Crosslight October 2016

Crosslight No. 270 October 2016

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16-17

11-13

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We talk to the mayor of Bethlehem about finding peace in the Holy Land.

Readers share memories of mission and discuss what Christians can learn from Muslims.

Garth Jones returns home to the regional town of Broken Hill and discovers a shift in attitude towards LGBTIQ people.

Rev Sharon Hollis reflects on breaking down the stigma attached to mental illness.

For more than 50 years, CBM (formerly Christian Blind Mission) has helped restore sight to millions of people throughout the world. In our front cover image, 11-year-old Sintila returns home with his mother, Sunapatis, following successful cataract surgery. They walked for more than six hours to reach a CBM partner clinic in Kenya. Turn to page 5 to read the full story.

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Picture credit: CBM

A Uniting Church congregation combats slavery through table tennis.

Synod Snaps brings you images from throughout the Church and beyond.

Regulars People - 15

Letters - 16 to 17 Reviews - 18 to 19 Notices - 20 to 21 Moderator’s column - 22

Editorial Noisy gongs and clanging cymbals PENNY MULVEY

Communications & Media Services

UCA Synod Office, 130 Little Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 Phone: (03) 9251 5200 Email: crosslight@victas.uca.org.au ISSN 1037 826X

HAVE you ever considered what a respectful conversation might sound like?

This might seem an odd question if you are always respectful. However, the concept of respect is not necessarily a given, as is evidenced by the degree of vitriol witnessed on social media, in parliament, on television talk shows and directed at people working in customer services.

Last month, Stuart McMillan, the president of the Uniting Church, issued a public statement urging members of the Church to engage in respectful conversations around the topic of marriage equality and the Government’s proposal for a plebiscite.

“How as the people of God in the Uniting Church in Australia do we engage,” Mr McMillan asked, “firstly, with one another within the Christian community recognising the range of theological diversity; and secondly, how do we engage

Crosslight is a monthly newspaper produced by the Communications and Media Services unit of The Uniting Church Synod of Victoria and Tasmania.

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with the wider Australian community?”

Is it even possible to be respectful if you are expressing an opinion on whether someone who has a different sexual orientation than you should be allowed to marry?

I posed this question to Uniting Church member and Victoria’s inaugural Commissioner for Gender and Sexuality, Rowena Allen.

Ms Allen believes respectful conversations can happen – with extreme care. She said each person needs to actively listen, tell the truth and ‘stay to the conversation’.

She expressed concern about some public statements in opposition to marriage equality, which raise issues of bestiality and harm to children.

This is not staying to the conversation, is not respectful and is offensive. Ms Allen also stressed the importance of ‘I’ statements.

While the Uniting Church has not come to a common mind on the question of marriage equality, last year’s 14th Assembly committed to encourage the “space for grace”.

This is a challenging time for all of us. For some it might appear that the very bedrock of society, the institution of marriage, is under threat. How do we manage our complex thoughts and emotions as we witness the public debate swirl around us? How do we discern God’s truth in the deluge of often acrimonious words?

In a world that seems to be increasingly presented as black-and-white it can be hard to sit in the middle, to not have an opinion or not know what to think. That’s okay.

Ultimately it is how we treat each other.

For President McMillan, it is “through conversations from the heart, listening deeply to one another and God”.

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News Bethel and the challenge of change DAVID SOUTHWELL

THE Uniting Church is undergoing profound changes and, as a result, the Bethel Centre is changing too.

The Centre offers counselling, education and pastoral care with the primary focus on dealing with issues and incidents of abuse and misuse of power within the Uniting Church.

As a service that operates independently from synod, staff at the Centre believe they offer a useful perspective on the emotional upheaval Uniting Church people face when adapting to change.

The scope of creating a safe culture in a changing environment has led the Centre to offer something different, according to Bethel coordinator and counsellor Julie McDonald.

“We’re a small service and what Bethel has done in the past is one-off workshops on bullying, or the impact of trauma, or on stress and self-care or sexual abuse,” Ms McDonald says.

“The kind of concepts we are now talking about are quite complex with the dynamics within a congregation. So to come and do a one-off workshop I think it has a minimal effect.

“What we’ve looked at doing is developing a model that we can pilot within one congregation to look at how they might look at their future given that they have had a lot of significant change.”

Ms McDonald and fellow Bethel counsellor Ann-Marie Hughes have begun delivering a set of six workshops over a period of 18 months to leadership representatives from Manningham Uniting Church in Melbourne’s north-east.

Manningham’s single church council was formed when four separate congregations merged in 2011. This amalgamation has also led to the selling and redeveloping of properties under the synod’s Asset Strategy Program.

“There has been a lot of loss in those

Ann-Marie Hughes and Julie McDonald

Uniting together NIGEL TAPP

OCTOBER 16 - CROSSLIGHT

A new single board will assume governance responsibility for 22 Uniting Church community service agencies from Monday 3 October. The emerging organisation will be known as ‘Uniting’.

In June last year, the Synod Standing Committee (SSC) resolved to establish a single governance board to oversee service delivery and support functions for all community service across Victoria and Tasmania. The UnitingCare Network Project Control Group (PCG) was formed and has worked for more than a year to realise the new strategic direction.

PCG Chair Bob Hodges said the changing face of the community services sector led to the new direction.

“Australia’s community services sector is undergoing enormous change in order to meet increasing community needs and the changing way clients will access services (in the future),’’ Mr Hodges said.

As reported in June Crosslight, the skillsbased board will be chaired by former Victorian Health Minister Bronwyn Pike. Paul Linossier, previously the CEO of Wesley Mission Victoria, has been appointed as the inaugural Chief Executive Officer. Mr Linossier has more than three decades experience in leading organisational change and systems reform

changes,” Ms McDonald said.

“Although there are also gains, it’s difficult for people to see the future and how that might be of benefit when the church that they have worshipped in for the last 30 or 40 years has been sold.”

“So it’s looking at moving through that trauma and grief and beginning to look at the future, who might we be in the future, how might we look and shape our identity, what kind of church do we want.”

Wendy Austin, chair of the Manningham Church Council, has been attending the workshops and says the feedback from the first session had been good.

“There was a genuine effort by Julie and Ann-Marie in leading us through this session that they as leaders were open and caring in their efforts to meet the needs of participants,” Ms Austin said.

“Personally I found the statement that ‘some people will choose not to change, and we must support their choice, and wish them well’ has since been a statement I have used when encountering people who have strongly resisted changing.

“This has removed, for me, a sense of guilt from not personally being successful in persuading some people that change is necessary.”

Ms McDonald believed that, in general, the Church was coping with change.

“We’ve seen a lot of conflict at a range of different congregations across Vic/Tas and we were surprised at how far along they were,” Ms McDonald said.

“I think they are in a very good place, they are not at the height of the fallout, they’re a couple of years down the track.

“There is a sense that there’s been a divided group who’ve kind of gone ‘yeah, look we understand there needs to be change and we’re beginning to head that way’, while there are still a few die-hards.”

Ms McDonald said the Manningham model of themed workshops delivered to a group over a longer period of time was something Bethel hoped to replicate.

“We see that as something that at this point looks strong and is a good use of Bethel resources.”

“Uniting is all about working together to inspire people, enliven communities and confront injustice”

while maintaining a strong commitment to marginalised and vulnerable people.

He said the merging agencies had a rich history of providing care, support and community partnerships. Together, he said, we can do more.

“We will have a stronger advocacy voice and access to broader resources and skills to meet clients’ needs,” Mr Linossier said. “This change provides the best opportunity for us to continue our important work in the community for many years to come.”

For a period of time, each agency will continue to operate as they do now. The new board and executive will engage existing agencies to collaborate on the design of Uniting. This process should be complete by the middle of next year.

Mr Hodges said the name Uniting clearly places the new organisation as a community services ministry of the

Uniting Church. He said the new identity also reflects the bold new direction to staff, clients and the community.

“Regardless of the name or how we visually represent the new organisation, peoples’ perceptions will always be built from their experiences,” Mr Hodges said.

“With the roll-out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and changes to Consumer Directed Care (CDC) for non-residential aged care services, we will need to be communicating with people within the context of a market place.”

When the merger is complete, Uniting will be one of the largest community service providers operating across the two states.

“Uniting is all about working together to inspire people, enliven communities and confront injustice,” Paul Linossier said.

“We are Uniting to have greater impact.”

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CA082016v2

News Seens of joy DAVID SOUTHWELL

THE sound of someone getting their sight back is often no sound at all.

That’s one of the things Uniting Church minister Rev Dona Spencer learnt when she observed eye cataract surgery patients in Kenya discovering if their operations had been successful.

“We were there in the hospital as they took off their bandages,” Ms Spencer said.

“It was just so wonderful to watch as the bandage was removed and see the expressions on their faces. You could see their brain registering what they were actually being able to see and it took a while for their brain to kick in.’

“It was absolute silence, just hushed amazing silence as we all stood there with bated breath. The person would gradually get the words, the mouth would start speaking and they’d be so thrilled.

“And then within about 10 minutes they were overcome with joy and you couldn’t shut them up.”

Ms Spencer, who is minister at Southport Uniting Church on the Gold Coast, was invited by ecumenical NGO CBM to visit Kenya last October.

CBM, formerly known as the Christian Blind Mission, focuses on helping people with a range of disabilities in the developing world. It also works to make

Dona speaking with a patient waiting in line for surgery

Picture courtesy: CBM

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faith communities more inclusive in Australia through its Luke 14 arm.

Ms Spencer, who is involved with Luke 14, went to Kenya to see CBM’s field operations with two other friends from Australia who had nursing backgrounds.

In Nairobi they visited a slum area where CBM helps operate a school centre for mothers of children with a severe disability.

“In some African communities, if your child is born with a disability you are more or less cast out,” Ms Spencer said.

“We sat in this tin shed that was extremely hot. In contrast to the rawness and heat and ugliness of the surroundings, these women had the most radiant, joyful faces because they had found a community.”

Ms Spencer’s party was taken to an eye hospital outside Nairobi, where she first encountered cataract surgery patients who had undergone the operation the day before.

“We turned a corner at this hospital and there were all these Masai people sitting there, very tall, very elegant with all their jewellery wrapped around their necks,” Ms Spencer said.

“A lot of them had been blind for half their lives. We were there as they removed the bandages so we were there for their first sight, for their first look with clarity. We were in tears, they were in tears and embracing. It was just beautiful.”

Ms Spencer’s friend Wendy Campbell witnessed the operations taking place.

“Coming from a nursing background, she just couldn’t believe it. The window was open, the kids were playing in the dust outside, the lady had all of her jewellery on and yet they were doing a major cataract operation,” Ms Spencer said.

“It just shows that you can still perform these things in the most difficult of circumstances and how wonderful it is, what these doctors are doing. They adapt, they’re just so flexible and they’re successful.”

Later Ms Spencer steeled herself to observe operations being performed at a dedicated eye hospital in the west of Kenya. She watched as the layers of the eye were being peeled back on magnified video.

“I remained standing!” Ms Spencer said.

“I was more amazed by this young woman who was a surgeon and they had two people undergoing surgery at the same time. She was there intensely operating on person after person after person, probably eight a day.

“It’s so intricate to put a blade underneath the outer eye and the person is totally with it, they’re not out to it as they are in Australia. It’s an amazing operation and CBM do such a fantastic job.”

Ms Spencer said that an important element of CBM’s work was that it trained local doctors to do the work. She urged Christians in Australia to consider supporting CBM. “I can assure them that their financial gifts are being well used, wisely used,” Ms Spencer said.

“And it’s one life at a time that they’re changing. There are tangible effects of the financial support, very tangible.

“It is miraculous, especially for that person who sees again. It’s a miracle for them.”

CBM says the ‘miracle’ of cataract surgery to return a person’s sight only costs $32 per operation and takes 12 minutes.

The agency’s Miracles Day fundraiser in August has so far raised enough money for 27,500 operations.

To learn more go to www.cbm.org.au 5

News Soul searching at social welfare conference TIM LAM

IN an increasingly competitive and secular community service environment, faithbased agencies are in danger of losing touch with their religious origins and congregations.

This relationship between the church, its agencies and the state was explored at the Recapturing Our Soul conference, held at the Centre for Theology and Ministry over three days last month.

It was hosted by Pilgrim Theological College and UnitingCare Victoria and Tasmania in partnership with the Diaconal Research Institute of Heidelberg University in Germany.

Many social welfare agencies in Australia are undergoing a period of significant change and transformation. In Victoria and Tasmania, 21 UnitingCare agencies and Wesley Mission Victoria have recently merged to create a single governance body.

One of the themes that emerged from the conference was the trend towards diluting an agency’s religious identity.

Rev Dr Lucy Morris, former CEO of BaptistCare, said ‘God’s brand’ is not always regarded as helpful or easy to understand.

“Faith appears to be privatised and the language of faith and religion is no longer recognised and understood and accepted, particularly in agencies where our staffing and customers reflect the people of the world,” she said.

“It’s easier to change the look of an agency to make it more ‘modern’ and accessible and perhaps make God an optional choice,” she said.

Dr Morris warned that both congregations and agencies can become “distracted by the need for survival and indicators of success.” She believes the community sector is facing a significant paradigm shift but change also brings opportunities for reflection and renewal.

“It is a time that agencies and their churches and congregation can refresh their relationships,” she said.

“We must be prepared to take risks and to see and do things differently and be countercultural if we wish to join in the harvest.

“We need to measure success that is qualitative, not just outcome-based, that is relational, just, compassionate and humble so that we can start to define a different counter-cultural narrative.”

Dr Morris believes it is this countercultural narrative and a shared faithful community, comprising of both congregations and agencies, where the greatest hope will emerge.

The call for agencies to work alongside congregations was echoed by Peter Worland, executive director of Uniting NSW/ACT. Mr Worland recalled a conversation he had at a presbytery meeting where a young minster asked him what’s left for congregations to do now that agencies have “taken over” their services.

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Conference convenor John Flett, Lucy Morris, Annette Noller, Hanns-Stephan Haas and Johannes Eurich.

“Many congregations, as a result, see agencies like Uniting as galloping off with the church’s mission, leaving congregations to wither,” Mr Worland said.

Mr Worland believes faith-based agencies need to work with faith communities at the congregational level to create social change. Uniting NSW/ACT is developing co-located hubs where congregations and agencies can share activities and missions together. It has also established a grants fund to support innovative projects run by congregations and presbyteries that tackle social disadvantage in the community.

Uniting NSW/ACT was formed three years ago through the merger of three organisational boards. This was implemented to prepare for changes in government funding, but Mr Worland believes the “wicked problem” facing faithbased agencies is not external economics, but an internal issue of identity and strategic purpose.

