Peace and Good Will

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Neurodivergent followers of Jesus are a gift

We live in such a time where we are discovering more and more about neurological differences, also known as Neurodivergence. What is Neurodivergence, you may ask? Well, it refers to individuals with neurological differences, such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and other conditions which don’t reflect typical neurological behaviour.

Historically, many of us may have named these as quirky differences in people. Some of us have come to accept this in our church membership and community as part of being welcoming of all types of people. But others have been labelled as “not like us, not like-minded, or excluded for not fitting our culture”. In the main, however, neurotypicals have interpreted this as odd behaviours but expressed a degree of tolerance because of the Gospel’s neighbourly love ethic and inclusive invitation stance. But often, that is as far as it goes. 

That being said, you may have noticed there seems to be a high number of neurodivergent folk in our churches; you may be neurodivergent yourself, that many of us are in the church and even in leadership in the church. 

There is a growing movement amongst neurodivergent and mental health professionals that is challenging a neurodivergent understanding that sees it as inherently disordered or disabled. An ever-increasing view of acceptance of differences as a strength and gift within the community is gaining more traction. 

This area interests me personally and professionally as the Director of Vital Leadership. Personally, because of my mild dyslexia (and the extra challenge of managing this well), my father’s autism diagnosis in my teens as well as the significant number of colleagues and friends more willing to share their ADHD diagnosis and their stories, including needing medication to navigate School (and the controversy of this at the time). More of late, awareness of women in similar relational circles with neurodivergence and the place of masking for acceptance. 

Professionally, my interest in how many, initially via anecdotal observations, neurodivergent people found the Christian faith and community central and deeply meaningful for their lives proportionately to the broader population. In my current role, I see many seeking or wanting to offer leadership in the church have either a diagnosis or show behaviours or are open about the journey of discovery of their mental health and neurodivergence. 

This intrigue has prompted me to explore the connection between faith and neurodivergence further. I uncovered a recent study published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders that notes that individuals with autism may have a stronger attachment to faith and spirituality than their neurotypical peers. This study found that individuals with autism reported higher levels of religious involvement and a greater sense of belonging to their faith communities. Another study published in the Journal of Attention Disorders found that children with ADHD had higher levels of religious coping, which involves using faith to cope with stress and adversity.

Other research also suggests that individuals with dyslexia may experience faith differently. According to a study published in the Journal of Religion, Disability & Health, individuals with dyslexia may struggle with traditional religious practices that involve reading and writing but may still have a strong sense of spirituality and connection to their faith. This raises questions about how wordy our liturgies are and the place of contemporary or contemplative music, for example. 

While there is still much to learn about the relationship between faith and neurodivergence, these findings suggest that there may be unique ways that individuals with neurological differences experience and express their faith. For example, individuals with autism may be drawn to the structure and routine of religious practices, which can provide a sense of predictability and comfort. Individuals with ADHD may find solace in prayer or meditation to quiet their minds and focus their attention. And individuals with dyslexia may find that their connection to their faith is strengthened through other sensory experiences, such as music or art.

It is important for Christian communities to recognise and accommodate the needs of neurodivergent individuals within our congregations, whether that means providing alternative methods for practising faith or offering support and understanding. Faith can give comfort and strength to individuals and communities with neurological differences. It is important to create space so that everyone can experience and express faith in meaningful ways as part of the community of Christ. 

Accommodating neurodivergence is only part of the picture. What we call neurotypical is based on the assumption of a so-called average proportion of the population’s neurological ability. Often making navigating processes and demanding neurotypical responses marked as compliant, acceptable, and behaving correctly, isolating the neurodivergent. This is evidenced by the low tolerance for sensory overloading behaviours or the struggle to normalise self-soothing behaviours that can help regulate the neurodivergent person.

There is also a dark history of Neurodivergence awareness, which I don’t have time to explore here, except to highlight that in 1944 Nazi Germany, Dr Hans Asperger, who was a paediatrician that pioneered the diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome, later known as autism psychopathy. He termed the phrase “high-functioning” with this diagnosis. Such folk were spared from euthanasia due to their perceived extraordinary gifts, whether with music or intellect. Tragically, 789 children were sent to their death with such a diagnosis if not considered high functioning at the hand of Dr Han’s clinic. A tragic legacy that can be seen today is reflected in the term “high-functioning "as having a functional value in society (and possibly less relational value) while still holding suspicion of that person being disordered. This has to change. For people of the Christian faith, we need to resist valuing humans along productive lines with the counter view that all human life is made and reflects the image of God and therefore has inherent value and dignity to God and to one another. 

Another belief that autistic people don’t feel or have limited emotional agency is also gravely false and untrue; current evidence and experience of those I know and love demonstrate that this is profoundly untrue. People with autism feel deeply but may find it challenging to express those feelings in ways neurotypical can understand. 

