Crosslight August

august 2020

minority

report Why we need to do more to embrace our colourful congregations

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The constant surprise is finding God is at work “ sparking off new shoots of growth sometimes in ways we may have been resisting for years”

Reverend Denise Liersch Vic Tas Synod

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Like so many of us, I’ve spent a lot of time in Zoom meetings or on the phone over the past months and have been struck by how much I keep hearing the themes of connection from so many people, from all sorts of contexts.

It’s a theme of our public health messages and across the media.

Congress Tasmania has found strong themes in “connection” and “campfire”, and this year’s National Reconciliation Week theme was “In this together”. We hear “we are one” and Ben Lee’s song We’re All In This Together over and over again.

I wondered if people would get tired of talking about needing to keep connected, and the impact of being disconnected, yet it seems it won’t let us go. We have a heightened awareness of the critical importance of human and social connection for our mental, communal and spiritual wellbeing and wholeness, and we keep discovering new aspects to what this means, and sharing it with each other.

So what have we been discovering?

We are learning that technological skills are not necessarily required to keep us connected – though it helps dramatically. We are far more adaptable and able to learn more new skills than we ever thought possible. Yet we can also keep connected through phone, printed prayer and worship sheets and letters in creative and innovative ways.

Where deeper and more significant connections are being formed, it seems to be through ministers, leaders and community members intentionally working together and caring for each other, moved by a heightened awareness that human connection with God and each other lies at the heart of faith. The ministry of eldership is seeing a deep renewal in many communities.

Changed ways of gathering have

opened up new relationships, including with people who had never before connected to the church. Stories of the generosity of wider community members have been shared, where people with no previous connection to the Church have stepped in to assist in mission when at-risk congregational volunteers have needed to step back.

Congregations don’t have to do it all alone: they can work together in partnership with the wider community, connected in loving service by a shared sense of purpose.

Whether restrictions are easing or tightening, communities are discovering that keeping connected and serving their local communities doesn’t necessarily depend as much on their buildings or traditional programs as they expected, and some are reconsidering the future focus and shape of their ministry and mission as a result. With increased sharing and collaboration, some congregations are seeing the possibilities of continuing their sharing arrangements with other congregations, rather than seeking to return to their previous independent existence.

Awareness of our deep spiritual need for connection and community, has heightened our awareness of the disproportionate effect on those whose connection to the wider community is already tenuous or suppressed.

For those whose daily lives include experience of racism, disregard, prejudice or stigma, the impact of being isolated and disconnected is amplified.

It’s not surprising that there is such a rising up at this time, with the cry out against police brutality and systemic racism in the US resonating with the experience of First Peoples and people of colour in Australia – and in our own Church.

We speak about how our humanity

and the integrity of our whole Church is diminished wherever we are willing to live with marginalisation of others, so it is inspiring to hear more and stronger voices naming what needs to change for us to be a more truly multicultural Church, First and Second Peoples walking together. Of course, this needs to be through what we do and not just what we say. This will be especially important in how we meet together as a Synod in February, and how we approach together the various challenges, including financial challenges, brought about through the effects of the pandemic.

For almost every community and area of ministry, especially in areas of tightened restrictions, there is tiredness, sometimes exhaustion, and uncertainty about how long we can hold out and hold through these times. The cumulative effect of constantly adapting and readapting to each new change, is taking its toll. We live in the tension of knowing we are sustained by grace and not by works, and the temptation to think we are responsible for the survival of the Church through these times. The constant surprise is finding God is at work sparking off new shoots of growth and opening up new possibilities, sometimes in ways we may have been resisting for years, and in the most unexpected ways.

As we learn how fragile we are as humans, how tenuous our hold on our mental and spiritual wellbeing, and how easily our plans and sense of security can be turned upside down, the Spirit is moving us to know how much we are upheld and sustained by each other in faith, how much prayer is the core of our life together as individuals and as communities of faith, and how little it sometimes takes to bring sustaining life to others.

The Spirit is moving us to know we are a family in faith, holding together and upholding each other in love – through phone and Zoom prayer and friendship groups, shared cuppas (virtual or real) and Facebook exchanges. In our ministry, mission and learning, the Spirit is drawing us into more collaboration

and sharing as leaders, ministers, worshipping communities, and councils of the Church, upholding each other, praying with and for each other.

A recurring image for me over these past few weeks has been Jesus as the vine: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. Now remain in my love.” (John 15) The image is not so much about being connected with each other, but about all of us being connected together into the life of God through Jesus. No congregation can exist as a disconnected branch, operating autonomously. We find our life connected as part of the whole Church, into the vine. The image also reminds us that healthy vines bear fruit to sustain the life of others – for the sake of the world God loves. And the image includes an awareness of the constant cycle of seasons and the muchneeded process of regular pruning by the gardener – so essential to ensure the health and vigour of the vine as a whole, as well as its capacity to bear fruit.

This image of painful pruning resonates with our experience of the huge change and challenges we face as a nation and as a Church, in our mission and ministry, our congregations, presbyteries and Synod. There is much that seems to be changing, falling away, or that we know needs to be cut back.

Yet pruning also evokes the promise of new branches sprouting in new directions to be more fruitful than ever, whether that be work toward an increase in social housing, new partnerships and sharing of resources in local ministry, or new connections with the community in mission.

The invitation is to remain together, knowing ourselves as branches of one Church rooted in the life of Christ, and to continue to share and work together – even as we open ourselves to be pruned by the Spirit of God in order that the whole vine might flourish and be renewed.

I pray that the Spirit of grace may continue to grow in us, that we may remain in the love of Christ.

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Cha nge Minister of

All things being equal, St Michael’s new minister would have lived a less public life.

But things are never equal, as this social justice advocate knows all too well.

By David Southwell

In 1976, a news photo of a distraught young African man carrying the prone body of a black schoolboy shocked the world.

The futile attempt to save 13-year-old Hector Pieterson, who was shot dead by white South African police, became an iconic image of the Soweto Uprising.

The ferment spread by this moment also proved a watershed moment for an exchange student from New Zealand, who has gone on to be one the Uniting

Church’s leading progressive voices on social issues.

St Michael’s Uniting Church minister Rev Dr Margaret Mayman found herself part of the maelstrom that engulfed South Africa after the Uprising when she spent her last high school year in Cape Town.

Margaret, who is only the second minister St Michael’s has had in the past 45 years, describes it as a formative period in her life.

“It was the first time that I realised that people of Christian faith can either be supportive of the status quo, religiously justifying the situation of oppression, or they can be part of a movement of transformation. I met both sorts of Christians,” she says.

“That was an incredibly galvanising experience, being there for that year.”

The Soweto Uprising was a spontaneous rally in the township just outside of Johannesburg by black Continued P6

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Margaret Mayman believes the church’s engagement in what she calls “public prophetic ministry” is resonating with people.

Image: Carl Rainer

From P4

African school students against being taught Afrikaans, the language of the white minority government.

It ignited similar protests around the country, including in Cape Town.

“One day I was caught up in one of the student movements into the city where they were talking about trying to raise awareness about the impact of being taught in Afrikaans, the oppressor’s language,” Margaret says “I witnessed the South African police respond with tear gas and rubber bullets towards a crowd of school children.

“I was on the sidewalk and, as a white person, I was safe but the stores were closing their doors. I just stood and looked around. A woman who was running a boutique opened the door and let me in.

“I was privileged by my race to be in a safe place, but I remember walking back as the protest ended and there was still a lot of tear gas in the air.

“I was coughing, but I wanted to get back to the train for the suburbs where I was living. An African man saw me, a 17-year-old, with tears streaming and coughing.

“He said, ‘It’s your government that has done this to you madam’.

“It was the first time I had encountered an African person apart from the servants who worked in the homes of my host families.

“Part of my brain said ‘it’s not my government’ but I also thought ‘I am hearing someone who is African speak back’.

“It was an incredibly profound moment in my life.”

Margaret has been on the frontlines of many struggles for social justice since.

She is perhaps best known in Australia for her advocacy of LGBTQI issues, including a prominent role in the campaign for marriage equality while she was minister at Sydney’s Pitt Street Uniting Church.

It was a battle she had already fought in her home country.

“In terms of civil marriage equality, I feel like I have done that three times,” she says.

“New Zealand first had civil union legislation, so we had Christians for Civil 6

Unions and then Christians for Marriage Equality.

“In both cases, we made sure that politicians and the public realised that there wasn’t just one Christian view.

“Then I came here in 2013 and connected with Australian Marriage Equality. We all thought it would all be over in six months.

“But it went on for four more years and then there was the postal survey in 2017. That was a really unhelpful and damaging experience.”

Margaret can testify personally to the rancour of that time.

“Because Pitt Street Uniting was visible, and I was visible, we received anonymous harassing and threatening communications, some by mail and several times our sign being defaced and offensive things written,” she says “One Sunday morning, during the open microphone prayers of the people, two opponents of marriage equality who had come to the service used that time to denounce us.

“The organist was really good. After a while he began to pray loudly and we sang Let us build a house where all may dwell with the chorus: All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.”

The online arena was also intense.

“We had an Australian Christians for Marriage Equality Facebook page that got a huge volume of response both positive and negative,” Margaret says.

“To start with there were just two of us moderating it, but once we promoted posts we needed about 12 people. We had people rostered almost 24 hours a day. The WA people clocked off at midnight and I started at 5am.”

This advocacy was part of her ministry, but it was also personal for Margaret.

She married her partner, Clare, when both were Presbyterian ministers in 2013, the year that marriage equality became legal in New Zealand.

