Refugee Mythbusting Animation – GetUp!
- August 22, 2010
- Humane detention
- Transparent, timely and fair processing
- Reasonable access for lawyers, health professionals and other support personnel
- Prompt resettlement on establishment of refugee claims
- Local community acceptance of the facility
- Avoidance of the honey pot syndrome
- Assistance to those whose asylum claims are rejected for safe and well-organised return to country of origin
Pastoral help 4 Election Stress
- August 21, 2010
Suffering with ET (Election Stress)? Feeling anxious as we await the outcome of today’s Australian Federal election? Did you vote correctly? For the right candidate? Who will win? Don’t stress out. Help is at hand. Science shines light on the answer: think about God! Yes, really.
Thinking about God may make you less upset about making errors, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The researchers measured brain waves for a particular kind of distress-response while participants made mistakes on a test. Those who had been prepared with religious thoughts had a less prominent response to mistakes than those who hadn’t.
At the recent PeaceWise training on conflict resolution I had recourse to my memory verses, Proverbs 3:5, 6 - Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. These Bible verses have comforted and enlivened my walk with God when things have been tough. Sounds like trusting in God is helpful to others also. Now, should I be surprised at that?!
“Thinking about religion makes you calm under fire. It makes you less distressed when you’ve made an error,” says Inzlicht. “We think this can help us understand some of the really interesting findings about people who are religious. Although not unequivocal, there is some evidence that religious people live longer and they tend to be happier and healthier.”
Election Stress? – Trust in God.
Full article in Science Daily, Brain Study Shows That Thinking About God Reduces Distress — But Only for Believers
To Serve is to Suffer!?
- August 20, 2010
Ajith Fernando was our guest speaker at CMS Summerview Conference here in Tasmania last year (January 2009]. Ajith is a challenging Christian from Sri Lanka with an often prophetic challenge to the Church. In this article I am personally challenged by -
The Glory of the Gospel – In a world where physical health, appearance, and convenience have gained almost idolatrous prominence, God may be calling Christians to demonstrate the glory of the gospel by being joyful and content while enduring pain and hardship. People who are unfulfilled after pursuing things that do not satisfy may be astonished to see Christians who are joyful and content after depriving themselves for the gospel. This may be a new way to demonstrate the glory of the gospel to this hedonistic culture.
In this article Ajith presents some challenging thoughts:
- If the apostle Paul knew fatigue, anger, and anxiety in his ministry, what makes us think we can avoid them in ours?
- As a leader, I am the bond-servant (doulos) of the people I lead…This means that my schedule is shaped more by their needs that by mine.
- Vocational fulfillment in the kingdom of God has a distinct character, different from vocational fulfillment in society. Jesus said, “My food is to the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”…if we are doing God’s will we are happy and fulfilled.
- The model of Christian leadership is that of the Good Shepherd dying for his sheep, not abandoning them when the situation gets dangerous. When God calls us to serve him, he calls us to come and die for the people we serve. We serve….we help…we labor with them.
- It is wrong if one gets sick from overwork through drivenness and insecurity. But we may have to endure tiredness when we,…are servants of people.
- The New Testament is clear that those who work for Christ will suffer because of their work. Tiredness, stress, and strain may be the cross God calls us to.
Ajith also writes of the Western Church:
I have a great fear for the church. The West is fast becoming an unreached region. The Bible and history show that suffering is an essential ingredient in reaching unreached people. The church in the East is growing, and because of that God’s servants are suffering.
So we need to stop and ponder:
- Are we stressed/burnt out/sick because we are driven to be “all things to all people?”
- Or, are we a “suffering servant for the Lord” due to lifestyle choices that are counter cultural in Australia?
- How do we hold together passionate commitment to growing the kingdom of God and stewardship of our health?
- How do we steward our health from the stresses of having the latest ‘got to haves’ in our society?
Read the rest of Ajith’s article, “To Serve Is to Suffer,” here. The article is from The Global Conversations of ChristianityToday.com.
