synod, assisting and encouraging expression and fulfilment of faith, and the witness of the Church.

Keep up with the Moderator by following these hashtags on Facebook and Instagram. #moderatorinsession #AllOfThisIsUs

its leaders to justice in the temple and the marketplace; justice for those too easily ignored or forgotten.

A young mother, Hannah, and her three children, Aaliyah, Laianah and Trey, were murdered in the days before I wrote this. My faith in the crucified Christ asserts that God not only weeps at their deaths, but was with them at that worst of all moments.

n late January, when the South Coast bushfires The ministry of Jesus was were still threatening constantly welcoming and communities and lives, restoring those who were Rev. Stephen Robinson misremembered by culture, and I visited people and congregations from Batemans or illness, or class, or age.

My faith in the risen Christ People who had to find their Bay through to Eden. Apart way to Jesus - through crowds, asserts that the mercy of from the trauma, and the God holds them now. They through roofs, through ongoing fear of what might are never forgotten to God – hypocrisy or prejudice, or happen, there was the none of us is. politics, or religion shared concern that at some – had been point, quite soon, the media Easter proclaims a relegated would place their interest mystery in which to those somewhere else, and the we place our not worth South Coast disaster might hope and our B E I N G F O U N D worrying be relegated to “other news”. lives – that the B Y J E S U S , T H E Y about.

God of all creation That was already the case FOUND LIFE and all of history Being for the North Coast, as the remembers us, found by horrific fires in the Richmond and is with us, most Jesus, they Valley, and those surrounding especially in those found life.

Port Macquarie and Taree moments which are were superseded by the The central place of darkest of all.

South Coast’s crisis. Those Easter is the core of our faith still crippled by drought The risen Christ declares in Jesus Christ. The cross west of the mountains could that the one who was was for those cast aside, only watch as their ongoing deemed forgotten, murdered abstracted to the rubbish tip. disaster rated barely a on a Calvary cross, was The confrontation of Jesus’ mention. Remember us … remembered by the love of death is not only that he died, God and raised to life. but the manner of his death: Where the media turns its outcast with criminals, those lens, the eye of the nation So, in our hope we will call follows, and those responsible deemed by empire as best attention to those who suffer, forgotten. for our government. For a few, we will sing for justice in the with the recent - wonderful marketplace, we will act for In the same breath, it is here rainfall, the drought and the those deemed unworthy. that we realise none of us is fires are almost a memory.

We will remind our leaders forgotten by God. If Jesus is The courage and the fear and and our communities of placed with the outcast, with the loss and the need to act those whose names and those society seeks to punish for the future will become circumstances are too easily and ignore, then is anywhere yesterday’s story. We will be forgotten, and we will bear beyond the embrace of God? crowded out by contagion, witness to the God who is or impeachment, or the Crucified between two with us, who loves us, and bumbling machinations of criminals, whose names remembers us – forever. politics, or recent royal antics. are forgotten to all but the Remember us…

Then he said, “Jesus, living God, Jesus is with us. remember me when you When we believe ourselves One of the tasks of those come into your kingdom.” to be of no value, the cross who follow Jesus is to proclaims otherwise, because Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, remember those whom we today you will be with me in Jesus Christ is most truly God are encouraged to forget, and precisely where all seems lost. Paradise.” [Luke 23-42-43]. those we are discouraged to remember. The prophets called the community and

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OPINION

SEEKING ASYLUM IS A CHRISTIAN ISSUE Some of us at the Pitt St. Uniting Church, where I am a member, see the treatment of people seeking asylum in Australia as very much a Christian issue. And some of us find the locking up of the most vulnerable of people, fleeing danger in their own country (where Australia has sometimes had a hand), deeply troubling. One does not even have to refer to the parable of the Good Samaritan, although one can. We are called to be the Good Samaritan, in the case of the people scapegoated by the Australian Government.

I would like to thank people such as Warren, Rebecca, Des, and Lizzy, who have supported the weekly protest for human rights and justice for refugees, we have held every week for over two years at 5pm every Friday, now at the Sydney Town Hall steps.

And a shout out to our friend Kerry Phillips and her group who do the same in Melbourne, and also our friends in Newcastle and Adelaide, who also stand up for the people our government falsely calls ‘illegals’ and who we are obliged to under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, or simply as decent human beings.

Despite Behrouz Boochani finding sanctuary in Aotearoa-New Zealand, where my father also found freedom (as a refugee from Austria in 1940) there are still 500 people being held as Australia’s political hostages on PNG and on Nauru, often in appalling conditions.

I was recently charged with graffiti offences. I was writing in support of refugee rights. The ABC and certainly the commercial stations are closed to these arguments. I received statements in support of this action, and one was from Noam Chomsky, US dissident, linguist and activist:

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“Pope Francis described the “refugee crisis” as in reality a moral crisis of the West. He was quite right. There are no words to capture adequately the reaction of the rich and privileged to the plight of miserable people fleeing from disaster, one of the great scandals of modern history, reminiscent of the refusal—particularly on the part of the US—to accept Jews fleeing from Nazi Germany, consigning them to gas chambers.

The competition for championship in moral depravity is keen, but Australia ranks high. And we are only witnessing the early stages of the crisis, sure to escalate as the impact of global warming has its sharply increasing impact, thanks in no small measure to the international criminals who are dedicated to bringing on the catastrophe, the US in the lead and Australia trying hard to keep up.”

I believe we should take Noam Chomsky’s words, and those of Pope Francis, very seriously.

Uniting Church people are free to call me on 0451 509 232.

We would love to see more Uniting Church people at our ‘Happenings’ on Fridays, 5pm, at the Town Hall Steps. This is not only about the people the Australian state has been scapegoating for decades, but about the place we want our kids and grandkids to grow up in. Please join us. In the Uniting Church we could make this a campaign issue, and really show our mettle.

Best wishes and in solidarity, Stephen Langford OT (Order of Timor)

Palm Sunday is one of the most relevant dates on the Christian calendar. As Jesus rode into a bursting Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover festival, people were so moved they laid down palm branches and clothes in front to honour him. Back then, palm branches were symbols of triumph and victory, and created the atmosphere of a modern day ticker-tape parade.

news

Let’s imagine a scene where Pilate could have entered Jerusalem on a war horse form one gate, and Jesus entered from the other side on a donkey. He doesn’t travel with an armed entourage but with ordinary fishing folk. The Romans wish for nobody to notice Jesus entering. He is a nobody from nowhere. But palms reserved for Pilate were used for Jesus, whose donkey was an ancient symbol of peace – appropriate, since he proposed an alternative to injustice and oppression.

Faced by injustice, we have the choice to stand by or to stand up, and choose which parade to attend. One of our most pressing concerns today is how to treat refugees and people seeking asylum with the dignity and respect any person deserves.

Palm Sunday WHY

Across Christmas, many churches contributed to the Uniting Give Hope Voucher Appeal. This directly helped In the face of this, Gottardo met many people seeking asylum - some of inspiring and deeply political men who them medically transferred from Nauru see each other as brothers and and Manus, and all affected who often care more for their by destitution and hunger fellow detainees than for as a result of cuts in the FACED BY themselves. Most of the government’s financial, INJUSTICE, men told the delegation casework and counselling WE HAVE THE how they should focus on support. The vouchers CHOICE TO the desperate situation have been distributed by S TA N D B Y O R that their brothers in organisations such as the TO S TA N D U P Bomana Immigration Centre Jesuit Refugee Service, who were facing. This was a have community spaces in striking demonstration of what it Westmead and Parramatta where means to love your neighbour. refugees and people seeking asylum are welcomed and supported.

The men had been in Bomana, the $24m centre funded and built by the Australian Late last year, seven faith-led Catholic Home Affairs Department, where they representatives from Australia visited had no access to daylight, no pillows, no asylum seekers and refugees living in visitors, no legal advice. Many reported Papua New Guinea. Carolina Gottardo, conditions amounting to physical and Director of Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS psychological torture, and the future for Australia), said she saw young men some of these men is deeply uncertain. with their lives ahead of them — except They face constant pressure to sign that many of those lives have been papers agreeing to return to countries taken away by unfair and unnecessary where they face death or serious harm. offshore detention policies that continue They have very recently been moved to to haunt them after seven long years of hotels, but some are so ill they can’t eat. institutionalised emotional torture. Some will be resettled to other countries but We’re entering into a new decade, where others remain in limbo, denied the safety current refugees from war and political and sanctuary they legally seek. oppression are likely to be joined by many

MATTERS

more fleeing increasing climate-triggered disasters. Whatever justice we can establish for people seeking asylum today will help lay the foundations of a just climate transition - which must involve protecting the most disadvantaged and vulnerable populations within and across countries.

Dee Davidian THE 2020 PALM SUNDAY PEACE RALLY FOR REFUGEES This is a time when Christians can march alongside thousands of all faiths or no faith - with the common purpose of compassion for others and passion for justice.

WHEN: Palm Sunday 5 April, 2-4pm.

WHERE: Belmore Park- next to Central Station SIGN UP HERE: tinyurl.com/palmsundaysignup Read EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW guide: tinyurl.com/palmsundayresources

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Faithful speak out

AT PEOPLE’S CLIMATE ASSEMBLY AFTER BUSHFIRES

Photo by Carrie Dennes and features L to R: Rev Paul Chalson (UCA), Padamdeep Singh (Sikh), Rabbi Shimon Eddi (Jewish), Muhammed Aksu (Muslim), Dean Sahukhan (Chair of Canberra Interfaith Forum), Fr Rod Bower (Anglican).

Members of the Uniting Church joined Anglicans, Catholics, Quakers, Buddhists, and people of other faiths in Canberra during the first sitting week of Parliament to stand up for meaningful action on climate change.

organised by the Canberra Interfaith Forum and the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture.

“A religious response to climate change is essential for a healthy spirituality, ” he said.

“It’s an expression of our connection with God, with Organisers say that distress each other and with the D I S T RE S S caused by the bushfire earth. Our responsibility C AU S ED BY T H E crisis has heightened their to care for the earth B U S H F I RE C RI S I S sense of urgency that much is something that is H A S H EI G H T EN ED stronger national action is common to all the faiths.”

T H E S EN S E O F needed.

Gillian Reffell is a Buddhist U RG EN C Y The Australian Religious and Secretary of ARRCC. Response to Climate Change She was part of a panel of (ARRCC) co-hosted the gathering, faith speakers on the Monday known as the People’s Climate Assembly. which included Fr Bower and a Catholic Christian ARRCC supporters made Brigidine Sister, Jane Keogh. a Meditation Tent available and a “With the wake-up call that has been number of faith leaders participated the bushfire crisis, we ask that the in the peaceful, silent encirclement Government be guided by those of Parliament House on the Tuesday experts who are offering pathways to a afternoon. prosperous and sustainable future which Well-known Gosford Anglican priest, Fr does not depend on fossil fuels,” she Rod Bower, helped lead an Interfaith said.

Mourning Ritual on the Tuesday morning for bushfire victims. The Ritual was

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“Australia is very vulnerable to global warming,” she said. “It would be in the interests of country people, our children, Australia’s Pacific neighbours and the world if we finally begin to embrace the new, clean technologies of the future.”

Sr Jane Keogh spoke about the need to reach out to the “unconvinced”. “With so many suffering the direct effects of climate change, now is a pivotal time to counter the lies of the Murdoch media.”

“People are good at heart, but they don’t understand the facts,” she advised the gathering. “Right now, as long as they think that you do respect them, they might be more interested in talking about the issues. Talk about how the climate issue has affected you personally and what you’re doing about it. Then listen, be respectful.”

The People’s Climate Assembly is hosting five days of events, with a coalition of more than twenty community organisations, including School Strike for Climate, Stop Adani, Maritime Workers Union, Aboriginal Elders, Extinction Rebellion, ARRCC and Doctors for the Environment.

WEB SERIES

connects faith to life

Non-Executive Directors

Uniting Financial Services Board

Are you a bit tired of viral cat videos, people sharing their photoshopped lives on Instagram and people getting outraged about, well, everything on social media?

A web series created by the Communications Unit of the Synod called Hold That Thought wants you to stop, pause and for about 90 seconds listen to what Jesus has to offer you in your everyday life.

Above all, Hold That Thought seeks to start honest conversations about a range of everyday topics about spirituality — without all the baggage.

What began as an idea to do speak into the lives of everyday Australians has now grown into a project with season three on the way in early 2020.

Hold That Thought was devised as a series of 90 second “sermons” from Uniting Church ministers that is designed to tackle some of the bigger topics.

With provocative titles like “The world is your neighbour”, “Only we can change the world”, “How do you know what you want?” and “Who do you reckon God is?”, Hold That Thought is a provocative series across 26 episodes that unpacks the nature of faith for people who might not have been to Church.

To find out more about Hold That Thought you can stream the episodes from on your favourite device from Facebook, IGTV or YouTube by searching @holdthatau.

Become part of the Hold That Thought community by liking the Facebook page and suggesting topics you would like tackled in season three.

WHERE CAN I FIND IT? facebook.com/holdthatau instagram.com/holdthatau

Treasury and Investment Services (TIS), a Board of the Synod of NSW and the ACT of the Uniting Church in Australia, operating through The Uniting Church (NSW) Trust Association Limited trading as Uniting Financial Services (UFS) seeks at least two non-Executive Directors for an initial three-year term. These are paid positions.

A majority of directors must be members of the Uniting Church.

The Board meets monthly during working hours. Board members typically serve on two or more sub-committees, the meetings for which are typically held on the same day as Board meetings.