As a movement of Jesus’ followers, the truth is that we have a long way to go to be the people of God, in Christ, that welcomes all people. While such diagnoses are modern, one could argue that the biblical narratives and Christian tradition focus on grace, justice and love, and the ultimate home we find in Christ, with the hope of a new creation. We need to resist communal practices of faith driven by exclusion based on, at best, personality and behavioural differences related to neurodiversity without proper understanding. I often wonder what biblical characters would have a diagnosis today; I mean, look at some of the prophets. I take great comfort that they, as with you and I. We are all part of the salvation story of God. 

Christian communities are to be a place where individuals can come together and support one another on their discipleship journeys. However, for many neurodivergent individuals, the experience of participating in churches can be challenging. Neurodivergent individuals have differences in neurological development that can impact how they perceive and process information, making certain aspects of religious practice more difficult.

For example, some individuals with autism may struggle with sensory overload during worship services or have difficulty understanding abstract concepts. Individuals with ADHD may find it difficult to focus during long periods of sitting and listening. Dyslexic individuals may struggle with reading religious texts, which can be central to many faith traditions.

So, how can neurotypical members of your congregation be more accommodating of their neurodivergent counterparts? Here are some suggestions:

  • Educate yourself about neurodivergence. Learn about the different conditions that fall under the neurodivergent umbrella and how they can impact an individual’s experience of life and faith.
  • Be flexible in your approach. Recognise that there may be alternative ways of practising faith that work better for neurodivergent individuals—for example, offering alternative worship spaces that are quieter or have sensory-friendly accommodations.
  • Avoid making assumptions. Don’t assume that an individual’s behaviour or difficulties are due to a lack of faith, laziness, seeking to be disruptive or lack of interest. Instead, be patient and understanding, and seek to understand what may be causing their difficulties.
  • Be welcoming and inclusive, not just tolerant. Neurodivergent individuals may feel excluded or isolated from faith communities due to their differences. By being welcoming and inclusive, you can help ensure that everyone feels valued and supported and part of Christ’s beloved community in God.
  • Foster a culture of acceptance and support. Encourage open and honest communication about neurodivergence within your faith community, and work to create a culture that accepts and supports individuals with neurological differences. Make space for story sharing and what is going on for Neurodiverse folk.

Ultimately, creating an inclusive Christian community requires effort and understanding on the part of all Christians. Taking the time to learn about neurodivergence and adapting practices while remaining faithful to Christ’s mission and call is essential. This will help us be more inclusive of all of God’s people in faith communities and congregations and will encourage everyone to feel welcomed, supported, and participate fully in the mission of God’s love, grace and justice together.

Neurodivergent and Neurotypical followers of Jesus, let’s keep the conversation going. This is a conversation needed in our time as a Uniting Church. We are a highly neurodiverse tribe. Together all of us share gifts and are gifted for the common good and the mission of God’s reconciling love for all creation. Let’s be honest. Let’s explore neurodiversity with much love for each other. Let us all, each of us, find our home with God in Christ, empowered by the Spirit, in the expression of the Christian community we know as church. 

The Gift of Relationality this Christmas!!!

