D01 2032 words Jesus today. Christology in an Australian context. By Gerald O'Collins 4 THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS In Chapter 3 I argued that Christology should centre on Jesus' dying and rising. Back in Chapter 1 I pointed out the need to validate Christological faith in its historical origins and development. That entails establishing what we can about Jesus' life, death and resurrection. In this chapter I plan to put together and run through some problems that could confront a Christology centred around the paschal mystery. It is simply not possible to raise all the issues. Let me select and concentrate on certain challenges in the fields of history, faith and theology. 1. History When faced with death, Jesus continued to maintain the validity of his message and his certainty of being saved (Mark 14:25). He interpreted his self-giving as a new covenant, which would be beneficial `for many' (1 Corinthians 12:23-5; Mark 14:22-4). His male dis+ciples fled when he was arrested (Mark 14:27-8, 50; John 16:32), and an outsider took care of his burial (Mark 15:43). Jesus' crucifixion challenged the inter+pretation of his coming death and certainty about being saved that he had expressed at the last supper. Accord+ing to the contemporary interpretation of Deuteronomy 21:23 (see the Qumran Temple Roll 64:6-13 and Gala+tians 3:13), someone crucified for breaking the law was understood to be cursed by God. But then the disciples began proclaiming that God had raised Jesus from the dead (for example, 1 Thessalonians 1:10; Acts 2:32; Romans 10:9). This proclamation was initiated by appearances of the living Jesus (for example, 1 Corin+thians 15:5-8) and, secondarily, by the discovery that his tomb was empty (Mark 16:1-8 and parallels). Apropos of the Easter appearances and the empty tomb, there are many problems. No doubt it will stay that way till the end of time. Here I want to raise and briefly respond to some questions, so as to illustrate what a resurrection-centred Christology might have to tackle today. (a) The Appearances In discussing the appearances, it may be as well to start with the ingenious `swoon theory', which H.E.G. Paulus floated in the last century and which has enjoyed a number of variants in recent decades. Essentially the hypothesis comes to this. Jesus did not die on the cross, but was taken down alive from the cross, revived in the tomb, somehow got out and `appeared' to his followers. In his novella The Man Who Died, D.H. Lawrence has Jesus coming back in this way to his followers and then slipping off to Egypt to enjoy conjugal relations with a priestess of Isis. Other versions of this `happy ending' have Jesus going away to live with Mary Magdalene, as in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail by Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln. Some Moslems claim that, after escaping from the tomb, Jesus even reached India; at Srinagar in Kashmir tourists can see a shrine that is alleged to be the place where he was finally buried after really dying in old age. In The Anastasis (Shipston-on-Stour, 1982), Duncan Derrett suggests that Jesus `entered into a self-induced trance' on the cross (p.45). Those who buried him took him to be dead, but this `clinical death' was briefly reversed before irreversible brain-death finally occurred. But he had made significant use of his short-lived re+covery. For after he revived in the cold tomb and had been helped out (apparently by some people watching at the tomb and the `young man' of Mark 16:5-7), he was able to commission his disciples. Shortly thereafter, as a result of his sufferings and crucifixion, he underwent final brain-death. He had authorised his disciples to dis+pose of his corpse by cremation, and they burnt it out+side the walls of Jerusalem. The ascension, as recounted by Luke, was a `euphemism' for that cremation (pp.83,90). Out here in Australia, Barbara Thiering has also ad+vanced the theory that Jesus did not die on the cross. Her account runs as follows. The vinegar (Mark 15:36) that Jesus was given contained some poison that would eventually have killed him. However, he was placed alive in the tomb with the the two criminals crucified with him. One of these two men (whom Thiering identi+fies as Simon Magus and Judas Iscariot) administered aloes to Jesus which caused him to bring up the poison. His supporters smuggled Jesus out of the tomb. After spending some years with the early Christian commun+ity, he then really died. Finally, Thiering adds her own startling twist to the `swoon theory'. Jesus' crucifixion, burial and escape from the tomb did not take place in Jerusalem but in or around Qumran. Against these different versions of the `swoon theory', it must be said that their major `source', the New Tes+tament itself, contains not a shred of hard evidence in their favour. The Gospels, St Paul and the primitive Christian kerygma (which gets quoted in 1 Corinthians 15:3b-5, the early speeches in Acts and elsewhere in the New Testament) agree that Jesus genuinely died by cruci+fixion and was buried as a dead man (for instance, 1 Corinthians 15:4; Mark 15:37, 42-7). Other ancient sources corroborate this. The Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus (AD 37-c.100), in his Antiquities 18:63-4 reports that Jesus was crucified on the orders of Pilate. It seems that some Christian or Christians revised this pas+sage in Josephus by adding material in praise of Jesus, but at least the information about his execution seems to go back to Josephus himself. In his Annals 15:44 (writ+ten in AD 112-113), the Roman historian Tacitus ex+plains that the name `Christians' came from the founder of their sect, Christ, who was executed by the `procura+tor' Pontius Pilate during the reign of the Emperor Tiberius. In an obscure passage, the Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a) writes of Yeshu, who led some Israelites astray by his magic, but was then `hanged on the eve of Passover'. These extra-biblical, Roman and Jewish sources show little historical knowledge, but they indi+cate no doubt whatsoever that Jesus genuinely died by execution. Like the passion narratives in the Gospels, these other documents contain not the slightest hint that Jesus was or could have been still alive when the execu+tioners had finished with him. In the nineteenth century, David Friedrich Strauss (1808-74) cast many doubts on the gospel story, but even so had no truck with the swoon theory. He put his finger on another knockdown difficulty against any hypothesis of a half-dead Jesus reviving in the tomb and then returning to his followers: It is impossible that a being who had stolen half dead out of the sepulchre, who crept about weak and ill, wanting medical treatment, who required bandaging, strengthening and indul+gence...could have given the disciples the impression that he was a Conqueror over death and the grave, the Prince of Life, an impression which lay at the bottom of their future ministry. Such a resuscitation...could by no possibility have changed their sorrow into enthusiasm, have elevated their reverence into worship. Add too, the fact that neither the New Testament nor any other source provides evidence for the post-crucifixion existence and activity of a Jesus who was revived from apparent death. Derrett admits as much when he writes of `the loud silence of the gospels and epistles' about Jesus' brief life after his revival from clinical death (Anastasis,p.71). Before dismissing the whole `swoon theory' as bogus nonsense, we might reflect briefly on the thinking be+hind it. Besides expressing a refusal to accept that Jesus truly rose from the dead to a new, transformed life, this theory serves to bring out the nature of historical cer+tainties and a persistent desire that goes right back to the time of the apocryphal gospels. It is always open to anyone to deny facts that profes+sional scholars and the general public agree on and correctly take for granted. An imagination that does not bother to produce hard evidence for bold assertions can then advance sensational claims and propose ingenious counter-stories. One could, for example, make up a story about Julius Caesar not having been assassinated in 44 BC. Someone else was killed in his place; he escaped to the Tiber and took a trireme to Britain, where he cultivated vineyards and helped to prepare the way for the eventual settlement of the Romans. Abso+lutely speaking, this counter-story cannot be ruled out as impossible. But the lack of evidence in its favour and the convergent proofs for the normally accepted version of Caesar's untimely end make an escape-to-Britain hypothesis so utterly implausible that it is not worth bothering about. Practically every historian and biblical scholar would say the same thing about the `swoon theory'. This theory, I suspect, is fed by a tendency that set in fairly early among some Christians, and which a Cali+fornian friend of mine summed up as follows: `When they ran out of things they knew about Jesus, they started making up and writing down things they really didn't know.' Thus the canonical Gospels knew of no witnesses to the very event of Jesus' resurrection itself. The second-century Gospel of Peter 9:35 ff invents such witnesses. There are so many limits and gaps in what we know about Jesus' life, death and resurrection, that it is tempting to conjecture, fabricate and fill in details that the real evidence does not support. In their variant of the `swoon theory', R. Graves and J. Podro, for example, generously supply information about `the extreme sul+triness of the weather' (which, together with the spikenard ointment smeared on the shroud, helped to keep Jesus alive in the tomb), and about the way he escaped: The Roman soldiers, hired to stand guard, rolled back the stone at night while their sergeant was asleep and tried to steal the ointment - which was worth several years' army pay and could easily be sold in the brothels of Caesarea. They found Jesus still alive, and the sergeant, when acquainted with the surprising news, let him go; being subsequently bribed by Bunni [= the name Graves and Podro give to Nicodemus] to say that the disciples had removed the body. (Jesus in Rome, London, 1957,pp.12-13). All of this suggests a novelist's anxiety to reconstruct a well-rounded story, although one must be grateful that Graves and Podro do not indulge a taste for cherchez la femme and arrange for Jesus to rendezvous with Mary Magdalene or a priestess of Isis. At the end of the day, the `swoon theory' reduces the origin of Christianity to a banal story about a bungled execution. In place of the mystery of Jesus' true resurrec+tion from the dead, we are told that he had an incredibly lucky revival from apparent death - a revival that his disciples later misrepresented when they claimed that he had been `raised from the dead, never again to revert to corruption' (Acts 13:34). The `swoon theory', by grant+ing Jesus only a temporary respite from death after an extraordinary unpleasant brush with crucifixion, makes the New Testament's language about his glorious, new, incorruptible existence (for instance, 1 Corinthians 15:20 ff; Luke 24:26) simply incomprehensible or else a bold lie. To keep this section on the risen Lord's appearances down to manageable proportions, let me next glance quickly at some other current counter-explanations. The hypothesis that the disciples somehow hallucinated the risen Jesus' appearances has been tried and found want+ing. Ian Wilson, however, has recently returned to this hypothesis, arguing that ...it is possible that he [Jesus] prepared his disciples for his resurrection using the technique that modern hypnotists call post-hypnotic suggestion. By this means he would have effec+tively conditioned them to hallucinate his appearances in response to certain pre-arranged cues (the breaking of bread?), for a predetermined period after his death. (Jesus the Evidence, London, 1984,p.141.) Wilson supports his theory by gratuitously attributing such powers of hypnosis to Jesus and throwing in an experiment in post-hypnotic suggestion on one volun+teer who `was known to be a good hypnotic subject' (ibid. pp. 141 f). How on earth do we know that the disciples were all such good hypnotic subjects? What of Paul, who saw the risen Christ, but had enjoyed no contact with Jesus during the ministry and hence could not have been conditioned to hallucinate an Easter appearance in response to some pre-arranged cues? D02 2011 words The force of the feminine. By Barbara Thiering 3 Sexism and fundamentalism The word `fundamentalism' has been introduced to the public in recent years by journalists. It was applied first to the Muslim revolution, which revived a traditional sexual code and grounded it in primitive Islamic theology. Then, with the visit to Australia of the American Protestant preacher, the Reverend Jerry Falwell, in 1982, the word was more correctly used for his combination of biblical dogmatism with an absolutist attitude to moral values. A group called `Toleration-a coalition against fanaticism' sprang into existence in Sydney in reaction to his visit. In 1984 Jerry Falwell led a significant faction in the US presidential election, and has been observed to be moving towards a new kind of American established religion which endangers the separation of Church and State. Originally, the word `fundamentalism' was used simply for an attitude to the Bible. There is little doubt in the minds of most historians of Christianity that it is a recent phenomenon, and one which is so at variance with classical Chistianity that, if we were back in the days of orthodoxy, it would have to be called a heresy. It came into existence in the late nineteenth century, and from its inception flourished in the southern states of the USA. After the First World War it became characteristic of Sydney Protestantism, as its main weapon in the battle against Roman Catholicism. The effect of fundamentalism was to give to the Bible the same sort of authority, based on infallibility, which the Roman Catholic Church had declared for the Pope in 1870. Both Protestants and Catholics were setting up an intellectual authority against the invasions of scientific rational+ism, but fundamentalism stepped right into the camp of science by claiming that the factual statements of the Bible had the same kind of truth as scientific descriptions, took priority over them, and were `proved' by the methods of science. One reason why biblical fundamentalism flourished in Sydney was that a form of it had been planted here from the beginning. In 1788 the Wesleyan revival had thoroughly permeated the working classes in England, and it was from their lowest levels that the convict founders came. The first chaplain, the Reverend Richard Johnson, was appointed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. In Manning Clark's words, [h]is sponsors entertained great hopes for the success of his work, that he would prove a blessing to lost creatures, and hasten the coming of that day when the wilderness became a fruitful field, when the heathen would put off their savageness, and put on the graces of the spirit. To assist him the Society provided a library of tracts and books...In addition to Bibles, Books of Common Prayer, and Psalters, Johnson took with him copies of Osterwald on the necessity for reading the scriptures, Kettlewell's offices for the penitent, copies of exercises against lying, of cautions to profane swearers, of exhortions to chastity, of dissuasions from stealing, together with the most fervent wishes from the board of the Society that the divine blessing might go with him. The Bible was already a symbol of class struggle, and remained so for a long time wherever there was a deep resentment against the ruling classes. The historical circumstances meant that it was given an extraordinary position here as the sole source of religious authority. The convicts and working-class settlers were going to a place where they had no church, and they lacked a sufficient sense of derivation from the Church in England to be able to claim to carry its essence among themselves, unlike the Pilgrim Fathers in North America. Thus, probably for the first time in its history, Christianity was planted in a country on the basis of the Bible alone, rather than on the Bible and the Church, the two traditional pillars. Further, the dependence on the Bible was held by people who were largely illiterate, and made little connection between relying on it and reading it. Thus began the tradition of making it a magic talisman, no different from a cross or a set of rosary beads, an unsuitable basis on which to add a belief, started in the early twentieth century, that its contents consisted of rational propositions about the physical world. In the United States, the emphasis was not so much on the Bible as a symbol or magical object as on the Bible as a depository of Christian beliefs that were said to be fundamental and unshakeable, something against which adherence to religion could be measured. Its history has been traced by Gabriel Hebert in his book Fundamentalism and the Church of God. Its formal phase began with the publication by the Testimony Publishing Company of Chicago, Illinois, between 1909 and 1915, of three million booklets free of charge to `every pastor, evangelist, missionary, theological professor, theological student, Sunday School superintendent, YMCA and YWCA secretary, in the English speaking world, so far as the addresses of all these can be obtained'. The essentials of belief that were called fundamentals in these booklets were emphatically Protestant; in fact Roman Catholicism was classed with heresies. They included: the doctrine of the Atone+ment (that Christ died vicariosly for sinners); the deity of Christ; the reality of hell and the devil; the virgin birth of Christ; the second advent. The authority for these was the Bible, said to be a revelation direct from God, infallible and inerrant. The treatment of it which was then coming into use as a result of both Darwinism and the new comparitive literature from the Ancient Near East was condemned as fallacious if not wicked, because it implied that the Bible was a record of human development in a particular place at a particular time, a point of view which was said could not be held side by side with a belief that it was a direct revelation from God in true form for all time. Fundamentalism rapidly became a bad word, associated with bigo+try and fanaticism, and in 1955 the Reverend John Stott said that he preferred in its place the term `conservative evangelical'. This label was accepted, and is still proudly worn by a very large section of the Protestant Church in Sydney, especially the Anglicans. John Stott himself was among those considered for the position of Archbishop of Sydney in 1982. In their original form, as stated in the series of booklets, the selection of `fundamentals' had no precedent in the previous creeds of the Christian Church. The doctrine of Atonement was of course a central tenet of the Reformation, being one of its weapons against the temporal power of Rome, for it meant that every person could gain salvation directly by identification with Christ's death without the intermediacy of a priest. But its meaning had always included admission into a community, which was entered by means of the symbolic death of baptism. Without a strong emphasis on Church, the idea of atonement simply becomes a piece of magical thinking, making no sense, and this is the form in which these booklets teach it. A belief in the second coming of Christ was held in the first century AD, when they were using a calendar dated from the creation of the world which was about to reach the year 4000, and under contem+porary Pythagorean influence they believed that a great crisis ought to happen in that year. Once the Christian era replaced their calendar, the basis for belief in a second coming was removed, and such expectations moved further and further to the fringes of the Church. Doctrines such as the virgin birth, hell and the devil, were part of the contemporary popular language of the hellenistic period, and were simply accepted and to some extent refined by the Church; they never taught them in opposition to accepted belief, as supernaturalists now try to do; miracles are no longer a common assumption. Further, there never had been such a doctrine of the Bible - infallible and inerrant - even in the Reformation. It was not the detailed information that it contained, but its power as a means of independence of priests, that made the Protestants hold to it. Luther stood quite cheerfully in judgement upon it, selecting those parts of the New Testament he liked and deriding others. The Apostles' Creed contains no statement about the Bible. The attribution of infallibility to the Bible seems to be a direct reaction to the doctrine of papal infallibility promulgated in 1870. In both cases, the hardening of authority was a response to a loss of actual power. The label `evangelical', now associated with fundamentalist belief, has been removed from its original context of meaning. The evangelical revival in eighteenth-century England was a recovery of fervour, aroused by the powerful preaching of men like Wesley and Whitefield. Preaching the gospel gives the word `evangelical', the gospel being a challenge to personal commitment to the figure of Christ. Its meaning is discussed in the Bible, but could be understood without it, being preserved in a continuing community. The Bible became secondarily connected with the evangelical revival, because it was the working classes in England who were aroused by it and given the strength to stand up against the ruling classes, whose advantage was their education. Schooled in the principles of the Enlightenment, they had reduced religion to a rational formula which is certainly not found in the Bible. But the Bible does contain the gospel, the good news, and so it became the manual of the uneducated in their fight against cold rationalism. Now, however, the word `evangelical' is used for a process of strict reasoning from an assumption that the Bible is a lawbook containing a set of absolute propositions. Enthusiasm and fervour are on the whole distrusted by the Evangelicals, as shown by their reaction to the charismatic outbreak of the 1970s. The best-known product of biblical fundamentalism, still very much current as a matter of legal, educational and sociological concern, is the doctrine of creationism, which is opposed to the theory of evolution as an account of the way species came into existence. The so-called `monkey trial' in the United States in 1926 dramatised issues which are still being fought out in their legislation and have now found their way here, with the growth of fundamentalist schools as part of a new phase of private education. Children are being taught that God created human beings directly in their present form, and all species independently, and that it is a matter not only of science but of personal salvation and moral wholeness that this should be believed. The answer of academic biblical scholars to this and related questions is derived from both theology and historical records. The accounts of the creation and flood found in Mesopotamia in the second half of the nineteenth-century show beyond doubt that they belong to the category of myth. They are intertwined with the stories of gods, and are a kind of primitive metaphysics: an attempt to talk about the nature of reality in terms drawn from human experience. They picture the way things must have been in the light of the way things are now; for example, since conflict between opposing forces leads to a creative synthesis, they pictured the mother goddess Tiamat fighting against the hero god Marduk and being defeated, with the result that the physical world came into existence. The Old Testament is using the same sort of language to put forward a different philosophical point of view: that the world is unified, entirely under the control of a single god, not the helpless victim of a cosmic dialectic. There is every reason to suppose that Genesis is consciously revising and purifying an existing creation story in the interests of monotheism and the observance of the sabbath. Its concern is with theology and ritual, not with natural science. Theology has also recognised the place of myth and symbol in theological language. As soon as we use language at all, we are dealing in images and symbols, not with things directly. D03 2006 words Discovering Paul. The life and message of the Apostle Paul for today. 