Crosslight May 2016

Crosslight Publication of the year

N 265 May No. M 2016

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Uniting Church President Stuart McMillan has joined other church leaders to call for a halt to cuts in Australia’s foreign aid budget.

Meet the communities coming together and sharing a message through music, dancing and song.

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23 An innovative ministry placement aims to serve congregations throughout the Loddon Mallee presbytery.

Moderator Dan Wootton reflects on his time as the pastoral leader of the Church.

Cathy Raleigh (pictured right with former staff member Claire Hetzel) loves volunteering at Kildonan UnitingCare’s community garden. Cathy is one of the thousands of volunteers who contribute to the life of the Uniting Church in congregations, agencies and schools.

A report looking at the profile of those who selflessly donate their time will be launched during volunteer week this month. Turn to page 7 for a full report.

12-14 The only certainties in life are death and taxes.

The Panama Papers reveals those who try to avoid the inevitable.

24 Synod Snaps brings you images from throughout the Church and beyond.

Regulars Moderator’s column - 14 People - 17 Reviews - 18 to 19 Notices - 20 to 21 Letters - 22

Editorial Foundations for the future PENNY MULVEY

THE apostle Paul, in the final chapter of his letter to the Romans, draws attention to the many people who assisted him on his journeys proclaiming Jesus Christ.

He names several women who held positions of leadership in their churches.

Communications & Media Services

UCA Synod Office, 130 Little Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 Phone: (03) 9251 5200 Email: crosslight@victas.uca.org.au ISSN 1037 826X

Crosslight is a monthly newspaper produced by the Communications and Media Services unit of The Uniting Church Synod of Victoria and Tasmania.

It is published 11 times a year.

Opinions expressed in Crosslight do not necessarily reflect those of the editor or the policies of The Uniting Church.

Advertising: Crosslight accepts advertising in good faith.

Acceptance of advertising does not imply endorsement.

Advertising material is at the discretion of the publisher.

Distribution: Crosslight is usually distributed the first Sunday of the month.

He asks the recipients of the letter to greet Epenetus, “who was the first convert in the Province of Asia”, and Mary, “who worked very hard for you”.

Paul, in specifically referencing individual people and naming what role they fulfilled, honours others’ contributions.

The Uniting Church is built on the prayers and endeavours of generations of faithful people who have gone before. Next year marks the 40th anniversary of its formation, birthed from the rich heritage of its predecessor churches.

The Basis of Union lays out succinctly the foundations of the Church and how it will govern itself.

In 2009-10, following extensive consultations, all the Councils of the Church added an historic and groundbreaking preamble to the Constitution,

recognising the First Peoples’ own encounter with God prior to the arrival of the Second Peoples.

The Uniting Church, like Paul and Christians through the centuries, is on a journey, willing to alter its path as it travels towards the promised goal.

At the June Synod meeting, the members representing the eight presbyteries will be asked to make significant decisions to enable current and future Uniting Church members respond to a changing culture and financial circumstances.

Three hundred people will come together to discern God’s mission for the Uniting Church VicTas in this, the 21st century.

For those faithful intercessors like Paul’s friend Epaphras, this is a key moment in the life of the Church. Please ‘wrestle in prayer’ for those at Synod (Col 4:12).

Circulation: 21,000 (publisher’s figure).

Staff:

Deadlines: Advertising and editorial.

Executive Editor - Penny Mulvey Managing Editor - Deb Bennett Design, Digital Illustration and Print Services - Garth Jones Graphic Artist - Mirna Leonita Communications Manager - Nigel Tapp Online Content Coordinator - Emmet O’Cuana Communications Officer - Tim Lam P.A to Executive Editor - Lynda Nel Senior Media Officer - Ros Marsden

Please check exact dates on our website <crosslight.org.au>.

Closing date for June – Friday 20 May 2016.

Printing: Rural Press, Ballarat Visit Crosslight online: crosslight.org.au

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News Wesley Upper Lonsdale Street site decision provides exciting vision for the future ROS MARSDEN

Concept design

AN exciting step that assures Wesley Church’s future as a place of worship and community gathering was announced in April. Richard Wynne, the Victorian Government Minister for Planning, approved an application for redevelopment of the historic Lonsdale Street Melbourne site where the church was built more than 150 years ago. The redevelopment will also see Wesley Mission Victoria offices returning to their geographic origins and the synod offices relocating to the site.

The approval is significant because it allows an innovative sinking fund for the preservation and maintenance of the church into the next century and beyond.

Wesley Church, manse, schoolhouse and caretaker’s cottage represent the earliest intact neo-Gothic church complex in Victoria. The planning approval safeguards the longevity of these buildings, which have the highest significant heritage value on the site. A unique transaction with the developer means the site will not be sold. It will be leased from the Uniting Church for 125 years, assuring the church’s future as a place of worship and community gathering for perpetuity.

“This is an exciting and important step for the Uniting Church. It allows us to preserve a significant part of our city’s heritage for all Melburnians and to provide a community space that everyone can enjoy within a sustainably sensitive commercial

Concept design

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precinct,” Rev Dr Mark Lawrence, General Secretary of the Uniting Church Vic/Tas synod, said.

“I commend the hard work that so many have dedicated to achieve this outcome.

“I particularly want to thank the Victorian State Government, Heritage Victoria and the City of Melbourne for recognising that we are committed to creating a precinct relevant to today’s world.”

Part of the redevelopment involves the removal of the Princess Mary Club, a concrete building constructed in the late 1920s.

The Princess Mary Club is classified as having contributory significance to the site, unlike the other buildings on the site (Wesley Church, manse, schoolhouse and caretaker’s cottage) which are classified as buildings of the highest heritage significance.

Wesley Church complex, built in 1857-59 was designed by Joseph Reed. The church is an early example of Gothic Revival styling with a gallery on all sides of a cruciform floor plan. Its spire is believed to be the oldest surviving and first spire built in Victoria. The sinking fund assures the church will be utilised for generations to come.

The redevelopment also preserves an olive tree, believed to be the oldest imported tree in Victoria, which will become the focal point of a new green urban sanctuary and tower square.

The minister at Wesley Church, Rev Alistair Macrae, believes the legacy of the Princess Mary Club continues as the church and its associated welfare agencies adapt to the changing needs of women in the 21st century.

“Times have changed and the needs of women have changed, so the legacy of that building has continued in the work of Wesley Mission Victoria, which will have new offices in the commercial precinct of the redeveloped site,” Mr Macrae said.

The Uniting Church Synod of Victoria and Tasmania has also announced a new partnership for the construction and leasing stage of the approved redevelopment, which comprises office space across 33 floors, a dynamic town square and a number of courtyard and garden spaces.

Following an intensive due diligence process, the Synod has completed a partnership agreement with Charter Hall property group. Charter Hall is one

of Australia’s leading property groups, managing over 270 commercial properties around Australia. The organisation has a strong commitment to long-term partnerships and a clear understanding of the Uniting Church ethos in relation to the Wesley Place project.

“We are delighted with the passion and enthusiasm of the team from Charter Hall,” Dr Lawrence said. “Charter Hall’s portfolio of work is outstanding and they understand the values of our Church and the importance we place on this development remaining a place of worship, service and community, as well as a bustling business centre for the people of Melbourne.”

Princess Mary Club legacy continues in a modern context This month’s planning permission means Wesley Mission Victoria offices can return to their geographic origins. The heritage of the mission dates back to 1893 when Melbourne Central Mission was established on the Lonsdale Street site in response to the severe economic depression of the period.

Media attention throughout the planning process has focused on the demolition of the Princess Mary Club. After extensive external consultation, it was concluded that restoration of the concrete building was unfeasible and would not meet standards and expectations for useable space, natural light and modern safety standards. The church is confident that the work of Wesley Mission Victoria reflects the vision of care and community that has been part of the site’s heritage since its beginnings.

Today, Wesley Mission Victoria offers a diverse range of services across aged care, children youth and family, crisis and homelessness, disability, employment, social enterprises and Lifeline telephone counselling services, supporting clients to improve their quality of life and increase their community participation.

For the Uniting Church, the objectives of the redevelopment are threefold – to create new opportunities for the church to engage in city life through interaction of meeting places, arts and educational venues; to provide a place of worship through restoration and ongoing maintenance of the historic church; and to provide a centre for service through a functional building for Wesley Mission Victoria and the Synod offices in the new office development.

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News

Neomad takes the Gold

comic was published by Perth-based publisher Gestalt, and also exists as a mixed media app available on iTunes.

In an interview for the Ledger Awards, I asked Sutu how the Neomad project first came about.

“Big hArt was invited to the Roebourne community to create a series of art projects that would help to tell their stories” he said.

“Yijala Yala’s flagship project was Hipbone Sticking Out, a National Theatre show that cast a lens over the last 400 years of events that led up to the death of John Pat*.

Whilst this was an important story that had to be told, the elders of the community also requested that Big hArt create a story that was fun, captured a sense of optimism for

the future of Roebourne and involved their young people. That story became Neomad.”

Tapping into 35,000 years of aural tradition and creating a digital resource that mixes audio and visual assets created by the youth of Roebourne, Neomad is a unique cultural product of today’s Australia.

* John Pat was a young man from Roebourne who died in police custody one month shy of his 17th birthday on 28 September 1983. All five officers accused of manslaughter were found not guilty.

Each year John Pat’s wrongful death is commemorated by the Australian Indigenous community.

EMMET O’CUANA

Sound designer/composer Stuart Thorne & Gestalt editor Gary Edwards accept the 2016 Gold Ledger for Neomad Picture courtesy of Stevie O’Cuana

A FEW years ago Crosslight profiled Australian online comic and multimedia project Neomad. On Friday 15 April, the science fiction adventure series won the 2016 Gold Ledger award (the Oscars for comics) for the Neomad: The Complete Collection print edition published last year.

Neomad is set in Australia’s Pilbara region in the year 2076. Its heroes, the Lovepunks and Satellite Sisters, have adventures in space.

They battle ancient cosmic gods, when not playfully bickering with one another.

Neomad is the result of an 18-month

collaboration as part of the Yijala Yala project between the Roebourne (Ieramugadu) community and cultural development and arts organisation Big hArt. Artist, Sutu, worked with and instructed children from Roebourne in Western Australia in the use of illustrative tools like Photoshop to create this madcap adventure series about their fictional alter-egos.

A glossary of terms used from the Yindjibarndi language was included with the issues, providing an opportunity to educate a wide audience of readers. The

Stop foreign aid cuts CHURCH leaders from 12 denominations, including Uniting Church President Stuart McMillan, have called on Treasurer Scott Morrison to stop further cuts to Australia’s aid budget.

A scheduled $224 million cut in the May federal budget will see Australia’s aid contribution fall to 0.22 per cent of Australia’s GNI (gross national income) – its lowest level in history. It will also make Australia one of the least generous developed country donors in the world.

In an open letter addressed to Mr Morrison, the church leaders said the cuts will undermine programs which have a direct impact on people’s lives.

“Australia’s support for aid and the flourishing of our neighbours is fundamentally a moral question and it rises above partisan politics,” the letter said.

“We know that as a nation we put this into practice when we help our neighbours recover from natural disasters, support

MAY 16 - CROSSLIGHT

people’s basic human rights, assist in meeting the challenges of climate change or provide a safe refuge to those fleeing persecution.”

Last year, Australian aid helped respond to natural disasters in 15 countries, including the devastating earthquake in Nepal and Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu. It vaccinated more than 2.8 million children and provided safe drinking water for more than 2.2 million people.

However, the Coalition government has slashed a total $11 billion from the aid budget since coming to office. The Rudd and Gillard governments also made substantial cuts to foreign aid.

Australia’s declining aid expenditure is in contrast with the aid budget trajectories of other OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. Britain has fulfilled its pledge of committing 0.7 per cent of its GNI to foreign aid, the internationally-agreed

target. British Prime Minister David Cameron vowed that his government will never “balance the books on the backs of the poorest”.

The churches called on the Australian government to become a compassionate and generous neighbour again by restoring its commitment to Australian aid.

“More than ten million Australians identify with our churches. We are united by our belief in Jesus, who showed us what it means to ‘love our neighbour’,” the letter said.

“These cuts damage and undermine programs which have a direct impact on the lives, livelihoods, security and opportunity of many of our region’s poorest and most vulnerable people and communities, including women and girls and people with disability.”

Cuts to foreign aid are often regarded as politically expedient. Last year, more than a quarter of the federal budget savings

were related to foreign aid, with funding to sub-Saharan Africa programs cut by 70 per cent.

Cuts to aid will hurt the most vulnerable communities in the world. Australia is a prosperous nation surrounded by many developing countries. Papua New Guinea, Australia’s closest neighbour, has the highest level of income inequality in the Asia-Pacific region. More than 60 per cent of its population do not have access to safe water. Approximately 37 per cent live on less than US $1.25 per day.

At the 14th Assembly last year, the Church encouraged congregation members to advocate strongly for increases in overseas aid funding. With the federal budget set to be announced on 3 May, there is still time to write, tweet, text or call Mr Morrison to reverse the cuts. The Campaign for Australian Aid website provides templates that you can use to shape your message.

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News Truly, we will remember them PENNY MULVEY

Anzac Day 2015 was an enormous event.

The centenary of Gallipoli – a disastrous military exercise, which over the nine months it raged between the Turkish and Allied Forces, claimed more than 141 thousand lives.

This year Australia commemorates the 50th anniversary of our involvement in an equally flawed military encounter – the Vietnam War. Like the two world wars before it, the Vietnam War has left an indelible scar on our psyche. Young men were conscripted, and these same National Servicemen were then treated as pariahs on their return as public support moved to downright hostility.

The Australian War Memorial (AWM) acknowledges the complexity of responses to the war in its permanent exhibition dedicated to the Vietnam War. Vietnam veterans were banned from marching in Anzac Day marches until a belated Welcome Home Parade in Sydney in 1987. In the exhibit, the AWM records: “Thousands of veterans marched in front of huge cheering crowds and attended a concert in the Domain. It brought many veterans together for the first time since

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their service.”

The Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne has opened a temporary exhibit in the West Gallery of the Galleries of Remembrance titled 1966: The year that changed the world.

The exhibit presents three themes: the first examines Australia and the world; the second is ‘A nation on the brink: 1966 in Vietnam’; and the third focuses specifically on Australia.

The Shrine says “The decisions made by politicians and generals in the year 1966 remain controversial. But the consequences of those decisions affected the men and women who served in Vietnam and elsewhere, not just for that year, but for the 50 years since. This exhibition is their story.”

