sustain:if:able kiwi

partnerships and possibilities

The letter arrived. Marked “personal and confidential” (only to be blogged be me so that the whole world might read), it was to congratulate me on my status.

Senior Lecturer, Flinders University.

This possibility, and the partnership that is signals, was for me one of the intriguing dimensions of the move to Uniting College. The College is part of Adelaide College of Divinity (ACD), alongside Anglican and Catholic church, housed at Brooklyn Park. As a body, the ACD then relates to Flinders University, some 10 kilometres away.  Hence the letter, approving my “status.”

It is an intriguing partnership. Flinders provides access to university libraries, human resource programs and research funding. (Together ACD and the Archaeology School have a dig in Turkey! where they are excavating Colossae!)

The partnerships raise some other intriguing possibilities. For instance,

• teaching, perhaps a course, taught at the University rather than Brooklyn Park campus, on Bible and pop culture or contemporary spiritual search
• chaplaincy linkage, in some shape or form
• research funding. For a time, the Centre for Theology, Science and Culture existed as a research centre at the ACD here at Brooklyn Park. Currently it’s just a sign on a wall and a bank account. But it’s history gives hope, of a genuine public theology, done not from a private ivory tower, but as part of the (funded) flow of university life. Perhaps linked with my research interest, around the everyday narratives of pop and contemporary culture.

indigenous tables and Sarah Coakley’s Power and Submissions

I spent today with the Covenanting Committee. Five “white’s”, five indigenous people’s and me! – the visitor! – sweating under fans on a day forecast to reach 37 degrees.

The Uniting Church has a partnership with the Congress, developed and managed by Indigenous people to provide spiritual, social and economic pathways for Australia’s First People. It is the task of the Covenanting Committee, who met four times a year, to ensure ongoing dialogue between the Uniting Church and the Congress. It was a profound privilege to sit in a church hall, surrounded by indigenous art and simply listen to contemporary struggles. Here are some notes I took:

• don’t forget that equal partnership will require similar resourcing
• the importance of oral tradition
• the systemic damage of memory loss
• the importance of places in which Aboriginal people feel comfortable to go
• “breaking of spirits” caused by ongoing injustice
• the despair at the lack of a treaty as a starting point for relationships between indigenous and colonisers
• the need for non-Aboriginal advocacy, by “white” folk, and thus a key role for the church today
• that the experience of colonisation continues in Australia today
• why can’t there be a real, dinkum, Aussie “fair go” for Aboriginal people
• the hope found in the Biblical narrative – that the earth is the Lord’s (not the coloniser’s), and the curtains/walls that separate can actuallly be turned down
• the need for voice, not just to speak once, but in shaping the process and leading to action
• the need of missional leaders – able to be pastoral, political and prophetic – in all areas – health, housing, schooling, prison, church and community development
• how does self-determination link with needing resources
• why is this Congress church so much more run-down looking than all the other Uniting church buildings I’ve been in?

Needing some processing space, I stopped for a coffee. Needing to read, I pulled out Sarah Coakley’s Powers and Submissions: Spirituality, Philosophy and Gender (Challenges in Contemporary Theology).

What is normally dense theology suddenly became alive. Does Christianity repress people, including indigenous? How might the way of Christ and the relationships of the Trinity help the repressed find voice? I’ll try to blog book notes over the next few days, but today I simply wanted to name the personal vitality present for me today in the table at which I sat and the reading I began.

one work week in

“What will you do today,” was the question asked at the Monday morning breakfast table. New job, empty desk, new possibilities …

So what did I do?

Firstly, teaching preparation. I’m teaching four courses in 2010.

• spirit of wonder – in March there is this wonderful block-course mix of art, worship and input, shaped around topics of creativity, leadership, spirituality and mission. People can come from around Australia and take it as Masters of Ministry unit.

• sociology of ministry – a weekly class that explores the impact of contemporary culture and context for ministry today

• church, ministry, sacraments – another weekly class, applying mission to the task of being church and ministry today.

