There was an item in the Sydney Morning Herald. An elderly woman had been killed when struck by a car at the corner of Illawarra and Warren Roads, a few blocks from where I live. She was, according to the story, crossing with a green light. The car which struck her trapped her underneath, and she was carried some 25 metres before the car stopped. She was dead when the body was retrieved, and unrecognisably disfigured.
I wondered who it might be. The woman's age was given as 70 - 80, and her clothing was described. I thought of some of the women in boarding houses around that area who dress similarly.
Then John, one of our deacons, told us, "It was Gwen who died the other night."
Gwen had been to our church once, on the last Sunday in July, when we had our Church Anniversary and fellowship lunch. I don't think she attended the service -- if she did, she wasn't there for much of it -- but that's OK. John had invited her. She lived near him, and he thought she would like the company and friendship.
I was busy after the service, packing things away, chatting to various people. Gwen slipped under my radar. But I found her later, passing along the corridor between the church and the hall, and I introduced myself. I sat with a different group of newcomers at another table, so I didn't talk further to Gwen, but other people did.
A few hours more than a week later, she was dead.
When that kind of thing happens, you ask yourself all kind of "what if?" questions. Would things have been different if I had done something different? I have to answer, "Things probably would not have been different."
But there are implications.
First, I think we did some things right. Someone found Gwen and invited her to a gathering. There are so many lonely people, so many who are at a loose end much of their time. It is always good when they are drawn in and welcomed in some way.
We included her without requiring any "payment". We work on a "donate if you can" system for our normal church meals, but it is never made a big feature. On this occasion, the meal was special, so there was no obligation to contribute.
But there were other aspects of not requiring payment. Gwen was a little lacking in social skills -- she probably hadn't had much reason to practice them for a long time. But she was still welcomed. She didn't have to "clean up" first.
But did we do anything wrong?
Perhaps so. I am unaware that anyone had actually shared the gospel message with her. Ours is not a church to buttonhole people and not let them get away without being evangelised first. But, as we had welcomed her gently, perhaps we should have found some gentle way of letting her know that God loves her, that Jesus died for her, that simple trust is all she needed to become a child of God.
Knowing John, if he ever reads this, I would not be at all surprised if he said, "Of course, I shared the gospel with her. I gave her a tract to read, and I talked to her." That's John. All I mean is that, if something like this happened, no one told me.
Above it all is an issue of the kingdom of God. We want people to belong, to have a family, a community, a "nation", a role in life, oriented around being God's kind of people. Obviously, they can't find that without being told of it. But, whenever we make life better for someone, whenever we ask them in rather than cast them out, whenever we include, we have revealed a glimpse of God's kingdom. We did something good for Gwen: when the next Gwen comes along, I hope we will do more.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
More about Fiji
Tensions between the 300,000-strong Methodist Church in Fiji and the military government continue to grow.
Kim Cain, of Ecumenical News International, writes that just singing hymns in Fiji could destabilise a whole government.
The Fijian Methodist Church's annual conference, which usually brings together up to 1000 church leaders for a week of discussion, celebration and singing, is the supreme decision-making body for the Methodist church.
However, the military government of interim prime minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama has attempted to stop the Conference from taking place in late August. Two top Methodist Church ministers and a paramount chief were charged with defying the Public Emergency Regulation over the conference plans.
Paramount Chief Ro Teimumu along with church president, Rev. Ame Tugaue, and secretary general, Rev. Tuikilakila Waqairatu, were granted bail on 23 July after being held in custody for two days. They were ordered to appear in court in three weeks.
Bail conditions included surrender of travel documents and bans on holding any meetings for 21 days. The two ministers are not to be seen in public or to conduct anything that might be construed to be a meeting.
It is believed to be the first time a Fijian government has clashed so openly with the Methodist church, which has a local reputation for moderation, conservative social values and harmony.
About one third of Fiji's almost one million people are Methodists.
In the days prior to the conference up to 10 000 singing Fijians normally gather for the nation's biggest social gathering: the Fijian choir hymn singing contest. Now church members say the government has also banned the choral feast, fearing it will lead to further political instability. But in a show of religious conviction and support for their church leaders that may have political reverberations for Bainimarama's fragile hold on power, it is rumoured that many more choirs plan to come to Suva to sing their hymns of God's power and might.
Ecumenical News International reports that between 20 000 and 50 000 Fijian Methodists plan to flock to the national capital, Suva, to ensure the hymn singing - and the church conference - goes ahead. "The tension is growing and there is a great deal of anger," an Australian church leader in regular contact with Fijians told ENI.