Making a contribution to the organisation

Skills Sought Financial Services (treasury, banking, investments). Of particular interest are applicants with investment management, credit management, corporate strategy, risk, audit or business development skills.

With the recent retirement of Non-Executive Directors, the opportunity exists for at least two suitably qualified and experienced individuals to join the Board of Directors and make a contribution to our organisation.

Role of the Board TIS through UFS provides financial leadership and support to all the entities of the Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of NSW and ACT, managing the Church’s financial assets and providing oversight of the Church’s investment strategy.

Current funds under management are $1.6 billion.

UFS’s mission is to provide disciplined ethical investment with a heart for the Church’s mission. “The Church” includes organisations such as local congregations, parish missions (e.g. Wayside Chapel, Parramatta Mission), aged care and early learning.

Annual distributions from UFS are a large source of income for the Synod highlighting the pivotal role of UFS within the Church.

UFS is not subject to oversight

by APRA but chooses to operate as far as possible within APRA guidelines and expectations. To this end, considerable investment continues to be made in the maintenance of an integrated risk and compliance regime and the UFS management team operates within a management and compliance framework similar to that found within internal treasury operations of large commercial entities.

The people we seek for this position will have a Financial Services (treasury, banking, or investment) background achieved in a senior executive or partner capacity. We are particularly interested in applicants with investment management, credit management, corporate strategy, risk, audit or business development skills. One or both will be members of the Uniting Church.

In addition, sound, senior commercial and leadership experience, tertiary qualifications, demonstrated teamwork and excellent communication skills will enable the successful applicant to build strong relationships across the Board and through the organisation.

While membership of the Uniting Church is not a pre-requisite for all board positions, it is a requirement that the successful applicant be aware of and sympathetic to the polity and ethos of the Uniting Church.

How to Apply Please send an expression of interest with a CV to chair@unitingfinancial.com.au For more information unitingfinancial.com.au Closing date 6 April 2020

UFS is a separately incorporated entity (a company limited by guarantee) governed by a Board of Directors, elected because of their skills, experience and acumen.

Subscribe to tiny.cc/holdthatthought

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Retreat Yourself Across the first (and hottest!) weekend of February a group of young adults from across the greater Sydney basin travelled to Lithgow for a weekend of Christ-filled community and spiritual challenge.

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oskins Memorial Uniting Church‘s Rev Matt Trounce and children and families worker Josh Bleyerveen threw wide the doors of their hall for Retreat Yourself welcoming in over 45 young adults and leaders from as far afield as as Penshurst, Engadine, Leichhardt, Baulkham Hills and Terrigal. The group trekked over the Blue Mountains in cars, minibuses and on the train to enter into a weekend that encouraged them build strong new relationships as they prepared to launch into 2020.

The Pulse team, working in partnership with leadership from Christian Students Uniting (CSU), delivered a program that welcomed the young adults into a truly diverse community and offered opportunities such as: combined worship with the Lithgow UC community; a garden party, featuring an op-shop fashion parade; and exposure to spiritual practices such as using a labyrinth, spiritual drawing/ doodling, and using lectio divina to deepen their study of the bible.

There was plenty of The luxurious gardens and food, laughs and cold grounds provided an oasis in water to drink, with the the middle of town, and set a perfect backdrop to the garden overwhelming feedback from attendees being party on Saturday afternoon. a request for another The outfits on display set a gathering so they could high standard, with all taking continue the community part making bold and unique established as a part of fashion choices. Small cakes, this new initiative. cheeses and other finger food sustained the group as they Retreat Yourself will return played quoits, croquet, bocce, in 2021. and politely discussed the Steve Molkentin weather (as one should at such occasions).

While food filled their bellies regularly, and the Lithgow pool provided a welcome chance for everyone to cool off, it was Saturday night’s Sacred Storytelling that allowed each person to share something of God’s work in their lives. The Holy Spirit moved powerfully during this time, allowing young people from a range of cultural backgrounds (including Tongan, Fijian, Australian, Indian and Congolese) to give testimony to the difference Jesus is making in their lives through song and speech.

The Holy Spirit moved powerfully allowing young people from a range of cultural backgrounds to give testimony to the difference Jesus is making in their lives through song and speech

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Glenbrook makes a meal out of it When members of Glenbrook Uniting Church saw a need to strengthen ties at their local church, they did so in a very biblical way: they hosted a meal.

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he idea came when two members of the congregation, Tammy Lee and Emma Whale, were talking about how the young teens in the church’s youth group were not really connecting outside of church events.

“It came about as we were talking about how to help the youth to connect with each other, and we realised that even the adults weren’t connecting much because, being busy families, we aren’t all there every week which means we often miss each other,” Ms Lee said.

“We realised we needed something too, and having a connect dinner, especially in summer, the adults could meet and get to know each other and the kids could hop in the pool… That’s kind of how it went..”

“So perhaps in a small way it was offering no strings attached connection, saying, “We are here for you – just as you are, just as we are… when and if you feel ready for it,” Rev. Ellia said.

“I gave a little Nadia Bolz Webber-inspired speech about how when the minister disappoints or lets you down, it’s the community of people who make all the difference in being church … So keep turning up for each other, keep being the church for one another especially when it’s hard or messy or uncertain.”

“We had 50 people come and everyone made some great connections and the young people had IT WAS OFFERING heaps of fun,” Ms Whale said.

NO STRINGS AT TA C H E D CONNECTION S AY I N G “ W E A R E H E R E F O R YO U "

“The kids all made new friends too from what I could see,” Ms Lee said.

“Outside of the youth group the boys realised they had other very important things in common like handball and gaming.”

“We had a chance to chat with people that we don’t normally get a chance to, other newcomers as well as established members.”

On 7 December, the congregation hosted a community dinner at Emma and Lachlan Whale’s house in Springwood. It was open to members of the church, newcomers, and anyone else who might be interested.

“This event also represents a consistent effort to practice hospitality as a core value of the congregations and as an expression of the hospitality of God,” Rev. Ellia said.

Ellie Elia is Minister of the Word at Glenbrook. She told Insights that she was impressed at the hospitality shown by members of the congregation.

“The congregation has embraced the opportunity to share meals with people they may not know. It’s been very effective in helping long term members form deeper connections too.”

“I just love that they saw a gap and generously went about filling it with authentic hospitality for others,” she said.

“I also believe that God works in places where there are authentic connections … if we can be truly welcome to each other and developing life-giving relationships, then we can also do this for others.”

Rev. Ellia told Insights that organisers invited people who may not be directly connected to Glenbrook or to the church as yet, but who are searching for meaningful connections in a faith community.

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Jonathan Foye

Synod acts to reduce emissions ACROSS CHURCH AND STATE

The NSW Environment Minister, Matt Kean, declared that he was not going to wait until the end of summer to have a conversation about addressing climate change. He said “that conversation needs to start now”.

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he Uniting Church Synod of NSW and ACT has not only started talking, but acting as well. In mid-December 2019 more than 50 people across the life of the church came together to begin the work of implementing the Synod’s Climate Strategy.

The Strategy, which was proposed and supported at the July Synod meeting, resolved to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across all parts of the church and to advocate to governments for much stronger action on climate change.

The Synod leadership team has responsibility for developing and implementing the Strategy over the next three years. It was their decision to host Tuesday’s gathering of a whole of church ‘reference group’. Synod General Secretary Rev Jane Fry said, “This is a crucial issue for the life of our church and our world. We need the ideas and involvement of the whole church to make this strategy happen”.

The Reference group heard from the Moderator, Rev Simon Hansford, about why the Church cares about climate change. The Moderator, declared that “climate change is happening now. We see its impact in the drought and the struggles of farmers. We see it in the fires and smoke encircling our cities and towns.” But while the scale of the challenge is new, “Care for creation has always been part of the Christian way and the faith of our Uniting Church.”

The meeting established task groups in five key areas. These include: y Reducing Synod emissions (boards, agencies and schools)

y Reducing emissions by congregations and among church members y Advocacy, calling for action by all levels of government y Support for the Global Climate Strikes (initiated by young people) y Climate anxiety and pastoral care The groups set their initial meeting dates and the sketched the first tasks to complete. While made up of volunteers, the groups will be supported by Synod staff and members of the Uniting advocacy team. The Uniting Church decided at its Synod in July 2019 to adopt a Church-wide Climate Action Strategy.

This first meeting of people from across the Church met to set achievable targets for 2020.

Jon O’Brien is the Senior Social Justice Adviser for Uniting

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t c e f r Pe Storm A

C onte nts The fires caused widespread damage. How do we take the road to recovery?

P.16 FROM THE FRONTLINES Real accounts from the communities affected by the fires

P.18 CHAPLAIN AT THE GATE OF EDEN How a Chaplain from the DRCN confronted the devastation at Eden P.20 COURAGE UNDER FIRE When communities face danger, they stand together united P.22 AN IMMENSE PRIVILEGE Rev. Peter Overton recounts his experiences from the NSW North Coast

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We have been shocked by images and footage of the devastating fires since September 2019. People describe the eerie silence in towns across the north and south coasts as whole communities have been raised to the ground.

A

s the Christmas wrapping was “Devastation and heartbreak, and people recycled, fires began to pop up who need not to be forgotten,” Rev in almost every state becoming Simon Hansford reflects on what he saw. supercharged with the hot dry winds and “In some places like Quaama the asphalt the soaring temperatures. Conditions were labelled catastrophic. It was literally on the roads into the town has melted, infrastructure has been destroyed a perfect storm of weather conditions and people feel like they have been and tinder-dry bush after years of neglected by the government. It’s a drought. terrible situation and the road back will The sunburn country has had its share be a long one.” of fire disasters over the years, but this “People on the front lines will be suffering attack raged across Australia taking for years, or in the case of people who flora and fauna in its wake. The battles have lost family members, for the rest of to save homes and livelihoods was their lives.” waged on many fronts, with the RFS on the frontlines risking themselves when In places like Cobargo at least 3,000 their own livelihoods were on the line. cattle have been lost, and at least 300 The Uniting Church Disaster Response other properties damaged. Keep in mind Chaplaincy Network (DRCN) galvanised the area is home to only 3,500 or so into action and Chaplains were deployed residents; in other words – everyone into affected areas. knows someone who has lost everything.

“Just since the beginning of this year There are so many stories of selfthere have been 36 assistance areas,” sacrifice, narrow escapes and explains DRCN’s national coordinator tragedies, and so much hurt around.

Rev. Stephen Robinson. “They've been As communities journey on the long really, really busy and some of those road to recovery it will be important to chaplains have been in place through keep hearing those voices of those who the most difficult parts of that fire have been made homeless, those who emergency when evacuation centres have experienced trauma and vicarious were being evacuated, fire storms were trauma and the importance placed on on and so on. So it's been really very mental health as a key consideration intense in terms of what the chaplains of the recovery process. This coupled have been doing.” with rising climate anxiety and the need to listen to divergent and complex The fires took lives, destroyed homes viewpoints will re-shape the way the and livelihoods, turned day into night, whole of Australia moves forward as a killed close to a billion animals and result of the tragedy. sent toxic smoke spiralling into the atmosphere to circle the globe. In New And yet there is laughter (often very dark Zealand glaciers turned grey with smoke humour) and compassion and generosity, and soot. The fires seemed more intense both physical and emotional. and caused widespread damage.

There are so many stories of self-sacrifice, narrow escapes and tragedies

In many regions severely affected by fires, everyone knows someone who has been affected in some way.

In late January the Moderator Rev. Simon Hansford visited south coast affected areas with Rev. Stephen Robinson from the DRCN and he succinctly summed up what many have suffered.

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15

From the Frontlines

It was peaceful.

It was scary.

When the lights went out and the sky went black

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Chris McCall 6am New Year's Eve. We got a phone call with an alert on our home phones as well as our mobile phones. We did a couple of hours of preparing and packing a house because we weren't really ready.

We put sprinklers on and came down to the evacuation centre.

We set out on the oval for a couple of hours, and then I thought, I better register and tell them that we're here. And when I went up to the centre, they were just letting people know that they're waiting on case to open up the basketball court for overflow and I said, ‘Well, I've got keys to the church’.

It's just next door to that too. So that's how we opened up the church. And at the height of it, we probably had close to 100 people and about 40 animals, mainly dogs. It was peaceful. It was scary. When the lights went out and the sky went black.

There were people who were just hoping and holding their breath

Rev Yvonne Stevenson Although we were expecting and had been forewarned, it still came as a surprise because it was so quick to engulf the surrounding areas. The smoke and the darkness and the not-knowing was very frightening for people really. The people here were not expecting to be opening up as a centre, but they did then get involved. And it was rather gorgeous. I thought they were asked to be a place of quietness, where people with special needs could come and we were able to accommodate them. And I thought that was a wonderful thing to be able to say here is a place of safety and quiet. Our own people here didn't suffer any loss. No injury, no loss of property. So they were all able to be out. They were billeting people, providing food for people that couldn't come in, transporting people, ringing people up. Are you OK? Such a lot of little things that made a difference. And we were in receipt, two houses across the road they kept coming across with boiling thermoses of boiling water when there was no power so as we could make tea and coffee for people. That's just a little idea. The lady next door her daughter lost everything. This is a lovely little story, lost everything her house, all her property, rescued her cat and her dog. And they had a duck sitting on a clutch of eggs and 18 ducklings and they left the door to hope they'd fly. The went back the next day, and a very singed duck was sitting quacking on her eggs, and all 17 duckling had hidden in the dog's kennel, and they were all fine and everything around them burnt. Stories like that. You know, that raises your heart really.