The Uniting Church is a peacemaking church. The Church’s vision is for a world where there is no need for military arms and weapons.

In an Assembly statement published by Uniting Justice in 2005, the Uniting Church expressed its hope for the world: “…where conflict is resolved through peaceful means and where people and nations live together in dignity and hope, respecting each other’s cultural and religious traditions and

Picture courtesy of Shrine of Remembrance

relating to each other as loving neighbours whose future is shared. This hope is based in the understanding that God came in the crucified and risen Christ to make peace and that God calls all Christians to be peacemakers, to save life, to heal and love their neighbours.”

Members of the Uniting Church participated in an ecumenical service of peace held at St Paul’s Cathedral on Anzac Day. Described as an alternative Anzac commemoration, worshippers were invited to “a service of lament for all soldiers who suffered and died in World War I, especially in the Battle of Somme in 1916,

for the doctors and nurses who cared for the wounded and dying, for loved ones at home during and after the campaign, for the government attempts to conscript men in to the war that was said to be the war that ends all war”.

The service was an initiative of St Paul’s Cathedral, Pax Christi and the Anzac Centenary Peace Coalition.

1966: The Year that Changed the World 4 April 2016-2 July 2017 Shrine of Remembrance, open daily, entry by donation.

CROSSLIGHT - MAY 16

News The servant community DEB BENNETT LAST month we spoke with four Uniting Church volunteers who devote countless hours to serving their congregations and communities. Their stories reflect the experiences of the thousands of volunteers who are often described as the ‘backbone’ of the Uniting Church.

The importance of volunteers to the work of the church cannot be underestimated. This is particularly so in relation to the synod’s UnitingCare Vic/Tas (UCVT) network, where volunteers work in a variety of settings to ensure the smooth operation of service delivery. In an attempt to gain a better understanding of volunteers, UCVT recently conducted a detailed Volunteer Strategy Project report which will be released during National Volunteer Week 9-15 May. Bessy Andriotis is a project officer with UCVT. She said the report highlights that, for some people, volunteering is seen as a natural extension of their faith.

“The most common reasons people volunteer is the sense of purpose and meaning it gives them and the difference they make in the community as a result of their volunteering,” Ms Andriotis said.

“Unlike secular agencies, the Uniting Church involves volunteers in its congregations and other institutions because ‘we are the body

Volunteers from UnitingCare harrison’s Bayswater OpShop. Left to right : Anne Van De Leeuw , Betty Waud and Beryl Tate

of Christ and we are all part of the servant community’. Volunteers contribute to their mission and support the programs of agencies.”

She said it was important to develop a profile of volunteering throughout the agency network, not only to ensure the needs of volunteers are being met, but to best use the skills and experience of those who donate their time. The impact of volunteers is vital for the work of the church, so it is important agencies continue to attract and support this muchneeded resource.

“In some circumstances volunteers play a critical role in service delivery and care.

For example, Lifeline relies on volunteers to answer the phones and out-of-home care relies on foster carers to care for children.”

More than 4000 volunteers support UCVT agencies and Wesley Mission Victoria, while 600 people volunteer for Uniting AgeWell

and many more donate their time throughout UC schools. The report was compiled from information gathered through surveys, forums, focus groups and interviews.

Ms Andriotis said issues facing agencies in the future are very similar to those facing congregations.

“The two most common factors which make it difficult to attract volunteers is the ageing of the prospective pool of volunteers and the emergence of people who are looking for different ways to volunteer,” Ms Andriotis said.

“Volunteers’ expectations and needs are changing, they are more highly skilled, baby boomers may be less likely to slot into historical volunteer roles and make a regular firm commitment, and many of today’s volunteers like to do things that are of interest, more so than simply ‘helping’.

“Agencies need to provide volunteer opportunities that are innovative and

outside traditional models for each of these demographic groups.”

The findings of the report have prompted UCVT to recommend a number of new initiatives. These include establishing a volunteer coordinators network, development of new ways of engaging volunteers, greater use of the online space for recruitment and engagement and promotion of successful volunteering strategies throughout the network.

Ms Andriotis said the report also identified areas where the changing nature of church reflected different expectations of volunteering.

“One presbytery in particular is engaged in a strategy to regenerate the church,” she said.

“It is encouraging members to connect with people in the community in new ways, so it is anticipated that new kinds of church will bring about new kinds of volunteering.”

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MAY 16 - CROSSLIGHT

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News St Stephen’s host Ni-Vanuatu nurses ADRIENNE DYALL IN the April Crosslight, Jim Wakelam challenged readers to think about ways to respond to need. As volunteers, mistakes are made and, over the decades, many changes have occurred in the way Christians witness across the cultures: from the White Missionary days, to volunteering in work parties, to eco-tourism, chequebook activism and more.

The motto of St Stephen’s Uniting Church Wodonga is “To so live so that Christ is seen through us”. It is no surprise then that this congregation is active in mission, both locally and globally.

At the community level, UnitingCare Wodonga provides emergency relief and financial counselling at the centre of the daily activities, and offers programs such as Mainly Music, Cuppa and Chat, Dad’s Army, Op Shop and more.

St Stephen’s global missions began approximately 10 years ago. Jess Butcher (whose mother, Kate Tierney, was our minister at the time) was working for the synod’s Justice and International Mission unit. Jess speaks Indonesian and has a strong interest in the interfaith movement.

She led a group of St Stephen’s people to Indonesia to provide a Muslim-Christian experience with people from Percik Institute. The 10 or 12 people came back fired up with ideas for breaking down the barriers and stereotypes regarding Muslims.

Out of this developed a relationship and an interfaith program which is maintained today. This includes programs to sponsor overseas guests to spend three months as part of the congregation. Visits from

Edna (left) and Helivson admiring the river at Mitta Mitta

a group of Indonesians, and then pairs of Indonesians, have fostered greater understandings over the last 10 years and broken down stereotypes as Muslims and Christians work, study and re-create sideby-side.

Our congregation’s relationship with Vanuatu has developed over many years.

One of our members, Peter Prenter, grew up in Vanuatu with his missionary parents and has led annual travel groups – and one work party – to the island nation.

Several years ago a student-and-teacher delegation from Vanuatu visited for a short time to gain experience in Australia. This year St Stephen’s has hosted two nurses for three months to share Christian fellowship, gain invaluable professional knowledge and to experience life in another society. This is not an interfaith program, but one where we share Christian practices and provide professional opportunities for the guests.

Edna Iavro and Helivson Tabe are both nurses. Edna is a Community Health Nurse on Santo Island, and Helivson is in

charge of the Paediatric Ward of Northern Provincial Hospital. They are both involved in Health Care Christian Fellowship.

St Stephen’s congregation is working on ways to best help our neighbours. The congregation finances the visits and congregational members provide guests with home accommodation. Programs are planned in line with the guests’ work situations and, in this case, visits to healthcare facilities are high on the agenda. From the large Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, to smaller hospitals and clinics in country Victoria, and nursing homes on the edge of country towns, these nurses are experiencing a wide-sweep of health care.

Lifting machines are new to the nurses, and they have plans to improve patient care and alleviate injuries to staff by speaking with their bosses about such machines.

Even one in every hospital would make a power of difference. Helivson was very impressed with the play rooms at the Royal Children’s Hospital and plans to set one up in her ward. No such room is available

in Vanuatu. A traction bed would also be invaluable. Music therapy is a new idea which has excited the nurses.

Being able to speak with health professionals, visit hospitals and care centres, see first-hand the way Australians manage care of the young, ill, elderly and disabled is empowering and giving much needed professional development. They are seeing, touching, learning and taking home ideas which can become part of their nursing and teaching in Vanuatu.

With improving English helpful for interacting with tourists at home, to appreciation of the structure of church services here and ideas to implement at home in the Mothers Union (Helivson) and Sunday School (Edna), the nurses are enthusiastic about the opportunities given to them, and would like to encourage other churches to consider such programs.

Uniting Journeys has come up with the simple formula for volunteering: “Build understanding, relationships and the connections first. The rest will follow as it should”.

The relationships, understanding and connections have been forged at St Stephen’s and no-one knows what will follow.

To raise money towards the cost of sending a shipping container of medical supplies, furniture, books, toys and second-hand goods to Vanuatu, a function has been organised at the church for 7 pm on Friday 29 April. Everyone is welcome. Phone Helen Young on 0407 281 345 for more details. If you are unable to attend but wish to support this Vanuatu project, please donate online in the following account.

Name of account: Wodonga Uniting Church St Stephen’s. Account# 176107.

BSB# 033264 and tag ‘Vanuatu funds.’

Adrienne Dyall is the church council chairperson at St Stephen’s Uniting Church Wodonga.

MIND BODY SPIRIT Service - North Balwyn UCA, Duggan St. North Balwyn (Mel. 46 F3)

You can advertise here!

The June edition of Crosslight will be ‘hot-off-the-press’ in time for Synod 2016.

Your message will reach a captive audience.

Contact Lynda on P: (03) 9251 5485 E: Lynda.Nel@victas.uca.org.au

SUNDAY 29 MAY 5.30 - 7.30pm - Rev Dr Geoff Thompson Co-ordinator of Studies in Systematic Theology at Pilgrim Theological College, the theological college of the VIC/TAS Synod of the UCA. Geoff previously worked as an Agronomist, a congregational minister, and as a lecturer and Principal at Trinity Theological College in Queensland.

Topic - “Culture, Beliefs and Theology”

SUNDAY 26 JUNE 5.30 - 7.30pm - Assoc. Prof Elizabeth M Dax AM Executive Chair of the Dax Centre. The Cunningham Dax Collection has more than 15,000 art works created by people with experience of mental illness. The Dax Centre uses the art works to promote understanding of mental illness and empathy with the issues portrayed.

Topic - "Art towards Mental Health"

Talks are followed by soup & Reflective Worship Further details: 9857 8412, mail@nbuc.org.au or www.nbuc.org.au

A Cockroach’s View After 45 Years Under The Pulpit Pillow ST MICHAEL’S 1971-2016.

Dr Francis Macnab presents a free lecture telling of the remarkable renewal of a city church and its people.

It is a tale of “the phoenix rising from the ashes”. Hear how a worn-out church has reinvented itself ready for the next era.

Refreshments at 6pm, lecture starts 6.30pm Thursday 26 May. RSVP online at www.stmichaels.org.au or call 9654 5120.

St Michael’s

120 C OLLIN S ST M ELBOU R N E W W W.ST M IC H AELS.OR G . A U

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CROSSLIGHT - MAY 16

News CTM offers a helping hand to farmers

Creek in the Kinglake Ranges, one of the areas affected by the devastating Black Saturday bushfires. The bushfires had a significant impact on Mr Johns’ family and his schooling.

In the aftermath of the fires, the Kinglake community sought to rebuild their lives by offering care and support for one another.

Throughout the past six years, Mr Johns and his parents have volunteered at Kinglake West Uniting Church’s weekly community meals.

The CTM grant provided Mr Johns financial assistance as he pursued a Certificate III in Agriculture and a Diploma of Agronomy at Melbourne Polytechnic.

“The bursary enabled me to pay for expenses such as fees, books, protective clothing, safety

boots, travelling to TAFE and excursions,” Mr Johns said.

“I purchased extra books to help with my studies and this assisted me with having a greater understanding of many topics. I could educate myself on specific areas of agriculture that were of interest and this information was very useful in assessments.”

In addition to classroom learning, Mr Johns also gained essential, hands-on experience working on a farm. The Melbourne Polytechnic campus at Yan Yean is a 600 hectare farm with sheep, cattle, crops and modern equipment.

“We undertook many tasks including planting and harvesting crops with agricultural machinery, and working with livestock,” Mr Johns said.

“I could learn in a safe, supervised environment with experienced teachers.”

During his studies, Mr Johns learnt essential water management skills, including how to manage pastures and crops in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner.

A highlight of his course was presenting two steers at the Royal Melbourne Show. It took Mr Johns several months to prepare and train the steers.

“We had to break them in as they had had limited human contact before,” Mr Johns explained.

“We had to learn how to do this properly and humanely as this would be a long process.

Earning the trust at the start would be a benefit when they are paraded at the show.

“Over time we had them at a level where we could parade them in an arena at the Royal Melbourne Show with hundreds of people watching, while competing against other TAFEs and schools across the state.”

The CTM recently approved further funding for the next 12 months, which will assist Mr Johns as he completes his studies. This year, he will undertake a Bachelor of Agriculture and Technology, run jointly though Melbourne Polytechnic and La Trobe University. This will bring him one step closer towards achieving his goal of working in the agricultural industry.

“I am very grateful for the John and Alexander McLennan fund and the opportunities it has given me to complete my course with many skills that I can take into the industry,” Mr Johns said.

“Without the bursary last year I would not be in a financial position to consider doing this degree this year.”

“When we look at issues around LGBTI identity and inclusion and mix it with faith, we often find that spirituality and faith are very different between the privileged, white ‘out and proud’ movement and culturally and linguistically diverse people,” Mr Stevens said.

At the 14th Assembly last year, the Church resolved to engage in a culturallyappropriate conversation about samegender relationships. Many Uniting Church members come from countries where LGBTI people face extreme persecution and discrimination.

“Thirty-three per cent of Pacific countries criminalise homosexual relationships,” Mr Stevens said.

“Having many of those countries part of the UnitingWorld and Uniting Church faith community provides great challenges for us.”

Matthew Tyne, UnitingWorld’s associate director of relief and development, will host a workshop on the importance of crosscultural storytelling for LGBTI Christians.

Rev Sani Vaeluaga and Ken Moala will examine the Samoan concept of Fa’afafine,

a ‘third gender’ that challenges Western preconceptions of gender.

Other speakers include Victorian gender and sexuality commissioner Rowena Allen, Toni Paynter, Luke Gahan and incoming moderator Rev Sharon Hollis.

Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in bible studies and elective workshops during the conference. Rev Avril Hannah-Jones and Rev Dr Geoff Thompson will lead a doctrine working group on marriage. Rev John Clarke, director of mission at Uniting AgeWell, will host a workshop on ageing well without discrimination.

American author Susan Cottrell will share her journey coming to terms with, and eventually embracing, her gay son.

Guests can also hear from interfaith speakers, including Nur Warsame, who will speak about the challenges of being gay in a Muslim community.

The conference will include the biannual Uniting Network general meeting, where delegates will discuss and formulate the 2016 Daring Statement. This statement will then be

presented to the Uniting Church Assembly.

“The statement is a combination of reflections, but also a dialogue between us and the broader church, of where we are as LGBTI Christians in 2016 and what we hope for the future,” Mr Stevens explained.