Margaret grew up in a regional area of New Zealand’s South Island and said she was part of a caring Presbyterian churchattending family with a strong ethic of community service.

“There were no negative messages about sexuality in my formative

I feel passionately about t “things I have been involved

I know that injustice impacts pe lives so that is what motivat and sustains me.

”

experiences of family or church,” Margaret says.

“I never internalised any of the kind of homophobic Christian teaching. I’ve known gay and lesbian people all my adult life. I believe that God has created us in great diversity and that is wonderful.”

Margaret says she was “shocked” to encounter hostile Christian views about homosexuality when she studied for a theological degree.

“I remember one of the students in an ethics class saying, ‘but it’s an abomination’,” she says.

“I was 20. I thought ‘I am going to have to go home and look up what that means but it doesn’t sound good’.”

the in. eople’s ates

After ordination by the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand and some congregation ministry, Margaret went to America to gain a PhD in ethics from Union Seminary in New York.

She then ministered for six years in a suburban Christchurch congregation before moving to the inner-city St Andrew’s on the Terrace in Wellington.

When Margaret began at St Andrew’s in 2002 the congregation was dwindling, a trend that reversed in her 12 years there.

She believes this is in part due to the church’s engagement in what she calls

“public prophetic ministry”. “People see a church making a difference in the world,” she says.

“Some who might have had a Christian background and walked away because they have had difficulties about sexuality, or issues of doctrine, felt safe to come back to church.”

Margaret has been a strong advocate on many social justice matters, including New Zealand’s living wage campaign, climate justice and supporting refugees and people seeking asylum.

“At St Andrew’s we were only 200m from

Continued P8

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parliament, so I worked directly with progressive politicians on a number of legislative issues,” she says.

“One of the most important and challenging ones was working to change the law that allowed the use of physical force to discipline a child.

“Working with a coalition of religious leaders and secular child welfare advocates, we were successful in bringing about a law change that made it illegal to physically punish children in New Zealand.”

In 2013, Margaret decided to take on the new challenges of moving to Australia and ministering at Sydney’s Pitt Street Uniting Church.

Through the UCA Admission to Ministry process, Margaret and Clare became Uniting Church ministers in 2015.

“We could be here three years without becoming Uniting Church ministers, but we immediately decided to do what was required,” Margaret says, “We jokingly refer to the study program as our ‘UCA reprogramming’. We’re very glad we did that because we really are Uniting Church ministers, rather than Presbyterian ministers sojourning here.

“I have really enjoyed being part of the Uniting Church, I know there is theological breadth but there is more making space for difference than there was in my denomination in New Zealand.

“The Uniting Church has a commitment to being involved in justice issues, helping politicians and community leaders understand our faith calls us to be present in the world and to be working for the common good. I love that about the Uniting Church.”

Last year, Margaret was a leading advocate for law decriminalising abortion in NSW and presented evidence in support of the Bill before a parliamentary inquiry.

Margaret said the temptation not to once more put her head above the parapet in such emotive debates was a fleeting one.

“I think because I have got the training

in Christian ethics, I have been able to articulate a Christian perspective in ways that politicians and the public can understand,” she says.

“I feel passionately about the things I have been involved in and some of them have touched my own life. I know that injustice impacts people’s lives so that is what motivates and sustains me.”

Margaret also finds other sources of strength to sustain her public role.

“This is where I draw on spiritual resources that come to me in relationships with friends and spending time with people who are supportive and caring,” she says.

“I could not have done all that I have in the church and the broader society if I didn’t have the loving, mutually

but as happens in the Uniting Church, I was invited to a conversation and it seemed like a good thing to do,” Margaret says.

“In those meetings I became intrigued and enthused about what St Michael’s was, and what it could be in the city.”

Following the departure of their longstanding, and at times controversial, minister Rev Dr Francis Macnab in late 2016, St Michael’s spent three years searching for a permanent replacement.

“After a very long ministry, and a particular focus, there is a strong sense of St Michael’s identity,” Margaret says.

“It seems to me that people both value the past and recognise that this is a new phase in the life of St Michael’s.”

Margaret, who was inducted as St Michael’s minister in February this year, is still in the early stages of working out what this new phase will look like.

“A major challenge that churches like St Michael’s face is how to be a presence in the city during the week. There are so many people living in the CBD now, and yet few congregation members do,” she says.

“In large cities there are people experiencing the stress associated with life in the city. There’s isolation. Many people are working really hard and struggling to find the time for what really matters in their lives.

“So, I hope that what will unfold is a way of engaging with the community around us. COVID-19 will add economic uncertainty and anxiety to the mix.”

In a year when images of white police brutality against black people have again shocked the world, the conviction to stand up for the marginalised, disadvantaged and oppressed will continue to be a focal point of Margaret’s ministry.

“I have a passion for social justice issues. It remains to be seen what will emerge for St Michael’s, but I think the post-COVID world will lead to significant changes in mission and ministry,” she says. “There is a Gospel imperative to be involved in the world and to join with God in the transformation of the world for the common good.”

I never internalised any of the “ kind of homophobic Christian teaching.

I believe that God has created us in great diversity and that is wonderful.

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supportive relationship I have with Clare.”

Margaret’s adult son Andrew was born while she was a graduate student at Union Seminary. He was diagnosed as autistic when he was two.

Margaret says that obtaining early intervention services and appropriate education for Andrew taught her resilience that has strengthened her ministry.

“I’ve never had the sense that when something difficult happens it is God’s plan or God is testing you or anything like that,” she says.

“When Andrew was diagnosed, I wondered how I was going to cope. And while he did get really good services, they did not come without a fight.

“I learnt to be an advocate in that context. I found the strength to do what I needed to do for him.”

Last year, Margaret became aware of another progressive inner-city church looking for a new minister, St Michael’s Uniting Church, in Melbourne’s CBD. “All was going well at Pitt Street and there were interesting things emerging,

”

Margaret and partner Clare at the Mardi Gras.

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SEX,

God Jione Havea teaches Sex & The Bible at Pilgrim Theological College. Why? Because there’s a lot to explore and explain and many people “dirtify” the subject.

Interview by Frank Porter

What drew you to this subject?

The main task is to change how we look at the Bible.

minds, evil. I want to show my students that the body is something that is divine.

How do you mean?

Historically, biblical interpretation divides the spirit and the body – the spirit is a good thing and the body is a bad thing and so things like desire and sex, by association, are bad and in some

As an overview, would you say the Bible is pro-sex or anti-sex?

In general, it’s anti. It’s anti-pleasure.

Pleasure and desire are considered not to be things of the spirit; the spirit is pointed towards being with God.

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Israel Folau caused quite a stir last year when he used the Bible to endorse his homophobic views.

What’s your take on the Bible’s stance in regard to homosexuality? Is it a sin or are we being too dogmatic?

The Bible does say in some places that it is a sin, but the Bible is how many thousands of years old? So why should we continue to hold on to those

doctrines? I’d be the last person to deny that the Bible makes these stupid laws.

But, why do we still value such out-ofdate teachings?

Does the Bible talk to us in 2020, or is it completely out of date?

I think it does speak to modern society, but going back to the Folau issue, just focusing on one voice of the Bible is not

helpful. Folau looked at Leviticus 18 and 20, but there are other voices, like Solomon’s Song of Songs, where the body, pleasure and sex are celebrated.

Tradition speaks of the poet/singer as Solomon, but the lover is also male. The lover and the beloved are both male. So if Solomon is the singer who is longing for the lover, and the lover is masculine, why can’t those passages be held up next

to Leviticus?I would say that the Bible is relevant as long as we look at all of it, all of the voices and paradoxes. To highlight just one isn’t helpful.

What is the Bible’s stance on sex before marriage?

Sex happens before marriage in a traditional sense and even in the Bible.

Abraham, for example, was having sex Continued P12

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From P11

with women he wasn’t married to. So there is sex before marriage and outside of marriage.

So is the Bible saying, it’s OK or not OK to have sex before marriage?

I would say that in some places it says it’s OK and in other places it says it’s not OK. The Bible has multiple voices, it’s not one or the other. It’s about being able to see the complexity, which we don’t always do.

In the Bible’s view, is sex purely for procreation?

No, I can’t say that. In Genesis it is, but in Song of Songs sex is also about pleasure.

In Genesis 1 and 2 it’s about procreation, and procreation is about domination. So it’s like you build up your army, you have to produce your soldiers, it’s that kind

human. Why do we assume that lust is a dirty frame of mind?

In Genesis, there’s a passage on incest.

“So they got their father to drink wine that night also. And the younger daughter went in and slept with him, etc, etc, etc.” What the hell is that about?

Yeah, it’s a good question. It’s there and we shouldn’t turn a blind eye from it. We should at least say this is ridiculous.

One way of reading around it is to say that this is justification because of their need to procreate. This is one of the texts that I’m thinking of dealing with in my course. But I mean, how realistic is it?

You get so drunk and yet you can still perform? I’ve been drunk a few times.

Nothing works. (laughs) So, for me, in this particular text, it’s

I imagine that Jesus had his moments of lusting. “ Why do we assume that lust is a dirty frame of mind? ” of mentality. Rape is in the Bible. There is the rape of Jacob’s daughter and the rape of David’s daughter. Rape is about power. So procreation is part of it, but that’s not the only way the Bible sees sex.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is very anti-lust. “I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery.” I would have thought lust and sex would be hard to separate. We’re all sexual beings so to be so strident against lust seems a bit unrealistic.

You’re right, lust is part of what it means to be human. I’ve had Pasifika priests admit to me that they feel lust at times, including when they serve the eucharist.

I think Jesus missed the point.