“Many church entities are not able to articulate a sufficiently compelling purpose to determine their future,” Mr Worland said.

“We’ve lost sight in many cases of how Christianity differentiates us from others.”

Mr Worland believes it is important for an organisation like Uniting NSW/ ACT to communicate to its employees what it believes in. This does not mean proselytising, but rather recapturing its Christian identity so it can embrace its point of difference from other agencies. Mr Worland said staff at Uniting NSW/ACT responded positively when the organisation articulated its Christian values.

Another characteristic of what Mr Worland described as “the distinctiveness of

Christian witness” is engaging in advocacy for the marginalised.

The challenges of advocacy in the face of increasing marketisation of human services were examined by Dr Mark Zirnsak, director of the synod’s Justice and International Mission unit. He encouraged faith-based agencies to frame their advocacy in terms of human stories rather than through the language of neoliberalism.

“People are more concerned about the welfare of each other than the markets,” Dr Zirnsak said.

“If we want to make a difference, we shouldn’t be framing our arguments in the public arena in terms of economics. We should be framing human stories – that’s what people connect with.”

Visitors from Germany brought their experiences of faith-based social service to the conference. One of the keynote speakers was Prof Dr Johannes Eurich from the Heidelberg University, who spoke about the concept of ‘diaconia’.

This is broadly defined as the spirituallymotivated provision of professional assistance to people in need.

Prof Eurich said sociological research indicates that diaconal churches play an important role in creating social capital.

“Studies show that churches are helpful in forming attitudes which are beneficial to civil society,” he said.

“Christian churches remain one of the major actors fostering positive attitudes towards the common good and providing an unusually large number of socially engaged volunteers.”

In Germany, more than 4 million

volunteers come from the two major churches in the country.

Prof Eurich believes the work of diaconal institutions helps “make the church experienceable and tangible for people who otherwise have no direct contact with the church anymore”.

An example of agencies collaborating with worshipping communities was presented by Dr Hanns-Stephan Haas, CEO of Protestant Foundation Alsterdorf, the largest social foundation in northern Germany.

In 2005, the organisation transformed a local church in Kiel into a neighbourhood centre – a “social church” that offered free food, counselling, coffee and a quiet space for services and meditation.

“We started with an exploration of local resources. For us as a Christian organisation, the parishes and religious communities were a natural alliance,” Dr Haas said.

This project was later expanded into a Hamburg-wide initiative known as Q8, which was designed to enable people with severe disabilities to remain in their own neighbourhood while receiving adequate professional services.

Q8 developed new connections between Protestant Foundation Alsterdorf and the local parishes. The project was so successful it has become part of government policy and was recognised with an UN award.

The conference generated passionate discussions about the future of the church’s community service provision, a conversation that will continue as congregations and agencies navigate the changing landscape together.

CROSSLIGHT - OCTOBER 16

News

Join the conversation about sovereignty and treaty …

IN 2015, the 14th Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia agreed to support Constitutional Recognition as “… a step towards and not a blockage to the larger issues of sovereignty and treaty”.

The Assembly also committed to work with the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) to educate members of the Church about the need for a treaty and to highlight issues faced by First Peoples.

In his Survival Day message this year, the UCA president Stuart McMillan called for a new national conversation about sovereignty for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

“We can never be a mature nation and close the gap until we honour First People as sovereign and negotiate treaties on just terms,” Mr McMillan said.

As part of these conversations, the Justice and International Mission (JIM) unit is organising an ecumenical forum that will focus on treaty, sovereignty and constitutional recognition.

Christian Perspectives on Treaty, Sovereignty and Constitutional Recognition will be held at Wesley Uniting Church in Melbourne at 7pm on Wednesday 9 November.

Stuart McMillan and Victorian state director of UAICC Rev Ken Sumner will be the keynote speakers. A panel presentation includes The Salvation

Keiah

Writing a brighter future Army’s Brooke Prentis, a descendant of the Waka Waka people; Vicki Clarke, Mutthi Mutthi/Wemba Wamba woman, former coordinator of Aboriginal Catholic Ministry Melbourne and member of the Interim Treaty Working Group in Victoria; Rev Glen Loughrey, Wiradjuri man, artist and priest-in-charge of St Oswald’s Anglican Church in Melbourne; and Adam Frogley, Taungerong/Woi-Wurrung man from the Yarra Valley region of Victoria.

Rev Alistair Macrae, minister of Wesley Uniting Church in Melbourne, will MC the evening.

The JIM unit’s Jill Ruzbacky said she was thrilled so many Indigenous leaders had agreed to take part in the forum.

“This is a really important conversation for the churches to take part in,” Ms Ruzbacky said.

“I would encourage people from within the UCA to come and hear the wisdom and perspectives from Indigenous leaders and church leaders from across different denominations. The forum is free, and open to anyone to attend, but registrations are essential.”

For more information, please contact Jill Ruzbacky in the JIM Unit on 9251 5266 or jill.ruzbacky@victas.uca.org.au, or visit the event website to register: http://bit.ly/VCCTreaty

KEIAH knows firsthand the importance of education. An Aboriginal woman of the Yorta Yorta nation, she provides literacy support to inmates at Langi Kal Kal prison, 140 kilometres west of Melbourne.

“At least a quarter of the prisoners don’t have basic literacy skills and can’t read at all,” Keiah said.

“Many of them don’t understand why they are in jail because they can’t read the documents about their case.

“So I always tell them, ‘education is the key to your future’.”

Keiah’s motivation to teach literacy to inmates stems from her own childhood experiences.

Her mother, Ann, constantly stressed to her children the need to keep learning.

In 1992, she arranged for Keiah to receive extra tutoring with the Aboriginal Tutorial Assistance Scheme (ATAS) program, the forerunner of the Aboriginal Literacy Foundation (ALF).

Working in collaboration with local communities, ALF develops Indigenous children’s literacy and numeracy skills so they can succeed in school and beyond.

An estimated 18 per cent of Indigenous students fail to reach the national minimal reading and writing standard in Australia, compared to 6 per cent for non-Indigenous children. Low literacy often leads to significant social disadvantage later in life.

Keiah received on-and-off tutoring from

the ATAS program for 10 years. She eventually left home and had two children with her partner, Mike.

But Keiah felt she had not fulfilled her full potential. In 2010, she talked with Uncle Wally, the head of her family and a Yorta Yorta leader. Uncle Wally suggested she do further study.

Over the next three years, Keiah obtained a Certificate II in Business Studies and a Certificate II in Hospitality. As a result, she was able to find a job at the Aboriginal Co-op in Ballarat.

Following the birth of her third child, Keiah discovered the Federation University in Ballarat was sponsoring an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education program at Langi Kal Kal prison. She successfully applied for the position of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Support Officer and now offers literacy and cultural assistance to inmates.

A certificate course for Indigenous students includes cultural studies.

“It’s important that people do not lose their roots,” Keiah said.

“I always sit with them one-on-one and check that they are learning and know what they are doing.”

Keiah is especially proud of one of her students, who is nearing the end of his sentence and has been able to secure a place at a Ballarat TAFE. “I’m working really hard with him to make sure his literacy is good enough to go right through the course,” she said.

Keiah’s final piece of advice to her students – and other Indigenous youth – is that there are no barriers that cannot be overcome.

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Profile Leadership for the modern Korea woman DEB BENNETT

SILVIA Yang (pictured) can’t escape the feeling that God has had a hand in her new role as CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) relationship officer for the Uniting Church.

More than 10 years ago, when Silvia was struggling with the difficult decision to give up her life in Korea to support her children studying in Melbourne, it was her local church leader who encouraged her.

“The leader said to me ‘Silvia, just go there because I think God has other plans for you’.

“I felt like Abraham going to Canaan and thought to myself ‘I am going to Melbourne and see what happens’. Now I am here and working in the UCA. This is not what I did, this is led by God.” Since arriving in Australia, Silvia has completed her PhD in linguistics, studied theology and currently works at the University of Melbourne teaching Spanish and Korean, while both of her daughters have completed their education.

Silvia recently joined the Korean Church in Melbourne and last year was approached by the director of the synod’s intercultural unit, Rev SweeAnn Koh, to consider a leadership role within the CALD community.

“The Korean church I attend is part of the Uniting Church, so I thought it was necessary to know what the Uniting Church is based on. When SweeAnn visited our church, we talked and he offered me the role,” Silvia said.

“The idea of the relationship officer is that CALD women are very visible in their congregations but they are invisible in the UCA. So it’s to make them come to

Participants at the Uniting Korean Women’s forum

Synod meetings and encourage more active involvement in UCA and the synod.”

One of the first events Silvia attended was the UnitingWomen Conference held in Adelaide in April this year. She is the first to admit that, initially, she was a bit overwhelmed.

“We don’t share our building with other congregations so in terms of my faith community it is very exclusively Korean,” Silvia said.

“In Adelaide there were around 400 women from all around Australia and so many different backgrounds. First of all I was shocked and second it was very emotional.

A feeling within me made me think ‘Yes, this is a real gathering. I am living in a multicultural society’.”

Silvia said the conference encouraged her to think about ways to expand her own faith community beyond the walls of the Korean Church.

She is particularly keen to encourage more women to step into leadership roles.

Although recently Korean women have been accepted as ministers, often they are relegated to minor roles within the church.

In this regard, Silvia said the speaker on the fourth day of the conference was especially inspirational.

“There was a guest speaker and I noticed she

was Korean because of her name,” Silvia said.

“I didn’t know who she was, I thought she was just a pastor or minister.”

It wasn’t until she returned to Melbourne and picked up a book written by the speaker that Silvia realised the speaker was Rev Myung Hwa Park, the moderator of the NSW synod.

“This was another shock. Woman. Korean woman. Reverend. Moderator!”

Silvia knew she had found the role model she was looking for, and organised her first conference, the 2016 Uniting Korean Women’s Forum, with Rev Myung Hwa Park as a guest speaker.

In August, 36 Korean women from throughout Victoria – ranging in age from early-20s to their 70s – gathered to discuss their experiences of worshipping within a multicultural church.

For some it was their first real introduction to the UCA. Vic/Tas moderator Rev Sharon Hollis, along with a translator, gave the women a brief overview of the Church, and Myung Hwa Park led conversations on living life through the ‘diaspora prism’.

Although the first conference concentrated on the Korean community, Silvia feels the issues raised will be relevant to women from throughout the CALD community.

She is keen to organise another forum

including women from other cultures.

The importance of encouraging women to become leaders was apparent to Silvia when she was organising the event.

“I wanted to put on the poster advertising the event ‘Women’s leadership group’ but some of the women, even the younger women in their 30s, were quite intimidated by the term leadership,” she said.

“I thought – this is incredible. In Australia, a woman in her 30s who is raising the children is saying that leadership for women is uncomfortable.”

According to Silvia, the real power in Korean churches can be found in the kitchen. She jokes that it is like the biblical story of Martha and Mary.

“Martha was working in hospitality whereas Mary wants to hear Jesus preaching. The women in our church who are in the kitchen are very strong and powerful. But those like me, who are interesting in preaching, educating children and so on, have no voice actually.

So women must change.

“The mothers must change. We have to raise our children to be part of this multicultural community and show them that they can speak out with those from other ethnic backgrounds.

“The mothers must change first.”

29 College Crescent, Parkville Victoria 3052 Telephone 03 9340 8800 Facsimile 03 9340 8805 info@ctm.uca.edu.au | www.ctm.uca.edu.au | facebook/twitter:ctmvictas

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CROSSLIGHT - OCTOBER 16

Profile Bethlehem mayor wants more than prayers for peace DAVID SOUTHWELL

Vera Baboun

AS she prepares to leave office, Bethlehem’s first female mayor has made an impassioned plea for peace and justice for the besieged city and the wider region.

Vera Baboun, who is a Christian, claimed the mayorship of Bethlehem in the Palestinian territory of the West Bank.

Ms Baboun led the Fatah party’s bloc of candidates to a surprise win in 2012 but won’t be standing in the upcoming council elections in October.

As she reflected on her time in office, including a trip to Australia in May sponsored by the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Network, Ms Baboun said resolving the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians on land considered sacred by three faiths should be the concern of everyone.

“Peace on the table is the responsibility of all humanity,” Ms Baboun said.

“The Palestinian cause is the cause of humanity and justice. I call for all humanity to put it on the table.

“This is the Holy Land, the origin of all faiths that pray for peace. It’s time that there was peace in this Holy Land for us OCTOBER 16 - CROSSLIGHT

all. Christians, Muslims, Jews, Palestinians, Israelis, for all of us.

“If the Holy Land does not witness peace, can you witness peace in all the world? It’s a human and global call for peace.”

Any flaring up of tension comes at a high cost to Bethlehem.

“Remember that Bethlehem is a city of pilgrims and therefore the main industry in Jerusalem relates to tourism,” Ms Baboun said.

“That is very important for us because when we witness a peaceful solution, a peace process, then Bethlehem’s wellness, Bethlehem’s economy also will prosper because we depend on tourism.”

Another major consequence of the conflict is the Israeli ‘separation barrier’, which cuts off Bethlehem from Jerusalem and the rest of Israel.

“In Bethlehem there is the Church of the Nativity and in Jerusalem there is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, so that path of faith between Bethlehem and Jerusalem is now closed because whenever you want to enter Jerusalem you have to have permits,” Ms Baboun said.

“Usually on Easter and Christmas the Israeli administration issues permits to people but normally the access to this place and Jerusalem is controlled.”

The separation barrier also cuts into olive groves and other lands that Palestinian livelihoods have depended on in a region with very high unemployment.

Ms Baboun, who has been an academic and school principal, points out that the Palestinians are a well-educated people but are frustrated by being hemmed in by the Israeli security arrangements.

“People with degrees are everywhere; you have people who are educated but cannot find enough job opportunities,” she said.

“So people in many cases have to work in occupations that don’t recognise their qualifications.”

Further encroaching on the space available in Bethlehem, and also scarce resources such as water, are the expanding Israeli settlements, which have been long condemned as illegal by the international community.

“We have almost 19 settlements in Bethlehem and outside almost 22

settlements on territory that is supposed to be the State of Palestine under the 1967 agreement,” Ms Baboun said.

“They affect the way we use our land for our daily needs.”

The challenges of living in Bethlehem have seen many people leave, especially the young and educated, and migrate to South America, Europe, the US, Australia and the Gulf states as part of a large Palestinian diaspora.

Christians in particular are leaving, but Ms Baboun said it was wrong to think of the Arab Christian community purely in terms of its diminished numerical presence.

“I usually don’t like the term minority, we are the originals,” she said.

