Advent 4 sermon: 'I beg to differ'

It has been extra-ordinarily hard to prepare these reflections in the context of the tragic events that have unfolded this week. The story of Mary, her encounter with the angel, her ‘yes’, and her song of praise we know as the Magnificat, are a familiar pattern in our year as we head towards Christmas. I have read this story again in the context of the events of this past week and have been challenged by the story in new ways.

Mary’s was a song of praise and hope. Aspirational. A longing - and a confidence - that things could change, that God’s reign would upend the wealthy and powerful and the privileged in favour of the poor, the dispossessed. Her context was Roman occupation and her song was a song of defiance.

Someone once said, ”A candle is a protest at midnight. It is a non-conformist. It says to the darkness, 'I beg to differ.’"

I beg to differ. 

How long do we hold such hope? How long can we 'beg to differ'?

This week the world witnessed one sole, mentally unstable religious extremist gunman take hostages and force a lock down in the Sydney CBD. We saw the faces of the victims who lost their lives, Tori Johnson, the cafe manager, and Katrina Dawson, a lawyer and mother of 3 young children. The Sydney paper screamed the headline, ‘The day we changed forever’, determined to change our thinking and behaving, because this moment had, apparently, become a defining moment - even before we knew any details. Australian gun laws started to be discussed again - how might we protect ourselves from a repeat of such a tragic incident? Australian immigration policies were discussed again - how could he have been allowed into Australia? The judicial system was being discussed - how could he have been allowed out on parole? Domestic violence was discussed - again. The word ‘terror’ was used frequently, as if to link the Sydney siege with acts of terror that have happened so frequently in recent years, including the horrific actions of the Taliban in a school in the Pakistani city of Peshawar where at least 132 children and 9 staff were killed.

As some link the Sydney siege with acts of global terrorism, our world view begins to be defined and shaped by an alternate world view where fear rules the day.

For Mary, her context was ancient Palestine with Roman occupation. Today, ours is an 'occupation' of a different kind. Our world view and the things we value - our sense of community, our commitment to care for others - are now threatened by the occupation of alternate world views. As the Christian church finds itself increasingly marginalised in contemporary culture, the defining values, hopes and aspirations it has embodied are also marginalised. And into this vacuum, other values take their place including violence, xenophobia, and wild speculation in the media. In this alternate reality, the 'other' who is different to me must become the one who I must distrust. In this alternate reality, faith traditions that are different to mine must be those that are denigrated and demonised.

I beg to differ. 

The flowers left in Martin Place in Sydney began as a touching tribute to the innocent victims of the Sydney siege, but may now be considered indulgent. Tens upon tens of thousands of dollars will have been spent on flowers in a week when the Government announced further drastic cuts to the foreign aid budget. But the flowers are another form of protest, and say, ‘I beg to differ’. Of saying, we will gather with friends and strangers in a public place, and place our symbols of tribute and protest together as a way of saying: there is another way that is live-giving and hopeful and peaceful, and we will seek and follow that way and not be overwhelmed by sorrow and despair. We will stand with the stranger in our midst, and look for opportunities where the stranger may become a friend. The notes that have been left with the flowers  represent an expression of solidarity, comfort, unity and empathy. They are also in their own way an act of defiance - there is another way to that of fear, violence and retribution.

Thomas Zinn, partner of Tori Johnson, said when he visited the makeshift memorial he could “smell the flowers through Sydney”. He said, “I think it’s amazing that he has been able to make our city smell like flowers. There is no more beautiful thing that he could have imagined”. 


This week I went to the Marion Mosque, which was opened especially for prayers on the night of the siege, and also so that people of all faith traditions could gather to pray and to affirm solidarity in service and friendship across faiths. It was another ‘I beg to differ’ moment - that we were not prepared to make way for the occupation of an alternate world view where suspicion and violence would define relations between faiths. Rabbi Shoshana Kaminsky was there and was invited to read a psalm from the Hebrew Scriptures. A woman, a Jewish rabbi, without a headscarf, reading a psalm from the ancient Scriptures sacred to Jews, in a Muslim mosque. The moment was breathtaking. She said, 'I wanted to show my support for the Australian Muslim at a time when I feared some would condemn this entire faith group. I hope and pray that Australians can distinguish between the perpetrator and a faith whose adherents in Australia are strong supporters of the values we share'.

“I wanted to show my support for the Australian Muslim community at a time when I feared some would condemn this entire faith group,” she said. “I hope and pray that Australians can distinguish between the perpetrator and a faith whose adherents in Australia are strong supporters of the values we share.”

