A Thought for Thursday - Epiphany 3 - 2024

 

Tain Hill Walk, Tain, Scotland 2019

(Photo krb)

I have been wondering, as I continue to read Brian McLaren's book 'Do I Stay Christian' what it is that I find uncomfortable about it. It isn't an easy book to read. It is the reflections of a progressive evangelical writer on, specifically, American Christianity and the impact of an increasingly extreme conservative political and religious environment and what that means for the wider church and world.

I don't think that so far, I have found anything that he has to say particularly new. The ground has been covered by any number of American religious writers and thinkers. This book, however, was written in the aftermath of the 6 January 2021 attempted insurrection. What appears to have happened was that a mob, which included a significant proportion of extreme right wing conservative Christians, formed the intention to assassinate the then Vice President of the USA.

I think that that is the problem for me. What is it that allows a person to call themselves Christian? I find it very difficult to associate the title Christian with any participants in the events of that day. But, here in Australia there seems to be a growing view among our people and specifically in politics, the church and the media that Christian Orthodoxy is this conservative right wing evangelical system of belief. Certainly, in politics there is a view that if you adhere to a certain set of conservative religious beliefs, you can behave however you wish, and God will still bless you.

Christianity is not, in the end, about subscribing to a particular set of beliefs. Like all other great religions of the world, it is fundamentally about how we live our life, how we relate to the mystery of God and how we relate to our neighbours near and far. Being Christian is about committing ourselves to Jesus' way of self-giving love for all.

Every blessing as you continue on your journey. May God bless you and be your companion on the way.

Peace, justice and blessings to all.

        

A Trifle for Tuesday - Epiphany 3 2024

 

Santorini, Greece, 2010

(Photo krb)

What can we do to make the church better? You would think that it would have been recognized long ago that there is a crisis both of confidence and in numbers participating. Maybe that is just the way things are, that every institution has a life cycle and that this is the end-stage in the life of the church. I would have hoped that it would have been different for the church. It has always been such a central entity in the life of Australian society. Of course, over its 2000-year history there have been many crises through which the church has struggled and it has survived and perhaps emerged stronger and more committed to serving the community. But this feels different. It feels like there is no longer the broad community support and engagement in the church that there once was.

From my point of view, part of the problem is the growing dominance of the most conservative extreme expression of religious thinking which seems only to want to condemn the world rather than engage with it.  It seems strange that the media are so strongly attracted to this extreme viewpoint when it seeks the opinion of 'the church'. It certainly can always be relied upon to provide a divisive point of view which the media seems to thrive upon. I do not share this point of view and nor do I believe do many others.

I would really appreciate any comments anyone would like to make about this. Perhaps a broader perspective would be helpful to me and others who want the church to change in a way that will be more engaging with the world in a positive way - that means without judgement and without an agenda. Perhaps if the church would listen it would be a start.

Every blessing as you continue on your journey. May God bless you and be your companion on the way. Please get in touch any time to say g'day.

Peace, justice and blessings to all.

 

A Moment for Monday - Epiphany 3 - 2024

Dubrovnik Walled Old Town (from 7th C), Croatia 2017

(Photo krb)

I have been asked from time to time over recent years, whether I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. My unequivocal answer each time I have been asked has been 'Yes', but then I have always added that he calls us all to follow in his footsteps risking everything to bring into being God's kingdom on Earth, that mystical Kingdom based on unconditional, unwavering love for all and that in so doing we too will become Children of God.

Every blessing as you continue on your journey. May God bless you and be your companion on the way. Please get in touch with me any time to say g'day.

Peace, justice and blessings to all. 

 

A Flight of Fancy for Friday - Epiphany 2 2024

 The Vltava River, Prague, The Czech Republic. 2007

(Photo krb)

I think that I unwittingly caused a professional who I was speaking with this morning some level of surprise when, in passing, I said that I was agnostic. I noted her surprise so I added that I believed that anyone who thought through the belief structure of the church would arrive at some level of agnosticism. I should have added, for extra clarity, that my agnosticism was in relation to many of the doctrinal issues of the church which had been handed down to us from prescientific times which were still held onto, uncritically, by the church in order maintain the status quo but which make no sense and are absurd in the 21st century.