I think it’s hard to be human without having this longing, this desire, this lust, whether it’s male or female, same gender or something else.

I also imagine that Jesus had his moments of lusting, if he was a real 12

the envy of patriarchy to be raped by someone, including your daughter, which is ridiculous. For me, it’s a fantasy, a patriarchal fantasy.

You’ve said it’s ridiculous, but it’s still in there, so does having something so ridiculous discredit the Bible?

No, but it reflects reality. Open a newspaper and you’ll see these kind of violences taking place.

Yes, but a newspaper is not held up as a tome of morality.

Maybe the assumption that the Bible is a tome of morality is the problem. The Bible shows different sides of living – the good side as well as the ugly side.

Does the Bible have a view on circumcision? Should men be circumcised or not?

Circumcision is tied up to the act of making sacrifices. Of making a cut to a covenant. In the case of Abraham, it’s used as a sign of the covenant between

God and the chosen people, who are only male. All the females are left out.

But if you go back and look at the history of this act of circumcision, it’s an Egyptian practice.

Foreskins get a mention too and they don’t seem to be a good thing. “Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and threw it at Moses’s feet, and she said, ‘You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me’.” Exodus 4:25 It depends on how you’re reading it. In Zipporah’s text, is it referring to the boy, or God’s foreskin? How you interpret it makes a big difference.

“When Saul’s servants told him what David had said, Saul replied, ‘Say to David, the king wants no other price

like two fawns”. “Your breasts (are) like clusters of fruit”. “I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers”. It also gets back to lust. What do you think about the way the Bible talks about, particularly in this case, the female body? It seems to be celebrating the female body.

Yes and that’s why I think Song of Songs is a text that we should spend more time reading because it celebrates the body.

You are also assuming these breasts are female. Could they be male breasts? But there is definitely something about the body that the singer appreciates and praises.

There are a number of passages that praise the female body, can you think of any that celebrate the male body?

No, none spring to mind.

of Songs is a text that we should spend more “Song time reading because it celebrates the body. ” for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies’.” 1 Samuel 18:20-30 In this instance, David was to go out and kill people and circumcise them and bring the foreskin to mark his victory.

In his battle of words with Goliath, foreskins are a matter of impurity.

Most people, if they were told to think about the Bible in terms of sex, would think it’s going to be a very dry. Does the Bible have a bad reputation?

Yes, and we also don’t get its sense of humour. Right now, I’m working on the Book of Ruth and there is a lot of sensual elements in the story of Ruth.

The Bible is not coy, is it. There’s one passage in Ezekiel that refers to “male idols” or, in other words, sex toys.

“You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them.” Ezekiel 16:17 Yes, it’s something phallic, but when some people read it they spiritualise it.

But it’s celebrating the body. Finding self-pleasure or self-eroticism is one way of reading that.

Some Christians can come across as a bit straight-laced when it comes to sex. Should we lighten up a bit?

I think we should lighten up a lot. We need to see sex as connected to the body and life. So sex is crucial. The Bible is not just about the spirit and mind, it’s also about the spirit and mind in relation to the body. Queer readers have pointed out that what the straight Christians called “indecent” actually isn’t. So how do we read the decency that is within the indecency of the Bible? I don’t know if that makes sense or not, but we need to lighten up and see the connection between sex and body and Bible. And stop dirtifying those!

I couldn’t help but notice the amount of breasts in the Bible. There are boobs everywhere. “Your breasts are

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CULTURE

Racial and cultural parity have never been more in focus than they are righ We’re uniting in name, but is that the li

By Stephen Acott and Mikaela

When George Floyd walked into a grocery store at 8pm on May 25 and asked for a packet of cigarettes, the only thing creating headlines around the world was COVID-19.

Twenty-seven minutes later, George Floyd was dead, and we all know how.

Within 24 hours, another acronym was leading global news bulletins: BLM. Black Lives Matter.

This sentiment was not news to Christians, however. “Love thy neighbour” skips off the tongue as readily as “do to others as you would 14

have them do to you”. Christianity espouses equity and the Uniting Church, by its very name, espouses inclusivity.

Or does it?

Just how inclusive are we?

Thirty five years ago, we boldly declared “we are a multicultural church”.

In 2015, to mark the 30th anniversary of that statement we drew up another one reaffirming it. So by now, 2020, there should be no doubt. We. Are. A. Multicultural. Church.

And we are. But that’s missing the point. Just because we are multicultural,

doesn’t mean we are inclusive. It doesn’t mean we are uniting. There is a difference.

Our Synod employs two coordinators to tackle this topic: one looks after intercultural community development and the other takes care of intercultural leadership development. On face value, it would be unfair to criticise the church, particularly this Synod, of not addressing the issue of inclusivity. Clearly it is trying.

Or is it?

When asked to describe his job, Intercultural Leadership Development

E shock

ght now. But how does the Church measure up? ived reality?

Turner

Coordinator Rev Devanandan Anandarajan, says he’s there to, among other things, “resource the CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) leadership in our Synod”.

“I work one on one with ministers from non-English backgrounds and encourage them to have the confidence to step up and offer their leadership, not just within their congregation, but within presbyteries and Synod,” Dev says.

So that’s the aim, but what’s the reality? And this is where we, as a church, as a Synod, have to take a step back,

take a deep breath, and listen to some uncomfortable home truths.

Dev tries to explain the reality he witnesses by using an analogy of a meal. Or, in Biblical terms, a supper. He says the CALD community – which is a growing proportion of the church – is treated as if it is a guest.

“The key question,” he says, “is what is my place at the table? If I am a guest, I eat whatever the host has served.

The food may not be to my taste, but because I’m the guest and you’re serving me, I eat it. However, if I’m there as an Continued P16

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equal member, I would be invited to have a say. I can add my cuisine into that meal.”

Intercultural Community Development Coordinator Rev SweeAnn Koh is even more forthright. “Anglo people are making all the big decisions about the church,” he says.

“My favourite phrase is ‘we are a multicultural church, but with Anglo as the default setting’. Like a computer program, our default setting is Anglo.

Unless we are prepared to design a different default setting, nothing changes.”

It’s difficult to mount a strong argument to counter what SweeAnn is saying. Taken as a whole, in the past 43 years the UCA has had just four people in senior leadership positions (presidents, moderators and general secretaries) who are from CALD backgrounds. If you were painting a picture of the UCA you’d want a lot of white paint.

Springvale Uniting Church minister Rev Paul Dau despairs when he’s told of that statistic, but he’s not surprised.

He acknowledges the church is “welcoming”, but says it has a lot of work to do to become inclusive.

“When I came to Australia 17 years ago (from South Sudan), what attracted me to the UC is the hospitality and welcoming nature of this church,” he says.

“But if this other culture that we say we welcome and want to be part of this intercultural church are not part of the decision-making process they will always be lagging behind because decisions will be made on an assumption basis.

“What are we lacking that we can’t see people from diverse cultural backgrounds in top leadership?”

The issue of inclusiveness – genuine inclusiveness – is something Moderator Denise Liersch has given a lot of thought to. She acknowledges the Church’s failings in this area and is actively working to correct them, as are many others. When asked for an example, she offers the next Synod meeting.

“The Church thinks about having CALD members on committees a lot, but what often ends up happening is we call 16

upon the same few people,” she says.

“So we have a few people on a whole heap of committees representing the CALD communities. But that’s a huge load for a small group of people to carry.

And if the CALD rep is Korean, they can’t represent South Sudanese or Tongan communities. It’s almost like saying ‘we’ve got this all sorted, we just have to add one CALD perspective’.

“That shouldn’t be our starting point.

Our starting point should be ‘together, with all of our cultural diversity, what are the ways that are going to make sure we can do things that include a huge cultural array.

“So, for the upcoming Synod Meeting,

the business committee has met with the Synod intercultural forum to talk about this. Our worship committee is being led

by Tupe Ioelu with the very clear focus that the worship committee he will pull together will be as inclusive and diverse as possible.”

Denise’s voice is refreshing in its honesty, enthusiasm and pragmatism.

She acknowledges the Church suffers from “deep rooted attitudes” that has stifled meaningful diversity, but she can see a way forward. And it all begins with listening.

“There are attitudes we’ve grown up with that are so deep rooted we’ve never questioned them,” she says. “It takes

All of us are created in “God’s image and infinitely loved, In whatever form it takes, racism is unacceptable.

Deidre Palmer a relationship with another person to discover our shared humanity and our difference in experience.

“When we’ve got trust between us and the capacity to be open and honest we can get to the point where we stop and listen to someone whose experiences are different to ours. And then we can shift and find new ways to do things together.”

Dev says listening is a good place to start, but it’s also important CALD voices are understood.

“An intercultural church is a place where those on the margins feel seen, valued, appreciated, understood, engaged and able to fully participate,” he

”

says. “When you talk about intercultural matters in the UC, people say it is important, but the problem is its only lip service. It is not done proactively and can be brushed away.”

Lip service goes by many names, one of them being tokenism, and tokenism can be harder to detect, at least from the perpetrator’s perspective because it is often well-meaning. The end result is it becomes ingrained into structures and practices because the “victim” almost always doesn’t call it out.

Paul has a lived example. “It was at the 2011 Synod meeting,” he says. “I was asked to read a Bible passage in Dinka (his first language), but what was the

point when I was the only Dinka speaker in the meeting?”

Dev says eradicating tokenism is as simple as one, two, three.

“What we need is participation and, in order to ensure participation, we need to get the numbers correct, balanced,” he says. “One is tokenism, two is representation, three is participation.”

Denise has another word for tokenism – “virtue signalling” – and it’s even more insidious because it champions the person as being morally good, suggesting they are doing enough and don’t need to do anything more.

