Chapter 20: Focusing on the Needs of Others in Lent

Christian Lenten reflection takes many forms, all of which are active, not passive. Lenten prayer and repentance is not a matter of sitting in our pews and nodding off while the choir sings a beautiful anthem, nor is about the Church praising itself. Christian music should take us beyond petty ambition, it is meant to involve us God's love for humankind and creation to such a degree that we can't wait to go out into the world and put Christ's words into action. 

When we listen with open ears and faith, worship of God that is focused on Christ's Gospel teachings leads us to Christian mission - in spite of inevitable human deficiencies, annoyances, ridiculous mistakes and excesses. God sees far beyond our liturgies, which may be skilled and praiseworthy, but at best can only give us a brief glimpse of God's glory. If we continually close our ears and minds to Christ's urgent message, over-congratulate ourselves on our moral excellence and worship skills, and gorge ourselves with luxurious living while millions starve, there is something badly wrong. 

Lent reminds us that we are fallible and mortal, and that we have a serious, daily obligation to reject personal and communal greed, and share God's generous gifts to the very best of our ability. Conversely, there is no Christian imperative to be so overcome by sin and guilt that we are reduced to silence, shame, starvation and immobility. God loves and values everyone, and when we call upon Christ, God lifts up servants to help those in need.

Opposition to helping and supporting those in need, according to God's will, is rampant in our time. Christ firmly opposed oppression and victimisation of vulnerable people, and taught his followers to do likewise.  Overt or covert subjugation of women and girls – historical, cultural, religious or legislative - was never part of Christ's teachings. Christians are obliged to do everything possible to eradicate practices and prejudices that condone or promote the subjugation of women. A sermon on active Christianity, podcast from Birmingham Cathedral on February 16th, put me on the right path this Lent. Download  the Podcast App and search Birmingham Cathedral sermons to find it.

My 2014 Lenten resolutions are therefore to translate my Christian faith more rigorously into sharing what God has temporarily loaned to me, and to pray for all women involved in Church ministry. This morning I reduced my wardrobe to essentials, washed and ironed the excess, and packed them into my "granny trolley" to donate to the Salvos down the road. Then I called a Church friend, and arranged to share prayer and a sandwich lunch with her. The Church is strengthened and reassured when well intentioned Christians meet to pray together.

May your Lent be filled with healthful prayer, mindful contemplation, and service of others.

Chapter 18: Dr. Sarah Macneil - First Australian Anglican Diocesan Woman Bishop

Today, Saturday March 1st 2014, the Rev. Dr. Sarah Macneil was consecrated the 11th Bishop of Grafton Anglican Diocese at Christ Church Anglican Cathedral Grafton, to loud applause. The Very Reverend Bishop Sarah Macneil is now our fifth Australian Anglican woman bishop, and the first Australian woman elevated to Anglican Diocesan episcopal leadership. Her consecration reflects a forward-looking movement towards cooperative inter-diocesan Anglican ministry that respects the diversity of the Australian Anglican communion. Bishop Macneil was  consecrated by Bishop Stuart Robinson of the Canberra-Goulburn Anglican Diocese, as the official delegate of the Metropolitan Bishop of Sydney, the Very Rev. Glenn Davies. In January 2014 Bishop Davies, speaking at an Anglican Bishops' Convention at Goulburn attended by male and female Anglican Bishops, opened the way to increased communication and collegial ministry cooperation between the Sydney Anglican Diocese and other Anglican Dioceses. 

Bishop Macneil's capable ministry as Dean of St Peter's Anglican Cathedral Adelaide demonstrated her integrity, skill, good judgement and dignity, and following further archdiaconal ministry in the Canberra-Goulburn Diocese she has risen to eminence rapidly. Bishop MacNeil is well capable of applying sound justice and a true sense of Christian values to situations of grave conflict, such as the Grafton Diocese is currently facing.

Rev. Dr. Macneil's consecration places Australia well ahead of the UK in the international Anglican female bishop stakes, despite the fact that Australian Anglican bishops do not currently enjoy "established national Church" status or parliamentary seats. Taking a leaf out of our (de facto if not de jure) disestablished Aussie Anglican book, the UK's tortoise-like waddle towards female Anglican episcopacy may

(according to UK PM David Cameron, as reported in The Telegraph, see

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10462311/Church-of-England-votes-overwhelmingly-for-women-bishops.html)

be shackled to reactive legislation that will deprive the UK's first female Anglican bishops of the House of Lords seats their episcopal brothers have traditionally occupied for centuries. Lest they be made scapegoats of a coincidence, it should be noted that none of the UK Anglican female bishops-in-waiting have been instrumental in the proposed demise of Anglican religious representation in the UK parliament.