An important function of the conference is to nurture relationships between people from different parts of Australia. On Saturday night, attendees will share their experiences together over dinner. Uniting Church President Stuart McMillan will also address the delegates and listen to their stories.

“We are looking forward to a great conference,” Mr Stevens said.

“We welcome all people within and outside the Uniting Church and those interested in interfaith, CALD and LGBTI communities, to come along and get involved.”

Tickets are available from the Uniting Network website: www. unitingnetworkaustralia.org.au/ daring-2016/ Single day tickets are available for $75. The full three-day pass is $150 ($80 concession).

TIM LAM

LIKE many young men in Australia, Peter Johns wanted to attend university and pursue a career in an industry of his choice. But tertiary education can be expensive; tuition fees, transport, textbooks and equipment all add up to create a significant financial hurdle.

A person’s own financial circumstances may also create an additional barrier to their career aspirations.

The Centre for Theology and Ministry (CTM) offers a range of bursaries for young people facing financial hardship. One of these is the John and Alexander McLennan Farm Training Fund. It assists young men in Victoria who seek training and education in the agricultural industry.

Peter Johns was the recipient of CTM’s farm training bursary in 2015. He is from Pheasant

Reaching out in the church TIM LAM THE Daring Conference is a biannual national gathering of LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) people within the Uniting Church in Australia. This year, the three-day conference will be held at the Centre for Theology and Ministry in Melbourne from Friday 10 June to Monday 13 June.

It is organised by Uniting Network Australia, a network of LGBTI people within the Uniting Church and their families, friends and supporters.

The 2016 theme is Daring to Reach Out: Honouring our Diversity. Damien Stevens, coconvenor of Uniting Network, said the theme explores the challenges and opportunities for LGBTI inclusion within the Church’s culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities.

Peter Johns sitting on a tractor

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MAY 16 - CROSSLIGHT

The start date is 5 June 2016.

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9

News Place-to-place placement DEB BENNETT

MOBILE ministry, an innovative placement idea, aims to offer support to country churches throughout the Loddon Mallee region.

Like many rural communities throughout Australia, isolated congregations in the presbytery of Loddon Mallee often rely on the efforts of lay ministers and dedicated church members to keep running. They support communities dealing with the effects of drought, exodus of young people, employment uncertainty and the resulting complex social issues, often for years on end.

Speaking with Rev Gordon Bannon, presbytery minister, pastoral care for Loddon Mallee, it is clear he admires the passion of lay church members to support their local communities. But he knows that working for so long in churches without a minister can be exhausting, particularly for ageing congregations.

“In our presbytery we have had a lot of churches without a minister for a long time,” Mr Bannon said.

“There’s a good strong lay ministry with some people waiting for a minister and some thinking they will never be able to afford a minister again. They are just getting on with the business of being church.

“But when it’s all run by lay people they tend to express that, even though it’s good, they get very tired and need a bit of a break. Also, without an ordained minister it can be very isolating, not just physically. It’s hard to keep a connection with the wider church.”

Victoria’s Loddon Mallee region covers nearly 59,000 square kilometres, or more than a quarter of the state. Bordered by South Australia to the north west, the Murray River to the north and the Macedon Ranges to the south east, Loddon Mallee’s population is currently reported as 304,560.

Much of Loddon Mallee has felt the effects of severe drought for many years.

The devastation of crop failure can ripple through a small town, resulting in the closure of small businesses, schools and community groups. Churches are not immune, so at a time when community support is needed most, many are facing dwindling numbers, ageing congregations and a shortage of ordained minsters.

Mr Bannon said the Loddon Mallee presbytery has come up with an inventive program he hopes can alleviate the pressure on rural congregations.

“We have attempted to think outside the box for ways to resource congregations who can’t afford, or attract, an ordained minister,” Mr Bannon said.

“We have come up with something a little different that we call ‘Mobile Ministry’. It combines aspects of traditional ministry, resource ministry, team ministry, supply ministry and lay ministry.”

The idea is to offer a placement to a minister where they will be put into a congregation, or cluster, and work with the church for three months before moving on to the next church. Mr Bannon stresses that the placement will focus on supporting and enhancing the existing work of the church.

“The minister’s role is to give the people who have been running the place a bit of a rest and do the services, support them, work with them to develop a plan about what they do next; to give them an outside perspective.

“We’re not looking to get this person to go into somewhere and start new stuff. In the majority of these areas people are doing really good things. They’re just getting quite worn down at times by having to do it all themselves.

“It’s about being attentive to what people need and how they can be nurtured in their mission, not the mission of the minister who will be gone in three months’ time.

“Over many years we have had patrol ministries but this is quite different in its character to that. It is congregationally based and it is very much a three-month focus on a particular area to try to build up their strengths and resources and their ability to be God’s people in mission.”

Mr Bannon said the role would be ideal for an experienced minister with a sense of

adventure. He said that the role is negotiable in terms of where the minister will stay.

Although there is a manse allowance, the presbytery has the finances for a campervan, and the presbytery would consider a husband and wife team.

“There are different possibilities and we are trying not to nail it down too much because if we have someone who is really interested in the concept it can work a lot of different ways.”

He said it is also important to stress that the minister won’t be working alone, they will be supported by the presbytery team.

While the role will be challenging, he feels, for the right person, it will also be incredibly rewarding.

“Ideally this would suit someone who has got a fair bit of experience under their belt, or felt God calling them to something just that bit challenging in a different sort of way.

“I don’t want to gild the lily, Loddon Mallee is fairly flat and dry and the places into which the minister will go are not necessarily easy positions to go in to. They are struggling communities.

“The attractive part of it, frankly, is the people. The people are just amazingly resilient and welcoming and warm, as a lot of rural people are. They would be so grateful for this opportunity to be given to them.”

For more information on Mobile Ministry contact Rev Gordon Bannon on 0417037450 or email: celtgreenman@outlook.com.

Mobile Ministry is moving into the modern era

BRING YOUR FRIENDS to opening worship and the installation of Moderator Rev Sharon Hollis – Friday 3 June 7.30pm, Wesley Uniting Church, 148 Lonsdale St, Melbourne. There will be an Auslan interpreter at the service.

DIARISE THE DATE 4-8 June 2016 at Box Hill Town Hall, 1022 Whitehorse Road, Box Hill PRAY FOR THE MEETING: for representatives from your presbytery, for our leaders and for all members of Synod as they seek wisdom and discernment in their discussions, deliberations and decision making.

CHECK FOR UPDATES ON THE APP: We’ve launched the Synod 2016 mobile app for information and regular updates and news about the meeting.

View it at https://crowd.cc/uca-victas-2016 or download the app from https://crowd.cc/s/7ASM 10

MAY 16 - CROSSLIGHT

Profile The challenge of change DEB BENNETT

Ros and husband Wayne on Bobby, the second highest peak in Madagascar

IF experience is the best teacher, Rev Ros McDonald has certainly learnt how to cope with change. As the school chaplain at Acacia College, Ms McDonald found herself counselling and supporting the school community through uncertainty and turmoil at a time when she, personally, was going through those same emotions. It is these skills she will bring to her new role as pastoral response person for the Major Strategic Review (MSR).

“I went through losing my placement, losing my faith community and having to support that community at the same time. And knowing the church, that I had promised to serve, cut me off at the knees when they had been the ones to place me there. That adds another dimension to just losing your job.”

As the MSR team has travelled around Victoria and Tasmania, there are some who are concerned at the proposed changes taking place within the church.

Ms McDonald’s role will develop as the needs of the church community become apparent.

“There are needs on all fronts. The role is to support people in the congregations as well as the MSR team and people on Standing Committee. People who have the difficult job of having to make these decisions.

“I am both proactive and reactive. Some people I might contact or others, I wait for them to contact me.

“I am in close contact with members of the MSR team and alert when I am in key meetings. Being a supportive presence is a way of introducing myself to people, and forming connections.”

Reflecting back on those difficult days after the Acacia decision, Ms McDonald said it was important to recognise the needs of the individual in the early stages of change.

“The first step in any kind of pastoral care is to validate the emotions a person is feeling. That won’t resonate with everyone, as some work on a feeling level and others on a thinking level. It’s being able to listen and try to really understand as best I can what that particular person is feeling or thinking.

“The normal emotions people often

feel with change would be fear, anxiety, anger, shame, guilt, shock, uncertainty, being overwhelmed and not able to make decisions properly. Of course not everyone will feel all of this and not to the same extent.”

While not detracting from the negative impact Acacia had on the school community, Ms McDonald said the experience actually offered her the opportunity to expand her skills and enabled her to become a better minister.

“As chaplain at Acacia, what I really longed for was to have more depth in my counselling skills. Ironically enough, when I lost the chaplaincy position I had the time to do the course counselling that I needed in the chaplaincy position.”

It is these skills and experience Ms McDonald hopes will help others in the months ahead. One of the most important lessons learned from Acacia is that people need a sense of perspective on just how bad a problem really is. She said that while closing a school was viewed as difficult for those most affected, when compared

to countries where children don’t get the chance to go to school, in reality it was not an actual ‘disaster’.

“In Australia there are other jobs for teachers, there are other schools available for students. While it feels really bad it’s not the end of the world.

“Pastoral care is more than just listening and walking with people and having compassion. My great desire is to lead people on or to help people take a step, not to just join them where they are. That’s vitally important.”

“My underlying theme is ‘I survived Acacia’.”

Ms McDonald describes herself as the ‘wounded healer’ and hopes people will see her not only as a resource, but proof that change can be good as well as bad.

For more information contact Ros McDonald at: Roslyn.McDonald@victas.uca.org.au

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS Johannes Eurich | Hanns-Stephan Haas |Brian Howe Lucy Morris | Annette Noller | Stephen Pickard 1). THEOLOGIES OF AGENCY Heather den Houting | Doug Hynd | Geoff Thompson | Jenny Tymms 2). ECONOMICS OF FUNDING Brendan Long | Paul Oslington | Peter Worland 3). ADVOCACY /LQ +DWÀHOG 'RGGV _ -L =KDQJ _ 0DUN =LUQVDN

RECAPTURING OUR SOUL CONFERENCE [ MEL /AUS] 2–4 SEP T 2016

Book online today at rosconference.org.au MAY 16 - CROSSLIGHT

11

News Sri Lankan Inter-Faith Harmony Day 2016 LARRY MARSHALL

Dancers

Singing for social justice TIM LAM

UNITING Church members in the Warrnambool region are using the power of song to bring about social change.

The One Earth Many Voices choir came together in 2014 and includes several Uniting Church members from Warrnambool and Port Fairy. It was formed as a response to social and environmental issues, such as refugees, climate change and coal seam fracking.

Warrnambool minister Rev Geoff Barker plays the guitar and is one of the choir’s co-convenors. He said the choir raises awareness about social justice issues in an accessible and non-threatening manner.

“We can argue and lobby politicians, but to bring about change in issues such as the environment, climate change and refugees, you’ve got to also touch people’s emotions,” Mr Barker said.

“Through the arts, you can make some impact. Singing is one way we can do that.”

Co-convenor Philip Shaw said one of the choir’s first tasks was to come up with a name that reflected their values and mission.

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“HERE today we are making a difference by building bridges of harmony across different faiths and generations. We are learning to share stories of hope, healing and growing stronger as a group determined to paint a new canvas that brings peace and happiness to us all.” - Shyama Fuad (USMAA) Sri Lankan Harmony Day has now become an annual event on the inter-faith calendar.

This year we, as hosts through a Uniting Church fellowship called Sri Lanka Invites, the event had invaluable support from the ‘United Sri Lankan Muslim Association’ (USMAA).

It was standing room only as more than 450 Sri Lankans and friends from Christian, Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu faiths gathered in a celebration of peace.

Harmony Day patron Professor David De Kretser and his wife Jan were joined by Rev Jeffrey Abayasekera and his wife Annathaie who flew in from Sydney to support this day of seeking peace and reconciliation.

The ConChord choir entertained and challenged us to sing the Sri Lankan national anthem in both Sinhalese and Tamil – to raise our voices in harmony and sing together about being proud Sri Lankans. This was followed by the stirring Bruce Woodley anthem ‘We are Australian’.

There were tears in some eyes as we acknowledged the joys of belonging to our Lankan homeland as well as this generous land we call home.

Three young reconciliation activists from Sri Lanka performed confronting theatre dramas to remind us all of our responsibility to work for harmony across the divides of ethnicity, religion, language and politics. The actors came from a youth organisation appropriately called ‘Sri Lanka Unites’: a Muslim (Ramzi), a Sinhala Buddhist (Thevuni) and a Christian Tamil (Manesh) work with youth from schools

building hope and fostering forgiveness and reconciliation.

Later Thevuni gave a stirring speech about the courage we need to love rather than fear the ‘other’.

As a Sinhalese-Buddhist representing the religious and ethnic majority of Sri Lanka, I believe it is the majority’s responsibility to stand up for minority rights – just so that one day we can get rid of these concepts of ‘majority’ and ‘minority’, where we are able to think of ourselves all as Sri Lankans and have faith in our common humanity.

After the speeches and singing were over

“There’s the idea of many voices – looking at the different voices that need to be represented by a choir such as ours,” Mr Shaw said.

“We had a nice logo of the earth and, just around it, the words ‘One Earth, Many Voices’ fitted quite nicely. It was a fortuitous starting name and it stuck with the group since then.”

The choir is open to people from all, or no, faith backgrounds.

“We welcome anyone who is interested in singing and supports the ideas we’re interested in,” Mr Shaw said.

“Although Geoff and I are the leaders,

everyone gets their chance to put their ideas forward to discuss the things that we’re doing.”

Every Tuesday evening, the choir rehearses at the Hammond centre next to the Anglican Christ Church. The centre is more than just a place to rehearse; it is a space for members to share food, discuss social issues and collaborate on songwriting.

Christina Buckland became involved with the choir because she was concerned about the federal government’s inaction on climate change. She said the feedback from the public has been positive and

we shared a feast of Muslim inspired Sri Lankan food – the famous Biriyani. The evening finished with a session of song and dance called Baila – from our Portuguese colonial heritage – and many new friendships were made as the crowd stayed on to build the bridges of harmony and plan a brighter future for Sri Lanka.

Larry Marshall is a project manager with the synod’s Uniting Through Faiths unit. He is a Sri Lankan Burgher who migrated to Australia as a teenager with his family.

Rev Dev Anandarajan made a particularly poignant contribution to Harmony Day 2016 by penning a speech inspired by Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I Had a Dream…’. The whole audience spoke this together with him and Rev Rajitha Perera.

A Dream for Sri Lanka I have a dream…….

