To take our part
Ordinary Sunday 33: 13th November, 2005
Fr John Davis, Vicar of St Peter's, Eastern Hill
It was not the easiest of moments this week to be sitting watching the TV news dealing with the security-related Melbourne arrests and seeing an identified target building looming high through the window, as I saw it on the screen. My Lebanese barber, who has been cutting my hair for the best part of 30 years, has assured me that it has not been an easy week for him either. This man, whose daughter attends an Anglican school, was wondering if it was going to become necessary for him to uproot his family and to take them to Lebanon 'if things went bad' here. I reminded him that we have a popular state premier whose parents were Lebanese.
My friend and his family are Christian. What must our Muslim fellow citizens be feeling? There are ripples of unease moving through this culturally very diverse city. We all need to be encouraging voices of moderation and mutual respect. That can start with a friendly and not hostile glance at the next person we pass by who is wearing distinctive Islamic dress. Those little things make a difference.
But the events of this week have been disturbing to everyone. The raids and arrests in both Sydney and Melbourne, the stand-off in Java, that indicated that many more bombings were in the final stages of planning there, and the awful wedding reception bombings in Jordan have been providing the backdrop for the introduction of comprehensive and controversial new legislation in the Federal Parliament relating to security matters, that are raising questions from many quarters. Where are we heading? How do we respond?
Here in the centre of the city, there is an extra edge to the consideration of these things. This relates to both the general security situation and the particular demands that will come with the Commonwealth Games in March. We are all aware that we ourselves have been asked to consider the appropriate use of the resources that we have, both human and in terms of buildings. The State Government has requested this, through the structures and direction of the Victorian Council of Churches. There is a training day for staff on Tuesday and a further training day for volunteers on the 26th, here at the Parish Hall of St Peter's Eastern Hill. People who have connections with any of our city churches have been invited to participate. Sr Valmai CHN who is our parish volunteer co-ordinator has a list of nearly 40 names of our parishioners who have indicated their willingness to serve in whatever way they can. Thank you for this very significant level of response. More volunteers for that training day are welcome.
Of course we do not know where or when or even if any of things will be needed. Obviously we hope that it will be never, but do any of us really believe that that is so? It would be a total dereliction of responsibility if we had made no effort to prepare or plan against such an eventuality.
The significant thing is that the Christian churches of the city – people and clergy – have been recognised as a significant resource in any response to a large-scale emergency. This is alongside the regular emergency response workers such as police, fire and ambulance, as well as the Red Cross and the food teams of the Salvation Army. Each group will have their role and their place, working in co-operation and under clear authority. A place in the overall State planning of all this for so-called 'community chaplains' and ordinary church-connected people offering basic compassion and care, comfort and assistance while all those others get on with their vital tasks is new. And so will be the restrictions on access to the site of any major emergency for any who do not have a recognised and authorised place in these structures. There may well have been such things in place during the Second World War on the home front, but certainly these measures and it has to be acknowledged these threats, are well outside the experience of most of us. So we are all on a very steep learning curve. Through the VCC, I have been asked to be the ecumenical co-ordinator for the 'community chaplains' for the Melbourne CBD and St Peter's is becoming the meeting place.
I do not think that I am wrong in reflecting that today's gospel lesson of the parable of the talents has something to say and to encourage us in this sad and disturbing context. From those to whom much has been given, much is expected. Even if we were just a handful of elderly retainers on our last gasp, we would recognise that these buildings are a valuable community resource. But this is a lively community of faith made up of a whole range of variously gifted and experienced people of good will. These are talents that are not to be buried!
For 159 years this church has prayed and cared for this city from this Eastern Hill. It has regularly and continually gathered people in from all over the metropolitan area and beyond because it was able to offer something special, something particular and something different. For well over a century therefore that has meant that this city church in the Anglo Catholic tradition has never hesitated to take on the big social and political issues of the day. The Brotherhood of St Laurence was founded from here. The first religious sisters working in the nearby streets and lanes were commissioned from here. Our daily breakfast for the homeless today for anything up to 60 people each day is a living part of that same committed tradition. And the inscription on our wayside crucifix, or the stirring message of the two great transept windows reminds us that this community of faith has not hesitated to respond sacrificially when the wider needs demanded it.
So a call from the wider community for us to take our part in responding to current needs and preparing ourselves and our buildings to be able to offer compassion and care to those around us, as it might be needed, is indeed a call that we can approach in a positive spirit – even as we name our fears and acknowledge our limitations.
In Matthew's gospel, which we have been working through all this year, all these parables, all of this teaching about the nature of the kingdom of heaven has flowed on from the great Sermon on the Mount passages, and above all the Beatitudes. They are the keynote of the teaching that was given; these were to be the defining and recognisable characteristics of the followers of Jesus and the discernable gifts and graces that are theirs. So while there may well be persecution and abuse, and while the poor in spirit may indeed mourn and grieve yet there is the call for us all to be meek and merciful, pure in heart and peacemakers, hungering and thirsting after that which is right. We are assured that God blesses all these. They shall be comforted, satisfied, they shall obtain mercy; they shall be called the children of God. They shall rejoice and be glad and the kingdom of heaven will be theirs. This is both a whole approach to life and a generous understanding of God's approach to us. People whose faith and lives are shaped by this central part of Jesus' teaching, will in turn find their own Christian response to the needs and demands of these present times taking shape.
And we certainly will not be burying whatever we have safely enough in the ground and doing nothing with it. We can do better than that. Much better.
The Lord be with you.
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