There are two basic doctrinal issues about which I am either agnostic or which I simply no longer believe because I think that they are absurd in the 21st century. The first is that God is a male being who is separate from us who we address in terms such as 'father'. I see no reason whatsoever for holding onto this long-held doctrine of the church. But it is held on to by the conservative church because it continues to justify its patriarchal structure which allows men to dominate positions of power and authority and women to be 'kept in their place'. 

The second is related. That is what Richard Rohr calls our dualistic way of thinking about God. That is that God is a separate being who lives in a realm separate from humanity somewhere 'up there' who looks down upon us and judges every one of our actions to determine whether we are good or sinful. This leads to a system of reward and punishment in which after our earthly life is finished, the good go to live in heaven while the sinful go to everlasting punishment. To me, this is totally at odds with our best understanding that God is somehow wrapped up with mind-blowing, amazing, unconditional, unstoppable love for everyone and everything. 

To me it is enough to believe that God is mystery.

Every blessing as you continue on your journey. May God bless you and be your companion on the way. Please get in touch with me any time to say g'day.

Peace, justice and blessings to all.

A Thought for Thursday - Epiphany 2 - 2024

Copse at the summit of St Catherines Hill, Winchester, UK 2019

(Photo krb)

 

St Alban's Episcopal Church, El Cajon, California is a community committed to working in the world providing support to the refugee communities that have settled in the San Diago area. I have only recently become aware of this community's excellent work through its prolific use of social media which it uses thoughtfully to engage with the wider world.

Recently it posted a quote which caught my attention. It appeared to be a quote from a recent source because it addressed the difficult situation of church generally in the USA. The quote reads, "Between the Christianity of this Land and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference." It sounds very much like it addresses the problems faced by the American Church today. But then, it was pointed out to me that the quote is from the book, "Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, An American Slave." It was the first of three autobiographies written by Douglass, this in 1845. Hopefully there have been times in the 179 years since this was written that things have been better than this. Certainly, today there is evidence of a church ready to engage with the world for the betterment of both. I think, particularly of the Centre for Action and Meditation and Sojourner and of the work of many individuals and communities.

We look to this year as a year of great possibilities for the Church in Australia and elsewhere.

Every blessing as you continue on your journey. may god bless you and be your companion on the way. please get in touch any time to say g'day.

Peace, justice and blessings to all.

 

A Word for Wednesday - Epiphany 2 - 2024

 

Amsterdam, Netherlands. 2013

(Photo krb)

I am finding that while Brian McLaren doesn't say anything that is particularly new in his critique of the church in "Do I Stay Christian", he does articulate the current problems and frustrations that many of us are feeling about the church, very clearly. We can all identify with what he has to say even though the circumstances of his experience are different from ours. To no small extent we have been impacted by American religious and cultural hegemony in relation to the church in the West. I have no simple explanation for the seemingly recent alignment of my Church with right-wing fundamentalism and political conservatism which has been imposed upon the church in most parts of NSW but more generally across the country. Is it a response to the recent rapid decline in regular church attendance? If so, it would seem somewhat counterproductive.  

I have particularly noted Mclaren's comments about leadership in the context of this current crisis, which I thoroughly endorse. He writes, 'Why can't we Christians admit that we, like everything else in the universe, are in process, and that our religion, like all religions, is constantly, unavoidably changing, for better or worse? Why can't we allow our leaders' job description to evolve from belief police to ... actual leaders who help lead the way? Why can't we admit that we are stuck in an old model of the universe and that it is time to rethink everything?" He goes on to say of the church which adheres to its current model of the universe that, "in its dominant form, it has become conservative, nostalgic, arthritic, cramped, stuck."

The church can be better! .... much, much better! That means that it must stop being the cozy club for those who believe that they are 'saved', a closed community that only accepts people 'like us' and enter that vulnerable space of open community that accepts all people whether they are 'like us' or entirely different from us and genuinely offers a journey, a pilgrimage for all, open to all, a journey towards truth and meaning for all.

