Bishop Teaches Islam?
- September 3, 2010
Following my day visiting St Michael’s Collegiate School, the Chaplain wrote some reflections in the School Magazine,
The Students’ questions ranged from, How old are you? and Do you like chocolate more than ice-cream or ice-cream more than chocolate? to How do you become a Bishop? and Who made God?
The Bishop explained to both a year 6 and year 9 class (both of whom are currently studying world religions) three reasons why he regularly travels Tasmanian teaching people about Islam in sessions entitled Understanding Your Muslim Neighbour. Firstly, Bishop John argues, it is impossible to fully love your neighbour (as Jesus demands we do) if you do not understand their core beliefs and customs. Secondly, John sees benefits in Christians understanding where Christianity is similar to Islam and where it is different – thus providing points of connection to encourage and promote respectful dialogue across these two faiths. Thirdly, as the world’s youngest major religion Islam has much to say in critique of Christianity and Jesus and, Bishop John argues, knowledge of what Islam says about Christian beliefs can help promote critical and beneficial reflection on our own faith position – what is the basis for believing what we do about life, Jesus, God etc.?
Whatever your personal faith position may I encourage you to learn more about the beliefs and faith of others so that you may more fully understand, connect with and love your neighbours – whoever they may be.
Back to Church Sunday
- September 3, 2010
Guest blogger, Bishop Ross Nicholson’ writes,
Good morning all
It’s only a week till Back to Church Sunday (12 September). Thanks to you all for encouraging your folk to be praying about who they will invite. Please encourage them this week to take the most important step of actually asking their friends, relatives and neighbours to come along.
There are some great resources on the Back to Church Sunday website http://www.backtochurchsunday.com.au/
The one which would be particularly useful this week is the ‘Welcoming Audit’ in the ‘For Diocese’ area of the site http://www.backtochurchsunday.com.au/welcome_audit
These suggestions are not only relevant to ‘Back to Church Sunday’ but for every Sunday so it’s definitely worth a visit.
Keep praying that God would do his mighty works throughout our parishes on the 12th of September and following.
+Ross
Has guilt gone out of fashion?
- September 3, 2010
The Weekend Australian carried Piers Paul Read’s article on the apparent absence of guilt from our 21st century consumer society with the heading ‘Has guilt gone out of fashion?’.
Guilt, as all right-minded people know, is the unpleasant feeling that one has done something wrong. The source of this feeling, clearly, is one’s conscience. But how is one’s conscience formed?
Cardinal Newman believed that God wired the human conscience, making right and wrong the same in any time or place. His, however, is now a minority view.Gone, then, from our collective consciousness is not just the vengeful God of the Old Testament, or the gentler but still judgmental Jesus. Now an anarchic libido is all the rage.
So. Go for it! But go for what? What constitutes enjoyment of life? Eating, drinking and making merry? Wine, women and song?Does that mean that our society is guilt-free? Quite the contrary, there is a new list of seven deadly sins - racism, misogyny, homophobia, elitism, smoking, obesity, religious belief. These are the things that induce not just guilt but an inner anxiety that one might be a sinner without knowing it, like the carrier of a disease. …
What is a racist? … Who makes these judgments? Who are the high priests of this new religion? Is The Guardian the Pravda of political correctness? How are we to learn the new rules?
Guilt is still with us but, with moral relativism in the ascendant, there is no Bible or catechism to consult to inform one’s conscience, and no confessional where we can be absolved for the things we have done wrong.
We have cut ourselves adrift from a coherent ethic, whether it is that of Aristotle or Aquinas. We look indulgently on our own individual transgressions, and reserve our feelings of guilt for things that happened in the past for which we were not responsible - slavery, the Holocaust - or for things where our own guilt is infinitesimal, such as poverty in Africa, global warming, the depletion of the world’s resources. We assuage it by buying low-energy lightbulbs and driving hybrid cars. That may save the planet. But will it save our souls?