That one day Sri Lankans of all ethnicities and religions will hold hands and say we are different, but we are all proudly Sri Lankans.

That one day we will value each other for our rich cultural heritage, our religions, our languages and the contribution we make together for the welfare of the nation.

That one day our children will learn not to categorise fellow Sri Lankans into ethnic or religious groups but value them all as children of mother Lanka.

That one day we will say sorry for the pain we inflicted on each other.

That one day we will rise up and say, “We will not let ourselves be divided one against the other” and courageously guard each other’s rights as fellow citizens.

That in our distinctiveness we will find our strength, in what is common we will find our identity, in our religions we will seek paths of truth, justice and peace, in our ideologies we will seek the welfare of all, and together we will make Sri Lanka a land of peace and prosperity.

Rev Dev Anandarajan

many people would comment on their song lyrics, which are often humorous but imbued with a strong social message.

“We keep getting invited back, so I think that’s a vote of confidence,” Ms Buckland said.

“We didn’t want to just spread the science and be very technical; we needed to get our message across in a friendly way.”

A highlight for many of the choir members was a weekend camp late last year in Halls Gap. Approximately 50 people gathered together to discuss ideas, learn new protest songs and sing about peace and justice.

The camp received in-kind funding from Uniting Church Camping through the Presbytery of Western Victoria.

The choir is just one way Uniting Church members in Warrnambool are involved in social justice advocacy. The congregation hosts a community lunch every Wednesday and runs a child care centre on the church site. Some members of Warrnambool Uniting Church, including Mr Barker, also participated in a Love Makes a Way sit-in last October at the office of Wannon MP Dan Tehan.

Mr Barker said his involvement in social justice causes is driven by the call of the gospel.

“Jesus’ vision of the kingdom of God – we’re just a part of walking towards that,” he said.

“He’s our guide, He’s our inspiration.”

Choir rehearsals

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Feature

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Feature

“For what does it profit a man that he should gai Panama papers It has been described as the biggest data leak in history. An estimated 11.5 million files were leaked from the database of Mossack Fonseca, a little-known law firm in Panama. The Panama Papers, as they are popularly known, offer a glimpse into the practices used by individuals and corporations to set up shell companies in offshore tax havens.

Crosslight attempts to explain the importance of the findings of the Panama Papers.

Mossack Fonseca Mossack Fonseca is a Panama-based law firm and the fourth biggest provider of offshore services in the world. It registers shell companies in tax havens on an industrial scale. In a statement released in response to the Panama Papers, Mossack Fonseca stated they are “responsible members of the global financial and business community” and “conduct thorough due diligence on all new and prospective clients”.

Shell companies Shell companies exist only on paper, with no office or employees. Many clients use these offshore structures to keep their identities confidential. Though legal, the anonymity provided by this system is open to abuse by criminals and businesses that wish to avoid paying tax. The team of global journalists who investigated the Panama Papers said some of the offshore companies were used to facilitate large-scale money laundering, tax avoidance, bribery, fraud, drug trafficking and arms dealing.

According to the documents, more than half of the companies incorporated by Mossack Fonseca are registered in the British Virgin Islands. The Caribbean territory’s lax disclosure requirements make it an ideal destination for companies that seek to operate behind a wall of secrecy.

Mossack Fonseca’s clients More than 214,000 offshore companies were listed in the Panama Papers. These accounts were linked to politicians, billionaires, celebrities, sports stars and people associated with organised crime.

Twelve current and former heads-of-states have been named in the papers, including Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson. Mr Gunnlaugsson resigned following revelations that he did not disclose an offshore company owned by him and his wife.

Other clients include relatives of world leaders. Many of these leaders have publicly

declared their support for greater financial transparency. The files revealed offshore companies linked to the family of Chinese President Xi Jinping and the late father of British Prime Minister David Cameron.

The Australian Tax Office is currently investigating more than 800 Australian clients of Mossack Fonseca. Wilson Security, the company subcontracted to run security for Australia’s offshore detention regime, has also been mentioned in the documents.

The human impact The human impact of tax avoidance is substantial. A company selling a prospective oil field in Uganda is believed to have used Mossack Fonseca’s services to avoid paying $400 million in taxes – more than Uganda’s annual health budget. The lives of millions of people are made more difficult when money is siphoned away from essential services they rely on.

The Uniting Church has actively campaigned for a more transparent and equitable global tax system through the Tax Justice Network.

The Tax Justice Network estimates more than $30 trillion is invested in offshore tax havens. This directs money that could be used for poverty alleviation, education, climate change and health services into the offshore accounts of wealthy elites.

Research shows that developing countries lose more money through tax avoidance every year than they gain through aid.

Dr Mark Zirnsak is director of the synod’s Justice and International Mission (JIM) unit and spokesperson for Tax Justice Network Australia.

“Our government has known for a long time that shell companies with concealed ownership are used to assist wealthy people and criminals in tax evasion and avoidance, money laundering, fraud, and the illicit arms trade,” Dr Zirnsak said.

A key step towards increasing transparency is to require companies to disclose their real owners in a public register. The absence of a public register makes it virtually impossible to determine who is in control of, or benefiting from, anonymous shell companies.

At the 2014 G20 Summit in Brisbane, the Australian government pledged to introduce legislation that requires companies to publicly disclose their owners.

However, a Transparency International report last year found Australia had complied with only one of the 10 principles they agreed to at the summit.

Tax avoidance has been on the federal government’s agenda and the Panama

Papers is likely to increase pressure on the Turnbull government to clamp down on corporate tax avoidance. Assistant treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer has indicated the Coalition government’s intention to create a public register ahead of an international tax avoidance and evasion summit in May. Dr Mark Zirnsak said implementing the G20 pledges should be Australia’s immediate response to the Panama Papers.

“It is time the Australian government required the ultimate owners and controllers of companies to be made public,” he said.

A coalition of Australian organisations, including UnitingJustice Australia and the Tax Justice Network, signed an open letter to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, urging him to take action on tax dodging.

The signatories called on Mr Turnbull to outlaw the use of shell companies with concealed ownership and tighten regulations around corporate transparency.

“By allowing corporations and wealthy people to set up shell companies and shift profits offshore, our politicians are giving the mega rich the tools they need to hide public money through tax dodging,” the letter said.

“All we are asking is that there is one set of rules for everyone.

Not one set of rules for the mega rich and another set of rules for everyone else.”

Rev Elenie Poulos, national director of UnitingJustice Australia, said taxation is a profoundly moral issue.

“A fair tax system is one of the most important tools we have for achieving a society where all people can flourish,” she said.

“The revenue being lost to the government by tax avoidance directly affects the quality of life in our country and the quality of life of our neighbours in some of the most impoverished communities around the globe.

“It is time for the government to act so that we have a tax system that benefits those who need it most.”

The revelations from the Panama Papers are just the tip of the iceberg in a much larger world of opaque offshore dealings. When individuals and companies exploit legal loopholes to avoid paying their fair share of tax, it is disadvantaged and marginalised people who suffer the most.

Shaded countries are those with leaders, politicians and p Australia not shaded but ATO says over a hundred Austra

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MAY 16 - CROSSLIGHT

Feature

n the whole world and lose his soul.” Mark (8:36) The Panama Papers and the Uniting Church The Panama Papers have exposed a world where some law firms and accountants are happy to set up shell companies with concealed ownership. The secret ownership means the company can be used to facilitate all sorts of harm, including tax evasion, tax avoidance, human trafficking, money laundering, financing terrorism, commercial online child sexual abuse, illicit arms trading, fraud, embezzlement and bribery.

For the Christian community, we should respond by asking our government to take steps to combat the formation of shell companies with concealed ownership.

Responding to Jesus’ call to love our neighbours means we need to seek a community and a world where people are not easily able to establish companies for the purpose of harming others.

Shell companies sometimes serve legitimate business purposes, such as ensuring a

company name cannot be used by others.

But there is never a legitimate reason to hide the ownership of such companies.

The problem has been around for some time. The Australian Taxation Office previously stated: “Over a hundred Australians have already been identified involving tens of millions of dollars in suspected tax evasion through the use of ‘shell companies’ and ‘trusts’ around the world.” In October 2013, the Australian Federal Police charged three men with tax and money laundering offences involving $30 million. It is alleged they used a complicated network of offshore companies to conduct business in Australia while hiding the profits offshore, untaxed.

The profits were then transferred back to Australian companies controlled by the offenders and disguised as loans so the interest could be claimed as a tax deduction. The level of alleged criminal benefit was estimated at $4.9 million.

When wealthy people hide their wealth offshore and avoid paying tax, we all suffer: our schools are forced to rely on the charity

of parents to buy the equipment they need to teach our kids, our hospitals have to turn away people in need of beds, while others are left sleeping rough on the streets. The impact for people living in developing countries, where government funded services often mean the difference between life and death, are even worse.

Back in 2013, US authorities sought to seize assets worth nearly $37 million held in three Westpac accounts by Technocash Ltd, an Australian registered company.

The funds were allegedly connected to shell companies owned by the same people who ran Liberty Reserve, an online bank operating out of Costa Rica. This bank was set up by criminals, for criminals.

From 2006 to May 2013, Liberty Reserve had about one million such criminals as customers, processed an estimated 55 million financial transactions and is believed to have laundered more than $7 billion from the proceeds of crime.

The World Bank and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have previously conducted research showing how shell companies with concealed ownership are used to facilitate a range of criminal activity. They published a report, Puppet Masters, reviewing some 150 cases of corruption involving laundered money.

In half the cases where a company was used to hide the proceeds of corruption, the company was a shell company.

In 2006, the Howard government introduced the first comprehensive round of laws to curb money laundering.

Lawyers, accountants and corporate service providers (companies that set up companies for others) were to be brought under the anti-money laundering laws at a later time.

In early 2015, the Financial Action Task Force, the international standards body, reminded the Australian government of this commitment when it reviewed the nation’s anti-money laundering laws.

When implemented, this reform would mean lawyers, accountants and corporate service providers in Australia could not set up companies with concealed ownership or act on behalf of such companies, including when they are set up offshore. They would be required to report suspicious activity that might be criminal to law enforcement authorities.

It needs to be illegal for Australian residents to sell themselves as front people for shell companies where the real owners are concealed.

Back in 2010, at a G20 meeting, the government agreed to provide legal protection for whistleblowers in the public

service and in private business. It restated this commitment in 2012. While we now have laws that protect whistleblowers in the public service, whistleblowers in the private sector who expose tax evasion, tax avoidance and other wrong-doing have almost no protection. More than 18 months ago, the Senate Economics Committee recommended protecting private sector whistleblowers.

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission publicly admitted it has inadequate powers to protect whistleblowers. But whistleblowers play a vital role. It is most likely a whistleblower connected to Mossack Fonseca who helped leak the Panama Papers.

The Abbott and Turnbull governments have done some worthwhile things to take on the problem of offshore tax dodging.

The Australian Tax Office is now part of a global system that automatically shares information with tax authorities around the world, making it harder for the wealthy to hide untaxed income. The government has also joined the global system of forcing large multinationals to report their financial affairs on a country-by-country basis. Tax authorities will thus be able to see if the country where businesses are reporting their profits is actually where they are conducting their business. The system will help expose the methods corporations use to sneak profits to places where they do no real business and where shady governments cut them special tax deals.

The Panama Papers are a timely reminder for the government of the checklist of things that remain to be ticked off in regards to tackling evasion, tax avoidance and other cross-border wrongdoing.

Dr Mark Zirnsak, Justice and International Mission Uniting Church Synod of Victoria and Tasmania

public officials implicated in the Panama Papers, alians identified.

FACT BOX • More than 2.6 terabytes of data were leaked from the accounts of Mossack Fonseca. This is 2,000 times larger than the WikiLeaks files.

• The data spans from 1977 to December 2015.

• 12 current and former heads of states were named in the papers, including Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, relatives of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin and members of China’s Communist Party elite.

• Twenty-nine Forbes-listed billionaires were listed in the documents.

• More than 300 journalists from 107 media organisations in 76 countries investigated the papers.

• The International Monetary Fund estimates that developing countries lose approximately $200 billion each year due to multinational tax dodging. Developing countries receive an estimated $140 billion in aid.

MAY 16 - CROSSLIGHT

15

Reflection The relationship of congregations and agencies

IN Melbourne from 2 to 4 September, an important conference titled Recapturing Our Soul will examine the question of congregation, agency and state relationships.

Co-hosted by Pilgrim Theological College, the Centre for Theology and Ministry, UnitingCare Victoria/Tasmania, and the Diakoniewissenschaftliches Institut of the University of Heidelberg, a total of 16 speakers will consider the changing shaping of church’s community service provision, the theological supports for agencies, economies of funding, and advocacy.

Even the briefest of conversations with people from different parts of the UCA reveal how contentious this conversation is.

As an issue, it excites passions. One often hears expressions of frustration concerning decisions made at one administrative level effecting local relationships. Nor is it uncommon to hear the argument forwarded that congregations are dying and that witness to Jesus Christ’s own mission will be borne by agencies. The contest is much greater than one of allocating resources and organisational efficiencies. And, although we live in an atmosphere of uncertainty and now engage in a prolonged introspection, the problem is peculiar to the UCA. It goes to the heart of what we understand the church’s mission to be.

An older way of thinking about mission,

but one which still holds sway at a popular level, is to divide mission as an activity into two aspects: ‘internal’ and ‘external’. Simply stated, the external mission was associated with foreign missions and consisted of sending missionaries and resources to other geographical locations. With western societies presumed to be already Christian, the internal mission focused less on conversion and more on the activities of civilisation: education (including Sunday school) and health care. Mission = schools and hospitals.

In a post-colonial world, the challenges associated with the external mission are perhaps known. Less observed are the justas-radical challenges posed to the internal mission activities.

One might pursue this problem in a number of directions. For example, and as counterintuitive as it may appear, mission theory now maintains that the lack of theological attention given to mission, on the one hand, and a coordinated focus on the internal life of the church, on the other, stimulated the problem of mission as colonialisation. Or, if the church focuses on itself and its own structures, the gospel it proclaims tends to be identified with its own processes and their replication.

Another line of argument turns to the notion of ‘functional differentiation’ as

it appears within sociological theories of secularisation. This observes a shift whereby societies move from an early undifferentiated world view where religion and culture appear identical, to an institutionalised religious framework with religious professionals. In this process social structures become withdrawn from the religious sphere; they become fictionally differentiated. So, today we have the spheres of education, law, health, governance, and religion.

The consequence is twofold. First, education and health become separate spheres (defined precisely in this differentiation from religion) each with their own defining aims, best practices, and professional standards.