"People are concerned that it will just take a clash between a couple of angry young people and the military for violence to erupt, he said. "While there may be only two roads into the area around the airport and the military may think they can control the area, many are concerned that 50 000 people will be beyond their capacity and then they may resort to violence," he stated.
Meanwhile Methodist church leaders are reported to be finding alternative leadership structures to deal with the muzzling of their president and general secretary, whose strict bail terms prevent their from talking to more than one person at a time.
At this stage, the church is determined to hold its annual conference. ENI has learnt that many church members will still attend the location of the conference, even if church leaders call the gathering off. Radio New Zealand reports that Fijian church leaders fear that the government monitors their electronic communications - telephone and email.
As the stand off between the church and the military grows, the national assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia, which includes former Methodists, has pledged its "prayerful support" for the Fijian church, sending an envoy to Suva as a sign of support for the Methodists.
This is a situation calling for the prayerful support of Christians world-wide.
This blog is adapted from an article in Insights, the official publication of the Synod of New South Wales and the ACT, part of the Uniting Church in Australia. Last modified July 28, 2009 and republished by Rowland Croucher on Facebook.
Kim Cain, of Ecumenical News International, writes that just singing hymns in Fiji could destabilise a whole government.
The Fijian Methodist Church's annual conference, which usually brings together up to 1000 church leaders for a week of discussion, celebration and singing, is the supreme decision-making body for the Methodist church.
However, the military government of interim prime minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama has attempted to stop the Conference from taking place in late August. Two top Methodist Church ministers and a paramount chief were charged with defying the Public Emergency Regulation over the conference plans.
Paramount Chief Ro Teimumu along with church president, Rev. Ame Tugaue, and secretary general, Rev. Tuikilakila Waqairatu, were granted bail on 23 July after being held in custody for two days. They were ordered to appear in court in three weeks.
Bail conditions included surrender of travel documents and bans on holding any meetings for 21 days. The two ministers are not to be seen in public or to conduct anything that might be construed to be a meeting.
It is believed to be the first time a Fijian government has clashed so openly with the Methodist church, which has a local reputation for moderation, conservative social values and harmony.
About one third of Fiji's almost one million people are Methodists.
In the days prior to the conference up to 10 000 singing Fijians normally gather for the nation's biggest social gathering: the Fijian choir hymn singing contest. Now church members say the government has also banned the choral feast, fearing it will lead to further political instability. But in a show of religious conviction and support for their church leaders that may have political reverberations for Bainimarama's fragile hold on power, it is rumoured that many more choirs plan to come to Suva to sing their hymns of God's power and might.
Ecumenical News International reports that between 20 000 and 50 000 Fijian Methodists plan to flock to the national capital, Suva, to ensure the hymn singing - and the church conference - goes ahead. "The tension is growing and there is a great deal of anger," an Australian church leader in regular contact with Fijians told ENI.
"People are concerned that it will just take a clash between a couple of angry young people and the military for violence to erupt, he said. "While there may be only two roads into the area around the airport and the military may think they can control the area, many are concerned that 50 000 people will be beyond their capacity and then they may resort to violence," he stated.
Meanwhile Methodist church leaders are reported to be finding alternative leadership structures to deal with the muzzling of their president and general secretary, whose strict bail terms prevent their from talking to more than one person at a time.
At this stage, the church is determined to hold its annual conference. ENI has learnt that many church members will still attend the location of the conference, even if church leaders call the gathering off. Radio New Zealand reports that Fijian church leaders fear that the government monitors their electronic communications - telephone and email.
As the stand off between the church and the military grows, the national assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia, which includes former Methodists, has pledged its "prayerful support" for the Fijian church, sending an envoy to Suva as a sign of support for the Methodists.
This is a situation calling for the prayerful support of Christians world-wide.
This blog is adapted from an article in Insights, the official publication of the Synod of New South Wales and the ACT, part of the Uniting Church in Australia. Last modified July 28, 2009 and republished by Rowland Croucher on Facebook.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Carbon trading and Apocalyptic conditions
There's been some discussion going on about global warming.
A friend remarked that carbon trading, in his opinion, is a farce, a global tax hike to reduce government debt after "years of uncontrolled spending." He sees the current Labor government as mainly to blame.
I responded that I believe carbon trading to be a farce, but not for the reasons he suggests. I see it as a licence for big polluters to keep polluting, which also shifts responsibility from the polluting companies to the third world where carbon sinks are cheap.