Every blessing as you continue on your journey. May God bless you and be your companion on the way.  Please get in touch any time to say g'day.

Peace, justice and blessings to all. 

A Trifle for Tuesday - Epiphany 2 - 2024

 

From Aurlandsfjord near Flam, Norway. 2016

(Photo krb)

How can the Church in Australia claim to be following Jesus if it is not diligently searching for the truth? How can the Church be the Church if it is not seeking a just society for all? How can the Church be the Church which God calls it to be if it is not seeking to break down every barrier that excludes anyone?

Instead of diligently seeking truth and justice in the name of Jesus Christ we have deliberately hung 'Do Not Disturb' notices on the doors of our churches. Instead of serving the poor and the outcast we serve each other tea and cake at morning tea. Instead of providing a radical commentary on our society with its structure based on elitism and power we make ourselves comfortable as nice middle-class communities happy with the status quo.

If you read a Gospel that presents Jesus as a defender of the political and religious elite perhaps you should read a different Gospel one that presents Jesus as the one who turns over the tables in the Temple and dies as a radical reformer.

Every blessing as you continue on your journey. May God bless you and be your companion on the way. Please get in touch with me any time to say g'day.

Peace, justice and blessings to all. 

A Flight of Fancy for Friday - Epiphany 2024

 

London Skyline (A little overcast). 2012

(Photo krb)

Over the past few months I have, on occasion, found myself wondering if I had my time over again would I have sought to be ordained first as a deacon and then as a priest in the Anglican Church, 34 and 32 years ago respectively. The answer is always, of course I would have! It is a 'calling' over which I think I had very little control and I have never regretted it for a moment. There have been many times in which I have realized that the life of a priest and his/her family has not been easy - in fact, if I am honest, that has been the reality most of the time for me. But it has been and continues to be a privilege to travel the journey with an amazing variety of people and I am thankful for that.

But I do feel great concern for all of those who at this moment are struggling with their life in the institutional church and there are many. They are clergy, people who work for the church in various capacities and particularly members of congregations. How the church works - or perhaps doesn't - is changing rapidly. The expectations and level of commitment put on both clergy and people has increased enormously as the church has become both more clergy focused and more conformist in its thinking.  Participation in the life of the church is less about a shared journey toward truth and meaning and more about conforming to particular set of doctrines and a conservative theological and political agenda. 

This is a very large subject brought to mind by beginning to read Brian McLaren's book 'Do I Stay Christian', - not the greatest title, I think, but it is provocative. I would be interested in sharing my reflections on the book and the important issues it raises with any who have read it or are beginning to read it, or with any for whom this is an important issue. Please get in touch by email: krbatterham@gmail.com

Every blessing as you continue on your journey. May God bless you and be your companion on the way. Please get in touch with me any time to say g'day. 

Peace, justice and blessings to all.

A Thought for Thursday - Epiphany 2024

 

Lago Roca, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina 2015

(Photo krb)

One of the greatest pleasures of 2023 was reading 'A Century of Poetry' by one of the outstanding leaders of the Anglican Communion, Rowan Williams, poet, priest and Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012. In that role he had a huge influence of Anglican spirituality throughout the world.  He anchored the unique spirituality of Anglicanism as something to hold onto as the institutional church collapsed from the weight of division and corruption. Those divisions still remain unresolved through the impact of a closed minded politically right wing conservative schismatic group which holds sway in many dioceses in Australia and elsewhere. This leaves little room for the more progressive minded Christian community. 

In this context it has been Williams' writings that have opened up for us new ways of thinking about what it is to be Christian in the 21st century.

In response to the poem, 'Neither' by the great Welsh poet and priest, R S Thomas Williams writes 'God is independent of the Big Bang, yet God is equally within the repeating patterns of the physical world. We are created so as to ask unanswerable questions; we catch a fleeting sight of the reality but it brings us to the limits of what we can say.'

Every blessing as you continue on your journey. May God bless you and be your companion on the way. Please get in touch with me at any time to say g'day.

Peace, justice and blessings to all.