“We’re great at making declarations, but tokenistic ones,” she says.

Continued P18

17

From P17

“For example, we do Acknowledge of Countries all the time, but it often doesn’t go further than that.

“And I felt uncomfortable in a strange way with a request to put the (anti-black deaths in custody and racism) ring around our Facebook picture. We were asked by Mark Kickett and Deidre Palmer together to show solidarity, to send messages of support to Congress, to join in the ‘Change the Record’ campaign and to call out racism. But if all we end up doing is to change our Facebook picture, and we feel that’s enough on its own, then it feels like virtue signalling – it’s talk, but it’s not necessarily doing anything different.

“I’ve heard from some people who feel it comes across as being almost like

is such an important issue to address in our country and church, so simply changing my Facebook profile frame seems to trivialise the seriousness of the issue.

“I am sad because after nearly 30 years in this church, I am yet to witness a meaningful plan to address racism within our church.”

When asked for his thoughts and perspective, Paul pauses, considers the gravity of what he is about to say, then offers this: “I name it, racism exists.”

By way of an example, Paul recalls an incident that occurred when he finished his placement at a country church in the Macedon Ranges. One elderly member thanked him for his service and praised him for how well he had done with

after nearly 30 years in this church, “I amI amsadyetbecause to witness a meaningful plan to address racism within our church. ” SweeAnn Koh

saying ‘see how good I am’ especially if there doesn’t seem to be any follow through beyond that. All the same, I think there’s a real movement of the Spirit sweeping through us at present, like a wind of change, inviting us to do more than that, and to join in.”

SweeAnn agrees. He thought the Facebook initiative was nothing more than symbolism. Empty gesturing.

Trivial, even. And it did nothing meaningful to tackle racism.

“I understand the importance of symbolism, but the rings were just too easy,” he says. “And you change it back in two weeks, right? Unless you say to me, these are our concrete plans on how we are going to address racism, I don’t want to participate in symbolism.

“It’s there in Matthew 7:5. It says, ‘you hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye’.

“If the church doesn’t take the log (racism) out of its own eye, then to call out racism in our country lacks credibility and sounds empty. Racism 18

their congregation. She told him the congregation had reservations about his placement when he first arrived.

When Paul asked her why, she replied “because you are an African man”.

That isn’t Paul’s only example. When he was in discussions with a church about serving there he was told his offer would not be accepted. Why? “Because that congregation had previously had problems with a CALD minister so it was assumed they’d also have problems with me,” Paul says. “But that’s rubbish.

Just because a congregation has had issues with one CALD minister, doesn’t mean they will always have problems with every CALD person. That is systemic racism. It’s wrong and has to be addressed.”

President Deidre Palmer says she is “deeply saddened” to hear these stories.

She says we are called as the Uniting Church to be “Christ-centred, spirit-led, intercultural and intergenerational in our ministry, leadership and expressions of faith”.

“All of us are created in God’s image and infinitely loved,” Deidre says.

“In whatever form it takes, racism is unacceptable.”

The problem with issues as deeply ingrained and widespread as these – racism, tokenism, meaningful inclusivity – is where to start when trying to address them. As mentioned earlier, Denise says the business committee and others are trying to effect substantial change at the next Synod meeting.

One of the main barriers between constructive dialogue, however, is language. It’s so obvious, yet so problematic – particularly at Synod meetings. Think about it, the whole meeting is in English. There are no subtitles. If English is your second language, it stands to reason it would be hard to keep up with everything that is being said.

Continued P20

Lost in translation “CALD” comprises four letters and “L” is in there for a reason. Linguistically, as in language, communication, understanding is a critical component. It’s also one that is often overlooked.

In these communities, English is mostly the second language and, the older demographic, the weaker the English literacy is.

The easiest way for the church to assist with this would be to offer translations or interpreting services, particularly with major publications or events. But these services come at a financial cost, some of them significant, and then there is also the question of how many languages are translated to.

Be that as it may, Rev Juliette Maua’i believes the translation of written materials within the church should be mandatory.

“Translation should cease to be an afterthought when we have materials going out to the wider church, but be an intentional matter of cause,” she says.

“Why can’t we equip our synod communications to be able to get it translated? It shouldn’t have to be done by CALD people who are already overloaded in our own ministry contexts.

“Don’t be driven by money. If we are disciples of Christ, if we are spirit led, then money shouldn’t dictate the means and resources we need.”

Rev Dr Jong Soo Park has spoken extensively to other CALD ministers about this issue and he says some people see language as a “gate keeper”.

“Their opinion is that those who can’t speak native English aren’t invited to leadership groups or to be involved in decision making,” he says. “We need to consider that element when it comes to our white-centred leadership.”

Rev SweeAnn Koh says without translations, the Church will never be fully multicultural.

“A multicultural church has to be a multilingual church,” he says. “We can’t be ‘multi’ in terms of culture or ethnicity and not recognise different languages.”

19

From P18

Rev Dr Jong Soo Park is a minister in the Banyule Network of Uniting Churches and Chair of Synod’s Intercultural Forum. He says it’s “unfair” for the Church is to consider itself intercultural and yet have all major decision-making processes done in English.

“There’s a big gap between my first and second language, Korean and English, so sometimes it’s very uncomfortable to make a statement in English, especially at Synod when lots of issues and agendas are going around,” he says. “It’s very hard to raise your voice.”

Jong Soo was recently invited to a business committee meeting where he shared his research findings on language inequality and white normativity in the UCA and presented on why having an all-English Synod meeting would be difficult and unwelcoming for its CALD audience. His presentation was so compelling, it was decided the next Synod meeting would include subtitles and an interpretation service for those who requested it.

“That’s a really good starting point,” he says. “It’s a welcoming gesture in accepting CALD people into the Synod meeting and I think it will make a huge difference.”

Rev Juliette Maua’i, minister at St Stephen’s UC Williamstown, says the Church won’t get anywhere in addressing racism unless it is prepared to have an open, honest, robust discussion where experiences are shared and uncomfortable truths are aired.

“If we can’t be honest within our own family, and I see the church as a family, then what happens when we’re supposed to be missional out beyond the borders of the church in society?,” she asks.

“We are so afraid of having robust discussions that we become too sensitive and too politically correct to the point where we’re not getting to the nitty gritty of what it is to be intercultural. Ask what is racism and how has it affected you? I’ve lived with racism all my life. I think it’s liberating for all of us when we can speak honestly.”

Juliette also emphasises that building 20

“

It’s very important that we encourage different opinions to be raised, but migrant ministers also have to try and raise their voices.

Jong Soo Park

”

strong relationships is a two-way street; the onus doesn’t fall on Anglo people alone.

“How can our Anglo brothers and sisters learn more of the way we think and engage if we don’t open up to those details in how and why we respond the way we do, or why we don’t put our hands up?,” she says.

“It’s important that we don’t ostracise our Anglo brothers and sisters to an extent where we shift any blame or frustration that it’s their fault that we’re not intercultural. I think we, as CALD people, need to recognise that because it can quickly become ‘them and us’. We have to continue to be engaged with one another to be an intercultural church.

“I get frustrated with our CALD people too, because sometimes they’re not aware that we are trying to advocate for their presence in the church. We encourage them to be more engaging because that’s what intercultural requires of us.”

SweeAnn says it’s imperative people who come from a CALD background speak up, share their observations and raise their concerns, particularly with regard to racism. This can be difficult to do for various cultural reasons, but “things don’t change when people stay quiet”. “I encourage them all the time, if you experience racism in the church write it down,” he says. “If you don’t, the church thinks we are fine. They are afraid to offend people and afraid there will be a cost to speaking up. It’s easier to be quiet.”

Jong Soo agrees. “It’s very important that we encourage different opinions to be raised, but migrant ministers also have to try and raise their voices,” he says. “We need to reveal our voices more

so we can allow the hidden parts and blind spots to be seen. Then we can try and deal with it.”

Our Synod has about 600 congregations, 22 of which you would classify as CALD. That’s an important statistic because CALD congregations are clearly in the minority. It’s also a misleading statistic, to some degree, because it doesn’t measure engagement.

For example, the single biggest congregation in all of Victoria and Tasmania, by far, is the Korean Church of Melbourne, in Malvern. Each Sunday it has to squeeze about 650 people into its pews – and some of those people have driven an hour to be there.

Its minister, Rev Han Song, says its services are conducted in Korean and English, but its members are almost all Korean. “For us, being intercultural is about helping our church members understand we need to live and work with other cultural groups,” he says.

“I would like to see more non-Koreans coming. I’d like to help our Englishspeaking congregation grow. I think we should be aiming to attract, or to invite, everyone across all cultures.”

Han believes the Church is getting better at embracing its culturally-diverse congregations. “We are really trying to understand and embrace and do this together,” he says.

Alison Overeem, Palawa woman and Leprena Centre Manager with the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress, agrees. “I can feel the gentle whisper of change,” she says. “I believe and feel we are moving closer in a way which will celebrate and sustain how we connect our interwoven threads of culture. There is hope.”

Truth be told, there is more than hope and there is more than a gentle whisper.

You have read it here in, ahem, black and white. There is a commitment, from the President and from the Moderator, that the Church is committed to being genuinely inclusive. It is listening and it is acknowledging past mistakes, but, most importantly, it is validating the collective voice of its CALD communities.

After all, black lives matter. And this is not just a uniting church, it is the uniting church.

Korean Church of Melbourne Minister, Rev Han Song.

