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The joy and responsibility of freedom

One of the readings set down for this week focuses our attention on freedom. The apostle Paul writes that we have been set free from a yoke of slavery imposed by the Jewish Law that stipulated tight regulations on many aspects of life. But being set free from these restrictions is not a sign to indulge ourselves. Paradoxically, although the gospel sets us free, we are to live as though we are slaves to other believers, loving them as much as we love ourselves. Similarly in the reading from Luke’s Gospel, our freedom is to follow where Jesus leads us, without making excuses that we have other things that take higher priority.

This freedom to choose how we will spend the hours in our day and how we will interact with others is a blessing that we can easily take for granted. Talking to asylum seekers who are denied this freedom – often for years – makes me much more aware that it is a basic human right that needs to be treasured. Since we enjoy this sort of freedom, the question is how are we using it … to grow God’s kingdom in our midst or to indulge our own desires?

From the Minister, ,

The Uniting Church in Australia celebrates its birthday

This week marks the 42nd anniversary of the formation of the Uniting Church in Australia. To celebrate the occasion we are meeting with our sisters and brothers from nearby Uniting Churches at Billanook College in Mooroolbark (located off Cardigan Road, see map).

Leading up to the time of Union, there was optimism and hope that the coming together of three distinct church denominations might be the start of a larger movement towards union. Hence the name chosen for this newly forming church was the Uniting Church, rather than the United Church as in some other countries. Sadly this vision has not been realised in practice, although there remain good and close relationships with many denominations and indeed other faiths.

Through the last 42 years, the Uniting Church has attempted to walk faithfully and has been at the forefront of seeking reconciliation with the First Peoples of Australia, of recognising the important place of women and lay people in ministry, and in the search for justice and welcome of all people including the LGTBQI+ community. There have been challenges, however, in other aspects of our life together. For instance, many Uniting Church congregations are ageing and have struggled to connect with younger people, and we are still grappling with what it means to be a truly cross cultural church.

Our hope for the future does not lie in our own resources or ingenuity, but rather in Jesus Christ who ‘gives life to the dead and brings into being what otherwise could not exist … and, who, in his own strange way constitutes, rules and renews … his Church’ (Basis of Union paragraph 4). So our real challenge is to discern what God is already doing through Christ in our midst – and in the world – and to have the courage to follow.

From the Minister

What God is like

This Sunday is known as Trinity Sunday and provides us with an opportunity to ponder the nature and mystery of God. It is the only day in the church calendar that is named for and celebrates a doctrine rather than an event in church history. It also harks back to the first few centuries of the Christian movement when there were fierce debates about the nature of Christ and, therefore, the nature of God.

The doctrine itself is reasonably simple, namely that the one and only God exists as three distinct persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The reality that this doctrine points to is beyond our understanding, however, despite many creative attempts of trying to explain it. At the risk of going too far, one implication we may draw from the doctrine of the Trinity is that God is community and values self-giving, loving relationships.

So relationship with God, with one another and with our neighbour lie at the heart of our faith.

From the Minister, , ,

How God is with us

Pentecost in many ways marks the end point of the story arc of Jesus that begins each year in Advent. This story includes the birth, baptism, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus and culminates in Jesus pouring out the Spirit on the new church (Acts 2:33). But Pentecost also marks a new beginning point, enabling God’s purposes through Jesus to extend way beyond Galilee and Jerusalem out into the whole world – through the emerging Christian community. The Spirit will not only guide the footsteps of this community but also be how God is present in and among and through them.

So we celebrate Pentecost as the birth of the Church, a movement that has shaped our world for nearly 2000 years, often for good and sometimes for the worse. An ever present question for us, then, is what is the Spirit calling us to today, in our place and time? How do we continue to build a movement that offers praise to God, generous kindness to our people and yet is outward looking and having the good will of our wider community (as in Acts 2:42-47)?

From the Minister, ,