Read No rest for the holy? as an essential conversation partner to this article.
No rest for the holy?
- August 18, 2010
There is an old saying that “there is no rest for the wicked.” But how about, “there is no rest for the holy?”
God may have rested on the seventh day, but for a growing number of his ministers, there is more work- – and stress- – than ever, and less chance to unwind. This has led to all sorts of health problems among clergy, from a lack of exercise and a rise in obesity to problems of depression and substance abuse and all the many ills of modern life that pastors spend so much time helping their congregants tackle.
David Gibson, Religion Reporter for Politics Daily, tackles this topic in his article No Rest For the Holy: Clergy Burnout a Growing Concern. He raises three concerns:
The congregation’s expectation of ministers. Some congregants have high expectations of the minister. They expect them to always be there when they need them.
There is a deep concern about stress. Rabbis today are expected to be the C.E.O. of the congregation and the spiritual guide, and to never be out of town if somebody dies. And reply instantly to every e-mail. – Rabbi Joel Meyers, former executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly.
The minister’s expectation of the minister. The minister has high expectations of him/herself, but ends up paying the price for this. In trying to be all things to all people they become unhealthy spiritually and physically, and in the end are no longer useful to their Church.
The health of the minister. Ministers often eat on the run and the food is often unhealthy. Functions they attend are likely to have food which is not always healthy, but the minister is expected to eat. Several Methodist preachers in the US told researchers from Duke Clergy Health Initiative “Doughnuts will be the death of me.” [In Tasmania: Curried egg sandwiches!?]
When surveys (in the US) show us that a high percentage of clergy are overweight or obese and that support groups are being set up for clergy who are suicidal, depressed or overwhelmed….that’s a warning sign, we need to respond and we need to act!!
For ministers, the secret is for them to provide balance in their own life by:
- Setting boundaries,
- Taking care of themselves
- Attending to their family
- Sitting down to eat a healthy meal
- Finding time to exercise or relax
- Saying ‘NO’ to some requests
For the congregation, they need to:
- Remember that ministers are not super-human
- Remember that ministers are not available 24/7 and are entitled to dinner time, holidays etc.
- Encourage their ministers to take time off
- Not view everything in the church as the minister’s responsibility
- Provide healthy food at church events
- Support their ministers not only by praying for them, but helping where there is a need.
“Help carry each other’s burdens. In this way you will follow Christ’s teachings.” (GOD’S WORD Translation 1995)
Read the article No Rest For the Holy: Clergy Burnout a Growing Concern. See also Clergy Burn-Out, Helping Ministers and Ministry Burnout Syndrome.
Losing My Religion: Aust Christian Book 2010
- August 16, 2010
The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Australia Inc (SPCKA) recently held the Australian Christian Literature Awards. This is one of the ways SPCKA celebrates and encourages Australian Christian writing. One of the awards, the Australian Christian Book of the Year Award, “recognises a work written by an Australian author and published by an Australian publisher.”
Michael Collie, the Awards Coordinator of Australian Christian Literature Society (An activity of SPCKA), issued the following Press Release (12 August) regarding the 2010 Australian Christian Book of the Year,
The 2010 Australian Christian Literature Awards were announced and presented on 10 August at a gathering of writers, publishers and readers in Melbourne. Losing My Religion (UNSW Press), Tom Frame’s masterful survey of changing religious belief, identity and behaviour in Australia, is the 2010 Australian Christian Book of the Year…The judges’ comments are included in the 2010 Australian Christian Literature Awards Souvenir.
The judges write that Losing My Religion,
…traces the evolution of religion and irreligion in Australia from European settlement to the current day, marshalling statistical and documentary evidence to describe the changes in religious belief, belonging and behaviour. He interacts intelligently and critically with contemporary proponents of unbelief, including Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Phillip Adams…Frame writes with unflinching precision and honesty, listening patiently and carefully to the voices of Australian unbelief, before concluding the book with a moving personal apologia for his own Christian faith. Losing my Religion is a masterful contribution to the current debate, written in a manner that will facilitate conversation between Australian Christians and a society increasingly disengaged from Christian ideas and institutions.