However, I can't see that carbon taxes have anything to do with tax hikes as a revenue-raising technique, particularly as they were mooted back when Australia was making quite a bit out of the mining boom, before the Global Financial Crisis struck. And, even if I expect these measures to be ineffective and more a sop to businesses than a genuine solution, surely they have everything to do with trying to ensure that we have a world fit to occupy when our children and grandchildren are trying to live their lives.
I told my friend that there is little hope of getting the developing world on board unless we are willing to take the first steps.
He then responded that climate change might be a natural earth cycle that nothing man does changes.
I can't see that that changes anything in terms of our response. Even if there is an underlying natural cycle, since industrialisation we have been pouring greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at unprecedented rates.
The problem now is that the world is entering a positive feedback cycle where greenhouse conditions run out of control. It’s the old Coke in the sun thing: heat a bottle of soft drink, and the gas comes out of solution. The same thing happens to greenhouse gases dissolved in ocean water or trapped in peat bogs and northern tundra. The hotter these get, the more carbon dioxide and othr gases are expelled and re-enter the atmosphere.
So, even if there is a natural cycle, what we do is now pushing it over the edge. We risk a run-away event.
All these things remind me of the plagues (desertification, locusts, run-away heat) in Revelation: people still didn’t repent, even when they saw others succumb.
Isn’t that human, and isn’t that happening now?
A friend remarked that carbon trading, in his opinion, is a farce, a global tax hike to reduce government debt after "years of uncontrolled spending." He sees the current Labor government as mainly to blame.
I responded that I believe carbon trading to be a farce, but not for the reasons he suggests. I see it as a licence for big polluters to keep polluting, which also shifts responsibility from the polluting companies to the third world where carbon sinks are cheap.
However, I can't see that carbon taxes have anything to do with tax hikes as a revenue-raising technique, particularly as they were mooted back when Australia was making quite a bit out of the mining boom, before the Global Financial Crisis struck. And, even if I expect these measures to be ineffective and more a sop to businesses than a genuine solution, surely they have everything to do with trying to ensure that we have a world fit to occupy when our children and grandchildren are trying to live their lives.
I told my friend that there is little hope of getting the developing world on board unless we are willing to take the first steps.
He then responded that climate change might be a natural earth cycle that nothing man does changes.
I can't see that that changes anything in terms of our response. Even if there is an underlying natural cycle, since industrialisation we have been pouring greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at unprecedented rates.
The problem now is that the world is entering a positive feedback cycle where greenhouse conditions run out of control. It’s the old Coke in the sun thing: heat a bottle of soft drink, and the gas comes out of solution. The same thing happens to greenhouse gases dissolved in ocean water or trapped in peat bogs and northern tundra. The hotter these get, the more carbon dioxide and othr gases are expelled and re-enter the atmosphere.
So, even if there is a natural cycle, what we do is now pushing it over the edge. We risk a run-away event.
All these things remind me of the plagues (desertification, locusts, run-away heat) in Revelation: people still didn’t repent, even when they saw others succumb.
Isn’t that human, and isn’t that happening now?
Thursday, July 30, 2009
More about Madeline
I wrote earlier about the death of Madeline Neumann, whose parents prayed as she died on the floor of their house. She was becoming increasingly ill with diabetes for some time before the end came.
I remarked,
"With the woeful state of public health care in the US, do people turn to "faith healing" cults out of fear that they will not be able to obtain proper health care through the system when they need it?"
I also suggested that the girls' parents' unwillingness to treat their daughter's illness as an ordinary human disease, their insistence that it was a "spiritual" issue, suggested that they didn't really grasp the idea of the incarnation. That is, they didn't fully recognise that God has come among us in the person of the human being, Jesus Christ. Theirs is an inhuman faith, as evidenced by the cruel death of the little girl.
It was reported today that the family was not linked with any denomination. It seems that they practised a private household religion. They called themselves "Full Gospel" Christians, but didn't belong anywhere.
Reading this, I am more than ever convinced that the parents followed a deviant form of Christianity. Their isolation is what you would suspect of people who have little concept of the value of others.
The great 18th Century evangelist and revivalist, John Wesley, remarked, "The Bible knows nothing of the solitary Christian." He is right. We need each other, and people who withdraw to their own house, cut off from others, directly contravene the saying of 1 John 4: 20,
...anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
Imagine if those parents had belonged to a properly functioning congregation. Imagine if there had been people around to comment on the little girl's illness before it got so serious. Imagine if someone had noticed that there was a problem in relationships and perhaps helped them resolve it and not let it get all messed up with the little girl's illness. Even a limited community is better than nothing.
