Bishop John

 

‘Facing the Future: Bishops imagine a different church’, edited by Stephen Hale and Andrew Curnow, is a fascinating collection of articles by 22 bishops of the Anglican Church of Australia shaped around three areas; ‘Facing our current reality; Faces of a new future; and Facing the future’. 

“Facing the Future reflects the theological diversity and geography of this vast country, as well as different understandings about the episcopal role. The bishops who were invited to contribute were asked to be honest, to share their sense of perspective about where they currently are, and their sense of the way forward.

The book does not set out to be a rigorous piece of academic writing, but it does seek to give a significant number involved in the leadership of our church a voice that will give a clear indication of some options of the way forward.

Too often we have tended to make Christiantiy distinctive by separating ourselves from the world, rather than engaging in it. It is all too tempting to become an island in a sea of plurality.
Andrew Curnow

It has been said, rightly, that the church does not have a mission in God’s world. Rather God’s mission has a church in the world. That is to say, God is the God who sends.
Phillip Aspinall

I believe that at present the Spirit is blowing to urge and inspire us to radically change from being ‘Come To’ churches to become ‘Go To’ churches.
Stephen Hale

It is my view that the green shoots of a new passion for mission are emerging. That makes our current era an exciting time to be part of the Anglican Church of Australia.
Geoff Smith”

I was invited to reflect on our Tasmanian experience over the past decade and you will find the chapter which I submitted at ‘A new openness to change’ here.

My draft outline is here. The book details here.

1969 was a quite a year!

What are the special events of 1969 that you recall? The accompanying photograph of ‘Time’ magazine’s cover ‘1969’ highlights some of these special events, and the magazine’s articles are a goldmine of information about the year 1969.

At a personal level, a very special event happened for me in 1969. I was doing my final year engineering design project at Melbourne University when a lecturer set up a television set and we watched the first man walk on the moon. Wow! That was extraordinary. It seemed like technology was going to solve the world’s problems. Engineers would rule the world! But that same year, people of my age were being destroyed by that same technology in a war in Vietnam. I came to realise that technology could be used for great good or for great evil.

The following year, I commenced work as a Chemical Engineer in a petrol refinery and I also commenced a degree in Economics and Political Science at Melbourne University. In part, I commenced this second degree because I wanted to better understand the world of politics and economics that so dominated our society’s major decision making; including decisions about technology being used for good or for evil.

Through my studies I became a minor expert in the economic-political ‘isms’: communism, capitalism, socialism, Marxism. But it was clear that none of these ‘isms’ in themselves, actually worked!

In my third and final year, an extraordinary event happened. Dennis, one of my former tutors in economics invited me to do a Bible study on the life of Jesus Christ! Now that, was unusual. It had never happened to me before! But I was curious. I thought, “Well, I’ve studied mathematics, chemistry, physics, engineering, economics and politics. So why not study the life of Jesus?”

Through my study of Jesus Christ I came to realise that he presented the reason why neither technology nor any of the ‘isms’ were the answer to the world’s problems. Jesus said that the reason for the world’s problems was me! And you! All of us have a basic flaw. This flaw disables us from loving one another and caring for this world in the way that we should. Technically, this flaw is called ‘sin’. Jesus said that I was a lost son, a rebel against God, that every person was a rebel against God, and through this rebellion against God the Creator, the world had become chaotic. Jesus through his life, death and resurrection was calling me to return home to him, to be forgiven and reconciled with my Creator.

After some months of wrestling with the life and ministry of Jesus  and through many discussions with Dennis, I made the decision to become a follower of Jesus Christ. So it was that one evening I knelt by my bed and asked God to forgive me for my rebellion, for leaving him out of my life and asked him to accept me as his child and to give me the strength to follow Jesus all the days of my life.

• Becoming a follower of Jesus has enabled me to understand who I am:

I am a child of God on a pilgrimage of faith in Christ in the midst of a chaotic world.

• Becoming a follower of Jesus has enabled me to understand where I am:

I am in a chaotic and rebellious world, which is yet loved by God who seeks its rescue.

• Becoming a follower of Jesus has enabled me to understand what I am here for:

to love God and to love my neighbour as myself.

• Becoming a follower of Jesus has enabled me to understand where I am going:

I am going to spend eternal life with Jesus Christ and with all those who love him.

In summary, becoming a follower of Jesus makes sense of the world and has given me identity, purpose and hope.