 

A Word for Wednesday - Epiphany 2024

 

The River Cam, Cambridge, England 2019

(Photo krb)

A few years ago, our arrival in London happened to coincide with an event at Southwark Cathedral. The event was a 'Come and Sing' organized by the Friends of Southwark Cathedral and the Royal School of Church Music. We thought that because we would be jet lagged (which we were) we would sit quietly in the audience and enjoy the music. However, one way and another we found ourselves sitting in our appropriate places in the choir music in hand. I think there was probably meant to be a rehearsal, but it seemed as though that hadn't happened. 

When I got my first look at the music, I was very relieved to discover that I knew all of the anthems quite well and was therefore unlikely to embarrass myself. In the few minutes before the music began, I was wondering how it would go. Of course, the English Church coral tradition is lengthy and outstanding, but this was a group of well over 200 singers who had not sung together before. The first piece, "I was Glad," an Anthem by Hubert Parry, begins with 3 chords sung loud (f) and then builds even louder (ff). Those first 3 chords were sung with such perfection and confidence I immediately thought 'this is going to be good', and it was.

As the singing progressed, I felt a great sense of this group of hundreds of people growing together around a single purpose of making good quality music. It was like over that 90-minute period we became a community. It was not the building wonderous though it is or the acoustics which were magnificent. It was a that group of strangers came together without regard for social class, or status or wealth or power and certainly not where we came from. None of these extraneous issues mattered. We came together and worshipped God. 

Every blessing as you continue on your journey. May God bless you and be your companion on the way. Please get in touch with me any time to say g'day.

Peace, justice and blessings to all.

A Trifle for Tuesday - Epiphany 2024

Denali National Park, Alaska, USA. 2009

(Photo krb)

In the final lines of the beautiful, mystical poem, 'The Journey of the Magi', T. S. Elliot writes:

'But no longer at ease, here in the old dispensation,

With an alien people clutching their gods.

I should be glad of another death.'

    (In 'Love is Strong as Death', Poems chosen by Paul Kelly Penguin 2019)

Thus, Elliot describes what happens for us when we encounter the divine, the spiritual, the numinous, God.... In that moment everything changes. We can no longer be satisfied with the ordinary, everyday world around us.  But our encounter with God happens in the ordinary, everyday world if we are open to them. Our encounter with God happens whenever we commit ourselves to following in the footsteps of Jesus of Nazareth.

Once we could have said that it was the primary role of the church to enable our people to recognize the daily opportunities for us to live in the presence of God. You could be forgiven for thinking that that is no longer the case. We should be demanding that the institutional church does much better and seek to be much more the conduit through which the Kingdom of God comes into being in the world.

Every blessing as you continue on your journey. May God bless you as you set out on your daily journey in which you will seek to encounter God - an encounter which will change everything. 

Please get in touch with me any time to say g'day.

Peace, justice and blessings to all. 

  

A Moment for Monday - Epiphany 2024

 

Dubrovnik, Croatia. 2017

(Photo krb)

The Benediction for Epiphany is one of the few pieces of Australian Anglican liturgy that still holds up in the 21st century. Some other sections would still work if it was taken seriously and not just dismissed as something we just have to get through.

The Benediction reads:

'May Christ the Son of God be manifest to you,

that your lives may be a light to the world'

Despite the somewhat archaic language it is still greatly empowering for all who receive it. Sadly, I think, it is probably slipping into disuse as is happening for much good liturgy.

In a world in which the laity, that is all of us, are told, don't rock the boat, don't ask questions, know your place, it is a revelation to discover that we are the people who can and must do everything to change the world for the better. Whether you are a religious person or not we are called on to live a life that lights up the world, that brings light and life into the darkest places of our world. This is a radical call to risk everything to bring, in my language, God's kingdom into being on Earth through unconditional self-giving love for all.

Every blessing as you continue on your journey. May God bless you and be your companion on the way. Please get in touch with me any time to say g'day.

Peace, justice and blessings to all.