“We are becoming less in numbers but not the minority and that is very, very important. Christians in Bethlehem are an existence of quality not only of quantity.”

She pointed out the first modern school in the Middle East was established in Bethlehem by Christians and also the first hospital and university were Christian.

Ms Baboun can also claim to be a historical ground breaker.

There has only been one other female mayor in the Palestinian territories and Ms Baboun was the only woman leader in the last cycle of elections.

“For a woman to lead a city like Bethlehem with all the challenges that it faces, for a woman to lead Bethlehem – the global city of the Christian message – was by itself an advantage on the national and international level,” Ms Baboun said.

“However, some individuals – and this is a personal attitude – might not have been accepting or liking that a woman leads the city. But I would never have been mayor without being elected by men and women, Christian and Muslims.

“So this means for me, and it was very important for me, that my community carries a respect for women.”

Ms Baboun said her personal plans on leaving office are not clear but she is fully committed to finalising all the projects that she can.

One of those is the restoration of the World Heritage-listed Church of the Nativity, the traditionally nominated birthplace of Jesus, which is something Ms Baboun spoke to a number of different churches about donating to during her visit to Australia earlier this year.

Ms Baboun said an unforgettable personal Christmas moment was praying in the Church of the Nativity Grotto following midnight mass.

“That was bliss for me,” she said.

“Praying for all, praying for Bethlehem, praying for peace.”

On this subject she had a final message.

“Peace needs those who will act for peace, act for wholeness,” she said.

“We need more than prayers we need people to act because we are desperate to have some normal living, in order to see peace, in order to find peace.”

This year, the Uniting Church is launching an awareness-raising and activism campaign on the situation facing Palestinian Christians and the Palestinian people. For more information see: assembly.uca.org.au/palestine-workinggroup.

The campaign is supported by the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Network (PIEN). Find out more at www.pien.org.au or email on contct@pien.org.au.

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News Looking to the future TIM LAM

THE future of the Uniting Church was on show at the 2016 National Young Adult Leaders Conference (NYALC) held on the Gold Coast in July.

Approximately 130 young adults and mentors from various synods congregated at Burleigh Heads over the course of six days. This diverse group of participants traded stories and experiences as they grew together in faith and discipleship.

They were guided by a group of mentors and leaders, including Uniting Church president Stuart McMillan, president-elect Dr Deidre Palmer and Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) chairperson Rev Dennis Corowa.

As is tradition, roughly equal numbers of Anglo-Saxon, Indigenous and next generation Australians attended the conference. This encouraged friendships to be formed between youth from different cultural backgrounds and also showcased the vibrant diversity of the Church.

Nua Leota from St John’s Uniting Church in Essendon attended NYALC at the suggestion of Rev Mark Dunn, who was minister of her congregation at the time. A member of the NextGen community, this was the first time she attended NYALC. “For me, the highlight was making new brothers and sisters in Christ, sharing my faith with other young adults and learning about First Peoples,” she said.

The conference began with a smoking ceremony and Welcome to Country at a beach on Burleigh Heads. UAICC leaders Rev Dennis Corowa and pastor Ray Minniecon led a discussion about treaty, sovereignty, reconciliation and walking together with First Peoples. Participants explored what it means to be a NextGen youth and shared their personal struggles with racism and discrimination.

In a spirit of interfaith solidarity, the young adults attended an Eid ul-Fitr lunch hosted by a local Muslim community.

NYALC is an opportunity for current leaders of the Church to hear from its youth members. Nua believes young adults can contribute fresh insights and experiences.

“We can attract more youth to church, eliminate the mentality that church is ‘boring’ and bring the church to life in other ways of ministries,” she said.

She believes the Church can likewise support young adults by “keeping them involved, investing in them and giving them a voice.”

Many of the young men and women at NYALC are already making a difference in their church community. Some are actively involved in worship and outreach programs within their own congregations.

For others, like Joy Han, NYALC was an important stepping stone in their personal

Join us for our next adventure on an incredible journey to Myanmar.

faith journey.

“In recent months I’ve been exploring how I might end what has been a lengthy hiatus from congregational life,” Joy said.

“Since setting out on this very exploration, and even before that, I’ve been overwhelmingly blessed through so many people.”

Joy described NYALC as “an occasion of love and hope” and thanked all those who encouraged her to attend the conference.

“Learning about and witnessing the movements of Covenanting with Congress and of intercultural ministry more broadly were especially encouraging and challenging for me,” she said.

“Today’s young adults – and youth – are the future of the Church. So I think the question becomes one of how we ourselves are shaping up and what the roles could be for different parts of the entire Body in shaping its own future.”

Participants and mentors at NYALC

Ministry Placement Albany Region (South Coast of Western Australia) Applications are invited for a MOW/Deacon to fill a vacant placement with the Albany Regional Congregations, comprising Albany, Lockyer (suburban Albany), Denmark and Mt Barker. All congregations are within a 55 kilometre distance of Albany and each has weekly worship. In addition, Lockyer congregation has Messy Church once a month.

This single-ministry agent placement is supported by a willing team of lay leaders, lay preachers and committed congregations in each centre.

A Church office has a part-time paid officer assistant. The joint Regional Church council oversees the provision for ministry and works with the minister to ensure leadership of worship across the congregations.

Each congregation reaches out to the community in a variety of ways. A number of new mission initiatives across the region are envisaged and the congregations are seeking leadership and support to assist moving these forward.

“Almost without exception Uniting Journey travellers have rated the relationships developed with fellow travellers as the most important outcome of their journey” – Uniting Journeys Come and experience the mystery of the former Burma. Venture in to the before, during and after of a country breaking out of its shell of isolation, for a unique and ‘once in a life-time’ experience. If you’re up for adventure, mystery, spending time with locals, and making cross cultural friendships, join Sue and Ken Slater in October.

Dates: 22 Oct – 5 Nov 2016 Cost: Approximately $3500-$4000* Contact: Jim Wakelam: 0403 264 124 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unitingjourneys/ Email: info@unitingjourneys.com.au Website: responsibletravel.org.au

Commission for Mission

The successful applicant will meet the following criteria: • An acceptance of a broad expression of theological viewpoints.

• Focus on supporting, caring for and encouraging active lay leadership teams.

• Conducting worship in conjunction with a team of lay preachers and leaders across the congregations.

• Be involved in assisting the congregations to develop future mission within their communities.

Situated 400km south of Perth, the town of Albany has a population of approximately 35 000 and is a regional centre for tourism, arts and crafts, and agriculture. Alternative housing options are available including the existing manse, the purchase of a new manse, or the provision of a housing allowance.

If interested, please send your Ministerial Profile with cover letter to Rev John Barendrecht, Manager of the Pastoral and Placements Unit at john.barendrecht@wa.uca.org.au

*Depending on the needs of the group

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CROSSLIGHT - OCTOBER 16

Feature Photo Credit: Suzanne Phoenix, www.suzannephoenix.com.au At rear: Philmah Bocks and Art Simone

n i w o b n i a R d e Unexpect

k c a b t Ou

a i l a r t Aus ONES

by GARTH J

FROCKS & (SAME) SEX LOVINâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; IN BROKEN HILL Crosslight Designer Garth Jones recently returned to his home town of Broken Hill for the Broken Heel Festival, now in its second year of celebrating Australian cult film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

In the following piece, Garth reflects on the galvanising evolution in acceptance and tolerance in regional Australia, and wonders what lessons our political leadership could learn from community sentiment at large.

CROSSLIGHT - OCTOBER 2016

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Feature DIRECTOR Stephan Elliott’s cult Australian film, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was partially filmed in the regional New South Wales mining town Broken Hill in 1993.

Released in 1994, Priscilla tells the story of two drag queens (female impersonators) and a transgender person travelling through outback Australia to an Alice Springs gig in a converted bus christened ‘Priscilla’.

The scenes taking place in Broken Hill pub Mario’s Palace depict the ‘locals’ and their initially shocked, prejudiced reactions to the three fabulous strangers in their midst, who they regard with almost otherworldly horror and awe.

Interior, Mario’s Palace Hotel, Broken Hill: Bernadette: [to the Bartender] Could I please have a Stoli...

Shirley: No! Ya can’t have! Ya can’t have nothing! We’ve got nothing here for people like you! Nothin’!

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The scene ends with Bernadette (Terence Stamp), delivering a withering, unprintable put down to the belligerent Shirley, thus winning over the rough and tumble local drinkers, quickly segueing into an impromptu burlesque performance on the hotel’s world famous staircase.

In 1996 I was 18 years old. I voted in my first federal election, and Liberal John Howard was swept to power, defeating sitting Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating with a 5 per cent swing to the Coalition.

The concept of marriage equality had yet to enter the public consciousness in any profound way.

I was born and bred in Broken Hill, population roughly 20,000 – what ‘locals’ would call an ‘A-Grader’. This is a status you retain no matter how many years, or decades, you spend living ‘away’. Away is anywhere that isn’t Broken Hill.

Like any isolated, pre-internet regional town – youth radio network Triple J began broadcasting just as I was preparing to leave – there was a sense of disconnect from the national body politic. In its place existed a culture derived from the primary industry, mining, and the prevailing pastime, football – both tending towards hyper-masculine extremes.

If you were an ‘arty’ kid, crude epithets yelled from passing cars, casual homophobia and sometimes violent intolerance would be a regular feature of existence.

In 1997, the Uniting Church’s Assembly Task Group report, Uniting Faith and Sexuality: Report of the Assembly Task Group on Sexuality, makes no mention of the church’s stance on Same Sex Marriage (SSM). It does, however, stress that LGBTIQ people “are God’s precious children and our brothers and sisters in Christ equally” (emphasis mine).

In 2004, Prime Minister John Howard amended the Australian Marriage Act to define marriage as “(a) voluntarily

CROSSLIGHT - OCTOBER 2016

Feature Former UnitingCare Cutting Edge CEO Rowena Allen, now Victoria’s Gender and Sexuality Commissioner, had this to say last year: “Marriage Equality is important because of the symbolic message it will send to a young person in Yarrawonga or Shepparton that their love is equal.” entered-into union of a man and a woman to exclusion of all others”. A Newspoll at the time showed just 38 per cent of Australians supported SSM – the conservative prime minister rushed his legislation through Parliament.

Many members of our current Coalition government served under Howard, especially those from the conservative wing, who vehemently oppose SSM. Six months before the election of the Kevin Rudd Labor government in late 2007, a Galaxy Research poll found that 57 per cent of Australians were in favour of SSM. The 2008 Uniting Church Discussion Paper On Marriage states that “marriage for Christians is the freely given consent and commitment in public and before God of a man and a woman to live together for life”.

Scarcely half a decade later, however, Rev Dr Robert Bos reflected in his 2013 report, Views of Marriage in the UCA, “if love is of God, and a gay couple evidences the qualities we look for in other relationships, and these are life-giving for the couple, how can we deny full recognition?”

Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s government, elected after the overthrow of Kevin Rudd in 2010, famously opposed SSM, but nonetheless introduced a conscience vote on the issue in 2011. Two SSM bills were introduced to the 43rd Parliament, both of which were voted down in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

May 2013 saw Kevin Rudd briefly returned to the role of Labor PM. He threw his support behind SSM, stating on his blog: “I believe the secular Australian state should be able to recognise same sex marriage.

I also believe that this change should legally exempt religious institutions from any requirement to change their historic position.”

In August 2013, a Fairfax/Nielsen poll indicated that 65 per cent of Australians supported SSM. One month later the Liberal Party was returned to power under Prime Minister Tony Abbott, defeating Rudd with a 3.6 per cent, 17 seat swing.

In November 2013, via an Act of Parliament, the ACT enacted the Marriage Equality (Same Sex) Bill. Less than a month

CROSSLIGHT - OCTOBER 2016

later, the High Court broke the hearts of those couples who’d married in the interim, ruling that only the Federal Parliament could legislate on the matter.

Less than three weeks before Tony Abbott was deposed by Malcolm Turnbull in September 2015, the Abbott Government proposed the notion of a plebiscite to eventually resolve the marriage equality issue.

As of this writing, the Australian federal government, now led by the moderate Malcolm Turnbull – influenced by several Howard era conservatives – is attempting to pass Abbott’s marriage equality plebiscite through the 45th Parliament.

In a blog post entitled ‘Conversations from the Heart’, Uniting Church President Stuart McMillan reminds us “we belong to one another”. This belonging is not a possessive, controlling belonging rather it is about mutuality and respect, recognising the intrinsic worth of every human being all bearing the image of the Creator.

There are fears that the plebiscite will engender a long, drawn out campaign fuelled by bigotry, further traumatising the families and loved ones of LGBTIQ people. Many heterosexual Australians also express discomfort at the notion of making decisions that influence others’ private lives in such profound ways.

On Wednesday 21 September, Melbourne radio station JOY 94.9 released a media statement regarding an email bomb threat against the station and the LGBTIQ community at large, further highlighting the divisive potential of a plebiscite: “The threat… highlights the damage that can be done through a divisive public debate about our community’s aspiration to be equal members of society… Parliament can do its job and represent the views of the vast majority of Australians to legislate for marriage equality now.”

Australia is the only English-speaking country in the Western world to have failed to legalise marriage equality, giving this writer the sense that, as in the case of our asylum seeker policies, we are once more on the wrong side of history.

In 2009, Pulitzer prize-winning American journalist Ellen Goodman said “in the

glacial scheme of social change, attitudes (about gay marriage) are evolving at whitewater speed”.

With that sentiment in mind, it seems well past time that our political leaders take note and represent the communities whose progressive, tolerant beliefs have surpassed the establishment’s conservative social agenda.

Polls now place Australian public support for SSM at 70 per cent, higher than in any other country, including the UK and New Zealand, when similar laws were passed.

In mid-September 2016 I returned to Broken Hill to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert at the second annual Broken Heel Festival, a three-day tribute to the cult film and all things drag.

Escorting three slightly apprehensive international friends – they’d all seen Wake In Fright, Razorback and Mad Max 2, of course – I was proud to help skewer a few regional-Australian stereotypes as we revelled in the glittering spectacle and ribald interplay of our fabulous hosts at Mario’s Palace Hotel itself.

As I’ve frequently returned over the years, I’ve had the chance to observe my home town’s continual, steady shift towards positive attitudes to the LGBTIQ community, the epitome of true-blue egalitarianism by way of tolerance, inclusion and acceptance.

The town’s vibrant arts and culture scene is ever-evolving – the stunning natural environment attracts (and indeed germinates) internationally vaunted artists, writers, filmmakers and photographers both as visitors and permanent residents.

In many ways, Broken Hill, once roughand-tumble and quick to judge, is an apt barometer for the wider Australian community’s willingness to embrace marriage equality and progressive ideals.