• missional church leadership – encourages innovation (both inside and outside church walls) among leaders, providing Biblical frameworks, skills and capacities. Lots of support and time to focus on one’s own context.

So, especially with sociology of ministry and church/ministry/sacraments, there is a lot of work to do getting my head around new material, particularly the Australian context and Uniting church values.

Second, leadership stuff – this is a new role, that is keyed into a College that is on a journey of change. I read the following dream statement this week:

Our Uniting Churches are hubs for mission, safe places for spiritual reflection, homes for fresh expressions of faith, learning centres for discipleship and catalysts for growth.

Sounds like Opawa and I’m keen to see this become more and more a reality for all Uniting churches, esp the first (hubs for mission) and third (fresh expressions of faith). I have lots of ideas, but a priority in these days is listening. So the first weeks are about networking, setting up ways to be out and about, listening to people around their mission challenges.

Third, speaking – there have been lots of invitations to speak, including inter-state. If it’s preaching, I have a simple reply: “Love to, but not until we’ve found a church home.” There have been lots of other invites and I’m taking them on a case by case basis.

Fourth, research and writing – this is an important part/carrot of the role. So I’ve been squirrelling myself away in the library, reading and writing. This week it was producing an abstract for the Sarah Coakley symposium, Sydney, July.

So that’s “What I’m doing with my day/week”: In some ways a similar mix to a week in New Zealand – teaching, leading, speaking – but with fewer meetings, leaving more time to research and write. And the change focus is not a church, but a denominational system of churches.

seachange, foreshore and seabed, as a theological category

Earlier in the week I blogged about seachange as a important strand in contemporary Australian identity and the wonderful article by Wendy Snook in Reimaging God and mission, edited by Ross Langmead. As I read, a number of factors were resonating for me and with me.

First, was the importance of the foreshore in Kiwi cultural identity. New Zealand is an island nation. All people that arrive in New Zealand must come by the sea. The recent foreshore and seabed issue simply highlights the importance of the sea for identity, both for Maori and Pakeha (recent developments here). For Maori it is a place of feeding. Equally, Kiwi theologian Neil Darragh writes of the impotance for Pakeha

“the beach, the sea, the sand, not so much as the holiday beaches of sun and sea, but the sand – shifting margin between solidity of land and fluidity of water, a standing-upon, walking-upon, lying-upon margin of sound and touch and taste and smell and sight.” (“The Experience of Being Pakeha,” CIT, Unpublished paper, May 1991.)

In coming to Australia, aware of the symbolic importance of the outback, I feared that this strand of identity might be lost for me. So it was such a joy to see it narrated as essential for Australia.

Second, it resonated with some Biblical work I’ve done around the seashore. In the midst of the foresore and seabed controversy, I began to read the gospels, wondering what Jesus did on the foreshore. What happens when we read looking for change on the beach? Here is some of what I wrote:

Sea(as-a-place-of)change is a recurring motif in the ministry of Jesus, as he engages with human identity, history and relationships. There is a dynamism at work, in which boundaries are challenged, dis-placed, and re-storied. The call narratives (Luke 5:1-11) occur on the seashore and it becomes a place of encounter, call and commitment. On the seashore, Jesus announces the Kingdom, as in the Kingdom parables in Matthew 13, which are placed “by the lake” and Jesus challenges the ethics of Pharisee encounter with anOther.

Above the seabed Jesus miraculously demonstrates his identity as Son of God. The calming of the sea (Matthew 8:23-27) illuminates Jesus as the Lord of Creation. The fear of the disciples, caught without warning in “a furious storm,” is symbolic of the fear of a land-locked nation. In response, the Son of Man turns chaos into order and bring peace by facing the storms that are part of seachange.

In John 21:1-19, the seashore again stands as a place of encounter, call and commitment. This post-resurrection narrative places the disciples doing what they do best, working the seabed, and the foreshore as a place of encounter. Jesus is on the foreshore, where he has lit a fire and is cooking some fish. One might suggest that the narrative theologically places Jesus as exerting his customary fishing rights as Lord of Creation and Chief Fisher of people.