4 Paul the Pastor The greatest problem facing the parish minister today is that of burn-out. Beneath every minister's name-tag should read the words: `Caution: Ministry is a health hazard!' Most ministers committed to God and to the care of the churches pay a high personal price: the cost of caring. Jesus cared for people. He was the good shepherd, a pastor who cared for them. He laid down his life for his sheep because he loved them. He called Peter three times, `Do you love me? - Feed my sheep ... Feed my flock ... Tend my lambs.' Ever since, men and women who have heard the call of Christ have undertaken to be shepherds to the flock of God. They care for his sheep. They are his pastors. The apostle Paul said that in order to help the church, God gave to the church the gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. These pastor/teachers are the people we see day-by-day caring for the church. But there is a cost in caring for the church and many faithful ministers burn out in paying that price. In any battle, you can expect heavy casualties among the front line troops. And pastors are in the front line of spiritual battle. Ever since the beginning faithful men of God have become overwhelmed and despaired. Elijah, after one of the most successful ministries ever in the name of the Lord, was exhausted and, at the height of his popularity and success, `walked a whole day into the wilderness. He stopped and sat down in the shade of a tree and wished he would die. "It's too much, Lord," he prayed. "Take away my life; I might as well be dead!"' Jeremiah and Peter had similar experiences. In recent times a number of studies have been made covering hundreds of pastors who have burnt out and left the ministry. It has been discovered there are a number of similarities among the burn-out casualties. Those leaving the ministry or collapsing within it are usually men in the mid-life age span, who do not have personal care shown to them by the leaders of their denomination at the denominational headquarters; mostly pastoring small congregations; mostly moving frequently from church to church; and mostly with a theology that is at odds with what they were taught in theological college. It is interesting to note that the apostle Paul had all of those same similarities in his life and ministry. The causes are also identifiable in the examination of contemporary burn-out victims: some pastors cannot provide the rugged individualism that is required by the ministry with its variety of demands; some find their beautiful idealism shattered by congregations that lapse into old ways and who resist change; some find the financial pressures of a ministry too great and have to take other work to supplement their income; and some lack the support of a spouse who provides constant support in what is a very lonely job. Again it is interesting to note that the apostle Paul could be identified with each of those causes. Consequently it is interesting to compare the first and the twentieth centuries and to see what it was that enabled Paul to cope with the cost of caring. Paul and the pressures of pastoring Recently I took a scoresheet that had been produced to help ministers discover areas of stress in their lives today and then, using that scoresheet, I carefully studied more than half of the New Testament examining both the epistles of Paul and the accounts in Acts about him, paying special attention to his speeches and personal comments in his writing. I identified a number of pressure points and a similar number of enabling factors. The pressure points faced by the apostle from his own words and writing are very similar to the causes of burn-out among contemporary ministers. 1. The physical dangers of his work Paul was both a preacher and a travelling missionary and as a result he was open to all kinds of physical hardship, threat and hurt. I identified more than thirty occasions in his life, in descriptions of events or in references through his writing, when he was under extreme physical danger. While it is not possible to list them all in detail, the following phrases give a very good picture of the physical danger involved in his work: The Jews met together and made plans to kill Saul, but he was told of their plan. Day and night they watched the city gates in order to kill him. He ... disputed with the Greek-speaking Jews, but they tried to kill him. Paul was well aware of the dangers he ran and he made frequent reference to those dangers. He referred to these in his epistles, particularly when writing to the church at Corinth where he had faced a number of difficult situations. Following an attack upon his life, he reflected upon the dangers that he constantly faced in these words: 'My brothers, I face death every day!' Paul summed it up in one of the most famous paragraphs of any of his letters: I have worked much harder, I have been in prison more times, I have been whipped much more, and I have been near death more often. Five times I was given the thirty-nine lashes by the Jews; three times I was whipped by the Romans; and once I was stoned. I have been in three shipwrecks, and once I spent twenty-four hours in the water. In my many travels I have been in danger from floods and from robbers, in danger from fellow Jews and from Gentiles; there have been dangers in the cities, dangers in the wilds, dangers on the high seas, and dangers from false friends. There has been work and toil; often I have gone without sleep; I have been hungry and thirsty; I have often been without enough food, shelter, or clothing. And not to mention other things, every day I am under the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 2. The daily burden of the churches As a pioneer cross-cultural missionary Paul found even the physical strain of establishing new congregations a great burden. New communities, new languages, new customs, a new tent-making workshop, all must have been a tremendous mental strain. But if you add to this the problems of being rejected, of being physically assaulted and attacked, as well as the burden of the young Christians who in their eagerness and sometimes wilfulness perverted their new faith, it is easy to appreciate that daily burden of `the care of all the churches.' Anybody who has travelled through central Turkey over some of the most rugged mountainous terrain possible would be amazed at the physical stamina that Paul and his companions showed. Yet that was just a small portion of years of constant travelling in some of the most inhospitable countries of the Mediterranean: Paul and his companions sailed from Paphos and came to Perga, a city in Pamphylia ... They went on from Perga and arrived in Antioch in Pisidia, and on the Sabbath they went into the synagogue. Sometimes the joy over a congregation such as at Philippi must have balanced up other congregations where there was constant strain and worry. Constantly the inability of ordinary Christians to maintain a consistent quality of Christian life ate into the very heart of Paul. That daily worry would be enough to turn any man from his calling. Sexual immorality, a spirit of pride and boastfulness, an inability to relate to other people, and the temptation to always turn from the true path of the faith to accommodate the pressures of the world were always the problems the young churches faced and were at the centre of Paul's consistent care. In writing to the Galatians, for example, Paul says: 'I am worried about you! Can it be that all my work for you has been for nothing?... My dear children! Once again, just like a mother in childbirth, I feel the same kind of pain for you until Christ's nature is formed in you. How I wish that I were with you now, so that I could take a different attitude toward you. I am so worried about you!' 3. The pressures of managing the church Although Paul didn't have a formal religious function, he did have a spiritual oversight over a vast area and a large number of churches, ministers and lay ministers. This involved people of different cultural and language backgrounds, from the strictest of Jewish conservatism through to those who had little or no religious belief prior to his contact with them. The only reason the missionary journeys were undertaken was because Paul intended to undertake a routine visit of churches previously established. The pastoral epistles came down to us because Paul wanted to immediately handle problems faced by the local congregations, to give them guidance in their personal actions and to explain some of his teachings. In one sense all of the epistles are 'pastoral' in that they are informing the church on matters pertaining to the pastoral life of the people. Even the letter to the Romans has behind it a very practical purpose: to introduce his plans to visit them and then to go on, with their help, to evangelise Spain: I have been wanting for so many years to come to see you ... I would like to see you on my way to Spain, and be helped by you to go there, after I have enjoyed visiting you for a while. 4. Theological conflict Paul's frequent theological conflicts and resultant pressures must have made it difficult for him to continue at the pace he had established in his ministry. The conflicts will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 7 when we consider Paul as a philosopher. The first conflict we have already noted was with the apostle Peter and other leaders of the church concerning the reception of Gentiles into the church. Paul's viewpoint held sway and changed the history of the church. A further area concerned continual debates with people who belonged to other religions. He debated with the devotees of various Greek and Roman gods, with animists, with magicians and the believers of local superstitions. A further group were his own Jewish compatriots, particularly the ultra-conservative Pharisees, who believed that every change was a change for the worse. A final group consisted of some of the Jewish Christians who wanted to emphasise the keeping of both the old covenant with its food laws, cultural traditions, circumcision and Sabbath keeping, along with the new covenant. There is an emotional, intellectual and physical price that comes upon a person who is constantly engaged in having to defend the faith he believes. Paul knew the burden of theological conflict. 5. Cultural conflict The following passage indicates the way the Greeks did not like the way Paul spoke or presented himself in public: 'Paul's letters are severe and strong, but when he is with us in person, he is weak, and his words are nothing!' These terms of abuse used of Paul were also used in the ancient world of other speakers and it is quite clear that they referred to a cultural attitude the Greeks had towards people who did not speak with a correct form. One of the fundamental principles upon which the Greek status system rested, as Professor Edwin A. Judge has pointed out, 'is the belief that fine form is congruent with truth. Cultivation in the literary and artistic sense was thus a means of legitimising the status of those who could afford it and precisely because it made a conspicuous difference to a person's public appearance, it became the means by which the social inferiority of the uncultivated was imposed on them as a felt distinction.' Paul quite consciously refused to accept this cultural distinction of the Greeks and identified with Jesus Christ in his weakness and rejection. D04 2008 words The cultured pearl. Australian readings in cross-cultural theology and mission. Towards a Scriptural Critique of Racism Two Bible Studies By John Brown I am convinced that our commitment to combat racism stems out of the central tenets of our faith and that we have no need to seek for an esoteric or peripheral biblical basis on which to build a commitment against racism. Racial discrimination is not about racist attitudes only, but is also about the oppression - the crushing - of one racial group by another more powerful racial group. It is about one racial group using its power to maintain cultural, economic, political or social power over another, and to denigrate or destroy that group. I cannot therefore use only the image-of-God theology or the doctrine of creation to talk about the equality of races, and urge love for one another as a theological imperative against racism. If the oppressed claim that for themselves, it is a powerful tool in their hands for their own liberating struggle. If the dominant class claim it, it simply has tended in the past to reinforce the status quo. So I believe that we must start our study with the understanding of oppression and dependence, exploitation and 'being put down', as the relationship that pertains in a situation of racial discrimination. The experience of the Aboriginal people of Redfern, or of Palm Island, is like the poor man in 2 Samuel 12:1-6. Biblical quote Tribal Aboriginal people can look at the small pieces of land which they have left on the map of Australia, and when mining companies or pastoralists or governments claim that land, they see themselves as being in the situation of the man with the one ewe lamb which the rich man took from him. The cry of the Aboriginal people is like that of the psalmist in Psalm 10: Extended biblical quote The psalmist both cries out against the arrogant, powerful oppressor who has no fear of justice or of God and, at the same time, affirms his faith that God in the end will destroy the mocker, the powerful oppressor, and that justice will be established. Release and justice for the oppressed are a prime concern of God according to the Old Testament witness. The history of Israel and their meeting with God begins when they are an oppressed racial minority. Their whole understanding*undertanding of God is based on the fact that when they were a powerless, oppressed racial minority in the most powerful empire of the world of the time, God rescued them. In Exodus 3:7-12 we read: Biblical quote God is the God who has seen, has heard, who knows, who has come down to deliver. So from the beginning, racism is obnoxious to the faith of Israel, and therefore all the law codes of Israel enjoin special loving care for the strangers who live in Israel. We no longer know who these strangers were, whether they were remnants of the original inhabitants who were there when Israel moved into the country, or whether perhaps they were refugees who had come and sought refuge in Israel from surrounding wars. But in any case they are non-Israelites, of a different race who happened to be living in Israel. All the law codes enjoin special care for them. Thus Exodus 22:21: Biblical quote And in the Holiness code Leviticus 19:33: Biblical quote And finally in the Deuteronomic code 24:17-18: Biblical quote And again in Chapter 27 verse 19: "Cursed be he who perverts the justice due to the sojourner." This same theme is taken up also in the Prophets. Justice is to be done to the poor and the oppressed, injustice to be overthrown and compassion to be shown to the sufferers. Isaiah 58:6-7: Biblical quote Anti-racism and love for a minority racial group is not something peripheral to the faith. It is central to the faith. It arises out of the very self-understanding of the faithful. In the New Testament also the Kingdom of God announced by Jesus Christ is seen to be good news to the poor and oppressed. This is not peripheral but central to the Gospel. Thus in the story of the birth of Jesus in Luke 2 the angel says to the shepherd: Biblical quote The sign of the good news is that the saviour, the Christ, the Lord, is lying in a chaff box because there is no room for him in the inn. He is out on the river-bank because there is no room for him in the town. This is the sign that the good news of the birth of the saviour is indeed good news to the ostracised, to the people for whom there is no room. In Luke 4 we have the story of the temptations. These are a summary of Jesus sorting out his options as a messiah. What kind of messiah was he to be? How was he to fulfill his mission? In the temptations which came to Jesus again and again thrughout his ministry, Jesus rejected the temptation to be a bread messiah, to feed the hungry, to bring in material plenty; the option to be a military ruler, either by compromise with the Romans or by joining forces with the guerillas; and the option to become a miracle worker who wins the allegiance of the credulous by performing miracles. He rejects the temptation to do something for the oppressed as an authority figure. Instead he goes down and lives among and with the poor and oppressed, sharing their oppression, and from that position alongside and in fellowship with the oppressed, he acts as their messiah. He comes back from the wilderness to the Nazareth synagogue and announces that he has come to bring good news to the poor, and release to the oppressed. He goes on to explain that this good news is particularly good news for the people of other races, the outcasts. I had not realised until I saw a masked play in Korea last year how much the outcasts of Israel centred in the ministry of Jesus. There I saw a masked dance which was written from the viewpoint of the prostitutes, the lepers, the foreigners, the tax collectors of Israel. Jesus told his disciples, when they gave a party to invite the outcasts to their parties. He told them to lend, not expecting to receive again. There is the conversation with the Samaritan woman which takes up a twentieth of John's Gospel. It is a remarkable story about prejudice and God's acceptance of people of all races, of a faith that overcomes racism and sexism. There is the story of the Roman Centurion whose faith Jesus praised as being greater than the faith of the people of Israel. There is the story of the ten lepers who were healed, and the Gospel writer makes a point of saying that the one man who returned to say thank you to Jesus was a Samaritan. There is the story of the man who was a true neighbour to the man who fell among thieves, and he puts this self-righteous view to shame by making the hero of this story not a Jew but one of the despised Samaritans. So it is the people of the oppressed, despised race who bring help to the rich, powerful and arrogant Jews. In the new community Jesus tells his disciples that they are to love not only their friends, because even the publicans do that, but also their enemies. Jesus in his death became one of the oppressed. He suffered all that the oppressed outcasts ever suffer and more. He suffered in order that both the oppressors and oppressed might see their sins, repent and believe. In this regard we might consider two passages in the Gospel according to John. First of all, in John 12:31-32 Jesus, talking about his death on the night before he is crucified, says: "Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out". Every+body else saw the trial of Jesus as the judgment of Jesus. John interprets it as the judgment of the world. The world is judged because the world put the only truly righteous person to death. So all those who suffer righteously have their sufferings taken up in that self-giving of Jesus when he voluntarily goes to the cross. Then in John 13:31, there is the incredible saying of Jesus immediately after one of his chosen disciples has gone out to sell him up: "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and in him God is glorified". When is God glorified? God is glorified at this point when the son of God is put on the cross and killed as a common criminal. How can that be? When Jesus dies, the love of God is shown in the most powerful way it could ever be shown. God bears the jibes, the viciousness, the sinfulness of the world and, as he bears it, he forgives the sins. This is an incredible love and in that act God is glorified. Jesus gives himself to the oppressors in order that the oppressors, having killed the righteous one, might see their sinfulness, their oppression, repent and be saved. Indeed in the Acts of the Apostles in those first chapters, Peter preached just that to the crowd. He told them that they had killed the righteous one, the Son of God, and they ought therefore to repent of their sins that God might forgive them. And we are told how hundreds, no thousands, of people did repent when they saw the significance of what they had done. Jesus not only gave himself as a sacrifice for the world, but showed us a way whereby the Church must give itself in order that oppression might be defeated among us. He said to his disciples on many occasions: "Come take up your Cross and follow me if you would be my disciples". To take up one's Cross is not to bear a load of personal pain. It is to bear the blows of the oppressors on behalf of the oppressed. It is to stand beside the oppressed bearing the blows that are aimed at them; receiving the wounds that are aimed at them, in order that the oppressor might see his or her oppression, be convicted and converted and changed. I believe that this tells us much about how Churches might act in regard to combating the oppression of minority racial groups. We are called to stand beside and in solidarity with the racially oppressed, and bear some of the blows that are aimed at them, and that bearing of blows is itself redemptive and converting. Through the sacrifice of Christ we are saved. Out of gratitude we offer ourselves to bear the Cross, receive the blows, suffer in order that the oppressed may be set free, and we witness to Jesus Christ. We are called into a new kind of community where the question asked is not: Who is my neighbour? but, What must I do in order to be a neighbour to the oppressed? We are witnesses to a Kingdom which is coming, a Kingdom of love, righteousness and justice, and in the next study we look a little more at that vision. II In Genesis 1:26 God, we are told, created Adam. He saw what he had made and was pleased. I do not know what colour Adam was or what physical features he had. We are told that he was made in the image of God which I take to refer to his intellect, his person, his soul. In Genesis 10 we are told that through the blessing of God, Noah became the common ancester of all the nations and races. To tolerate racial discrimination is therefore at once to deny the perfection of God's creation. It is to say that God made a lot of mistakes, making some peoples superior, some inferior. At the same time it is to deny that Adam is made in the image of God. D05 2005 Beyond belief: Theosophy in Australia 1779-1939. To Theosophise Australia By Jill Roe Over seventy Australian theosophists attended the Jubilee celebrations at Adyar in December 1925 when, it was claimed, the Lord spoke through the chosen vehicle, Krishnamurti, for the first time. Leadbeater's party returned in early 1926 hugging the idea that the Coming had begun. They brought with them the young Peter Finch, abandoned at Adyar by a gallivanting Buddhist grandmother; and, more auspicious, Annie Besant's loyal lieutenant since 1902, George Arundale, with his beautiful young wife Rukmini. Although Arundale had never been to Australia before, he was almost immediately elected general secretary of the Australian section, on Leadbeater's recommendation, which post he held from 1926 to 1928. The delighted and now orderly section presumed, correctly, that exciting days lay ahead. They had been delivered in Arundale, a Cambridge-educated Englishman, with glittering theosophical credentials dating back to childhood acquaintance with HPB herself, twenty years' service in India, including foundation of the Order of the Star in the East. In 1925 during an exciting week of clairvoyance in Holland, Arundale had entered, and subsequently rose to be regionary Indian bishop of, the Liberal Catholic Church. It would be perfectly proper for his new hosts to address the impressive newcomer as `Bishop Arundale' or Dr Arundale - honoris causa from the would-be theosophical world university planned for Madras in 1925 - though he often appeared as the Rt Rev. Arundale, and liked `Bishop George'. Mrs Ransom, in command since 1924, departed gracefully for a new tour of duty in South Africa with the assurance of an administration ready for the transformation of Australia into a great theosophic*theosopic community, which, it speedily emerged, was Arundale's plan of action. Convention responded keenly to his slogan `theosophise Australia'. Initially, `to theosophise Australia' meant doubling member+ship, increasing cash flow, putting theosophy `across Australia', and uplifting the nation. The time had passed for technical discussion of karma and reincarnation. Arundale announced in exemplary fashion that he had already joined nine brotherhood movements in Sydney, the League of Nations Union, the Prohibition Society, the Food Reform League, the Humanitarian Society, the RSPCA, the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (NSW branch), the Good Film League, the Peace Society and the WEA; and agog with such dynamism, Convention in April 1926 rushed to maximise good fortune. It heard about a new Advance! Australia