With service standards becoming evermore professional, and funding itself linked to this and the array of attached legislative standards, agency work will be further distanced from the faith communities which may have birthed them.

Second, the religious sphere inhabits its own isolated area, with a correlated interest in the governing institutions and religious professionals. Though it is possible to confuse this with the historical theological question of clergy and lay, it speaks more to organisational patterns and standards of professionalism, including the institution of contract law and best practices. This can be a good thing, as is evident in Safe Church and the ongoing work of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, but certain difficulties can also follow. Depending on how the church as an institution positions itself in relation to legislative frameworks, it can risk restricting its operational identity. What the church is, in other words, becomes defined according to statutes developed within other spheres.

One problem related to the current context concerns the infrastructure and associated cost of these standards, while the financial base of such (congregations) shrink. We exist within a professional sphere, but struggle to maintain those services which delimit this sphere (i.e. it is difficult to support full-time ministry staff, leading to problems of recruitment and so on).

A related problem is that of connection.

The old pathways by which the church related to the wider society (schools, hospitals) have become spheres of their

own. The church needs to make sustained argument as to why schools and hospital should include some religious element – because the movement of differentiation itself is away from the religious.

To put this in terms of social ‘rationalisation’, within a religiously plural society, the ‘commodities’ sold by agencies of necessity vary from those sold by the church. The economic language is here deliberate simply because the human relations in question tend to be contractual, increasingly organised, consciously planned and based on instrumental values. What one believes tends not to enter the discussion (except as a potential motivating factor).

More important is the confidence that the big questions are addressed first in organisational change. Incidentally, this finds expression in the desire to find community based around shared interests.

This may sound complex, but its significance can be simply stated: First, the church has become a secular institution. Our function might be religious, but our organisation follows the dictates of social secularisation.

The obvious point is that theological problems will not be solved by ever greater recourse to secular doctrine.

Second, the church maintains a dilapidated understanding of mission. If mission equals schools and hospitals, and if schools and hospitals have been removed as the primary institutions of missionary connection, then what is mission? In truth we are not even asking the question. Instead, we reaffirm schools and hospitals as the primary mission, but due to the processes of functional differentiation, the problem appears as a binary: congregations or service provision?

The matter is clearly complex, but it is a significant theological contest begging for a robust discourse. I cannot promise forthright solutions, but I can encourage the conversation. So I invite you to the Recapturing our Soul conference to be held at the Centre of Theology and Ministry, in Melbourne, 2-4 September this year.

John Flett Coordinator of Studies – Missiology CTM For more information go to: www.rosconference.org.au

29 College Crescent, Parkville Victoria 3052 Telephone 03 9340 8800 Facsimile 03 9340 8805 info@ctm.uca.edu.au www.ctm.uca.edu.au

16

ctmvictas

MAY 16 - CROSSLIGHT

People 56 Club celebrates six decades of friendship IN June 1956, a group of young couples at the South Oakleigh Methodist congregation came together to form the Young Marrieds group. The idea was initiated by Rev Ron Williams, who suggested starting a social evening once a month for members to meet outside their busy work and family commitments.

The group originally consisted of eight couples ranging from 21 to 35 years

of age. At the time of Church union, the congregation combined with East Bentleigh Presbyterian Church to form the Coatesville Uniting Church. As the years went by, ‘Young Marrieds’ was no longer an appropriate title for the group, so the name ‘56 Club’ was adopted.

Graeme Duke has been a member of the 56 Club since the early years of the group.

“The 56 Club met a profound need in the chaos of the post-war baby boom,” Mr Duke said.

“South Oakleigh Methodist Church originally served the fringes of Hughesdale and Oakleigh.

“Mothers stayed home to look after children and relied on neighbours and

56 Club on 25 April 1964

Diamond wedding celebrations

John and Margaret Williams with best man, Hector Davis, and bridesmaid, Margaret Edgington, at their Diamond Wedding celebration. (photo courtesy of Michael Costa).

JOHN and Margaret Williams celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary on 20 March with a large gathering of family and friends.

The couple are members of Mountview Uniting Church in Mitcham. They first met at a Methodist Central youth council, when Rev Bob Uren suggested to John that he drive Margaret home after her first meeting as council secretary. They announced their engagement at the Kyneton Easter camp in 1954.

The couple’s eldest grandson, Nathan Pither, flew in from Hong Kong to deliver

Forest Hill twins have 99 reasons to celebrate FOR almost 100 years, Uniting AgeWell residents Mary Mullarvey and Catherine Zimmer have done just about everything together.

And on 13 April, the identical twins celebrated their 99th birthday with a joint celebration with family and friends at Strathdon Community in Forest Hill.

Since birth, the sisters have shared a special MAY 16 - CROSSLIGHT

the congratulatory address. He brought with him their eight-month-old great granddaughter, Elsie, before they flew back to Hong Kong the next day.

The wedding anniversary was a joyous and nostalgic occasion that evoked plenty of memories for the attendees.

The Maroondah Singers provided an afternoon of musical entertainment and sang two hymns used in the original wedding ceremony 60 years ago – ‘Love divine, all loves excelling’ and ‘This, this is the God we adore’.

“To have both the bridesmaid, Margaret Edgington and the best man, Hector Davis, still with us after 60 years added much to our celebrations,” Mr and Mrs Williams said.

Mr Williams and Mr Davis both worked in Methodist youth programs during the 1950s. They provided leadership for Easter camps and Flying Squads – keynote endeavours of Methodist youth work during that period.

Ms Edgington, sister of the late Rev Richard Golding, made the bride’s gown which was subsequently worn by each of the couples’ two daughters. The wedding gown was on display at the celebration. bond and lived almost parallel lives. They were married within a week of each other and lived in adjacent streets in Forest Hill since the 1970s, before moving into the Strathdon Community.

Both legally blind due to age-related macular degeneration, the sisters are avid radio fans and speak to each other every night. They often reminisce about past experiences and update each other on family news.

Mary’s son, Brian Mullarvey, said his mum and ‘Aunty Kit’ are so alike that they have confused many people throughout their lives.

“The pair often confuses people in shopping centres and during their early days at Strathdon, even the staff and other residents would get them mixed up,” he said.

56 Club’s 2006 50th reunion

churches for social contacts and support.”

Many of the new houses in the area were occupied by young couples and the 56 Club provided a vital support network for them. The monthly gatherings also set the foundation for lifelong friendships.

“We helped each other cope and had a lot of fun. In our small way we helped create a community,” Mr Duke said.

The bonds created by this close-knit community have remained strong over the decades.

The majority of the 56 Club members are now in their late 70s to 90s, but still attend

regular meetings, including those who have moved to other districts or churches.

On Sunday 5 June at 10am, the 56 Club will celebrate its 60th anniversary with a church service followed by a light lunch at Coatesville Uniting Church (corner of Mackie and North Roads, Bentleigh East).

Past members and any family members are welcome to attend this reunion.

For further information, please contact the President/Secretary Don and Joyce Reyment on 9570 7708, or email Treasurer Alan Collard ajjec1939@bigpond.com

A lifelong commitment to ministry APPROXIMATELY 60 people came together at Mortlake Uniting Church for Lorraine Tonzing’s final service as lay preacher. Visitors from Derrinallum, Terang, Mepunga and Warrnambool attended the service on 13 March, along with friends from the Anglican Church and Lorraine’s family.

Lorraine’s journey began in Kangaroo Flat Methodist Church, where she was baptised and confirmed as a teenager after attending a youth rally.

She developed a passion for working with children and was regional officer for the Council for Christian Education in Schools for many years.

After completing a lay preachers’ course in 1982, Lorraine took worship services throughout the Presbytery of Western Victoria. She later became parish assistant for Derrinallum, Mingay, Port Fairy, Terang, Heywood Parish and Warrnambool Parish.

Lorraine represented the Presbytery of Western Victoria on the synod’s Lay Preachers Committee for several years and served as president for one year. She travelled to presbyteries throughout Lorraine Tonzing Victoria and Tasmania

during that time, meeting with lay preachers on Saturday evenings and leading worship services on Sundays.

At the end of 2006, Lorraine retired as a parish assistant and served as a lay preacher again. She took worship services in Allansford Parish, which included Wangoom, Grassmere and Mepunga, and Mortlake Parish, covering Mortlake, Hexham, Woorndoo and Ellerslie.

In a speech given at the service, Mortlake Parish member Merryl Tanner thanked Lorraine for her many years of ministry.

“Lorraine, we will certainly miss your regular leading of worship each fortnight, ongoing in the Mortlake Parish for the last nine years. You have been our loved minister,” Merryl said.

“Your generosity of spirit and compassion for others kept you very much in touch with the ‘ordinary folk’, and your faith is grounded in interaction with people in very practical ways, as well as prayerfully.

“We are all deeply grateful for your lifetime commitment to ministry in our midst over such a long period. The attention and dedication you have given to the small churches in a large radius around Warrnambool enabled those churches to stay open and be vital.”

Mary Mullarvey and Catherine Zimmer

“Both Mum and Kit have extremely positive outlooks and, despite their disabilities, enjoy going out on day trips as much as they can.

“They’ve always had a healthy diet, eating plenty of fish, wild rabbits, local meat and home grown vegetables and fruits.

“They still have most of their own teeth and enjoy a good steak and plenty of seafood.”

Mary and Catherine have a combined total of four children, 10 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

The Strathdon Community held a special brunch to celebrate the pair’s remarkable milestone. Friends and families from interstate and overseas attended the special celebration.

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Review

Timeless tale REVIEW BY ROS MARSDEN MOVIE | THE JUNGLE BOOK (PG)

KEEN to “forget your worries and your strife”? Then treat yourself to a night at the cinema to see the 2016 version of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book.

It’s a risk turning up to watch a movie remake that formed part of your childhood

and an even greater risk when the movie is adapting a loved book written in 1894.

But director Jon Favreau’s new version of this timeless classic is clever, energetic and technically amazing.

The advances in animation are so

Midsummer drama REVIEW BY PENNY MULVEY PLAY | MISS JULIE

Picture courtesy of Jeff Busby

THE clapping started tenuously, slowly.

It was as though the audience released a collective breath in acknowledgement that the emotional, physical and verbal maelstrom they had witnessed had concluded.

August Strindberg’s Miss Julie demands total commitment of its cast, as they repeatedly collide over values, class, sexual politics and societal expectations. The Swedish playwright, who pushed against all conventions of his time, wrote this play in 1888, in the midst of an unhappy divorce and at the beginning of the naturalist movement.

The three characters engage in verbal dance – simmering, explosive, threatening 18

Mark Leonard Winter and Robin McLeavy

– which director Kip Williams likens to a ‘cage fight’, an image enhanced by the extraordinary set, a glass box surrounded by video cameras and two large projection screens.

Miss Julie, played by Robin McLeavy, is used to life served on a platter. She is the young mistress of the manor, her father the count, with servants at her beck and call her entire life. The play is set in the servants’ domain, the kitchen, where the audience first encounters Miss Julie’s attendant Kristin (Zahra Newman) and Jean (Mark Leonard Winter), the count’s valet.

A particularly misogynistic play, Williams has adapted the text to bring more

understanding of Julie’s motivations as she seeks to seduce the young valet.

“It doesn’t ring true to a contemporary ear; his condemnation of women,” Mark Leonard Winter said of Strindberg’s original work in an interview with themusic.com.au. “We’ve needed to find a way to give a true voice to Miss Julie and the other characters so their arguments can’t be dismissed as flippantly as they are in the original.”

This Melbourne Theatre Company production is a visual feast. The set includes a working stove and a kitchen sink with running water. A meal is prepared, cooked and eaten. This is part of Strindberg’s commitment to naturalism,

compelling that it is hard to believe the wolves, tigers, elephants, monkeys, rhinos and deer aren’t real. The rippling movements of the jungle animals’ skin, muscles, eyes, fangs and lips react so accurately that one can only imagine the animators studied animal biology before tackling their characterisations.

Set in the jungles of India, the story of the little boy Mowgli, raised as a man-cub by wolves, is a journey of self-discovery when Mowgli leaves his adopted family following a threat from tiger Shere Khan. Mowgli meets creatures that challenge his naïve innocence in frightening and dangerous ways before reconnecting with his wolf family.

The 1967 animation contained a simple innocence that you won’t discover in this version. Favreau takes you into an atmosphere that is often dark and terrifying. At the screening I attended, two families sitting with little children crept out of the theatre and during one animal chase a small boy in the audience screamed out loudly. The Jungle Book of 2016 is not for toddlers, but older children, teenagers and adults will all find a wonderful story of adventure awaits them.

Starring Neel Sethi as the only actor in the movie and featuring the voices of Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Scarlett Johansson and the recently deceased Garry Shandling, this movie is a ‘necessity of life’ to attend.

where a play is supposed to be realistic, meaningful and not complicated by elaborate sub plots. As a result it is a oneact play, limited to a particular period – Midsummer’s eve, with most of the action played out in the kitchen.

However, Strindberg might not have approved of the elaborate staging which, while dazzling, is anything but simple.

As we watch the actors on stage, they are projected, in close up, on a screen above, and their images are reflected in the glass walls of the kitchen set. The effect is riveting.

Kristin is the steady rock, who knows her place as a servant in the household, has a strong articulate Christian faith and uncompromising ethics. Jean reflects the competing desires and clashing values that are inherent within human kind. One moment he is courteous, principled and subservient. The next he is contemptuous, threatening and powerful. Whilst he might be a valet now, he has plans, and Midsummer’s eve is unexpectedly providing opportunities for him to pursue.

Miss Julie is perhaps the most complex. She is a character that is captured in some of the great literary works. A woman trapped in a world not of her making. A woman who does not want to be bound by societal expectations, who was raised to be different but is held, like a caged animal, by familial ties and traditions. She is both a temptress and a pawn.

It is a heady mix, beautifully presented by the Melbourne Theatre Company, but it is not for the faint hearted.

Miss Julie 16 April to 21 May, Southbank Theatre, The Sumner MAY 16 - CROSSLIGHT

Review

Subversive faith

Party tricks

Tales from the past Prison preachers

REVIEW BY BOB FASER

REVIEW BY DEB BENNETT

REVIEW BY BOB FASER

REVIEW BY GARY DAVIDSON

BOOK | SEEING – REMEMBERING – CONNECTING: SUBVERSIVE PRACTICES OF BEING CHURCH | KAREN L. BLOOMQUIST

BOOK | THE ROAD TO RUIN: HOW TONY ABBOTT AND PETA CREDLIN DESTROYED THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT | NIKI SAVVA

BOOK | OUT OF THE ORDINARY: TWELVE AUSTRALIAN METHODIST BIOGRAPHIES | EDITORS: PATRICIA CURTHOYS AND WILLIAM W. EMILSEN

BOOK | OPENING THE DOORS: A PRISON CHAPLAIN’S LIFE ON THE INSIDE | PAUL GILL

HOW can churches engage with our society so as to resist injustice and to transform the culture? This is the question Karen Bloomquist addresses in Seeing – Remembering – Connecting.