For many Christians, like myself, Christmas is a time for us to celebrate the incarnation of God in the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The gift of “God with us”, born among us, with peace, healing, and salvation.Christmas time is popularised as a time of holidays, to catch up with family and friends. To share gifts, given and received. To eat a lot of food. I am keen to focus on the gift of relationality. An essential element that has taken a bit of a bashing over the past 24 months is the global pandemic and the growing domination of human time and energy snaffled up in online consumption. I confess that I have watched more streaming tv shows in the last 2 years than ever before, so this is a reminder to me, as much as a sharing of ideas and convictions.I would like to encourage us all to re-focus on the gift of relationality and the gift of this within Christian Community in this season of Christmas.A relationality when expressed in the gathering with God in worship, witness and service can be life-giving and transformative for the good of all. Jesus Christ calls and sustains relationships into a community of being, becoming and mission, this is known as discipleship. I recall looking back before the pandemic; taking much inspiration from many influential voices like; Miroslav Volf’s work After Our Likeness (1998), Covenant, Community and the Spirit: A Trinitarian Theology of Church, Robert Sherman (2015). Plus, many Fresh Expressions and Emerging Church voices of the last 2 decades; many holding a significant focus on the importance of the community of God. The Trinitarian inspired mutually shared life also known as perichoresis, in which we share in relationality with one another and God. I affirmed the conviction that the Christian Community is called to the vocation of the common good to reflect Christ’s high moral calling to love… God, neighbour, enemy and self. Through orientating and practising this way of Christ, it informs a way of living that is open, loving, justice-seeking and generous. I strongly believe that the Christian venture that Jesus of Nazareth initiated within 1st century Judaism and spread to the whole world, marked with Baptism, is a work of God, an expression of the body of Christ relationally orientated for the salvation and blessing of all creation.I am keen to affirm that there is something to this gift of relationality within Christian Community that is worth remembering, treasuring, and celebrating. Not as some self-affirming biased tribe, but because the deep art of Jesus inspired relationships that are shaped by grace, love, hope, justice and forgiveness are transformational. This kind of relationality practices the who we are created to be in God. The  Christian community is the place of this kind of relationality practice. Christian community, grounded in the Scriptures, learning from tradition, understanding with reason and honouring our experiences of God, all in relationship with each other, all contributes to the ongoing forming of Christian life. The relationships within the Christian community form a Christian identity which can gift humanity with a deeper purpose in participating in the mission of God for the reconciliation and renewal of all creation. Speaking of Identity, there are countless studies linking identity formation to tribal, community, social, economic, and environmental contexts. In The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life (1991), Kenneth Gergen articulates 3 contextual identities formed by culture. He suggests that prior to the 1900, identity was often marked by a deep commitment to relationships, dedicated friendships, and life purpose in predominantly Western societies. This identity was idealised as a person of moral character, taking personal actions and willing to accept the consequences of one’s behaviour. The inner core of such a person was marked by passion and volatility. During the 1900s Gergen notes the emergence of the modern self. This identity was governed by reason and machine-like development of identity and personhood. Volatility became a mental issue and passions became the harnessed power directed by rationally based education, religion and institutions for productivity ends. Gergen goes on predicting a postmodern identity. Noting that forms of mediating technologies could contribute to the lack of a development of an inner core. Facebook or Instagram illustrates this; where fragmented curations of self-projection elements become dependent on feedback to affirm identity. On top of that, the consumer-oriented society has shaped identities to maximize social exchanges to gain network access to assist personal/financial security and development. This shifts relationships to become increasingly instrumental and downplays the socioemotional aspects of human relating. A decade later, Gergen, affirms the urgency of relationality in his book Relational Being: Beyond Self and Community saying, “Whatever value we place upon ourselves or others, and whatever hope we may have for the future, depends on the welfare of relationship” (Gergen, 2009, p. 396).Even before all the pandemic challenges, the art of relationality in developed countries (like within Australia) has struggled. In Christian communities, the one place that one would think that relationality would thrive has struggled to engage beyond the powerful forces of modern and post-modern identity formation. Brene Brown with the power of vulnerability and the re-assurgency of emotional intelligence is a corrector to some of this, with it’s re-valuing of empathy, belonging and love. But the question remains, where is this practised well? I am yet to see the workplace do this well beyond the consumer-productivity base-line for success and growth. The other thing to note is the booming wellbeing industry, commodifying the need rather than creating a mutual relationality of care and compassion, sharing of ideas and life stories, and seeking and investing in each other’s development as humans (and as people of God). Anecdotally, I find social media is now captured by the supremacy of market-driven opinion (often playing to individual fears using complex algorisms) in the exploitation of human vulnerability to grow influential networks, individual gain and marketing opportunities. The art of being, becoming and relationality may exist in small corners, but in the main, for many, such platforms are no longer safe places to be vulnerable and human. The challenge for Christian communities is to know that some of our leadership and communities colluded with such exploitive practices. To regain the gift of relationality requires a re-covenant to a Jesus (Trinitarian) shaped relationality again and again and again.I do believe Christian Community is one of the places we can practice relationality for relationality’s sake. Christian community should be inspired by Jesus’ deep call to relationality as witnessed within the Scriptures. Jesus takes time to be friends of sinners, those who have lost family, refugees, and outcasts (because of poor health and/or social taboos). As I turn my mind to Christmas. I love that the heralds of good news of great joy for all people takes place to shepherds living in the fields (Luke  2:7-12). The Emmanuel, “God with us”, born among us, in a lowly feeding trough in the animal shed. This incarnation of God is God’s affirmation of divine-human relationality with peace and goodwill to all.This Christmas we celebrate God coming among us in the birth of Jesus. I do hope and pray that we all can invest in relationality, taking an active interest in the other and experience the joy of being, becoming and participating in the wonder of the gifts of God in life and love with much joy. In the spirit of relationality. Hello and Merry Christmas. I look forward to sharing life with you and you with me in the seasons of life ahead and encourage you to share life well with those around you with love, grace, justice-seeking and hope. Merry Christmas.

Is Jesus really a King?


This Sunday Marks the end of the liturgical calendar, with what is known as the celebration of Christ the King. 