The town’s rapid shift in attitudes suggests a progressive path to embracing acceptance across cultural, social, gender and spiritual lines which far outpaces our elected officials’ desire for change.

It’s striking to think just how profoundly communities, both faith and secular, have outpaced our representatives. Be

it a small regional mining town or a church barely four decades old, our rapid evolution in consciousness has left politicians looking out of touch with the “whitewater pace” of our capacity for empathy and spiritual growth.

I picked my way from the main hall to the front bar through a sea of glitter, sequins, outrageous platforms heels, fluorescent miniskirts and immaculately sculpted headpieces. I slid past fly-in fly-out mine blokes, old school mates and local sporting legends.

A few vintage A-Graders were perched at the bar with schooners as I ordered my drink from a towering local drag artist, tribal tattoo etched across a beefy shoulder and resplendent in lemon yellow latex.

Scanning the kitschily rendered interior of Mario’s, spiritual home of Priscilla, the 20 plus years since that infamous bar scene were shot could have been light years, so profound was the shift in attitudes and atmosphere.

There wasn’t a Shirley to be seen.

Broken Heel Festival: www.bhfestival.com

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Obituary Always ‘doing something’

Deaconess Rae Quick

19 AUGUST 1922 - 16 JULY 2016

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RAE Quick and her younger brother Ian grew up in Gippsland and were part of the church communities in the towns where their parents Jack and Dorothy ran small businesses. Rae went on to become a primary teacher and a teacher of domestic science. In the year 1952, when she turned 30, Rae was ‘set apart’ as a Presbyterian deaconess, having completed the three-year training at Rolland House Presbyterian Deaconess and Missionary Training College in Carlton.

Rae’s first deaconess appointment was to St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Colac where I first met her, beginning a friendship that lasted some 65 years.

In Colac, Rae inspired a group of young Sunday school teachers to do a minor renovation of the church’s Sunday kindergarten. She also trained and supported the Sunday school teachers across all grades, established a Boys’ Club (Presbyterian Boys Association) and a Girls’ Club (Presbyterian Girls Association) and trained leaders who continued in their roles for many years after she left Colac. Rae was also closely involved in the activities of the church youth group (Presbyterian Fellowship of Australia), taught religious instruction in local schools, and took part in various other organisations.

On one occasion a senior lady from the Ladies Guild asked Rae “Why weren’t you at the Guild meeting today?” to which Rae replied “I was visiting some elderly shut-in members of the congregation.” The senior lady responded with “Hmm, just so long as you were doing something.” Those words “just so long as you were doing something” became a saying between us many times over the years that followed!

Rae did indeed go on ‘doing something’ for others as a deaconess and a teacher for many years. After two busy years in Colac, Rae was appointed by the Deaconess Council to Shepparton, but after two years there she was sought out for a special

assignment that combined her deaconess training and her teaching skills. She was appointed to the staff of the then Morongo Presbyterian Girls College on the outskirts of Geelong where she taught scripture and domestic science, and as a live-in member of staff shared in the pastoral care of the boarders.

Rae’s next appointment was as children’s worker with the Presbyterian Department of Christian Education in Melbourne which involved visiting congregations throughout Victoria to help them with their work with children. This meant a lot of travelling around the state.

In 1966 Rae took leave to undertake a sixmonth study tour of Christian education in churches in the United Kingdom and United States of America. On her return to the department, Rae introduced the use of a caravan to enable her to extend her stay in country congregations, allowing time for more sustained work with Sunday school teachers and the elders of the congregation.

During her approximately 10 years with the DCE and her four years of parish appointments, Rae was a regular leader in Easter camps and in the annual summer conferences held around the state, and of course school holiday camps for children.

Rae’s quiet and warm personality gave encouragement to many young women who later became deaconesses or ministers of Word and Sacrament when the ordained ministry became an option for women.

After 10 years of the travelling life, Rae returned to teaching at Strathcona Baptist Girls Grammar School in Canterbury where she again combined scripture and pastoral care with teaching domestic science. It was while she was at Strathcona that Rae became involved with Melbourne City Mission for whom she prepared a book of simple, low-cost but nutritious recipes to be used by low-income families.

Rae eventually retired from teaching for health reasons, but in her retirement she continued to ‘do something’ for others,

such as teaching English as a second language to new arrivals in Australia and providing a weekly craft activity at Condare Court Aged Care in the Burwood area.

Rae’s nurturing personality was evident in the support and care she provided for her ageing parents and her aunts ‘Blue’ and Jean, and her care for her deaconess friend Jean Sones whom she supported as an unofficial carer with meals, transport and practical assistance during Jean’s battle with cancer.

The last 15 years of Rae’s life were spent at Karana Baptist Aged Care in Kew, at first in her own self-contained one bedroom unit where she continued to provide hospitality and a welcome, but her later years were spent in high care. In the years before her memory, faculties and physical strength failed her, Rae constantly told me when I visited her how grateful she was for the assistance of her niece Helen. She told me regularly, “Helen is marvellous to me. I don’t know what I’d do without her.” Rae was also forever grateful for the care she received at Karana.

Camps and conferences played a large part in Rae’s life. In all those camp experiences she would have sung the grace before meals: “Be present at our table Lord. Be here and everywhere adored. These mercies bless and grant that we may spend our lives in serving thee.” Rae also knew an earlier version of this grace which ended “These mercies bless and grant that we may feast in Paradise with thee.” Now it is time to “Go feast Rae, go feast.”

Rae was privately cremated in the presence of her family. She is survived by her late brother’s family: his widow Alison and their children Helen, Robert, Joanne and Virginia and is lovingly remembered by them and by Rae’s deaconess and teaching colleagues.

Deaconess Margaret Parry.

CROSSLIGHT - OCTOBER 16

People Belated blessing IN the 65 years from 1788 in Australia, 25,655 women were transported from Britain and Ireland as convicts.

Most of these women have been known simply by their assigned convict number rather than as people. Rarely has the positive impact they made to the fledgling colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land been acknowledged.

That is changing thanks to the Roses from the Heart project begun by Tasmanian artist Dr Christina Henri.

Dr Henri worked as an artist-in-residence at the Cascades female convict factory in Hobart where she first became aware of the number of female convicts sent to Van Diemen’s Land. Approximately 12,500 females were sent to the island penal colony.

In 2007 Dr Henri began her mission to have 25,655 simple cloth bonnets made – one for each female convict transported – and is currently only 500 short of the target.

The bonnets – similar to those worn by the women – are made by people from throughout the world, many with family links to the convicts being remembered.

Each bonnet includes a convict name and arrival ship and Dr Henri considers them a powerful symbol of remembrance for the women who are no longer just numbers on a list.

Some of the bonnets were presented at a special Blessing of the Bonnets service at St Andrew’s Uniting Church, in the small Northern Tasmanian town of Evandale, on Sunday 18 September.

The Governor of Tasmania, Professor Kate Warner, was the special guest at the service which saw people travel from throughout Australia to participate.

Prof Warner said the project had inspired many people to research their convict past, with a particular emphasis on female convicts. She said her husband, Dick, had uncovered his family’s links to Elizabeth Bruce, who arrived on the First Fleet in 1788.

Many of the bonnets presented at Evandale bore the names of convicts who arrived on the Australasia and eventually found their way to the town.

Evandale parishioner Kate Rowe was the organiser of the service. Kate has made more than 50 bonnets and sees the project as an important blessing and long overdue recognition for convict women.

Kate said Evandale was an obvious location for such a service given many convict women came to the region during the early days of settlement and played important roles in the development of the young township.

When finished, the bonnets will be on permanent display in Tasmania and New South Wales.

Clare Maynard, Bridie Maynard, Abigail Maynard, Professor Kate Warner

Take your best shot to fight slavery YOU can perfect your table tennis backhand topspin drive any time of the day or night during the annual Ping-Pong-AThon, held this month at the High Street Road Uniting Church in Mt Waverley.

Five tables will be set up for the event, which runs from noon on Friday 28 October to 9pm on Saturday 29 October.

The Ping-Pong-A-Thon, also known as ‘The Pong’, raises money for nine charities that are fighting human trafficking and sex slavery and helping those being exploited in south-east Asia.

Participants will be educated about the issue of human trafficking at the event, which has been organised by former High Street Road youth group member and church treasurer Stephen Lowe.

“I have played table tennis at the church club for 25 years, so when I heard about Ping-Pong-A-Thon, I thought I should get involved,” Mr Lowe said.

Since 2014, the High Street Road Uniting Church venue has raised $30,000.

Mr Lowe is not only among the top three fundraisers for the last two years, he is the event’s national treasurer.

“The Pong was started by Melburnian Adrian Rowse in 2011 with 15 guys playing OCTOBER 16 - CROSSLIGHT

for 24 hours and raising $10,000,” Mr Lowe said.

“The concept seemed to work, so we have kept growing it. Last year 41 events nationwide raised $200,000 and this year we have 60 events planned across Australia.

“Events are spread across the month of October, and each player only needs to register for one three-hour timeslot, at the venue of their choice.

“Anyone interested can go to the website (www.pingpongathon.com) to find a location to take part, or sponsor someone who is participating.”

Stephen Lowe, Gobi Jegarajasingham, Pete Davidson

Practising the Art of Story IT is not obvious at first glance that Fiona Bottcher began her working life as an engineer, but words such as ‘build’ and ‘structure’ pop up in her description of what was enjoyable about the Art of Story course she completed in 2014 at the Centre for Theology and Ministry.

Fiona Bottcher speaking at Rev Sharon Hollis installation service

Commitment to service THE synod recently farewelled legal counsel Peter Shepherd (pictured below) following 17 years of dedicated service.

Mr Shepherd commenced work with the synod in 1999 and during his tenure he navigated the synod’s complex legal arrangements with calmness and professionalism.

Over those years, Mr Shepherd has provided property law advice, reviewed commercial agreements and government loan contracts, advised on copyright issues, examined trusts arising from bequests and supervised and mentored solicitors in the legal team.

Synod property officer Jim Milne paid tribute to Mr Shepherd at an afternoon tea held at the synod centre.

“Peter’s dedicated involvement in the Uniting Church has been extraordinary,” he said.

“This involvement extended over nearly four decades and during that period, he has been church council chairperson, presbytery representative, board secretary, congregation secretary and church council member, to mention a few roles that he has carried out.”

Mr Shepherd worked with law firm

Since that time she has been putting her storytelling skills to good use. Ms Bottcher memorably presented the reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians at the opening of Synod this year.

Ms Bottcher felt the course was very relevant to her current role on the ministry team at Brunswick Uniting Church as the coordinator of the Olive Way drop-in centre.

“So much of what we do as a church is around telling stories,” she said.

“Whenever we are communicating our vision to what we want to do in the world – to sharing experiences of our faith – to preaching and how we tell that story to the rest of the world. At the heart of all that is story.”

The eight course participants came from variety of backgrounds, which made the application and audience for the stories quite diverse. Ms Bottcher claimed this enriched her listening and her telling.

“When I saw how much I enjoyed the visual liveliness of a person practising to tell a story to children, I thought I would take hold of some of that for my own telling,” she said.

“I also loved stepping through – quite literally – the different ways we can make the best use of our memory. Some of the course was quite structured with some very tangible methods. Other elements were saying here is a space where you can really experiment on the edges of how you express things – do you do it big, small, loud or soft?”

Ms Bottcher said the Centre for Theology and Ministry, where the course is held, provided an ideal setting for storytelling.

“It’s a building that’s about coming together and discerning things and sharing knowledge. And the chapel space is perfect for contemplation and listening to stories.”

For more information about the Art of Story see Coming Events MacKinnon Jacobs Horton and Irving for 20 years before joining the synod’s Property, Insurance and Legal team.

Mr Milne said Mr Shepherd’s extensive tenures at both jobs demonstrated his level of commitment to his work.

Outside the Church, Mr Shepherd coaches basketball for adults with an intellectual disability and was a member of his local Rotary club for more than 15 years.

“On behalf of all those people that you have worked with, connected with, assisted and supported, thank you for your enormous contributions in all of your roles over the past 17 years and especially as synod legal counsel,” Mr Milne said.

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Letters Learning from Islam THE remarks made by Senator Hanson in her maiden speech are as astonishing as they are predictable (sadly).

I’m proud we are a multicultural society including many Muslims from a variety of cultural backgrounds. And not just for their fashions and food!

As a retired minister I must say I think Islam potentially has much to teach a declining and decaying Christianity which (to me) is losing its way.

Muslims assert the oneness of God in a way we now seem unable to.

Jihad gets a bad press, but Christians should be able to see how it relates to our concept of the spiritual journey (incl. the ‘dark night of the soul’), of making a ‘decision’ for Christ and the life of discipleship.

Islamic forms of prayer could remind us of our traditions of mysticism and the Islamic ‘pillars’ of sacrifice and pilgrimage should remind us of (pretty much) lost aspects of our lives of faith.

Ramadan, too, could help us re model our Lenten observance.

If Christianity is seeking to renew itself, it could do worse than to listen to some thoughtful and devout Muslims.

David Brown Glen Huntly, VIC.

State of play WHAT a state we are in! Another election coming up for local governments –79 local councils, 600 or so local councillors.

What decisions will they make? Our state government declared a public holiday for a football match! Did our politicians not even reflect on the fact that we have more than one code of football?

The worldwide tradition for public holidays has been to elevate creative leaders past such as Martin Luther King Day in the US. In our multi-cultural society we must do all that is reasonable to be inclusive.

Here is a great opportunity – the world’s 100th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice (an agreement for peace) to end the First World War will be the 11 November 2018. A great opportunity to develop a plan (and implement it) for a public holiday and a festival of peace and harmony.

We must start now.

Bill Chandler, Ringwood North, VIC

Worthy worship ALAN Ray (Letters, September) made some significant points about the source of the UCA’s continuing doldrums, which I believe need to be discussed by congregations across our church.

I know a number of UCA congregations where worship, rather than being the centre of the congregation’s life and providing focus and energy for the whole of the congregation’s life together, has become merely one of a number of activities related to the congregation. Sadly, this is particularly found in congregations that are presented as missionally ‘cool’ role

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models for other congregations.

As well, another issue is seen in the over-emphasis placed on teaching and learning as a dimension of worship within the UCA. This problem is found in many congregations of a variety of theological emphases, worship styles, sizes, and levels of missional coolness. The teachinglearning dimension of worship (whether seen in a traditional sermon or in some other format) frequently dominates everything else we do in worship.

I believe that the average person who attends a service of worship in any faith context (either as a regular or as a visitor) does not do so, primarily, out a desire to learn things about religion. As Mr Ray reminded us, there are many other contexts that provide better occasions for such learning than a worship service.