And I just love talking about it! I’m just a beggar who has found bread, found life, and I want others to know where the bread of life can be found.

May the Holy Spirit empower us to follow Jesus all the days of our life.

*Notes for ‘Witness talk’ at an Ultreya meeting of Cursillo, by Bishop John Harrower, Campbell Town, Tasmania, 10 October 2009

Stimulating reflections on a stimulating mission conference from one of our Imagine Project missioners who is leading ‘Connections’ in Somerset. All three of the daily posts are of interest, as well as McLaren on Anglicanism and, as if that was not enough grist for the mill, a list of Will’s conference tweets which he justifies by them being an aid to remembering and communicating! As a ‘non-tweeter’ I wondered, “Was Will [like Joe Hockey] paying sufficient attention to the speakers?” Like Joe, he clearly was! – just read Will’s conference posts. 🙂   The Day 3 post is here and begins,

The third and last day of an excellent conference. There are two reasons to come to a conference – the networking and meeting-of-people, and the content. I have engaged with both reasons this week.

One of the questions on religion and ethics from the students during my “Bishop’s Day” at the Hutchins School concerned my opposition to euthanasia (patient asssisted suicide/medical killing) on the grounds that God gives life and God alone should take life, and yet my support for killing in a ‘just war’.

In responding, I mentioned that the criteria for defining a ‘just war’ and their application to the war in Iraq could be seen in an article that I wrote prior to the outbreak of that war.  Under each of the criteria for defining a ‘just war’ I set out questions that I believed (and still believe) needed to be answered before the proposed war with Iraq could be declared to be a ‘just war’ in which Australia should participate.

See Questions I have about war with Iraq – War: is it necessary? ever moral?

How would you have gone? lists other student questions.

I led a one hour segment of the Parish of Wellspring’s prayer day this morning. My theme was Prayer for the Diocese and missions. The outline of resources for the hour follows. We managed to get a third of the way through. That happens when you try to fit three hours of prayer material into one hour!  

THREE SESSIONS of 20 minutes each

 Each Session to include , 

• Bible readings (Nehemiah to be read and bishop’s reflection; the other readings for personal reflection)
• Music ministry
• Prayer focus is via Diocesan Prayer Diary; days 1-10; 11-20; 21-31 [these include mission agencies]
• Prayer: shared and silence

SESSION ONE – PASSION FOR GOD’S WORLD

“When I heard these words I sat down and wept, and mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven. … O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name.”  Nehemiah 1:4,10

Music: ‘Lift up our heads’,  ‘Open my eyes that I may see’

Nehemiah 1 with a reflection

Psalm 1  and  John 15:12-17 

Our prayer (Diocesan Prayer Diary with Bishop’s updates) and the Pentecost Prayer (see following)

Music: ‘O Lord, you are beautiful’

SESSION TWO – PREPARATION for MINISTRY

“I told them that the hand of my God had been gracious upon me, and also the words that the king had spoken to me. Then they said, “Let us start building!” So they committed themselves to the common good.”  Nehemiah 2:18

Nehemiah 2:1-10 (11-20) with a reflection

Psalm 13  and  John 16:1-16

Our prayer (Diocesan Prayer Diary with Bishop’s updates) and the Pentecost Prayer (see following)

Music: ‘Jesus be the centre’

 SESSION THREE – CELEBRATION OF GOD’S GOODNESS 

“You are the LORD, you alone; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. To all of them you give life, and the host of heaven worships you…and you have fulfilled your promise, for you are righteous.”  Nehemiah 9:6,8

Nehemiah 9:6-8

Psalm 100  and  John 17:1-26  and  Revelation 21:1-5 

Our prayer (Diocesan Prayer Diary with Bishop’s updates) and the Pentecost Prayer (see following)

Music: ‘How great is our God’

 

PRAYER FOR PENTECOST 

God of Comfort and Life,

you sent your Holy Spirit

in wind and fire at Pentecost,

empowering the disciples

to proclaim with boldness

your love in Christ,

giving birth to your church.

 

May the fire of the Spirit

purify our hearts and minds

to show forth the fruit of your Spirit.

 

May the fire of the Spirit

ignite our lives

with zeal for your kingdom.

 

May the fire of the Spirit

provoke in us a passion

to pray and proclaim your love in Christ.

 

May the fire of the Spirit

set our hearts on fire

with love and adoration for you,

our God.      Amen.