As much as the church, and even the Christian tradition from the earliest days, proclaimed Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This is far, very far from what Jesus said about himself in the Gospel narratives. In fact, it could be argued that Jesus refuses to accept any title as king in his response before the Roman Authorities, “it is (only) you who say that I am a king”.  
Kings in ancient times, like nation-states and corporations in our time, have power, have wealth and can lord it over others, and even can justify competitive violence to promote their causes. Now there were kings in ancient times, like nation-states and corporations that do provide welfare for their citizens and employees. But the exploitation of others for the benefit of the few, Jesus had no desire to be a part of any such systems, or, to replicate such systems or power structures, particularly with him named as the head.
I would argue that Jesus of Nazareth was no King, nor is it helpful to see Jesus in such a light. James and John came seeking positions of power in what they thought was a coming kingdom, Jesus rebukes them, saying in that God’s people will have no part in that power that lords it over others, - lording it over others is not on. This was true for Jesus and the community he was teaching. Jesus goes on saying that “if you desire to lord it over others, focus that desire on serving others instead. If you need to be the best, be the best at serving others. 
Jesus was not about wealth or building his own business or empire. Rather a wholeness of life in trusting in the abundance of the God of creation for all. The gospels illustrate this in the story of the rich young ruler. The rich young ruler was asked to sell all his possessions and give them to the poor, which was too much for him to do, to truly share in the life of God. This is just as challenging today as it was two thousand years ago, if not more as we are so dependent on the economic systems of our day. Jesus is not an economic king or ruler. 
As for violence and war, an open justification for competitive behaviour that seeks to remove or destroy the ‘other’ as a threat is a powerful human motivator. We may not see as much bloodshed in the political and corporate world’s power games today, as it did in the ancient world. Still, some of the justifications of nation states for so-called defence and peacekeeping efforts in the articulation of a clear and present danger should cause concern for Jesus followers (war on Iraq is one example, in which Australia was apart of the coalition of the willing). This way of violence continues. (Today, terrorism is seen as this clear and present danger, and then religious and/or ethnic groups have been labelled within this grouping) What is remarkable, is when Jesus is encounter by this at his unjustified arrest, one of his disciples responds in a violent act for the sake of self-protection. Jesus says, put away your swords, those who live by the sword, die by the sword.  And then remarkably reaches out to the so-called enemy with healing in his hands. Now that is compassion. Today we could say those who live by the gun, die by the gun. Jesus is nonviolent, compassionate and is not about seeking the destruction of the other, but rather that we learn to love even our enemies until they become friends.
Jesus is no King, no CEO, no Prime minister, no commander and chief. Jesus is Jesus, who shows us a Way that is love, gift and grace for all. The early Church did call him King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but this was not to elevate Jesus to any higher status as a super King or super Lord, it was to make a mockery of the powers of the day that failed to see all humans and all creation beyond the exploitation frames. This Jesus way of mutual love and respect, neighbourliness and the collective and individual focus on the common good was a way of life in stark contrast to any example of Kings or Lords. 
Following Jesus as a disciple means not confusing Jesus for power and control, but rather a way of life that is about fullness of life and life to the full for all. 

Who’s story is this?

Peace, Peace, Peace
I love peace.
Fight
I don’t flight.
I don’t want to fight.
I don’t want to fight, but
But I can’t let ‘them’ get away with that.
I need to fight sometimes
It’s a matter of justice
It’s a matter of survival
Fight against oppression
Fight against cancer
Fight against inequality
Fight against  abuse
But then,
I get use to fighting
I want to fight for what I think is right
Fight for individual rights
Fight for agency, my agency
The fight becomes
My fight
Anger fuels the action
Anger grows, frustrates, like a burning fire within
Fighting is addictive
Looking for fights, to teach ‘those’ wrong doers a lesson
Then the fight comes to me, and peace is the dream of winning.
Before I know it, I have become the very thing I began to fight.
Accusations of subordinating others and limiting ‘their agency’ and freedom of expression.
I lay down my arms, tired of the fight
Like blood to a shark, new powers arise to take what was my part.
Is there really any peace in this world?
Win/win seems to be the golden ideal,
But not everyone comes to the fight with the same experience, privilege or resources.
Winners stand on the back of others, conquers the conquered.
Be it business, churches, families, tribes, nation states, political parties or individuals.
Is war and peace like two sides of the same coin?
Is peace really only for the winners?

How does the Cross of Jesus save us, and what from?

The cross would have been seen as a horrific symbol of torture and death, used as the cruel tool of subordination by the Roman Empire. A tool which was used liberally against any who dared to defy the Emperor and his so-called divine Authority.  

For the early Christian movement, the experience of the suffering of Christ is not skipped over or romanticised (well in the main). And when it came to the resurrection experience, this was no happy-ever-after, but symbolic of the hope of being a part of the Kingdom of God that transcends the cross and moves beyond the oppressive powers of the day.

Paul reminds us in his letters that the Greek and the Jewish communities of the day thought the Christian concept of the cross was foolishness and unwise.  To most people, the cross was not a sign of hope or salvation but rather one of oppression and death.