I believe the person who chooses to attend a service of worship does so out of a desire for some level of communion with the God worshipped by the congregation. If (in our commendable intention to make our worship gatherings opportunities for teaching, learning, and mutual fellowship) we continue to disappoint this desire, we will persist in our ongoing malaise as a church.

Rev Dr Bob Faser Claremont, TAS.

violence. He also said something seemingly odd and incongruous when he remarked that greed is the root cause of terrorism.

He said (verbatim): “Terrorism grows when there is no other option, and when the centre of the global economy is the god of money and not the person – men and women – this is the first act of terrorism.

You have cast out the wonder of creation – man and woman – and you have put money in its place. This is basic terrorism against all of humanity. Think about it!”

Thinking about it, the Pope is following Christ in speaking truth to power (re Christ’s declaration before Pilate in John 18:37).

When no other world leader would, Pope Francis is courageously pointing a papal finger at a Western super-power who, with the backing of allies, has started wars in oil-rich countries, killing off hitherto governments and supplanting them with crony regimes, so that it can, and has, indirectly colonised them through war debt when it sends in the re-building team. The same super-power who rallied its allies and sent in the troops upon false cries of “WMD!” and then “Oops, sorry” after none were found. After almost half-a-million bombs were dropped in Iraq, killing over one million men, women and children and making war refugees out of 5 million more.

After that it was Libya, now Syria.

Vietnam

Kimmy Fam Ballarat, VIC

THANK you for your centrepiece article

by Penny Mulvey on the Ministry of War and particularly for your examination of the Vietnam War. I lived through this troubled time as a church member and found myself moving from support of the military campaign to being involved in the moratorium marches.

Through the intervening years I have been increasingly saddened at the community reception given to those who served in Vietnam upon their return and their being advised not to wear their uniforms while commuting to work.

But sadder still has been successive governments falling well short of their responsibilities of caring for them (including nurses) to the stage where, an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 returned services people are believed to be suffering from mental illness from their war experiences.

Penny’s article was well researched and presented and walked your readers along this sorry road, giving several of those involved the chance to present their story.

It’s a story that can be summarised in the comment, many years later, by United States secretary of defence at the time, Robert McNamara, that the US should never have become militarily involved in Vietnam.

Mission memories

Jim Foley via email.

Heeding the Pope WHEN asked to comment on Islam and terrorism in early August, Pope Francis caused some unhappiness when he made less than inflammatory statements, saying the world is at war but it is not a religious war and that in all religions there is always a small group of fundamentalists capable of

I HAVE read with very great interest and satisfaction in the September 2016 issue of Crosslight of the recent signing of the historic partnership agreement between the Uniting Church in Australia and the Methodist Church in Fiji, as it follows on from the wonderful work done by early missionaries and other overseas church workers over many years.

Among the latter group of servants were my great uncle and great aunt, Mr and Mrs MJ Jenkin. Uncle Nick was the lay treasurer of the Methodist Overseas Mission Department here in Victoria for many years until just prior to his death in 1942. He had originally been accepted for overseas work here at the LMM Conference at Geelong in 1917. His wife, Hettie Jenkin, was state president of the WAOM (Women’s Auxilliary of Overseas Mission) for 11 years and completed 60 years in the service of Overseas Missions in England and Australia in 1941, passing away in New Zealand in 1948 aged 80 years.

Their home, ‘Gracedale’ at 50 Elizabeth Street, Malvern, stills stands virtually unaltered and was always a loving sanctuary for many islanders from Fiji, Tonga, New Britain and the Solomon Islands when they visited on deputation work. One of my everlasting memories is of meeting these strangely attired but godly people from other lands when I was about five or six years old. These experiences elicited my own deep personal love for these island people which will never wane, and to my life-long support for all missionary work.

Mr and Mrs Jenkin’s direct descendants will live in Mount Gambier, Hamilton (Vic) and in New Zealand. I thank God for the inspiration of Mr and Mrs Jenkin (who I dearly loved) and those other men

and women who have given true Christian witness on the mission field and I pray that the partnership between the two churches bears great fruit. If God is with us who can be against us?

Trevor Richards Reservoir, VIC

ACCESS decision MANY people across our synod are passionate about ministry with state schools including chaplaincy. My own congregation runs a program in our local secondary college with at-risk students and we are currently developing a mentoring program with a local primary school. I was a state school chaplain for nine years between 2005 and 2014.

The decision made by the 2015 Synod to cease our support of ACCESS Ministries came about after years of work with ACCESS to address Uniting Church concerns. What Geoff Scott (September Crosslight) doesn’t seem to understand is that the changes that had taken place in ACCESS’ governance over the last 15 or so years didn’t allow for a Uniting Church voice to be heard. Countless Uniting Church people had tried to work ‘with’ ACCESS as Geoff suggests only to be endlessly frustrated. It was because of both this frustration and concerns about CRE that the initial task group was established.

Further changes to ACCESS’ governance model will be required in time to adhere to current corporate governance requirements, and this will further diminish the voice of supporting churches.

Simply, the kind of representational governance ACCESS had been established with no longer works. It was time for this organisation that we had helped birth to stand on its own feet.

The decision made to cease being a supporter of ACCESS is purely an institutional one and doesn’t preclude any member of the Uniting Church supporting ACCESS in the way many church members support para church organisations like Scripture Union or Tear. Nor does it prevent local churches working alongside local schools.

The more recent report presented at the 2016 Synod encourages the Uniting Church to consider how state school chaplaincy sits alongside the many other forms of chaplaincy the Uniting Church already offers in its own right to church schools, aged care, prisons, hospitals, agencies and the defence forces. The Uniting Church’s broad and inclusive theology means we understand the nuance required to be in secular institutions in the 21st century and I believe we should work towards adding state school chaplains to this vital ministry we offer the wider community.

Rev Cameron McAdam via email

Christianity on Nauru NAURU and Nauruans. Much has been written and said about the Island of Nauru.

Little has been said about the fact that there are Christians on Nauru. Also there are Nauruan Christians who are Australian

CROSSLIGHT - OCTOBER 16

Letters citizens making a real contribution to our churches and community.

Some years ago my wife and I were sent by the then Commission for Mission to support the Congregational Church on Nauru. It was a learning experience. Very few of us are familiar with the history of Nauru.

Before independence, Nauru was under German, British and Australian administration. Wealth generated from phosphate mining led to exploitation of Nauruans. Nauru was invaded by the Japanese in WWII. Men were taken to work as slave labourers on Truk. Sufferers of leprosy were eliminated. Later the island was bombed by the Americans. Returning from Truk, the men learned of the terrible suffering the families endured during their absence, called the Exile.

Due to the missionary influence of the London Missionary Society, and the Society of the Divine Word, centred in Germany, Congregational and Catholic churches have been established on Nauru.

Today, there are Sunday schools, women’s and youth groups. RE is taught in the schools. The sensitivity and support for Nauruan Christians by the Uniting Church is essential. Pastorally, and as a nation, we have a responsibility to do something about a terrible situation.

Bill Pugh Sandringham, VIC.

The body of Christ THE digestive system takes up a lot of body, from the lower part of the head all the way to the end of the abdomen.

Possibly nothing involves all five senses so much as eating: we can see, smell, taste, feel and even hear (as in the clinking of tableware) food. Anatomy and sensorysatiation aside, eating as part of social activity is what spices are to curry.

Without a meal to cement it, occasions of camaraderie and fellowship are hollow, deficient and incomplete. Nothing picks you up and gives you back your perspective quite like eating with good company.

It is interesting to note that significant events and messages in the Bible involve eating or having a meal. From the Fall (the silly first couple and the forbidden fruit, remember?) to the triumphant “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies” of Psalm 23:5, to the feeding of the five thousand to the Last Supper.

From temptation to redemption. The Creator sure knows what may get us and how to get to us.

Still not convinced we have a God after our own hearts? Take a look at the compelling message in Revelation 3:20 where Jesus’ gentle and reassuring promise comes with an uncanny understanding of the power of a shared meal: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me.”

Note our Lord didn’t say He’ll come in have a game of backgammon or singing or Bible-reading session with you. He says he’ll eat with you. Food for thought.

Steven Ching Ballarat, VIC.

OCTOBER 16 - CROSSLIGHT

Pilgrim Reflection

On visioning

Nelson Mandela

Image from flickr/lasanta.com.ec

GURU Ravidass, who was active in the 15th century CE, was a North Indian Guru mystic of the bhakti movement, a monotheistic reform movement in which equality and rejection of caste hierarchy were major themes. His devotional songs and verses made a lasting impact upon the bhakti movement. In one of his poems entitled, “Begumpura” he writes: The regal realm with the sorrowless name they call it Begumpura, a place with no pain, no taxes or cares, none owns property there, no wrongdoing, worry, terror, or torture.

Oh my brother, I’ve come to take it as my own, my distant home, where everything is right...

They do this or that, they walk where they wish, they stroll through fabled palaces unchallenged.

Oh, says Ravidas, a tanner now set free, those who walk beside me are my friends Gail Omvedt in, Seeking Begumpura, writes “this poem was an expression, in the early modern age, of a utopia, perhaps the first one in Indian literature. In some ways it seems to stand alone, yet it was a harbinger – the kind of social vision that would underlie all the later struggles and theorising of anti-caste intellectuals.

Begumpura meaning “land without sorrow” was, for Ravidas, an imagined or idealised city, without geographical location, without a history; where there is no suffering or fear and, most importantly, a place where all are equal; it was to be a later task to build it in space and time.”

Visualising a future is not an exercise in fantasy or wishful thinking. But neither is it easy. It requires that we step out of the realities that confront us day-in and day-out and look at ourselves, our lives, our communities and our world. It is a difficult thing to do because we are a product of this reality and to look at ourselves or a future, we need to create a space outside the many institutions that control our lives.

Chandralekha, dancer, artist and feminist, proposes that “we need dreams. By dreams, I don’t mean the chronic nightmares that we are familiar with… But a leap, a quantum jump, a

flight into a future…we will need a fantasy that can cut across the oppressive reality of a system that has no visible exit, a system which is enclosed upon itself ”. Significant changes in the world, in regimes and structures have been made possible by such dreams and visions of individuals, and a few names stand out –Aung San Suu Ky, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, or Ambedkar – who dreamed outside the box and led their communities towards an alternate society.

Few statements of vision in the Hebrew Bible have caught as much attention as the text in Isaiah 65: 17-25 written in the post exilic times, in which we find explicit mention of a new heaven and a new earth.

It showcases an idealised world order in which all social, economic and political ills will be abolished and all will enjoy the fullness of life.

According to theologian Walter Brueggemann, it is a world order encompassing all human beings as all other creatures in the universe. There is nothing here that is private, spiritual, romantic or other worldly. The vision is social, historical, political, economic, ecological and this worldly. The dream of God and the hope of Israel are for the establishment of a new social order, which will embody peace, justice, freedom, equity and wellbeing, or shalom. The vision defies the way the world is, and sets the watching, listening community into a dangerous, alternative life, an alternative not even visible as long as we stay where we are and maintain status quo.

When we hear the recital of the prophet, we are invited into a land of possibility; we are authorised to re-construe our own lives out beyond the close definitions we have too long maintained.

It is an invitation that calls upon us to overcome any feelings of despondency, hopelessness, to use it to fight against possible fatigue and cynicism. It aims to offer a community in touch with its own identity and its purpose in the world to live into and out of the freedom evoked in this counter-construal.

It is essential that we seize this vision that is ‘oppositional in stance’ in yearning, because it is the good news that will overcome our fear, our doubt that imagines

there is no new thing that can possibly enter our world.

This is a world that is desperately sought after by many today. By us – by those living and feeling the impacts of war, violence, global warming, climate change, ill health, capitalist greed, individualism, hatred, selfishness, and cultural fear.

The deep cultural fear that characterises our particular context has been evoked by the sea-change in population in this country, and the resultant flow of new ideas. For many there is aversion to the foreigner, disgust of the stranger.

Recent statements by some politicians and media personalities have enhanced our awareness of how deeply rooted those fears are and, therefore, how much more intensely we must struggle to overcome them. These statements are fuelling more deep seated fears. What is required is imagination, courage, and long range visioning that honour cultural difference and identity of the other.

Isaiah 65 provides an oppositional stance that may be enacted in many ways and need not always be one of direct confrontation.

It could begin with a determined refusal to accept the mandates and limits set by other and more dominant acts of imagination; a decision to proceed according to this construal of reality. Where there is no vision, the people might not perish but they will simply be governed in a fabricated world.

Call it the ‘Reign of God’, ‘New Jerusalem’ or ‘Begumpura’, may we hold on to this vision, may it inspire us to continue the struggle for its realisation; may we journey towards it with optimism and energy armed with the love, the determination and the courage instilled by faith.

Monica Jyotsna Melanchthon Coordinator of Studies, Old Testament Studies 17

Review Playing God REVIEW BY EMMET O’CUANA VIDEO GAME | DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION

I DID not expect to find myself reflecting on the nature of religion while playing a horned giant ‘Qunari’ using magic spells to fend off attacks from a demon horde. But then Dragon Age: Inquisition is a game full of surprises.

Let’s take a step back for a moment.

Dragon Age is the name of a video game franchise produced by Canadian company Bioware. The series began in 2009 with Dragon Age: Origins. Players

Challenging stereotypes REVIEW BY TIM LAM BOOK | WHEN MICHAEL MET MINA | RANDA ABDEL-FATTAH

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were introduced to the world of Thedas, a Medieval setting where humans live alongside more fantastical creatures like elves, dwarves, as well as the aforementioned race of giants the Qunari.

The first game opens with a parable about a group of powerful sorcerors who attempted to invade Heaven, only to be damned, fall back to Earth. This results in the creation of a race of monsters – the ‘Darkspawn’.

In Dragon Age: Origins this is presented as a religious creation myth underpinning the civilization the player interacts with.

Religiously devout humans belong to a church called The Chantry and worship a martyr known as Andraste, who was betrayed and burnt at the stake. Her story borrows liberally from accounts of Joan of Arc and Jesus Christ, and her followers believe they must plead forgiveness from the Creator – the Maker – for her death. Elves are known to worship a pagan pantheon of their own, dwarves ‘the Stone’ or the Earth itself, and the Qunari are in fact named for their Confucian-philosophy the Qun. In Dragon Age, religion is twinned with race, much like in Europe during the Middle Ages when Christians, Jews and Muslims were considered separate categories of people. (The game features analogies for the Crusades – here termed Exalted Marches

WHAT happens when a teenager from an anti-immigration family meets a young Afghan refugee? That is the premise of Randa Abdel-Fattah’s latest young adult novel, When Michael Met Mina.

