Church of Scotland signals 'trajectory' on gays

This past week I've been representing the Uniting Church as a guest of the Church of Scotland Assembly. The most anticipated item on the agenda was  a Report from a 'Commission on Same-Sex Relationships and the Ministry'. The catalyst for setting up this Committee was the decision of a Presbytery two years ago to induct into a parish placement a Minister who was in a same-sex relationship.

They Commission produced an excellent and very fair Report, building on previous Reports on Human Sexuality (available on the Church of Scotland website). They also extensively surveyed all Presbyteries. In the end the main choice they put to the Assembly was to guide the proposed Theological Commission either to work towards a Report supporting the 'traditionalist' position; or a Report considering 'a lifting of the moratorium on accepting for ordination of persons in a same-sex relationship'. This second option was supported as was a proposal to allow the induction into placements in the next two years of Ministers and Deacons who were ordained before May 2009 who are in a same sex relationship.

The debate was vigorous but respectful and very well handled. The Moderator rightly insisted that there be no applause when the decision was announced out of respect for those for whom the result was a disapppointment. Todays headlines were predictably 'Church of Scotland gives green light to gay Ministers' which somewhat overstates the result. When the Theological Commission reports back in two years time, if they recommend change to the current practice, the decision, if supported by the Assembly, will be referred back to the Presbyteries for concurrence through a mechanism called the 'Barrier Act'. In this instance it seems likely, according to the survey in the current Report, that any fundamental change would fail to receive the necessary support. There will be many around the world taking an interest in how this 'mother church' to so many Presbyterian churches around the world, deals with this issue.

National Ministers' Conference Vanuatu

Last week 42 Uniting Church Ministers gathered in Vanuatu for the first of a series of three National Ministers Conferences to be held this year. The Conference was hosted by our partner church, the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu, and its congregation at Mele, just outside Port Vila. We started with a reception dinner, along with local church leaders, at the home of the Australian High Commissioner, Jeff Roach. The following day the Conference opened with a colourful 'challenge' by the warrior, pictured, which thankfully morphed into a greeting. We were all then draped with luxurient garlands. This spirit of welcome and hospitality would continue throughout the week.

The program comprised of sessions helping us reflect on 'ministry in a time of transition' led by Rev Jenny Tymms. Then we had a series of inputs from local church and political leaders throughout the week. And we tried to allow enough time for delegates to rest and explore the area. Mele is right on the coast and snorkelling around the coral reefs was a popular recreation.

Early feedback indicates that participants found the experience very worthwhile. Apart from the stimulating input, and opportunities to reflect on this 'odd and wondrous calling', the chance to develop collegial friendships from across the country was appreciated.

Our thanks to Uniting World for all their work with local arrangements and especially to our hosts. I understand that the third of these Conferences (Adelaide in October) is fully booked so any Ministers in placement who want to participate in one of these great events will need to hurry to register for the Alice Springs Conference in July.

Trashing sermons

This past weekend, due to the cancellation of a four day event, some blessed discretionary time opened up. What to do? Time for a purge! Hard rubbish collection is due in our suburb so time to get rid of accumulated junk that has survived the 'will I ever need you again?' analysis for way too long.

The depths of the attic space revealed dusty boxes. Letters to and from my beloved from the early days? Hard man that I am, my purging mood might have prevailed but my marriage would surely not survive such a unilateral decision. Another dusty box reveals sermons and liturgies from my early years in this 'odd and wondrous' calling. I pick through a few and wonder whether any of the sermons were still 'preachable'. Hmm, maybe not.  I don't notice any fundamental shift in my theological orientation (my neurotic side wonders whether I am 'stuck') but they are the reflections of a younger person. I decide, with some reluctance,  and a distrubing lack of ceremony, to put them in the recycling bin with no sense that they are recyclable apart from the neat little cards these hard-wrought words are written on.

I am surprised how easy it is. If there are fifteen years of sermons in that box those little cards add up to nearly a million words, 150 hours of speaking and many times that of preparation. One tilt of the hand and into the rubbish they go - quite salutary. Good riddance to an anachronistic form of communication?

Without getting into the debates about the efficacy of preaching, my decision was based on a growing conviction that good preaching is essentially contextual. It is the (hopefully) faithful attempt to communicate the gospel (Word) in a particular time and place so that it becomes God's living Word. Bultmann referred to preaching as an 'event' and I think this explains my growing reluctance to publish sermons. I've been tempted, when asked for a copy of a sermon, to reply 'sorry, you had to be there'.

At one level such a response sounds deeply pretentious. But at another level it preserves something fundamental about this form of communication that seems so anachronistic, namely, the immediacy, particularity and the contextuality of God's address to us. The words written on my old sermon cards could not be used again. Some of them made me wonder and wince. I could only pray as I tipped them in the bin, that at the time, the Spirit was hard at work, using my feeble, faltering words, to bring good news, bread, not stones, to hungry people.

Even the dogs

I've just returned from five days in the Amata community in the APY Lands - a township about 100kms south of Uluru. A couple of nights before this photo was taken (communion on the Sunday morning) we had done a bible study on the story of Jesus encounter with the Syrophonecian (gentile) woman (Mark 7). She asked Jesus to heal her daughter and he responded tersely 'let the children be fed first, it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs'. She responds to the racist-sounding comment with: 'yes, Lord, yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs'. And here we were gathering around the Lord's Table waiting to be fed the children's bread and the camp dogs were everywhere, hovering under and around the table, poised to pounce on any crumbs that fell. I hardly needed to preach that morning!