Recently in my congregation at Paddington, I have focused on the power of memory and remarked that memory is a key part of what makes us human in my teaching and preaching. When we lose our memory, as in the case of dementia, our family and friends feel they are losing the identity of their loved one. The other uncomfortable truth is that our memory is fallible -  more like a work of art than a pure science - and in a time when our culture seems devoted to the concepts of perfection and certainty, so much internal angst is caused by this realisation. Our memory of oppression can fade to the point where it becomes “not so bad”. The story of Moses and the serpent illustrates this point, of people wanting to go back to the house of slavery, because they remember it was much better than their current troubles. Like anyone who has left an abusive relationship or to a lesser extent, who remembers the past with rose coloured glasses, we can’t help but desire something that is better than the present situation. In the Moses story of last week, Salvation was to look upon the very thing that was poisoning you, and then you would not die. Strange and mysterious yes, but the gospel according to John uses this image as a link to the cross of Christ. To look upon the thing that is poisoning us, so that we may live.

The cross tells me that I can’t just walk past or rest in a romantic view of my own narrative, but that suffering and oppression and death are still at work in our world. The cross calls me to face this in all honesty, and as followers of Jesus, when we lift up the cross, we lift up the image of the ‘poisons’ of our age so all can see, and live. Not because we like suffering, but so that the wonder of resurrection may begin to work to transform us and our world with justice, love and peace.

Remembering the cross of Christ may help us to remember pain and suffering and oppression without a utopian escapism or a denialism. It may also help us to put suffering and oppression and pain into a context other than our fallible memory trying to navigate it all, for some in loops of angst. The cross invites us to see something from a perspective that is not our own making or desiring: the work of God in and through us. If anything, to evoke a change of view to the blind obsession of our fallibilities of memory. The cross grounds in us an embodied hope to journey forward to a new day, not of denial, but in fact the opposite, of lifting up and honouring all that the cross embodies. The cross does not leave us in the place of suffering, but of hope with the possibility of a new day, and a new creation can emerge as a work of God in and with us and for all creation.

Marriage Equality

At the edges of the debate, there are claims that gay couples raising kids is a kin to another stolen generation and the Roman Catholic Archbishop has threatened to fire any gay who works for a Catholic agency who gets married to their gay partner. But the conservative approach in this campaign to vote “no” has been more of an appeal to the moderate centre and unfairly paints supporters of marriage equality as radicals. The “It’s OK to vote no” campaign has targeted Churches and ministers of all denominations including the Uniting Church and our neighbouring congregations other than Pitt Street Congregational and the MCC. It all sounds nice and reasonable and supportive of the traditional norms.

The basis of the ‘no’ argument lies in the doctrine of complementarianism. This doctrine reflects a patriarchal theology and practice of male headship, which in turn subordinates women in the family structure. It is re-enforced by a prescriptive rather than a descriptive reading of Scripture, focusing on particular texts without a contextual or cultural critique of patriarchal societal structures.  Its proponents argue that this is the best environment to raise children, all the while cherry-picking sources to give their argument a ‘scientific’ modernist appeal without the peer review rigour of real science. In practice, this religious doctrine is best reflected in women vowing to obey their husbands and husbands not vowing the same in return, as seen in many conservative marriages, based on their reading of the Pauline text. 

While some conservative Catholic and Evangelical religious traditions support this is doctrine, there is a strong and robust Christian tradition reading the same Scriptures that sees Christ as the great equalizer and that we are all, as signed in our baptism, one in and with Christ and each other as a gift of God’s grace. The differentiation is not one of gender, but of gifts. All parts of the body of Christ work together as part of this New Humanity, New Creation in God or the Family of God, which transcends biological family bonds and gender roles. 

Thus we find that two views exist - a non-critical hierarchical subordination reflected in the view of the nature of God (Father, then the Son, then the Holy Spirit), and, a view reflected in discerning together of the community of Christ (one in Christ) and the communion and interconnected relationships in the image of the Holy Trinity in which we find our being. These two views have been with the church’s story for a long time. I stand in the view of the latter and have found deep truth here.

The Theological view of God then frames how one views creation and the ordering of creation. The ordering of human life is therefore important (including how we relate and manage human sexuality), and the flourishing of human life and relationships is key for followers of Jesus. Right relationships within the context of community is important, and the Uniting Church has been having this conversation for some time as reflected in the Assembly’s Uniting Sexuality and Faith document issued in 1997. It is right that such a conversation continues to happen in this space as it is where our moral and ethical framings are discerned.  

I am always concerned about advocating majority rules when it comes to minorities as such views can be at the serious expense of the minority or the other. Nazi Germany demonstrated the extreme point of this mindset where society allowed a program of state sanctioned extermination of Jewish, Queers, Disabled people, and others who did not fit the majority ‘norm’. Negotiating and discerning new norms is always hard work and needs to be done with both sensitivity, respect and determination when it is for the common good.