21

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our ministries with young people “Ifembrace the opportunities joy

presents, it must be reflected within the life of our wider church”

Bradon French Intergenerational Youth Ministry Coordinator

equipping Leadership for Mission

Eighteen months ago, Marie Kondo sparked a “decluttering revolution” via her Netflix special Tidying Up. The show, based on her book, invited a global audience to consider each of their belongings and ask “Does this spark joy?” If the item didn’t, it no longer warranted keeping.

Fast forward to 2020, and as we all battle boredom and cabin fever during COVID-19 lockdowns, I often find myself wondering whether people are missing those knick-knacks they’d so hastily thrown aside last year.

And as houses become #minimalist, it seems our church withstood the #KonMari method, however tempting it may have been. Locally and nationally, we remained defiant, as we’re stoically hesitant to lay down those things which came before us. For if we looked at our practices, traditions, meeting processes and asked whether they “spark joy”, I’m afraid what might remain. Presbytery meetings? Insurance paperwork? The allday-Saturday mission-planning seminar?

Intinction?

The same challenge is true of our inherited understanding of youth ministry. Does the morning after the youth group sleepover (which, of course, included no actual sleeping) spark joy?

Or scrubbing the hall after the annual messy games event?

At this point, leaders and pastors are screaming “yes, but” as we know these serve a higher purpose as we minister to young people. These events offer hospitality, they develop relationships, they form Christian community. And they’re fun … mostly. Which is why we come back to “joy”.

Last year, Miroslav Volf, the renowned Croatian theologian serving at Yale, developed a study into “joy and the good life” and concentrated on the church’s theology and practice of youth ministry.

Volf invited practitioners and theologians to consider what it might

mean if joy was imagined as the root metaphor for youth ministry. Not some pollyannerish naïve happiness merely masquerading as joy. Not a utopian joy which ignores social phenomena and struggle. Rather, a deeper understanding of joy as a fruit of the Spirit, a joy shaped by the cross of Christ, a joy which equips us to confront the reality of the world in which we live and love.

It’s true that over the past few decades, youth ministry has been shaped by many root metaphors (friendship, God-bearing, discipleship, adoption, family, intergenerational, etc).

This distinctive move to joy marks a paradigm shift for those in ministry with young people. Joy is less about action and models and programs. Joy is harder to measure and control.

This shift is articulated in three new publications, and most notably in Joy: A Guide for Youth Ministry. Practitioners and writers, and indeed Professor Volf, argue the case for joy as heralding the inbreaking of God’s kingdom. Similarly, The End of Youth Ministry, and Delighted, both reframe youth ministry rooted in joy, offering perspectives from parents and youth people respectively. You can check out these titles here.

If our ministries with young people embrace the opportunities joy presents, it must be reflected within the life of our wider church.

Joy cannot endure without the church’s practices that provide the oxygen it requires to breathe new life – practices of expressing joy in scripture reading, prayer, testimony, and song; reflecting theologically on joy’s place in the Christian story; and joyfully giving gifts of hospitality, care, friendship, forgiveness, proclamation, creativity, and justice.

In this context, where the people of God seek and share joy, we may witness the flourishing of all generations.

23

“Robyn and I feel very passionate about preaching.

It’s a difficult task, it’s a really peculiar thing to be engaging with in the 21st Century” Rev Dr Robyn Whitaker and Rev Fran Barber have been friends for 25 years. In that time they have shared a lot of things – including a wedding dress. They now share a podcast to help resource people in minsitry.

Robyn

I am a preacher’s kid, as they say. My father was a Methodist minister in South Africa. I was born in Kimberley and raised in Cape Town.

My childhood memories are extremely happy. We lived in a lovely neighbourhood with cousins, family and community all around us. We’d go to the beach after school in the afternoon.

24

With the benefit of hindsight I can see what was a perfect childhood for me was not the case for the majority of South Africans under Apartheid. I lived in a white suburb with all the privileges that brought and had very little contact with any non-white South Africans.

As a child, I didn’t pick up any sense of the unrest, but my father was well aware of it. When I was a baby in Kimberley he

was trying to get a group going where black and white Christians would do Bible studies together. Some of his black colleagues got death threats and letterbox bombs over that because it was seen as subversive.

My family went to live in the UK when I was nine and we migrated to Australia when I was 12. Dad is now a Uniting Church minister, so the UCA has become

Robyn Whitaker, left, and Fran Barber have known each other for 25 years.

Image: Carl Rainer

my home since being a teenager.

We would visit South Africa often over the years. I saw the changes, the dismantling of Apartheid. I remember going back when I was about 16 and it was the first year they had taken down signs from the beach saying “whites only”.

My extended family, with all due respect to them, went to some

conservative white Christian churches that did not see that there was a tension between them talking about love and God’s forgiveness on Sundays and the fact they were actively racist in every other part of their life. The disconnect was pretty striking, particularly after I left the country and became aware that there were other ways of being Christian.

I think I saw Christianity as a potential

vehicle for change and inclusivity, partly because the black church in South Africa was so vital. Through leaders like Bishop Desmond Tutu, Christianity became a source of hope for change and liberation.

In Australia, I got very involved as a teenager with some evangelical church groups and that kept me engaged, finding pockets of younger people who were very enthusiastic about faith.

Continued P26

25

From P25

When I was doing a science degree at Monash University, I wasn’t sure what to do with my life. I had this sense of God telling me to become a minister, which is not what I really wanted to hear because when you grow up as a minister’s kid you know that ministry is not glamorous.

So I started looking around for where to study theology. I didn’t know much about the Uniting Church’s theological college in Melbourne but I candidated and enrolled in a Bachelor of Divinity at what was then the United Faculty of Theology in 1995.

Fran began studying her BachIor of Divinity that same year. My first impression of Fran was of someone who was super smart and bookish and intimidating in a “she’s got her act

Fran and I moved to a student twobedroom sharehouse.

We didn’t sit around discussing theology, but we would discuss the stuff that impacted us, like thinking about ministry. I remember us both bemoaning when we were single that we’d never get married, there were a lot of stats around female ministers staying single – not a lot of guys necessarily want to marry a female minister.

When I started formally studying theology I came in with some pretty simplistic and black-and-white ideas about the world, the Bible and how God functioned. Even when I got called to ministry I wasn’t sure that women should be in ministry and whether the Bible was on board with that.

When I got called to ministry I wasn’t sure that “women should be in ministry and whether the Bible was on board with that. ” Robyn Whitaker

together kind of way”. She was well prepared and was always well read.

Fran had this arts and humanities background, whereas I had this science degree, so I felt very out of my depth for the first few years because I felt like I was playing catch-up.

We had a mutual friend, Judith Watkins, who was also training to be a candidate and is now a minister.

It turned out Fran was looking for somewhere to live, I was looking for somewhere to live and Judith was the person who arranged a lodging for all of us. Fran and I didn’t really get to know each other before moving in together, but we had friends who said “you two are going to get along”.

We lived in a manse that wasn’t being used by the minister. Fran was very thoughtful, an ideal housemate. She always had healthy food around, didn’t have annoying habits and didn’t play loud music. We got along well, but we also had our own lives, which I think is important.

After a year, Judith moved out and 26

I remember near the end of my first year leaving a New Testament class where we had learnt some of the historical problems that mean we can’t take some of these stories as historically accurate. I remember thinking “I don’t know if I can believe any of this”. I went through this little faith crisis as a candidate thinking “maybe I am actually Jewish. I know there is a God, but I am not too sure about this Jesus person”.

So, there were times studying theology that were quite discombobulating as I had to rethink some things. My background helps me appreciate that there can be genuinely well-meaning people who can be deeply conservative and don’t realise the harm they are doing with some of those stances, particularly around gender and sexuality.

Christians are way more hung up on sex now than we were even 400 years ago. A lot of these are puritan values that have really emerged in the last couple of hundred years. I think it’s about patriarchy, male power and a reluctance to notice the Gospel is a lot

more judgemental about love of money than any sexual immorality. That’s quite a hard thing for people to cope with.

I would say I am orthodox with a little “o”. You might call it generous orthodoxy or inclusive orthodoxy. Part of believing in God’s grace for all people is that it is for all people, regardless of gender and sexuality. Not in the limited sense of “yes, you’re a women, we will allow you to come into church but we won’t let you use your gifts in this way” but grace in the fullest sense.

Part of what drives me to write for a

Image: Carl Rainer wider audience is to bring some of the stuff that you learn in a theology degree to a greater number of people. If you remain with a conservative viewpoint, fine, but it shouldn’t be because you haven’t heard there are other ways of thinking about something.

I stopped living with Fran when I got married and then was ordained around age 24. My first parish placement was in Wangaratta for four years before I went back to Melbourne to do a Master’s degree. I also backfilled for Fran’s maternity leave when she was a chaplain

JUST SAYING 850,000

Number of active podcasts

30 million

Number of episodes

100

Number of languages The most popular genres in Australia are current affairs (36%), comedy (28%) and true crime (25%)

at Methodist Ladies’ College, so we do follow each other around.

After a few degrees in Melbourne, at what I think is the best theological place to study in Australia, I felt like I needed to be exposed to some different things. It was also chance to have a bit of an adventure and live overseas with my husband Peter French, who is an Anglican priest.

I went to America and did a PhD at the University of Chicago and taught at various theological colleges. We moved to New York when I got a job at Continued P28

27

From P27

Union Theological College. After about a decade in the US, we came back Australia in 2016. I had a lecturing job at Trinity College when I was asked to apply for the New Testament position that opened up here at Pilgrim.

Fran had been asked separately to apply for her position and she started at the Centre for Theology and Ministry on the same day as I did.

It’s always been an easy friendship.