Bloomquist, a minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, writes from her experience as a pastor, a theological educator, and a denominational and ecumenical staffer. At the beginning of the book, she states her purpose as enabling churches to subvert the patterns of injustice in the wider society (which she describes throughout the book as ‘domination’ and ‘empire’) by pursuing ‘alternate public visions’ of reality.

Bloomquist describes three ‘subversive practices’ that need to be cultivated to pursue these alternate visions: seeing, remembering, and connecting.

Seeing is the ability to observe the reality of our society and culture, as opposed to the dominant illusions of our culture.

Remembering is the ability to relate both to the broad sweep of our faith tradition and to the reality of our secular history, as opposed to the historical amnesia of our culture.

Connecting is the ability to relate positively to people whom we regard as ‘the other’ in terms of race, religion, culture, gender, lifestyle, or economics, as opposed to our culture’s rampant individualism and its encouragement to fear of ‘the other’.

Significantly, Bloomquist writes predominantly from the perspective of a theologian rather than that of a social scientist, although she is qualified to do both.

Such vital themes of Christian faith as incarnation, trinity, and eucharist frequently appear in her discussion of the ‘subversive practices’ of seeing, remembering, and connecting. At one level, I assumed the use of these theological themes was a function of Bloomquist’s Lutheranness.

Nevertheless, I appreciated the implication that a church which seeks to participate in the transformation of its wider culture does not have to adopt a theological or liturgical minimalism to do so.

I recommend Seeing – Remembering – Connecting if you’re seeking some brief (101 pages) but substantial theological reading.

PART memoir, part political reportage, The Road to Ruin is above all else an insightful glimpse into the deliberately opaque world of national politics. The story of the rise and spectacular fall of Tony Abbott and his chief-of-staff, Peta Credlin, is both salacious and spellbinding, an account of recent history as dramatic as any Shakespearean play.

Abbott is depicted as a decent man brought down by his own flaws. The odd, co-dependant relationship he developed with Credlin was essential to his success.

A living example of the ‘Peter principle’ (a theory that managers rise to the level of their incompetence), Abbott is painted as a brilliant opposition leader without the talent or skills to lead a country. According to the author, Credlin’s control of her boss was, in part, an attempt to shield him from himself.

While Credlin’s dictatorial style caused professional angst, it was the couple’s personal relationship that raised eyebrows.

Witnesses recount watching Credlin hand-feeding her boss from her own plate, personally touching up his TV makeup and chastising him like an errant schoolboy.

Credlin excluded Margie Abbott from social events, and even directed staff not to provide catering for Australia’s ‘first lady’ when she was in residence at Kirribilli House.

Author Niki Savva is, by necessity, a major player in the events she documents. As press secretary to federal treasurer Peter Costello for six years during the Howard government – and married to a current advisor to the Turnbull government – Savva has the ear of many leading figures within the Liberal party. While she has been criticised for not seeking comment from Abbott or Credlin in the book, the credibility of her sources has not been questioned.

Few politicians elicit such extreme emotions as Abbott. Those who sat glued to the television on 14 September 2015, as the successful coup by Malcolm Turnbull was played out for the nation, will be fascinated by the political intrigue exposed by Savva.

It is clear this book was rushed to print. But poor editing and an often disjointed narrative don’t detract from the schadenfreudian delight the story will offer many readers.

WHILE a reasonable amount of material has been written since Union by historians in the UCA on the history of Congregationalism and Presbyterianism in Australia, comparatively little has been written from a Methodist perspective.

In my observation, there are three good reasons for this situation.

First, the lack of any significant ‘continuing’ movement among Methodists has meant there was less motivation for ex-Methodists to present the UCA as a legitimate Australian manifestation of global Methodism, compared with the experience of ex-Congregationalists and ex-Presbyterians.

Second, most scholars from a Methodist background within the UCA have tended to concentrate their energies on topics of ecumenical interest, rather than on topics of a specifically UCA-related interest, let alone those of a mainly ex-Methodist interest.

Third, when these scholars choose to deal with topics of a specifically Methodist interest, they usually deal with topics related to John Wesley or to other members of the Wesley family, rather than with later Methodist topics.

This book seeks to fill some of this gap. It contains 12 brief biographical studies of people with significant roles within the Methodist Church of Australasia between Methodist reunion in 1902 and the inauguration of the UCA in 1977. The comparative brevity of each biography means that a reader can approach this book as 12 brief ‘bites’.

While the biographies are limited to people who are deceased, and for whom no fulllength biography has been published, a diversity of people of genders, Indigenous and Anglo, lay and ordained is included. Service in ministry to congregations, theological education, mission, and the broader community are all covered. One minor gap is the lack of a study of any person with a primary involvement in the area of youth ministry, a recognised area of excellence for Methodism in the post-war years.

Given the significant contributions of Methodism to the UCA and to the wider ecumenical movement (a strong optimism regarding God’s grace, a similar optimism regarding human nature, a conviction that social justice is never an ‘optional extra’ for Christians), it is essential that we are aware of the Methodist dimension of the UCA’s heritage. This book is a useful contribution to this task.

AUTHOR Paul Gill served as senior prison chaplain and coordinating chaplain at Western Australia’s Casuarina Prison for 10 years before his retirement. This book emanates from his vast experience working in a prison environment in WA. It is raw and real, confronting and challenging, brutally honest tinged with touches of humour, and provides the reader with a valuable insight into a prisoner’s life behind the razor-wire.

The book stresses the need to get on top of crime by addressing three important issues: mental health, poverty and the illegal drugs trade. Around 70 per cent of prisoners are ‘inside’ for importing, exporting, manufacturing, trafficking, possessing or using drugs.

The author notes that a disproportionate number of prisoners come from the poorer classes where lack of education, job skills and social skills are huge contributing factors to poor life choices.

Gill describes approaches to justice, including punitive, rehabilitative and restorative justice. He acknowledges that rehabilitative and restorative justice programs are forward-thinking and of immense value. The Sycamore Tree Project, under the auspices of Prison Fellowship, is specifically mentioned and recommended, as it both provides prisoners with an opportunity to change patterns of behaviour and enables victims of crime to move forward and experience a sense of freedom.

The author, in recognition of the importance of chaplains within the prison environment, describes their role as pastors, prophets and preachers. Longevity of service is essential in the formation of relationships with both staff and prisoners coupled with confidence in the Gospel that is proclaimed. Chaplains provide hope to prisoners who otherwise have no hope either in this world or the next.

The book is beautifully produced, colourful and easy to read.

Scribe Publications 2016. RRP $32.99

MediaCom Education Inc. 2015. RRP: $29.75.

Cascade Books, 2016. RRP $15.00

MAY 16 - CROSSLIGHT

Gary Davidson is the prison ministry coordinator in Western Australia Make Your Mark Publications, 2015 RRP $24.95

19

Placements CURRENT AND PENDING PLACEMENT VACANCIES AS AT 19 APRIL 2016 PRESBYTERY OF GIPPSLAND Cowes (St Johns) Mitchell River – Paynesville (0.6) Orbost Presbytery of Gippsland Growth Corridor Minister (0.5)(P) Presbytery Minister – Mission and Education (P) Traralgon District ** PRESBYTERY OF LODDON MALLEE Cohuna (0.5)** Dunolly (0.5) (P) Eastern Mallee Rural (Lake Boga, Manangatang, Meatian, Nyah West) (0.5)-Kerang (0.5) (P) Maryborough (0.75) Mobile Ministry (P) North Central Living Waters (Birchip, Donald, St Arnaud, Wycheproof) (P) Presbytery Minister – Administration Sunraysia (0.5) and Robinvale (0.5) (P) Sunraysia (UCOS) (0.5)** PRESBYTERY OF NORTH EAST VICTORIA Mansfield (0.3) Rutherglen (Rutherglen/Chiltern-CorowaHowlong) (0.5) Wodonga (St Stephens)

PRESBYTERY OF PORT PHILLIP EAST Beaumaris (0.6)** Black Rock (0.5)** Brighton (Trinity) Cornish College Ministry (0.5) Narre Warren North (0.7) (P) Noble Park (St Columbas) (0.5) Presbytery Minister – Mission and Education St Kilda Parish (Chapel St)** PRESBYTERY OF PORT PHILLIP WEST Geelong St Albans – St Andrews Glenroy, Pascoe Vale, Pascoe Vale South (0.5) Hoppers Crossing Macedon Ranges Partnership – Pastoral Care (P) PRESBYTERY OF TASMANIA PRESBYTERY OF WESTERN VIC Wendouree (0.5) PRESBYTERY OF YARRA YARRA Croydon North (with Harrison) (0.5)** Diamond Valley (0.8) (P) EACH Mental Health Ministries Eltham – Montmorency (0.5)** Melbourne (St Michael’s) Presbytery Minister – Administration (P) Ringwood North

MINISTRY MOVES CALLS AND APPOINTMENTS FINALISED Sally Apokis (OD), Queens College Chaplaincy (College appointment) commenced 10 April 2016

Tecoma (0.6) ** Uniting AgeWell Condare Court, Girrawheen and Tanderra (0.5) SYNOD Ethical Standards Officer Hopkins Region Prisons and MRC Chaplain (0.6) (P) New Agency – Director of Mission**

David Fotheringham called to Frankston (High Street) to commence on 1 May 2016

** These placements have not yet lodged a profile with the Placements Committee, therefore they are not yet in conversation with any minister. There is no guarantee that the placement will be listed within the next month.

(P) These placements are listed as also being suitable for a Pastor under Regulations 2.3.3 (a)(ii).

A person may offer to serve the church in an approved placement through a written application to the Synod.

Further information on these vacancies may be obtained from the Secretary of the Placements Committee: Ms Isabel Thomas Dobson. Email: placements.secretary@victas.uca.org.au Formal expressions of interest should be put in writing to Isabel.

Let the

Colin Oakley (OD), Koo Wee Rup Lang Lang and Corinella (Anglican appointment) to commence on 1 May 2016.

CONCLUSION OF PLACEMENT Mark Dunn to conclude at Essendon (St John’s) on 31 July 2016 Jen Pretty to conclude at Uniting AgeWell Condare Court and Tanderra on 30 November 2016 INTER SYNOD TRANSFER Nil RETIREMENTS Mark Dunn to retire 31 July 2016 Jen Pretty to retire 30 November 2016

meeting come to you!

Whether you are in Penguin or Port Fairy, Daylesford or Doo Town, you can join the conversation at Synod 2016. Crosslight.org.au ZLOO EULQJ \RX UHJXODU VWRULHV IURP WKH ²RRU RI 6\QRG .HHS XS WR GDWH with discussions, discernment and debate by following us on Facebook and Twitter.

#Synod2016

Find us on www.victas.uca.org.au

DIRECTOR OF MISSION UNITINGCARE QUEENSLAND

Ethical Standards Officer

Full Time Fixed Term Placement UnitingCare Queensland claims its place in the mission of God through its health and community services, research, advocacy and community development. Our mission is to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities.

Our service groups – Blue Care, UnitingCare Health and UnitingCare Community – are vital expressions of this mission.

Applications are invited for the role of Director of Mission for UnitingCare Queensland. Ministers of the Word, Deacons and those in the other

specified ministries within The Uniting Church in Australia are encouraged to apply. The period of this full-time placement will be negotiated and will be consistent with the placement regulations and processes of The Uniting Church in Australia.

As a member of the Executive Team, the Director of Mission plays a pivotal leadership role in supporting UnitingCare Queensland to be a mission and values led organisation reflecting the mission of the Uniting Church in Australia.

For further information and a position description, go to www.ucaqld.com.au and search for ‘vacancies’.

Enquiries in relation to the placement can be made directly to Rev. Heather den Houting on 07 3377 9716.

Applications close 27 May 2016.

20

• •

Full time CBD location

The Uniting Church is committed to ensuring its ministers, members and employees live and work together in a culture of safety. This full time position/ ministry placement will provide education and support for the Uniting Church in Victoria and Tasmania in its endeavour to ensure safety across its life.

The successful applicant will have responsibilities for training, theological and pastoral issues and advice relating to the Code of Ethics, abuse and misconduct; supervision standards and training; advice regarding breaches of Safe Church Policy and other policy development; work associated with outcomes from the Royal Commission on institutional responses to child sexual abuse; and complaints procedures throughout the church.

Obtain a position description and apply online by 16 May 2016 https://unitingcaresynod.mhr.com.au/searchjobs.asp A willingness to work within the ethos of the Uniting Church in Australia is essential.

Appointment is subject to a satisfactory police records check and working with children check.

MAY 16 - CROSSLIGHT

Notices COMING EVENTS TRANSFORM YOUNG ADULTS GATHERING SATURDAY, 7TH MAY AT 5PM Brunswick Uniting Church The next Transform Young Adults Gathering will feature New Testament scholar Sean Winter as our presenter.

For more information visit http://transformgatherings.com/ SKILLS WORKSHOP FOR CHURCH ORGANISTS AND MUSICIANS SATURDAYS, 10AM – 12NOON AND 1 – 3PM, MAY 7TH AND 14TH Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Union Road, Surrey Hills.

A four session workshop to learn about leading/providing organ/instrumental music for church services or improving skills, including ‘The Role and Place of Music in Worship’ (of particular interest to clergy), ‘Hymn Playing and Interpretation’, ‘Organ and Instrumental Music for Services’ and ‘Working with Choirs and Soloists’. Cost $20 per session.

For registration form see www.sov.org.au.

Contact Jim Fletcher P: 03 9429 4149 or Richard Hoy P: 03 9894 2335 OPEN DAY, LONG GULLY UNITING CHURCH SATURDAY, 14TH MAY 2016, 1 – 4PM Long Gully Uniting Church, Wilson Street, Long Gully, Bendigo.

Heritage building with Cornish links.

Architect William Vahland (1865-1875).

Listen to the Alfred Fuller organ built 1892, still in original condition, described as best example of 19th Century instrument in Bendigo. Admission $10.00 per head, includes afternoon tea.

Contact Mary P: 03 54421765 THE AUSTRALIAN WELSH MALE CHOIR IN CONCERT AT WESLEY UNITING CHURCH SUNDAY, 15TH MAY 2016, 2.30PM Wesley Uniting Church, 148 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne.