Michael is a high school student who wants to study design when he graduates.

His parents are founders of a new political party called Aussie Values, which believes in ‘stopping the boats’ and fighting against the so-called ‘Islamisation of Australia’.

Mina is a feisty 16-year-old girl who grew up in Sydney’s western suburbs. As a child, she fled Afghanistan with her mum and sought asylum in Australia. She eventually receives a scholarship to enrol at an elite private school in the north shore of Sydney. It is there that Michael and Mina’s lives collide.

When Michael Met Mina is not your typical teenage love story. When the story opens, Michael and Mina are standing at opposite sides of a refugee rally. Michael’s family is campaigning to keep people like Mina from coming to Australia. His relatively privileged upbringing means he struggles to fully comprehend the realities of Mina’s refugee experience. Mina is not afraid to challenge racist behaviour and is often frustrated by Michael’s blind acceptance of his parents’ beliefs.

Told through the perspectives of both Mina and Michael, the narrative delves into

– with familiar incidents such as converts to the Qun being put to the sword by Andrastians).

While this is all interesting background detail for the stories being told in the Dragon Age universe, by the third game the developers decided to make religion a principal concern for the player.

In Dragon Age: Inquisition you play a character who is discovered at the epicentre of a major explosion. The head of the Chantry was killed in the attack, but you somehow survived. You possess certain miraculous abilities, such as the power to close glowing green rifts in the sky that allow demons to invade. Given the providence of your arrival, many worship you as the Herald of Andraste. You can choose to embrace this title and reform the Chantry to bring stability to Thedas – or abuse your position and concentrate on acquiring power for yourself.

Bioware specialise in games that combine digital violence with dialogue. In titles like Mass Effect, or Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, players interact with companions with well-defined personalities of their own.

As a player you find yourself interacting with fictional peers of a sort, who may disagree with your decisions, or become loyal followers. In Dragon Age: Inquisition,

A scene from Dragon Age: Inquisition

your Herald is accompanied by devout Andrastians who, because of your actions can either lose their faith or discover a renewed sense of belief in the Maker.

What the game impressed upon me was how the role of the Herald allows the player to bring a divided society together. The game’s writers, David Gaider and Patrick Weekes, use faith to give the people living in this virtual world a sense of hope in the aftermath of a major cataclysm. The Inquisition you lead also establishes order in a world wracked by civil conflict, as well as invading demons.

There is an increasing amount of study in the field of video games as a complementary, or analogue experience, to religious practice.

Rachel Wagner’s Godwired: Religion, Ritual and Virtual Reality is widely referenced in academic discussions.

Wagner compares the experience of the gamer, extended into a virtual space while at play, with the medieval devotee’s contemplation of images of Christ. The faithful were transported through such meditation to Jerusalem under Roman occupation, just as the modern gamer finds themselves creating a sense of order in a fictionalised pseudo-Medieval Europe.

In her essay The Importance of Playing in Earnest Wagner states: “[There is] a fundamental similarity between religion and games, generally speaking: both are, at root, order-making activities that offer a mode of escape from the vicissitudes of contemporary life, and both demand, at least temporarily, that practitioners give themselves over to a predetermined set of rules that shape a world view and offer a system of order and structure that is comforting for its very predictability.”

Dragon Age: Inquisition literalises that relationship between gaming and religion.

They are both activities designed to create a sense of meaning in the world, providing a sense of relief to those buffeted by the randomness of life.

Now pardon me, I’m off to the Orlesian Court to prevent a plot to assassinate the Empress.

the differences and shared experiences of two teenagers from seemingly contrasting backgrounds. Their rocky romance plays out against a backdrop of conflict and politics as they discover the courage to stand up for their convictions.

The story explores casual racism at schools and the challenges of finding a sense of belonging in a society that retains a predominately Anglo-Saxon narrative.

Many Australians from ethnic backgrounds will relate to Mina’s experience of having to defend her ‘Australianness’ simply because of her Afghan origins. Even though she has spent most of her life in Australia, she is still considered a foreigner in her own country because she doesn’t subscribe to the mainstream image of a typical Australian private school student.

When Michael Met Mina was inspired by interviews author Abdel-Fattah conducted as part of her doctorate into Islamophobia and racism. Michael’s’ parents are not portrayed as extremists who exist on the fringe of society. They are friendly, middle-class citizens who are respected in their community. It is this type of everyday racism, which is more subtle and normalised into discourses about race and identity, which often goes unchallenged.

By not reducing Michael’s’ parents into xenophobic caricatures, Abdel-Fattah

is able to flesh out their motivations so readers can understand their racist logic, even if they vehemently disagree with them.

Despite the serious political themes that permeate the story, Mina and Michael are both teenagers navigating the confusing world of adolescence. Like any high school student, they are as concerned about first dates and passing school tests as they are about refugee rights.

This is an ideal book to introduce teenagers to the complexities of the refugee debate.

The high school setting renders the story relatable and accessible for young adult readers. The story is infused with a healthy dose of humour without shying away from confronting the trauma many refugees have to overcome.

For parents, the character of Michael is a reminder that hate and fear of the ‘other’ is a learned behaviour. Growing up in a household where anti-refugee rhetoric is the norm, Michael’s worldview is shaped through a distinctly racist lens.

But When Michael Met Mina ultimately carries a message of hope – that change is possible, that racism can be unlearned. It is when we make the time to engage with those who are seemingly different to us that we can begin to discover our common humanity.

CROSSLIGHT - OCTOBER 16

Review

Letters home

Reasonable to believe

The legacy of Augustine

ENEMY WITHIN

REVIEW BY RENATE HOWE

REVIEW BY DAVID SOUTHWELL

REVIEW BY NICK MATTISKE

REVIEW BY GARTH JONES

BOOK | DEAR FAMILY: LETTERS FROM ARNHEM LAND 1962-1966 | BETH GRAHAM

BOOK | BEYOND BELIEF | HUGH MACKAY

BOOK | ON AUGUSTINE | ROWAN WILLIAMS

BOOK | AMERICAN POLITICS IN THE TIME OF TRUMP | DON WATSON

HOW fortunate that these letters, written 50 years ago while Beth Graham and her husband Leigh were Methodist missionaries at Yirrkala and Croker Island in the Northern Territory, have survived. Their publication is a significant contribution to understanding an important era in Australian contact history.

They document the beginning of the slow and painful movement from harsh assimilation policies, reflected in the Bark Petition on land rights presented by the Yolngu people to the Australian parliament in 1963.

Written by a young teacher, wife and mother, the letters provide a rare personal record of this period. They reveal the day-to-day challenges of living in a remote community and are especially valuable for Beth Graham’s intelligent observations of the complex relationships between indigenous residents, mining interests and mission staff. They join the recent publication of the letters from Joan Ellemor in Cheerio and Love to All, also reviewed in Crosslight.

As Associate Professor Helen Gardner noted at the launch of Dear Family at the Centre for Theology and Ministry, women’s letters from the mission field provide a perspective that is almost always missing from the substantial literature of mission.

Dr Gardner concluded that “Beth Graham’s letters are from a crucial moment in Australia’s Aboriginal history and speak to a deep hunger in our nation”.

Author Beth Graham reminded those at the CTM book launch that it would be a mistake to think that conditions have improved in Indigenous communities since the letters were written. In so many areas – housing, education, employment – things are in fact worse, as reflected in unacceptable suicide and incarceration rates and racism.

“In a country that has grown rich from the land that we took, it is time for the church and other concerned people to turn again and look what is happening on our watch and say enough is enough,” Ms Graham said. “To do that we have to once more engage in conversation about and with these people who can teach us so much if we will only listen.”

BEYOND Belief is both a survey of contemporary Australian approaches to spirituality and a polemic tract outlining the author’s view of how God, Jesus and the Bible should be understood.

One of the most valuable aspects of the book is the strong first-person stories that Mackay collects from people who have totally or largely detached themselves from church.

A common thread that emerges in these stories is that while many people value the ethical, social or emotional aspects of Christianity (and no one is asked about leaving another religion), they have trouble with the specific beliefs.

That Mackay has intellectually, if not entirely emotionally, broken away from a conventional church background and beliefs is shown in the brief anecdotes that he gives of his staunchly devout parents.

Mackay labels himself a Christian agnostic and the book attempts to explain and justify this apparent contradiction by, as the author might put it, rescuing faith from belief.

Leaning heavily on the scripture “God is love” Mackay argues that in effect “love is God” .

Taking a subjective approach to Christian concepts, by turning the literal into the metaphoric, is one way to fortify them against the assaults of aggressive atheists such as Richard Dawkins, who Mackay disdainfully regards as almost as fundamentalist in their certainty as Bible thumpers.

Mackay propounds what begins to suspiciously sound like a creed, that of “loving-kindness”, based largely on teachings of Jesus.

He posits a type of moral psychology based around a trinity of minds – selfabsorbed, moral and compassionate. The self-absorbed mind is the base or sinful nature that gets caught up in the prevalent materialism and happiness obsession of contemporary Western society, which Mackay has long railed against.

In terms of reinterpreting the Christian message in more subjective, and perhaps rationally acceptable, ways there is probably not much that is new in this book.

However, it is a sincere grappling with these issues, firstly by a group of thoughtful interview subjects, but eventually more elementally by the author.

BORN in 354 AD, Saint Augustine was a modern thinker, relentless in his inquiring, and insightful on the formation of the self, traits that endear him to the secular as well as religious reader. But – just as playing a Beethoven symphony on a ukulele may result in the loss of nuance – oversimplifications and distortions creep in to summaries of Augustine’s thought.

Augustine is blamed for the reluctance of Christians to be involved in politics, a long-standing negative view of human sexuality, and the obsession with the self within Western culture. In this collection of linked essays, Rowan Williams aims to correct these perceptions. Though the writing is sometimes heavy going – be warned – Williams offers plenty of insight, partly due to the breadth of his familiarity with his subject, which puts Augustine’s better-known views into their proper theological context.

And so, says Williams, Augustine is not arguing for a separation of Church and State, but about the difference between good and bad politics. Rather than being high-minded at the expense of the body, Augustine recognises that our material lives don’t live up to their potential without a spiritual impetus. He is realistic about our limited capacity to know ourselves.

And we miss Augustine’s point when we separate what he says about the self from his conception of God and his insistence that the attempt to understand ourselves is not done under our own steam but by God working within us. Along the way we are reminded of how Augustine was grappling with concepts of knowledge and the mind that still grip modern philosophers today.

Worthy as Williams’ book is in itself, hopefully it also points readers to Augustine’s own books, especially the Confessions and On Christian Teaching, where Augustine’s enthusiasm and curiosity leap off the page.

AS the United States prepares to head to one of the most divisive Presidential polls in history, author and speechwriter Don Watson returns with his second Quarterly Essay.

Watson, a former speechwriter for Paul Keating, adopts a travelogue structure, similar to his 2008 book American Journeys. Travelling through the US interior, the author seeks to take the temperature of the state of the American body politic.

Reflecting on the toxic discourse of the 2016 election campaign, Watson discusses the roots of the United States’ historically unprecedented cultural and political division.

Enemy Within considers the three philosophical directions suggested by establishment candidate Hillary Clinton, social progressive Bernie Sanders and rogue Republican demagogue Donald Trump. Watson frames his musings around the concept of American Exceptionalism and the key role faith (in many guises) plays in presidential politics.

A lifetime political animal, the author attempts to parse the mythology and narratives of American public affairs which eventually spawned Donald Trump.

The businessman, initially dismissed as a clownish sideshow, has, as of this writing, preyed on the electorate’s worst instincts and now seems within shouting distance of the White House.

Shrewdly exploiting a national sense of an Empire in decline, Trump’s populist ‘Make America Great Again’ narrative has thrived on fear mongering, xenophobia and paranoia.

Written before the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, where presidential nominees are anointed, Enemy Within is perhaps handicapped by the Quarterly Essay’s publishing schedule.

Taking into consideration increasingly fraught opinion polling as election day draws nearer, it would be interesting to see a companion piece from Watson as the race tightens.

With November just around the corner, Watson’s essay serves as a fascinating insight into the historical and cultural forces behind the current parlous state of American presidential politics.

Available from: www.ctmresourcing.org.au/crosslight/ RRP: $30.00

OCTOBER 16 - CROSSLIGHT

Available from: www.ctmresourcing.org.au/crosslight/ RRP: $32.99

Available from: www.ctmresourcing.org.au/crosslight/ RRP: $31.99

www.quarterlyessay.com RRP: $22.99

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Placements CURRENT AND PENDING PLACEMENT VACANCIES AS AT 14 SEPTEMBER 2016 PRESBYTERY OF GIPPSLAND Mitchell River – Paynesville (0.6) Traralgon District PRESBYTERY OF LODDON MALLEE Dunolly (0.5) Sunraysia (UCOS) (0.5) Tyrrell Parish PRESBYTERY OF NORTH EAST VICTORIA Mansfield (0.3) Numurkah – Nathalia Linked (0.8) Rutherglen (Rutherglen/Chiltern-CorowaHowlong) (0.5) Upper Murray (Corryong, Walwa) (0.5) Wodonga (St Stephens) PRESBYTERY OF PORT PHILLIP EAST Oakleigh (St David’s), Balkara Parish (0.5) Beaumaris (0.6) Bentleigh Brighton (Trinity) Frankston (High St) (0.5) – Monash University Peninsula Campus Chaplain (0.5) Korean Church of Melbourne** Narre Warren North (0.7) PRESBYTERY OF PORT PHILLIP WEST Altona Meadows – Laverton (0.4) Belmont Lara (0.5) St Albans/Caroline Springs - Sydenham Sunbury

MINISTRY MOVES CALLS AND APPOINTMENTS FINALISED Kerrie Needham, Robinvale (0.5) – Sunraysia UCCOS (0.5) to commence 1 January 2017.

RETIREMENTS Peter Cook, Henty Region, to retire on 31 December 2016 Peter Burnham, Wesley College – St Kilda Campus Chaplain, to retire on 31 December 2016

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PRESBYTERY OF TASMANIA Nil PRESBYTERY OF WESTERN VIC Nil PRESBYTERY OF YARRA YARRA Croydon North – Gifford Village (0.5) East Kew** Eltham – Montmorency (0.5) (3 year term) Melbourne (St Michaels) Tecoma (0.6) SYNOD Hopkins Region Prisons and MRC Chaplain (0.6) Strategic Review Implementation – Strategic Framework Officer ** These placements have not yet lodged a profile with the Placements Committee, therefore they are not yet in conversation with any minister. There is no guarantee that the placement will be listed within the next month.