Even if we haven’t spoken for months in various stages of our lives, we slot back in. We’ve known each other for more than half our lives. We’ve got these shared experiences, we’ve got memories together.

Shortly after I started at Pilgrim, the Head of College, Sean Winter, said to me “we’ve got a bunch of biblical scholars around so we could have a podcast to resource preachers, is that something you want to run with?”

and we couldn’t find one anywhere in the world led by women.

The first By The Well last November was recorded on the floor of my office and we didn’t have the whiz-bang equipment we do now. We were just using laptops and little mic things. That one ended up in the bin. Our delivery was stilted so we re-did it. We are more relaxed now.

We aim to give listeners some different ways to look at Bible reading or to think about interpreting or preaching a text.

I didn’t do parish or congregational ministry for that long but I know it is hard to keep being creative. Our hope is that if we can give people new material to think about it is helpful for them.

I am also conscious, as someone who started ministry in a rural setting, that you are often limited by the books on your shelves. In my first placement, if I didn’t have a commentary on a book I

We aim to give listeners some different ways to “ look at Bible reading or to think about interpreting or preaching a text. ” Robyn Whitaker

Only in recent years have I been a podcast listener. I remember when everyone used to rave about them and I thought “what are these things?”. But when I came back to Melbourne I quickly realised I got very bored on a 45-minute commute if I didn’t have something stimulating.

I now have a rotation of about 10 different podcasts. For me a podcast is a really good way to get a lot of information in a short amount of time.

As I considered the podcast idea I thought “I need the right person to do it with”. Then I thought of Fran and that she does the continuining education for ministry. I thought it would be nice to do with a friend, but also a colleague I respect and who has a similar vision about what we would do.

We did a bit of research. What we found is there is no Australian podcast on the standard lectionary preachers use 28

felt like I couldn’t preach on it. So, some of the podcast idea is about wanting to resource people in remote ministries who are very time poor and are not going to be able to get to a library to search the internet to find an article.

Working as a scholar you also are constantly learning new things and you are on that edge of what interesting new scholarship is coming out. I am conscious that often doesn’t trickle back to the pews, or it takes decades. So, when I have read an interesting article that is perhaps a new perspective for me, that’s the kind of thing I share in the podcast.

We also have guests. We aren’t totally reliant on guests, but there are fabulous scholars and practioners we have spoken with. We have even Zoomed a few from the UK. The podcast takes about half a day of preparation and editing each week. At

the moment we are getting about 400 listeners. We started with about 200. As of last week we had a 4.7 rating (out of five) on iTunes. People have been nice to us. We’re hearing comments like “I listen to this every week now, it is part of my preparation”. People who are not ministers have also talked about using it as their devotional discipline.

As a biblical scholar I often ask “what does this word mean?” or “what is the history behind this thing in the text?”

Fran often asks the theological question.

That is where we complement each other. I can go into the nitty gritty of the history behind the text. Fran will tend naturally to the theological question of “what does this say about God?” or “what is the impact of the big picture question?”. Some of the feedback we have from ministers is they like the way we bring it out again to what is the bigger picture.

I found studying “theology really exciting.

There was also a sense of outrage from time to time that we weren’t taught this stuff already.

Fran Barber

”

One of the podcasts Fran and I really like is Chat 10 Looks 3 with Leigh Sales and Annabel Crabb. They just talk about books and movies, but it does feel like you are overhearing a conversation between good friends. Even though ours has a very pragmatic preaching focus we try to capture a bit of that. It is a conversation not a mini-lecture.

Apart from the intro and outro,

By The Well is not scripted so it is a conversation. We discuss ideas beforehand and probably spend an hour in the recording room for every episode.

I think Fran and I have some similarities in being task-focused. There is also the depth of relationship, neither

of us is trying to outsmart the other, there is a genuine trust there.

Fran

I actually wore Robyn’s wedding dress when I got married. I found the whole bridal thing extremely uncomfortable.

I thought “Robyn’s is very simple and elegant, I’ll just see what she is doing with it”. She said “well, mine’s in the closet, do you want it?” I said “sure”, so mum altered it for me.

Like Robyn, I am a preacher’s kid, fourth generation apparently.

I was born in Perth, but came to Melbourne very young. I grew up in North Melbourne. It was a great place to grow up in terms of socio-economic, cultural and political diversity.

Obviously I grew up in a Christian home. It was an environment with thoughtful, perplexing and sometimes energetic theological conversations.

As far as my Christian faith goes, I never really rebelled, but in the part of Melbourne I lived there wasn’t a lot of youth activities in the Uniting Chruch, so I did spend a couple of years as a teenager where I did just give up on church.

But it was at university I encountered, just by chance, four really great people.

We were all Christian and seeking and we encountered the Student Christian Movement, which was still alive and kicking at Melbourne Uni. And that became a really important community for me because it was a place to learn, to question and to grow, and to establish some great friendships, which endure today.

In terms of my Christian theological formation, I was hearing a lot of what I thought was rubbish on campus – for instance, Christian groups who didn’t allow women to be in leadership positions, which to me is ridiculous.

When I finished my arts history degree, I went to Europe and travelled around and worked in Germany, and in England (for the United Reformed Church). While away, I experienced not a call to ministry but a call to study theology – that’s how I would describe it. I needed to go find out Continued P30

29

From P29

more about the faith – this is where life is at, this is life and death stuff.

I enrolled as a private student at the United Faculty of Theology where my dad was dean. It was fine being taught by my dad. He’s a really interesting, inspiring teacher. However, I kept my surname to myself the vast majority of the time and that was good.

I was a bit intimidated by Robyn. She was smart and seemed sure of things, but I got to know her during that first year when we lived in what we called our sorority house, the manse with Judith.

I found studying theology really exciting. It was just really fantastic stuff to learn. There was also a sense of outrage from time to time that we weren’t taught this stuff already in the churches.

I applied for the ecumenical

church. A lot of people who trained with Robyn and I have pulled out, and our peers are not in the pews. When you are a younger minister leading a congregation you are often the only person of that age bracket and that can be a bit strange.

Near the end of my candidature, I was approached by one of the chaplains at Methodist Ladies’ College, to fill a teaching gap for a term. Rather audaciously, I just said “I’ll give that a go”.

It was a great experience and essentially I got called to chaplaincy there. I feel very honoured and blessed to have had that first placement for five years.

I also met my husband, David Hall, who at the time was working for Frontier Services. I’d asked him to come speak

you are starting out something like the By The “When Well podcast, as women you can’t be too flippant, but I think we have a light touch. ” Fran Barber

scholarship through the World Council of Churches, and the University of Geneva.

I studied theology there with people from all over the world and that was an amazing experience. It was during that time I realised ministry was an avenue I needed to explore. I couldn’t not do it, was how I put it.

I do think there is a gender dynamic here in terms of my family history of ministers, that if I was a bloke it would have been harder to feel like I had my own identity. I don’t have to prove to be terribly different because obviously I am.

Back in Australia, I enrolled in a diploma of education. I wanted something that would enhance ministry practice but I was also thinking I don’t know if the church is able to call me for all my vocational life. I need to have some other way of making a living, which might sound pessimistic, but at that stage there were more ministers than positions.

It’s quite lonely as a Gen Xer in the 30

with the year 12s. When we had our first child I knew it would have been difficult to effectively minster as a chaplain parttime in that role with the way I wanted to parent.

As it turns out, I had three children in four years. I was able to serve the church in supply ministry for three-to-ninemonth periods in different places and learnt a lot from doing that.

I was called to ministry at North Essendon UC in 2011. I was a minister there for six-and-a-half years. It is a really lovely community who appreciated the ministry that I could offer. I did a small role with Synod for nine months and then I was called to be Continuing Education Coordinator at eLM. There were times when I didn’t have much contact with Robyn as we had different lives. I feel like the friendship is really strong because it seems to have a dynamic that when we’ve had gaps where we haven’t seen each other or

communicated regularly it just feels natural to reconnect.

Robyn and I feel very passionate about preaching. It’s a difficult task, it’s a really peculiar thing to be engaging with in the 21st Century, but transformative for the preacher and the hearer when it’s done faithfully and well. Compared to places like America, where they talk a lot more readily about preaching we really don’t as a church.

There are places in the Synod where churches rely significantly on lay leadership, and we hope By The Well is an accessible resource in those situations. It has a ministry practice focus as well as the scholarship one, though the division there is an artificial one.

God Forbid (ABC)

An Australian ABC radio show hosted by James Carleton that covers a range of issues related to religion.

I think early on we thought “let’s not mention too much of outside world events, so in three years we might be able to re-release some of these episodes”. Then after our summer break the bushfire awfulness happened, so the whole idea that you wouldn’t be too specific just went out the window .

I think the COVID period has challenged us to think about ways of communicating. We understand that people are preaching in really strained circumstances; the situation brings “the main things” into sharp relief.

Those main things being: relating and connecting, so this context has meant our conversation has got quite specific.

You don’t preach into a vacuum, you preach into a context. So if the Bible says anything to those contexts we can’t ignore that.

It’s a balancing act though, we don’t

Seeing W

An Americ University whiteness

White

want to necessarily say “On Tuesday, Trump did this” because we are recording generally two to thee weeks ahead. However, when something at a national or international level happens it would seem tone deaf not to incorporate it. It would just be ridiculous to talk about interpreting the Bible or preaching the Good News, and not talk about a worldwide pandemic or Black Lives Matter questions.

I think there are similarities in how Robyn and I operate, which is why podcasting together works. Neither of us is particularly waffly; we are here to do a job, and we get on with it. With Robyn, I appreciate that she has smart strategies for doing things. She is easy to talk to. I can float an idea with her that

LISTEN UP

can podcast out of Duke y tracing the history of s and issues of race.