Losing My Religion: Unbelief In Australia by Tom Frame is available from Koorong.
‘Bring me my burqa!’
- August 15, 2010
Article ‘Bring me my burqa!’ with plenty of comments (67 at 15/8) when Michael Jensen calls for burqa wearing to show solidarity with muslim women who wear burqas. Is this a prophetic declaration of freedom for religious expression or an act of ??? As for me: “Count me in, Michael!”
The governments of Europe are attacking the burqa ostensibly because they feel it is an affront to secular liberal values, most especially those to do with women’s rights. They claim that a woman wearing a burqa is not representative of the freedom of women to express themselves as they choose. The double-standards abound, of course: no-one seems to bother asking the woman under the burqa why she is wearing it. Or at least, it is assumed that such a woman does not have an opinion worth hearing, so oppressed by her husband and her culture is she.
It’s an appalling contravention of the allegedly fundamental liberal values of free speech and tolerance. And shows secular liberalism for what it is – a highly ideological agenda whose supposed neutrality is merely a ruse for the achievement of the aims of its proponents. It’s an old style playground bully, but it works by pretending to be the head prefect. The burqa is an easy target – the estimates are that maybe 1900 women wear one in all of France – but the message is clear: the liberal democratic state will not tolerate that which it deems to be ‘religious extremism’, even when it is as harmless as the wearing of a garment.
So why is Fred Nile attempting to ramp up secular feeling against a religious group in order to achieve his ends – which are to secure the Christian character of Australia? This is suicidal, it seems to me. By strengthening the secular hand against religious and cultural freedom of expression in this country, we are only making the possibility that the state may move against its Christian citizens more likely.
So: who will join me in donning a burqa in the name of religious freedom?
See Bring me my burqa! I agree with Michael Jensen that a burqa ban is bad news: Belgium burqa ban is Bad.
Peace, conflict and grace
- August 14, 2010
Next week I will be at St Clement’s, Kingston for Personal Peacemaking training. This training is organised by PeaceWise who offer Christian solutions to conflict. One of the requirements for preparing for this training was to read the book The Peacemaker: A Biblical guide to resolving personal conflict by Ken Sande. I recommend it highly.
Peacemakers are people who breathe grace. They draw continually on the goodness and power of Jesus Christ, and then they bring his love, mercy, forgiveness, strength, and wisdom to the conflicts of daily life.
Ken Sande’s approach to resolving conflict is called the “Four G’s”: Glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31), Get the Log out of your eye (Matthew 7:5), Gently restore (Galatians 6:1), & Go and be reconciled (Matthew 5:24).
He explains that people can look at conflict either as a hazard that will hurt them, an obstacle to be conquered or an opportunity to honor God and benefit others. Ken suggests that conflict is an opportunity and our response should be one of Peace Making. This response is “commanded by God, empowered by the gospel, and directed toward finding just and mutually agreeable solutions to conflict.”
Not everyone will agree with his perspective that even though God does not take pleasure in hurtful events and is not the author of sin,
Yet, for his eternal purposes, he sometimes allows suffering and permits unjust acts by men and women when he decides not to restrain, even though he has the power to do so…Even when sinful and painful things are happening, God is somehow exercising ultimate control and working things out for his good purposes… Knowing that he has personally tailored the events of our lives and is looking out for us at every moment should dramatically affect the way we respond to conflict.
Hence God does not insulate us from suffering, but is with us in our suffering and accomplishes good through it. When we suffer insults, conflicts, hardships – God teaches us we need to rely on Him. When we suffer the consequences of our sins – God teaches us we need to repent. When we go through difficulties – God uses this to conform us to the likeness of Christ.