Further information on these vacancies may be obtained from the Secretary of the Placements Committee: Ms Isabel Thomas Dobson.

Email: placements.secretary@victas.uca.org.au Formal expressions of interest should be put in writing to Isabel.

COMING EVENTS CONTEMPLATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY NETWORK 2PM – 4PM, 1st Saturday of the month Centre for Theology and Ministry, 29 College Cres, Parkville.

Are you interested in photography/videography as a spiritual practice? The network gatherings will offer a time of reflection, a place to enhance technical skills (whether newly acquired or wellseasoned), and a forum for discussion, support and encouragement.

RSVP essential at E:peter@chalice.org.au or call Rev. Deacon Peter Batten on M: 0419 255 585.

PRACTICING PRESENCE – OCTOBER RETREAT IN DAILY LIFE 10:30AM – 12NOON, TUESDAY 4 and WEDNESDAY 26 OCTOBER Habitat Hawthorn, 2 Minona Street, Hawthorn.

Would you like to join a retreat to grow in your relationship with God, but find it hard to get out or make the time? Then this retreat is for you!

With support, resources and common intent, develop a prayer practice as part of your daily life. Begin and end the month reflecting with others on your experience; engage at home with daily prayer and grow in your relationship with God. Facilitated by Rev Joan Wright Howie and Margaret Loftus. Cost: by donation.

For more information, visit the Habitat website www.habitatforspirituality.org.au.

STRENGTHEN YOUR RELATIONSHIP AT A WINE AND CHEESE EVENING 7PM - 9:30PM, THURSDAY 6 OCTOBER Habitat Hawthorn, 2 Minona Street, Hawthorn.

Developing healthy relationships involves asking questions: Why do I do what I do? Are there personality traits that irritate me? How do I respond? Am I a person who: avoids conflict, withdraws, lashes out, or just gives in?

These are learned behaviours. With awareness and understanding you can learn to respond positively without just reacting. You will be introduced to the Enneagram personality system.

For more information contact Margaret Loftus on M. 0418 375 229.

RETREAT DAY – CONFLUENCE 10AM – 3PM, FRIDAY 7 OCTOBER Habitat Hawthorn, 2 Minona Street, Hawthorn.

Join Joan and Amanda in an ongoing dialogue about the confluence of Buddhism and Christianity in their spiritual practice. Be open to the confluences in your inner journey as we walk the labyrinth, explore parkland and discover the Merri Creek and Yarra River confluence.

For more information, visit the Habitat website www.habitatforspirituality.org.au.

TRANSFORM YOUNG UCA ADULTS GATHERING 5PM, SATURDAY 8 OCTOBER Brunswick Uniting Church, Sydney Rd, Melbourne.

The next Transform young UCA adults gathering will be on the theme ‘What is the church for?’ Leading our conversation will be John Flett, lecturer in mission studies at Pilgrim Theological College. For more information see www.transformgatherings.com.

SERVICE OF THANKSGIVING – MONTMORENCY UNITING CHURCH (Formerly St. Andrews Presbyterian) 9.30AM, SUNDAY 9 OCTOBER Montmorency Uniting Church, cnr Rattray and Mountain View Roads, Montmorency.

Montmorency Uniting Church will be closing after 102 years of wonderful community service in the Montmorency area. Anyone interested in attending the Church service is very welcome.

Future services for the Eltham Montmorency Uniting Church will be held at 1 John Street Eltham. For any queries please contact Fiona Bruinsma on E: fambruinsma@bigpond.com or M: 0417 164 503.

MENTAL HEALTH WEEK EVENTS – WITH THE MODERATOR Moderator Rev Sharon Hollis will be the guest of honour at a series of community events during Mental Health Week (9-15 OCTOBER). They are open to all with an interest in strengthening the support networks around people who care, either professionally or personally, for those with mental health issues.

• CARER HUB PEER SUPPORT PROGRAM LUNCH HAMPTON PARK UC 12PM, TUESDAY 11 OCTOBER Hampton Park Uniting Church, 1 Coral Drive, Hampton Park.

The Carer Hub peer support program lunch is hosted by UnitingCare, lifeAssist and Hampton Park Uniting Church for carers of individuals living with emotional distress or mental illness. Entry is free. To book your place RSVP to E: events@lifeassist.org.au.

• HOBART MENTAL HEALTH WEEK LUNCH CLARENCE UC 12:30PM, WEDNESDAY 12 OCTOBER Clarence Uniting Church, Cnr Cambridge Rd and York St, Bellerive TAS. Clarence Uniting Church in Hobart is hosting a Mental Health Week lunch. Entry is free.

To book your place RSVP to: E: rev.ann55@gmail.com or M: 0458 816 661.

• MENTAL HEALTH WEEK SERVICE CROSS GENERATION UC 2PM, THURSDAY 13 OCTOBER Cross Generation Uniting Church, Cnr Hellier St and Edwin St, Heidelberg Heights.

Hope Springs is holding a Mental Health Week service at Cross Generation Uniting Church in Heidelberg Heights. For more information contact Rev Sandy Brodine E: sandybrodine@gmail.com.

CROSSLIGHT - OCTOBER 16

Notices GRAND FETE GLEN WAVERLEY UC 8.30AM - 2PM, SATURDAY 15 OCTOBER Glen Waverley Uniting Church, cnr Bogong Avenue and Kingsway, Glen Waverley.

Lots of stalls, food, entertainment, a huge Trash ‘n Treasure stall, pre-loved books, pre-loved clothes, craft, cakes, plants, and a silent auction.

Your donations of goods for the stalls are most welcome. (Please do not bring to the church until the week of the fete). All proceeds from the fete support our Church’s outreach projects.

For further information, please contact the Church Office on P: 03 9560 3580.

ANNUAL FAIR MANNINGHAM UC 10AM to 4PM, SATURDAY 15 OCTOBER Manningham Uniting Church, Wood/Atkinson Street, Templestowe.

Manningham Uniting Church will hold its annual Fair on Saturday, 15 October, a tradition that dates back to the then-Presbyterian Church’s annual ‘Caledonian Fair’ in 1895; undoubtedly the longest running Manningham Fair! Funds raised go to Manningham LinC; EARS Inc. Hearing & Training Clinic; Malawi, Africa; and programs supporting refugees and asylum seekers. There will be a variety of stalls, bouncing castle, entertainment, BBQ and Devonshire teas, and a visit from the local police and fire brigades … something for everyone!

RETIREMENT DINNER & FINAL SERVICE FOR IAN AND ELIZABETH HICKINGBOTHAM 6PM, SATURDAY 15 OCTOBER, and 9.30AM, SUNDAY, 16 OCTOBER North Ringwood Uniting Church, 14 Dickson Crescent, North Ringwood.

You are invited to join with Ian and Elizabeth Hickingbotham to celebrate the ministry of Ian on his retirement. A dinner will be held at North Ringwood Uniting Church, 6pm Saturday, 15 October. The dinner is complimentary and will be an all-age event.

Ian’s final worship service will be the following day at 9.30AM, Sunday, 16 October. All are welcome to attend one or both of these events.

RSVP for the dinner by early October by contacting the NRUC office on P: 03 9876 5625, E: office@nruc.org.au or post to the church address above. Further details are also available from Trevor Vernon on E: trevorvernon20@gmail.com.

ANNUAL HISTORIC ORGANS ON RICHMOND HILL CONCERT 3PM, SUNDAY 16 OCTOBER This ecumenical progressive organ concert begins at St Stephen’s Anglican Church (360 Church St), moves to St Ignatius’ Catholic Church (326 Church St), and concludes at Richmond Uniting Church (304 Church St), followed by refreshments. Everyone is welcome.

All venues are wheelchair accessible. Entry is by donation (gold coin or a non-perishable food item) at the door. All funds raised go to the Richmond Churches Food Centre, which provides food security to hundreds of households each week.

ANNUAL FLOWER SHOW ST ANDREWS UC 11AM – 4PM, FRIDAY 21 OCTOBER and 9.30AM – 3PM, SATURDAY 22 OCTOBER St Andrews Uniting Church, 40 Browning Street, Orbost The Flower Show features roses, cut flowers, floral art, pot plants and an amazing children’s section, and stalls selling home-made cakes, plants and produce. The show will be opened by renowned rose specialist, Ian Sprigs, at 11AM on Friday. A delicious selection of food will be on offer for morning and afternoon teas, with lunches served from 12 noon. Entry cost is $5 for adults, children free.

For further information please contact Heather Richardson on P: 03 5154 1853.

FRIENDS OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA AND THE SOLOMON ISLANDS 12PM - 4.30PM, SATURDAY 22 OCTOBER St. Andrews Uniting Church, cnr Malvern & Burke Roads, Gardiner.

This group brings together people who have lived or worked in these countries to share common interests, update on current developments, and provide practical support.

For more information: Margaret White P: 03 9889 7345 or Don Cracknell P: 03 5623 6058.

IMMANUEL SINGERS SUPPORTING AFRICAN ENTERPRISE 7.30PM, SATURDAY 22 OCTOBER Burwood Uniting Church, 1 Hyslop Street, Glen Iris.

An evening of song with supper to follow. Hear the latest developments in spreading God’s Word in Africa and in support of African Enterprise, a mission in Africa, run by Africans for Africans.

Entry: Donation to African Enterprise.

For more information P: 03 9808 5993.

SENIORS’ MORNING TEA AT THE HUB, GLEN WAVERLEY UC 10AM – 12PM, THURSDAY 27 OCTOBER Glen Waverley Uniting Church, cnr Bogong Avenue and Kingsway, Glen Waverley.

Bring your family and friends. All donations to research into Motor Neurone Disease.

For information and group bookings P: 03 9560 3580.

PING-PONG-A-THON: Men of Melbourne Pong to End Human Trafficking 28 – 29 OCTOBER High Street Road Uniting Church, 482 High St Rd, Mount Waverley.

The High Street Road UC is hosting a PingPong-a-Thon event on 28 – 29 October. The Pong is a dynamic and fun 24-hour table tennis event that runs in venues across Australia every October. Participants sign up to play for a minimum of three hours of table tennis at their venue of choice and invite their family/ friends to sponsor their efforts. Funds raised support the work of nine inspiring partners who play their part in bringing an end to human trafficking. For information go to: pingpongathon.com ART & PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW WINCHELSEA UC OPENING NIGHT AT 7.30PM on FRIDAY 28 OCTOBER, then 10AM – 5PM SATURDAY and SUNDAY 29 – 30 OCTOBER, and 10AM – 4PM MONDAY 31 OCTOBER Winchelsea Uniting Church, Hesse Street, Winchelsea. The Winchelsea UC will hold its annual show on the weekend of 28 – 31 October in the Globe Theatre. This is a major fundraising event and is well supported by local artists and photographers, with entries increasing each year.

Entry forms are available from Peter on E: family.redding@gmail.com or enquiries to Jeanette on M: 0409 418 766.

ART OF STORY STARTS 2 NOVEMBER Centre for Theology and Ministry, 29 College Crescent, Parkville Find your voice in this practical course.

Discover the craft of storytelling, techniques to aid recall, and performance skills to create a listening space. Art of Story’s repertoire includes biblical stories, wisdom tales, folk tales and poetry. Led by Julie Perrin and Christina Rowntree, the course will be held over three full Wednesdays in November, and culminates in a Story Sharing evening where participants demonstrate their learning by telling a prepared story.

Register or find out more by contacting Christina on P: 03 9340 8813 or E: chris.rowntree@ctm.uca.edu.au.

OPEN GARDENS DAY INVERLOCH UC 10AM – 4PM, SATURDAY 5 NOVEMBER Inverloch Uniting Church, Williams Street, Inverloch.

Maps will be available from the Church opposite the post office in Williams Street. Cost is $10 per person, which includes morning or afternoon tea.

For more information, contact Liz on P: 03 5674 1969 or M: 0401 472 669 or Bev on M: 0408 502 707.

BI-ANNUAL OPEN GARDENS HOSTED

BY ST ANDREWS UNITING CHURCH, ORBOST OPENING TIMES: 10AM - 5PM, SATURDAY 5 NOVEMBER and SUNDAY 6 NOVEMBER This year St Andrews UC hosts five open country gardens at a cost of $5 per person per garden. The unique gardens include the Snowy River Community Garden, the small garden of Julie & Malcolm Mundy, ‘Tom’s Garden’, the newer garden of Lorraine and Peter Van den Oever, and the garden with many rooms of Stan and Judy Weatherall.

All maps and information available at the Orbost Visitors Information Centre in Nicholson Street, Orbost. For further information please contact Judy Weatherall on M: 0407 586 328 or P: 03 5154 1360 or E: judy.occ@bigpond.com.

CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES ON TREATY, SOVEREIGNTY AND CONSTITUTIONAL RECOGNITION – An Ecumenical Forum 7:00PM -9:00PM, WEDNESDAY 9 NOVEMBER Wesley UCA, 148 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne.

Keynote speakers are UCA President Stuart McMillan and Victorian Congress state director Rev Ken Sumner. Panelists include Brooke Prentis, Vicki Clark, Rev Glen Loughrey, and Adam Frogley. (See page 7 for more info.)

Open to anyone to attend. The forum is free, but registration is essential. Register via bit.ly/VCCTreaty or by phoning 9251 5266 and leaving your name and number.

For more information: Jill Ruzbacky P: 9251 5266 during business hours.

AWESOME FOURSOME ART EXHIBITION RICHMOND UC OPENING DAY SATURDAY 12 NOVEMBER, continuing to WEDNESDAY 26 NOVEMBER Gallery 314, Richmond Uniting Church, 314 Church Street, Richmond.

Art exhibition of works by the ‘Awesome Foursome’.

For more information P: 03 9427 1282.

VICTORIAN INTERFAITH NETWORKS CONFERENCE 2016 12PM – 4.30PM, SUNDAY 13 NOVEMBER At Darebin Arts & Entertainment Centre, cnr Bell Street & St Georges Road, Preston.

This annual conference aims to help build the capacity and sustainability of existing multifaith/interfaith networks, bring people up-to-date with current multifaith/interfaith matters, provide networking opportunities, and assist the hosting interfaith network and council to promote its work to the local community.

This year’s keynote speech will be on ‘Faith and Social Inclusion’.

To register go to: vinc.eventbrite.com.au. Please note there are limited places, so enrol early to ensure your attendance.

COME AND VISIT THE HUB, GLEN WAVERLEY UC 10AM – 2PM, TUESDAYS and THURSDAYS, and 10AM – 12 NOON, WEDNESDAYS The Hub at the Glen Waverley Uniting Church, corner Bogong Avenue and Kingsway, is a welcoming and friendly meeting place for people to enjoy some company, a cuppa and a biscuit, to relax in a busy day or to practise speaking in English in an informal setting.