From the first Councils, such as the Council of Jerusalem, the Christian church has not shied away from the debates the challenges posed by the Gospel, which transcends boundaries of race, ethnicity, family structures, and cultural norms, us.

The Jesus of the Gospels does not fit our liberal or conservative framing and it is wrong to claim Jesus would support one side or the other without pretexting (reading into Jesus’ teachings what we would like them to say). 

Rather, it is the values and teachings of Christ that should help us navigate the issues. What we do see is that Jesus offered healing and grace to those minorities excluded by the Empire and religion of his day. Inclusion, love, grace, and turning to God as the source of life and reconciliation are key.

In a secular sense, the marriage equality argument is about recognition before the law of the land. It is clear and simple. That citizens can access the rights and privileges of the state in an inclusive way.

Some religious groups are worries that this will impinge on their religious freedoms.

Currently, these religious frames are protected in the exclusion of religion from the Anti-Discrimination Act, but when the Church is also one of the largest educators and providers of welfare services and receives massive state funding, the waters become muddy.

The real issue, I suspect, has to do with the loss of power and influence within the Christian ‘empire’ as the state grows increasingly more secular and pluralist (despite our politicians appearing to be more religiously aligned than the general population).  Many in the churches worry about losing their right to religious exemptions in the face of the full inclusion of the civil rights, privileges and responsibilities of all citizens before the law.

Unfortunately, LGBTIQ people and their families and friends have become the flash point in this trend towards the decrease of soft Christian statehood power to egalitarian secular ideals.  

I am a person of faith and have devoted my life to following the Jesus Way of Life with much grace and love. I don’t believe I have it all together or have all the answers, but I have faith in the One to leads us forward by the Spirit. I believe that following Jesus is good news for the world. If we all practised loving God and our neighbour as we love our selves, the world would be a better place.

Eighteen months ago I spoke at a Marriage Equality rally in the city because both personally, as a person of Christian faith seeking the common good of society, I see and believe that the rites of marriage can include LGBTIQ people in naming family well.  You can view it here https://youtu.be/fw35oT29FkE.  

I am reluctant to concede that some Christian religious traditions will struggle to codify Same Gendered or non-cysgendered marriages for a long time. Like eating pork is prohibited for those of Jewish or Islamic faith, exclusion of Same Gendered Marriage may well become part of the diversity of different faith traditions. It is a shame because LGBTIQ children will be born into such families may experience exclusion of their humanity expressed fully in the covenant of marriage. This may cause significant harm, conflict and confusion for some. I pray that love and grace would guide the most conservative Catholic and Evangelical families when this occurs. I am reluctant because I still have hope in the love of God we see in Christ that transcends all our traditions. That aside, I will stand with all who are in Christ as kin, even if we disagree on this, as we practice faith, hope and love together in action and word.

In the Acts of the Apostles Chapter 10 Peter has an amazing vision/dream where he is commanded to go and eat creatures forbidden by Jewish custom and law, But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.” The voice said to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” Matthew 10 teaches that it isn’t what goes into a person that defiles them, it is what flows from their heart, from a heart that fails to love. Jesus also teaches that the Spirit will lead us into greater truth. 

My humble conviction is that LGBTIQ people and their/our relationships are a gift and blessing of God not a profanity, in this Jesus vision of the Kingdom of God. They are just as worthy of intimacy, companionship, covenant and marriage as all others.

I encourage you to consider carefully how you vote. I will be voting ‘Yes’ in support of marriage equality.

marraige marriage equality yes

What if faith is more like a work of art?

What if we started to think about faith, less in terms of doctrine, rules and regulations, but more as a work of art? What if prayer was less about partitioning a higher power and more about entering the creative flow of God, with all our human desire, dreams and experience? What if we had less teachers telling us what to think, but more poets and musicians, painters and sculptors inviting us to deeper reflection. What if our preaching was more soul-full, like a piece of jazz or the blues, that speaks to an embodied truth beyond words? What if we see the Christian faith less as the striving for a holy morality or just society and more like of a community that practices with intention the art of being and reflecting well with all of creation. What if Jesus’ ways were more for the travellers and explorers than a fixed systematic planned route. What if this Jesus way is motivated by the great mystery of generous, hospitable and non-possessive but deep belonging, creative love… above any self-justifying plan?
What if repentance and being fruitful are more akin to an artist starting again, trying again, and again, seeking that creative flow?
What if faith is a work of art, and we are caught up in her story, movement and reflection. What if faith is the art of transforming substances at the impulse of the creator Spirit and being transformed in the process ourselves.
What if faith never gratifies certitude, but teaches us to sing, play and dance with others well. What if faith never gives us clear answers but opens up new creative ways.
What if faith is more like a work of art?