The Minefield (ABC)

Scott Stephens and Waleed Aly discuss current issues in light of morality, values and philosophy.

Chat 10 Looks 3

Anabel Crabbe and Leigh Sales discuss books, movies, the arts, and baking in a light-hearted and fun way.

Five great podcasts, as recommended by Robyn

The Bible for Normal People

(Pete Enns). Two biblical scholars talk about the Bible in ways that are accessible and relatable.

on the face of it might be fairly average but it starts to develop, or not, if she says that it is “an average idea” (which she doesn’t).

When you are starting out something like the By The Well podcast, as women you can’t be too flippant. We are very serious about providing solid content, but I think we have a light touch. We don’t have argy bargy, but we don’t always think the same way.

To listen to the podcast visit bythewell.com.au or find it on iTunes, Spotify or Google Podcasts.

Click here to listen to the latest

By The Well podcast or hear previous episodes.

by the WELL

Image: Carl Rainer

by the 31

Leave a legacy Did you know that Gifts and Bequests made to the General purposes of the Church can support the community wherever and whenever needed most?

A General purpose gift or bequest can support any or all of the following for decades to come: ■ Share Community Appeal ■ S upporting the aged, people with disability, and the carers of the aged or people with disability ■ T he provision of services for people with alcohol and other drug issues ■ S upporting the establishment of Social Enterprises to assist the vulnerable ■ S upporting the unemployed, people with disability or mental health issues ■ S upporting children and youth under 18

■ S upporting women who have experienced domestic violence ■ Supporting people experiencing homelessness, who are in crisis, or who are newly arrived in Australia ■ Providing services to First Peoples ■ Supporting the work of overseas partner churches ■ Supporting Advocacy and Social Justice ■ Assisting with the education of ministers, deacons, lay leaders and the children of ministers ■ Supporting retired and infirm ministers and the surviving spouses of ministers ■ Supporting Theology students, through bursaries, grants and prizes

For more information about how to make a gift or bequest, click here 200727

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Ministry Position Vacancy A minister discusses a part of the Bible that especially speaks to them.

Rev (Deacon) Wendy Elson Part of Shearwater Ministry Team

“

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Luke 4:18-19

Luke is a master storyteller in his use of reversals and the “unexpected turn of events. That which you think is like this ... is not like that at all, but rather like this”.

In this Luke passage, which is a bit of a manifesto for me (and many deacons), Jesus climbs out of the Jordan straight after his baptism, then straight into the wilderness temptations, then straight into his ministry commencement … filled with the Holy Spirit.

There is an image there of Jesus filled with passion, excitement and enthusiasm for his new ministry role.

Then he is immediately given the opportunity to preach and gives us the most amazing manifesto.

Jesus tells us that the Spirit has ordained him (and us) to hold people in their brokenness, to give priority to feeding and liberating, healing to the hurting and disadvantaged. Jesus says straight up that this is what ministry is about, that this radical inclusivity will define him and his ministry.

”

The religious folks were incensed to the point of seeking to kill him (which of course eventually happened). They couldn’t believe they were being told that it wasn’t all about them, but rather about the marginalised.

Disciples of Jesus know the church doesn’t exist for itself. It is not a bastion of comfort for churchgoers. Rather it exists for Christians to throw open the doors and practice this radical inclusion.

Those on the fringes are ministered to, loved and welcomed. Jesus’s preaching gives the hearers the opportunity to experience the ordaining of the Spirit and to walk with him into the spaces inhabited by the desperate, the sad, the broken and the hungry. In Luke, Jesus walks away sad.

You and I, we are given this same opportunity. Let’s step out on to the path with Jesus and see where the Spirit leads us into the practice of love and the warmth of welcome and hospitality for all.

Melbourne University Ecumenical Chaplain ■ Full-time (UCA stipend), initial funding for 3 years ■ Commencing as soon as possible ■ University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria Wesley Uniting Church is seeking an Ecumenical Chaplain for the University of Melbourne, commencing immediately.

The chaplain is called to represent Christian faith credibly and be a Christian presence for both staff and students at the University of Melbourne. This ministry seeks to address the task of developing new Christian leaders, creating disciples, offering pastoral care, working ecumenically, and modelling Christian prophetic witness in this missionary setting.

As the Chaplaincy Coordinator within the University’s Wellbeing Unit, the Ecumenical Chaplain acts as a bridge between the University and the chaplains who minister on campus. The key role as coordinator is to support the chaplaincy team, currently made up of six chaplains representing three major religions present on campus.

The Chaplain will be under the care of, and report to, Wesley Uniting Church, Lonsdale St, Melbourne and the Wellbeing Unit at Melbourne University.

Applications should include the following: ■ A cover letter addressing the selection criteria ■ CV ■ Names and contact details for three referees For more information, including a job description and congregational profile, please contact Rev Dr Craig Thompson (Chair of the JNC) minister@marktheerangelist. unitingchurch.org.au

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Cold COMFORT The pandemic has forced most of us inside, but also many on to the street as the effects of unemployment and other related issues hit home.

By Frank Porter Cliff is 65, divorced and lives in a caravan.

Sean is 48, single and living in crisis accommodation. One lives in Victoria and the other lives in Tasmania. They are the bare facts, but they don’t tell the story.

On face value, their stories are not the same. More than 700km, a lot of water and 17 years divides them and yet they share a common bond. And it’s called homelessness.

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Neither of them thought this is where they would be, yet when you hear their stories and see the statistics how could they not arrive at this destination?

Homelessness accepts all-comers.

It doesn’t discriminate by age, gender, race, anything. No one chooses it, no one wants it, yet its numbers are rising.

In the past five years, 16,000 more Australians have not had a place to call home. In all, more than 116,000 Continued P36

Cliff lives in a caravan near Ballarat and has applied for public housing.

35

From P35

Australians are classified as homeless and, of them, 16 per cent are aged 55 and above and 15 per cent are aged less than 12. They are horrifying statistics.

Many roads lead to homelessness, but the biggest is domestic violence.

Others are poverty, unemployment and a shortage of affordable housing. And the most common causes are family breakdowns, mental illness, sexual assault, addiction, financial difficulty, gambling and social isolation.

All of these factors are now exacerbated by COVID-19 and its associated lockdowns. Social isolation and unemployment are being acutely felt across Australia and their flow on effects are stretching relief agencies to their limits.

people experiencing homelessness is the difference between them sleeping or shivering through the night.

“It’s heartbreaking that we can’t do more, but there’s simply not enough housing for people in crisis.”

Sean’s first experience with homelessness was at age 14, when he was forced on to the street to escape family violence and drug use.

“My parents managed a pub in Sydney and it wasn’t an ideal environment for a child,” he says. “It was a toxic environment and I knew I had to get out.

“I managed to get myself a job at the local Pizza Hut to get by and stayed with various friends throughout the years.

“I got by, but I was hanging around Kings Cross and witnessed a lot of things

It only takes one crisis. “ Especially at the moment, with people having lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. ” Adam Liversage

As an example, Uniting Vic.Tas’s housing and homelessness services in Ballarat have assisted 235 households into crisis accommodation since March and another 114 remain on a priority waiting list.

Acting co-ordinator of housing and homelessness services in Ballarat Adam Liversage knows of 30 people in the region sleeping rough at night, but believes that number is much higher.

In Tasmania, it’s even worse, with more than 3000 people on a priority housing waiting list. At Uniting’s NoBucks community meals program, people have been sleeping outside the building with nowhere else to go.

Community services co-ordinator Charlotte Ryan says there are daily requests from Tasmanians seeking warm items including gloves, beanies, coats, blankets and swags.

“We can’t keep up with demand,” she says. “It’s a very bleak picture. Being able to provide warm garments to

I shouldn’t have at a young age.”

In his early twenties, Sean started an apprenticeship as a chef, but mental health issues prevented him from finishing. In the intervening years, he has lived in various cities and towns in NSW and Queensland staying in public housing, with friends and, when things became really bad, in his car.

Eight years ago, Sean relocated to Tasmania for a fresh start. At first, it seemed he’d broken the vicious cycle his housing had become. For the first few years, he managed to settle down on the north-west coast in stable housing. But then came another traumatic event and, unable to cope, Sean was thrust back into homelessness.

Since then he has moved from town to town, living in his car.

“It’s tough, but I guess it’s all I’ve known from a young age,” Sean says.

Last year, Sean drove to Hobart and reached out to Uniting for support.

Uniting helped him access crisis Continued P38

36

Adam Liversage, left, says he knows of 30 people sleeping rough in the Ballarat region, but believes the actual number would be higher.

37

From P36

accommodation as he waited for public housing.

“I have a roof over my head at the moment, so I feel like I’m in a good place,” Sean says.

“I’m still considered homeless, but it’s a step in the right direction.”

He is now a regular face at NoBucks, which provides free hot meals each weekday for people in crisis.

“I really enjoy the social interactions at NoBucks,” he says. “I can talk to people and have a laugh, which takes my mind off things.”

Adam says people can find themselves without a roof over their head very quickly.

“It only takes one crisis,” he says.

“Especially at the moment, with people having lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When the JobKeeper and JobSeeker payments end we are going to see a lot of individuals and families who can’t afford their housing anymore.

“I think we’re going to see a sharp increase in homelessness numbers across the country.

“We want to help everyone who needs it, but it’s the same old story with housing shortages.

“But we continue to support people in any way we can.”

Ballarat’s Uniting housing and homelessness team has been providing increased outreach support during the COVID-19 pandemic, conducting welfare checks and distributing food hampers and vouchers to ensure people in crisis accommodation are receiving the care and compassion they need.