A faulty theology is always intimately connected with a faulty understanding of human beings.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
The sad death of a sick child
Today's Sydney Morning Herald has a sad item (http://www.smh.com.au/world/mother-of-dead-girl-sickness-was-test-of-faith-20090729-e0eh.html) about a woman whose 11 year old daughter died of diabetes while her parents prayed. They believed the girl's sickness was due to a bad relationship between themselves and another couple from the church.
I am horified when I read such things.
I have seen a small number of dramatic healings after focused prayer in my 45-odd years as a Christian.
- My brother recovered overnight from an infection which had been scheduled for scarring surgery the next day.
- Our former church secretary was on his feet two days after surgery expected to keep him off his feet for ten days.
- I began recovering from pneumonia the night when our church prayed for me at a specially scheduled meeting they forgot to tell me about.
- A woman with diagnosed advanced bladder cancer was found to have no tumours when she presented for surgery the day after extensive prayer for her. She was not a believer herself.
Of course, we have prayed for people and been pleased that their recovery seemed to speed up, but that's not something you can measure. We still pray, trusting that the Lord who loves us will do something good.
Sometimes the "something good" has not been physical healing, but perhaps confidence to get on with life despite the illness, or a better diagnosis, or a seemingly coincidental link up with a different specialist.
Often the only thing we see is that the person feels supported, knowing that people care. I don't think that's an unimportant consequence.
But this news story is an example of lethally evil religious wrong-headedness.
First, why should the child, who had no role in the parents' conflicts, be the one who suffers? Surely the disconnect between supposed cause and consequences should have made the parents think twice!
Second, how could such serious symptoms be proportionate to the offence of bad blood between two families? Why didn't the parents ask themselves this?
Third, even if the relational problem underlay the child's illness, and the parents were convinced that dealing with it would have a bearing on their daughter's recovery,why didn't they contact the other family, make arrangements to meet and sort out the conflict, and take the child to hospital?
A faith which does not include trusting in other people, including professionals, seems to me to be a pretty hollow and meaningless faith for people claiming to be Christian, for all its appearance of "spirituality". Surely the whole idea of the incarnation is that God was manifest in a human being, and our faith is in that human being. Christian faith is not airy-fairy, but about a real human, coming into a precise period of history and being God with us. It is a human faith.
But I can't avoid going further and wondering what role the State itself has in this whole sad issue.
With the woeful state of public health care in the US, do people turn to "faith healing" cults out of fear that they will not be able to obtain proper health care through the system when they need it? I certainly see too many on the religious right in the US who are so vehemently opposed to universal health care that I do wonder where the bottom line lies: who stands to gain and who to lose if such a system comes in?
If my guess is right, that people take to religious answers when the state fails to provide basic common care, then the US itself has to take some responsibility for the death of Madeline Neumann of Wisconsin.
Friday, July 24, 2009
The buzz continues about Fiji Methodist arrests
LOCAL NEWS REPORT
A full news report by the Fiji Times about the appearances of Methodist leaders and a local Chief in court in Suva appears at http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=126012.GROWING ATTACKS ON METHODISTS
It seems that the Methodist Church in Fiji has been seen as a potential threat to the current regime for some months.
In a blog dated 24 January, widely associated with the Fijian Ombudsman, Shaista Shameem, an anonymous writer railed against Methodist leaders, describing them as The Snake in Priests Clothing, and saying,
"The Methodist Church is a sham. Its leaders (who spend time abusing young children) drive around in expensive vehicles while its members scrounge round for morsels of food. The very existence of this denomination raises serious concerns about the level of involvement the church has in politics and over time, the idiotic priests have stated that politics and religion should go hand in hand. We beg to disagree. People such as Tuikilakila Waqairatu should be strung by their feet and the people of this country should stone these heathens to death for their comments and actions which have led this country to the brink of a racial war. [My emphasis] The leaders of the church preach and promote racial hatred openly. Its members are then forced to give huge sums of money for the leaders benefits. We do not see this as a church of the people. We are certain that the leaders of the church have long given up their role as teachers of good and advocate everything the devil stands for."
On 27 Jan, the blog adds,
"We apologize to our readers that when we asked that Waqairatu be strung up by his feet, we had failed to add cult leader Manasa Lasaro to the whole affair. These two men should be strung up by their feet then set on fire for the world to see what happens when you try to commit seditious acts or incite racial hatred. [My emphasis] These men are not fit for this world and since they worship the devil in secret, they should be sent to his world accordingly."
