{"id":13414,"date":"2013-02-28T14:53:54","date_gmt":"2013-02-28T03:53:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=13414"},"modified":"2013-02-28T15:08:42","modified_gmt":"2013-02-28T04:08:42","slug":"farewell-to-russell-morton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2013\/02\/28\/farewell-to-russell-morton\/","title":{"rendered":"Farewell to Russell Morton"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Thanksgiving to God for the life of Russell Morton was held at St David\u2019s Cathedral <\/a>Hobart last Saturday, 23 February 2013.<\/p>\n

Family and friends came from near and far, filling the sunlight Cathedral. The Order of Service had been prepared by Russell and Sue with favourite hymns, Bible readings, prayers and musical items. Their rector, the Revd David Rietveld of Wellspring Anglican Parish, preached and you can find the audio of the sermon, here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Moving eulogies were given by Alastair and Hilary (Russell and Sue\u2019s children), treasured family friend, Prof Alastair Richardson and Vicar General of the Diocese of Tasmania, Bishop Chris Jones. The eulogies in audio are, here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Russell retired in 2011 from his role as Director of Business Services for the Diocese of Tasmania and Bishop Chris Jones\u2019 eulogy reflected on this aspect of Russell\u2019s life and service. Fulfilling Russell\u2019s request, the eulogy included numerous quotes! Bishop Chris\u2019 eulogy follows:<\/p>\n

God has given us Russell<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cGod has given us Russell\u201d is how a conversation started with Bishop John back in 2004.\u00a0 The Registrar at the time, Bill Haas, was going to retire and we needed to plan a recruitment process to replace him.\u00a0 You know the drill: position description, advertisements, applications, interviews and so on.\u00a0 Instead, Bishop John had asked Russell and he said \u201cYes\u201d hence the phrase \u201cGod has given us Russell\u201d.\u00a0 Then there was the small challenge to have the various Councils of the Church approve it.\u00a0 However, that happened quickly as he was known to many of us and we concurred \u201cGod has given us Russell.\u201d<\/p>\n

From 2004 through until his retirement Russell served God through the role of Registrar or should I say, Director of Business Services \u2013 a title that he thought more accurately reflected what the role was.\u00a0 Although I am not sure the full range of functions that he performed are adequately captured in that title.\u00a0 As I reflect on his Diocesan ministry I see three dimensions or aspects of his work.<\/p>\n

The first was clearly as an administrator<\/b>.<\/p>\n

The Director of Business Services is in charge of all the Diocesan property, organizing the various payroll and HR responsibilities, resolving conflicts and generally keeping the ship afloat.\u00a0 But Russell wasn\u2019t happy with the status quo and knew that the Church needed to act in new ways.\u00a0 \u201cLet the flowers bloom\u201d was the instruction from Bishop John and the Diocese sought to be more creative and innovative.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly this presented challenges as Richard Hooker the 16th<\/sup> century Anglican priest was right when he wrote \u201cChange is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.\u201d But Russell was up for it!\u00a0 Whether it was new policies for the Trustees, building extensions, disposals of cemeteries or the development at St James Village Russell threw himself into the task.<\/p>\n

It is possible to get so caught up in the demands of regulations, policies and plans that you forget the people and the need to listen.\u00a0 Russell sought to follow the injunction of Saint Benedict to \u201cListen and attend with the ear of your heart\u201d. This was especially true in relation to the Diocesan response to those sexually abused by church workers.\u00a0 Russell felt the pain and hurt and worked hard to ensure the Church did all it could.<\/p>\n

Administration often equates to meetings.\u00a0 How many of you sat in meetings with Russell?<\/p>\n

How many of you were pleased that his sense of humour could brighten an otherwise dull agenda?<\/p>\n

Russell used humour to lighten the mood and reduce tension.\u00a0 Michael Ramsay, the 100th<\/sup> Archbishop of Canterbury said \u201cUse your sense of humour: laugh about things.\u00a0 Laugh at the absurdities of life; laugh about yourself and about your own absurdity \u2026 You have to be serious, but never be solemn, because if you are solemn about anything, there is a danger of you becoming solemn about yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second dimension was Russell as a teacher<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Alastair (Richardson) has already referred to the time a Caulfield, Hutchins and Murree.\u00a0 But it was not just in the school context that Russell taught. There was also his preaching, small group leadership and mentoring.\u00a0 There was the article he would send you or the book he would recommend to you.<\/p>\n

How many of you learnt something from Russell?<\/p>\n

Hang on! How many of you sometimes heard the Headmaster speaking when he talked to you?<\/p>\n

He took seriously the challenge of life long learning and so when I met with him to talk about a retirement gift from the Trustees he asked that we pay for him to do an AICD, Australian Institute of Company Directors, leadership course that would help him in his CMS Australia role.<\/p>\n

During the last year when I received an email from Russell I would recall the words of John Donne the 17th<\/sup> century English poet priest, \u201cGod employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice.\u201d\u00a0 During his illness Russell continued to teach about God and to learn from God.<\/p>\n

The third dimension was Russell as a missionary<\/b>.<\/p>\n

CMS, the Church Missionary Society, has \u201ca vision of a world that knows Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 Russell and Sue signed up to this vision and served overseas as we have heard.\u00a0 But they also saw the mission field being here in Tasmania.\u00a0 In all the administration and teaching Russell always worked as a missionary seeking to bring about \u201ca world that knows Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 I hope that you have responded generously to the family\u2019s invitation to make a donation to CMS.<\/p>\n

How many of you did Russell pray for and open the scriptures with?<\/p>\n

How many of you had robust theological discussions with him bordering on arguments, perhaps agreeing to disagree?<\/p>\n

Russell was an administrator, teacher and missionary. He undertook these roles with humility<\/b> and integrity<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Russell was at all times honest and open is his approach, always striving to act justly.\u00a0 He tried hard to live by what William Temple, the war-time Archbishop of Canterbury, preached: \u201cHumility does not mean thinking less of yourself than other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts.\u00a0 It means freedom from thinking about yourself one way or the other at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, God had given us Russell and we thank God for that.<\/p>\n

The Lord be with you.\u00a0 And also with you.<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

The family Death Notice concluded with Psalm 73:26:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cMy flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Thanksgiving to God for the life of Russell Morton was held at St David\u2019s Cathedral Hobart last Saturday, 23 February 2013. Family and friends came from near and far, filling the sunlight Cathedral. The Order of Service had been … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13414"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13414"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13442,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13414\/revisions\/13442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}