One of those people is Cliff, who has been living in a caravan near Ballarat after his marriage ended.

He contacted Uniting when his savings dried up and he was unable to afford the weekly caravan park rent.

“It was a scary time. I wasn’t in a good place, mentally,” he said.

“I knew I needed help, but I was in a rut. Living in a caravan isn’t ideal, but at least it’s somewhere to sleep at night,” Cliff says.

The other thing homelessness deprives people of is access to the 38

Spread

the warmth Keep families warm this winter and enable Uniting to provide blankets, pyjamas, winter woollies and swags for everyone finding it tough right now in your local community.

internet and this can be especially problematic when you are trying to sign up to Centrelink.

Cliff visited Centrelink, but was told he would need to register online. “I struggled because I’m not very good at using computers,” he says.

“It was daunting and I didn’t know what to do. I feel really lucky that I found Uniting and they’ve been able to help.

I don’t know what I would have done without them.”

Cliff now receives Centerlink payments and has applied for public housing.

Uniting is supporting the national Everybody’s Home campaign which is calling for national action to end homelessness.

$29 $58 $87 $100

PROVIDES 1 WARM BLANKET

PROVIDES 2 WARM BLANKETS

PROVIDES 3 WARM BLANKETS

PROVIDES PYJAMAS FOR A FAMILY OF FOUR

$115 $230 $460

PROVIDES 1 SWAG PROVIDES 2 SWAGS PROVIDES 4 SWAGS

Donate online at: www.unitingvictas.org.au/spread-thewarmth-this-winter/ or drop off new items at any of Uniting’s offices or emergency relief services.

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Someone to count on Heather Ackland started her career juggling figures and ended it trying to figure out ways to help congregations with their missional work.

By David Southwell

“How I can help?” can be a dangerous question, but it’s something Heather Ackland has been happily asking for the past two years.

Heather is retiring after 36 years of working for Synod, with the past two spent visiting all presbyteries to ask what Synod could be doing to better support congregations’ work of mission.

“At the moment I have been stopped in my tracks by COVID but it has been great to get out and talk to people,” Heather says.

“I’ve enjoyed doing that and enjoyed trying to help them.

“Most of the questions we asked presbyteries were about what 40

congregations were struggling with. I’d then tell them a bit about what Synod could provide.

“I have also been a bit of a liaison for congregations, where they haven’t been able to get on to the right person, I have been able to follow that up for them and help Synod staff understand the issues. I think that’s been appreciated.”

Heather says, if anything, the responses she has received when asking about difficulties have been too polite.

“Sometimes, I think they’re too nice,” she says. “I’d think ‘you could say it a lot harder’ because I know their issues. But I’m there to listen and to take it in.

“There are a lot of demands on

congregations. One of the things from the Major Strategic Review is how do we lessen that burden?

“We were often told that communication with Synod is an issue, not getting responses or not getting promises kept.

“Synod listened to the feedback and communication has improved.”

Among the new services to come out of Heather’s troubleshooting are congregational website training, a central bookkeeping service, free access to the online suite of tools in Microsoft Office 365 and an app to acquit credit cards for minsters.

With her on-the-ground knowledge,

Image: Carl Rainer

Heather is well placed to assess the challenges of the COVID lockdown period.

“There are some congregations that have stepped up, they have people giving electronically and they are maintaining that and there are others who haven’t, their members just can’t do that,” Heather says.

“I think the country ones are feeling it more. I think there has been more adaptation in the city.

“I have been advising congregations on how to sign up for the JobKeeper scheme. We’ve also quickly implemented Zoom licences for congregations that are available at a lower cost.”

Heather says although there have been improvements, there’s much more Synod can do to support congregations.

“We could do more in training for treasurers, for those who chair congregational meetings or church secretaries,” she says. “We need to simplify things.”

Heather has spent most of her Synod career in the finance area, becoming Director of Accounting Services before taking on the two-year stint as the Project Manager for Congregational Business Support Services. She says she is looking forward to retirement and “being a bit more flexible in what I do”.

However, the 61-year-old intends

to keep being helpful as an elder and treasurer in the Craigieburn and Wallan Uniting Church.

“I want to get involved in Messy Church, trying to set that up in our congregation,” she says.

“I am also on the board of Aitken College, so I will continue that for the moment.”

Heather says after beginning her career as accountant in private industry, she saw working for the UCA as a calling.

“I’ve been privileged to work for the church,” she says. “It’s been great to work for something I believe in, it’s my church and my values that match.”

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All things to all

men

By David Southwell

Uniting Church member Lindsay Oates has received this year’s Victorian Local Men’s Health Hero Award and was one of three winners shortlisted for the Australian Award in recognition of his work with the Men’s Shed movement.

The awards are issued by the Australian Men’s Health Forum, the national peak body of men’s health organisations, to celebrate those who take action to improve men’s and boys’ health at a local level.

Lindsay, who attends St Andrew’s Church of Mirboo North in Gippsland and is a member of Synod’s Standing Committee, has been involved with the Men’s Shed movement for more than 20 years.

Since 2017, he has been president of the Victorian Association of Men’s Sheds, which supports and promotes about 350 Sheds across the state.

AMHF CEO Glen Poole congratulated Lindsay on the VAMS’s accomplishments, which provide a place for men to meet, talk and pursue common interests as part of a caring community, while also providing education on men’s health and well-being and doing charitable works.

“The Victorian Men’s Sheds should 42

be very proud of the work they have achieved in men’s health and well-being in not only saving men’s lives through their programs and contact with their members and the men in their local community, but in improving their overall health and well-being,” Glen said.

“This is evidenced in the increasing number of Sheds, Shedders and men being healthier in all ways through their association with Men’s Sheds.”

Lindsay, 78, said he hoped the award highlighted the way men could help each other.

“The thing I find very satisfying is seeing men enjoy other men’s company and also being able to know that, through the association men have with their Shed, their health, well-being and care for each other is being maintained and improved all the time,” he said.

“You see lives being saved and families being saved, families starting to get along with each other where they weren’t before. The Shed has meant a lot to those blokes.”

Lindsay said the Sheds were doing outstanding work during the COVID-19 period, despite the restrictions on being able to physically meet.

“Some have been doing Zoom meetings or walking groups and others have been using telephones to keep in contact,” Lindsay said.

“Others have been dropping food off or talking to people on their house steps.

There’s a whole lot of things they have been doing.

“We have a lot of men who join our Sheds who come from diverse backgrounds, sometimes there may be drugs or severe depression or attempts at suicide.

“There’s lots of issues contributing to their situation, where they are usually down and out. Some have been sleeping out. When they have got assistance by joining a Shed and got their accommodation OK, the Shed’s kept in contact with them and followed up during COVID. We haven’t lost anyone like that.”

After receiving the Victorian award, Lindsay was chosen as one of three nominees for the Australian Local Men’s Health Hero Award. The Australian Award went to Indigenous men’s health researcher and advocate Dr Mick Adams, who Lindsay said “was a very worthy winner”.

We’ve all moved TOGETHER

The Uniting Church, U ethical, Uniting AgeWell and Uniting are excited to announce that we have all moved together to Wesley Place, 130 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne. We look forward to the time when we can invite you to come and see Wesley Place for yourself.

Level 4, Wesley Place 130 Lonsdale St Melbourne 3000

Level 6, Wesley Place 130 Lonsdale St Melbourne 3000

Level 6, Wesley Place 130 Lonsdale St Melbourne 3000

Keeping in touch. Synod Reception: (03) 9116 1400 Our email addresses have not changed and you can still reach us on our old phone numbers (for now).

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200708

Level 2, Wesley Place 130 Lonsdale St Melbourne 3000

Download

Download

BUMPER

DIGITAL

EDITION

Dear valued reader, I hope you have enjoyed this expanded 45-page issue. Regrettably, this edition is not available in its regular hard-copy format, as was the case in June. Stage 4 lockdown restrictions currently in place in metropolitan Melbourne, where Crosslight is printed, means we are unable to distribute this edition. We appreciate your loyalty and engagement and apologise for any disappointment this has caused. However, if you who would like a hard-copy version, this edition can be downloaded as a PDF and printed out at home. Simply follow these three easy steps: 1. Go to the top left hand corner of the screen and click on the download arrow (see above).

2. If you are using Internet Explorer, hit the Open tab that will appear at the bottom of your screen.

If you are using Google Chrome, double click on the icon that will appear in the bottom left corner of your screen.

3. Click on the print icon that will appear either at the top left, or top right, of your screen.

The next edition of Crosslight is due in October and, if lockdown restrictions permit, we will be printing and delivering hard copies to your regular destination.

Stephen Acott Editor

Crosslight is a bi-monthly magazine produced by the Communications and Media Services unit of the Uniting Church in Australia Synod of Victoria and Tasmania. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the editor or the policies of the Uniting Church.

Advertising deadlines Bookings (October issue) Thursday Aug 27, 2020 Copy & images for production Tuesday Sept 1, 2020 Print ready supplied PDF Thursday Sept 10, 2020 Advertising Adelaide Morse (03) 9340 8800 adelaide.morse@victas.uca.org.au Editor Stephen Acott (03) 9340 8819 stephen.acott@victas.uca.org.au Graphic design and print services Carl Rainer (03) 9340 8826 carl.rainer@victas.uca.org.au Feedback & correspondence crosslight@victas.uca.org.au

ucavictas 44

ucavictas

“I am thevine; you are the branches.

If you remain in me and I in you, you

will bear

much fruit ; apart from me

you can do nothing.

Now remain

in my love�

(John 15)

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