Information and Wisdom

A 16-year-old had just learned a new word at school, and was keen to use it. He visited his girlfriend after school and while they were working on some homework together, she started to complain about how she had been treated by some of her classmates. Seizing his opportunity, the boy turned to his girlfriend, kissed her on the cheek and pronounced “empathy”, then picked up his things, walked out the door and went home.

He was pleased with himself as he walked home - pleased that he could use this new word, though unaware that his girlfriend was left a little confused by what he thought was a caring gesture, but was, in fact, a gesture that showed no real empathy at all.

The biblical tradition talks about a deeper knowing, of a wisdom. Not just a cognitive intellectual knowing, but a knowing grounded in the practice of life. Solomon asks for this wisdom in the face of addressing the responsibilities that lay in front of him. Like learning how to judge wisely and equitably with two mothers fighting over the one child in a custody case. If you don’t know the story, look it up.

We live in the age of information technology. The internet has revolutionised information and communication. No longer do we need to travel vast distances to find out things about our world past and present, we can just sit at any computer, almost any place on the planet and view materials researchers could have only dreamed of a few decades ago. We are benefiting greatly by this information technology age. But with this new age bringing with it a huge cultural shift, possibly bigger than that of the printing press some centuries ago and the industrial revolution. Every traditional profession and industry is changing it’s crafts significantly to survive.

Metaphorically our new eternal spring is the internet. It has lured much of our culture into a consumption of thinking which appeals to the lowest common denominator when it comes to information consumption. The waters run wide, but not as nearly as deep. We foolishly assume we can know everything there is about a subject after a wiki or google search. Why I say foolishly is that, we can also go deeper if we dig deeper, but I question how many of us actually do. A little like the 16 year old in my story above, we can quickly delude ourselves.

According to current brain research, our brains process all this information primarily as it appeals to our self affirming bias. A bias that is constantly looking for alignment and re assurance of the information to the opinions we already hold.

This self affirming lens filters such information in a kind of an addictive game of self justification. This is evidenced by the simple fact that we all know how hard it is to admit we are wrong or have made a mistake, and/or how much effort we put into making things right. This drive helps us keep face and to maintain the life giving relationships we need. It forces us to present a well and coherent image of ourselves for our own social and economic survival. It is so deep that even our unconscious is processing information to keep this self affirming bias at play.

With this understanding, it is not so surprising that industry manufacturing a sense of self justification as become one of the biggest driving blocks of our economy. The new priests and ministers of our age calling for new disciples often pedaling certitude in one form or another; shaped as shallow product and/or ideology.
This kind of communication and information then gains a divine kind of status, people read their smartphones more intensely than past generations did with the bible, religiously sharing posts that re enforce their own bias and seeking to find others who will share such views with them on facebook, twitter and Instagram.

Unfortunately this can begin to create a cycle that strengthens polarization and the devaluing of the other than self, of their human life and experience. Communication and dialogue is reduced to self justifying debates to gain adherents to your point of view.

In the absence of any other God who calls forth for new life and transformation; new gods can emerge with the face of our need to critically feed our self affirming bias. rituals developed with new objects of devotion that transmit such information that promise to feed own needs for self justification.

Proverbs 4:6-7 says: Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

Wisdom may well be the engagement the frontal lobe of our brains according to brain science. It is much harder to use this executive part of the brain than the retreat to the self affirming bias located more centrally in the brain, it requires a lot more energy, but is where creativity and innovation is found. It is here we may even sacrifice our own self seeking bias for the sake of things much greater than self. It engages critical thinking and discernment grounded in context with a high value and love of the other who is different to self. I like to call this the Jesus way.

If you, like me, find myself sitting countless hours in front of these information shrines; it is important to seek a deeper wisdom and rhythm of life. If you feel this is beyond us and don’t know where to begin, it can begin in the intentional commitment to community where one can be held by the wisdom of others. From here wisdom can grow ourselves. The other place wisdom could be found is in the more ancient practice of prayer and meditation.

My prayer is that all who seek to witness to Christ,what we don’t just deepen right thinking (information about) and right doing, but right being. That we may practice Wisdom as part of our religious life and calling; practice being with others, creation, God and self with love, justice, grace and peace. Particularly as we reflect on Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience together with wisdom.

Speaking to the demons of homophobia in the wake of the Orlando shootingIn the wake of the shooting in Orlando, Florida, I am standing with love in silent solidarity with our LGBTIQ friends and family members in that community. I encouraged this...

Speaking to the demons of homophobia in the wake of the Orlando shooting

In the wake of the shooting in Orlando, Florida, I am standing with love in silent solidarity with our LGBTIQ friends and family members in that community. I encouraged this quiet accord as I spoke at the vigil last Monday evening at Taylor Square, Darlinghurst. I resisted the urge to take political advantage or quote some nice-sounding theological statements . I was stuck for words – but that was ok.