publishing company and endorsed a plan to transform Theosophy in Australia into a monthly magazine. A.E. Bennett, partner in the new publishing company, also reported a bold technological initiative: the newly developed medium of wireless would be deployed in a proposed theosophical broadcasting station at Adyar House, to be linked with the Manor, the Star Amphitheatre and St Alban's Liberal Catholic Church, to spread theosophy and a first-class program of music and lectures over Australia. The pioneering possibilities of a spiritual community in Sydney, mentioned by Leadbeater, regained an optimistic glow, now that a maker of theosophical men had arrived. The record states primly that all Arundale's plans were endorsed, though what happened to the idea of a theosophical museum is not known; and members restricted their `terrific enthusiasm' to Australian projects, shelving the idea of making the society a base for a world religion, as mooted at the Jubilee. In a matter of months, theosophising Australia began in earnest. Advance! Australia, a political monthly, did not replace Theosophy in Australia, which continued under the symptomatic name change, The Australian Theosophist, but the monthly duly appeared, with official backing from the section, in July 1926, forty-eight pages, sixpence, co-edited by Arundale and South Australian journalist James Leonard Davidge. A month later, on 23 August 1926, the Theosophical Broadcasting Station Pty Ltd, headed by Arundale, officially launched Radio 2GB as a `B' class station, that is, financed by advertising. Atypically for `B' class stations, it was to be resolutely highbrow. (2GB, in other hands since 1936, is a major commercial broadcaster in Sydney, to the present day retaining a reputation for thoughtfulness.) Two new press agencies, Fidelity New Service and the Country Press Agency, dispensed favourable theosophical information. The new general secretary galvanized Bligh Street, now more vital and bustling than the old Hunter Street building had ever been, with many new departments of work. Publicity was especially busy, despatching 4000 magazines per month to influential people nominated by members. Adyar Hall, advertised as the most beautiful hall in Sydney, attracted substantial bookings, and provided cultural space for members with artistic abilities: for art displays, lunch-hour concerts arranged by the Music Lovers' Concert Committee and given by the Theosophical String Quartet formed to service 2GB, and topical midday lectures. It was decreed that Wednesday evening lodge meetings henceforth would revolve around a program of music (the section now had a musical director, Edward Branscombe, who formed the Adyar Ladies' Choir); socials; debates, preferably on the lives of great men; and Star meetings. The irrepressible Arundale and Australian theosophy awaiting the World Teacher made the preparation of other sections look simple-minded and staid. Suppressing doubts about the expensive amphitheatre, undaunted by the closure of the model school, Australian theosophists rallied, this time to the call of culture. Never before, and never again, would the Theosophical Society in Australia assume such a high profile as in the late twenties, the Arundale phase. At first Arundale could not be sure what to make of Australians. But, as a pupil of Dr Besant, `the greatest statesman the world has at present', he began by talking: on radio stations, from pulpits, and through the house journals. Like previous theosophical visitors, he saw a rare type inhabiting this hospitable land, combining the key theosophical virtue of brotherliness with a promising pioneering spirit. A young country appealed to Arundale the theosophic educator. And there were good vibrations. `I feel in the air of Australia,' he wrote, `a certain intangible something which presages a wonderful future not yet, except by the idealistic visionary few, contacted by the people as a whole ... Nowhere in the world, I imagine, should the Great Teacher win a warmer welcome.' Since theosophists never doubted that they were the visionary few, word that they should now give a lead to Australia was welcome. It was not just a matter of permeating national life with brotherliness, as first thought, but of setting true national standards. Arundale's `The Australia Section: A Vision' had them living in peace, harmony and hygiene in suburban communities with beautiful libraries and the wireless, preparing to serve their fellows, inspired by `Christ's immediate presence'. Strenuous work lay ahead of the lodges, instructed to build up a noble Australian citizenship: `every lodge and every centre a community'. Theosophical keys must be applied to every area of life, political, religious, social, educational and industrial. Australia, perceived as a melting pot, at a time of political experiment, was `open to the influence of great ideals and far-reaching schemes for human betterment'. The rhetoric improved with use. `It is the task of members of the Order of the Star in the East and of the Theosophical Society,' continued Arundale, `to see to it that Australia perseveringly treads the appointed pathway, for members of these movements are the truest pioneers even in this land of pioneers.' A Fellowship of Pioneers to celebrate the lives of world benefactors formed immediately, with Arundale addressing its Anzac Day ceremony in 1926 (the program included the recessional, chamber music, a reading from poet John Masefield and the national anthem). Thereafter, Thursday lunch-hour at Adyar House featured readings from great lives. Advance! Australia pamphlets, 3d each, included `A Pebble of Goodwill' and `Theosophy and an ideal Australia'. While Arundale familiarized himself with Australian life, and offered more exact strategy, members reminded themselves how small Australia was compared with India, and basked in `colossal ambition'. There were indeed powerful new grounds for hope. With a magazine and a radio station, the old obstacles of incomp+rehension and misrepresentation could be removed. (That hostility derived from the public perception of theosophy as non-Christian and even anti-Christian, never seemed to be taken quite seriously.) Also theosophical standards in personal, social and political life, if explained clearly, would win respect and influence. By 1927 both Advance! Australia and 2GB were running well, with the magazine at a print run of 5000 monthly, and theosophists responded to calls for support for the station. For the first time, the theosophical claim to public attention extended beyond the lectern. To put it colloquially, theosophists had come out. What then did a fringe group like that have to offer? As we have seen, they had considerable resources, wide rather than deep, avowedly alternative to the mainstream. How far theosophical values in personal, social and political life represented the promised alternative in the twenties is the most interesting question of all those raised by the history of theosophy in Australia. The answer is complicated by the fact that theosophy was an esoteric culture. Even at its most open, in the late 1920's, with sources which make assessment possible virtually for the first time, the fact remains that by definition they are still usually incomplete, and at crucial points, unsatisfactory. Esoteric culture always exists in some sort of relationship to the general, or exoteric, culture, sharing a common tradition even while interpreting its basic realities quite differently, so that tense and unstable juxtapositions are the norm. A neat example of the silences, and the relationships, which also illustrates how far theosophical values posited alternative values, emerges in the story of the piece de resistance radio 2GB. As noted earlier, the broadcasting idea went to Convention in Easter 1926. However, Karel van Gelder of Blavatsky lodge was experimenting with transmission from the Manor as early as 1923; and in 1925 a group of theosophists had formed a theosophical broadcasting company in Sydney. Like some spiritualists, notably E.J. Fisk managing director of Amal+gamated Wireless 1916-1944, theosophists readily appreciated the possibilities of the new medium. Not surprisingly they were quick off the mark in establishing a station - though not quick enough to claim their first choice of call sign, 2AB, AB for Annie Besant, this call-sign having already been claimed by Mr A.V. Badger of Neutral Bay. As is now fairly well known, the theosophical broadcasters therefore had recourse to 2GB, Giordano Bruno, thought to be a previous incarnation of Annie Besant and an old freethought hero, a sixteenth-century martyr to `true science'. Credit for 2GB probably belongs to Alfred Edward Bennett (1889-1963), a theosophist since about 1920, who managed the station 1926-1936. One of the large family of Melbourne schoolmaster George Jesse Bennett, and younger brother of Lieut.-General Henry Gordon Bennett, A.E. Bennett was an accountant who set up in Sydney in 1922, having previously managed meatworks in Victoria and Western Australia. Arundale, with whom Bennett was to have a dynamic partnership, gave him the credit, but also implied that the station was his own initiative, prompted by the discovery that the infant medium was not a monopoly in Australia as in Britain, and by personal success lecturing on citizenship over Trades Hall stations in Brisbane and Sydney: I dreamed a regular program of good things, things which would provide refined enjoyment, develop public taste and appreciation. Good music, not the rubbish we mostly hear, interesting addresses on art, on science, on literature, on the great social problems, on the various movements working for Australian betterment, on Australian ideals - political, religious, social, educational, on international questions, short addresses on Theosophy and its application to the problems of life, topical views ... such could form the ordinary program. Publicity for theosophy, scope for theosophical lectures, and a demand for theosophical literature would all flow from this limitless opportunity. Whatever the inspiration, theosophical money and skills were readily to hand, and it was astute to be early on the broadcasting scene. The proposal caused anxiety, not only to the residents of Mosman, fearful of interference with existing reception from the new masts at the Manor, but also because the idea of religious broadcasting in a sectarian community frightened liberal opinion. D06 A matter of life and death. The future of Australia's churches. 2009 words By John Bodycomb Chapter 1 ONE FOR THE DELPHIC ORACLE! WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF AUSTRALIA'S CHURCHES? In 1950 I was among the 77 per cent of Australians who went to church at best irregularly; my church links were through a youth group, and reflected more the desires of the flesh than a hunger for the holy. But things changed; my conversion surprised everyone, including the minister. He was further surprised the following year, when I told him I believed I was called to ordained ministry. 1. RECALLING J.D. NORTHEY Hence it was in 1951 that I first met J.D. Northey, to present my credentials as a candidate in the Congregational tradition. Selection procedures were less rigorous then than they are today, which was probably to my advantage. Having been told he was a dignified and scholarly man (both of which were true), I was suitably apprehensive. I was quite unprepared for what lay in wait. J.D. greeted me in blue overalls and armed with a mattock, with which he was attacking the college garden. At 62, he had not long quit the tennis court, which had seemed more suitable than the boxing, cricket and football of his earlier days. He had lost the sight of one eye in the last-mentioned: a slight disability of which one became aware if walking on his wrong side. He could wheel quickly, and a bump from his stocky fourteen stone was a hazard for the unwary. From 1952-56 I lived under the same roof with J.D. and Mrs. Northey, in a small group of bachelors - since we were not permitted to marry until our courses were over. I can therefore claim to know him better than many - as a man, as a Christian, and as a minister of the Word. Hence there is more than the normal degree of privilege attached to being a J.D. Northey lecturer. It is enough here to mention three things I owe him. (That, in itself, could bring a smile to those who knew J.D., because for him everything came in threes; he was trinitarian to the end!) First was the need for a high pain tolerance in the work of ministry; to curl up and fall in a heap with every bump ill-befits the minister. J.D.'s high pain tolerance came in part from the loss of his father at twelve; he went to work then to support a widowed mother, three young brothers and a step-sister. Second, I learned from him how critical in an unstructured occupaion are good self-motivating and self-monitoring devices, lest one become a bum+bler (for which there is ample scope in the ministry!). J.D. was almost frighteningly well-organised - even to his fifteen-minute siesta each day. And third, I learned from him to speak of the divine with a healthy awareness of one's flawed perception in such things. The only occasion I can recall getting into real trouble was when I wanted to do something of which J.D. disapproved strongly. I made the mistake of protesting that I had divine guidance. He exploded with terrifying force. `How dare you', he said, `invoke the divine name to justify what you want to do!' That message has stayed with me; it causes me to hesitate before offering too glib a theological explanation of this or that in terms of what God might, or might not, be doing. 2. THE FLOWERING FIFTIES When I told my paternal grandfather, in 1951, that I was relinquishing my career as an accountant to enter theological school, he was dumbfounded. `John, you are mad!' he said. `The church is dying! People aren't into religion any more, and you will be out of a job.' Grandfather was not an unbeliever. In his ninetieth year he would still descend at the bedside each night on his creaky old knees and discuss things with the Eternal. However, although Grandfather was in no doubt about God's survival, he was concerned about the future of organised religion and its ordained ones - whom I intended to join. As a hearty young convert, I was not in the least worried, and my confidence was duly vindicated. In the fifties there were clear indications of an upswing in the fortunes of Australia's churches. A new and successful approach to fund raising came via Colonel Wells, and the phenomenon of mass revivalism via Billy Graham. New churches were popping up like mushrooms, sunday schools were at capacity in the suburban developments, and weekly church attendance peaked in 1960, at 30 per cent of the popula+tion. That represented a leap of almost one-third on the base figure of 23 per cent a decade earlier. Not surprisingly, we concluded that we were doing most things well. There was no real attempt at isolating out those factors in the church or in the culture which might have been working in our favour. That kind of exercise has assumed more importance recently, of course, and we are becoming aware that explaining the vicissitudes of organised religion is rather complicated. It is possible to see with the benefit of hindsight that one of the most potent factors then was demographic; we gained from the post-war baby boom, which put many more children and youth in touch with the church, and raised the interest of their parents. My first settlement fell in this period, and by generally accepted canons was very successful. Although it was a city church, there was a large sunday school and youth group. The evening congregation increased 50 per cent in spite of TV's arrival on the scene, and the morning congregation doubled. It was heady stuff, and at the ripe old age of 27 I told a mass gathering in the Melbourne Town Hall that God was sending a new wave. As always, it was hard work, but the rewards were there. I am not convinced that doing the same things in the same way today would assure the same results. Indeed, I am fairly sure it would not; many ingredients in the situation today make it quite unlike that of thirty years ago. (Unfortunately, one of the disadvantages to having a top-heavy age distribution in our ordained ministry is that older clergy can have a tendency to look backwards for their operational models. After all, that is where it happened, and when one is three-quarters down the track, it can be hard not to think, `If it worked then, why shouldn't it work now?') Thirty-five years after my grandfather's gloomy prognosis, there are still churches. Indeed, as I have often argued, it may be quite inappropriate to say with Bruce Wilson that Australians are `taking flight from religion'. Unless we equate being religious with churchgoing, there is a wealth of evidence from what I call the `far side of the moon' to the contrary. In fact, the same proportion claims to attend weekly worship now as made that claim in 1950: 23 per cent. When we consider the decline in Catholic attendance over this period (from almost 70 per cent to less than 40 per cent), it is apparent that something has picked up the slack. Furthermore, since the 23 per cent who claim to be in church every week cannot be the same as those who made that claim in 1950, it is obvious that many more must have `gotten religion' to replace the dead and the drop-outs. Finally, since the population has doubled between 1950 and 1986, 23 per cent today is twice as many in raw numbers. 3. THE EMPTY PEWS AND SLACKENING TIES To some extent, of course, this is statistical game-playing. One is re+minded of that comment by the Scottish writer, Andrew Lang: `He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts - for support rather than for illumination!' Lest we delude ourselves by the foregoing, two observations are appropriate. First is that right across Western society, growing numbers still classify themselves as `Christian' and give assent to traditional items of belief, but have been showing less inclination toward regular churchgoing. Second, those churches most seriously affected are what we call the `liberal mainstream', which includes the tradition to which we belong. This is not to say church attendance is everywhere declining. Contrary movements can be cited; e.g. Poland, Korea and Latin America. In the first two, piety and packed churches cannot be separated from national patriotism and the desire to combat a threatening alternative (communism). In Latin America, a groundswell of resistance to social injustices has much to do with a variety of ways church allegiance is maintained. But in each case where church life appears to be vigorous in one style or another, we are dealing with widely-different streams; any attempt to find a simple, single-cause explanation which accounts for all is naive. Yet, some common features can be found: in each of the foregoing, the corpus of Christian tradition has been locked into the deepest aspirations of the masses. Therefore, in one sense each may be regarded as a radically `con+textual' expression of organised religion - needed there and now by reason of the social and cultural context, but not necessarily appropriate in other places or other times. The trends in this country are of a different order, and are broadly consistent with what can be seen in other Western societies. That is to say, the liberal mainstream churches are losing ground numerically, and this process looks like continuing. It is particularly apparent in the Uniting Church. For example, the 1984 Victorian Synod survey showed that, from 1978 to 1984, confirmed membership fell by nearly 10 per cent. If that trend were to continue (and we have no contrary evidence at this stage), member+ship by the end of the century could be under 55,000, from over 83,000 in 1978. Second, on any given Sunday just under half our members are in their pews; put another way, every week half the members are missing. 4. THE SCOPE AND STYLE OF THESE LECTURES And so, the issue to which these lectures are addressed is that of church growth and decline - not in Poland, Latin America or Korea, but in Australia. In fact, they are even more tightly focused - concentrating principally on the Uniting Church in Australia. Developments outside Australia are not ignored; indeed, some note is taken of what is happening elsewhere. However, the reasons why churches register gains or losses in one place may be quite different from the reasons for gains and losses elsewhere. Because it is important to know both what to expect and what not to expect, it should be understood that there is no attempt here to present a theological rationale. The lectures are primarily an exercise in thinking sociologically, for reasons which will be explained shortly. Neither do they set out to deal with the global mission of Christ's people - as apostles for a just and humane planetary culture. In short, this is not a set of theological lectures, and neither is it a manifesto for Christian mission. One is entitled to ask, `Why choose the subject of church growth and decline?' There would seem to be at least three reasons for doing so. One is that for many church people it is a very live issue. It even keeps many of them awake at night. Perhaps it should not, but it does! Experience shows that continually skirting the issues which concern people, and instead pressing what we believe `should' concern them, works only with some of the people some of the time. If church growth and decline is a serious concern for a significant number, it should be addressed. A second reason is that the subject seems to elicit a great deal of ill-advised nonsense. Ups and downs in active support for organised religion are not amenable to simple, single-cause explanations, but are extremely complex. Some of the urgings of beatific and bright-eyed enthusiasts can be damaging if they oversimplify these phenomena. Chapters 2 and 3 identify a range of factors both external and internal, and examine their significance. D07 The religious factor in Australian life. 2018 words INTRODUCTION A. How to use this book B. Who will want to use this book? C. Major findings of this study D. Some implications of the findings E. Background F. List of tables A. HOW TO USE THIS BOOK Have you ever wondered how many Australians pray and how often? Have you wondered if church attendance makes any difference in the attitudes Australians hold about various matters? What percentage of Australians do you think consider themselves religious people? Does this make any difference in other parts of their lives? Are "religious" people different from "non-religious" people? Do Catholics have different attitudes from Anglicans, or are the religious groups pretty much the same? How often have you had a discussion around questions like these and wanted "the facts"? There is a lot of opinion about the role of religion in Australian life. Bruce Wilson (1983) and David Millikan (1981) argue that Australia is a secular society with a dwindling minority of religious people. Is this correct? For a quick answer look at the major findings (starting on the next page). This book makes data relevant to such questions as these available. It is a source book of research findings about the role of religion in Australian life. The purpose is to make the results of the Australian Values Systems Study handy for use. With these data in hand, the reader can ask and answer his or her own questions. For example, "Does church attendance make a difference in family life?" Yes (see Chapter VII for details on how). This book will not stop the debate about the role of religion in Australian society. It should lift the debate by increasing the information on the subject. As a result there is a great deal of data presented, too much to digest in one sitting. That is not the point. Start by looking up a topic that interests you. This book does not draw out all of the implications of the findings. Rather it is the beginning of a process which will involve many people who, in examining these data from their own vantage points will raise different questions and draw different conclusions. You are invited to be part of the process of interpretation and application of these data. B. WHO WILL WANT TO USE THIS BOOK? Who will want to use this book? Policy makers, both religious and secular may find these data useful in forming a correct picture of the role of religion and the future of the church. Church leaders, including both clergy and laity may find information related to their ministry, evangelism or church policy questions. Students of religion and society may want to use these data in their analyses. Anyone interested in the role religion plays in the way Australians think will find this book interesting and thought provoking. C. MAJOR FINDINGS There is a large amount of detail in this book. The following list of major findings is a sensitizing guide to the data. Following each "finding" will be an indication of the location of the evidence supporting the "finding". This list also acts as a highlighted summary of the study. a. Australia is More Religious Than Many Think It cannot be said that Australia is essentially secular and irreligious when: 1. 