Hence the metaphor of seachange is both a sociological reality shaping identity (Australiasian) and it’s a theological category that invites us to consider life change. It’s also an ethical category, in light of climate change.

seachange and Australian spirituality: updated

(Updated after email conversation with Wendy Snook.)

On Sunday afternoon, our youngest suggested that we think carefully about our church participation in Adelaide. What about inviting people to walk the beach and give them different things to think about and do. Then we could all meet afterward at our house and share together. A creative idea from our youngest.

And then to stumble this week across a fascinating article by Wendy Snook, “The Gospel and Sea Change/Tree Change Cultures,” in Reimagining God and Mission: Perspectives from Australia, 179-198.  The title is a play on the ABC TV programme, Sea Change, in which a high flying city lawyer undergoes a ‘Seachange’ and moves to a smaller beachside community. Snook argues that this migration pattern is a major driver in Australian culture and as such, has considerable implications for mission in Australia.

Sea change and tree change migration is a significant event in Australian spirituality, demography and the Australian landscape. People going through a sea/tree change are searching for major transformation, physically, mentally and spiritually.

She argues for a shift in Australian identity, from outback to out-beach. Australian identity has shifted to the edges and “that here is the place of creativity and potential for individuals and nations.” (Snook, 181). She notes that in the last 35 years more than a million people have left cities for smaller seaside towns. Many are under 40, most are Australian-born Anglo.

She then argues that there are six types of “sea change/tree change” people, resulting in diverse lifestyles. She names the following:

• daily commuters, in which home is a rural fortress from urban stress
• weekend migrants, in which people maintain two homes, “vege” out by the sea over the weekend and take a long time to integrate into the local community
• wealthy alternative lifestylers, perhaps with large investment incomes, with time and who often enter with great gusto in the local community
• service providers, seeking economic opportunities as populations increase. They tend to fit easily into communities although their children often leave for higher education
• retirees on fixed income, often asset rich but cash poor
• lower income welfare recipients and unemployed (including radical alternative lifestylers).

These six groupings have shared concerns, including a concern for the environment a hunger for the natural environment and “often a search for an experienced spirituality” (192).

However, these groupings are also quite diverse and Snook now believes (personal communication) that this has major implications for minister and ministry. These groups can be chalk and cheese and the usual rural pattern of one minister for a number of grouped communities will lead to conflict. What is required is the proactive placement and nurturing of leaders, ideally local, to match the groupings present.

She gave the example of St Georges Uniting Church, in Eden, where careful leadership development has resulted in much innovative life, including the Garden of Eden project. This looks a superb missional long-term experiment in community development, including

• places for organic food growing, bush tucker, and a cob oven
• a semi-Circle Garden with local flowering natives gives a beautiful entrance to the Church and Garden
• a mud brick shed, with our own mud bricks!
• spaces for reflection, meditation and worship
• arts and crafts, such as mosaics, murals and sculptures
• cultural heritage, such as the “Eden Heritage Garden Trail” that links with other gardens in Eden

So, returning to my introduction, my youngest is on to something. Seachange – sea-and-change – is an important strand in Australian spirituality. It will demand though, a careful listening, in order to discern the variety of factors that push and pull people, and to consider how “life, and life to the full” can be nourished.

mate, that church is freezing and boring! australian religious identity

Some fascinating perspectives on Australia and religious identity, from Philip J Hughes, “Religious Trends in Australia,” in Reimagining God and Mission: Perspectives from Australia, 27-43.