Read the original article here which appeared in the Daily Mail. I could not find it at the online Weekend Australian magazine. Interestingly the original article was titled ‘What the Mafia and Sex And The City can teach us about guilt’ and the Weekend Australian ‘Has guilt gone out of fashion?‘. In deciding on these titles, I wonder at the cultural analysis done by the sub-editors?
Port Arthur: Isle of the Dead epitaphs
- August 31, 2010
I have an interest in epitaphs. Epitaphs tell us something of the deceased and/or their near family and community.
During last week’s visit to the Port Arthur Historic Site I took time to do the harbour tour and read up on the Isle of the Dead. The Isle of the Dead holds many secrets but some valuable research has been published by Richard Lord and Partners of Taroona Tasmania in ‘Isle of the Dead: Port Arthur – Inscriptions on the headstones and historical background of the cemetery at Port Arthur penal establishment 1830-1877′, 6th edition 2009.
The Revd George Eastman served the penal settlement and Tasman community from 1859 to 1870. One cold and stormy evening he responded to a call to visit a dying convict. Following time and Christian ministry to the dying man he returned home and went to bed already unwell. This was to be his own death bed as he never rose from it again. Within 2 days he had died of pneumonia. Two of our guides commented on his compassion and care for the convicts.
The west side of his raised sandstone vault reads,
SACRED
to the memory of
THE REVD GEORGE EASTMAN.
For 26 Years the faithful Chaplain on Tasman’s Peninsula.
and at other Institutions.
who departed this life
25th April 1870.
Aged 51 years.
(East side)
Long and earnestly the Pastor Labored
to bring souls to CHRIST,
And oft on this Calm Isle, proclaimed
to mourning groups, the Christian’s Cheering
HOPE
THE JOYFUL RESURRECTION MORN
and
GLORIOUS IMMORTALITY.
He being dead yet speaketh HEB. XI.4.
The Revd George Eastman’s life of service both warmed my heart and inspires my ongoing ministry.
His epitaph both records and proclaims his passion for evangelism, his pastoral ministry and the HOPE OF THE JOYFUL RESURRECTION MORN in which he lived and ministered. I want to use my (probably shorter) epitaph to proclaim the resurrected Christ. I thank George Eastman for his example and God for The Revd Eastman’s life.
For further reflection, prayer and work:
- What will I request for my epitaph?
- What epitaph will be given of me by my family / friends / community?
- What epitaph will the Lord of History write of me?
- And you, my friend; what of your epitaph(s)?
See also, Death notices: a place of honouring and proclaiming.
Photo of Revd George Eastman’s tomb courtesy of The Gardens Family website.
Port Arthur: penalise and rehabilitate
- August 30, 2010
We have been spending a few days on the Tasman Peninsula and have visited the Port Arthur historic convict precinct on a number of occasions.
On a site tour our excellent guide, Mark, described the thinking that shaped the convict penal settlement. Jeremy Bentham was the English penal reformer who believed a model penal settlement was ‘a machine for grinding rogues into honest men’. This reformer’s thinking determined five key aspects of penal life:
- classification and separation
- discipline and control/punishment
- architecture and the built environment
- moral formation: religion, education and training
- it’s all about money! (financial resourcing)
I expect these five aspects are still important but the ways in which they are carried out by today’s penal/corrective services differ significantly from those of Port Arthur’s days. See for example, Corrective Services, Tasmania.
At a general level, the issue of restoration/rehabilitation of relationships in all areas of our community life are a vital issue for us in 21st century Australian society.
I have recently attended a PeaceWise course on conflict resolution and for a new reforming model of restorative justice within a school context see, Restorative ways of healing and living healthy relationships. Never forgetting Christ’s offer of forgiveness with God and one another, Healing through forgiveness.
China’s productivity and Christian faith
- August 29, 2010
Here’s a challenge to Christians to live out their discipleship to Jesus Christ in the workplace. A challenge from our Chinese brothers and sisters in Christ.
Weng-Jen Wau believes that by encouraging increasing numbers of his staff to convert to Christianity, his business will prosper.
And he tells me that when staff do convert to Christianity, their attitude towards their work is transformed.