It was an amazing week. We gathered each evening in or around the church for bible study. I'd prepared maybe 20 minutes of input but after translation it probably took 45 minutes. Paul Eckert is a brilliant translator. We've worked together a few times now and he has taught me so much about using 'translatable language'. I've realised how much abstract language I use and he has helped me be more concrete - story and image-based. It's actually changing the way I speak and preach generally but that's another story.

After the 'input' time it was opened up for response and sharing. The depth of sharing was extraordinary and often we didn't finish til around midnight. I felt more aware than ever of the vast cultural, social and economic gap between our worlds but the language of faith, aided by excellent translation, at times spanned the distance and afforded glimpses of another world.

Pilgrimage to Living Water

Last weekend I had the pleasure and privilege of leading the very first (hopefully of many nationally) 'Pilgrimage to Living Water' Retreat with members of the Presbytery of the Downs (Uniting Church in Queensland). These pilgrimages have been designed by the Spiritual Direction Network of the Uniting Church in response to the Assembly theme 'Living Water, Thirsty Land'. I was a little apprehensive about leading a retreat with such a theme in that particular context. Within the bounds of that Presbytery are some of the worst-affected areas in the recent catastrophic floods. A significant amount of time had been dedicated in that Presbytery meeting to storytelling and debriefing about the impacts of the floods and also the responses of the church at various levels to help assist people materially and spiritually.

But on advice from the Presbytery Minister we persevered! I am not a trained retreat leader and by temperament I tend to be more of a 'fidgety activist' than a 'contemplative'. But I needn't have worried. They were very open to the theme and to the spaces for reflection, prayer, exercise and rest that the retreat offered. We journeyed through 6 'stations' culminating at a creek at the bottom of the glorious campsite at Cunningham's Gap. The highlight for me was the use of Rob Gallagher's stunning icon specially 'written' for the pilgrimages. I understand that to consecrate an icon it needs to be present at a celebration of the eucharist as it duly was. After a brief introduction to icons and how they might nourish our prayer and reflection (new to many) we then followed the icon from station to station engaging with it in various ways. We used 'lectio divina' (sacred reading of scripture), music, silent prayer, sharing in small groups and at the final station, reaffirmed our baptism. Personally I found it a deeply helpful exercise in experiencing anew the presence of the living God in a way that was deeply personal but experienced in community.

My thanks to our Spiritual Direction Network and also to the wonderful people of the Downs Presbytery for their hospitality and their openness to new (and very ancient!) ways of encountering God.

Now I'm off to the photo place to make multiple copies of the icon. Many of the participants want either to introduce it to their own congregations, or to have their personal copy to aid their prayer.

Northern Territory Intervention

On Monday evening I attended a 'Conversation' with 7 aboriginal Elders from the Northern Territory at the Law School of Melbourne University, organised by 'concerned Australians'. To a packed auditorium (400 people) the Elders shared about the impacts on their communities of the Federal Government Intervention. Earlier in the afternoon Malcolm Fraser and Alastair Nicholson had released an 'eminent persons Statement' calling on the Government to fully reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act in order to prevent further pain in these communities. I, along with Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress leaders, was a signatory to this Statement. The Elders also released a Statement of their own. 

Both statements can be found at: www.unitingjustice.org.au 


The Conversation was deeply moving as various Elders, including Rev Dr Djiniyini Gondarra from Elcho Island (pictured), described some of the social, cultural and emotional impacts of the Intervention. Whatever the original intentions of the legislation, the communities in many cases have experienced it as a return to the old racist and paternalistic approaches of the past.  The main issue seems to be the arbitrary 'template' approach by he Government to aboriginal communities. Some communities have been functioning extremely well while others are struggling. The policies do not distinguish - it's one size fits all. 


The original catalyst for the legislation, we were told, was the 'Little Children are Sacred' Report. Very few of the recommendations of that Report have been taken up and the call by its authors to proceed with a cautious, measured and deeply consultative approach, has been ignored. No-one is denying that some aboriginal communities need assistance. What is being called for is a genuine partnership between government and community leaders in order to find the most effective approaches to health, welfare, employment, education etc in very diverse communities. This does not seem too much to ask!


Perhaps future advocacy in this matter should focus on urging the Government to get the 'Little Children' Report off the shelf, read it and actually follow its recommendations - starting with a commitment to genuine and consultative partnership with communities.

Church response to Queensland Floods

I spent last Friday at the Queensland Synod being briefed about the Uniting Church response to the Queensland floods. It's still difficult to get an overall picture because the church and church people are involved in all manner of responses. Donations to the National Appeal are coming in very strongly from individuals and congregations and other parts of the Church. I just heard today, for example, that the SHARE Appeal of the VicTas Synod is sending $100,000 to the Appeal which is fantastic. Uniting Church agencies like Lifeline are making their singular contribution. Donations to their Community Recovery Program have so far raised over $340,000.This program is designed to provide support to individuals and communites affected by such disasters. Local churches in flooded areas have been used to house people whose properties have been inundated. Congregations have sent clean-up parties to help with the heavy (and smelly!) task of removing sludge and slime from flooded homes. Frontier Services Patrol Ministers have been brought in to badly affected areas to offer their presence and their trauma expertise. Strategies are being developed to make sure the ministry of the church remains in these areas long after the media have left because the recovery and rehabilitation will take a long time. The other message I received loud and clear in Queensland was that material donations at this stage are not helpful. In fact they present more problems than they address. Agencies currently don't have the capacity to collect, store, sort or distribute the goods. So for those wanting to help, financial donations are still the most effective way to do so.