Are you OK? Such a lot of little things that made a difference

Rev Dr Stephen Robinson Disaster recovery chaplaincy is a really important ministry, and it is one that intersects with people at the most important and sometimes the most difficult time of their life. I've had numerous conversations with Chaplains who've been out in the field in evacuation and recovery centres. And nearly every one of them have said to me, that for them, it's been an extraordinary experience. And they probably wouldn't want to use the word enjoy, they certainly have been blessed in the time that they've had out there with people, and that they've received at least as much as they've given. It's been a blessing to their ministry and the way they see life in all aspects.

I would encourage anyone to be able to do the training, which is incredibly useful to understand how people are affected by trauma and how ministry works in those circumstances, and to join the networks. There's - in New South Wales and ACT, but in every state in Australia, there is a network of chaplains that are being prepared to take care of people in circumstances like this.

Rev Terence Corkin I've been there the day before and Moga had been burned out, and people were coming in, having lost their home distressed.

And now there were even more people.

Some had already lost their property.

There was a lady from Cobargo in her 80s, you know, just sitting there waiting for the road to open, so her son could come from Wollongong to come and get her because you had nothing. There were distressed people with their health that just needed that practical care. And there were people who were just hoping and holding their breath, looking for the best to be the outcome, but not knowing what's going to happen.

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17

Recovery Chaplain

09 January, 2020.

O

n the road to Tura Beach on the far south coast of NSW, Rev. Ian Diamond’s phone cuts out. I’m wondering if it’s a metaphor for how the owner is feeling. The two have covered a lot of kilometres since leaving Canberra last Friday ahead of another weekend of bushfires and emergency evacuations.

For Ian, the new normal looked a lot like organised chaos as his boots first hit the ground of the evacuation centre in Eden where the weekend was shaping up to be the catastrophic fire event the Rural Fire Services had predicted.

at the gate in Eden

“The evacuation centre was reopened in the afternoon and by 4 pm wind and smoke turned the sky red and then black,” he said. “It was clear the situation was becoming more dangerous – inside the centre, the fear and stress kept rising,” he added. Worried it was no longer safe, authorities planned for those without transport to be sent to Bega on chartered buses while others made their way to Merimbula.

Only a thirteen-minute drive south from Eden, Kiah is a locality of 100 – 200 people, depending on who you talk, and the day. Community members of Kiah spent last week doing additional fire preparations to property. Stephen Faggotter, a member of the Eden Uniting Church, was one of the few of the Kiah community, on Saturday night, who stayed to defend his property when the area evacuated to safety.

Ian is a member of the Disaster Recovery Chaplaincy Network, coordinated by the Uniting Church. The Network has grown to 330 ecumenical and multifaith Chaplains that provide services at evacuation, recovery and disaster welfare assistance points, a part of the Department of Communities and Justice “You could hear the fire before you could see it except for the dark red glow out Office of Emergency Management of the blackness. We parked in the disaster welfare plan. For 27 years Ian middle of a paddock. The fire front was a Police Chaplain with the NSW advanced through the neighbourhood Police. and surrounded us. The next five hours He isn’t easily shaken but knew the were spent fighting the fire and saving weekend would be a test. “I arrived in two residences.” Stephen said. “I had Merimbula on Friday with Rev. Karyl a firefighting pump, minimal water in a Davison. We had some supplies from John Williams in Canberra for Bega and Eden, in particular, a generator for the community’s use,” Ian said.

“In Merimbula on Friday night, evacuees were gathering at the Sapphire Club.

There were about 1000 worried, but safe, people. There was an atmosphere of excitement among the sea of pillows and mattresses; it was one giant sleepover for the kids, with families and older people all bedded down on the club floor.

The old adage ‘safety in numbers’ rang true.”

On Saturday morning Ian checked on the Evacuation Centre in Eden, hearing that extreme fire danger was circling the town. The centre was closed and authorities urged the community to head to Merimbula’s centres, 30 minutes away. Not everyone could leave and as weather conditions worsened, so too did the atmosphere in Eden.

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water tank on a trailer, but when I ran out of water, I had to resort to a bucket and bathwater, then finally, a wet mop. At 4 am, after I was reasonably assured the houses were safe, I collapsed into the vehicle in the paddock and managed to get some sleep”Stephen admits the fire came too close. “I was hit by a spray of embers. I was well aware the situation I’d put myself in was not advised even though I had protective clothing. I was lucky, when I turned my back for protection, the fire miraculously moved on,” he said.

Evacuees from Eden and surrounds filled Merimbula evacuation centres on Saturday night. Tura Beach Country Club also opened its doors to around 300 people and allowed those with pets to enter this safe-haven.

Ian Diamond arrived at 10:30 pm and remembers the peace inside the busy evacuation centre. “It was an eerie atmosphere outside. Inside, the fear was real, but you wouldn’t have known it. There were about 60 – 80 animals including a goldfish in a bowl. The animals were all very quiet. They seemed to be keeping the people calm and as the people patted the pets, the animals stayed calm.

You could hear the fire before you could see it except for the dark red glow out of the blackness

There is something to be said about the benefits for both,” he laughed.

The new normal looked a lot like organised chaos as his boots first hit the ground of the evacuation centre

In Merimbula and Eden, and in other locations across the state this season, churches have become an informal place for community to meet and find resources to share.

After the devastation of Kiah, Ian met Stephen Faggotter in Eden. Stephen became a proud user of the generator supplied by Canberra Region Presbytery.

“Since the fire we’ve had no power or safe water and the generator has been an absolute Godsend. I want to thank

everyone who has prayed and thank the wider Church for their concern and active support to so many who have been affected by this ordeal. It has certainly been good to talk to Ian and to receive pastoral care from those who understand what it’s like or can empathise with others. I can’t thank them enough.”

Steph O’Connell Thank you to Stephen Faggotter for the images and to Ian Diamond for sharing this story with us.

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19

Courage

Amid the unprecedented bushfire crisis Uniting Church members have stood up disaster chaplains, Defence Force chaplains, local ministers and congregation members.

There are many powerful stories of Christian community and compassion for neighbours in their hours of need.

These are just a few of those stories.

MALLACOOTA

On the morning of New Year’s Eve, the morning sky turned black as a firestorm tore through the picturesque seaside Victorian holiday town of Mallacoota.

Four thousand holidaymakers fled to the beach and huddled in blankets to protect against wind and embers, as houses and gas bottles exploded around them.

Among them was Rev. Rowena Harris, Frontier Services’ Bush Chaplain in the Victorian High Country. When Rowena made police aware of her ministry background, she was immediately recruited into trauma-counselling for her fellow evacuees.

That work stretched into days with all roads out of Mallacoota blocked

UNDER

by the fires, and the Royal Australian Navy were sent in to ferry evacuees to safety. Rowena was eventually airlifted to safety by an Army helicopter almost a week after the fires burned through Mallacoota, but she still had no home to go to. At the same time as Rowena was stuck in Mallacoota her own home at Swifts Creek was cut off and under threat from fires further inland.

Rowena is now taking some hard-earned leave with friends in Melbourne. More than a month since the sky went black in Mallacoota, the main road into the town from the Princes Highway has just re-opened, and fires are still burning in the Gippsland region. When she finally gets home, Rowena will be ministering to a community facing a long and difficult journey of recovery.

BATEMANS BAY

That same New Years Eve, four hundred kilometres up the coast from Mallacoota the Uniting Church congregation at Batemans Bay in NSW was opening its doors to shelter people fleeing their own firestorm. The Minister at Batemans Bay Rev. Yvonne Stevenson said the response at short notice was to accommodate evacuees with special needs.

“Although we were expecting and had been forewarned, it still came as a

fire

surprise because it [the fire] was so quick to engulf the surrounding areas.

The smoke and the darkness and the not-knowing was very frightening for people really,” said Yvonne.

“The people here were not expecting to be opening up as a centre, but they did then get involved. And it was rather gorgeous. They were asked to be a place of quietness, where people with special needs could come and we were able to accommodate them. And I thought that was a wonderful thing to be able to say here is a place of safety and quiet.”

Former Assembly General Secretary Rev. Terence Corkin was one of the locals called into action as a disaster chaplain. On that day, Rev. Corkin and his family closed the door of his home at Moruya as the fires advanced and went off to cover a chaplaincy shift at the local evacuation centre. When he got there he was faced by hundreds and hundreds of people.

“I’d been there the day before and Mogo had been burned out, and people were coming in, having lost their home distressed,” says Terence.

Not sure whether he’d have a home to go back to himself, Terence gave pastoral care to those in distress.

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L-R: REV YVONNE, PAM, FAYE, BEV AND CHRIS MEMBERS OF THE UNITING CHURCH FROM BATEMANS BAY

“Most people were in that fight or flight mode, you know, they were they were just getting through it. They weren’t processing very much. So it was just about acknowledging where they were, if they wanted to wanted a longer conversation.”

“The pleasant surprise for me - and it could be called the learning was, I really expected that the church would be a bit on the nose, because, you know, the church isn’t what it used to be in terms of social standing and reputation. I expected a higher level of distancing. But the team, and the people really embraced and appreciated the presence.”

“The most number of centres we’ve ever had open in the 10 years prior to this was probably five at once. And about that time, we had about 15 or 16 running. So trying to get people there was a major stress,” says Stephen.

from outside for a time. But it’s the locals that are going to carry it forward.

“If possible we’d like to be able to put some disaster recovery chaplains on on a longer term basis that work from the churches in the community.

“I think in some ways, we have “So over the next six months or 12 learned that we can actually months, you’ll have locally-led do more than we thought integrated community work we could do. We have with the churches and I operated in a scenario WE HAVE think to be able to prepare like this, one I would LEARNED for the future in that is a not have written for T H AT W E C A N good thing to do.” any training situation.

A C T U A L LY D O People would have MORE THAN WE If that’s possible, Stephen laughed at me as THOUGHT WE and his Network will be being unreal.

COULD DO building on the knowledge of previous disasters.

“But we have learned that

Batemans Bay was only one place where actually, we have got the evacuation centres were in operation. tools to put out an enormous The month of January broke every number of people. I think we’ve learned previous record for the deployment new levels of cooperation and so on of chaplains in the New South Wales along the way, too. So that’s been been Disaster Recovery Chaplaincy Network very positive.

(DRCN). In that month alone, 86 chaplains from a range of denominations “That said, we continue to need more and faiths provided 2,683 chaplaincy people.” hours across evacuation centres or outreach posts.

Rev. Dr Robinson is now guiding local clergy on the NSW South Coast to deal DRCN Coordinator and UCA Minister with the looming challenge of ministry in Rev Dr Stephen Robinson says these the post-disaster recovery phase. numbers are “insane.”

“Disaster recovery has to be locally led,” explains Stephen. “We can add capacity

“Many of the chaplains who are on the ground now helping were trained down in the Bega area after the last fires at Tathra in 2018.”

“What we did then was go in and train those local ministers into chaplaincy, and now these people are free to be able to move on and help our communities when disaster strikes.

“So that’s another gift that’s possible as we do training with clergy here and with pastors and with institutional chaplains now, that they may be able to serve in a future disaster in another place somewhere in the future.”

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21

PETER TELLS CYRIL’S STORY TO THE PRIME MINISTER

PETER’S CAR, REFERRED TO AS THE “MINIONS CAR” AND HELPED IDENTIFY HIM AS CHAPLAIN IN THE AFFECTED AREAS.

An immense privilege to be part of peoples’ lives

As the fires began on the far north coast before Christmas last year, Rev. Peter Overton, the Presbytery Minister for Far North Coast had his first deployment as a Disaster Chaplain for the Disaster Recovery Chaplaincy Network in Tenterfield – a literal baptism of fire as he witnessed the devastation first hand. Peter spoke to Insights, to tell us some of the stories of resilience that have come from one of Australia’s worst disaster.

“Tenterfield was sort of the ground zero of the North Coast and the start of all the fires. The fires nearly came into Tenterfield, just singed the edge of the town and an evacuation centre was set up in Tenterfield and I spent some time there.

“At the same time the Long Gulley fire commenced down near Drake And the Long Gulley fire was started from a lightning strike and that fire was ferocious and threatened the town of Drake. The folk in Drake as it evolved weren’t able to have an evacuation centre there because it is surrounded by bush, so they actually have to go to Tenterfield.”

The area from Woodenbong through to Rappville (near Casino) and across to Ewingah (Long Gully) and Drake has already experienced housing issues and financial pressures. For those moved into the evacuation centre, whatever problems they already had became heightened.

the Moderators Appeal, and a generous philanthropist in Sydney gave more money. And so as soon as money has come in, it has gone back out to affected communities.

“So in terms of our mission, you really have a town like Rappville that has incredible need. And Rappville is a very small town – tiny – it just has a pub. It used to have a general store and hall.”

As the fire raged near Rappville, the Long Gulley fire joined and became an inferno with 60 foot flames. The cleaner at the school in Rappville had the absolute foresight to open up the school to create an evacuation centre. Residents actually watched from the top floor of the school as houses were consumed by fire. Peter has been able to connect with all these residents and support them.

CYRIL’S STORY

“Cyril would be in his late 80s maybe even early 90s. He came in to the school with his wife. When the fire came Cyril was ready for it. He had all the trenches dug around his house well in advance of the fire coming, and he was well prepared as a good bushman.

He’s fourth generation Rappville. So he presented himself and told me the story. He was crying about losing all his farming equipment and everything else.”