While the Pentcostal growth has been significant in relation to the history of religious groups in Australia, the overall growth in relation to the picture of the Australian population is small. Only one percent of the population identify with the Pentecostals. Many people try them for a short while and move on. The Pentecostals are not taking over. They are attracting a small portion of the population, but leave many Australians cold.  Many people are wary of the enthusiasm, commitment and attitudes to authority within Pentecostal churches. (Hughes, 30)

Only two-and-a-half per cent of all Muslims in Australia were born of Australian-born parents … All of these [Islamic] groups will weaken over time. They are struggling to adapt to their new cultural milieu. (Hughes, 33, 34)

The militant forms of secularism and atheism, which show their faces from time to time in the mass media, are rarely found in the younger proportions of the population. (Hughes, 37)

Much has been made of the rise of spirituality in the Australian scene, in contrast to the decline in religiosity. However, the size and importance of this movement has been considerably over-emphasized. The actual proportion … [is] about two-and-a-half percent of the total population … While few are antagonistic to spirituality, for comparatively few Australians it is even on the radar – despite the small and enthusaistic numbers who fill classes in some university courses on it. (Hughes, 36, 37)

In other words, Pentecostalism, Islam, new atheism and the rise of spirituality have been over-hyped.

Q. What is going on?
A. The “whatever” of postmodernity

Since the 1960s and 1970s, there have been huge changes in the nature of culture. Globalisation and the Western emphasis on the individual have contributed to culture becoming more fluid, created by individuals rather than being tied to ethnicity … Most engage with religion if they find it helpful … many are put off religious services because they find them boring and irrelevant. (Hughes, 38, 39)

Hughes also notes the notable absence of the following groups from churches:

• those in non-nuclear family groupings ie de facto, separated, homosexual
• working class ie those whose lives revolve around production, service and skilled trades. “There is very little of what happens in churches which relates to the world in which these people work and earn their living.” (Hughes, 40)

Immediate “missional church” responses as I read Hughes:
1. Offer CHOICE. Multiple pathways including diverse services, block courses, study groups, spirituality days, take home resources.

2. Get rigorously critical of your church services. Take the “Father Bob” test – earthy, humour.  Because we’re boring!

3. Ask each other “So what?” In the “lucky country” how on earth does God/faith/spirituality shape your everyday life? Hughes writes that “The spirit does affect every other dimension of life.” (43). So keep asking each other the “so what” question and then find ways to chatter that in the public domain (video on the internet, postcards, billboards, storytelling in church).

first day at work welcome accessories

So here’s a snapshot of the various “welcome to Uniting” accessories provided by way of welcome. They might even say something about core values and priorities!

• a genuine aussie lunchbox
• worship (not only in book, but CD as well)
• research on leadership development
• academic handbook
• “Theology for pilgrims. Selected theological documents of Uniting Church”

PS The genuine “Taylors Promised land”, local South Australian wine, is missing – CIA – consumed in action

a piece of a puzzle? (or a piece in a puzzle?)

I start a new job today. After 10 days of settling, being with and around the kids as they start school, it’s my turn to pack my play lunch and head off!

I’ve been in quite a few times already – to use the internet, to gain some role clarity, to attend to some admin things and on Friday, for a staff meeting. But today I start.

On the way through Sydney airport I picked up a piece of a puzzle. It reminded me of this prayer that I wove together. It involves holding a jigsaw piece and considering how;

• each is unique and each is different.
• each is essential. Lose one and the jigsaw will never be complete.
• it is actually up to the Jigsaw Maker to put the puzzle together. That’s the Christian hope. Your kingdom come, Your will be done. We’re puzzle pieces and God is at work putting the puzzle together.

I’ve been part of a puzzle at Opawa and in New Zealand and among the Baptist family. Now, in the strange twists and turns of God, I’m in South Australia and among the Uniting family.

Today I’m holding my piece and praying this prayer, slightly adapted, by Nakatenus, 17th century priest).
God of Christ Jesus, the task of loving every neighbour as we love ourselves has become too big for us. The world is now too small, it’s population too large, the burden of its evil and misery too enormous. Therefore we pray to you for common sense. Let each of us be ready to do what can reasonably be done, play our piece in your puzzle, and leave you to put the jigsaw together. Amen.