57.9% of Australians claim to be religious persons and only 4.5% claim to be atheists (Table I.V.3.a). 2. 57.4% of Australians rate the importance of God in their lives as 6 or more on a scale of 1-10. Only 13.7% rated God as 1 (not at all important). 3. 85.6% of Australians identify with some religious group. 4. Two-thirds of Australians pray, meditate or contemplate occasionally or more frequently (Table I.B.2.a). 5. 27.1% of Australians claim to go to church once per month or more frequently. 20.6% claim to go weekly (Table I.B.1.b). 6. Nearly half of those who claim to have no religion, pray, meditate or contemplate occasionally or more frequently (Table I.B.2.b). b. Denominational Identification Makes a Difference in Australian Society The five groups of religious identification - Catholic, Anglican, PMU (Presbyterian, Methodist and Uniting), RWP (theologically Right Wing Protestant groups) and "Nones" (those who identify with no religious group) - are found to differ from each other both in terms of religiosity and non-religious attitudes. Denominational identification makes a difference in Australian society. 1. The RWP group is the most religious followed in order by the Catholics, the PMU group, Anglicans and the "Nones" (Chapter 1). 2. Those who claim to have no religion are the most likely to object to a list of groups of people as neighbours. They are the least tolerant. The RWP group (conservative protestant) are the least likely to object. They are the most tolerant of these groups (Table V.A.1.a). It cannot be said that those who are religious are less tolerant of sub-groups in Australian society. In fact the opposite is the case. 3. Conservative religious groups are not necessarily conservative politically (Table IV.C.1.b). 4. Anglicans are the most willing to sacrifice for Australia and most committed to the monarchy. The PMU group are the proudest to be Australian (Table VI.B.1.b). 5. In eight out of ten social issues measured denominational identification makes an appreciable difference (Chapter VI). 6. Denominational identification is related to pronounced differences in attitudes toward family. Catholics and the RWP group were the most pro-family, least likely to approve of abortion or divorce. The "Nones" were the least supportive of family and least likely to object to divorce or abortion (Chapter VII). 7. The "Nones" tend to be more hedonistic than those identifying with some religious group. But there are differences among the religious groups as well. The RWP group tends to be the most strict on moral issues (see Chapter VIII for specific differences). c. Degree of Religiosity Makes a Difference in Australian Society 1. Those who think of God in "personal" terms pray much more frequently than do those who think of God as a "life force/spirit" (Table II.B.1.a). 2. Those who are more religious have a slight tendency to favour more conservative political parties (Table III.A.2.a). 3. Those who are more religious are more pro-Australian and pro-monarchy than are the less religious (Table IV.B.1.c). See Chapter IV for more detailed analyses. 4. Those who are more religious are more open to the idea of having persons of a different race as neighbours (Table V.B.2.b). See Chapter V for more detailed analyses. 5. Degree of religiosity makes an appreciable difference in 7 of the 10 social issues analysed. The more religious are more likely to consider the pace of change too fast (VI.A.2.a), are more inclined toward international altruism (VI.B.2.a), are more likely to think too much is spent on the environment (VI.B.2.a), are more opposed to the use and legalization of drugs (VI.C.2.c) and less likely to report that they drank alcohol (VI.C.3.b). See Chapter VI for more detailed analyses. 6. The data show an interesting relationship between religiosity and family. The more religious are more likely to be married (once) and least likely to have lived in a de facto relationship (VII.A.2.c), less likely to consider marriage to be outdated (VII.A.1.c), more likely to have children (VII.A.3.b), slightly more likely to think "a woman's place is in the home" (VII.B.1.c), less likely to approve of abortion (VII.C.1.c), less likely to approve of free sex, single mothers and in vitro fertilization procedures (VII.D.2.a and VII.D.2.b), and less likely to approve of divorce (VII.E.2.a). See Chapter VII for further detailed analyses. 7. Finally, the data show an interesting relationship between religiosity and moral issues. The more religious are more likely to take a traditional, conservative, pro-family stance on moral issues. See Chapter VIII for detailed analyses. Australia is not a secular society with just a few religious people on the fringes. Further, denomination and degree of religiosity do make a difference in the attitudes and values of Australians. These facts contradict commonly held ideas that religion is irrelevant and of little importance to public policy and public life in Australia. The next section addresses some of these implications. D. SOME IMPLICATIONS OF THESE FINDINGS Four people were asked to write a brief reaction to the data in this book. These reactions will sensitize readers to possible implications of this study for several aspects of Christian ministry and witness in Australia. Implications for the Purpose and Strategy of Churches The study suggests some fundamental issues about the purpose of churches and the strategies they adopt to achieve those purposes. 1. Some of the data are so contrary to conventional Australian platitudes that further exploration of the issues is essential. For example, those who for decades have complained of, or exulted in, our "secular" society where "religious" understanding is unimportant and/or declining apparently now have cause for reflection. That particular battle largely has been misplaced. Ways of discussing and measuring "religiosity" that are grounded within our society need to be developed rather than using terms and measures that do not fully "connect", or may mean different things to different people. 2. 45% of people who understand themselves as "religious" do not or only rarely attend church. 15% of people who do not see themselves as "religious" attend church occasionally or regularly. Looking backwards, have basic goals for some churches been displaced to the extent that such churches have become only incidentally "religious"? Possibly other objectives such as the search for institutional strength and extension have become primary in such cases. Looking forwards, there may be scope for numerous entrepre+neurial options in seeking to express more vigorously and clearly Christian approaches that relate more closely to underlying life concerns and experiences. 3. "Religious" people are found to be more tolerant of the disadvantaged and less tolerant of the deviant than "non-religious" people, although there are complexities in the detailed data. Churches that seek to follow a person described as a friend of outcasts and sinners have an opportunity to exercise a far stronger accepting, reconciling and healing role in our society. Jim Stebbins, Baptist pastor also working in Public Service. Implications for Educational Programmes This book presents several challenges to those in the church involved in Christian leadership training, preaching, religious instruction, theological education or any form of Christian marketing: 1. There is something seriously wrong with existing programmes if 27% of the sample are regular church-goers yet 58% regard themselves as religious (alienating language, rituals and structures?). 2. The fact that 58% of the "Nones" (no religion) said they believed in a personal God/spirit or life force, suggests that there is a ready market for the Christian religion, if only its advocates and leaders learned fundamental skills of communication. 3. If the gospel of the Kingdom has impact on social life, then it is disturbing that "the most interest in politics was expressed by the least religious and the atheists" (p. 37). If the socio-political implications of the gospel are not addressed in pulpits, seminaries, Sunday Schools, small groups and RI classes, how are Christians to be equipped as agents of social transformation? Forms of Christian education that produce socio-political quietism need to be abandoned and replaced by those that promote critical reflection and transforming action in an unjust world. It is embarrassing that the greatest level of dissatisfaction about the way Aborigines have been treated occurs in the "Nones" group (36% cf. PMU - 17%) )p. 47f). 4. If security and family life are the "most highly ranked life goals" for Australians (p. 152), one can only deduce that 73% of Australians identify most of what goes on inside church as marginal to their interests. Yet clearly these two themes are central to the Christian religion. Perhaps the "market" could be recaptured if evangelism and instruction were set much more in the context of the home and local community, informal relationships, dialogue, inquiry and intelligible language. Neville Carr. Chairman. Christian Research Association. Implications for Pastoral Care There is a host of pastorally-relevant information within this study. I would like here simply to point to two or three issues which I believe have major implicaitons for pastoral strategy. D08 On Being - April 1986 2003 words Jesus the sinner's mate By John Hannaford IS IT BLASPHEMOUS TO SEE GOD AS A friend? Does He dwell in unapproachable light? There seems at all times to have been a dispute about the `otherness' of God, and how approach+able He is. The Jewish testimony of faith was that God was `other' and awesome and this is gathered up in the idea of holiness. As Isaiah reported: `Holy, Holy, Holy, The Lord Almighty is Holy' (Isaiah 6:3, G.N.B.). Yet the Old Testament also has a strand of intimacy in the relations of the deity and the devotees. Yahweh was the husband and lover to Israel and Judah. David saw Yahweh as a caring shepherd to a `pet' lamb. (We need to remember that Israel treated sheep differently from us. They had small flocks and knew each sheep by name, only eating meat at major religious feasts.) Enoch spent time with God in fellowship, Moses saw God face to face and Abraham was the friend of God. The easy familiarity with God that belonged to the golden age of innocent man, in the Garden of Eden, was reapproached only occasionally. But there is the promise of restoration hinted at, a return to the Garden Paradise when God is again our friend. To have strolled with the Master Gardener - sometimes talking over the day's business, crops and yields, or sometimes silent - and to have been friends in the pleasant intimacy of a garden, is a clear picture of paradise and the joy stored up for us in heaven. Jesus is the restorer of that lost relationship. Jesus claimed an intimacy with God, indeed, to be God. Yet He shocked the `separated ones', the Pharisees, by mixing with ordinary people. Jesus was accessible to all men and cheerfully mixed with the underworld and prostitutes. The outrage of the good religious people was expressed in their scornful outburst, "Here is a...friend of tax collectors and `sinners'" (Matthew 11:19). MORE THAN ONE EVANGELIST HAS POR+trayed Jesus as the sinner's friend. Yet recently one of Australia's best published theologians cautioned against viewing Jesus as a friend. In fact, hardly anyone does speak of Jesus as a friend, except in one well-known hymn. It seems obvious to me from John's fifteenth chapter and throughout the gospels that Jesus came and lived as a friend to all, even the poor, the outlaws and the undesirables. But how genuine was that friendship? Did Jesus just `act' friendly? Is He really our friend today? Jesus said in John 15:12,13, "My commandment is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." What a relief - from His part He really did offer true friendship and true caring. What is our part of friendship? You can't be mates unless you share - that is obvious from Australian culture, and from reading more in the New Testament. In A Peculiar People, the fascinating book about `New Australia', the utopian journey that went from the 1890 shearers' strike to Paraguay, Gavin Souter tells of Labour leader Lane's rediscovery of God and, incidentally, quotes a court hearing about mateship. Mates were more than acquaintances - they shared. Mates took one cheque and held a common purse (kitty). As a young post-war Australian, it was not until after I left primary school that I got through Anzac week without hearing of the thrilling courage of Private Simpson and the Red Cross donkey which served as a Gallipoli ambulance until Simpson paid the supreme sacrifice and laid down his life for his mates. The Victoria `Cross' expressed it as no other star or medal could. There were other heroes too. Perhaps with a mythology like this, Aussies find it easier to relate to Jesus than His church. (I mean `mythology' technically - as the ideal recollection of an event which shapes our current values.) The source of the severe standard for judging the church may be in this ideal. This `real' mateship finds a poor substitute in sitting in rows for an hour on Sunday, with perhaps an extra Bible study or a lukewarm cup of tea thrown in. We know it takes two to be friends. We can't do it alone and we are commanded both to love one another and also told what love is. It is a common theme in the New Testament. An old enemy of Jesus commented, "We were God's enemies but He made us His friends through the death of His son" (Romans 5:10 GNB). And Jesus' best friend said, "This is how we know what love is: Christ gave His life for us. We too, then, ought to give our lives for our brothers" (1 John 3:16 GNB). I feel a bit funny calling John the evangelist of old Jesus' best friend, because actually He's my best friend too. The rest of the passage from the fifteenth chapter of John's Gospel goes on to say: "You are my friends if you do what I command you. I don't call you servants any longer, because servants don't know what's on the master's mind. Instead I call you friends, because I've told you everything I have heard from the Father. You didn't choose me, I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures." Quite clearly we are Jesus' friends if we care for each other and follow His directions. It's good to know that Jesus chooses to be our friend, calls us friends, and wants us to go on to make lasting friends. `Lasting friends' for ourselves, and for Him, is surely what `fruit that endures' is all about. PART OF WHAT HAS BOGGED DOWN THE church is that we simply are not in the business, the family business, of making friends that last. Much of the dross which passes for discipleship is not the true gold but merely information transfer. Many a man or woman would cheerfully take on teaching a discipleship class - but what, in Australia, is closest to discipleship? How many would befriend the entire class? When I was first ordained I was warned against making friends in the parish. It seems to have been common, if wrong, advice. Yet discipleship is more than easygoing ac+quaintanceship. There is also learning. I preached one sermon on discipleship with a driver's `L' plate around my neck. Part of disciple+ship surely means `driver under instruction'. But it is friendship as well, and it is definitely on-the-job learning, not classroom teaching. By custom and necessity along the narrow tracks of Palestine, a band of friends walked line-astern, and followed the leader. But across the wide dusty Australian plains, He'd say `Walk with me', as well as `Follow me'. Yes, He is the only Son of God. He is the Truth and I'm only a man - but He offered men then, and me now, His friendship. If you walked with Him and talked with Him then you were His mate and you became a disciple. Jesus said, as you learn to do things His way - in fact make friends His way, for Him - you are bearing much fruit and so becoming (or showing yourself) to be disciples (John 15:8). It was His own actions, Jesus went on to say in the same chapter, that made people hate Him. Those actions included befriending outlaws and `scum' as much as healing and preaching. IN RECENT TIMES THERE HAS been a healthy tread away from emphasis on conversion to emphasis on disciple+ship. But perhaps it is an over-correction. The Bible speaks of the gift of evangelism, although many churches seem to have misunderstood its meaning. I hardly know how to illustrate just how ludicrous it is to ask people you don't know to become followers of Jesus, whom they don't know. It seems ridiculous to ask people in our culture, on the basis of a 20 minute story, to make a `decision'. You wouldn't try to get married on that basis, but you might make a date. You wouldn't make a lifetime friend on that basis either, though you might start being friendly. We ought to treat being a Christian at least as seriously. To set the scene, let me tell a little story. Imagine a well-meaning headmaster who believes that the best friendships start at school but who is shocked to realise that he has many new students who do not know each other well enough to be friends. He asks the local minister to organise for them to become friends. The assembly begins with a short welcome and explanation. In the next hour the minister and the headmaster would like them to become friends. It would be nice to have time to use names and find out a few details but to save time each is given a number, starting from one. Taking a number from the hat the minister explains that the person behind the number needs a true friend. Someone to share their lunch, to take their notes in class if the other is sick. Some detail is given: being a real friend would mean walking home together, perhaps even moving to a closer home to allow more visiting. Certainly a true friend would have to change subjects so that they could do projects together. And it is to be a life-long commitment. So the students are asked to signify who will be the life-long friend of the first number from the hat. If no one puts a hand up at once, a few jokes are told about numbering off and friendship generally to relax the class. A girl from last year's `Friend for Life' school assembly is brought in to say it worked out well for her. It is a moving testimony. Then the school choir sings a song about friendship and a rousing appeal is given for a volunteer to be the friend of number X. A new number is drawn from the hat and the process is repeated. What a simple, quick process to make friends the headmaster and minister have discovered. But is it any good? Aussies don't like to be pushed into friendship - but they are loyal to an old friend. By no means am I denying the role of an evangelist or even less the need for a crisis encounter with the Lord of the Earth. But I simply want to say that this is a secular country with church-going numbers roughly comparable to percen+tages in Japan and Pakistan. `Out there' they think Jesus is something to do with dropping a brick on your bare foot, something to do with Father Christ+mas, and a reasonable bloke who wouldn't ask a worker to get up early on Sundays. That anyone responds to such an appeal says a lot for `irresistible grace' and little for cultural sensitivity. It is not the way to make friends in our culture, is it? And, of course, Jesus is not presented as a friend anyway. `A cosmic aspro' for life's little bothers seems the technique of our American brothers. A mixture of legalism, ethical and religious propositions, the answer to guilt, the antidote to sin or even mediaeval nostalgia is offered by others. Jesus is everything to me and sometimes some of the above. But above all, He is my `true-blue' friend. You might be able to sell an aspro, but no-one has sold me a friend. Instead, it happened by introduction. PEOPLE HAVE INTRODUCED ME to friends. My sister introduced me to Janine, now my wife. Other friendships have started by sharing a common interest or experience. I believe Christ the Ascended King gifted His church with gifts like mercy, help and hospitality which bridge the gap in helping people become friends. The way I see it happen is that you may just be a terrific friend, the best bloke in the street, and so you are asked what makes you different. D09 World Vision News 2027 words D09a World Vision News - Hykt 1986 Sister Emmanuelle By Peter Philp At the age of 12 she prayed that one day she would become a nun. As a teenager, she loved to go out with boys, go to dances and dress up in expensive clothes. As a nun she became a professor of philosophy and then in her sixties, Sister Emmanuelle's life-long dream came true. She went to live on a garbage dump. Rather than retiring in the relative comfort of a French convent, this sprightly old nun moved into Zabbaleen garbage tip in Cairo with a community of killers, thieves and outcasts, who drank excessively and smoked hashish. And this was done with a papal blessing. Nobody, including her spiritual directress, ever dreamed that young Madelene (as she was known before joining the order) would last the distance in the convent. How would a joie de vivre, who liked to disobey all authorities, survive the disciplined life expected of all community members in an Our Lady of Sion convent. Equally as strong as their doubts, was her confidence in the vocation calling that had been with her since childhood and the words of St. Paul: "I can do anything with Jesus Christ who strengthens me". Half a century later Sister Emmanuelle is still a member of the Sion Order. Now at 77 she is planning to confront another new frontier, the outcasts in Sudan. Not a Mother Teresa Even as a young religious sister, Emmanuelle wanted to move out with the poor and dedicate her life in total service to them. But community rules prevented this. For decades, the nun had to be content serving God's people as a teacher. "My superior told me that if I felt it necessary to live with the poor, then I should feel free to go. For me, I am not like Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She was in the same situation. She decided to leave her congregation (the Loreto Sisters) and go alone and live with the poor. But Mother Teresa, I think, is very strong. I am Sister Emmanuelle. I believed that if I left my congregation I would leave a part of my strength behind", recalled the nun. These years were extremely fruitful for Emmanuelle. She became a very successful teacher and during this time, God prepared her with new insights for the future. Rules and priorities changed dramatically following the Second Vatican Council. Permission was granted to many religious to go out into the world and become visible people with the poor. One of the first to leave community life was Emmanuelle. Real poverty On arrival in Alexandria, Egypt, the French nun came face to face with real poverty. The children she was now teaching were so different from those in Europe. Most of them were not properly fed. "Many families could only afford beans. In the convent we were used to eating meat", remarked Sister Emmanuelle. One day she was visiting a very deprived family and noticed a tiny one-room shack in the backyard. She asked the family why eight people were crammed into two rooms and this other area was empty. "Nobody wants to live in there because it is very damp", replied the mother. Immediately Sister Emmanuelle wrote to her superior requesting permission to move into this shack. The professor was now with the people she loved. She made her home in the tiny shack and ate beans with the family. However, the board that Emmanuelle paid did allow the household to eat some meat. It was the Papal Nuncio in Cairo who first directed the sister's path towards the Zabbaleen garbage tip. "You want to share your life with the poor?", he asked. "Then come with me to the slums." Rejected - unloved The archbishop had been alerted to the grinding poverty in the nearby garbage tip by a 12-year-old boy. The Papal Nuncio had noticed the lad coming to his house each day to collect the rubbish. One day the archbishop went home with the boy. He witnessed a community of people struggling for life amidst mountains of garbage. In the summer months the area was the breeding ground for millions of flies; it was a seething mass of disease. He had come across a neighbourhood, mainly representing the Coptic Christian tradition, who were