Faiths pray for tolerance | The Australian Jewish News

“I wanted to show my support for the Australian Muslim community at a time when I feared some would condemn this entire faith group,” she said. “I hope and pray that Australians can distinguish between the perpetrator and a faith whose adherents in Australia are strong supporters of the values we share.”

Faiths pray for tolerance | The Australian Jewish News

n Adelaide, Beit Shalom Synagogue’s Rabbi Shoshana Kaminsky took part in sunset services at the Marion Mosque. “I wanted to show my support for the Australian Muslim community at a time when I feared some would condemn this entire faith group,” she said. “I hope and pray that Australians can distinguish between the perpetrator and a faith whose adherents in Australia are strong supporters of the values we share.”

Faiths pray for tolerance | The Australian Jewish News

n Adelaide, Beit Shalom Synagogue’s Rabbi Shoshana Kaminsky took part in sunset services at the Marion Mosque. “I wanted to show my support for the Australian Muslim community at a time when I feared some would condemn this entire faith group,” she said. “I hope and pray that Australians can distinguish between the perpetrator and a faith whose adherents in Australia are strong supporters of the values we share.”

Faiths pray for tolerance | The Australian Jewish News

They are small but significant moments of ‘I beg to differ’. If not for these moments, the vacuum in our global moral compass would allow for alternate world views based on division and suspicion to occupy and permeate our thoughts and minds and actions, our community, our nation and the world. And this alternate reality that is seeking occupation in our lives is as if we have chosen to say ‘no’ to God’s ways, and thus perpetuate the growing distance between the rich and poor, the unjust distribution of the world’s resources, and the destruction of the earth and its ecosystems. It is to give our ‘yes’ to greed and self-interest and neglect of the vulnerable and marginalized.

I was reminded about a wonderful children’s story book, The Never Ending Story by German writer Michael Ende. The film told the first part of the story, but it’s worth reading the whole book. I used to read it aloud to my classes when I was teaching. It was captivating with its imagery and ideas. Its central plot was the creeping nothing that was taking over the land, town by town. Person by person. One character described it this way: The creeping Nothing around you - and inside you - just grows and grows. It's the emptiness that's left. It’s like a despair, destroying this world. Because people have begun to lose their hopes and forget their dreams. So the Nothing grows stronger.”

The vacuum left by the marginalisation of faith in our contemporary society allows for such a ‘creeping nothing’. And allows for that vacuum to be filled with groups based on radical ideology rather than transformational faith. The 'nothing' is 'something', but it is not the reign of God.

Perhaps this invites us to strengthen our resolve to live as those who live by the values of God’s reign, just as Mary’s testimony defined her living. And let’s be clear - not simply the values of a ‘civil society’ that has adopted core values from the Christian faith, but by the values of the reign of God as embodied by Jesus. Love your enemies, forgive others, serve others, welcome others, clothe the naked and feed the hungry etc. These values and practices are what define the lives of those who follow the Jesus way.

Like Mary, you and I are God bearers. We will therefore resist the steady and insidious occupation of other values based on fear, violence, suspicion and speculation. Our lives as followers of the Jesus way give testimony to the statement, I beg to differ. 

Thanks be to God. Amen.

DIAKONIA Executive

DIAKONIA Regional Presidents and Officers

The DIAKONIA Executive meeting begins today with the 3 Regional Presidents - Emma Cantor (DIAKONIA Asia Pacific), Lisa Polito (DIAKONIA of the Americas and the Caribbean) and Marianne Uri Øverland (DIAKONIA Region Africa-Europe), and the three office bearers - Sandy Boyce (President), Laura Lazar (Treasurer) and Traude Leitenberger Secretary. The group will meet from Tuesday 22nd July to Thursday 24th July, when they will be joined by the full Executive of DIAKONIA, meeting from 24th July to 29th July.
Please hold the meetings in your prayers. 
You can find out more about the Executive here. 
Photos will be posted during the meeting. 

Reflections on Lectionary reading: Acts 2:42-47 (May 11th, 2014)

'From the very beginning, we find the early Christians gathering together to share with each other the bewildering experiences that they have had with the risen Christ. They found that resurrection was not a fact to be believed, but an experience to be shared'. (Walter Wink, Resonating with God's Song). 'Christian community is the place where we keep the flame of hope alive among us. That is how we dare to say that God is a God of love when we see death and destruction and agony around us. We say it together. We affirm it in each other'. (Henri Nouwen, Finding my way home). 

Acts 2 describes a community engaged in active economic sharing that goes far beyond charity: 'All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need' (Acts 2:44-45). They shared in the breaking of the bread, where they recognized afresh the risen Christ present with them. They practiced generosity and hospitality. They practiced service to the 'least of these', and economic justice and non-violence. The community gathered around study, fellowship, worship and agape love. It is evident that God's Holy Spirit had empowered this early Christian community to live a collective life that reflected the model of servant ministry of Jesus.