Cyril explained that he defended the house, and let his wife go expecting the worst. He cried as he explained that he had lost all his cattle and equipment, and when Peter asked why he defended the house when he was insured and simply said: “Because we built the house for our 30th wedding anniversary.”

“So, the experience in evacuation centres was big and “This was just an unbelievable and very powerful moment,” Peter challenging,” Peter explains. “So, the difference with my continued. “And I made sure when the Prime Minister came situation in terms of disaster chaplaincy is that I had the privilege of actually doing a few months in the recovery zone like that afternoon and I made sure he met Cyril and I had to tell him the story because Cyril was in tears. I made sure the Prime some folks are doing down in the south.”

Minister heard this story because at that point funds hadn’t been “So the Moderator’s Appeal very generously was able to released to assist people in affected areas.” release two days a week for me to be able to spend one day “So it was an amazingly profound experience. For me, it reminded a week in the Rappville area in Casino and the day to help out me that church was there in the evacuation centre, and we around Long Gulley and Drake and all around there with all the had church on the streets talking to people. When we look at connections that I’d made. I spent some time in Tenterfield with what God has taught us about these terrifying events, it’s that a firey and a few others that the Deputy Fire Chief wanted me churches have really understood the place they have in the keep an eye on who had witnessed a bad incident.” community and the support needed.”

HOW THE CHURCHES MOVE FORWARD

“The interesting thing about the Casino Congregation in its Methodist days [before it became part of the Uniting Church], there were around 17 to 18 preaching points from Casino.

We no longer have ministers in the affected areas that I was involved in during the fires.

“For our Churches in those areas we are now having a strategic life and witness consultation to take into account what is our role going forward as we struggle to finance a minister.

“So we are thinking what it means for us going forward in terms of us being church, you know. Our people have been incredibly generous financially. And I’ve distributed significant funds from

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AN IMMENSE PRIVILEGE

“It was a great honour and I was privileged to have a couple of months break afterwards. It reminded me that we need to have the Gospel seen in ‘wholeness’ – in words and deeds. Capturing the witness, but by God, we need make sure you care for people and feed them and help them build capacity back into their lives.

“I was in Casino for a Presbytery meeting recently and as I sat and had a snack I saw a guy that we had helped looking happy and clean and tidy and he just winked at me. I didn’t make a big deal of it, but I just know he’s alright. It was an immense privilege to be part of peoples’ lives.”

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Uniting Mission and Education

Events for 2020 Education Calendar January 18 20-24

April Pulse Commissioning Event | CFM

3

UTC Research Colloquium

Discipleship and Suffering Intensive – CSU Port Macquarie

4 –5

Pulse | Kids Camp Out | Riverina, Narrandera Racecourse

10–13

Easter

February 8

Saltbush | Scattered Community Gathering | Yass UCA

13–26

UTC/CSU Session One | Mid-Session Break

19–20

Ethical Ministry Foundations | CFM

18-19

21

Ethical Ministry | Train the Facilitator Session | CFM

Living Our Faith | Train the Trainer on Learning Management System | CFM

20-23

Understanding the Sacraments | CFM

22–23

Understanding the Sacraments | Part 2 of 2 | Riverina, Wagga Pilgrim UCA

21–22

Phase 3 of Ministry | Early Stage Retreat | CFM

30

Ethical Ministry Half-day Refresher | Topic 2020A | CFM

(Part 1 of 2 was held 30 Nov to 1 Dec 2019)

25–28

Formation | Intensive 1

28

UTC Opening Service, Inaugural Lecture

March

May 1

UTC Research Colloquium

2

UTC/CSU Session One | Classes Commence

6–7

Living Our Faith | Train the Trainer on Learning Management System | CFM

6

UTC Research Colloquium

13

6

May Macleod Lecture | UTC

Living Our Values | via Learning Management System

7

Living Our Faith | Introduction to UCA Worship | CFM

17–20

Women in Ministry Retreat | St Joseph’s, Kincumber South

7-8

Living Our Values | CFM

23

7–8

Pulse | Kids Camp Out | Sydney, Wedderburn Christian Campsite

Saltbush | Scattered Community Gathering | Hillston UCA

26–28

Pulse | National Youth Children’s Coalition | CFM

13–15

UME Road Trip to Illawarra Presbytery

18–20

Things That Make for Peace Conference | CFM

20–22

25 26–29

Mission Shaped Ministry Course | Facilitated Weekend Residential | CFM Ministry of Pastor Assessor Training | CFM National Pioneers Gathering | Perth

June 5

UTC Research Colloquium

5

UTC/CSU Session One | Classes Conclude

8 Jun–12 Jul

UTC/CSU Session Break

11-13

Gospel Yarning | CFM

16–19

Formation | Intensive 2

17–19

Pulse | Intergenerate Resourcing Gathering | CFM

21–30

Spirit Journey | Broken Hill to Innamincka

United Theological College

July 3–5

Pulse | School of Discipleship | UV Naamaroo

9–12 13

UnitingWomen 2020 Conference |

September Darwin 2-5

UTC/CSU Session Phase 3 Debrief RetreatTwo | Classes

7

Mission Shaped Ministry 4

Commence

15–17 18

F L

21-22

Fundamentals of Transitional Ministry | The WorktoofSacraments the Leader CFM Introduction 1, |Riverina

27

UTC Research Colloquium

M C

Saltbush | Scattered Community Gathering | Dubbo UCA

8–9

U

● Ethical Ministry UTC/CSU RefreshersSession Two | 16 Classes Conclude ● Living Our Values

Introduction to Sacraments 2, Riverina UTC Research Colloquium

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18

| YouLead | Youth Leadership UTCPulse Session 2 Last Day of Classes Program UTC Research Colloquium

U

Living Our Values via Learning November Management System

September 11-13 4 4

M

Gospel Yarning Conference

25-29

Mission Evangelism Worship | CFM & Apologetics Intensive

Living Our Faith | Introduction to UCA

U

Healthy Churches Expo | CFM December

4-5

CSU Graduation

9

21-23 Presiding at Weddings | CFM ● Presiding at Weddings 27– 30 Formation | Intensive 3 ● Presiding at Funerals ● And more…

November

3–5 Phase 3 Intensive | Commencement to We welcome enquiries: Ministry for Exiting Candidates | CFM 6

UTC Research Colloquium

P: (02) 8838 8940

December 3–15

UTC Research Colloquium

18-20

17 Saltbush | Scattered Community ● You Lead Conference Gathering | Inverell UCA ● Understanding the Sacraments

● Healthy Churches Expo 28-30 Presiding at Funerals | CFM

U of Year Service & Celebrations 1 Sep EndUTC/CSU 24 Aug–6 Session One | Mid-Session Break L M C Mission Shaped Ministry 5 2 31 Aug–3 Sept Phase 3 of Ministry Retreat | St Joseph's, U UTCKincumber Come & Explore 8 SouthOpen Night

Fundamentals of Transition Ministry – Work of Leader

Keep an eye out for these popular theological events and

2courses in 2019: UTC Research Colloquium

12-13

15

October

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October August 7

We have are more great educational short courses, intensives, functions, events and activities being scheduled for 2019, and we invite you to visit our website to explore our latest events as our 2019 Calendar evolves. www.ume.nswact.uca.org.au/event-calendar/

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Holy Land Study Tour

E: utc@nswact.uca.org.au

W: ume.nswact.uca.org.au

Key L Ideal KEYeducation or event opportunity for current or future lay preachers

C Learning opportunities for church and congregation community members

lay preachers M Idealor future for further Ministerial professional development

YC Youth program or Pulse events Learning opportunities forprogram church and congregation

M Ideal for further Ministerial professional development U United Theological College related content and study

community members S Saltbush – Uniting the Scattered Community

L Ideal education or event opportunity for current

U United Theological College related content and study

F Formation pathways study or learning

F For Formation pathways study or learning

Y Youth program or Pulse program events

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T E L L U S YO U R STO RY

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Street libraries are a way to share the love of reading with anyone who wishes to borrow a book and drop one in. Street libraries can be small shelves, repurposed fridges, or bigger cabinets.

There are around 500 street libraries across Australia.

As part of an international movement that has gained more traction recently, they are one way for churches to get involved in the life of their local community and to offer generosity and neighbourliness.

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number of Uniting Churches in NSW and the ACT are getting on board and offering free reading material.

Street libraries can present the chance for some churches to partner with other local organisations in their area. It is also a fantastic way to reach out to local community members.

WILLOUGHBY UNITING CHURCH STREET LIBRARY

For example, the Quarry Green Street Library is a joint venture of the Mustard Seed Op Shop (run by Mustard Seed Uniting Church) and Uniting Harris Community Centre. Ingrid Mueller, a Joint Coordinator of the Op Shop, came up with the idea for the street library in early 2017. Books were previously housed in cardboard boxes on tables provided by the Community Centre on the verandah of the Op Shop/Community Centre.

Early in 2019, Oscar Sanchez, Coordinator of the Community Centre, and Maree Burnett, Joint Coordinator of the Op Shop, decided to upgrade the boxes with something more permanent.

The Pyrmont Ultimo Glebe Men’s Shed built and donated a new library, with local artist Alejandro Martinez (Peque) painting it. The library’s imagery takes inspiration from the mural on the western wall of the Centre that Mr Martinez previously painted.

Street libraries can present the chance for some churches to partner with other local organisations in their area CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

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TURRAMURRA UNITING CHURCH HAS SET UP A FACEBOOK PAGE FOR THEIR STREET LIBRARY

TUGGERANONG UNITING CHURCH STREET LIBRARY

ST JAMES UNITING CHURCH STREET LIBRARY

There is no requirement, however, that a church needs to come up with a bespoke design, and street libraries can make use of existing and unused resources.

Wagga Wesley Uniting Church have made use of an unused fridge to provide the community with books in an unusual way.

A great way to engage your local community is to consider what Turramurra Uniting Church have done, and set up a Facebook page for the street library. The Facebook group enables even more community engagement, enabling posting when new books are added, or even getting people to post reviews of books they have read.

Turramurra Uniting Church member Lara Fowler said the library came from an idea from one of their home groups and, “after a bit of research we commissioned the local men’s shed to build us a sturdy library which was painted and decorated by one of the group members, local artist Kobie Bosch. We had fun selecting an appropriate location and setting the post and have been excited to watch the library be stocked by the community.”

Street libraries can also provide the chance for youth groups to get involved in one of the church’s public-facing activities. For Dubbo Uniting Church in NSW’s Central West, the idea to offer a street library emanated from the church’s youth group Pray, Eat, Play (PEP). The group came up with the idea, and painted the street library.

Dubbo Uniting Church volunteer Elaine Drummond told local newspaper The Daily Liberal that the church was happy with how the street library was faring.

“We just felt it would be an outreach area to the Dubbo community,” she said.

“We’re delighted.”

“It’s our gift to them.”

Jonathan Foye

UNITING CHURCHES WITH STREET LIBRARIES • Willoughby Uniting Church • Wagga Wesley Uniting Church • Marsden Road Uniting Church • Forster Tuncurry Uniting Church • Dubbo Uniting Church • Turramurra Uniting • Tilly’s street library • Quarry Green Street Library • Biblioteca de OAC • Ashgrove West Uniting Church For more information on street libraries, visit the official street library movement website:

streetlibrary.org.au

We want to tell your stories

Your story matters to us at Insights, let us be part of it. Do you have a great community activity or event that your church engages in? We want to tell your stories so God’s mission in the world is visible to all. Email us photos, a brief description, contact details, dates, or anything you think might be relevant for others to know about what you’re doing.

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We encourage you, if you haven’t already done so, to register your street library on this website so people in your area know where the library is in your area.

Five Leaf Eco Awards

FROM THEORY TO ACTION

After September 20, 2019, when over 300,000 people attended 100 rallies across the country to raise their voice during the global climate strike, and with the current bushfire crisis the country is facing, many have been wondering about what to do next, how can we actively make a change.

Climate action is required NOW. But where to start?

Jessica Morthorpe, a Uniting Earth Advocate and the Five Leaf Founder and Church Project Coordinator, asked herself the same question several years ago. And so, she found the way of linking her two passions: God and the environment.

While talking to her, she introduced us to the concept of Ecotheology, a form of constructive theology that focuses on the interrelationships of faith and nature, particularly in the light of environmental crisis. Under this contextual theology, Jessica created the Five Leaf Eco-Awards.

Congregations that have thought about this issue can work to earn any of the Five Leaf Eco-Awards, the ecumenical environmental change program specifically designed for churches and religious organisations.

Using a series of noncompetitive awards, the program assists, inspires and rewards faith communities for taking environmental action and becoming more sustainable in response to God’s call to care for creation.

a water tank, among others) and conducting one ‘green’ event.

JESSICA MORTHORPE FOUNDED THE FIVE LEAF ECO AWARDS

The Five Leaf Eco-Awards encourage holistic action for the environment covering five areas: Buildings Worship Congregation Outreach Community Leadership There are currently six awards available in the program; two introductory and four advanced awards. To earn an award, churches must complete specific actions to receive certificates of recognition for their achievements.

The Basic Certificate has only seven easy criteria to fulfil, including self-conducting an Energy Audit, taking some actions to reduce resource use (e.g. Change to more efficient lights, switch to GreenPower just by calling your electricity supplier, install

One very challenging award that requires active and positive involvement of the community is the EcoCongregation Leaf Award. It is one of the four advanced awards and requires that members of the congregation are demonstrably involved in environmentally friendly activities such as the installation of alternative energy sources in at least 40 percent of the congregation homes and demonstrable commitment to ethical consumption.

The last but not least is the Five Leaf Award. To achieve this highest level, your church or religious organisation must have proof that it fits requirements compiling what it must have done in previous stages, and go beyond. Some of the requirements are: to include environmental education in the life of the church (such as regular eco-sermons and Bible studies), and have a shared library of environment and sustainability texts and further reduce the impact of the congregation by assisting them to generate at least 50 percent of their energy use. You must also assist them in travelling to and from the church with minimal environmental impact, reduce their ecological footprints

and carbon emissions, and a Fair Trade Faith group accreditation or the equivalent, among others requisites.

Of course, there are several ways to measure the success of each of the tasks so that you can earn each award, and if at some stage you are lost, you can always reach out to them for support. But the real beauty of this initiative is that, according to Morthorpe, while working towards becoming greener, you will also witness how a whole network of religious organisations will be there and will include you in a process that directly impacts your community.

It has been eleven years now since the first award was given to the Port Melbourne Uniting Church. Since then, around forty religious organisations have earned at least one award, but many have accomplished all the stages.

Angela Cadena

To find out more about the awards, application forms and awards criteria, visit fiveleafecoawards.org

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First Peoples knew the creator ABORIGINAL SPIRITUALITY AND CHRISTIANITY HAVE MUCH IN COMMON, BUT UNCLE VINCE ROSS THINKS THERE ARE A FEW THINGS CHRISTIANS COULD LEARN FROM THE FIRST PEOPLES TO MAKE THEIR FAITH MORE HOLISTIC.

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ven though it wasn’t until the age of 12 that Uncle Vince Ross seriously encountered Christianity he says its essence was already very familiar to him.

From a young age his Aboriginal grandparents and aunties imbued a spiritual awareness and understanding of beliefs that long predate Christianity – an awareness and understanding Vince believes complements rather than contradicts the teachings of the Bible.

Vince had no regular schooling until age 11 because his father, a bridge repair worker, continually moved the family throughout Victoria and southern NSW looking for work.

During his childhood Vince grew up on riverbanks, sheltered by humpies (temporary structures made out of bush materials) or lean-tos.

“We had a fabulous time, going rabbiting or hunting or fishing for the day, while those poor other kids had to go to school,” Vince says.

“When finally I had to go to school it was like the end of the world.”

His dad took a more permanent job in Deniliquin and this led to an encounter with the Salvos, who were the only church group prepared to venture into the Aboriginal reserve outside town.

“When the Salvos come to us they didn’t bring songbooks and Bibles, they brought food, hammers and nails and helped us build little humpies on the riverbank; practical things.”

Vince realised the message from the Salvos reflected what he had learnt from his Aboriginal family.

“When our old people were talking in this spiritual sort of language, for people who had never been to church or had any of that sort of influence, they were talking the same thing that the Salvos were talking about,” Vince says.

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As an example, he points to striking similarities between First Peoples’ beliefs and the Genesis story of creation.

It’s a view that hasn’t historically been reciprocated by the Church.

For example, early influential Presbyterian missionary John Dunmore Lang wrote that Aborigines had “nothing whatever of the character of religion or of religious observance, to distinguish them from the beasts that perish”.

Vince said the Aboriginal spirituality was directed to a creator spirit that the colonialists knew by another name.

“We were calling God ‘Bunjal’ the creator spirit,” Vince says.

“I know that God is worshipping spirit in truth and our mob have practiced that for a long time and continue to do so today.

“As an Elder said, we have known about the father for a long time, now we are learning about the son, Jesus.

“Nowhere did I see that Aboriginal stuff needs to be pushed aside. I saw that as part of the Christian faith.”

Vince said a great opportunity was missed by the invading colonialists.

“The missionaries thought when they came they’ve got to convert all these heathens because what they are talking about it’s not the Biblical way,” he says.

“I think they got that wrong. If they had have sat with the people and tried to understand what was the spiritual journey that these people have been on for thousands of years they would have found out something different.”

Vince believes that western Christianity has widely adopted a mindset which tends to separate the creator and creation, leading to a faith that is not holistic.

This leads to an abstract sense of God in being in his heaven watching down, mostly as a spectator, after setting the wheels in motion.

This God-high-above only gets the skywards attention of his followers at designated prayer times or in church.

“I think the Christian mainstream has got it wrong, in that you go to church on Sunday morning and pick up a bit of spiritual for the week,” Vince says.

God before colonialism “That doesn’t happen with Aboriginal people because spiritual is what you do all the time, you are in that position, the mode or area, where things are always happening around you.”

First Peoples’ beliefs differ from region to region, but Vince finds surprising

We say ‘I’m from God’s family and I am with you and we’re all part of God’s family and we’re all in it together

commonality when he talks to those even from far distant communities.

“You couldn’t tell the difference in our speech – we would be talking about the same thing, talking about that of the heart and that of understanding creation, but we were using all these different examples,” he says, “Whenever Aboriginal people get together, many of them from different denominations, we never represent that denomination in the sense ‘I’ve got my tag on here, I’m from the Salvation Army’.

“No, we say ‘I’m from God’s family and I am with you and we’re all part of God’s family and we’re all in it together’.”

First Peoples’ beliefs and culture are not always well understood, or indeed that easy to understand, from a European perspective.

For example, the Dreamtime could perhaps more accurately be called the Dreaming in the same sense of a church that is “Uniting”.

It is not a one-off event or period, but a timeless process where place and people are shaped by, interact with, and reflect the spiritual world. This ties into a vital aspect of Indigenous belief, which Vince says is sometimes wrongly characterised, the inseparable spiritual link to country.

“We’re not worshipping the land,” Vince says.

“We’ve never gone around worshipping the trees or the land, but we’ve recognised the connection with it. It’s actually respecting Banjul’s creation.

Vince says other aspects of First Peoples culture are also widely misunderstood.

“With walkabout, people think it’s just taking time out – that you’re dodging the real issues of the day,” Vince says.

“For us, walkabout was a time of refreshment and spiritual nourishment of stopping and resting. We allow the spiritual side of what we are talking

UNCLE VINCE ROSS PHOTO: MIKAELA TURNER

about to come into that space, that understanding of the great creator God.” Vince was inspired to work for the UCA by Indigenous leaders such as Rev Charles Harris.

“They spoke very loud and strong about us being God’s creation and that in our spirituality, our lives, what we’re on about and how we want to operate in a Christian way, there’s no conflict here,” Vince says.

“I just wish that there were more people who could come across and see what Aboriginal people are talking about and express that which is of the spirit, because we all are spiritual.”

While some Christian groups still tell First Peoples to leave their culture and beliefs “at the door”, Vince believes those attitudes are changing.

His commitment to fostering a greater understanding and awareness of how First and Second Peoples can build things together led him to establishing the Narana Aboriginal Cultural Centre just outside of Geelong. The centre, run by the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress, aims to immerse visitors into First Peoples’ culture.

“Narana means listening, hearing and understanding. If we listen to each other we can create whatever we want,” Vince says.

“We sit together and have a yarn, we talk to each other and we have got to do more of that because I don’t think there’s anyone who’s got it all worked out.”

David Southwell This piece first appeared in Crosslight.

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A TIME FOR PRAYERFUL ACTION

Lent Taking place over forty days, Lent is a time for Christians to give something up, pray… and take action.

The word ‘Lent’ comes from a Latin word meaning “to lengthen.”

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any Christians mark Lent by “Regular spiritual disciplines can giving something up, a sacrifice deepen our faith, inform our citizenship that marks Jesus’ forty days decisions, and lead us to find the spent in the desert tempted courage to stand up for the most

by Satan. The first day vulnerable and if need be to protect of Lent is always Ash our very democracy.”

Wednesday, the Closer to home, a group of day after Shrove LENT’S POSITION Uniting Church members use Tuesday (Pancake ON THE CHRISTIAN the forty days of prayer and Day). Lent finishes CALENDAR MAKES giving something up to focus on Easter Sunday.

IT AN IDEAL TIME on donating to an important FOR FOCUSED People give up cause. Lent Event is a fortyACTIONS a wide variety day challenge raises funds for of things for Lent, UnitingWorld, the Uniting Church’s including chocolate, overseas aid and development agency.

Netflix, coffee, alcohol, and Participants pledge to give up something hobbies or habits. for Lent. They then either donate the Far from being a time when people money saved by giving that up or ask for passively give something up however, donations from family and friends.

Lent’s position on the Christian calendar Since 2009, Lent Event has raised over can also make it an ideal time for three million dollars for people living in focused actions. the Pacific, Asia, and Africa through longReclaiming Jesus is a group of American term partnerships.

Christians concerned that the Religious Right have co-opted faith. Reclaiming Jesus have announced that they will use Lent 2020 began on Thursday 27 February and finishes on Thursday 9 Lent 2020 as a time to fast, pray, and act.

April. To sign up for Lent Event, visit A statement signed by elders of the Reclaiming Jesus movement outlines much of the purpose of Lent:

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the website: fundraise.unitingworld.org.au/ event/lent-event/live-simply

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Easter

A RADICAL RESETTING OF OUR WORLDVIEW

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H

appy Easter. This is something that easily rolls off the tongue for most of us in the Church, and so it should because the good news of Easter is a source of blessing and hope for all humanity as a result of the death and resurrection of Jesus, who is the Christ, Word of God and God incarnate. However, there is a ‘but.’ This year seems to have started off with a set of tragedies that are hard to get our heads around and have left many with a deflated feeling, and even questioning where God is in all this. We have seen the longstanding effects of drought. We have had extreme fires which have affected many in this country and even caught the news of the world. We have had the novel coronavirus (2019nCoV) outbreak, and threats of conflict between Iran and the US. If we continue looking to other issues in the world, there have been floods in Jakarta and Brazil, along with the normal host of global issues which contribute to a sense of uncertainty and worry because of their impact on people. These might seem to be exceptional this year, but when we stop to reflect, some of them might be more intense than in other years, but they sadly don’t fall outside the norm of things that happen in the world. So, how do we speak of a happy Easter in the face of sadness, tragedy and suffering? The answer is that this is really what Easter is all about.

The Easter story is one of triumph. It is about the power and work of God, but it is also about the world of God in context.

The Easter story is the climax and pivot point of God’s work in the world – a world that too often fails to be the way that God would have it because we humans too often fail to live in the way God would have us live. Easter releases hope and the promise of God who is at work in the world, but reminds us that this is not a miraculous fix for all things.

We are sure that one person died for everyone. And so everyone died. Christ died for everyone. He died so that those who live should not live for themselves anymore. They should live for Christ. He died for them and was raised again.” (2 Corinthians 5: 14-15). However, our faith should not only prepare us for life beyond death, but shape how we live our lives well.

The Easter story enshrines the reality that the designs of God are often thwarted by the actions of humans. Yes, on the divine level, God who exists outside of time knows all things and is in control of all things, and yet at our level, humanity often has and continues to fail to live in the way God desires. This results in suffering and in God having to take action to work for good in the face of brokenness, suffering and even evil. Furthermore, the Easter story provides hope by assuring us that God is at work in the world, and is a part of our sufferings and struggles, rather than apart from them. Jesus is the literal embodiment of the compassion of God. Compassion comes from the Latin words which mean to ‘feel with.’ God feels for us in our suffering because God has intimate knowledge of what it is like and how it feels through being the person of Jesus. God is at work in the world, working for the good of all people and all things. God is not the cause of natural disasters or the evil acts that people perpetrate, but God is at work through compassion and grace to support those who suffer and bring healing and hope, through the promise, which is resurrection.

The Easter story is one of triumph. It is about the power and work of God, but it is also about the world of God in context

Resurrection is only meaningful because of the crucifixion of Jesus, which in turn holds meaning because of the life, example and teachings of Christ. This is something that we celebrate each time we take Communion because we remember that Easter is a part of God’s work of redemption and salvation throughout history. God worked through the story of Hebrew People as told in the Jewish Scriptures/Old Testament. God worked through judges and prophets.

In the fullness of time God took the radical step of becoming human in the person of Jesus, so that we might know God with us (Immanuel) and know the depth of God’s love and compassion, and that led to the cross. God is still with us and at work in all things and with all people through being Spirit, which is the continuing gift of God for the Church and the world.

So, the Easter story always has a context. It has the context of the story of salvation. It has the context of Jesus’ life and his radical challenge to religion and society, and the powers that be. It has a context in our life and our situation, not only in terms of our personal faith and salvation, but in the life that we live as part of the human story. God works in the struggles and strife of human existence. The death of Jesus, was the ultimate conclusion to the incarnation, and as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, “Christ’s love controls us.

As mentioned, resurrection only exists in the context of the Cross. All is not well with the world. Suffering and sadness abound. Injustice and oppression is rife. The principalities and powers of the world, be they governments or corporations, often fail to create society in the way that God would have the world be.

When we say, ‘Happy Easter,’ we think of the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount where he talks about those who are happy and blessed. It is not the assurance of an easy life with no troubles. Quite the opposite, it is the assurance that these things are a reality of life until God resolves all things, but it is also the assurance that God is at work to bring us through these things.

Easter is a radical resetting of our world view. Instead of locking our focus on the hardship and struggle and seeing things as lacking in hope, God shifts our focus to see through the sad and bad to what is possible when we join with God in Christ as the Church. We see that God is at work for good in all things. God is bringing us through the flames. God is walking with us through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

God has lived through death on the Cross and brought the hope of resurrection to life. Following the fires, there have been images of trees sprouting green shoots out of blackened stumps. After floods, there are images of plants shooting through the mud. On the hands of the risen Christ are the marks of suffering.

We can say, ‘Happy Easter,’ not in some naïve magical sense or some ecstatic view of the world, in ignorance or denial of the hard realities that so many people face, but because of a deep sense of hope that God is with us, bringing us through the miry clay and lifting us out of despair (see Psalm 40).

Happy Easter in the name and way of Christ.

Rev. Jon Humphries is the Chaplain at Ravenswood School for Girls

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l u f i t n Bou Eye The

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ou’d think that as a trained, professional economist, one of the ‘must-read’ magazines on my list would be The Economist, wouldn’t you?

Actually, that’s not the case.

M A K I N G M O N E Y M AT T E R

deep, but not in the normal course of life. • Look at the neighbouring Macedonians, Being raised with Christian values should he says. They were facing tough times, – and according to these numerous but they opened their hearts and studies does – increase the likelihood wallets when others needed support. that you will be generous, but it seems to “I’m sure you will excel in this, too”, he me that we always have to be reminded tells the Christians in Corinth.

I used to read it, early in my career, and cajoled and urged and encouraged to but I gradually stopped as I found the • We’ve boasted to others about you, he switch on this particular spirit. articles unhelpful. However, a few years says. So we’re sending Titus – one of ago I stumbled upon an item from The For the ancients in Israel, the main way the outstanding leaders in the church Economist’s on-line version that I thought this urging took place was through the law. at the time – to oversee the collection might be useful at some point for this The people were required to tithe, or give and make sure you don’t make us look column, so I filed it away for when the the first 10% of all income, for the priests, foolish. time was right. Now is that time, though who were not allotted land when Israel • Finally, look at the grace of God, which something interesting has happened in moved into Canaan. Therefore, everyone overflows for you. In that light, weigh relation to the article in the meantime. else was commanded to provide first for up your own hearts – there’s no the priests and then for their own families The Economist originally reported a study compulsion here – but God loves a and communities. There was also a that allegedly had found that people with cheerful giver. system of offerings, which were expected a religious upbringing were less likely to but not commanded, as well as other It doesn’t really matter what the formal be generous than those with no such provisions in the law intended to ensure statistical studies show about the upbringing. A provocative finding, to say that the poor were afforded at least some relationship between being Christian and the least. It was reported in dozens of financial dignity. being generous. The reality is that it’s up other media outlets around the world to us, as individuals and in our church at the time, as the anti-Christian press It was pretty straightforward. Yet what communities, to decide what we’re going almost fell over themselves to say, ‘see, do we read in the prophets when they to do with Paul’s arguments. Do we we told you that religion was useless’. spoke against Israel’s sins? “You are reinforce the positive conclusion and act robbing me”, says God, through Malachi.

As it turns out, the study that was so generously, or hold the statistics back?

When asked how, the reply is “through widely and enthusiastically reported was your tithes and offerings”, which were When we look at the grace of God, at the completely wrong! Most of the media not being provided as required. (Malachi Lord’s astounding generosity to us, how outlets that reported the study have since 3:8-10) That’s just one example can we choose other than to be cheerfully formally retracted it. Every now and then demonstrating that being generous did generous? someone with a bent against religious not come easily to ancient Israel. people will run it again, uncritically, but There’s a wonderful turn of phrase in the it’s generally fallen by the wayside. This is For the followers of Jesus in the early book of Proverbs about generosity. “A because it made a very basic statistical Church it was, it seems, a binary situation. good name is to be chosen rather than error that rendered the finding simply You either overflowed with generosity or great riches; whoever has a bountiful incorrect*. This has been acknowledged you were a bit reluctant; your eye was eye (i.e. is generous) will be blessed, for even by the author, I believe. bountiful, or it was cloudy. The great he shares his bread with the poor.” (Prov example is found in chapters 8 and 9 of 22:1,9) Furthermore, most other studies that Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. have been done around the world show May God grant us all a bountiful eye!

Although the apostle starts this passage a positive relationship between being Warren Bird with a statement of confidence in brought up on Christian values and a their generosity, he then delivers two *In the original study that I saw in The Economist, person’s level of generosity. Phew! chapters that add up to a profound the actual negative relationship with generosity was more to do with nationality than anything That said, generosity is not a natural thing piece of reminding, cajoling, urging and else. Some countries are more generous than for people, is it? At times of crisis, such as encouraging. others, but within most countries, Christians are this summer’s bushfires, many people dig more generous than average.

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N E W S F RO M U N I T I N G C H U R C H A D U LT F E L LOW S H I P ( U CA F )

FELLOWSHIP NEWS

Fellowship News

The NSW/ACT UCAF Synod Committee began its year with the Annual Dedication Service at 222 Pitt Street. Dr Sureka Goringe from Uniting World was the speaker. Communion was led by Rev Alistair Christie. Judy Hicks was presented with her Life Member badge. We also welcomed new members to the Committee, Gail Kalaitzis, Gail Pickles, Margaret and Ron Gregory, and Eldrene March.

AGM HELD

The Committee’s AGM was held in January. Rev Noreen Towers was re-elected as Chairperson, Laraine Jones Secretary and Geoff Hicks Treasurer. All Proxy persons for Country Presbyteries remained unchanged. Details will be in the 2020 Year Book and available to affiliated groups.

WORLD DAY OF PRAYER

Many groups are preparing to host the annual World Day of Prayer on 6 March. Over 150 countries join in this day. Offerings will support Mothers and their children in Zimbabwe who have a disability.

APPRECIATION CERTIFICATES

Appreciation Certificates have been very well received across the Synod and have been given to 80, 90- and 100-year olds who have faithfully served in their Congregations. Rev. Noreen Towers presented many at Presbytery Rallies she attended.

Certificates are still available. Contact Laraine Jones before Rallies and Gatherings.

BRING A PLATE

THINK TANK

The Committee’s “Think Tank” held at East Maitland, was again a success. It will be held again in October 2020. The Committee greatly appreciates the many Presbyteries who held fundraising events to enable the UCAF Committee to continue its outreach and support.

UCAF NATIONAL CELEBRATION

The UCAF National Celebration will be held in Adelaide 29 April to 3 May. Some Committee members are expecting to attend.

We continue to support their Project and have focused on “Women in Ministry in the Pacific”. Donations can still be made through Treasurer Geoff Hicks RETIRED PERSONS’ LUNCH

The Annual Moderator’s Retired Ministry Persons’ Lunch will be held at Turramurra UC Tuesday 24 March. Invitations have been sent.

RALLIES AND GATHERINGS

Macquarie Darling: Saturday 4th April at Molong UCAF National Celebration: 29th April – 3rd May at West Beach Parks Adelaide Canberra Region: Tuesday 5th May at St Ninians Lyneham Mid North Coast (North): 13th May at Woolgoolga Illawarra: Thursday 28th May at Corrimal If you would like to share your fellowship news or have any questions, please contact: Judy Hicks on judyh_rnh@hotmail.com

The Cookbook “Bring a Plate” has been a wonderful project for the Committee and has enabled ongoing outreach. A few copies remain. Contact Janice Willis or Laraine Jones. A second book is proposed for 2021, “Pot Luck”.

Gospel

Yarning

INSPIRE | EMPOWER | CONNECT

11-13 JUNE 2020

For such a time as this

How Do We Live the Gospel in a Secular Age? More information go to: tinyurl.com/gospelyarning

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B E L I E F M AT T E R S

Transgender Christians THE CHURCH AND

In Australia, a number of recent policy changes have sought to make certain aspects of transgender people’s lives easier. In the past few years, governments in Victoria, Tasmania, and elsewhere have introduced policies such as changing the gender listed on official documents like driver’s licences.

With these publicised efforts underway, you could be forgiven for thinking that transgender people’s lives were only improving, or that governments were only acting in their best interests. In the United States, the Trump Administration has wound back certain antidiscrimination healthcare provisions introduced to safeguard the rights of transgender people.

It’s also not always easy for transgender people to be part of the church. Over the past year, Christian leaders from several denominations called on transgender people to not transition, to simply not bother church leadership, and called gender fluidity a “confused concept of freedom”.

ALREADY PART OF THE CHURCH

thing ever!’ That church became a safe haven for me.”

Transgender people are Mr Smith said that his life already part of the church. and experience of faith in that Transgender people worship church are now inseparable. in our congregations, are some of our agencies’ “My faith and my gender clients, and work for the identity are so linked for me church. In the above-noted that I don’t know how to talk context of struggles for about one without talking transgendered people’s rights, about the other.” how Christians approach And yet, the experience that transgender rights, and how transgender people have we treat trans people, has an of church is often not a indelible effect on their faith, positive one. To look at the and life in general.

United States, where some In an interview with 66 percent of transgender Sojourners, transgender individuals have some man Taj Smith recalled the experience of church, one in experience of finding an five report an experience of affirming church. leaving their church due to rejection.

“One of the greeters came up to me, and she says, ‘You WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY? need help finding your name Much like the “clobber tag?’ And she laughed, and passages” cited in church I laughed, and I said, ‘No, I think I need a new one. I need debates about sexuality, trans people often experience a new one, like, forever.’ And scripture quoted at them, in she went, ‘Okay!’ And she the form of proof texts. got me a new tag, and she said, ‘Why don’t you write One often-cited verse that your name on this one and has been drawn on by people we’ll have a new permanent opposed to affirming trans one for you next week!’ And people comes from Genesis she handed me an order of 5:2, “Male and female He service and I went inside and made them.” For example, thought, ‘That was the easiest

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when the Vatican issued a June 2019 statement suggesting that trans people could never change their gender, the statement evoked the Genesis passage. Such a verse, read at face value, would seemingly demonstrate that sex is binary and that God creates people with an assigned gender.

Someone identifying with the gender outside of what they were assigned at birth would seem to be to go against God’s good creation.

This surface-level approach, however, ignores the way that the meaning of scripture is never self-evident. In general, Genesis, a collection of texts edited together over many years, is a complex book to analyse with many difficult verses. To name but one exegetical dilemma is the way that one of Genesis’ two creation stories depicts the creation of the world taking place over six days, a conclusion that most Christians nowadays reject, instead understanding that the text offers a poetic vision of creation, and what happens when sin divides us from God and one another.

In the case of the creation story of which Genesis 5 is part, the affirmation that God created men and women should therefore be read as part of a text that is not to be read literally. To do otherwise is to be hermeneutically inconsistent.

It is important to hear the voices of transgender Christians in any discussion that involves them Genesis 5’s affirmation that God created men and women has a rather different connotation considered against the backdrop of the world in which this text was written. The largely-accepted place of authorship for this portion of Genesis is Babylon, where a number of Jews were cruelly confined as part of an imperial programme designed to stamp out Jewish identity.

During this time, the Jews would no doubt have been

the foundational groups in the new church.”

My faith and my gender identity are so linked for me that I don’t know how to talk about one without the other exposed to the Babylonian creation story, the Enuma Elish. This violent narrative depicts men and women being created apart from one another as part of a wider cosmic battle between warring gods whose image was imparted into the Babylonian royal family.

As the late great theologian Walter Wink summarised, “Cosmic order requires the violent suppression of the feminine, and is mirrored in the social order by the subjection of women to men and people to ruler.”

Affirming that God created men and women together (with the woman coming from the man’s rib), is a subversion of the popular Babylonian narrative that presents men and women as being created apart from one another. The Genesis account affirms the equal value of men and women, rather than making a point about gender itself being a dichotomy.

Another aspect that is worth considering comes from what we understand of the available sciences.

The Basis of Union sets out how the church is to approach the task of biblical interpretation. Part of this includes considering current science during the exegetical process. In other words, the insights that biology brings to bare are relevant to how we understand transgender subject matters.

It’s a comparison, between eunuchs and transgender people, that Mr Hatke acknowledges has its limitations. “We never want to be anachronistic. Words like “transgender” didn’t exist back then…But we can say that these Christians had experiences very similar to the experiences that we have,” he said. Eunuchs, Mr Hatke points out, were widely considered as being between genders and were oftentimes “treated poorly.”