Ken Sandes concludes the book with a challenge,
Christians are the most forgiven people in the world. Therefore, we should be the most forgiving people in the world…
Jesus tells us we need to love and bless people who resist peacemaking. Non-Christians may see this as conceding defeat, and even naïve, but the apostle Paul tells us that God’s ways are not the world’s ways. Paul understood the transforming power of love that we have through Christ.
I like this approach because it is strongly Christian in grace, forgiveness and peacemaking in the real world of our brokenness. Reminiscent of Restorative ways of healing and living healthy relationships: learning from St Michael’s Collegiate School and my 2010 Easter message: Healing through forgiveness.
Peter Jensen on “Christian vote”
- August 13, 2010
Returning from North West Tasmania last Sunday evening I listened to a very good interview of Peter Jensen, the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, by Monica Attard on the vexed question of the “Christian vote”. The whole interview is well worth listening to. The following excerpt sets out some parameters in Christian reflection on the platforms of the two major parties – but please read this in the larger context of this non-partisan interview
Monica Attard: Robert Forsythe, a senior bishop in Sydney, is quoted as saying that Gillard is a “good model for religious freedom”, who most importantly has a clear belief in right and wrong.
You would agree with that; that she is a good model for religious freedom?
Peter Jensen: Yes. I believe she is, although both parties have a central platform which is attractive to Christians in different ways.
On the left side of politics there is a commitment to community, going back historically, which is very attractive to Christians, and what you may call social justice, though I question the name.
But on the right side there’s a commitment to what you may call individualism, but individual responsibility, taking responsibility for community, that again is attractive to Christians and comes out of a Christian ethos.
Go further on both sides, however; on the further left of the Labor Party you get a commitment which is a bit like the French Revolution. It’s a revolutionary commitment to civil rights, some of which are unattractive to many Christians.
And on the right of the Liberal Party you get a commitment to individual freedom without responsibility, which is unattractive to Christians.
So Christians can quite easily vote across the range and for either party while being very disturbed about any sign on either side that the more – I’ll say extreme views – are gaining prominence.
Audio and Transcript are available at ABC RN ‘Sunday Profile’ with Monica Attard 8 August 2010. Also see, A “Christian vote”?
A “Christian vote”?
- August 12, 2010
Excellent article discusses the principles that characterize a “Christian vote”. In summary:
- A Christian vote is a vote for others. It is basic to the Christian outlook that life is to be devoted to the good of others before ourselves. In the political realm, Christians should use whatever influence they have to contribute to others, to ”consider others better” than themselves.
- The moral health of our community will provide another motivation for the Christian vote.
- Christians will think of promoting the Christian message.
- Christians will mainly have in mind the poor and powerless.
Christians ought to resist the temptation to vote for the party they think will shave more off their tax bill or add a percentage point to gross domestic product. They should be thinking of others. Nothing else can be called a Christian vote.
See, In the political realm, birds of a feather don’t necessarily flock together by John Dickson. Thanks, Russell Morton.
Ramadan 1431/2010 has begun
- August 12, 2010
UNBROKEN cloud and rain last night did not delay Ramadan 1431 in the Islamic calendar for Melbourne’s Muslims today, as hundreds of eagle-eyed Muslims around the country took to good vantage points to spot the crescent moon.
The holy month of fasting begins only after sighting of the new moon is confirmed. In days before mass communication, a cloudy evening would be declared ”a day of doubt” and fasting deferred.
See Crescent moon rises for Muslims to begin fasting (Melbourne) and from Aljazeera, Muslims begin Ramadan observance.
A good explanation of Ramadan includes A Challenge for Christians:
Ramadan is a challenge to Christians. It challenges our lack of discipline, especially in prayer and fasting. It challenges us with the fact that so few Muslims have become followers of Jesus. It is also an extremely strategic time for us as Christians to believe that God would sovereignly reveal Himself to those who do not yet know Him.
Christians pray for Muslims: info 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World using the 30 Days 2010 Prayer Booklet.