A Flight of Fancy for Friday - The 12th Day Of Christmas 2024

River Red Gums, Flinders Ranges National Park, South Australia. 2007

(Photo krb)

Today we end our Christmas journey for another year. The short season of Christmas has come to an end and tomorrow we enter the season of Epiphany. Tomorrow is the day to take down your Christmas decorations and the tree unless, of course, you have already done it. If it was a natural tree perhaps it will become compost in the garden and if it isn't then the task will be to close the branches and try to enclose it in its box. Ours seems to expand with each year. 

I heard, in the period shortly before Christmas the comment, 'I am not ready for Christmas' or 'I have not felt the spirit of Christmas so much this year,' much more often. Our societies attitude to and celebration of Christmas is changing. It has become much more a secular festival, the celebration of which gravitates around families. It is less a religious festival. It is like the church has decided to play down Christmas, to hand it over to the secular and commercial world. It is much easier to take the community on a journey through Advent than to deal effectively with the mythical nature of the Christmas story. It is a lot of work to deal well with Christmas and there is less and less reward for the effort.

But the myths at the basis of the Christmas story are important. They help us to discover our identity and they certainly draw us together as a community. Myth is important to us so long as we don't allow it to become dogma. The great myth that comes through the Christmas story is that God's preference is with the poor and the outcast, the nobodies of our world, not with the rich and the powerful. That myth tells us much about who we are as Christians and who we must be in our relationship with God and the world. It is a hard lesson for the institutional church to promote. Maybe it is just a little too hot to handle.

Every blessing as you continue on your journey. May God bless you and be your companion on the way. Pleases get in touch with me any time to say g'day.  

peace, justice and blessings to all. 

 

A Thought for Thursday - The 11th Day of Christmas 2024

Lake Como from the Funicular at Brunate, Italy 2012

(Photo  krb)

In his book "Do I Stay Christian?: A Guide for the Doubters, the Disappointed and the Disillusioned." Brian D McLaren writes " A growing proportion of smart and honest Christians of each new generation will abandon the sinking ship, just as they have been doing for centuries in Europe and decades in the United States. In the not-too-distant future, Christianity will only exist in those enclaves where authoritarian leaders rule over submissive flocks who enfold their religious lives within the assumptions of the first axial age."

 The decline in the institutional church is evident in the census data which shows that regular attendance at church was stable during the 20th century declining from about 25% of the population at the beginning of the century to about 23% by 1990. Over the next 10 Years church attendance declined by a further 3% to about 20% of the population.  Recent figures, however, show that regular church attendance has declined to between 10% and 8% of the population. Regular attendance at and commitment to a church community is seen as being among a very small minority of the population. I am sure that anyone who has traditionally been involved in the life of the church will be well aware of this drastic decline.

There are a great variety of factors which have brought about this decline. In our Australian experience the main factors have had to do with the higher levels of education giving rise to a better understanding of the world and the empowerment of each new generation to make decisions about life without the influence of others, particularly the institutional church.

The implication of this that seems to escape the leaders of the institutional church is that the people are no longer willing to be told what to think, how to behave or what to pursue in life, by, generally, old men who decide from on high how life is to be lived when they themselves have limited experience of life in the real world.

I have to say though that while there has been a rapid decline in interest in and tolerance of the institutional church, people still show a very great interest in religion and spirituality. I think that McLaren has chosen the wrong subject for his book. Had he instead asked the question "Do I Stay in the Institutional Church?" that would have resonated much more. This is a question that most of us have faced during our lives. It is difficult to see how one can stop being Christian if one has been brought up holding strong Christian values which are part of our worldview and which we seek as best we can to pass on to future generations. 

The only possible future for the institutional church can be if it is able to abandon its seemingly inbuilt notions of superiority and exclusiveness and engages with the world with no agenda except to launch out into the deep by offering place to explore truth and meaning in life in peace and unconditional love.

Every blessing as you continue on your journey. May God bless you and be your companion on the way. Please get in touch any time to say g'day.

Peace, justice and blessings to all.

     

  

 

 church is as much evident 

A Word for Wednesday - 10th Day of Christmas 2024.