“In terms of …what cisgender Christians can do to support trans folk in the churches is Thankfully, a few transgender Christians have been willing to to lift them up to positions where they can feel safe to document their experiences, share their stories, because speaking to the church, their we don’t always.” families, and other trans people outside the church of Mr Hatke says that the their hopes for the church’s experience of interviewing future as a space that is more people for his book has New technologies in DNA welcoming of gender diverse highlighted that a lot of sequencing and cell biology people. transgender Christians have are revealing that almost gifts that were not being fully Austin Hartke is one everyone is, to varying utilised in their churches. such voice. The author of degrees, a patchwork of genetically distinct cells, some Transforming: The Bible and “A lot of trans folks have said the Lives of Transgender with a sex that do not match [to me] “if only I could start Christians and the Youtube the rest of their body. a podcast” or “if only I could series Transgender and write a book”, or “if only I The University of California’s Christian, Mr Hatke himself could become a pastor”, Arthur Arnold is a biology made the transition. Mr which they have the skills to expert who has studied the Hartke’s work discusses the do but historically they have differences between the implications of transition for not had the resources to do,” sexes. He suggests that theology and church life. In he said. looking at this in a simplistic an episode of the Love, Rinse, way is problematic. “The “I think that [lifting trans Repeat podcast, Mr Hatke main problem with a strong told host Rev. Liam Miller that people’s voices] is something dichotomy [between male that cisgender Christians he was fascinated by the arc and female] is that there are could do that could really of eunuchs in scripture. intermediate cases that push change things a lot.” the limits and ask us to figure “You go from Deuteronomy…

Jonathan Foye which says that anyone who out exactly where the dividing If this article brings up problems for has had any changes made line is between males and you, help is available. Call Lifeline to their genitalia can’t be females,” he said. on 13 11 14. involved in the community “That’s often a very difficult anymore…to Acts, where problem, because sex can be one of the first converts defined a number of ways.” to Christianity is a eunuch GLOSSARY OF TERMS who has had changes made All of this runs the risk, and has lived somewhere Cisgender: Someone however, of treating whose gender matches the between genders. Nothing transgender people as one they were assigned at can prevent them from a scientific subject to be birth. being part of this community, analysed, rather than people Transgender: Someone despite what Deuteronomy who are part of the church. whose gender does not As such, it is important to hear 23:1 said. And so this arc, that match the one they were moves towards inclusion… the voices of transgender assigned. was so revelatory for me. It Christians in any discussion Non-binary: A range of gives hope that the people that involves them. gender identities that are who were once considered not exclusive outsiders, they are now one of While it is difficult to summarise a whole tranche of scientific literature on the subject, the concept that male and female sexes are always (and unambiguously) binary has been demonstrated not to be the case.

ELEVATING THEIR VOICES

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MEETING THE COMMUNITY

where they are

In the Uniting Church, people are ordained for one of two roles. The Ministry of the Word is often the better known role, but serving the broader community is a focal point for Deacons. This role is an integral part of the Church that is all too often overlooked.

W

here Ministers of the Word (MOW) primarily focus on the ‘gathered community’ that worships in church on Sunday (and other days), Deacons’ primary focal point is the ‘scattered community’ beyond the church building.

Deacons are often charged with the prophetic task of speaking up for the marginalised and building bridges between the church and other communities. As the Report on Ministry in the Uniting Church presented to the 1991 Assembly puts it, Deacons are “to be especially aware of the places in the community where people are hurt, disadvantaged, oppressed, or marginalised and to be in ministry with them in ways which reflect the special concern of Jesus for them.”

Deacons work in a variety of settings, including cross-cultural ministry and chaplaincy placements among others.

Sally Yabsley-Bell is a Deacon candidate. She told Insights that it was the focus on the dispersed community that made it appealing.

“The role of deacon is so similar to that of a Minister of the Word that people often don’t understand the difference,” she said.

“The charge given to both Ministers of the Word and Deacons at their ordinations are the same, however they are given in a reverse order. It is this slight difference in focus that can be confusing. We all are charged the same way, but it is where we start our ministry that is different. I feel called to the people outside of the gathered community, to help them find the love of God in community, meeting them where they are.”

Tau'alofa Anga'aelangi is the first Tongan person to be ordained as a Deacon in the Uniting Church. She said that a call to serve at the margins of society was what prompted her.

believe that the servanthood of Christ and teachings is more than enough to bring about change in the status quo of a society.”

Deacons work in a variety of settings, including cross-cultural ministry and chaplaincy placements among others

“Sometimes in the UCA it can be unhelpful to ask about the difference between the ministry of Deacons and the MOW,” she said.

“I grew up in the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga (Methodist).

There has always been a longing to be more practical rather than the reflective, and prayer life that was also important in my upbringing. In my immature imagination had thought that’s what church life was all about. I always felt a strong call to the community at the margins, or the places where you hear people stories of struggle, issues of inequality, and social justice.”

“And of course others may have different approaches in making a difference regarding those social justice. However, I strongly

“Deacons focuses on the scattered community and its connection to the church. At the same time it is a part of our call to ensure and remind the church to be accountable for the good news of Jesus Christ.

My thoughts on the accountability of the church and the call to the Ministry of Deacons is to be more practical in service to the “other”.”

“Indeed, there is a time to be prayerful, reflective, and planning. Nevertheless, I don’t claim exclusivity with regards to the ministry of Deacons and their role in the church. Being Deacons means our focus on the scattered community and being the prophetic voice of the church has affirmed my gifts, skills and passion is a gift to the ministry of Deacons in the UCA.”

“Being ordained into the Ministry of Deacon is a significant has been an affirming time. I started my Period of Discernment in 2011, and I had a few setbacks. The time of preparation for the occasion also gave me some reflective moments of my journey through discernment, formation and ordination.”

“Each of those pivotal moments has been challenging, in a way that’s stretched me to rethink about the call. The challenge and discernment meant that I will continue to be transformed in my way of thinking and doing. Ordination, was special to stop and recognise I did not get here on my own. I have been journeying with not only the church community but with family, friends, and others.

Therefore, ordination is a time of recognition of one being officially affirmed by the church.”

“I look forward to conversations, and people’s stories. I’m excited about the talks on what it means to be church and why we do the things we do in the community.”

Jonathan Foye

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L E C T I O NA RY R E F L E C T I O N S

MARCH

Seeing Jesus clear ly 1 MARCH LENT 1 MATTHEW 4:1-11

Matthew expends a great deal of energy recasting the Jesus story in light of the Moses story (Exodus). He wants to reinforce the notion that Jesus is the fulfilment of the identity found in Moses, the longawaited return of God’s favour upon God’s people. Therefore, just as Israel was tested in the wilderness to be reshaped for the life promised by God, so Jesus now undergoes the trials of wilderness.

The physical testing of the desert to match the spiritual temptations around power, glory, and fear. Could these offer Jesus shortcuts to build the Kingdom? Efficiency dividends?

him must take up their own cross. This has been a key turning point in the gospel.

How does Matthew follow up such a key revelation? By offering a second one. This Transfiguration story links all that Jesus has just revealed about his way with the great story of Israel. In case the disciples (and the readers) felt any doubts about this way of the cross, Jesus is now affirmed and upheld by none other than Moses, Elijah, and the very voice of the Divine, imploring us all to hear, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” (v5).

This shining moment of glory is the reaffirmation, a highlighted underlining, of the connections between Even though Jesus “was Jesus’ life, the cross, and the famished” (v2) by the struggle, resurrection to come. much like we are by our own yearnings to live faithfully and 15 MARCH justly, he continues to choose LENT 3 the slow and patient work of JOHN 4:5-42 faithfulness.

Our Lenten readings have so far drawn great parallels There are days when we between Jesus and the story cannot see the way forward of Israel (via Moses). But in our own lives. Sometimes not so today. On his journey these moments are about from Judea to Galilee, Jesus how we travel and learn, as chooses to go through much as they are about the Samaria, knowing that this end in sight. is alien territory for a Jewish man like himself. He does this 8 MARCH LENT 2 deliberately. Here he engages MATTHEW 17:1-9 not only with a Samaritan, In chapter 16:21-26 Jesus but with a woman no less. has finally revealed to the Boundaries are being trodden disciples that he must go to on and ignored all over this Jerusalem, be crucified and story. then be raised. The way of the Within this contested context, cross is made explicit, and Jesus plays word games further, any who would follow

Can we trust in Jesus, even when he seems to depart from our tradition? around the phrase “living water”. On the one hand a flowing source of fresh water is crucial for any community here, and yet alongside this is the symbolism of the God’s gift of new life. Samaritans traced their faith through Jacob and a holy site in Shechem (Sychar), Jewish people through Moses and the temple site in Jerusalem.

Jesus teases out that the living water he offers will be greater than tradition or location. It springs from him and his authority as the Son. Can we trust in Jesus, even when he seems to depart from our tradition?

22 MARCH

LENT 4 JOHN 9:1-41

Just as last week’s passage played upon the JewishSamaritan tension to draw out the image of Jesus as the source of living water; so, this week’s passage plays upon the fraught history of sin, suffering, and healing to hold up Jesus as “the light of the world”( v5).

Blindness is not a punishment for sin; nor does suffering fall only on the guilty (see Luke 13:2-3). Suffering is a reality of life, and to our great dismay it does not fall equally or fairly upon all people. Some part of this is simply the randomness of life, and some part is found in the unjust structures and practices that we create.

John’s gospel will invite us to see that Jesus’ glory is found in the suffering of the cross and the redemption of the resurrection. Like all Lenten passages, we anticipate the coming of Easter. To this end, this difficult passage is not asking us to focus upon mud, saliva, or any other strange details. Instead, what do we need to see Jesus clearly?

What prejudices, fears and traditions do we need to get past to see the light shining in the dark?

29 MARCH

LENT 5 JOHN 11:1-45

Chapters 1 through 12 of John’s gospel are referred to as the Book of Signs (John 20:30-31). All of which are aimed at proclaiming who this Jesus is, and where his authority is from. The raising of Lazarus is one of the last and most well-known signs. While there is plenty of modern literature and poetry exploring Lazarus’ own experience, the gospel remains quiet on this front.

Instead, John deals with everyone else’s response to Jesus. The disciples’ fear, Martha’s faith, Mary’s grief, and the growing opposition from the religious authorities.

All of which is a precursor to our response to the Cross and the empty tomb of Easter. Can we trust the claim of Jesus having authority even over death?

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L E C T I O NA RY R E F L E C T I O N S

APRIL

5 APRIL

PALM SUNDAY MATTHEW 21:1-11

We anticipate Easter

Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week is packed with symbolism.

Despite having made the coming confrontation and death explicit to the disciples (and readers), the key question here is still, “who do you say that Jesus is?” Is he another prophet, a political agitator seeking power, a healer, or something more? He seems to deliberately play with symbols of power and prestige, mixing them with signs of being an outsider. As a consequence of these colliding symbols the whole city is in turmoil, uncertain of what to do with this man.

What do you expect from Jesus during Easter? Will this week produce praise, habit or turmoil in you?

9 APRIL

MAUNDY THURSDAY JOHN 13:1-17, 31B-35

John’s timeline of Holy Week is quite different to the other gospels. Here it is not yet the Passover feast, so there is no break broken and wine shared.

Yet as Jesus prepares for the end, they share a different meal, and in place of the bread and wine is this intimate scene of foot washing.

Foreshadowing the manner in which the shame of the cross will prove the moment of Jesus’ glory and Kingship; so here he takes on the act of a slave (foot washing) as one of his last earthly acts as their Teacher and Lord. The contrast of service and leadership, shame and glory, is key to exploring the power of the cross for John. Can we recognise the love of God in service and in the midst of our suffering? Can we sit within the presence of God, even in the shadow of death?

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10 APRIL

GOOD FRIDAY JOHN 18:1 - 19:42, PSALM 22

John’s gospel presents a lengthy and powerful narration of the crucifixion. Jesus is portrayed as serene and almost above the urgency and drama surrounding him. For John, there is importance in showing that everything is unfolding as Jesus had expected, that the divine plan is faithful and in control. The arrest, torture and crucifixion of Jesus may be an action of the authorities fearful of their power, but it is also the moment of Jesus’ glory. Jesus’ calmness, the many fulfilments of scripture, and the repeated reference to testimony to truth (18:23, 37, 19:35), all stand in contrast to the seeming defeat and horror of the story.

surprises, and even the fear of what may yet come.

Holy Saturday is a moment to sit in between. To acknowledge the pain of our lives and not to be rushed away into solutions and quick fixes. While we lose the acrostic poetry of the Hebrew, we can sit within Lamentations 3 as we see our wounds, feel our loss, and yet somehow still recognise God who is present.

12 APRIL

EASTER SUNDAY JOHN 20:1-18

There are many ways in which we can approach the wonder of Easter Sunday. Sometimes in our rush to resolution, we can miss the nuances that John provides us with. Consider Mary’s experience. She seeks to provide honour and dignity for Jesus in his death (v1), We may know that the story however even this is denied does not end here, but the to her as she confronts the challenge for the Church is to shock of the empty tomb. While stay in our confusion and in the contradictions of the story. the other two disciples come and go in a whirlwind, Mary is More often than not, I find rooted to the spot in grief (v11). myself reflected in the chaos Her exclamation in v13 mirrors of the disciples, the women, the grief that many who have and the religious authorities.

My fears and failures resonate lost their initial faith feel, “They loudly with them. And yet even have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have then, especially then, I find myself transfixed by the person laid him.” of Jesus, the presence of God It is only through this amidst the wreckage of death. experience of loss and grief – Jesus is not who I 11 APRIL HOLY SATURDAY thought he was – that Mary, LAMENTATIONS 3:1-9, 19-24 and indeed many of us, can Easter is powerful, hope driven, come to see the Risen Christ and a celebration of life and among us. Perhaps Easter God’s love. It is also a moment can be approached as faith when we can feel the weight of in Jesus that emerges out of loss and grief. Shadows drawn our fears and doubts rather sharper by the strength of the than pretending they no longer light. For some of us, this will matter. be a time when the wounds 19 APRIL inflicted upon us over the last EASTER 2 year (or even longer) may bite JOHN 20:19-31 in unexpected ways. The loss I have always found this to of loved ones, life’s unwanted be one of the most terrifying

and yet inspiring texts in the whole of scripture. In the midst of the disciples’ fear for their own fate, and their confusion at Mary’s testimony, the Risen One appears to them. As the Risen One, Jesus still bears the scars of his crucifixion, the marks of his death. Here Jesus offers them his peace, and his mandate, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you,” (v21).

This peace that bears scars and this sending that will not avoid the cross, is now ours.

The resurrection has changed everything and death itself is overcome. But we are not removed from the contest, nor are we promised the avoidance of suffering. Jesus is shown to truly be the Word of God (chapter 1), and He will lead us ever deeper into life rather than away from it.