A wonderful opportunity to experience Melbourne’s own world-class choir in a magnificent setting. Tickets: $35 or $30 conc. www.trybooking.com/KXYW, or at the door.

MORNING TEA WITH THE HON. FIONA RICHARDSON M.P., MINISTER FOR WOMEN AND PREVENTION OF FAMILY VIOLENCE TUESDAY, 17TH MAY, 10.30AM Keilor East Airport West Uniting Church, Roberts Road, Airport West.

A report on the findings of the Royal Commission into Family Violence will be presented. RSVP Barbara P: 03 9338 3074 or Maxine P: 03 9374 3124 VICTORIAN CHAPTER OF THE AUSTRALIAN CHURCH LIBRARY ASSOCIATION MEETING SATURDAY, 21ST MAY 2016, 10AM – 3PM Plenty Valley Uniting Church, 180 McDonalds Rd, Epping.

Deputy General Secretary “Worship, Witness & Service”

The Uniting Church in Western Australia is seeking a visionary and strategically oriented person to take responsibility for the ministry across the congregation base of the church involving community engagement, faith formation and leadership development.

As part of the leadership team of the church in Western Australia, the successful applicant will work with the General Secretary and General Manager (Resources) to ensure that the core areas of worship, witness and service support the ministry, mission and planning directions of the whole Church.

Applicants need to be members of the Uniting Church in Australia, passionate about and committed to the Church and God’s mission in the world, and, as such, would be a person of prayer with a commitment to Jesus’ call to make disciples. We expect the successful applicant to have a driving desire to make a difference and to have a commitment to work ecumenically.

Applicants must have at least a Bachelors degree in Theology, with units in Missiology. It is expected that the applicant will be ordained or be qualified to be admitted to Ministry of Pastor. As such, the position is considered as a placement in the Uniting Church in Australia.

It would be desirable for the applicant to have a management qualification or commensurate management experience.

Background documentation, including the Position Statement and Position Specification can be obtained by emailing Monica Pettersen, Human 98009800 or monica.pettersen@wa.uca.org.au, Resources Advisor, Advisor, 9260 (08) 9260 or monica.pettersen@wa.uca.org.au, quoting DGS Enquiry.

Enquiry.

Confidential applications which address the required criteria may then be made in Word format, by email to Monica Pettersen, Human Resources Advisor, monica.pettersen@wa.uca.org.au, quoting DGS Application.

Applications close5pm 5pm Sunday May 2016.

Application close onon Sunday 1515 May 2016.

MAY 16 - CROSSLIGHT

The program includes speaker Anne Ford from Vision Australia, about how their resources can be accessed; a sharing time bring book(s) you would like to tell others about; books about grief - bring any from your library; a swap table - bring books and resources no longer needed; and more!

Please bring a plate of food to share for lunch. For more information please ring Rachel P: 9850 4828 or E: alanrachelh1@bigpond.com AUSTRALIA’S BIGGEST MORNING TEA AT THE HUB THURSDAY, 26TH MAY, 10AM – 12NOON Glen Waverley Uniting Church, corner Bogong Avenue and Kingsway.

Bring your family and friends. All donations to Cancer Council Victoria.

Info and group bookings P: 03 9560 3580 FINAL SERVICE FOR WYUNA UNITING CHURCH SUNDAY, MAY 29TH, 11AM Wyuna Uniting Church, Robertson St, Wyuna, VIC. There will be a final Service of Worship in the Wyuna Uniting Church to acknowledge the years of worship and dedication of those gone before us. The preacher will be the Rev Adrian Pegler. Following the Service there will be a time of fellowship and a shared lunch in the Wyuna Hall. All past members and ministers are warmly invited to attend. Please direct RSVPs and enquiries to Moira Pankhurst P: (03)5859 0653, or Beryl Anderson P: 0408 137 635.

150TH ANNIVERSARY, ST PAUL’S UNITING CHURCH, BALLAN SUNDAY, 29TH MAY, 10AM St Paul’s Uniting Church, Inglis Street, Ballan.

Moderator Dan Wootton will be our guest at this service, which will be followed by lunch. Past members and clergy are warmly invited to attend, share memories and reunite with each other. At 2pm in the Mechanics Institute there will be a performance by the Moorabool Light Orchestra featuring soloist Sofia Laursen Habel. Afternoon tea will follow. (Concert & Tea Cost $10.00 per person). RSVP by 13th May 2016.

Contact Elizabeth Zilveris P: (03) 53682016 or E: zilveris@aapt.net.au 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF WORSHIP AT DANDENONG NORTH UNITING CHURCH SUNDAY, 31ST JULY 2016, 2.30PM Corner Birch & Holly Avenue, Dandenong North.

Thanksgiving Service, followed by High Tea and a time of fellowship. All past members and clergy are warmly invited to attend. RSVP to Margaret Swaby, secretary on E: samaswaby@bigpond.com or P: 03 9707 0631.

A NEW CONVERSATION ABOUT AGEING Study booklet available for congregations.

An updated version of the popular four session study booklet from Uniting AgeWell is now available to download from www.unitingagewell.org or contact Rev John Clarke P: 9251 5209 E: jclarke@unitingagewell.org

THE HISTORY OF SURREY HILLS UNITING CHURCH is in the final stages of editing and persons interested in purchasing a copy are invited to communicate with the editor, Graham Beanland on E: beanlandgh@optusnet.com.au to reserve a copy. The book will be 125 pages in full colour and cost $30 plus postage.

Launch details to follow.

THE HUB IS OPEN GLEN WAVERLEY UNITING CHURCH. TUESDAY AND THURSDAY 10AM - 2PM, AND WEDNESDAY 10AM - 12NOON. Corner Bogong Avenue and Kingsway.

The Hub at Glen Waverley Uniting Church is a welcoming and friendly meeting place for people needing company, a cuppa and a biscuit, to relax in a busy day or to practise speaking in English in an informal setting.

People of all ages are welcome.

CLASSIFIEDS CALOUNDRA Sunshine Coast, Queensland: Beachside units, from $400/wk. For details contact Ray P: 0427 990 161 E: rayandjean@hotmail.com CAPE WOOLAMAI Summerhays Cottage. Sleeps 3. Tranquil garden. Stroll to beach. Discount for UCA members. Ring Doug or Ina P: 0403 133 710. www.summerhayscottage.com.au GRAMPIANS WORSHIP When visiting The Grampians, join the Pomonal Community Uniting Church congregation for worship each Sunday at 10.00am.

LORNE Spacious apartment, breathtaking ocean view, open fire, peaceful, secluded, affordable. P: 03 5289 2698.

PSYCHOLOGIST Sue Tansey, BA (Hons), MPsych (Counselling) MAPS. Individual and relationship counselling. Bulk billing for clients who have a referral from their GP and have a low income. St Kilda.

P: 0418 537 342.

E: suetansey@yahoo.com QUALIFIED CHRISTIAN PAINTER Handy-man, interior/exterior work, available outer eastern suburbs.

P: 03 9725 6417.

SENIORS’ SPECIAL Enjoy a break in luxury surroundings.

Three days and three nights, dinner, bed and breakfast for $450 per couple (including GST).

Jindivick Gardens. P: 03 5628 5319.

WANTED Student/assistant organist (or deputy).

Fine 3-manual pipe organ leading strong congregational singing. Enquiries for details and terms to Music Director, North Balwyn Uniting Church, P: 03 9817 2151.

WANTED TO BUY Antiques, second hand/retro furniture, bric a brac and collectables. Single items or whole house lots. Genuine buyer – contact Kevin P: 0408 969 920.

21

Letters Review response I WRITE IN response to Larry Marshall’s, (March) review of Dr Bernie Power’s recent book, Jesus Vs Muhammad; a review that seemed to reveal more about the views of himself and others than the actual contents of the book.

Larry resorts to derision and belittlement of the author, no doubt in an effort to essentially close down debate, narrow discussion and in the process dismiss 400 years of cause-andeffect Enlightenment thinking.

For the record, Dr Bernie Power is a man with a doctorate in Hadith studies, who’s lived more than 20 years in Islamic countries and lectures on the topic of Islamic studies at the Melbourne School of Theology.

In referencing an alternative opinion, that of former Catholic nun Karen Armstrong, Mr Marshall could be likened to a climatechange sceptic who dismisses Sir David Attenborough’s analysis and concerns about environmental degradation as gross fearmongering, capable of upsetting people, because he has a friend who says the climate is always changing – and that should be enough.

Like every other topic on earth capable of being researched and investigated, it must surely be instructive to first analyse the facts – not opinion – in reaching a conclusion. In the case of Islam, this can only come from the contents of the Koran, Hadith and Sira.

Everything else is just opinion and conjecture and must in turn be tested by whether it is backed up by the contents of the above texts.

Setting aside Larry Marshall and Karen Armstrong’s progressive, well-meaning words and opinions, there is no shortage of Arab speaking, learned Islamic scholars around the world who clearly state that Islamic teachings support the actions of violent Jihadists. This is not opinion, it is simply the documented way, or Sunnah, of Muhammad; which a quick reading of the life of Muhammad clearly supports.

In contrast, if we reflect on the life, teaching and example of Jesus, it’s difficult to conclude that ... love thy neighbour means anything other than ‘love thy neighbour’ – despite the actions of ‘powerful men’ down the ages.

There is no doubt that as Christians we are called – challenged – to love all people. But we are also compelled to seek truth. And Dr Bernie Power’s book, Jesus Vs Muhammad, does just that.

Is Larry Marshall suggesting that we are not capable of, or allowed to, seek truth on the topic of Islam?

I’d be interested to read Larry’s review of the book Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, by (once-devout Muslim) Nabeel Qureshi.

Would Larry conclude that Nabeel, who draws all the same conclusions and parallels between Muhammad and Jesus as Bernie, is also ‘setting up straw men’ and ‘feeding Islamophobia’ and should therefore be silenced?

Robert Latimer North Ringwood Uniting Church I WAS both surprised and disappointed by Larry Marshall’s dismissive review of my book Understanding Jesus and Muhammad. My first question was: ‘Has he actually read it all?’

Its details about Muhammad are not taken only from the Koran (Qur’an). Muhammad’s earliest biography, the ‘Sira’, the Hadith traditions and a wide range of mostly Muslim scholars (see the bibliography) are quoted extensively throughout the book. I have not shaped the profiles of Jesus or Muhammad at all, but allowed the texts to speak for themselves, without distortion or alteration.

Any presentation taken from the Bible and early Muslim texts should not be massaged to fit the contemporary policies or priorities of an individual or church: it should respect the integrity of the original documents. The Muslim PhD who acted as a co-editor for my book considers it balanced and fair, and would be insulted by Marshall’s charge of feeding ‘islamophobia’. Marshall should really have read the whole text before dashing off some comments about it.

A second question was ‘Why did he suggest Karen Armstrong as a model?’ She is a 22

popular writer but has a scant understanding of the early Islamic texts. Her two books on Muhammad’s life read like a 1950s Hollywood hagiography rather than a carefully researched modern biography. Her comment about missionaries introducing anti-Semitism to Islam betrays a lack of knowledge about the centuries-long troubled history of MuslimJewish conflict.

Ironically I write this from Malaysia where one of Armstrong’s books on Islam has been banned as ‘a threat to public order’. I am here to speak at a Muslim-run conference on Arabic Studies and Islamic Civilisation, the only non-Muslim among dozens of international presenters. Our papers must be carefully researched, academically sound, cogently argued and meticulously referenced – the same standards I apply to all my writings.

I encourage people to read Karen Armstrong alongside my book, as it fills in the gaps that she misses. It is important to weigh up all the evidence and draw your own conclusions.

superior it creates conflicts. These diverse theologies need to engage with each other in a respectful way to critique, inform, share, learn from, with an openness to be shaped or changed by the other.

But the reality is we are creating theological silos in the UCA, where sometimes we not only fail to engage but conveniently ignore each other and pretend that the other does not exist, or worse, does not even matter. We tend to build a hierarchy of theologies in a Church that is seeking to build equity and respectful conversations.

Unless the Church consciously creates a place of theological equity where members can engage with honesty, truth and openness without fear, conflicts are unavoidable. No one wants to be in a place of conflict. It is an unsafe space. A place of honest and open theological inquiry will draw people who are in pursuit of truth.

For it is truth (the seeking of truth) that will set us free.

Bernie Power

Rev Dev Anandarajan

Every girl and woman.

Everywhere, period.

Family search

DUE to the amazing support, Victoria wide, following the article in February’s Crosslight, the Days for Girls East Gippsland group has been able to provide quality materials for the sanitary hygiene kits that are being hand made in the Bairnsdale Uniting Church. To all supporters we say a big ‘Thank You’ on behalf of the women and girls of Noro and Munda in the Solomon Islands who received kits in March and the Ministry of Education in Kiribati with whom we are working in the hope we can provide 10,000 starter kits next year for both girls at school and women in the community.

This is a huge task but we now know this is possible due to the individuals and church groups who see how simple, reusable and hygienic sanitary products can change the life of women staying at work and girls at school.

As mentioned previously by Judy Williams from Berwick, if you wish to help, there are groups closer to you by checking the website www.daysforgirls.org Not only are people who can sew needed, but also non-sewers who can help with packing, threading bags and administration etc. The philosophy of our Monday craft group is about fellowship and support and anyone who walks in the door will be given a job to do by the amazing coordinator of the Days for Craft group Merle McRae. As a Christian outreach what better way to serve the Lord with fun and fellowship? For more information and progress reports please contact Wendy Flahive (leader) 0438516322 or Merle McRae (co-leader) 51522322.

Wendy Flahive Bairnsdale, VIC

Who speaks for the UCA? IN LETTERS to the editor I was drawn to the response by Dennis Litchfield who wrote “neither Crosslight nor Rev Dr Avril Hannah Jones speak for the whole of UCA”. This raises the question on the nature of the UCA and who speaks for whom.

As widely observed, the UCA is not only becoming more diverse in its cultural make up but also in its theology. Members of the UCA are becoming more aware of the theological diversity within its membership.

We range from ‘left’ to ‘right’ with many positions in between. It can also be argued how left or right UCA is.

The perception the response raises is that no one can speak for the Church as a whole on matters of theology. There was once a practice to look up to the academic scholars to validate the Church’s theology. But even that has become ambiguous.

We can only speak for ourselves and not on behalf of others. It is for others to say if they are with us or not. But having diverse theologies is healthy for the Church. It is when one theology demands that it is

AN ARTICLE in Crosslight, regarding the 100th birthday of Rev Ken Blackwell, was brought to my attention by an Australian friend, in relation to my efforts to trace the family of one Philip Hedley Malcolm Levey.