“If you’re a Christian you’re more honest, with a better heart,” he says. “The people who aren’t Christians aren’t responsible. I think it’s very different.
“I’m not saying those people who aren’t Christians are all bad, but from the percentage of the workers who are Christians, they seem to be more responsible.
“Also when they do things wrong, they feel guilty – that’s the difference,” he explains.
Professor Zhuo Xinping, Director of the Institute of World Religions at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, specialises in the study of Christianity’s growing influence in China – and has plenty to say about Wenzhou’s Christian entrepreneurs.
Today (Wenzhou) has an unusually high number of Christians for a Chinese city – with some estimates suggesting Christians now make up 20% of the population.
But what really interests him is the way in which the growth of Christianity and economic prosperity have happened side by side.
“It’s very important to find the secret of social development, the so-called potential forces for a nation,” he says.
“When it comes to Western countries, the majority Chinese understanding is that this potential force is Protestant Christianity.”
Christian faith may sound like an unlikely component in China’s future economic success.
But the notion that newfound faith can inspire a workforce to increased levels of productivity is being taken seriously not only by Christian businessmen, but by China’s Communist – and officially atheist – leaders.
Full article, Christian faith plus Chinese productivity.
See also, Religion in ‘atheist China’?
Refugee Sunday 2010
- August 28, 2010
Some prayers for Refugees and asylum seekers, (more NCCA info page 5 here)
Ever loving God, when we were once distant strangers you proclaimed peace and brought us near. Help us extend your grace and welcome in word and deed to all around us. Help us to live out the values to which you have called us. Let us not be conformed to the world and behave with selfishness or indifference to the needs of others, but follow the way of your Son, who came not to be served, but to serve. Let our lives and words witness to your grace and love that reach out to the last and the least. Amen.
God bless our eyes so that we will recognise injustices. God bless our ears so that we will hear the cry of the stranger. God bless our mouths so that we will speak words of welcome to newcomers. God bless our shoulders so that we will be able to bear the weight of struggling for justice. God bless our hands so that we can work together with all people to establish peace.
Because God’s loving concern and welcome for the stranger and foreigner (alien) are made quite evident in both the Old and New Testaments (see 1 below), The Salvation Army believes that individuals and nations should respond in a compassionate and humane manner to the plight of displaced persons seeking asylum.
Read the full Salvation Army statement on asylum seekers and refugees .
Doctors’ Religion and end-of-life care
- August 27, 2010
Religion may influence doctors’ end-of-life care. Full BBC News article here.
Guidelines stress doctors should discuss treatment with their patients
Doctors with religious beliefs are less likely to take decisions which could hasten the death of those who are terminally ill, a study suggests.
The survey of nearly 4,000 doctors found those with a strong faith were also less likely to discuss end-of-life treatment options with their patient.
The London University research urges greater acknowledgement of how beliefs influence care.
And the Guardian reports on the same research with a somewhat more confrontational heading here, Atheist doctors ‘more likely to hasten death’
Doctors who are atheist or agnostic are twice as likely as those with deeply religious beliefs to take decisions that might shorten a terminally-ill patient’s life, according to research.
See the research article at Journal of Medical Ethics:
Findings Specialists in care of the elderly were somewhat more likely to be Hindu or Muslim than other doctors; palliative care specialists were somewhat more likely to be Christian, religious and ‘white’ than others. Ethnicity was largely unrelated to rates of reporting ethically controversial decisions. Independently of speciality, doctors who described themselves as non-religious were more likely than others to report having given continuous deep sedation until death, having taken decisions they expected or partly intended to end life, and to have discussed these decisions with patients judged to have the capacity to participate in discussions. Speciality was independently related to wide variations in the reporting of decisions taken with some intent to end life, with doctors in ‘other hospital’ specialities being almost 10 times as likely to report this when compared with palliative medicine specialists, regardless of religious faith.
Conclusions Greater acknowledgement of the relationship of doctors’ values with clinical decision-making is advocated.
Acknowledge links via Sydney Anglican Media.
See Is euthanasia a morally acceptable way to ease the suffering of the elderly?