THE GOVERNMENT LINE
The Fiji Government website (http://www.fiji.gov.fj/publish/page_15547.shtml) comments on this case:
"Government and Military spokesperson, Lt-Col Neumi Leweni, today said Government is firm about its decision to cancel the Methodist Church annual conference because the church is clearly pushing a political agenda rather than focussing on its core role of promoting spiritual development [...]
"The decision to defer the Methodist Conference indefinitely was borne out of the inclusion of political issues in the Methodist Conference agenda. This was a clear breach of the Public Emergency Regulation and also not a matter for the church to discuss.
"Government issued a permit for their meeting last week with conditions, and on the understanding that they will help find a way forward for our nation. “Government asked the committee to understand Fiji’s socio-political situation and assist in our nation-building initiatives that promotes, among other things, equal opportunities for all citizens in the country irrespective of race, colour or creed.”
“Instead the committee has chosen to continue to push its political agenda,” Lt-Col Leweni said.
He said some members of the church have now been taken in for questioning and will be released once the investigations are over.
"Also under investigation is Ro Teimumu for a statement released yesterday which could be termed as a form of incitement.
"Lt-Col Leweni said Government continues to appeal to the public to keep the peace and respect the rule of law."
"The decision to defer the Methodist Conference indefinitely was borne out of the inclusion of political issues in the Methodist Conference agenda. This was a clear breach of the Public Emergency Regulation and also not a matter for the church to discuss.
"Government issued a permit for their meeting last week with conditions, and on the understanding that they will help find a way forward for our nation. “Government asked the committee to understand Fiji’s socio-political situation and assist in our nation-building initiatives that promotes, among other things, equal opportunities for all citizens in the country irrespective of race, colour or creed.”
“Instead the committee has chosen to continue to push its political agenda,” Lt-Col Leweni said.
He said some members of the church have now been taken in for questioning and will be released once the investigations are over.
"Also under investigation is Ro Teimumu for a statement released yesterday which could be termed as a form of incitement.
"Lt-Col Leweni said Government continues to appeal to the public to keep the peace and respect the rule of law."
TAIWAN MEDIA REPORT AUST RESPONSE
Meanwhile, the Taiwan News (http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1011649&lang=eng_news) reports, under the heading, Australian FM condemns Fiji church arrests, that the Australian Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, said from Thailand, "We absolutely condemn what has occurred," Smith told reporters. "It does show a consistent course of conduct so far as Commander Bainimarama and the interim military is concerned. This is just another very regrettable example of the regime further isolating itself from the international community and further stepping back from democracy and civil and human rights."
The TN report says that Smith added that the move will further isolate the Pacific island nation's rulers from the international community.
TN reports that one of those taken into custody, the Rev. Manasa Lasaro, was also arrested in June for a sermon demanding freedom of speech.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Fiji Methodists Update
The Baptist and Uniting Churches in NSW are now fully aware of the situation, and Church members are being circulated about the serious limitations on the religious liberty of Fijian Christian leaders. The Anglican Church has referred the matter to the Archbishop.
Baptists have been asked to take whatever action their consciences suggest, with the note that "Baptists have historically stood alongside all those who suffer on account of their religious belief/practice, and I would hope some decisive action might be taken by Australian Baptists in the face of the coercive actions by the Fijian authorities." (Rod Benson, Ethicist, Baptist Churches of NSW & ACT)
Whether Fijian Baptists are currently under pressure from the government is unclear. This situation was triggered by Methodist refusal to accept a Government ban on the annual Methodist Conference. This ban was imposed apparently out of fear that the widely supported Methodist Church in Fiji might form a base for opposition to the Government. (See earlier posting.)
There is evidence that some U.S. fundamentalists are strongly supporting the military dictatorship in Fiji, and some leaders in the current Government claim to be Christian.So far, the President and General Secretary of the Methodist Church in Fiji have appeared in court in Suva facing charges under the Public Order Act due to alleged non-compliance with conditions of a Police Permit for a meeting of the Methodist Standing Committee. Why Police Permits are deemed necessary for a Church leaders' committee meeting is not explained.The two ministers have been bailed subject to travel restrictions and a conditions that they must not contravene the Public Order Act. Two others arrested with them were not charged.The Chief of the Rewa Province was also charged under the same Act over a letter supportive of holding the Annual Conference. The case has garnered considerable public interest in Fiji despite clamps on the media and on dissemination of information.
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