Orlando, where so many innocent young people were gunned down in a gay club called Pulse, is a place that resonates for me. My companion Scott and I stayed in Orlando just before the Gay Christian Network conference in January this year with our dear friend Jose. He is a man of great faith who is grieving for lost friends.

As the news cycle moves on with all the political justifications, I am moving from the silence to facing the torment of the voices around me that still frame gay sexuality as unworthy of God. I have and continue to experience those ideas in the church community. This is why the story of Jesus releasing the demons of Legion in Luke 8:26-39 resonates on many levels for me.

“What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me,” says Legion to Jesus.

The uncomfortable truth is that many public and religious leaders struggle to name homophobia. Their aversion is so enshrined in their cultural and religious understanding framing that they become blind to the effects of it.

From childhood, I was taught that being gay is sinful and that there is no place for me in the Kingdom of God. As you can imagine, I was internally tormented by this. Despite years of prayer and trying to remove my desire for the companionship and affection of other men, this expression of sexuality just became more stubborn. This painful response to gay sexuality is still so widespread in the church. Like many who are, and have been, in this same conflicted state, I was once convinced I was cursed by God and saw no hope but death.

From what I read in the media, the shooter in Orlando may not have been a part of any organized religious extremist group but could have been a person highly conflicted by both religious and social ideas rejecting gay sexuality, this most human experience known to only a small minority.

The idea that LGBTI people will never enter the kingdom of God has burned like a demon within me and has produced so much bad fruit in our society. Among LGBTI people it causes much rejection of religion, isolation, self-harm, addiction and sometimes suicide. The real tragedy is many of these people have tried to fit themselves into this narrow idea of what it means to be Christian and sexual with little success and hence great shame.  

For those of us who follow the Jesus way and take the bible seriously (like I do), it is actually in the Bible’s more profound understandings of life and human connection that we find real hope and wholeness. The story of Jesus releasing the unclean spirits that tormented him have strong parallels of hope for human expressions of LGBTI people that bring real healing, integrity and reconciliation.

Healing doesn’t mean becoming straight and heterosexually married. It is the truthful reconciliation of our faith and sexuality that gives the peace and groundedness we find in the gospel of Christ. Often When homophobia is expressed, the first reaction is fear by the wider community. Just as the demons named themselves and their fears in our gospel text. But, just as Jesus spoke to Legion and resolved the conflict, we see in our own society the potential of God, despite the wider fears all around, to bring love, acknowledgement and healing to the world. We all have the responsibility of realising that love in tangible ways in our community.

I pray for a more loving and compassionate church, culture and community.

Processing…

Well, it has been over a week since I with other where coming along side Syrian refugees in Jordan, and, at least for me, I have been caught back into the everyday life in Sydney. But I know that there is still something in me that is still processing our trip to Jordan. I am still processing because I feel uncomfortable.

I was waiting at a train station today looking at all the averting on the walls, brands associating themselves with so many activities, including prayer. Bargains to be had here and there. And all I could see is the stark reality of the illusion of choice we are given. And I thought to my self, I would rather buy more food boxes than anything here. None of that interested me, and yet, I could feel the pull of the marketers power and conditioning on me.

I look at the $22 m development we are doing as a church, and the mission planning we are doing together as a congregation, and while they are all good and worthy ventures. I can’t help but think that the very social economic system we are a part of blinds us to some of the deep injustices of our time.

We as a nation, through our government are bombing Syria, and yet we as a nation, a government are doing very little to help the victims of this war we are participating in. (a justification for continued increase military spend no doubt in the face of significant decrease in humanitarian spend). It isn’t even our war…

We are told by the media that refugees are bad people, just money hungry (economic) or possibly even terror agents. What I witnessed was was families just like yours and mine, trying to make the best of it in the face of real terror.

The stark reminder that I can’t get out of my head is that, I saw my sister in the face of refugees, my mum and my dad, my nephews and nieces, with all the human dignity and love and complexity that family brings here. There was no us and them, it was only us.

If Sydney was bombed from powers far away, and those I love where killed or threatened, where my housing and possessions where taken by radical groups that had become so self righteous and self justified in their reactions, that I need to flee for safety, I would be very grateful for any, any assistance to keep some sense of dignity and to start again.

What resonates so deep with me, is that in my faith tradition of following the Way of Jesus, solidarity with all people, including those who the powers of the day marginalize. And yet even with the very powers of the day, when ‘Jerusalem’ tries to kill Jesus and succeeds (as we see in the easter story), how Jesus desires to just gather them also like a hen gathers it’s chick under it’s wings (last Sunday’s gospel).

This kind of Jesus response is one that I want to infuse me, challenge me and continue to make me feel uncomfortable. Because it is in this Jesus way that there is any hope of transformation.

I am still processing, reflecting, and wanting to do more.