totally rejected and unloved by their society. "Will you help me Sister Emmanuelle?", enquired the Nuncio. Many of her Egyptian friends thought the Papal Nuncio was mad to allow a woman to go and live in this district. She was warned that the Zabbaleen people were killers and thieves. They drank and smoked hashish. This was no place for one of God's holy sisters. Disciplined - yes, but still very independent was Sister Emmanuelle. To live with the despised and poor was something she believed God had always called her to do. All she could think about were the words of St. Paul: "I can do anything with Jesus Christ who strengthens me". "It was because nobody wanted to go there that I felt in my heart that someone must help. So I went", smiled Sister Emmanuelle. Leading her donkey She entered Zabbaleen leading her donkey, taking with her a bed, a small table, a water jug and her Bible. The community was amazed to see this European woman and her donkey. Arrangements had been made for her to move into an abandoned hovel. The shanty was home to some birds and goats. "I took away the pigeons and put the goats in the yard with the pigs. I swept where it was necessary and set up my things", explained the sister. Almost straight away she was out with the people. "Some of them might be killers, but if you smile and look at them with respect and shake their hand they will never take out their knives and kill you", she said. The biggest problem the Sion nun experienced was the filth of the area. Everything she touched was dirty. Water had to be bought and carried into the district. Quickly she felt deep frustration. So much disease. So many sick and malnourished people and only one body to help them. "Never did I feel like giving up. I love these people too much and they love me so much. When you love somebody you want to share in their lives. That is what Jesus did", said Sister Emmanuelle. Taught by poor The Sion nun brought love, medical and nutritional assistance to the children and the women, but they in turn taught the philosophy professor so much. Firstly they showed her the meaning of patience. Many of the women at Zabbaleen were victims of savage beatings, inflicted by their husbands. "I could not bear for somebody to beat me. I would run away, but these women bore it", she whispered. Once she was treating a mother who had sustained head injuries after a beating from her husband. The sister advised the woman to take her children and go. Emmanuelle explained that she would help support the woman. "I cannot", replied the mother. "If I go with my children, they will suffer. They love their father so much. If I leave my children they will suffer. I don't want that to happen. It is myself who has to serve. I will stay." The poor taught the sister the Christ-like meaning of sharing. "A poor woman, one very hot night, gave me all her water and all her bread. The most precious thing you have in summer in a slum is water. The woman was a Muslim." Sister Emmanuelle has been a member of the Zabbaleen community for about 14 years. Life in this grotesque corner of Cairo has begun to change, not through one person, but because of a partnership between one nun and thousands of garbage collectors. Their aim is to build a house for each family. To have every child on the tip going to school. (When Sister Emmanuelle arrived only 10 went to school, now hundreds are attending.) The barren landscape, scarred by mountains of rubbish, is now starting to grow trees and flowers. One section of the area has electricity; Sister Emmanuelle is organizing the electricity connection to the whole district. The men are busy digging wells to draw fresh water. Old soldiers never die, they just fade away, goes the old saying. What happens to old nuns? They just go on undertaking bigger and bigger ministries. Sister Emmanuelle wants to extend her work to slum dwellers in Sudan. D09b World Vision News - July 1986 Love Loaf Tonight, millions of people around the world will sit down to a three-course meal, in a comfortable dining-room. Tonight, hundreds of millions of people will not sit down to a three-course meal, in a house that is only one room. That's why World Vision International Clubs are launching the Love Loaf appeal - they see the little plastic loaves as a constant and close reminder of the needs of others, who often seem so far away. For those who've never heard of a Love Loaf, it is a small bread-shaped container, which serves as something of a mini collection-box for World Vision. Its purpose is much wider than that however - WVI Clubs see the Love Loaf as an ideal way to build up interest within their home. WVI Clubs national co-ordinator, Elaine Harris, has an ultimate goal for the Love Loaf. She wants to see one in every home in Australia and she is confident that goal is not impossible. All the WVI Clubs around Australia will be working actively to promote the Love Loaf and will be distributing them widely. Elaine Harris believes there is an endless list of places suitable for Love Loaves - not only homes, but offices, churches, shops, banks and petrol stations. "You could put a Love Loaf in your car, for instance, and when you pull up to buy petrol and have spare change, you could put it in the Love Loaf. Every little bit adds up", says Elaine. A Love Loaf filled with dollar coins adds up to about $200 and that money could buy several Ethiopian farmers an Agpak kit, made up of tools, seeds and fertilizer, giving those people a chance to rebuild their lives after years of famine and drought. People wishing to join the Love Loaf program can write to Elaine Harris, World Vision, Box 399C GPO Melbourne 3001. D09c World Vision News - July 1986 Peace with God & world peace By Rev Sir Alan Walker There cannot be peace at the circumference of life while disharmony reigns at the centre of life. To be separated from God transmits seismic repercussions to every level of human affairs. To become reconciled with God is to be reconciled with everything in His world. Peace with God alone makes possible world peace. To become alienated from God has enormous consequences. From separation from God come divided, broken personalities. Inner turmoil and conflict project themselves into human relationships creating tension and division. Disturbed, discordant, distracted personalities operating in corporate situations set people against people. When broken personalities achieve positions of power, as seen in Hitler, they can become a cause of war. Social righteousness Peace is impossible without social righteousness. Righteousness means social justice, yet goes beyond justice. It is both a gift from God and an achievement between human beings. It links together personal salvation and social redemption. Peace cannot come while half the human race lives in abject poverty. Every shanty town in Latin America, every slum in India or Pakistan, every starving tribe in Ethiopia, are helpless potential causes of conflict and war. Peace cannot come while Aborigines are denied land rights in Australia and while 22 million Blacks in South Africa suffer under apartheid, the vilest racism since slavery. Peace cannot come while women are treated with exclusion and discrimination in the fundamentalist Islamic states of Iran, Sudan and Pakistan. Peace cannot come while totalitarian regimes of the "left" and the "right" hold people in bondage, directing their thinking and restraining their movement. Peace cannot come while the United States and Soviet Union divert vast resources which could lift the burden of world poverty, to the wasteful, senseless, blasphemous nuclear arms race. D10 Checkpoint 2014 words D10a Checkpoint - June 1986 Camels, decisions and aeroplanes by Don Campbell General Secretary of the Queensland with Northern NSW Branch In one of the smallest but most penetrating of all the parables of Jesus, He uses the illustration of a camel passing through the eye of a needle (Luke 18:25). 'It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.' Over the years, all sorts of explanations have been made to try to let at least a few rich men have the chance to get into the Kingdom of God. Some have suggested that the word for camel was a mistake and it should be a similar word that means a thick string or small rope. Others have felt the needle might refer to a small door set in a larger door and sometimes referred to as the eye of a needle. There is no real reason for saying any of these ideas is correct. The point is that Jesus is simply saying that it is impossible to put a camel through the eye of a needle and so it is impossible for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. He means, of course, a rich man using his riches. It would apply to a wise man using his intelligence or a beautiful person using their beauty. Entry into the Kingdom of God is through faith in Jesus Christ and all He did. There is no other way! BUT, Jesus told this parable to a rich man who was not able to put his wealth and possessions in the proper place. Instead of God being first in his life, his wealth was! For people in Australia today this camel business has two main lessons. 1. People's desire for money and possessions can still stop them from entering the Kingdom of God. (By the way, remember that almost all Australians [even our very poor] are wealthy beyond the wildest dreams of much of the world's population!) 2. Christians are just as prone to the danger of having money and possessions in the wrong place in their scheme of living. This is clear from reading the whole passage in which the camel bit is set. (Luke 18) In fact, in our Australian society the pressure exerted on Christians and non-Christians to over-emphasize money and possessions is enormous. Money and possessions are but part of what we are entrusted with. We have all sorts of gifts, talents, interests, opportunities and areas of life to develop that have the potential to be much more satisfying and productive than mere dollars and cents will allow. So then we can see how this money/possessions pressure affects our attitude to ... DECISIONS Oh dear, this is a sticky subject for so many people. They have such a problem with making decisions. Some people find having to choose between Corn Flakes or Weet-Bix at breakfast almost guarantees nervous tension for the rest of the day. Yet most decisions should be made easily and carefully. God probably doesn't really care what cereal we have for breakfast or even if we have a second cup of tea or not. If we go to buy a new shirt or dress it's a matter of what we like related to quality and cost. And it's the same with buying a car. It's a case of what we need as opposed to quality, reliability, cost of travel over a period relating to initial outlay and so on. Of course a car costs more than a shirt or dress. And a house costs more than a car ... Our society adds pressure to buy bigger, better and more expensive things. This may not be what we need in all honesty, but to buy the cheapest may not in the long run be the wisest. The agony that so many Christians go through in deciding what to buy is amazing. And the deadening effect that superannuation has on many people is almost beyond belief. YET, they can decide on a marriage partner with little or no hassle. AND as far as a decision to offer for missionary service - it's no problem. God doesn't want me for sure because I haven't felt any call to go overseas. BUT have these same people felt any call to stay here? Or to put it another way, has God clearly said to you that you are not wanted overseas? So this leads to the mention of ... AEROPLANES Quite simply, when we send missionaries overseas or to North Australia they travel by aeroplane. Out of all this there is a challenge to spend some time thinking and praying in two areas. 1. The Camel Syndrome What is your attitude to money and possessions? Really, what place do they have in your thinking, attitudes and general direction in life. When you read the incident in Luke Chapter 18 you find the man who was talking to Jesus couldn't follow Him because his possessions had first place in his life. 2. Decisions Do you agonize over decisions about things that don't really matter and fail to even think about areas where even a little thought would soon demand a major decision? The classic case is, of course, the question about serving God in another culture! The question to ask is not 'Lord, should I ...?' The question is really 'Lord, why not me?' D10b Checkpoint - June 1986 Lay Trainer, plus ... MARGARET THORNTON ON THE JOB IN THE DIOCESE OF NAKURU What ingredients go into making a good Lay Trainer, plus ...? For Margaret Thornton it is possibly living in Kenya over almost 20 years, experi+ence in office administration and ac+counting, theological training and pas+toral experience, and not the least important, having a builder for a dad! Designing buildings may not be No.#1 priority for Margaret, but at the Bishop's request she consulted with the principal of Berea Bible Institute, the Revd S Njiihia to do a floor plan for the new kitchen and dining room there. 'We often used to find ourselves poring over house plans with dad, who used to ask us as teenagers to help him do the calculations for his plans,' says Margaret. 'No experience is ever wasted!' Last year, lecturing in Christian Edu+cation at the Bible Institute featured amongst Margaret's priorities. This year she is not lecturing because she is coaching the new diocesan Accounts Clerk and trying to get the diocesan accounts up to date. The thing that is Margaret's No. 1 priority, however, is Lay Training and the Theological Education by Exten+sion program of which she is director. Last year David Kiiru Kamau joined her as co-worker. A former school teacher, David also has clerical and book+keeping training, and has a real calling to the lay training work. Sixty or more TEE groups meet throughout the dio+cese. These they try to visit regularly and travel, either by motor cycle, car or public transport can often be hazardous. On rural roads, with pot+holes and corrugations they may come home covered in red dust, or find it takes one hour to drive 6 kilometres - depending on the weather! The encouragements in Margaret's work are to see TEE groups, like the Gathuthi group, increasing in numbers and enrolments, and also to have a co-worker to help encourage the group leaders, as well as the 400 students. Without supervision the groups soon lose heart and break up quickly. So, for Margaret, with experience in several areas, it may not be easy to work out the priorities, especially when each aspect of the work is important. Probably as long as people remain the priority, the rest will fall into place. D10c Checkpoint - June 1986 Pamplona Baja Norman H. Hart Pamplona Baja is one of the many hundreds of 'new' housing develop+ments (Pueblos Jovenes) that sur+round Lima and most other cities of Latin America. People come to the cities in search of a better life than the one they knew in the mountains. They arrive with only what they carry on their backs and maybe with their families. If they are lucky these people may know someone in the city where they can stay for a while until they become oriented. San Juan de Miraflores, of which Pamplona Baja is a district, is some twenty years old. Many of the houses are quite soundly constructed, but others are not and are thereby a risk to health and life. Floors may still be of dirt while the whole family and its animals may share one room. The poverty which forces them to live in such conditions also prevents the people from buying good food and obtaining proper health care. Tubercu+losis is a major killer with 85% of the population affected by the disease to some extent or other. In this context the Community House exists in Pamplona Baja. Originally begun five years ago as a refuge for single mothers, it has grown and changed, adapting to the needs of the local community. The house is a centre for worship, Bible study, prayer and fellowship on Sundays and during the week. It is the office for the social worker, while for the nurse it is a surgery. It is a site for a leather workshop where young men are taught a trade to supplement family incomes or to help pay for their tertiary education. It is the home of two of the community leaders and their families. It is a school for the adult literacy programme, where twenty to thirty ladies learn to read and write Spanish which is not their native language. The centre also runs a kindergarten for thirty children of the poorest families, a Sunday school and a youth group. The Rev Tony Michael acts as a pastor for the community; his wife Priscilla, in conjunction with Epifania and Esperanza, co-ordinates the social work. The community has opted to provide sustained care for individuals and their families, not just a supple+ment to government services. About twenty patients are provided with drugs for T.B. under the supervision of a volunteer doctor who visits when required. Priscilla and Epifania go regularly to twelve of the fifty govern+ment schools in the area to teach basic hygiene related to T.B., typhoid, ve+nereal disease, drug addiction and sex education. The centre helps to find employment, visits community mem+bers in Lima jails, advises people on how to deal with government depart+ments, how to care for themselves and their families and helps them to realise that they are sons and daughters of God and important to him. Where possible, the centre also helps in first aid and a limited supply of drugs for emergencies and severely poor people. When available, food supplements are given to patients and their families. Milk is given to kinder+garten children. Clothing is provided if available and necessary. The de+pression and distress which are a natural consequence of the life-style and illness in the Pueblo Joven means that there must be frequent and often lengthy visitation to support patients and their families. Often there are deaths and some families can lose members at such an alarming rate that there is little prospect of a third generation. Here the Church is trying to help people survive. This means that the gospel in Peru must be wholistic - it must relate to the whole person. Pamplona Baja has chosen this course. While in country areas some mis+sionaries have undertaken the task of preparing scripture and liturgies in Ay+mara and Quechua, in Lima Spanish is the lingua franca and any progress the people make must be in that language. Most would deny any knowledge of an indian language because that is seen as a social stigma. The missionary is usually using Spanish as a second language also and in these circum+stances misunderstandings can often occur making communication a trial but also a joy in learning together. Pamplona Baja has many needs - a library for use by students in the district; drugs for T.B. patients at three hundred and fifty dollars a year for each one; Bibles for the growing Christian community. D11 On The Move 2025 words D11a On The Move - January 1986 Models of ministry by George Browning When the day of Pentecost came, the disciples were gathered together in one place when they suddenly experienced a transforming power which was to change their whole way of behaving. What did in fact transform them? Was it the cross itself? Was it an empty tomb? Was it meeting the risen Jesus? Was it Pentecost? It was probably a combination of all of these, especially viewed with the benefit of hindsight. In any case their experience of what it meant to be a church was quite differ+ent from the models they had perhaps imagined while Jesus was alive. One of these models is seen in Mark 20:20 where James and John and their mother had a definite model in mind of what it would be like to serve the Kingdom of God. This model was obviously unacceptable to Jesus with its emphasis upon privilege, power and status, but do not many of our parishes operate from this model? It appears that Judas had another model in mind, equally unacceptable to Jesus. While we may not see his model being used anywhere in the church in Australia we certainly observe it in a rather horrific way in the march of Islam in many parts of the world, for was not Judas' model one of revolution and conversion by coercion? I would like us to examine some of the possible models which are used, consciously or unconsciously, in parishes throughout Australia today. As I present these models I am conscious that there are many other variations and that no one will necessarily be the model from which you are work+ing, but I hope they will assist you in asking honestly where you are at, and help you explore where it is that you would like to be. I THE MODEL OF THE `KING` In this model the rector or vicar is totally dominant and puts his stamp completely upon the parish. It is most likely that he will totally disregard any possibility that the parish had a story of its own before he came and will insist that his story is the one which will dominate. The model assumes that he has all the gifts and that in some way the Holy Spirit works through him to others. The model denies the possibility that others can reflect the light of the gospel in `different colours'. It is unlikely that renewal can take place through this model. Unfortunately the model is all too frequently observed. One parish priest at his induction last month announced that the parish would now return to the truth of Catholic experience and that he would dictate what would, or would not, be allowed to continue. He also laid down as unnegotiable the title by which he was to be known. The model has some attractions about it. It offers security; there are no risks. You know exactly where you stand and the path to salvation is clearly laid down. 2 THE MANAGING DIRECTOR I have a hunch that this is probably the most popular model at a parish and diocesan level. It is popular because it can give the impression that the people of God are being nurtured, that there is mutual ministry, while in fact there is none. It may even be a more dangerous model than the first because people can be misled into thinking that there is real mutuality when there is not. In this model the rector is still basically in charge of dictating the `story', and people are on the whole given jobs to do rather than sharing ministry. There is no real sense of mutual accountability and jobs are handed out largely at the rector's initiative and discretion. There is unlikely to be mutuality in decision making. Because the model is geared towards tasks being done rather than the building up of people, it is likely that jobs will be handed out without much consideration being given to appropriate motivational gifts. We have in this case the danger of people feeling guilty and/or hurt when the given task is rejected or completed badly. This model encourages people to `take a holiday' for a while when they perceive their usefulness in terms of the task performed rather than in the giving of themselves. It is probable that in this model little is really being done in terms of mutual ministry or in renewal. 