Tavurvur, Rabaul, Papua New Guinea. 2014

(Photo krb)

I am finding, later in life, that I am learning a great deal from poetry. I probably didn't have the patience to consider properly what the poet had to say. These days I am being introduced to new ideas, new ways of thinking about the world and life through the poems I am reading and occasionally to old ideas reframed.

During 2023 I read the collection curated by Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury and Poet Priest, "A Century of Poetry", published in 2022 by SPCK. Williams' commentary on the poems that he selected is insightful. His comments also give insights into his thinking about the religious journey.

I also completed the marvellous collection, 'Selected Poems', by the great Welsh Poet Priest, R S Thomas. Thomas was a Welsh Nationalist and non-conformist Anglican Priest.  This collection was republished many times by Penguin but finally in 2004 after Thomas's death. So much of his work resonates with me and many others deeply. I can't recommend these two collections enough.

Recently, I restarted the collection, "Love is Strong as Death" curated by the great Australian singer and song writer Paul Kelly also published by Penguin in 2019. In this collection Kelly has gathered an idiosyncratic collection of poetry without commentary from around the world and over many centuries. It is a brilliant collection that has introduced me to many new poets whose works I had not previously encountered.

The poem which recently stopped me in my tracks was a 1932 poem by the German playwright and poet Bertold Brecht, "In Praise of Doubt".  The poem is a hymn to doubt and in a few short stanzas captures the whole essence of doubt. 

The climactic verse of the poem reads:

'But the most beautiful of all doubts

Is when the downtrodden and despondent

Raise their heads and 

Stop believing in the strength

Of their oppressors.'

We have been taught to believe that doubt is the opposite of faith. I have come to the conclusion that doubt is an integral part of our faith journey. It is right and appropriate for us to test our belief structures against the reality of the world around us. Those who believe that they have all the answers who have no doubts at all - probably most of us at some stage of our lives - are more likely to be committed to an ideology rather than a vibrant faith that is full of doubt but who is committed to following in the footsteps of Jesus of Nazareth.

Every blessing as you continue on your journey. May God bless you and be your companion on the way. Please get in touch any time to say g'day.

Peace, justice and blessings to all.

 

A Trifle for Tuesday - 9th Day of Christmas 2024

 

From Jungfrau (4100m) looking down to Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. 2007

(Photo krb)

Setting out on another year brings reflection, especially so for those of us who are moving into the later stages of life. Many of us are experiencing transitions which come with aging. For some it means facing increasing disability and working out how to live as full a life as possible within the new restrictions we face. For some it is the discovery that decision-making is becoming more difficult without assistance and discovering the level of independence that can be maintained and how and where to obtain just the right level of assistance. For others it is the discovery that independent living, often in the familiar surrounds of the family home, is no longer viable.  It is a complex task discovering what level of supported accommodation is required and how to access it. The ongoing question, in this regard, is when is the right time to access supported accommodation such that our greatest wellbeing is maintained? For all of us there is the day-to-day question about how to maintain a positive attitude to the world amidst the enormous change that we see around us. Let me say that if you are facing any or all of these complex issues you are not alone. It is our common experience as we age.

It is our hope that as we age there is a strong community upon which we can rely for support, beyond our immediate and extended family.   We discover, however, that the more complex society becomes the more difficult it is to maintain community support and isolation becomes widespread as we age. I applaud those countries which have developed Government departments and ministries to deal specifically with and devise programs to combat isolation and loneliness. 

The years I spent in aged care chaplaincy taught me much about life. I certainly confronted my own mortality as do all those who work in this increasingly important sector.  I discovered that the heavy lines that we draw between denominations fade to nothing as we age. I also discovered that as we age, we don't leave Church, Church leaves us. This is not surprising for lots of reasons, the busy life the institutional church, the demise of broad pastoral care programs. All this means that it is so easy to lose track of individuals.  Some church communities are trying to overcome these problems with innovative programs, but resources are scarce. 

Again, we are called to walk the journey with our people in all of their circumstances whoever they are offering nothing but peace and unconditional love.

Every blessing as you continue on your journey. May God bless you and be your companion on the way. Please get in touch with me any time to say g'day.

Peace, justice and blessings to all.