Bishop John

25 February I attended the Annual Meeting for the 2009 year of World Vison Australia. Although it is over used, it has been a truly ‘challenging year’. The full Annual Report and also by sections for convenience can be downloaded from here. The website gives an excellent insight into the diverse ways in which World Vision brings practical love to people in need. See World Vision Home page.  

I liked the clear statement in the section ‘Who we are’,

Our Vision

Our vision for every child, life in all its fullness;

Our prayer for every heart, the will to make it so.

Our Mission

We are a Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation that seeks to transform

the lives of children and communities by tackling the causes of poverty.

We are Christian

 We seek to follow, and are motivated by, Jesus Christ’s identification with the poor, the

powerless, the afflicted, the oppressed, the marginalised; in His special concern for children;

in His respect for the equal dignity of women and men; in His challenge to unjust attitudes

and systems; in His call to share resources with each other; in His love for all people without

discrimination or conditions; in His offer of new life through faith in Him. 

 AND MUCH MORE – please read.

Just in case you didn’t know, we have a March 20 election in Tasmania and it has a Facebook edge to it. Read on,

After promising the requisite clean campaign, Labor posted a web link: liberalsrealchange.com. It looked like a Liberal Party site, but hit the “go” button and up popped: “Will Hodgman’s $2 billion, four-lane Midland’s Highway is a hoax!” And on it went about most everything Hodgman, the leader of the Liberal party, had had to say in his adult life.

The reaction from Liberal and Labor voters was extreme. But rather than pull the link and blame it on overzealous supporters our generation X leader decided to ask his followers on Facebook what he should do.

The idea of a political leader seeking advice from Facebook in the middle of an election campaign when you are meant to be projecting strong leadership was nothing short of bizarre.

The responses were a hoot.

See selected responses and the article Facebook ‘friends’ drop one on Tasmania’s Robin.

While I have no comment on the overall argument of the article, the use of Facebook by our Tasmanian Premier to receive advice shows once again that Tasmania leads the way  🙂 

Question: Is this use of social networking (Facebook) ‘bizarre’ or a good way to receive comment and gauge opinion?

There has been much comment about Tiger Woods’ apology for his adultery: is the apology sincere or hype or hoping to regain sponsors? Whatever your conclusion of his motive, and surely we must be generous in attributing the highest motive – genuine reconciliation, the words of the apology are profound. Note his recognition that temptation lurks so very near and is so very alluring,

I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled. Thanks to money and fame, I didn’t have far — didn’t have to go far to find them.

I was wrong. I was foolish. I don’t get to play by different rules. The same boundaries that apply to everyone apply to me.

These words are particularly apt for reflection at the beginning of Lent.

Lent is a time for review of life, for reflection and examining the inner places of our heart in the day to day struggle to be totally reliant on and committed to God.

The Rector of Devonport noted Tiger Woods’ apology made due to his behaviour and the news of Mary MacKillop’s recognition as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church in commenting insightfully on the significance of the daily decisions made by of each of us. Mary MacKillop, like all of us, was faced by daily decisions about the pathway she would walk. Each decision we make shows something of who we are.

Yesterday’s (Lent 1) Gospel reading from Luke 4 on the temptations of Jesus Christ are set at the beginning of Lent to show us who Jesus is – the promised Messiah who will exercise his Messiahship in complete accord with God’s will. What do Jesus’ responses to these testings demonstrate? – they demonstrate his person: who he is.

And so for us, the decision we take when faced by temptation reflects both the person we are and the person we will become. 

May this Lent be a time of reflection and revision of life in accord with God’s will.

May the Holy Spirit so work within us that we be increasingly transformed into the image of Christ.

(Roman) Catholic priests in Australia are overworked and in increasingly short supply, and this has prompted some dioceses to recruit clergy from overseas. But how ethical is it to take priests from countries such as India, where they may be needed? Is it time for the Church to look at more radical solutions?

 Earlier this year, the Vatican proclaimed June 2009 to June 2010 as a Year for Priests, during which time Catholics are encouraged to remember their priests through prayer, and to reflect on the role and function of the clergy. – David Rutledge (Encounter, ABC Radio National)

The Encounter program reflects on,

 A problem that’s been troubling the Catholic church in the West for some years now: a drastic shortage of priests. Since around the mid-1970s there’s been a marked decline in vocations among young men, and while some say that things are improving, and that the crisis will pass, there’s no doubt that the church in the West currently has an ageing clergy, which is increasingly stressed from overwork and unable to provide the proper pastoral care that the job demands. In Australia, particularly in rural areas, priests often have to cover vast distances, and parishioners miss out on regular mass which for many is the most important aspect of Catholic life.

 Full ABC Radio National Encounter interview with David Rutledge of 17 January 2010 available here.

• In what ways is the supply of Anglican clergy in Australia and in the State of Tasmania similar and dissimilar to the Roman Catholic Church?  
• Should we seek assistance from overseas clergy?
• In what ways can we continue to encourage Anglican lay people to consider ordination?

My thanks go to Geoff Buckman who directed me to this timely book by the late Ray Stedman, What on Earth is Happening? What Jesus Said About the End of the Age. Read his book, here.

Ray’s book focuses on the Olivet discourse from Matthew 24-25, where Jesus tells us about the end of the age. As the Editors so rightly mention, “In light of current events in the Middle East and heightened interest in Bible prophecy…the book has never been more timely and relevant.”

“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come…What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.”  Isaiah 46:9-11

Wouldn’t you like to know the future? If it were possible, wouldn’t you like to lift the curtain of tomorrow and read the future as if it were a history book? Well, there truly is a Book of future history, the Bible…many of its prophecies have already been fulfilled with astounding precision and reliability. The rest are either being fulfilled right now in our newspaper headlines, or they await an inevitable fulfillment in a certain future. The message Jesus delivered from the Mount of Olives … predicted the destruction of the city of Jerusalem (AD 70)… outlined the perils of that period between His first and Second Coming – the age in which we live…He looked past present day to a time called “the end of the age”… His prophecy of the end of the age culminates in His own return to earth and the dawn of a new day.

Once we’ve read the Olivet Prophecy, understood it and know the end of the story, Ray asks, “What will we do about it? What will our response be? There can be only one answer to that question, the same answer that our Lord has given us: Watch! The One Great Word is Watch!”  In Matthew 24 & 25 Jesus emphasises the need to watch. “Watch out that no one deceives you. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”  Ray writes, “Watch out! Be ready! Keep watch! Stand firm to the end!  This is what it means to watch and wait for the Lord’s return.”

MARANATHA! (Come Lord Jesus) 

See also Apocalypse now or 2012 or ?