People of all ages are welcome.

For information P: 03 9560 3580.

CLASSIFIEDS CALOUNDRA, Sunshine Coast, Queensland: Beachside units, from $400/wk. For details contact Ray P: 0427 990 161 E: rayandjean@hotmail.com.

CAPE WOOLAMAI, Summerhays Cottage.

Sleeps 3. Tranquil garden. Stroll to beach.

Discount for UCA members. www.summerhayscottage.com.au.

Ring Doug or Ina P: 0403 133 710.

FOR SALE BY AUCTION: The former Wyuna Uniting Church building in Robertson Street, Wyuna, will be auctioned on Saturday, 5 November 2016. Information may be obtained from the agent, Greg Motton on P: 03 5853 2727 or www.walkerrealestate.com.au.

FOR SALE: Three Communion chairs, chalice, glasses and trays available for sale from Wyuna Uniting Church, Wyuna. Contact Moira Pankhurst on P: 03 5859 0653.

GRAMPIANS WORSHIP When visiting The Grampians, join the Pomonal Community Uniting Church congregation for worship each Sunday at 10am.

LORNE, Spacious apartment, breathtaking ocean view, open fire, peaceful, secluded, affordable. P: 03 5289 2698.

PSYCHOLOGIST Sue Tansey, BA (Hons), MPsych (Counselling) MAPS. Individual and relationship counselling. Bulk billing for clients who have a referral from their GP and have a low income.

St Kilda. P: 0418 537 342 or E: suetansey@yahoo.com.

QUALIFIED CHRISTIAN PAINTER Handy-man, interior/exterior work, available outer eastern suburbs. P: 03 9725 6417.

SENIORS’ SPECIAL Enjoy a break in luxury surroundings. Three days and three nights, dinner, bed and breakfast for $450 per couple (including GST).

Jindivick Gardens. P: 03 5628 5319.

TWO BEDROOM INDEPENDENT LIVING UNITS (OVER 55s) St. Andrew’s Close, Stratford. www.ucgipps.org.au.

Phone: 03 5144 7777.

WANTED TO BUY Antiques, second hand/retro furniture, bric a brac and collectables. Single items or whole house lots. Genuine buyer.

Contact Kevin P: 0408 969 920.

Banyule Network of Uniting Churches Clinical Pastoral Education Centre Pastoral Care in the Midst of Change and Transition 13th February to 4th December 2017 A new CPE Centre is offering an innovative and fully accredited part time program of Clinical Pastoral Education in 2017. Successful applicants will be engaged in 200 hours of actual pastoral care with members of congregations experiencing change during a building for mission program. Education days are scheduled on Mondays.

Further information is available at: http://banyulenetwork.unitingchurch.org.au/cpe or by contacting Jennifer Gibbons M: 0418 318 589.

OCTOBER 16 - CROSSLIGHT

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Moderator’s column Caring for carers

I HAVE written and spoken before about my partner Michael’s depression and anxiety and his death. With Mental Health Week approaching, I offer a brief reflection on some of the beliefs and attitudes I have experienced that make having a mental illness or caring for a family member with a mental illness more difficult.

People who have mental illness are often defined by their illness as if that is all you need to know about them. They are ‘depressed’ or ‘schizophrenic’ or ‘manic’.

People who have other illnesses aren’t described as ‘high cholesterol’ or ‘cancer’ or ‘heart attack’. A person with a mental illness is more than their illness.

When we define people as their illness, rather than a whole person, we contribute to the stigma that still attaches to mental illness. Stigma is a contributing factor to why many people who have a mental illness don’t seek treatment –they don’t want the label. It also means that some people with a mental illness are reluctant to tell family, friends, employers, their minister or congregation, even when they are receiving treatment.

Stigma also means family members may feel unable or unwilling to disclose their loved one’s illness and so don’t receive the care and support they need and want.

Stigma contributes to the loneliness many people with a mental illness and their family experience, isolated by both the symptoms of mental illness and society’s judgment.

This stigma is compounded if your loved one dies by suicide. As a society we struggle to talk about suicide, there is also much misunderstanding and judgment. The silence, misunderstanding and judgment compound the stigma and stigma compounds the complex grief that accompanies the death of a family member or friend by suicide. In the church this can be exacerbated by a belief that God doesn’t

give us more than we can bear, so ‘real’ Christians don’t contemplate suicide, let alone complete it.

Stigmatising of mental illness comes in part from a belief that mental illness is not really an illness. You hear it in comments such as “Just pull yourself together” or “You’ve got a good life, why are you sad” or “What a shame you have to take medication”.

But it is an illness. Its causes are complex and no one chooses to have a mental illness. We act with compassion when we accept it is an illness and treat people as people who are more than that illness.

There is a particular form of this misunderstanding amongst some people in the church. I hear it in comments that suggest the person is suffering because they lack faith, or don’t believe “properly” or “haven’t conformed their mind to Christ”.

I don’t believe anyone suffers an illness because of a lack of faith or that God causes suffering – hence I don’t believe this about mental illness. As the church we need to value every person as a child of God, including those with a mental illness. We need to convey this without judgment about their illness and its symptoms.

I have known, and know, many faithful

people who have a mental illness, including my partner Michael. Their illness is not a sign of a lack of faith, or a lack of commitment to prayer.

One of the things that can be hard about a mental illness is the way it robs the sufferer of the capacity to think clearly so it can become difficult or impossible to accept that God loves you or that you are worthy of care, love and support. Mental illness can shake faith, make it hard to believe in the goodness of God and to participate fully in the life of a congregation.

As a carer I also invite communities of faith to think about how you can care for the family of people with a mental illness.

It can be lonely to be carer. Carers often bear the double burden of caring for their family member while having to take over the running of a home. Navigating the mental health system alongside the stigma is mind numbing.

I encourage those around carers to be a listening presence, without judgment.

Ask what would help them and respond.

It might be a meal, a coffee or lending a hand at home. Don’t be afraid to talk about their loved one’s illness if they are willing. Pray for them, pray for their loved one. Appreciate the way having a mental illness often means plans change at short notice. Treat each person in the family as a loved child of God. Let them know you are thinking of them.

During mental health week this year I am attending two lunches for carers as a way to express the compassion and support of the synod. As someone whose family has lived with mental illness, I will share a little of my story and offer some words of encouragement and hope.

Sharon Hollis Moderator

Mental health week events – with the Moderator

Further information These events are open to all with an interest in strengthening the support networks around people who care, either professionally or personally, for those with mental health issues.

Lifeassist carer hub peer support program lunch 12PM, TUESDAY 11 October Hampton Park Uniting Church Entry is free. To book your place RSVP to E: events@lifeassist.org.au Hobart Mental Health Week lunch 12:30PM, WEDNESDAY 12 OCTOBER Clarence Uniting Church Entry is free.

To book your place RSVP to: E: rev.ann55@gmail.com or P: 0458 816 661 Mental Health Week service 2PM, THURSDAY 13 OCTOBER Cross Generation Uniting Church For more information contact Rev Sandy Brodine E: sandybrodine@gmail.com

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As people who follow Christ, we seek to respond to need with compassion. The first step is to learn about mental illness and ways to appropriately support people with mental illness and their family.

The following are some helpful resources: Mental health first aid training www.mhfa.com.au Beyond blue www.beyondblue.org.au The Black Dog Institute www.blackdoginstitute.org.au The Queensland Synod website ucaqld.com.au/socialresponsibility/key-social-justice-areas/calledtocare

CROSSLIGHT - OCTOBER 16

Reflection Animals in our lives and in our hearts AS we approach World Animal Day (Feast of St Francis, 4 October) it is timely to take stock and consider our animal brethren. Animals feature in our lives, homes and churches in a myriad of ways, from companion and/or protector, as therapy/assistance animals, or as a reminder within our Christian faith of Jesus, the Lamb of God. Next time you are in a church that has stained glass windows, count the number of animals represented in the pictures: Noah’s Ark, Jesus and the lost sheep, doves, donkeys. See if you can spot a pelican, inside or outside the church; pelicans came to symbolise Jesus’ sacrificial love, based on the legend of the pelican plucking its breast to feed its young its blood.

What about the evangelists, three symbolised by particular animals: John as an eagle, Luke as an ox, and Mark as a lion? Have you ever considered the animals in pride of place, around the throne, in Revelation 4?

As the weather warms, there are more and more fundraising events taking place, often on Sunday mornings. Some of these events include animals.

On a recent walk for KHA (Kidney Health Australia) a number of dogs walked with their owners. There is a very special walk happening on 11 October. Bark for Life has been organised by the Cancer Council.

While a fundraiser, this walk has a different focus; it recognises and honours the caring qualities of the dogs that have helped their owners as they battled, or still battle, cancer.

How have your animal companions helped you? After bouts of surgery and time spent recovering, my dogs

Sadie, Crosslight editor’s puppy

and cats certainly were my four-legged nurses…okay, they couldn’t plug in the kettle or make me a cup of tea, but their companionship, warmth, presence, and love certainly helped me heal.

As we consider our own animal companions, past and present, let us not forget those less fortunate. A momentous day for animals happened on 7 July this year; this was the day when the NSW government issued a ban on greyhound racing.

No living creature, human or non-human, should ever go through such hardship and cruelty and have it sanctified as ‘okay’ by the general community.

The Report from the Special Commission of Inquiry found that between 48,000 to 68,000 greyhounds (almost half of all greyhounds born to race) were killed in the past 12 years because they were deemed uncompetitive – in other words, not fast enough!

Wobbee, Crosslight artist’s dog

Why should the church care? Why should the Uniting Church be interested?

We should rejoice, because this was a courageous example of caring for all creation, being a prophetic voice for all who suffer.

Within our synod, this issue is linked with the Vision and Mission Principles which arose from the Synod’s recent Major Strategic Review. Part of our Vision is ‘seeking community, compassion and justice for all creation’, and one of our Mission Principles is to ‘care for creation.’

We, as stewards of all creation, caring for God’s creation, need to speak out wherever there is any cruelty, human or non-human.

As we enter the season of spring, racing carnivals are on the horizon. What is our ethical stance re horse racing? How many more horses have to die in jumps racing before it is banned?

According to the RSPCA, these horses are under-performers in flat races, yet

Shimmer and Milo, Crosslight executive editor’s cats

they are not allowed to retire. Instead, they are subjected to a very dangerous sport where they are required to jump over high fences at high speeds, while running long distances. This ‘sport’ results in horrific falls, injuries and death. Racing Victoria has apparently boosted the prize money from last season by $500,000.

When animals are seen as objects, for entertainment and monetary gain, and not loved as gifts from God, then we need to ask the question: is this right?

What is to be our response, individually and as a church?

St Francis said: “Not to hurt our humble brethren is our first duty to them, but to stop there is not enough. We have a higher mission – to be of service to them wherever they require it.”

Rev Barbara Allen Spirituality and Creation Project Worker

Giving is living Going home through a firing zone TIM LAM THE Holy Land is a place of spiritual significance for the world’s three monotheistic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

It is also one of the most volatile locations in the world. In this image, two Palestinian children are returning home from a school in Masafer Yatta, through a restricted area known as Firing Zone 918.

In the 1970s, Israel designated the area a military training zone. Since then, people living in Masafer Yatta have faced the constant threat of expulsion and dispossession.

Villagers living in this area rely on livestock as their primary source of income, but access to grazing land is restricted by the Israeli military. As a result, many of the communities depend on food assistance from humanitarian organisations.

OCTOBER 16 - CROSSLIGHT

Earlier this year, Israeli military bulldozers demolished 23 houses in two impoverished villages inside the zone. Some of the families have lived on the land long before Israel occupied the West Bank after the Six-Day War in 1967.

Critics believe the demolitions are driven by the Israeli government’s desire to clear Area C of Palestinians. Area C is the part of the West Bank under full Israeli control. This will force residents to migrate to towns in Area A, which is under Palestinian control.

At the 14th Assembly last year, the Uniting Church endorsed a proposal from former president Rev Prof Andrew Dutney to establish an awareness-raising campaign throughout the Church on the plight of Palestinian Christians and the Palestinian people. It included promoting the boycott of goods produced from illegal settlements in the West Bank.

The proposal was in response to a direct request from Palestinian churches. Since 1948, the number of Christians in Palestine has decreased dramatically, from an estimated 20 per cent of the population to just 2 per cent.

Prof Dutney stressed the boycott does not compromise the Uniting Church’s conviction that “anti-Semitism in all its expressions is

is

GIVING

LIVING an affront to the gospel of Jesus Christ”. The boycott is restricted to goods from illegallyoccupied land. The Uniting Church has chosen not to align itself with the wider Boycott Divestment Strategy movement, which supports boycotting all goods from Israel. The church is mindful of the need for respectful dialogue and firmly believes that Israel and Palestine have the right to live sideby-side in peace and security.

The Assembly Palestine Working Group is producing a booklet as part of its

awareness-raising campaign. This will be distributed electronically to all church councils later this month and will be accompanied by a letter from the President and Assembly General Secretary.

The Palestine-Israel awareness-raising campaign is going to be launched in Melbourne by the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches Rev Dr Olav Fyske Tveit on Thursday 13 October at 12pm in the VCC office at 306 Little Collins St. Moderator Rev Sharon Hollis will host the event.

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Synod Snaps

“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.”

- Dorothea Lange

Families worker Corinna Fong (fourth from left) was commissioned as a Lay Preacher at Surrey Hills Uniting Church. With Corinna are four lay preacher representatives from Yarra Yarra Presbytery, Arthur Tonkin (Lay Preacher since 1950), student Emma Dods and Rev Rob Gotch.

The late Raymond Chandler Gardiner (third from left) – who passed away in September – and his family sit on the Centenary Seat outside the Darebin North West Uniting Church. Ray was a major donor to the seat project and his family have long been supporters of the church.

Moderator Rev Sharon Hollis attended the opening of the new Uniting Church Op Shop at South Melton.

St Andrews Uniting Church in Beechworth completed 30 sanitary hygiene kits for Days for Girls, a worldwide organisation aimed at improving the health of women globally. Left to right: Margaret Rolf, Jan Wagner, Margaret Commins and Kathy Higgins. Photo by Joan Hilderbrand.

Retired minister and author Rev Bruce Prewer, his wife Marie and son Martin relax and enjoy a cuppa at St Andrew’s Uniting Church Drop-In-Centre/second hand bookshop in Sunbury.

Moderator Rev Sharon Hollis attended and preached at Hanbit Congregation’s 25th anniversary service. She is pictured here with Kevin Kim, Eun-deok Kim and Hoon You.