Chapter 17: Holy Days and Christmas Holidays

Christmas comes but once a year, with its harvest of goodwill, Church nativity liturgies, charity donations, family and community celebrations, Christmas shopping, and journalistic ruminations about the meaning of it all. In Australia, the land Down Under blessed with unusual inhabitants like the wallaby, that are not mentioned in the Bible, naturally we reshape some Christmas customs and foods to suit our environment.

Since Jesus was born, the way Christians and others speak about his birthday feast, and the twelve days before Epiphany (the visit of the Three Magi to the Christ Child), has been vastly extended to include popular legends, characters and customs, such as Santa, elves, reindeer, decorated Christmas trees, holly, carolling and Advent calendars, and "religion-neutral" terms such as "season's greetings", "summer ( or winter ) vacation", and "Xmas". But however we choose to speak of, or write about Christmas, everyone within cooee of Christmas, even the most determined Scrooge, is somehow caught up in an infectious spirit of playful Christmas bonhomie. For instance, today I heard of a gentleman who, although he boasts to everyone that he does not "do" Christmas, generously treated his neighbour to a magnificent Christmas ham. And at St John's Anglican Church in Launceston, Tasmania (my current family holiday location ), the thoughtfully arranged children's playrooms, and the colorful baskets of hand knitted rugs placed handily near the pews, are also witnesses to the same Christmas spirit.

Besides the Day at the Beach (or Park) for those not exiled to the outback, two memorable Australian popular Christmas customs are the annual Christmas pageant, and the healthily irreverent Christmas pantomime. Both involve rampant imaginary (as well as traditional) characters, and a hilarious running commentary on the events of the past year, always seen through a prism of Christmas goodwill and merriment. In Australia, these annual events (and other regular celebrations) used to loom large in childish imaginations, leaving little room for boredom or mischief, as we were busily occupied with progressive preparation and excited anticipation. The Christmas pageant and pantomime were (and in many Australian towns still are) an Australian version of the old English Church mystery plays and pageants, where comedy, fun and rustic merriment (often at the Church's expense) ruled the roost.

Christmas 2013 has brought us an increased mindfulness of human sadness and suffering, together with a determination to do what we can to oppose and reverse ill-will, and help those in trouble. This Christmas intention for good takes many forms, none of which should be rejected. May our popular and church festivities mirror this determination, reduce human greed to insignificance, and magnify God's glory as best we may in the coming year.

Chapter 16: Advent, the New Year of the Church

Most Australians know about Chinese New Year, Hanukkah, Ramadan and Loy Krathong, but many don't know that the Christian Church has a New Year celebration called Advent Sunday, four weeks before Christmas. In America this post-Thanksgiving feast is well known, and children's Advent Calendars for the countdown to Christmas are common. Advent Calenders (crafty, commercial and often e-calendars these days) have pockets for each day before Christmas, that open to reveal gifts and surprises, including Christian prayers, music and reflections. The Advent season is both a new beginning, and a time for preparation, so we are ready to celebrate the saving presence of Jesus Christ among us. All Christmas customs - decorations, the gift-giving, and family visits -  grew out of Christian gratitude for the birth of one little baby boy who, in the space of his short earthly life, miraculously laid the foundations of an unshakeable faith in God that reformed the values, laws and social structures of the Roman Empire and it's subject peoples.

Chapter 15: Digital Church Boosts, Bloopers and Busts

Australian Churches as a whole seem to fall into two categories at the moment - those that carefully preserve print and real time worship traditions without digital technology, and those that combine print and face to face communication modes with digital equipment of various kinds, in various ways. That said, there are very few Churches in Australia today which do not use digital equipment at all: every Australian church has a digitally produced weekly liturgy booklet cum bulletin, and most Australian clergy and musicians can tell woeful tales of digital sound system misbehaviour. Some flourishing Australian churches now have digital tablet donation systems and worship programs that parishioners can access.

As one of my weekly tasks as a 1960s teenager at St Theodore's Anglican Church (at  Elizabeth South, Adelaide, South Australia) was to type, draw illustrations, and set up the "Parish Pump" carbon stencils on the roneo drum, then print many copies by laboriously turning the roneostat machine handle, I must confess that I thank God for digital technology. However, I do value my carefully preserved copies of the ancient St Theodore's Parish Pump!