And this description of a utopian vision of community lasts for five verses - and is not mentioned again as such in the biblical narrative! But in time, it has become idealized, much like Mothers Day* has become. It doesn't tell the whole story.

'Interpreters since the Reformation have proposed that the Acts description of the early church community offered a symbolically idealized portrait of communal life, that these verses describe practices that were necessarily short-lived and limited in scope'. (Rita Halteman Finger, Of Widows and Meals: Communal Meals in the book of Acts). Certainly, the early church community had its strengths as well as its fractures and conflict (the latter permeates the Epistles). And the story in Acts 5 (Ananias and Sapphira) provides the sobering reality of fraud and dishonesty and opportunism that still emerges from time to time in the global church community. The Bishop of Bling comes to mind!

And looking beyond the immediacy of the early church community to the wider context, we see the way this fledgling sect of Judaism adapted quickly to the social and political norms in which it found itself. Women's leadership was marginalized, despite women being amongst the benefactors for the early church. Slaves were told to accept the authority of their masters, even when they are harsh, and to endure suffering. The inclusion and advocacy for the disadvantaged had limits, especially as the church moved from the periphery as a marginal sect of Judaism to being appropriated as the state religion by Constantine. If conforming to the Roman Empire was costly in terms of what happened with the leadership of women, one can imagine the costliness to the integrity of the Christian faith and its traditions and practices when it was appropriated as the religion of the empire.

The story told in Acts begins in Jerusalem and ends in Rome, where according to Eusebius it built structures and hierarchies until it became something that fitted in nicely with the Roman Empire. Does this say something about the way the Christian Church accommodates societal structures and expectations?

It invites me to wonder about the way the Gospel is constantly being aligned with and subsumed into the prevailing social and political and economic realities of our time, rather than offering a challenge to assumptions and values that are embedded in practices and behaviours that denigrate or damage people. How might the Gospel enable the church to hold a mirror up to societal values and then reveal an alternate way - the way of Jesus. Even when it means losing power and privilege, and even financial support (government taxes and grants given to the church). Just maybe, the church can be most effective when it is on the margins, rather than in the centre with its accompanying power and privilege that can effectively compromise the integrity of the Gospel?

God is re-revealing to us the radical message of Jesus - a message of transformation through service, sacrifice and selfless love for our neighbours, enemies and ourselves. A message of humility and simplicity as the way of abundance and eternal life. Christians have never meant to be the ones in power. In fact, history shows us that anytime Christianity is given a position of power and influence, it quickly departs from the Gospel of Jesus. Christianity is the religion that proclaims a God who humbled God-self and entered into creation, taking the form of a servant - who touched the untouchables and spoke sharp truth that exposed those in power. Christianity is a religion centred on the subversive power of love and sacrifice, not power and wealth. (Brandan Robertson, posted on Sojourners website)

Just because Acts 2 has become idealized does not mean it can easily be dismissed. The description of the early church community in Acts 2 anchors humanity's deepest hopes for community, justice, generosity, and meaning specifically as a result of people drawn together by the crucified and risen Christ. This passage does not celebrate community or the church for its own sake. The community of faith exists as an extension of the risen Christ's own commitment to bring hope and healing to the world, so all may live and have life in all its abundance.

May we be open and willing to embrace the joy and pain of change, and to hold to the belief that the global community of believers gathered as the body of Christ is the hope of the world, with the power and potential to renew and reconcile our broken world through the way of Jesus. May it be so. Amen.

(*The service on May 11th, 2014, was also Mothers Day in many countries including Australia)

Today's sermon (at Pilgrim Uniting Church, Adelaide)

Reading: 1 Timothy 6: 6-10, 17 – 19

⁶ Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; ⁷ for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; ⁸ but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. ⁹ But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

¹⁷ As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. ¹⁸ They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, ¹⁹ thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

 

Witness

This is the last Sunday in this Season of Creation series…..

A new report from the IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change (IPCC) was released in Stockholm on Friday, the result of 7 years work by more than 600 scientists and researchers, as well as policy makers. It stated there is now a 95% probability that humans are responsible for global warming. When 97% of scientists say there’s now a 95% probability than humans are responsible for global warning, we should sit up and take notice. We may need to reposition ourselves though, to move from an anthropocentric view of the world – where humans are the centre and everything else is at their disposal, to an eco-centric view of the world where the welfare of the earth takes seriously the intrinsic value of all life. What is good for the earth will also provide for the welfare of human persons but we may need to move our attention from ‘things’, to live with simplicity and contentment, so that life on earth is sustainable for humans.

The IPCC report presents a number of different scenarios of how climate change may unfold over the next century. It is predicted the sea-level will rise anywhere between 26 and 98 cm by 2100. It will bring disaster to our Pacific neighbours and many other parts of the world. The temperature is predicted to rise anywhere between 2 - 4.8 degrees Celsius. The report states that many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and ocean have warmed. The amounts of snow and ice have diminished. The sea level has risen and concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon says, "The heat is on. Now we must act". 

The passage in our reading from 1 Timothy seems to have little to do with this – yet everything to do with some of the underlying causes…..

This passage was written in the context of the Roman Empire, but the words leap off the page in an era dominated by materialism, consumerism and acquisition. There is an insatiable desire for ‘things’. It seems we can never have enough. It’s an endless cycle of acquiring more, in the vain hope of finding contentment, meaning, identity through acquisition. This is particularly so in western countries.

The passage has a great deal to say about one’s attitude to money, to acquisition. It invites us to reflect on the connection of godliness and contentment - for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; ⁸ but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. Anthony de Mello's  contented fisherman  so effectively juxtaposes the attitude of relentless acquisition with the fisherman who has enough and is contented. The word “contentment” (from the Greek term autarkeia)  conveys the important Stoic concept of not being bothered by external circumstances. We don’t need ‘things’ to find that contentment.
Contented Fisherman
One lazy day the rich man found the fisherman lying beside his boat smoking a pipe. The rich man was horrified. “Why aren’t you out fishing?” the rich man asked. “Because I have caught enough fish for the day,” the fisherman answered. “Why don’t you catch some more?” the rich man demanded. “What would I do with it?” replied the fisherman.“Earn more money. Then you could have a motor fixed to your boat and go into deeper waters and catch more fish. That would bring you money to buy nylon nets, so more fish, more money. Soon you would have enough to buy two boats... even a fleet of boats. Then you could be rich like me,” explained the rich man. “What would I do then?”  asked, the fisherman.“Then you could really enjoy life,” the rich man asserted. “What do you think I am doing now?” said the fisherman. The rich man fell silent and shook his head. 

Richard Rohr in his daily devotional email this week reflected:
“We are all complicit in and benefitting from what Dorothy Day called “the dirty rotten system.” That’s not condemning anybody; it’s condemning everybody because we are all complicit in and enjoying the fruits of domination and injustice. (Where were your shirts and underwear made? What wars allow us to have cheap food and gas?) Usually the only way to be really non-complicit in the system is to choose to live a very simple life. That’s the only way out of the system!

Thus most of the great wisdom teachers like Gandhi, Saints Francis and Clare, Simone Weil, Dorothy Day, Jesus and Buddha—lived voluntarily simple lives. That’s almost the only way to stop bending the knee before the system. This is a truly transfigured life in cultures which today are almost always based on climbing, consumption, and competition (1 John 2:15-17)

Once we idealize social climbing, domination of others, status symbols, power, prestige, and possessions, we are part of a never-ending game that is almost impossible to escape. It has its own inner logic that is self-maintaining, self-perpetuating, and self-congratulating, as well as elitist and exclusionary. It will never create a just or happy world, yet most Christians never call it into question. Jesus came to free us from this lie, which will never make us happy anyway, because it’s never enough, and we never completely win”.

It makes sense then that those who have riches “are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life” (1 Timothy 6:18-19). Without that generosity and preparedness to share, greed for money may well plunge others into poverty and ruin.

Rev Dr Jason John (Deacon in the Uniting Church in Australia) is a passionate advocate for eco-justice. He says the double-edged call of eco-justice is premised on the view that the human degradation of nature, of which greenhouse gas emissions and global warming are but a symptom, is fundamentally linked to the social patterns and social institutions that oppress human beings. We cannot address one without the other. Poverty is an ecological problem, just as violations of nature’s biodiversity and the biosphere have exacerbated the extent of global poverty. So, eco-justice assumes that to address environmental degradation in our world we must also challenge the exploitation of the poor. In other words, one part of the world cannot live in an orgy of unrestrained consumption while the rest destroys its environment just to survive.

The passage concludes (6:17-19) with wisdom about using one’s wealth effectively. Freed from the need to accumulate as the means of finding meaning in life, people can turn their attention beyond themselves to the welfare of others and learn to love effectively with the means they have. As we intentionally go deeper into our connection with God, into the heart of love, generosity, compassion, justice and peace, we will then find freedom to connect meaningfully with others, and to our world - and to the best we seek for ourselves – the path of contentment and joy. May it be so.