Philip Levey was the navigator of a WWII Halifax bomber, which crashed in Germany on the evening of 9 October 1944, killing all on board. My cousin, Denis Roy Muxlow, was that aircraft’s rear gunner. To confirm the information I will give, you can visit www.462squadron.com and navigate your way to crew 29 Coleman (Coleman being the pilot’s name) to see the facts I have found so far.

I have found that Philip Levey, who lived at Eagle Junction, Brisbane, had a sister called Beryl Ruth Levey. She married one Newton Taplin Blackwell. The best man (the Australian term is, I believe, ‘groomsman’) was Kenneth Blackwell, the brother of Newton. The marriage was at Eagle Junction Congregational Church, with which the Levey family had strong connections, there being a memorial dedicated to Philip in that Church. Eagle Junction Congregational Church was mentioned in your article.

Are these two Kenneth Blackwells one and the same person? If so, could he put me in touch with any member of the family, possibly Beryl and Newton’s daughter Lynette, or perhaps descendants of Beryl’s other brother Gordon Francis Levey?

The reason for trying to contact the family is to inform them of the forthcoming dedication of a Memorial Plaque which is to be placed in the cemetery Chapel in the village where they crashed, on the 72nd anniversary, 9th October 2016. I am in contact with four of the crew’s families which includes the other Australian member, John Tressider. I am trying my hardest to find the remaining families so that they can be made aware.

By far the easiest way to contact me is by e-mail – pjerlmuxlow@aol.com – this can be used to establish contact with me, should this enquiry be successful.

Peter Muxlow United Kingdom

Easter message IN THE 21st century, man rides high on the crest of science and technology. We have sent space probes to the edge of the solar system, mastered the complications of limb and face transplant. As part and parcel of such progress, we demand that everything has to be or is able to be tested and trialled, measured and weighed, scanned and detected before we can accept something as valid and worthy.

Therefore the 21st century has within it an inconvenient paradox in the form of people out there who believe that a man can die, and indeed has died, and was resurrected

three days later and that the man was God Incarnate.

There are over two billion Christians (and counting) who believe Christ is worthy of heart-and-soul worship and adulation.

Go to a mainstream church on Good Friday or Easter Monday and you are wonder-struck by pews overflowing with the faithful waiting to hear the message that was spoken every year for the last 2000 years – how one man suffered and died to redeem mankind and conquered death.

‘Progressives’ and their humanistic explanation of events have only succeeded in putting their church on the road to obscurity.

The Cross will always be what it was: the symbol of resurrected victory, not just of sacrificial death.

It is a seeming anomaly that something as tenuous and archaic as an unsubstantiated belief can flourish and even re-surge in the new millennia. Theirs is a faith no calamity, whether man-made or natural, can shatter or diminish. Theirs is a conviction no evil or brutality of random, recurrent terrorism can crush. In a world wracked by the insanity of mindless violence, Easter offers what the 21st century cannot – the promise of a better tomorrow. Proof enough of God at work.

Kimmy Fam Ballarat, VIC

Rules too rigid CAN anyone tell me how many church buildings in the last 50 years have had significant fires while a church gathering is in progress? Have there been any?

And yet we are still insisting on meticulous measures – a church out in the country, congregation six, has to replace its centuryold door handles with expensive, new fireapproved ones. Neatly printed and laminated Exit signs in another church must be replaced with a non-reflective commercial variety.

Commercial Exit signs in the Op Shop must be illuminated – call an electrician.

When we open our church door on Sunday mornings the only word on the door is ‘Exit’.

I’d like to change it to ‘Entrance’ and put ‘Welcome’ underneath.

It’s easy to feel that it seems as though it doesn’t matter much if we forget the Cross and the Bible as long as our signs fit the rules.

I’m feeling frustrated.

Carmyl Winkler Tallangatta VIC

Foundation is our future MARK Porter (‘The future could have looked so different’, April Crosslight) raises a very important issue of what the foundation of the Uniting Church was and will be into the future as we consider the past 40 years of UCA history and contemplate the next 40 years and beyond. Mark suggests that: “…these congregations (of the UCA over the last 40 years) and their forbears (the congregations of our previous denominations) are the foundation of who we are and the future that is in front of us.”

I am writing this letter on Good Friday. Earlier today at the local gathering of the congregation (now 113 years old) of which I am proud to be a member, we worshipped the only foundation of any Christian church: the crucified one: Jesus, the Christ. Because of his extraordinary love of God (his Father) and of all his sisters and brothers and because of his unswerving faithfulness to God, he died for his love of all.

This One of Love is the only foundation that matters, from the beginning of time to the end of all things. And of course, we expectantly anticipate in two days’ time, through the same Christ, the glorious foundational new life of all things in Heaven and on earth. This is foundation enough!

Or as Geoff Thompson (co-ordinator of Studies: Systematic Theology, Pilgrim Theological College), on the page adjacent to Mark’s letter in Crosslight, concluded a reflection on ferment and change in the church as follows: ‘All of us know that the creation of such (church) communities is hard work … stripped of its historically-accidental accumulation of cultural prestige and status, all MAY 16 - CROSSLIGHT

Moderator’s column the church has to offer is an odd message of the life, death and resurrection of an unusual young Jewish man who lived a life of strange obedience to the one who he called ‘Abba’.

This Christ of God alone is the Foundation upon which the church and the world is built, whether the church and world accept it or not.

Nothing else matters!

Ron Townsend McKinnon, VIC

Let’s stop ‘going to church’ I WAS saddened to read Geoff Thompson’s article in the last issue of Crosslight. No wonder the churches are dying if the best we can do is blame the ‘materialistic’ world instead of facing up to our own failures.

Geoff ’s analysis is just plain wrong.

The environment in which the church exists is no more materialistic today than it ever was. Neo-liberalism etc are just new forms of humanity’s ancient and ever-present problem.

Three things have changed, however. But Geoff has only identified one of them, the fact that the church is no longer a statecontrolled, state-sponsored institution. That, of course, ought to be in our favour.

The key issue is that the church has failed to accept the massive change in thinking that occurred a few centuries ago with the coming of the age of modern science and rational thought in the European Enlightenment.

That means that we no longer find or express knowledge of ourselves and our world in belief systems and pre-scientific pagan concepts such as virgin births, resurrections, ascensions into heaven etc (whether as truths or mythological ways of speaking), or ancient Greek philosophical dualistic concepts that no longer have currency or credibility.

The third issue Geoff overlooks is that while he correctly defines the church as the ‘community of grace’, that is not a description of today’s churches. We not only persist with outdated Constantinian theological formulations but also with the Constantinian church structure – large institution, hierarchical priestly systems of control, and elaborate buildings for the worship of God. Contemporary New Testament scholarship tells us that the original Jesus movement was not defined by buildings set up for the worship of God, but by ‘communities of grace’ (to quote Geoff ) meeting in homes or other people’s buildings. These communities were centres of healing and hospitality (see Crossan) empowering people to live lives of love, justice and righteousness.

Let’s stop blaming the world and conforming to Constantinian concepts, but instead sell our properties, stop ‘going’ to church, and start becoming or being the church.

As most contemporary New Testament scholars now know, Jesus didn’t start a new religion called Christianity, to worship God and save people from their sins, but rather a community of grace to love and serve the world.

Rev John Gunson John Gunson was an ordained minister in the Congregational churches, and is the author of God, Ethics and the Secular Society.

The cost of alcohol WHY for the life of me are we still encouraging alcohol distributors the right to advertise their products when we know that excessive alcohol consumption will result in carnage and social ills?

It is a well-established fact that excessive alcohol consumption leads also to mental dysfunction.

The federal government can address this issue by legislating to restrict alcohol advertising and the alcohol industry can do a lot more to encourage further self-regulation. This will help to save not only lives but lessen family violence, car accidents, assaults and many other social ills.

This is such an obvious ‘remedy’, or is the government in so much need of the revenue that it is prepared to keep encouraging alcohol advertising?

Ron Roberts Cranbourne, VIC MAY 16 - CROSSLIGHT

Farewell FAMED writer, Annie Dillard wrote in her bestselling novel Pilgrim at Tinker Creek: “Time is the one thing we have been given and we have been given to time.”

Well my time as moderator has almost given out. This will be my last Crosslight reflection as moderator and I take the opportunity to thank all those who have given me much needed encouragement in my writing pursuits.

Dillard wrote the line about time in the context of a journal entry by Thomas Merton where he suggested an “emendation in the Lord’s Prayer: Take out ‘Thy Kingdom come’ and substitute ‘Give us time!’”

You will have gathered that I’m a bit of a fan of Merton, but I actually think he missed the mark with that journal entry. The plea to be given time is surely contained in the prayer “Give us this day...”

Each day I have served as moderator has most assuredly been given. If it were not so, I could not have made it so close to the finish.

I read a story once about an abbot in the south of Thailand who was building a new hall in his forest monastery. When it came time to have their annual Retreat, he stopped all work and sent the builders home because it was their time for quiet in the monastery.

A few days later a visitor came, saw the

half-constructed building and asked the abbot when his hall would be finished.

Without hesitation, the old monk said, “The hall is finished”.

The visitor replied “What do you mean, ‘The hall is finished’? There’s no roof, no doors or windows. There are building materials all over the place. Surely you’re not going to leave it like that? How can you say the hall is finished?”

The old abbot smiled and gently replied, “What’s done is finished”, and then went away to sit in the quiet.

In a similar sense, the building materials of the Synod’s Major Strategic Review are strewn all over the place. I find myself asking, “How can I say that my time is nearly finished?”. But come the end of May, as far as I am concerned, what’s done will be finished.

Movement and Rest…

I remember Norman Young addressing the retirees and ordinands at the 2010 Synod.

I can’t remember the specific text he used – maybe Acts or Timothy. But he spoke of running the race and passing the baton on.

Well in a sense I’m glad to be passing the baton on to Sharon. She is a person of terrific energy and enthusiasm. I feel sure that Sharon will be a great moderator. Her time will be different to mine and she will bring a breadth of experience and wisdom to the synod.

Early on in my term as moderator, I wrote a prayer based on the story of Jesus asleep in the stern of the boat during a storm at

sea. Because I feel that I have been blessed in my growth over the last three years, I’d like to leave you with another prayer, based on my own adaptation of Psalm 65.

Dan Wootton Moderator

Psalm 65 (sort of) Praise to you God You who answer prayer To you we come When volumes of work overwhelm us You give us rest and relief You silence the roaring of the seas You silence the roaring of their waves You silence the tumult of the peoples You make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy You water the earth and enrich it Your river is full Each day we plough And you water the furrows abundantly Softening us with showers Blessing our growth You crown us with your bounty Your wagon tracks overflow with richness And we give thanks to you O God We give thanks; your name is near Amen

Giving is living Justice for Timor-Leste TIM LAM

AUSTRALIA played an instrumental role restoring peace to Timor-Leste following the 1999 independence referendum. The two countries continue to maintain close political ties, but one sticking point threatens to tarnish that legacy of goodwill – oil.

As one of the world’s youngest nations, Timor-Leste is dependent on revenue from natural resources to lift its population out of poverty. It is one of the poorest nations in the world, with half of the population living below the national poverty line.

A key to its development lies in the large oil and gas fields underneath the Timor Sea. The largest of those fields – Greater Sunrise– is estimated to be worth approximately $40 billion.

But just two months before Timor-Leste became an independent nation, Australia withdrew its recognition of the maritime boundary set out by the International Court of Justice. Since then, the Australian government has refused to enter into bilateral negotiations on a permanent maritime boundary. Instead, it has established a series of temporary resource sharing arrangements which short-change Timor-Leste out of billions of dollars.

The synod supports the establishment of permanent maritime boundaries with Timor-Leste. Earlier this year, Dr Mark

is

GIVING

LIVING Zirnsak from the Justice and International Mission unit wrote a letter to Julie Bishop, Minister for Foreign Affairs, on behalf of the synod. He requested that the federal government negotiate permanent maritime boundaries with Timor-Leste.

“The Uniting Church in Australia has been an advocate for, and friend of, the people of Timor-Leste for a long time and wants Timor-Leste to have the resources it needs to be self-sufficient,” Dr Zirnsak wrote.

Dr Zirnsak also expressed concern at the apparent inconsistency of the Australian government in dealing with Timor-Leste, given that Australia has delimited its maritime boundaries with New Zealand, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.

According to international law, the accepted approach when formulating an equitable solution for maritime boundary disputes is to start with a median line. This is the halfway point between two nations.

Under the boundaries established by a

median line, the Greater Sunrise fields will lie within Timorese territory.

The Timor-Leste government claims it has lost an estimated $6.6 billion in royalties and tax revenue since independence – money that is essential to lift the country out of poverty.

In March this year, protestors gathered in Melbourne, Sydney, Jakarta, Manila and Kuala Lumpur for a week of international solidarity with the people of Timor-Leste.

More than 10,000 Timorese citizens gathered outside Australia’s embassy in Dili and supporters took to social media using the hashtag #HandsOffTimorsOil. The Timor-Leste government recently called on the UN to resolve the dispute.

It informed the Australian government it will launch conciliation proceedings under the UN’s Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). An independent panel will consider the merits of establishing a new boundary and will deliver a report within 12 months.

23

Synod Snaps

“For me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity.”

- Henri Cartier-Bresson

Members from St John’s Uniting Church in Essendon enjoy a morning walk from St Kilda to Port Melbourne.

Every year, approximately 600 Catholic, Anglican and Uniting Church worshippers in Craigieburn follow a Way of the Cross, starting on the main road and finishing in Our Lady’s Catholic Church.

Station 3 is situated in St Thomas’ Uniting Church. Photo

by Heather Ackland.

Croxton Congregation in Thornbury, Victoria hosted a dinner party on 18 March.

Tenor and guest singer David Chun (left) and Rev Kevin Kim (right) sing “Perhaps Love” in harmony during the dinner.

Shepparton Uniting Church celebrates Easter Day with a dawn service. Photo by Bronni Fisher.

Many Uniting Church members attended the Palm Sunday Walk for Justice for Refugees in Melbourne.

Photo by Jill Ruzbacky.

St. Columba’s Uniting Church in Sale invited congregation members to decorate the Cross with flowers and greenery during Easter Day worship. At the conclusion of the service, the cross was carried out and displayed outside the church for the remainder of the Easter holiday period.

Easter Day service at St Michael’s Uniting Church, Collins St, Melbourne.

Photo by Francine Schaepper.