Self-Interest and Marginal seats
- August 24, 2010
The rise of ‘marginal seat’ pork barrelling reduces our care for ALL Australians (let alone refugees and international aid recipients).
The electorate in which I live has become a marginal seat and an anticipated benefit is that Hobart can expect greater attention from politicians in the form of ’sweeteners’. This is actually about buying the goodwill of the voter in marginal seats and so gaining a favourable election outcome. But pork barrelling advantages small sections of Australia at the expense of the national interest. This corrupts the allocation of our scarce national resources.
Of course we express this in polite terms: (eg. from Denison shock looms)
Mr Wilkie said he had sensed many voters felt Denison was being overlooked because it was not a marginal seat.
This is reflected in the Prime Minister’s recent interview when questioned about Labour’s ‘pork barrelling’ of marginal seats, (from Gillard rejects pork barrell suggestion)
“I think the word `corrupt or corruption’ figures in (the Auditor General’s report on a Howard Govt program) somewhere.”
But when asked another question about pork barrelling of marginal seats, Ms Gillard could not resist spruiking a $160 million federal government commitment to build a Townsville ring road in the marginal Queensland electorate of Herbert.
“You may think some of these promises for local communities aren’t important, well excuse me for differing,” she said.
“You couldn’t get a more important piece of economic infrastructure for our mining industry so to take a broad brush view and to say anything that’s been promised locally is just somehow political trickery, I beg to differ.”
Corruption distorts decision making and sacrifices the well being of the many for the well being of the few. In this case ’the few’ are those living in a marginal seat.
Is this Christian? Not likely! Try the tradition of the prophets. Can we identify ourselves in the mirror held up to us by Isaiah 1;23 (Amplified Bible),
23Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves; everyone loves bribes and runs after compensation and rewards. They judge not for the fatherless nor defend them, neither does the cause of the widow come to them [for they delay or turn a deaf ear].
Jesus saw through a lawyer’s attempt to escape the obligations of love of neighbour. The lawyer challenged Jesus with a self-interested question, “Who is my neighbour?”. Jesus responded with the towering challenge of the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) and the scorching, “Go and do likewise.” ie, Go and show mercy to ALL; even those who are not your own people; even those who are not in your own electorate!
A discerning comment on self-interest from former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam:
The punters know that the horse named Morality rarely gets past the post, whereas the nag named Self-Interest always runs a good race.
Jesus said (Mark 10:45),
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Now, there’s the challenge for ALL Australians: to care for the underdog, to love our neighbour, to give rather than to gain. It’s the spirit of ANZAC, it’s the spirit of Christ.
‘Tasmanian Anglican’ – August Issue
- August 23, 2010
The August issue of the Tasmanian Anglican focused on my people@prayer Pilgrimage around Tasmania during the months of June and July.
Wow! What a couple of months it has been. I have enjoyed immensely travelling around this beautiful state of Tasmania, praying with people, praying for people, being prayed for, fellowshipping, swapping stories and eating! …I have been truly blessed and encouraged by the people with whom I have gathered and shared and prayed…Although the Prayer Pilgrimage is over, our pilgrimage as Christians is not over, and being people @ prayer is definitely not over. As I said at Synod, we are Christ’s pilgrim people. What joy! PTL!…Be encouraged, keep the faith, and keep praying.
Also included are some photos of the places I visited, as well as the people I shared with on this journey and their comments.
Thank you for your prayer pilgrimage visit to Edge. It is a wonderful gift to our diocese (and state) for us to meet with you in prayer. We believe the blessings from your desire to gather our communities of faith together in prayer will continue to flow outwards like ripples in a pond. The way you led us all was beautiful and very engaging. – Claremont
Thank you for joining in on our prayer walk recently through the Tamar Valley. We were truly blessed by your companionship, encouragement and prayers and we are eagerly anticipating seeing the fruits of all those prayers made in such joyful hope! – West Tamar
Read the rest of my article here. Read Your thoughts on the Pilgrimage here and here, and read Celebrating the Prayer Pilgrimage here.
The August issue of the Tasmanian Anglican can be read here.