3 A MODEL OF MUTUAL MINISTRY - BASED UPON TASKS RATHER THAN GIFTS This model of mutual ministry, or one like it, operates in a number of parishes. It is based upon function rather than gift and has the rector still centrally placed in the model. (Is it possible in Anglicanism to have a model where he is not centrally placed?) This model is a fluid one, and rather than answering ques+tions it keeps asking other ones. - With how many people is it possible to work in a mean+ingful way? - If there is a ministry team should they be `licensed', if so by whom and for how long? Does it include a contract, and who may alter it? - Who discerns the areas of ministry? - At this particular stage of the life of the church in Australia should those who are part of the main team be deacons? Can you be a deacon and cease being a deacon? - What `standing' do those have who are not part of the main team? - What areas of mutuality should be expected of those who belong together in this way? Prayer? Fellowship? Teaching? Social interaction? etc. 4 A MODEL FOR MUTUAL MINISTRY - BASED UPON MOTIVATIONAL GIFTS RATHER THAN TASKS I offer this model to you as one who is not a card carrying charismatic. I am not even a real clapper or hugger. I also offer this model being very conscious that I am being most simplistic and that I am introducing an element here and thereby seeming to imply that that element is absent from other models, i.e. the work of the Holy Spirit. This is plainly untrue, but I have chosen to draw the model in this way for the purpose of contrast with the hope that you may take from any or all of these models and create your own which you may feel will assist you in the renewal of your parish. In this model I am suggesting that the base principle is not task but person, and that in the choice or call of a person one may well look for that particular gift that brings balance to the whole. I have a hunch that the most unpopular gift is that of prophecy - speaking the truth - and hence there are very few prophets amongst parish clergy! It may be that you will consciously choose a mercy giver as the chairman of the pastoral care program, but in so doing you will take great care to make sure that within this team there is an enabler, a teacher etc. It is not that a person has a monopoly of one of these gifts and none of the others, but it is true that each of us is likely to major in one and be less gifted in the others. I have a hunch that most parishes prefer exhorters as rectors, but it may be that the parish has grown strong enough in its mutual ministry to consciously seek a prophet, or perhaps on the other hand a mercy giver and not expect a prophet or teacher. Whichever model we use, we should be conscious of it, be happy to sit with it, and `own' the implications of it. The Venerable George Browning is the Archdeacon of the Central Coast in the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle, N.S.W. This article is extracted, with his permission, from a much longer paper entitled `God's Family at Home: renewal and enrichment of parish ministry'. In the presentation of the paper at a gathering of Anglican clergy the various models were presented in diagram form. D11b On The Move - January 1986 Power in the church by Brian L. Smith At a regional synod of the Methodist Church in 1976, Queensland National Party Senator Stan Collard stated that he had learnt his politics in the Methodist Church in North Queensland. As expected this remark was greeted with laughter. It was not however the laughter of Christians who thought*though such a statement was ludicrous, but rather of those who could identify with the claim because they knew all too well the truth that lay behind it. They had experienced first hand the struggles and manoeuver+ing for power that characterise the life of many parishes and congregations. Whenever and wherever a number of human beings are gathered for a com+mon purpose - whether it be a sporting club or a multinational corporation, a kindergarten committee or a state - there will inevitably be a struggle for power, a quest by some to exert their will over others which may be met with acceptance, resignation or resistance. The church, even with its divine origins and purpose, is comprised of a number of human beings and as such is no less susceptible to power struggles than any other grouping of people. Many opportunities for the church to experience the liberating power of the gospel within its own life and structures are lost because this simple fact concern+ing the reality of its life is either not recognised or is deliberately ignored. A young minister in his first parish lay sleepless, metaphorically pulling the knives out of his back after a particularly torrid church meeting. In the small hours of the morning after a painstaking analysis of the meeting, he came to the conclusion that the whole thing could only be understood in terms of different people trying in various ways to assert power over others. To his surprise, when he later applied this analysis to a broad sweep of parish activities, he discovered that it could account for many incidents which to that point had appeared puzzl+ing and unconnected. Because he had stumbled across the reality of the struggles to exercise power that underlay much of parish life at that time, he was able for the first time to gain an in+tegrated and comprehensive under+standing of the situation in which he sought to serve. Many Christians are not so fortunate. How many ministers have toiled hard but made little headway because they have not understood the structures of power that were already operating amongst lay people in the parish or con+gregation to which they have been call+ed? How many gifted, caring lay people have found themselves unable to break into an `in group' and so have never been allowed to participate fully in a congre+gation and make their unique contri+bution to its life and witness? Rationalisation and denial The major reasons why we fail to identify power struggles in the church for what they are may be summarised as ration+alisation and denial. Rationalisation: Very few Christians who want to exercise power and become involved in power struggles actually see themselves in this light. In their own minds they are always involved in some+thing far more noble: `a matter of prin+ciple', `right doctrine', `the responsibility the church has given me in this matter', `the better ordering of the church's life', `our concern about what is happening to our people'. I do not want to suggest that whenever any of these or similar phrases are used they always hide a more ambivalent motivation. However, we all need to recognise that whereas we might identify the desire to exerise power as a motivation in someone else, we are rarely able to discern the same motivation in ourselves. We readily rationalise our own desires for power under more worthy aspirations. Denial: As Christians we are aware that power struggles are not only a characteristic of human life but also a symptom of its brokenness, and as they are also aware that Jesus' comment on the dominating exercise of power over others was `it shall not be so among you' (Mark 10:43), many deny the existence of power struggles and domination in the church. D12 S.U. News 2012 words D12a S.U. News - July-September 1986 Of volleyball and leadership By Pat Jenkins My experience of playing volleyball, limited as it had been, had helped me evolve a set of rules which I felt minimized my humiliation on those occasions when participation was unavoidable. These rules included such basics as: position yourself as inconspicuously as possible, quietly step away from the ball when you see it coming so it is not quite as blatantly obvious that you are the one responsible for the lost point, call to other team members "yours" whenever possible, make many jokes about anything else to keep people's minds off the game at hand, apologise when you misdirect the ball as if such occurrences were an unusual surprise, excuse yourself for an important job awaiting you when the revelation of your total inadequacy is imminent etc. etc. You know, the usual stuff. Then last year, at our Annual National Conference for S.U. schools staff, volleyball, unfortunately, became the filler of the breaks between sessions. My rule of thumb (avoid being seen on the court), which supersedes all of the above rules, was brought into play. But one day the most utterly awful thing occurred. I was told that some hopelessly misguided woman had challenged the male staff to a men versus women game the following day, and numbers being what they were, they needed me to play. I felt sick, my heart pounded, my palms sweated. The only thing worse than looking individually foolish is to be part of a group which looks collectively foolish. Please Lord, could we be raptured now? And then Chris O'Gorman, from Qld. staff, stepped in. In the growing dark of dusk she gathered us on the courts and gave us some coaching. First, a few basic rules - you may do this, you need to do that, this is illegal. Then some tips: the only call is "mine", don't apologise, capitalize on the male tendency to hog the ball. Then some practical suggestions: hold your hand like this, hit the ball with this arm motion, play as a team in this way. Then some practice: form yourselves in a semi circle, hit the ball back to me in this way, then back to the next person, then in this other way. Soon my heart palpitations were at a more manageable*managable level. If the aim of the match was to have it be of the highest standard possible during this staff gathering, then I had no place being on the court. She should have told me to resort to my usual "preparing tonight's session", or "need to have a deep and meaningful with..." etc. But if (as indeed it was) the aim was to have participation, and to improve the playing ability and hence, enjoyment, of each individual player, then I definitely needed to play. That only had a point if I had a coach's guidance. But if, then, I experienced the pleasure of following her serving tips and the satisfaction of winning a point, maybe later in the year I would play again, this time without the coach around. Hence the "nett" amount of participation/improvement in volleyball by staff would increase. More so than if just the experienced players had got further practice in the big match. So, I was part of the team. The next day the prayed-for tornado did not hit and we were forced, instead, to play volleyball. The first game we lost 15/3, the second 15/8, the third 15/12. My relief at the game's conclusion, although heartfelt, was actually less heartfelt than ever before. Because I had seen in Chris a superb leader in action. When the ball came her way she handled it quietly and powerfully. But mostly, her role had been to allocate, guide, train and review - all of which had the effect of simply inspiring confidence - and that was enough to transform our (my) performance. And that's the aim of the Leadership Conferences which we in the schools area of Scripture Union NSW run each May holidays: to provide an environment where confidence is inspired and leadership skills are developed amongst our Inter School Christian Fellowship students and amongst the teams which lead them. There used to be just one conference, where the high school ISCF kids who were good at leading, got better. That was valuable. But now there are 8 conferences - and so vast numbers of the delegates who come don't have much background in leadership or teaching at all. A bit like me and volleyball. But, with conferences which are carefully planned, to maximise participation by students, and to provide guidance, training and evaluation, students and team members go home much more confident and skilled than when they arrive. Always, there were the basic rules: God is sovereign, lean on him. You're not alone in your school. Use the power of the Holy Spirit within you. Spend time daily in prayer and Bible Study. Then, team members do some of the "performing" - Jeff Fletcher and Cailey Moore at the Conference in Tamworth directed by Helen McNab gave a powerful and moving mime about temptation and loyalty in relationships. This was a prelude to their evening devoted to discovering biblical principles relevant to dating. David Griffin role modelled creative learning exercises in the Bible Studies he led at Fitzroy Falls (Director, Elizabeth Taylor) with paper aeroplanes delegates made - one wing representing "lips", the other "life". Make a plane without either wing and, no matter how good that wing, the plane won't fly. Make a plane with lips and life wings and ... whammo! And then came the tips. Martin Cowling led the "Presenting Yourself Up Front" skills workshops at a Mt. Victoria Conference - Director, Rob Maidment. And with it came the participation - Pupils who elected that interest area of Martin's were then responsible for running all the evening sessions - including selection of music, prayer, telling about individual school groups, book reviews etc. And there were the practice runs. Wayne Deeth took this training a step further at the Fitzroy Falls Conference, and there, utilising video equipment, students were able to analyse their own annoying mannerisms, distracting habits etc. Their eagerness for evaluation after their turns up front reflected a new confidence and determination to take this role seriously - and woe betide any team member who failed to meet the preparation criteria established by the group as required! There were also the practical suggestions - delegates were guided in programme planning, resource utilisation, & choice of ISCF meeting ideas. Roslyn Johnston, at the Morisset Conference - director, Neville Hatton - produced a superb 8 page booklet on planning an ISCF programme. She led kids through workshops which had them scurrying for drama group phone numbers, Bible Study references, Input magazine back issues etc. And over and over again was the actual execution - learning by doing, learning by doing, learning by doing. If the aim was to have top quality "presentations" at conference, only the experienced teachers would be up front. But it wasn't. The aim was to increase participation so that, having worked under close guidance and experienced the "I can do it" feeling, students would return home and be better equipped to initiate and take responsibility there. I visited four of these conferences and will go to a fifth in the Hunter Region (which we put off till the August holidays so as not to compete with the Evangelism Explo Newcastle held in May). Jon Tigwell visited the other three. At my very last visit, the inevitable occurred: they organised a volleyball match for the break between Bible Studies and research (Wombat) groups, and I was invited to play. Six months had elapsed since national conference. The sweaty palms, beating heart, desperate futile searching for someone who surely needed me for deep and meaningful conversation - all returned. With a quietly muttered "Chris O'Gorman, where are you?" I meekly walked onto the court. And you know what? Although we lost dismally (15-2, 15-4, 15-7), somewhere amongst those smaller scores is a point I won! I was elated. And back in the high schools all over NSW there are literally hundreds of Christian kids who have returned from Leadership Conferences and who are participating in I.S.C.F. groups in their schools. They are removed from the team members who encouraged and guided them. And they may still get nervous, forget things, lack sufficient preparation, get things mixed up. But they are bravely (a) doing their bit, and (b) seeing far more fruit for their efforts than ever before. I thank God for that. D12b S.U. News - July-September 1986 Alive to GOD AN EXCITING NEW BIBLE-READING EXPERIENCE FROM SCRIPTURE UNION Scripture Union, whose Bible-reading notes have a total worldwide circulation of 1,300,000 in 58 languages, has just taken a major step forward. A fresh and lively approach to God's word. Hot off the press comes ALIVE TO GOD, a brand new series of Bible-reading notes for adults. This vibrant new series was launched at Scripture Union's recent Easter Conference in Adelaide. `We're all excited by ALIVE TO GOD', said John Lane of the Scripture Union National office at the launch. `It's designed for those who are starting a daily time with God which they've never had before - and for those who want to put a new life into the time they already spend with God each day.' Colin Matthews, head of Scripture Union's Bible Use Department in London, visited Australia for the launch. ALIVE TO GOD was `born' in his office, but has been adapted for use in Australia and New Zealand. He said, ALIVE TO GOD provides a fresh and lively approach to reading God's word. We've subtitled it `Bible guidelines for living by the Spirit' because it also offers practical applications and suggestions for prayer, praise, confession and meditation. ALIVE TO GOD will help Christians engage in active dialogue with God and will bring to life that time we spend in God's presence each day. D12c S.U. News - July-September 1986 Staff news FAREWELL John Smartt - Western Ribbon We said goodbye to John in May as he moved on to take up a position with Mayne Nickless. John has done a great job for Scripture Union, firstly in Darwin and then in the Western Ribbon working from an office in Penrith. `Thank you John and Tracy for all the hard work you put into your time with Scripture Union. We wish you God's richest blessing for the future.' John hopes to continue to help us in various ways. Peter Walker - Communications Co-ordinator After nearly six years on the SU staff, Peter left at the end of May to take the position of Communication Co-Ordinator with the Energy Commission. Peter will be a great loss to us in Chalmers Street as of course he was responsible for many of the publications that come to you from SU House. (If you think this issue of SU News doesn't flow as well as usual, you now know why!) Many of you will have met Peter at SU events and seen the result of his photography sometimes to your surprise. Peter will continue to help us particularly as Mission adviser for SUFM's in January. PLEASE PRAY Please pray for Marion Thorn, secretary for the Communications Department as she has been very unwell for the last three months and after a major operation is continuing under treatment from home. Pray for Marion and her husband, Bob, and their two children. CONGRATULATIONS To Ralph and Diana Fairbairn on the birth of a second daughter, Heidi. Ralph is the Gift Department Co-ordinator for SU. To Joanne and Gary Akehurst on their marriage, May 31st. Joanne is the receptionist at SU House. WELCOME GUILIO LESCHI, MANLY WARRINGAH LOCAL SCHOOLS WORKER. Guilio joined the staff in April to work 2 days a week in the Manly Warringah area. Guilio will work closely with the Manly Warringah area development group and their chairman, Max Lindsay. The area are working hard at raising the entire team support needed for Guilio and are excited at the potential in their appointment. D13 Majellan Sunday Bulletin 2037 words D13a Majellan Sunday Bulletin - 11 May 1986 Sharing the glory of Christ On Ascension Day we prayed: "God mounts his throne to shouts of joy; a blare of trumpets for the Lord" (Reponsorial Psalm); and: "May we follow Christ into the new creation, for his ascension is our glory and our hope" (Opening Prayer). We gave thanks for the glorification of Christ, and expressed the hope that we might one day be caught up in that same triumph and joy. Today's liturgy takes its tone from the feast of the Ascension. - The gospel features Jesus' own prayer that we should share his glory: "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they may always see the glory you have given me." - In the passage from the Apocalypse the risen Lord says: "Very soon now I shall be with you again, bringing the reward," to which the Church responds longingly: "Come, Lord Jesus." - In the Acts of the Apostles' account of St. Stephen's martyrdom it is recorded that the saint was given a vision of the ascended Lord. Actually today's reading from Acts says much more. It speaks not only of Stephen's coming into the glory of Christ; it emphasises that this witness to Jesus was first asked to duplicate the sufferings of his Lord. The parallels between Stephen and Jesus in their respective deaths are deliberately spelt out: - Both were brought before the Sanhedrin. - Both had false witness giving evidence against them. - Both were accused of blasphemy. - Both were taken outside the city to be killed. - Both prayed for their enemies. - At the moment of death, both spoke an almost identical prayer: "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." In all these parallels, St. Luke (who wrote the Acts) is saying: the life of Jesus continues in the life of the Church; the disciple of Jesus, like the Master, must take up the cross; if we aspire to union with Christ in glory, we must first be prepared to endure for his love. As St. Paul put it: "Yet so we suffer with him that we might also be glorified with him" (Romans 8, 17); or again, in the words of St. Paul: "All I want to know is Christ, and the power of his resurrection, and to share his sufferings by reproducing the pattern of his death. That is the way I can hope to take my place in the resurrection of the dead ... And so I press on towards the prize which God calls us to receive in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3, 10-15). Max Barrett, C.SS.R. D13b Majellan Sunday Belletin - 18 May 1986 Another Paraclete No matter how many books or articles we read on the subject the Holy Spirit is always more difficult to picture than God the Father or God the Son. But we get some help from today's Gospel. Jesus Christ speaks of sending "another Advocate". "If you love me you will keep my commandments. I shall ask the Father and he will give you another advocate to be with you forever". We really need a combination of words to describe the Holy Spirit and His role. There is the Greek word Paraclete which means the person who is called to the side of one in need of assistance, particularly in legal processes. So from that we have words like advocate, intercessor, defender, mediator, helper. Then there are other words like teacher, consoler, friend. The Holy Spirit is all that and more. Today's Gospel also gives us another clue. By speaking of another Advocate, Jesus seems to imply that He is the first Advocate and now there will be another like Himself. So we can conclude that what Jesus did for His friends during His life on earth, the new Advocate will continue to do for the followers of Christ down through the ages. The Gospel (Jn 14) tells us He is the spirit of truth ... that He will teach the disciples all truth and bring to their minds what Jesus taught them ... He will bear witness to Jesus. So we can be sure the Holy Spirit is present in the Church today as He has been for the past more than 1900 years. He is teaching and guiding the Church enabling it to come to an ever deeper understanding and a more complete grasp of the message of Christ. We can be sure He is still inspiring the followers of Christ to remain steadfast in their faith, encouraging and strengthening them to live by Christ's teaching and bring His message to the world. The work of the Spirit is vividly demonstrated in today's First Reading which describes the wonderful events of Pentecost. Although the apostles had listened to Christ and seen Him do marvellous things, they really did not understand Him or His mission. But with the coming of the Spirit everything fell into place. They knew Christ as they had never known Him before and wanted to tell the world about Him. Today we pray that the Holy Spirit will "continue to work in the world through the hearts of all who believe" (Opening Prayer). Wm. H. Stinson, C.SS.R. D13c Majellan Sunday Belletin - 25 May 1986 In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit Do you remember what the priest (or some other minister of the Sacrament) said when he poured the water on your head to baptize you? Most of us don't of course because we were baptized as babies. But if we have attended a baptism or two since then we have heard the words. And if we have received some religious instruction we have learnt something about the Sacrament there. The priest says, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." The words proclaim that we have entered into a new relationship with a God who is one, yet somehow three. St. John tells us that "God is love". He is a community of love. His life is a life of love - the love of the Father for the Son and of the Son for the Father that is somehow personified in the Holy Spirit. The relationship between Father and Son is lived in a Spirit of love. By our baptism we become part of that life of love. We share in the very life of God. Indeed, in baptism we become one with Jesus Christ, the beloved Son of the Father. So, like Jesus, we are now beloved sons and daughters of the Father. We are children of God, members of His family. Like Jesus we can address the Father familiarly ("Abba") as He does. Being joined with Christ, the Son, through our baptism means that we are called to live in the Spirit of Christ. That is to say we are called to love the Father as Christ loves the Father and we are called to love our brothers and sisters as fellow children of the Father. Like Christ we are called to live in a Spirit of love - love of the Father and love of others. Jesus said, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" and "You must love your fellow-man as yourself" (Mt. 22:37, 39). Jesus also told us that He came to do the will of the Father. His whole life was an act of love of His Father. He invites us to see the Father as the One towards whom our whole life must be oriented. He invites us to be His co-workers in making the Father's kingdom come on earth - that is, to help make the world a place of peace and love. The Father is the loving Creator who has given us the gift of life. Our hearts were made for Him and they will not rest, will not find fulfilment, until they learn to love Him in return for His love of us. God has chosen to reveal Himself to us in terms of family relationships - something that is part of our experience. If we haven't experienced the love of a parent or haven't experienced what it means to belong to a loving family, we have at least seen something of what is meant in the lives of other people. This does, of course, highlight the importance of loving parents and loving families. They give us insight and understanding of what God had in mind in revealing Himself in terms of Father, Son and the bond (Spirit) of love between them. Today we celebrate the fact that God has revealed Himself as Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We recall that He has invited us to share in His intimate life of love. And we remember that He calls us, through our baptism, to share in the work, the mission, of the Beloved Son - making the community of His love present in our world. Neal Dwyer C.SS.R. D13d Majellan Sunday Bulletin - 1 June 1986 The Eucharist in our lives Written a mere quarter-century after the death of Jesus, Paul's letter to the Corinthians is most valuable because it shows the central place already occupied by the Eucharist in christian worship. As at the Last Supper, so 25 years later at Corinth, the Eucharist was celebrated in the context of a meal. The liturgical occasion was meant both to symbolise and to foster christian unity. ("That they be one" had been Christ's prayer at the Last Supper. "As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me" (John 15, 4). St. Paul told the Corinthians (1 Cor. 10,17): it is Christ in the Eucharist who brings about this oneness. "Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.") An abuse had crept into the Corinthian church whereby unity was being threatened. The christians there had split into factions. This was bad enough. What was worse, their factionalism was being carried over into the celebration of the Eucharist. Instead of joining together in a love-feast, the various cliques remained apart. The poor went hungry; the rich over-indulged and some even became drunk. This meant that they were not only shattering christian unity; they were also sacrilegious in their unworthy reception of their Lord. St. Paul dealt with this situation by recalling the tradition handed down to him - and he quoted the sacred words of Christ in instituting the Eucharist. Then Paul added: "As often as you shall eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until he comes. Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." Today's feast of Corpus Christi invites reflection on many truths. For instance: (a) As the fathers of Vatican II said, "The Mass is the centre of the whole christian life." Without the Mass, the follower of Christ is necessarily eccentric. (b) Our attendance at Mass and particularly our reception of Jesus in Communion demand deep reverence. (c) In the sacrifice of the Mass, Jesus does not die again. Why, then, does St. Paul say: "You proclaim the death of the Lord"? At the consecration of the Mass, Christ is truly present under the appearance of bread and wine. And just as his glorified body is now eternally marked by the five wounds, so does his glorified Person contain the unlimited merits of his dying. At the Mass, Jesus comes to us with the unlimited richness of his sacrificial death. In this wondrous sense we proclaim the death of the risen Lord. (d) Christ's sacrifice transformed the world. At Mass, we are invited to live our lives in ever-closer union with the Eucharistic Lord, allowing him to transform each one of us personally. Max Barrett, C.SS.R. D13e Majellan Sunday Bulletin - 8 June 1986 The Good News of Nain Today's gospel episode is related only by St Luke and, over and over, thenarrative bears the author's 'signature'. Luke's gospel is characteristically marked by gentleness, a feeling for the poor, respect for women. D14 Australia's New Day 2011 words D14a Australia's New Day - July/August 1986 The gospel according to Saint Mick By Craig Bailey Paul Hogan calls his first film a `feel good movie'. He's right. I'm hardly your average Australian bushman, but the crocodile poacher from Walkabout Creek aroused my Aussie pride and, while not exactly having me rollicking in the aisle, gave me quite a few laughs. Dundee may not boast the hi-tech stuff of George Lucas. It lacks the violence of Rambo. Its characters are few and budget meagre next to the average American film. But it's the most watched movie in Australia, and there's got to be a good reason for that. Despite a sojourn in New York and an American co-star, Dundee is about as Australian as you can get. As a hero, Mick Dundee leaves Ned Kelly, the Man from Snowy River and Dame Edna for dead. The little Aussie battler has grown up. No longer just anti-authority, poor victim of circumstance, purely cynical, but a battler who takes on the world and wins. `That's why you have so many accidents over here,' the outback bushman declares to a thor+oughbred New Yorker. `Your steering wheel's on the wrong side of the car!' Hogan trivializes his film when he describes the Oz imagination, the spirit of Australia. We're too skeptical to be taken in by a flying kangaroo, but a crocodile poacher, super barramundi fisherman who picks up King Browns and casually flings them aside is almost believable, and very appealing. MATESHIP GOSPEL What makes our new folk hero so attractive is this: he promotes a gospel that is palatable, particularly to the male of the species. He is the sum of how we like to think about ourselves. For starters, it is a gospel of mate+ship, an idea very much alive in most Australians - the myth that keeps many from utter despair. If you can't depend on your mates, what hope is there? In a land which by its sheer size and harshness threatens to swallow us, mateship makes life bearable. A sober+ing moment in Dundee's*dundee's gospel is served up in an elaborate N.Y. party when, after being introduced to a lady who visits a `shrink', he asks, `Hasn't she got any mates?' Mixed with respect for mateship is Dundee's contempt for superiority and pretence, like table manners at an exclu+sive restaurant. Those who cross his lines of acceptability usually become victims of a swift punch in the mouth. Equally, his genuine concern for the underdog - the Aborigine, the street girl - characterize*chracterize his `everyone's-me-mate' philosophy: `Be in town for a couple 'a days. See ya round,' he offers from a taxi cab window to one of New York's 7 million residents! Dundee's gospel is underscored by a kind of morality that is not far from a believed-in (though not often practised), morality that is basic to the Australian. It is a close-to-the-earth, survival moral+ity. Its highest ideal is mateship and it's moulded by the land: land rights? `We belong to the land, it doesn't belong to us,' says Crocodile Mick. While Rambo is busy bulldozing his surroundings with guns and knives, and dispensing justice with iron gloves, Dundee sur+vives rather than conquers, and his primary weapon is his dry humour. It's the wit that characterizes the lighter side of Aussie morality - it mocks the false and showy, but affec+tionately points to some great Austra+lian truth - if nothing else, that life is to be enjoyed despite adversity. Crocodile Dundee says a lot about the things many Australians value. Those things are not entirely foreign to the Gospel. As John Hannaford points out, `Jesus likes Aussies...He likes the way we care about the battler and the underdog...' There are many things about Mick Dundee that I think Jesus likes. If it's true that he characterizes the Australian experience of life then could it be that we Christians need to spend less time condemning the evil around us and recognising the good? Is it possible that in the process we'd be able to present our Gospel in a more relevant fashion to our Australian mates with+out compromising its content? `Me and God, we're mates,' says Crocodile Dundee. Maybe with a more positive relevant Church, God could become his Lord and Saviour as well. D14b Australia's New Day - July/August 1986 10,700 CHAIRS...I THINK! The Story behind Jubilee '86 By Peter Haran Many who attended last January's United Charismatic Convention in Adel+aide may not be aware the whole event was captured on video tape by a top professional film team. Up to 12 hours of video tape was put down, mixed, cut, edited and over+layed with a multi-track audio to pro+duce a 40 minute presentation. The result is 10,700 Chairs, I Think, a title gleaned from a statement by the chairman of the convention and Tabor College director Barry Chant. An apt title too, there were about that many chairs in the huge Wayville Pavillion on the night of January 7 when more than 10,000 individuals took their seats to hear some of the best Christ+ian speakers in the world. Three of the best news cameramen in the country began filming the con+vention long before the opening night, and the video explores the ground+work and preparation which went into launching the biggest Charismatic convention ever seen in South Aus+tralia. It also looks at the arrival of the three guest speakers - and guest solo+ist - at Adelaide Airport, then moves into the yawning Wayville Pavillion before those 10,000-odd chairs were laid out. The look at the behind-the-scenes operation is as fascinating as the four day convention itself. A swirl of colour, a rising tide of beautiful music and the video is eye+witness to a sea of human faces wait+ing in anticipation for the grand event to get under way. The very best from the keynote speakers is included in the recently released tape - Reinhard Bonnke, speaking on stage and at the open-air rally in Victoria Square; Dr. Paul Yonggi Cho, telling of a miraculous healing; and Winkie Pratney, who mixes the newspeak of today with the relevance of God's Word. And, of course there is Barry McGuire urging all to join him in the story of bullfrogs and butterflies. But the Jubilee Convention was more than just sermons and songs. It also was people and changed lives. And this video cassette looks at the human face of a mass gathering. It explores the range of emotions, the collective worship and the response to the powerful word being delivered. In many respects 10,700 Chairs, I Think is a joyful reminder of a grand and spiritual event. But it*is also jogs the memory in respect to those telling messages that were delivered, by the world's best. It also is great enter+tainment. Wait no more - it's now available. D14c Australia's New Day - July/August 1986 Family Faith By Anne Fitzgerald LIVING ON LESS AND LIKING IT MORE During 1985, our church held a seminar with Neil Milne, a missionary with World Map. He challenged us toward the end of his message concerning the words of Jesus, `If any man will follow Me, let him deny himself...' (Matt. 16:24). Neil said, `You may have something legitimate; you can have it, but you deny yourself.' Neil had been talking to us about the Third World countries and India in particular. I got to thinking about things the Lord had been speaking to me during the previous year. There was a time when the poorer countries of the world were considered `dark' countries that were steeped in idol worship, greatly disadvantaged econom+ically and in need of God. Hence we very kindly sent out missionaries. We were considered `blessed' to have everything they didn't have. They were considered `cursed' because they didn't know God and suffered accordingly. Today, however, as the light of God penetrates their cultures, we find that they have so much more than us spirit+ually, and are moving into the supernatural manifestations of the Holy Spirit so much more easily than we are. Meanwhile, we still have all the things they don't have, and more, and seem to be missing out on the extent of the supernatural they are enjoying. What has happened is that our materialistic society has caused us to become clogged and bogged down, when it was designed to be a blessing for others and our money a tool for God to use. MODEST LIVING To deny ourselves, while everyone around us is getting as much as they can as fast as they can, is a miserable sounding gospel at the best of times, yet Jesus still says, `If any man will follow Me, let him deny himself...' In her excellent book, Living on Less and Liking it More, Maxine Hancock gives us a clue to solving this dilemma. `Living modestly, by choice, means living somewhere below that level that could be maintained if all of your income were administered for the family's needs and wants. Years ago, when deep freezers came into the general public market, I remember a discussion in our home about purchasing one. With a growing family to feed, my frugal mother could see the obvious economic advantages of owning a home deep freeze. Mother and Dad discussed the deep freeze two or three times. Each time, the discussion died away and did not resurface for several months. `Finally, a family-sized deep freeze was bought. I just assumed my parents had purchased the freezer as soon as they could afford it. Because they were people who did not let their right hand know what their left hand was doing, I didn't stumble upon the truth until much later in a conversation with my mother. ``Why didn't you get it earlier?' I pressed. `My mother shrugged. `Because several times when we had the money laid aside for the freezer, the Lord brought to our attention someone who had a greater need.' `That's restraint. And it results in modest living. Modest living is refusing to be coerced by T.V. and other adver+tising, into feeling that everything five years or older is obsolete and in need of replacing. `But it does not necessarily mean living in a deprived state. It simply means that income entrusted to a family is to be administered for the glory of God. And that will require restraint in personal spending. Modest living demands a strong sense of realism, something often dulled by easy credit and high pressure advertising. It means living within our limited budgets whether they are limited of necessity or by choice.' Something within me was excited by this concept. In our society it is hard enough for us to go without the things we can't have, let alone the things we can have. Around this time I lost my purse with $100 in it and experienced the usual anger and sense of frustration. As the days went by and it wasn't returned, I decided I would use it as an opportunity to learn something, rather than waste negative energy being upset. I saw that we were surviving quite well anyway; our needs were still being met. So I let it go and left it with the Lord. I reasoned that if we had survived so well when I lost $100, maybe I could give more away and `survive' a great deal better than I might have imagined. I am not a stranger to giving by any means. I was taught as a child to tithe my pocket money. As a wage earner I continued this giving and in our marriage we tithe and give offerings to the Lord's work. We are raising three boys on a moderate wage, and I don't work, so it is not always easy to give. But we know it is God's plan and way to blessing. USE WHAT YOU HAVE But here God was challenging me to a little more personal giving. I always treated my housekeeping with care to meet the needs of my family. However, I began to look around for ways I could give small amounts of money by limiting my buying to food, petrol and clothing the children needed - and I mean, needed. D15 Daily Bread 2005 words D15a Daily Bread - July-September 1986 KINGDOM ACTION! Luke chapters 17 and 18 1. We are to be careful about the example we set for younger Christians (17:3) and we should always seek to enlarge our faith (17:5). Suggest ways in which we might do both. 2. Some will find this exercise easier than others, but it is worth making the effort. In an attitude of stillness and silence, have one member slowly read verses 12 to 19 of chapter 17 aloud while the rest of the group try to imagine themselves as the leper who returned to say 'thank you'. Take time over it. Imagine the scenery, the people, the heat, the dust. Try to see Jesus in action, and hear his voice. After a time of quiet reflection share your experiences - what did you want to say to Jesus? 3. Where is the Kingdom of God (17:21)? Look up these passages and make a list of other things you discover about it: list of references omitted 4. Bearing in mind what we learnt in point 1 above, we must guard against pride in our 'goodness' (18:9-14). What really constitutes humility? Does this mean that in the church we should not give credit for tasks well done? 5. Being a citizen of the Kingdom of God can be demanding, as the young ruler discovered (18:18-30), but well worth the cost. The rich man went away 'very sad'. What is promised to those who enter (18:30)? What does that mean for you in the here-and-now? 6. Notice the blind man's insistence on calling out to Jesus(18:38,39). His need was urgent as Jesus was 'passing by'. Are we too casual about bringing our needs to Jesus? D15b Daily Bread - July-September 1986 INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS `Leviticus?' That's one book of the Bible I can do without! All rules and regulations, sacrifices and seriousness. What do we want to read that for?' Is that your reaction to this book? Then here's another question for you: Why would we not want to learn more about the meaning underlying Jesus' death for us? The Israelites of the Old Testament were God's chosen people, just as the Church is today (1 Peter 2:9) - and they were chosen for the same purpose: to show and make known the wonderful works of God. Further, just as the Church has the Lord Jesus Christ in her midst (is, in fact, the body of Christ), so the Israelites had Almighty God, signified by the Tabernacle, in their midst. But God is holy. Since holiness cannot co-exist with uncleanness, how can God remain in the centre of a sinful and profane people without destroying them? This question is equally important for long-ago Israelites and for Christians today. A study of Leviticus will help our understanding of the answer. Throughout the book you will recognise parallels and contrasts with various aspects of our Lord's ministry and death. Why not keep a record of all you find? It will be very helpful when we go on to study Hebrews and the later chapters of Luke's gospel. And now, open your Bible and join us in our quest for understanding of these strange practices. D15c Daily Bread - July-September Thursday August 7 THE PERSISTENT PROBLEM OF GUILT PRAY Lord Jesus, challenge my assumptions and let me see new things in your word today. READ Leviticus 5:14 - 6:7. THINK Imagine three Israelites in Moses' day. One knows he cheated someone. Another rashly made a promise but did not fulfil it. A third feels out of fellowship with God, but cannot remember disobeying him. What should each one do? How can their broken fellowship be restored? In each case, the Law says: Bring a ram as a guilt (compensation) offering to the Lord. In the first two instances the worshipper must make restitution with interest. This ram offering teaches two important lessons. First, it takes seriously the uneasy conscience that cannot find specific cause for its restlessness, and provides a means by which the worshippers may know that atonement has been made. What does Hebrews 9:14 suggest as the way to deal with an uneasy conscience? Thank God today that Jesus' blood cleanses from ALL sin - not just conscious sin. Second, it underlines the fact that sin has both a social and a spiritual dimension. Even defrauding a neighbour (6:2-5) is seen as "unfaithfulness to the Lord". Before the worshippers may offer the ram and be declared forgiven, they must put right the wrong done by giving compensation to the wronged person. Jesus also taught (Matthew 5:23-24) that we should not come to God in worship without first being reconciled with others. ACTION Is there anyone today to whom you should make restitution, or with whom you need to be reconciled? Ask God for a humble spirit. Make a telephone call, write a letter, or visit the person, to put things right. MEDITATE Focus on Jesus, the 'Suffering Servant' as our guilt offering (Isaiah 53:10). D15d Daily Bread - July-September 1986 Friday August 8 AN UNDYING FLAME PRAY Lord, may I see the light of your purity, the fire of your cleansing and the flame of your love ever before me. READ Leviticus 6:8-13. THINK The first and last thing an Israelite would have seen each day was the smoke of the burnt offering rising from the court of the Tabernacle. Why do you think the fire was kept constantly burning (12,13)? Because people constantly sin, God made provision for their continual need for atonement in the burnt offering always burning on the altar. The flame and the smoke would serve as an ever-present reminder of both their need and God's provision of a way of forgiveness. We have no column of smoke to remind us. But we do have the undying flame of his love which sent Jesus to die once for ever for our sins. And 'he always lives to intercede for us' (Hebrews 7:25, NIV). NOTE The quarantine-like precautions in verses 10 and 11. In fact, that is exactly what they are. Why? God is holy, and anything consecrated for his service (including any part of the sacrifice - even the ashes) becomes holy. Holiness cannot co-exist with uncleanness, so if any uncleanness comes in contact with anything holy judgement falls. The priest may not wear his holy uniform outside the camp (where it is unclean) lest he bring judgement upon himself and the people. Furthermore, the holy ashes must not be dumped just anywhere outside the camp; they have to be taken to a clean place (11). Jesus too was concerned about the contamination of sin. What did he see was the way for his followers to be kept holy (John 17:14-19)? PRAISE Thank God that at any time you may confess your sin and be freely forgiven for Jesus' sake. Thank him too for Jesus' continuing intercession for us. PRAY Pray for your pastor*paster. Like the priest of Israel, he needs to remember people's basic need - forgiveness. D15e Daily Bread - July-September 1986 Saturday August 9 GIVING AND RECEIVING PRAY Thank you, my loving Parent, for all that you have given me. Today I specially want to thank you for ... READ Leviticus 6:14-23. THINK Submission to God. Under Moses' leadership, the Israelites had made a covenant, or treaty, with the Lord (Exodus 19:3-8). He agreed to be their God while they promised wholehearted loyalty and obedience to him. Treaties between conquerors and their subjects were well-known to the Israelites. As a mark of loyalty, the conquered people were required to send a regular tribute gift to their overlord. Now, as the Israelites learnt what it meant to be the Lord's loyal subjects, they were taught how to bring their 'tribute gift' (for this seems to have been the nature of the cereal offering). Provision from God. In bringing this gift, the people were acknowledging their utter and grateful dependence on the Lord and his gifts to them. As well, they were providing for the needs of their spiritual leaders, for the cereal offering formed the staple diet of the priests (16,17). The ordinance of this offering was intended to teach about giving and receiving. When the worshippers took their cereal offering to the priests, to whom were they giving it (2:1)? From whom did the priests receive their portion (17)? FOCUS God still provides for those who serve him, but the responsibility for giving is ours. Prayerfully consider your own giving. - How is it determined? By the church's budget, your own financial situation, or what? - Does it include God's concern for the whole world? - Is it limited to physical needs or alternatively to 'spiritual'*'spirtual' ministries? - Is it dutiful, joyful, grudging*gruding, enthusiastic? - Is it a subject of frequent prayer? D15f Daily Bread - July-September 1986 Sunday August 10 LOOK AND SEE - GOD CARES! PRAY Lord, help me to find your will today, and then enable me to do it. READ Psalm 33:12-22. THINK Psalm 33 speaks to us about the effectiveness of the word of God to express and carry out his divine will. Today's reading is particularly*particulary concerned with his word in judgement. Blessed are the people whom God has chosen as his heritage (12). Christians are told that they are blessed and know that this is true, but sometimes have trouble in believing it! Really, this is not surprising, since we should not expect to live trouble-free lives during this existence on earth. However, it's often hard to believe that we are blessed in the midst of suffering and frustration. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the older brother feels bitter and sees little cause for gratitude, yet his blessings shown by the reply of his father are many - 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.' (Luke 15:31). Our blessing is always there, but it does not always consist of the tangible and material rewards by which we measure our lives. The Lord looks down (13). This verse which pictures God in a rather classical way, should give us reassurance and hope because God's concern demonstrates his love and care. The war horse is a vain hope (17). Another illustration of the splendid might of the war horse can be found in Job 39:19-25. Splendid though it is, its power is unable to save. FOCUS How is God involved in human history (10-19)? MEDITATE I lift my eyes to the hills From whence does my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1,2. PRAY Dear Lord, help us to look at you, not our problems; to trust in you, the Blesser and not in our blessings. D15g Daily Bread - July-September 1986 Monday August 11 HOLY, HOLY, HOLY PRAY Almighty God, show me what it means to be holy as you are holy. READ Leviticus 6:24-30. THINK How do you understand the word 'holy'? What is described as 'holy' or 'most holy' in verses 25-27 and 29? How does this fit with your definition of 'holy'? The basic statement about holiness in Leviticus is the reiterated claim by God, 'I am holy' (for example 20:26). In fact, the motto of Leviticus could well be 'You shall be holy for I am holy' (for example 11:45). Holiness is primarily related to the character and being of God - his 'otherness' or 'separateness'. Thus people or things become holy when they are separated for and dedicated to God. And uncleanness therefore has nothing to do with dirt or germs; rather it is unlikeness to God. The command in verses 27 and 28 must be seen in the light of this understanding of holiness. Because of the holy blood on the priest's clothes or on the cooking pot, these articles become holy and must be separated from common use. So the garment and the pot must be washed carefully (or destroyed in the case of a clay pot which could not be thoroughly scoured) to prevent contact between these holy things and anything unclean. To us these prescriptions may seem strange. Yet the underlying principle remains as true today as in Moses' time: the holy God cannot co-exist with the unclean. D16 Acts Tracts 2006 words D16a Acts Tracts - 1986 How to be filled with God's spirit by Dick Innes How could one person possibly fill Madison Square Gardens with 20,000 people every night for four months? `Impossible,' thought a lovely Broadway actress, and the only reason she attended Billy Graham's New York Crusade was to find out how he did it. This actress had a long-standing illness that she described as `a terrible cavity somewhere in the abdominal region'. Fearing she had some dreaded disease, she had been examined by several doctors and had insisted on exploratory surgery. Not one doctor could find anything physically wrong with her. But that night, as she sat listening to Billy Graham and trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, without warning she was gripped with this dreaded `emptiness' more severely than ever. Suddenly she realized that its cause wasn't physical at all. It was spiritual. So she responded to the invitation to receive Jesus Christ into her heart as personal Lord and Saviour - and her overwhelming emptiness vanished, never to return. Not all emptiness has a spiritual cause by any means, but much of the emptiness which plagues modern society does. People are not only physical and emotional beings with a need for food and friends, but they are also spiritual beings with a need for God. Without Christ in our lives we are spiritually dead, but when we receive him as personal Lord and Saviour, we become spiritually alive (2 Corinthians 5:17), are immediately indwelt by God's Holy Spirit, and so belong to the body of all true Christians. As the Apostle Paul said, `For we were all baptized (immersed) by one Spirit into one body...and are all given the one Spirit' (1 Corinthians 12:13). Every true Christian, therefore, has God's Spirit within. But God doesn't only want us to be merely indwelt by, but filled with his Spirit. His injunction is to `go on being filled with the Spirit' (Ephesians 5:18, literal translation), which is a continuous, daily experience. When we are filled with God's Spirit, he fills the spiritual vacuum in our life and gives us God's power:to help us overcome temptation and sin (Romans 8:12); to produce in us the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22,23); and to make us effective witnesses for Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8). How, then, can we be filled with the Holy Spirit? First, desire and faith. As with all of God's gifts, so is the filling of the Holy Spirit. We need to truly want it and we need to believe that God will give it to us as he said he would. Jesus said, `If any one thirsts (that is, strongly desires), let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture said, "Out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water." By this he spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believe in him were to receive' (John 7:37-39). Second, commitment. If my heart is filled with anxiety, anxiety will control my life. But if my heart is filled with God's Spirit, his love, joy and peace will control my life. What our heart and mind are filled with is what controls us. And what we are filled with is what we are committed to. If we are committed to ourselves, we will be controlled by our selfish desires plus our anxieties, fears, and so on. But if we are committed to Christ, and make him Lord of our everyday lives, we will be controlled by his Spirit plus the fruits of the Spirit. Third, openness. In a very real sense, the issue isn't how much of the Holy Spirit I have, but how much of me does the Holy Spirit have? As we have said, when we receive Christ as Lord and Saviour, we are given the Holy Spirit in all his fullness. The difficulty is that most of us don't know how to open ourselves to the fullness or filling of the Holy Spirit. For instance, if I am a closed, defensive person, or have any areas of my life that are repressed - areas of my inner self out of which I have shut both myself and others - I automatically shut God and his Spirit out too. Therefore, to be fully filled with God's Spirit, I need to learn to be fully open about my secret thoughts, feelings and motives - to myself, to at least one other person and to God. Fourth, personal honesty. The Holy Spirit is also known as the Spirit of Truth. Thus, to be filled with the Spirit of Truth, we need to be truthful with ourselves and with God. If we have committed our life to Jesus and dedicated our heart and mind to his control but still don't have his love, joy, and peace, it isn't because God or his Spirit have left us. It is often because of barriers in us that block the flow of God's Spirit. These barriers are often unresolved feelings of fear, inadequacy, false or real guilt, hurt, resentment, and so on which we have either consciously or unconsciously hidden or repressed. These are the pains that keep us focussed on ourself, which in turn block out God's Spirit. Therefore, if I don't have as much of God's love, joy and peace as I'd like to have, I need to admit this and be truthful and courageous about facing and resolving my inner negative feelings. Fifth, removing barriers. Those barriers that block God's Spirit usually have their roots in an impaired relationship or a hurtful experience from our past. To experience God's love, joy and peace, it is necessary that impaired relationships be put right and any unresolved feelings of hurt, anger or resentment dealt with fully and confessed to either a trusted friend, minister or counsellor, as James advises (James 5:16), or to a specific person if he or she is involved (Matthew 5:23,24), and always to God, who has promised to forgive us (1 John 1:9). Sixth, obedience. Another requirement for the filling of the Holy Spirit is living in harmony with, and obedience to, the Word and will of God. As Peter said, the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey God (Acts 5:32). Finally, abiding. Jesus said, `I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him will bear much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing' (John 15:5). Christ's allegory is a good illustration of how to have a fruitful life. As we, the branches, abide in Christ the vine by spending time with him (daily studying his Word, praying, and living in obedience to him), so the sap, or Holy Spirit, flows from Christ through us the branches, and fruit is the natural outcome. The good news is that we don't have to struggle to produce God's fruit. We can't anyhow, and if we try to the fruit is unreal. That's what Christ meant when he said without him we can do nothing. Only his Spirit within can produce his fruit without. As we commit our lives in full surrender to Jesus Christ, abide in him, and resolve the barriers, his Spirit, already dwelling in every Christian, fills us and his fruits of love, joy and peace come automatically. D16b Acts Tracts - 1986 When You've Had a Bad Day by Dick Innes Walter Elias froze with fascination. A sensitive child, Walter had grown up in the city until he was five years old, when his family moved to a farm. One day, two years later, Walter was walking through an apple orchard when he discovered, to his amazement, an owl perched on a low branch. Remembering that his father had told him that owls hunted at night but slept during the day, Walter crept quietly towards the sleeping bird. `What a wonderful pet this funny creature would make,' he thought to himself. So, sneaking right up behind it, he stealthily reached up and seized it by the legs. Whew! What a shock both were in for. Terrified, the owl went berzerk. Flapping wings frantically, screeching loudly, and struggling furiously, it did everything in its power to escape. Equally terrified, Walter panicked. He clung to the bird for dear life. In utter terror, he eventually threw it to the ground and stamped it to death. When the struggle ended and the pounding of his heart subsided some+what, Walter looked down at the broken and bloodied bird ... and cried. Feeling terrible, he ran from the orchard, but later returned to bury the owl. For months he dreamed of this bird he had wanted for a pet but in terror had killed. Too ashamed to tell anyone, he kept his secret to himself. Only years later did he share it. Perhaps it was this grief more than anything else that helped make Walter the person he became. Never could he bring that owl back to life, but he made all the animals of the forest come alive through his drawings and the wonderful entertainment centre named after himself. His full name? Walter Elias Disney. Have you ever failed or felt as if you had? Ever done something that you later felt terrible about? Or experienced a business or personal setback that gave your self-concept a beating? Or gone through a relationship breakdown that left you feeling less than whole? Or perhaps experienced some physical hardship, handicap, sickness or a mental breakdown that devastated you? If so, welcome to the human race. When we fail or feel as though we have failed, we tend to think we are the odd person out. It isn't so. Everyone of us has failed at something. We have all done things we are sorry for. We have all faced setbacks at some time or another and felt as if we were going under. I certainly have. It can be very easy to `preach' from an ivory tower or be an armchair theorist and give out simplistic solutions to life's everyday struggles if you've never failed, suffered, or been heartbroken, lonely, sick, or over+whelmed with discouragement. But for what it might be worth, if*it you are in need of encouragement today, I want you to know that I have, in part at least, sat where you sit. My home began to fall apart when I was a young teenager. Eventually my parents divorced. In those days divorce simply was not accepted as readily as it is today and I felt terribly ashamed. I felt very much rejected by my father and ended up rejecting him, which left me feeling very insecure. And when it comes to doing wrong, I've committed enough sins to know that I am less than perfect. I've known what it is to struggle in business and verge on going under. I've also felt at times like leaving my wife, as she has me. And I've known years of family sickness and disaster too. I can't say that I like trouble. Neither am I a good sufferer. But this one thing I know: you and I can rise above our failures, misfortunes or circumstances. Walt Disney turned his childhood nightmare into a beautiful dream, which in turn became a reality. You and I can do the same, too, if we want to badly enough and will persevere. Not that it comes easily. It rarely does. It didn't for Walt Disney either. Apparently he went broke seven times and had a nervous breakdown before he realized his dreams and became successful. Here's how you, too, can be successful: First, accept yourself as human. Realize that it's all right to fall or to fail. It's all part of the human experience. You don't have to be perfect to be a worthwhile person. You just need to be you. Second, when you fall don't stay down. Recognize that the only real failure is not to get up once more than you've either fallen or been knocked down. D17 The Promise of World Peace. A Statement by The Universal House of Justice 2028 words The promise of world peace I The endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of life are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its essential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build civilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone have never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it towards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisi+ble realm, towards the ultimate reality, that unknow+able essence of essences called God. The religions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual lu+minaries have been the primary link between human+ity and that ultimate reality, and have galvanized and refined mankind's capacity to achieve spiritual suc+cess together with social progress. No serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace, can ignore religion. Man's perception and practice of it are largely the stuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a "faculty of human nature." That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much of the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individu+als can hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount the preponderating influ+ence exerted by religion on the vital expressions of civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to so+cial order has repeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality. Writing of religion as a social force, Baha'u'llah said: "Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for the peace+ful contentment of all that dwell therein." Referring to the eclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: "Should the lamp of religion be obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness, of justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine." In an enumeration of such consequences the Baha'i writings point out that the "perversion of human nature, the degradation of human conduct, the cor+ruption and dissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such circumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character is de+based, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed, the voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame is obscured, concep+tions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and loyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefuless, of joy and of hope is gradually extinguished." If, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must look to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has listened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confu+sion perpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and selfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their votaries er+roneous and conflicting interpretations of the pro+nouncements of the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusion - a confusion com+pounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and reason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the actual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the social milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions, there is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the religious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs. The teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be treated, an ethic var+iously repeated in all the great religions, lends force to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up the moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these religions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies an aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a vir+tue mankind in its disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate. Had humanity seen the Educators of its collec+tive childhood in their true character, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have reaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative ef+fects of their successive missions. This, alas, it failed to do. The resurgence of fanatical religious fervor occurring in many lands cannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the violent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the spiritual bankruptcy it represents. In+deed, one of the strangest and saddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the extent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual values which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique moral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve. However vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and however dramatic the cur+rent resurgence of militant religious fanaticism, reli+gion and religious institutions have, for many dec+ades, been viewed by increasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the modern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic pursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made ideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which it groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing the concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of concord among differ+ent peoples, have tended to deify the state, to subor+dinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt to suppress all discussion and inter+change of ideas, or to callously abandon starving millions to the operations of the market system that all too clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while enabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely dreamed of by our forebears. How tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of our age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations who have been taught to worship at their altars can be read history's irreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have produced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power by those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social and economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing years of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward af+flictions is the spiritual damage reflected in the apa+thy that has gripped the mass of the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts of deprived and anguished millions. The time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether of the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give account of the moral stewardship they have pre+sumed to exercise. Where is the "new world" prom+ised by these ideologies? Where is the international peace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the breakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the aggrandize+ment of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why is the vast majority of the world's peoples sinking ever deeper into hunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the Phar+aohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth century is at the disposal of the pres+ent arbiters of human affairs? Most particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at once the progenitor and com+mon feature of all such ideologies, that we find the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are incorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be cleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants. That materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to satisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgment that a fresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agoniz+ing problems of the planet. The intolerable condi+tions pervading society bespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite rather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common remedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of attitude. Will humanity contin+ue in its waywardness, holding to outworn concepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of ideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a united search for appropri+ate solutions? Those who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this advice. "If long-cherished ideals and time-honored institutions, if certain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote the welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to the needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and rele+gated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doc+trines. Why should these, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be exempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every hu+man institution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are solely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not human+ity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any particular law or doctrine." II Banning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poi+son gases, or outlawing germ warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important such prac+tical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process, they are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence. Peoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to use food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and terrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and dominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of humanity be resolved through the settlement of specific con+flicts or disagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be adopted. Certainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the worldwide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting issues that confront them daily. And there are the accumu+lating studies and solutions proposed by many con+cerned and enlightened groups as well as by agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance as to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a paralysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and resolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a deep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrel+someness of mankind, which has led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating national self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an unwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of establishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the incapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their desire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and prosperity with all humanity. The tentative steps towards world order, espe+cially since World War II, give hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to formalize relationships which enable them to cooperate in mat+ters of mutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this paralysis. The Associa+tion of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean Community and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the League of Arab States, the Organization of Afri+can Unity, the Organization of American States, the South Pacific Forum - all the joint endeavors repre+sented by such organizations prepare the path to world order. The increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted problems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious short+comings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations and conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have not been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordi+nary people a sense of a new lease on life. The Uni+versal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of discrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the rights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to torture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; us+ing scientific and technological progress in the inter+est of peace and the benefit of mankind - all such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will advance the day when the specter of war will have lost its power to dominate international rela+tions.