26 APRIL

EASTER 3 LUKE 24:13-35

The road to Emmaus is one of our best loved passages. It resonates with our own sense of holding doubts and yet still being met by Christ on the road, to be renewed and recalled into faith. The story acts as a recapitulation of Jesus’ place within the larger story of Israel and God’s promises. As such it prepares the ground for the renewing and recasting of the story in Acts away from an Israel-only focus.

For us it provides wonderful images of Jesus, the Risen One, who meet us on the road (not only in set-aside religious moments); who meets us in our doubts; and whom we find again in the breaking of bread together (v30).

“You have made us for yourself O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Saint Augustine.

L E C T I O NA RY R E F L E C T I O N S

MAY

God has acted in Christ

3 MAY

EASTER 4 JOHN 10:1-10

John’s gospel is at once terrible, wonderful, poetic, and confusing. It leads us into familiar fields, and yet regularly turns us around in deliberate gyres to make us look again at this man, Jesus.

The passage today is a continuation of Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees and religious authorities from the last few chapters. Specifically, from the conflict in chapter 9 over the man born blind. Jesus has acted to throw open the gates of inclusion to the community, while the Judean authorities have continued to raise barriers. Jesus responds to them here in chapter 10 by claiming that his voice is to be trusted (v4), and his authority comes from the gatekeeper (v3), and that he is the gate (v7). It is indeed a mix of images (possibly drawing upon Ezekiel 34), all pointing towards the growing conflict between costly welcome of Jesus, and the self-justifying power of the Pharisees.

10 MAY

EASTER 5 JOHN 14:1-14

In chapters 14 through 17, Jesus offers us his farewell discourse. A familiar Greek rhetorical device, it seeks to offer a final summary of the man and his message.

As the authorities finally act to silence Jesus, He turns to offer comfort and guidance to the disciples (and by extension to us as the readers). Jesus does not talk of revenge or plan for counter-attack. He does speak of hospitality and belonging, reinforcing that His authority comes from

All of who we are, all of that which creation is, will be embraced and taken up in the Resurrection the very heart of God. Even here as the curtain falls and darkness grows, Jesus points us towards relationship with God and with each other. We belong, because God has acted in Christ to call us to one another. Trust in the One who calls us, for that is more powerful than anything the authorities can raise up against us.

17 MAY

EASTER 6 JOHN 14:15-21

Continuing on from last week, Jesus’ farewell instructions centre upon love, trust, and the presence of God in Christ. Even now, as Jesus is preparing to depart, his call to costly love and discipleship is reinforced by the promise of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate (v16).

The invitation is to be present to Jesus who walks towards the cross, even in our confusion and uncertainty.

Jesus’ knows how hard this road is, how it will spark opposition from those in power, and still he seeks to keep us true to His call. We may be afraid, but we are not alone; we may be confused,

but we are guided by the Spirit.

The commandment to love as Jesus loves, is neither easy or impossible. It is the way.

It all matters to God. “And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.” V52

24 MAY

31 MAY

ASCENSION LUKE 24:44-53

The Ascension matters more than most of us realise. We often read this passage and become dazed by the scientific impossibility of Jesus levitating to a Heaven in the clouds. Which is to miss the point entirely. The death and resurrection of Jesus is not simply a cold and passionless transaction, paying off guilt for a disembodied afterlife.

It is instead completely passionate – a divine embrace and “taking up” of the whole of Jesus. All that He has been – as a child, a friend, a teacher, a healer, a prophet, a criminal, and as God’s Son – is now fully embraced by God. All of who Jesus is, is taken up into God’s presence.

And that is the measure and mark of God’s reconciliation.

All of who we are, all of that which creation is, will be embraced and taken up in the Resurrection of Jesus.

PENTECOST ACTS 2:1-21

So what? After all of this teaching; all of this following; after ALL of Easter, now what?

God is not done with us yet.

This is such a well-known and well-loved passage. We can draw on the parallels and contrasts between Peter’s speech and Joel chapter 2.

We can sing for joy recalling the birth of the Church.

We can take heart and be reminded at the cross-cultural nature and calling of the Church.

Above all else it should remind us of the incredibly wild and subversive nature of our God, who is creatively calling us back to life and faith again and again. Pentecost should always point us outwards, to see that God is at work around us, and often using those outside the centres of power and tradition.

Rev. Andrew Johnson

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Afterlife C U LT U R E WAT C H

IT’S ONE OF OUR ETERNAL QUESTIONS WITH NO EASY ANSWERS: WHAT HAPPENS TO US AFTER WE DIE? ALTHOUGH THE STATISTICS SUGGEST MANY AUSTRALIANS BELIEVE IN THE AFTERLIFE, WHAT EXACT FORM THAT TAKES IS STILL UP FOR DEBATE. The subject of the afterlife comes with a number of questions. Is it real? How many stages of the afterlife are there? Is there an unbroken continuity of time, space and personal identity between this world and the next? Will I still be the same me there? It would be fair comment to say that whatever varieties of belief might exist within our church concerning the existence and the nature of an afterlife, the Uniting Church does not itself hold a clearly defined position doctrinally. This is apart from its embrace of the scriptural and credal notion of the resurrection of the dead (however understood) and brief references in both The Basis of Union and the liturgy for The Funeral Service (Uniting in Worship 2) to the afterlife.

THE BASIS

In Paragraph 3 of the Basis it is said that, “The Church lives between the time of Christ’s death and resurrection and the final consummation of all things which Christ will bring; the Church is a pilgrim people, always on the way towards a promised goal; here the Church does not have a continuing city but seeks one to come.”

This is as close as the Basis comes to commenting on the afterlife and it is short on detail. In the liturgy for funerals, various references suggest what might amount to some clear understandings of aspects on this. In the introduction it says that “while death is the end of

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mortal life, it marks a new beginning in our relationship with God.” One of the prayers offered in praise of Christ it reads, “[f]or this assurance of our new life in Christ, and for the great company of the faithful whom you have received into your eternal joy, all praise and thanks be given to you, O God, forever and ever.”

In the Prayer of Committal, as elsewhere in the liturgy, we hear of the “sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life”. Among the concluding prayers is one that God “might continue to lead us until our hope is fulfilled and we join all God’s people in neverending praise” and another that God might “enable us to go forward in faith

to meet [Christ] that, when our life on earth has ended, we may be reunited [my emphasis] with all who love Him in your heavenly kingdom” (somewhat different from the “reunion” with loved ones spoken about earlier?). All these prayers speak to an existence beyond this present one, in the company of Christ.

THE BIBLE

The Bible itself speaks at many points of a life beyond this one but there is argument among scholars about how such passages might be read. Apart from Paul’s classic pieces at 1 Corinthians 15 and 2 Corinthians 4 and 5 on the resurrection both of Christ and of the faithful, other passages pointing to an existence beyond this one include Luke

23:42 (the thief beside Jesus on the cross and the promise of ‘paradise’), John 14:2 (the waystations—the “mansions”—on the path post-death), Philippians 1:23b (Paul’s clear preference to “depart [die] and be with Christ”), and Luke 16:19-31 (the Rich Man and Lazarus postdeath and with the angels and Abraham respectively).

The Bible itself speaks at many points of a life beyond this one but there is argument among scholars about how such passages might be read

One argument among biblical scholars is about whether the transition from death to resurrection is immediate (there being no time as we might know it in the afterlife given that time is itself, as Augustine suggests, part of the created order) or whether there is an intermediate space first, one between death and the time of the resurrection.

THE WIDER CHURCH

In the history of the Christian Church some traditions have adopted the notion that there is an intermediate or in-between space between death and resurrection.

Thus within Roman Catholic teaching there has been found, explicitly since the 12th century but implicitly much earlier, the idea of Purgatory. This supposed place, though by no means providing a comfortable or pleasant experience for residents, is not one for the reprobate, but rather for the not-quite-righteousenough-yet who require just a little more work before advancing to heaven.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes Purgatory as the place for the “purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned”. While this idea of Purgatory is repudiated by most Protestants and Orthodox, the primary founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley maintained in correspondence and sermons that there existed an intermediate stage between death and resurrection to enable further “growth in holiness.”

UNDERSTANDING THE NUMBERS

A 2005 national survey of Australian teens and young adults (13–24 years)— The Spirit of Generation Y (SGY)—found that 56 per cent believed in life after death without necessarily indicating what form such an existence might take.

Figures drawn from the 2009 Australian Survey of Social Attitudes (AuSSA)— taken from across a broader age range—showed that 46 per cent of those surveyed believed in an afterlife.

Another Australian survey conducted just after the AuSSA, in 2010—the Afterlife in a Secular Age project—with 52 people aged from 18 to 85, with roughly a third in each of the age groups 18–24, 25–49 and 50–85, approximately one half (27) expressed some belief in an afterlife (but not reincarnation), 9 in reincarnation, and 16 that death is the end.

Thus, belief in an afterlife, though not necessarily one of a traditional kind, is alive (so to speak) and well, particularly among younger Australians.

Many scholarly surveys have also been carried out on popular beliefs about the afterlife in the United Kingdom and the United States. The UK surveys have suggested similar figures to those from Australia, if perhaps slightly higher, while those from the US somewhere between 70 percent (across the age ranges) and 90 percent (among the college-aged).

What the Australian surveys for their part also demonstrated, however, was that very few of those who believe in an afterlife in this country are influenced in this by traditional religious teachings.

ON SCREEN AND ON THE PAGE

The results of these surveys on beliefs in an afterlife are also backed by its representation in a number of contemporary films, particularly the notion of an intermediate, transitional existence post-death in which unresolved issues left over from life in the present are resolved, films such as Ghost, Truly, Madly, Deeply, What Dreams May Come, The Sixth Sense, and Hereafter among them.

Correspondences with, if not necessarily influences by, the Buddhist notion of the bardo and the Catholic purgatory are clear.

In Gabrielle Zevin’s novel Elsewhere, the lead character, 15-year-old Lizzie Hall, recently killed in a road accident, when sighting land from the ship transporting her and others to their particular afterlife, declares that, “If you have to be dead,

it is better to be somewhere, anywhere, than nowhere at all.”

BEYOND THE GRAVE

In 1 Corinthians, Paul famously declares, contrasting the present age with the one to come: “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face.

Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

The brief investigation above of confessional documents, liturgies, surveys, films and novels suggest a contemporary widespread, popular belief in an afterlife including more than one post-death stage, and the continuity of personal identity between this world and the next.

These sources suggest an afterlife where understanding replaces what once seemed uncertain, knowing what previously seemed unknown, resolving what had been hitherto unresolved, and making sense of what formerly did not.

In the 2004 film The Five People You Meet in Heaven amusement park maintenance worker Eddie, killed by falling machinery while trying to save the life of a young girl, is told by an old friend in the afterlife, “The way I see it, that’s what we’re getting here. That’s what heaven is. You get to make sense of your yesterdays.”

This piece was originally published in Journey Magazine Rev Dr David Mackay-Rankin is a former Principal of Trinity Theological College.

His most recent book, The Early Church and the Afterlife, was published by Routledge (UK) in 2017. The book is available at Camden Theological Library.

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E N T E R TA I N M E

A Good End

Over its four-year run, The Good Place has proven itself to be one of the deepest comedies of all time, balancing a quick wit with a deeper introspection.

F

rom jokes about WWE, to a consideration of deontology versus consequentialism, the show’s range is truly impressive. Now at its end, The Good Place manages to close in a way that is surprisingly sad and yet profound.

The episode is in many ways one of the saddest show finals in recent memory.

In many ways, we are forced to say goodbye to beloved characters and the impression is one that is unlikely to leave for some time. This is as beautiful an experience of grief as has ever been transmitted on screen, as might be expected about a show that is all about death, the afterlife, and finding meaning in it all.

This is not to say that the final episode is all doom and gloom, and there are several great Easter eggs and rewards for fans who have followed every episode to date. Some great one-off and shortterm characters have appeared in The Good Place, and most of them make cameos.

The prior episodes of The Good Place’s final season establish that there is a problem with the afterlife’s design. Living in a world that becomes increasingly complicated by the day, human beings find themselves unable to live up to the standards needed to get into the ‘good place’, leading to most ending up in the ‘bad place’.

Having helped sort out a new system where people can redeem themselves and improve through a series of tests, the core characters find themselves in the good place for eternity. However, a major complication occurs when they discover that the good place’s inhabitants are finding themselves blissed out of their brains, living out a happy, yet somewhat meaningless existence for the rest of eternity.

The characters manage to come up with a solution to this problem, and in doing so raise several interesting questions about the purpose of existence and the meaning of the afterlife.

While The Good Place’s universe avoids addressing faith head-on, there are nonetheless a number of references and questions that the final episode brings up about the purpose of life and death that Christians will resonate with. Ultimately, this is a version of the afterlife that is lacking in grace. Making their way into the “Good Place” is initially a merit-based task based on works, a task that virtually no one succeeds at.

Despite this difference, The Good Place is not a show that any Christians should avoid engaging with, in the unlikely event that they have not watched it yet. The show also has much to impart about the process of discipleship, as it makes the case that people can become better through rigorous processes of learning and reflecting.

Today’s cluttered television landscape would benefit from more content as meaningful, yet accessible as The Good Place, and its absence will leave a profound gap.

Jonathan Foye All episodes of The Good Place are now streaming on Netflix.

The final episode brings up questions about the purpose of life and death that Christians will resonate with 46

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