Digital Church technology is a fairly recent phenomenon in Australia, where full suites of Church equipment are very expensive to buy, maintain, power, license, and keep connected to the internet. Some of the reluctance of Australian churches to use these new technologies is due to costs, but other factors also influence church decisions. Foremost among these is the idea that digital technology is the exclusive province of the young, a dogma that has been promoted in Australian schools and media. The other conceptual barrier is that digital technology is often believed to be totally incompatible with, and a threat to, the familiar traditions of print, libraries, real time traditional worship, traditional church architecture, and seminar teaching / discussions. Neither of these two assumptions are necessarily true. Digital technology can be adapted to the requirements of any church, and many overseas churches have used it to enhance traditional liturgies, assist elderly parishioners, and establish profitable online mission outreach and sales of local church products.

Negative myths and prejudices about digital technology can and should be challenged, not with the intention of rejecting them utterly, but to point out that it can be of great benefit when used properly, therefore all Christians, whatever their age, have both a right and a duty to familiarize themselves with it as far as they are able, and to use it wisely and moderately to promote the Church and it's mission, while also preserving the treasures of Christian faith and tradition.

Chapter 14 : Where have all the faithful poets gone?

Australian Christians know, and can often recite from memory, lots of beautiful scriptural poetry, including the psalms and the Beatitudes, and countless other well loved texts - but where are the Aussie Christian poets of our era? This is one public arena that Australian Churches have, little by little, deserted, since the 1960s cultural cringe got the better of us. St James Anglican Church, King Street, Sydney, is one of the very few Australian Churches that still make an effort to value, recognise and publish local Australian Christian poetry - see their monthly magazine, Collections, at www.sjks.org.au

Thankfully, Australia has its share of brave social justice poets, such as Bruce Dawe, and the irrepressible Michael Leunig, not forgetting the rising crowd of young hymn-writers. I've just met the enterprising Rev. John Bunyan, who's just published his collection of contemporary sonnets. Attending Aussie poetry performance events and slams can also be an eye-opener. However, overtly Christian poets are barely there, due to supercilious pressure from the Great Unchurched, and a new consciousness that religion is as prone to human error and falsification as any human endeavour, when left unguarded.  

However, a little digging may unearth a new generation of brave Aussie Christian bards. 

Hence my poetic rant below :

Theopoetica

(by Elizabeth Sheppard)

I went to read my poems at a festival, one day,

I milled about with hardy minds intent on speak and say.

Some raged about the status quo, some decorated pages,

A few explored in metaphors, and fame adorned the stages.

I stepped up, page in hand, to spout my lines as well as able;

Poetic censors viewed my rhymes, to gauge their market value.

They scanned my writing, peered at me, tut-tutted, sneered, and quibbled;

"Dear lady, take your scribbles home! No faith's allowed, in Babel!"

I said, "Hang on, your poster said you welcome all and sundry!

God's Word, expressed in rhyme and song, has always fed the hungry!"

They looked again, and said, "Your views are well beyond the pale,

Why can't you just convert to us, and tell a faithless tale?

Pick out a premise, patronize, promote a well-paid fashion!

We don't mind how you put it - just don't mention God, or Mammon!"

I retreated, shocked and sobered by this cynic attitude,

Then reviewed the poems offered by parades of poets new.

Not a skerrick of religion, of God's Word, or truth, or right:

In their place sat King Disorder, with his Jester, Poet Lite!

There were atheistic sonnets and iconoclastic odes,

Wandering agnostic ballads, endless paradigms of woe,

There were formulaic wonders, cybergenerated clones

Of great Shakespeare, and I-sonnets of a narcissistic tone.

In this Godless realm of Babel, where the voice of faith is stilled,

There's a way to save religion, that our ancestors knew well.

With faith, disguised as fiction in a Potter-like abyss,

We revert to allegory, laced with satire, dreams, and myths,

So, as metaphysics comes of age, perambulating far,

And teaches faith in parables, raising the Christmas star,

A greater witness lies in store, in this our cyberspace;

God's love unfurls its flags of faith, victorious over hate.

Chapter 13 : All Hallows Eve, Sydney Bushfires, Women’s Ordination & Christian Spiritual Traditions ...

What a week! Anglican women's ordination passed by the Ballarat Anglican Synod, fires, smoke-filled trains and exhausted homeless people fleeing the Sydney bushfires, noisy Halloween parties around my Western Sydney local area. With much prayer, thankfully I just finished my Spiritual Traditions assignment for St Marks Theological College (it  felt like a major spiritual battle). At 12.00 pm I'll be praying the Midday Office with a friend, for bushfire-affected Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Southern Highlands residents. Lunch to follow ...

P.S. The photo is from St Johns Anglican Cathedral, Fremantle, one of my favourite places, where I read my poetry at "Poetry and the Sacred" in 2008 with the Rev Elizabeth Smith and others.

God bless you, every one! (Tiny Tim, in Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol)