Synod 2016 Hi-Lights.
Proverbs 8: 22 – 31, 9: 5,6; Colossians 1: 15 – 20; John 1: 1 – 5
Proverbs 8: 22 – 31, 9: 5,6; Colossians 1: 15 – 20; John 1: 1 – 5
“Peter Whitaker, Moderator, appointed by the Presbytery of Port Philip East and I live on Bun Wurrung country.” That’s how we had to introduce ourselves every time we got up to speak in the plenary session of Synod. This year Synod agreed to our Aboriginal brothers and sisters’ request to acknowledge the 1st custodians of the land on which we live. Our Church takes very seriously being an inclusive and multi-cultural church.
Our daily devotions were led insightfully and devotionally by the Rev. Eun-Deok (David) Kim, a Korean minister. Our recognition of our multi-cultural nature as a Church led to all Bible readings being read either in Korean, Samoan, Tongan or Chinese and in one instance a Korean woman read in Spanish. The English translations were on the screen.
Instead of a normal sermon, I thought I would share some of my insights and some of the key issues facing our Uniting Church in Victoria and Tasmania. It was a five-day synod for the states of Vic & Tas and the next one will be in eighteen months’ time.
One of the key marks of the Uniting Church is its stand on Justice. We have a unit called JIM – Justice and International Mission. This is a well-resourced unit within the Synod Office that works to raise awareness and challenge the injustices in our nation and the world. The following resolutions were passed –
urging State Governments to ensure proper support for refugees.
high lighting the issue of Labour Trafficking and exploitation of overseas workers (Tongan workers receiving only $10 per week for fruit picking in Shepparton!).
urging governments to address alcohol related violence and the implementation of the NSW Government’s successful programme in this regard.
to tighten up Payday lending and Lease Contracts for Household goods.
ensuring that Medicare (et.al.) remains under public ownership.
requesting stricter controls on ‘Virtual Currencies’.
calling for a fairer taxation system that assists the most economically vulnerable.
calling on Federal Government to negotiate in good faith the Timor-L’ester Maritime Border dispute.
urging State Governments to ensure proper support for refugees.
high lighting the issue of Labour Trafficking and exploitation of overseas workers (Tongan workers receiving only $10 per week for fruit picking in Shepparton!).
urging governments to address alcohol related violence and the implementation of the NSW Government’s successful programme in this regard.
to tighten up Payday lending and Lease Contracts for Household goods.
ensuring that Medicare (et.al.) remains under public ownership.
requesting stricter controls on ‘Virtual Currencies’.
calling for a fairer taxation system that assists the most economically vulnerable.
calling on Federal Government to negotiate in good faith the Timor-L’ester Maritime Border dispute.
There were many more resolutions passed concerning aged care (UCA AgeWell), membership of committees and organisational structure.
Our main business was the Major Strategic Review (MSR) team’s proposal. Following the debacle of the Acacia College collapse the Synod resolved to undertake a review. A team has been working on this for three years. They produced a seventy-page document, a mission statement with identifiable core values and the process to establish a new structure that would serve the mission statement that reads –
Following Christ, walking together as 1st and 2nd Peoples,
seeking community, compassion and justice for all creation.
At least twelve hours over this 5-day Synod were spent on this matter alone. We met in groups of 12-15 people, in table-groups of 6 – 8, in the plenary session, with a team co-ordinating the responses and refining and defining the content of our discussions. Finally we arrived at a resolution to embark on the action to review our structures in the light of the mission statement and core values. The deadline is 2018. By 2019 we hope to have a balanced budget for Synod and Presbyteries. We should not under estimate the fears and uncertainties of such a resolve. Some positions will go. There will be, hopefully, a major revision of our structures. And the Church stands to be better prepared to handle its current decline in membership and accommodate its smaller membership. In this discussion the concern for a balanced budget was ever present, not that the MSR promoted the changes on financial grounds.
Following Christ, walking together as 1st and 2nd Peoples,
seeking community, compassion and justice for all creation.
At least twelve hours over this 5-day Synod were spent on this matter alone. We met in groups of 12-15 people, in table-groups of 6 – 8, in the plenary session, with a team co-ordinating the responses and refining and defining the content of our discussions. Finally we arrived at a resolution to embark on the action to review our structures in the light of the mission statement and core values. The deadline is 2018. By 2019 we hope to have a balanced budget for Synod and Presbyteries. We should not under estimate the fears and uncertainties of such a resolve. Some positions will go. There will be, hopefully, a major revision of our structures. And the Church stands to be better prepared to handle its current decline in membership and accommodate its smaller membership. In this discussion the concern for a balanced budget was ever present, not that the MSR promoted the changes on financial grounds.
Synod also had a mini lecture on the myth of sexual offenders. We were reminded that 90% of offenders of 6 – 17 year old persons are family members or acquaintances of the victim. That is the victims know their perpetrators. It is not strangers that we must fear mostly but those we know and befriend. The reality of sexual offence against minors is that it has not diminished and is a serious cultural problem still to be resolved. The overall message is that we need to be vigilant – always vigilant.
An observation of mine concerning leadership in the UC, is that there is the number of very able young women in our Synod. And we have a parcel of significant young men offering leadership as well.
The Synod employed a ‘court jester’. The court jester in literature is the one that makes you laugh, but also tells the truth. The court jester tells the truth against our lies, the truth of our vulnerability, the truth of our pain and the truth of our love. Our court-jester was the Irish poet and theologian, Pádraig Ó Tuama a Corrymeela Community leader. Words cannot capture his insights expressed with a strong Irish brogue in poetic form. He lifted our spirits, helped us laugh at ourselves and helped us see ourselves in our pain and struggle with God.
Pádraig led us into silence and silence followed other moments during Synod. They were brief – a minute or two. Silences became very important to the gathering. It made me reflect on our worship and fellowship time on a Sunday. Sometimes the busyness of our Sunday gatherings is like the busyness of our lives. We need to stop and listen. We need to listen to God, others and ourselves. We need silence in our lives.
One of the delights of Synod was the half-hour theological reflection on four of the five days of Synod. Rev. Dr Sally Douglas led this reflection. She was energetic, enthusiastic and a very good communicator. She has recently completed a doctoral thesis on Woman-Wisdom that has been published. She presented her learned insights arguing that Jesus was worshipped as Woman-Wisdom. We read this morning from Proverbs 8 where Wisdom is presented as a female and was present at the beginning of Creation. Wisdom is part of God. We read in our Bible that the character of Wisdom has a strong similarity with the words that describe Jesus. In fact, Jesus is closely associated with Wisdom in some of the extra-canonical literature – the writings that did not get into the OT and NT. There is no time today to present the argument. However Sally made two very important points. Firstly, it is clear that Jesus was seen as divine from the earliest of post-Crucifixion-Resurrection days. Jesus was not seen merely as a man – a great teacher or social justice agent. He was worshipped and seen as a saviour in the same breath, so to speak, as God. The really stunning thing about this is that the first Christians, who were Jews who worshipped only one God, ended up speaking of Jesus and God in the same breath. [See Colossians 1: 15-20; Phil 2: 5 – 11] Secondly, Sally demonstrated quite convincingly that Jesus is seen through the lens of Woman-Wisdom. Sally invited us to reflect on what this might mean for how we see God.
It is true to say that some folk found the teaching so new that they couldn’t make sense of it. It is also true that some simply dismissed it. You know that I have spoken about the ‘femaleness’ of the Holy Spirit. You also know that I am reasonably acquainted with the literature of early Christianity, and some of you have become aware of it in our recent series on NT historical background. And you have seen some of the evidence for the recognition of Jesus as more than a man and as one-with-God.
I want to pause and share an insight I had while Sally was speaking. Early in my ministry at Leighmoor I preached a series on the Prodigal Son. I showed a copy of Rembrandt’s painting of the father receiving his prodigal son. I pointed out that Rembrandt had given the prodigal son’s father one female hand and one male hand. The insight that came to me is that to be fully human we need to incorporate the fullness of femaleness and maleness in our being. Scripture tells us that we have been created in the image of God, but we humans have ‘fallen’ from the image of God. Is it possible then that to be fully human we need to have both femaleness and maleness in our being? I am not speaking of female and male sexuality. Our age has sexualised our being human far too much. I am speaking of femaleness and maleness in the sense of incorporating holistically those characteristics of male and female as protector and nurturer respectively in the one person. It would follow that if Jesus is fully human then he would both be our protector and our nurturer. What I am seeing is that when considering who Jesus is, it is not too difficult to see that he represents our full humanity of both female and male.
In closing I will leave you with a quote from Julian of Norwich. Julian was a 14th Century mystic who wrote on love. Our worship leader, David, used this quote on the last day of Synod.
The greatest honour we can give God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love.
I invite you to reflect on this, or something else the Spirit may be saying to you, for a few moments.
The greatest honour we can give God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love.
I invite you to reflect on this, or something else the Spirit may be saying to you, for a few moments.
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Peter C Whitaker, Leighmoor UC: 12/06/2016
pgwhitaker@tpg.com.au
/ www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au
pgwhitaker@tpg.com.au
/ www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au
