Victorian Council of Churches

A 24-page reflection booklet on the Assembly theme, “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity”, notes this is the first time “love” has been part of an assembly theme and calls for an “ecumenism of the heart” in a broken world.

“Many people among the churches are urging that our seeking of unity must be not only intellectual, institutional, and formal, but also based on relationship, in common prayer, and, above all, in mutual affection and love,” the text asserts (p. 19).

God’s foremost attitude to the world is love which “more than ideas and ideals, gathers, inspires, and creates unity”. As the language of our faith, love “can actively and prophetically engage the world as we see and experience it today in a way that will make a difference for a shared tomorrow” (p. 20).

“Those who are in Christ, . . . are called to do so in this world, . . . living as a sign and a foretaste of the kingdom to come and making visible the love that fills our hearts with joy, even on the bleakest days” (p. 4).

Churches are called to be a sign of this sacrificial love of Christ. “This witness does not come from human effort alone . . . but is made possible by the love of Christ working in us” (p. 16).

Further, churches are not only witnesses to the world but, as part of the world God has made, “Already, within the church itself, the world is being gathered into unity” (p. 17).

Affirming the need for a “renewed ecumenical movement for the sake of the world”, the text says that churches “are called by the risen Christ to be ‘sent’ into the very public and open spaces of the world, to reframe our corporate sense of what matters, to make idols fall, and to be part of welcoming the kingdom of God in which the poor are blessed and captives set free” (p. 23).

Differing understandings about the nature and mission of the church have been either an overarching or an underlying theme in many ecumenical dialogues over the years, and during the 1970s, the concept of koinonia (communion) has emerged as central to the quest for a common understanding of the church and its visible unity. The term has proved helpful ecumenically, offering a biblical basis for the churches’ search for unity and for their common engagement in service and mission. Dialogue about the reign of God has also affirmed the notion of koinonia as descriptive of the right relationships God wills for the whole of creation. Bringing the two themes together, there is an emerging consensus about the relationship between the church and the reign of God in which the church, precisely as koinonia, is affirmed as a sign, instrument, and foretaste, as a “kind of sacrament” of God’s eschatological reign.

Of particular interest is the third phase of the international Reformed/Roman Catholic dialogue on The Church as Community of Common Witness to the Kingdom of God, which makes use of case studies from Canada, South Africa, and Northern Ireland to explore how the two churches’ actions on behalf of social justice reflect their understandings of the church’s role in relation to the reign of God and what that has to say about the specific ecclesiology of each (nos. 68-123).

Reflecting on the case studies, the dialogue report states: “There is no disagreement between us regarding the basic affirmation that the church is and should be a community of common witness to the kingdom of God.”

Further, “Our common understanding of the kingdom enables us to read together many of the signs of the times” (no. 157).

In the final chapter of their report, members of this dialogue group affirmed the dialogue itself as a form of common witness as well as a challenge to renewal in both churches. They assert, “In a fundamental sense, our dialogue itself is already an act of common witness, a reconciling experience that calls for further reconciliation of memories as obedience leads us to unity in faith and action, to a common witness in which the signs of the Kingdom are shared with the poor” (no. 198).

With its participants coming together from all over the world, this WCC Assembly, too, will provide opportunities for dialogue calling the churches to ever greater fidelity in their common witness to the kingdom of God. 

Download the booklet (PDF) reflecting on the WCc theme.

(from an online article by Sr Dr Donna Geernaert SC)

Theme: Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity

The World Council of Churches (WCC) will hold its 11th General Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany, beginning on Wednesday August 31 to September 8, 2022.

Usually held every eight years, this Assembly comes after a year’s delay because of the COVID pandemic which has taken many lives and highlighted the profound inequalities that exist in contemporary society.

Bringing together more than 4000 participants from all over the world, a WCC Assembly is a special event in the lives of its 350 member churches, ecumenical partners, and other churches.

With a membership including most of the world’s Orthodox churches, scores of Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, and Reformed churches as well as many charismatic, independent, united, and uniting churches, a WCC Assembly is the most diverse Christian gathering of its size in the world.  It is a unique opportunity for the churches to deepen their commitment to visible unity and common witness.

As the highest governing body of the WCC, the General Assembly is the only time when the entire fellowship of member churches comes together in one place for prayer and deliberation. It has the mandate to review programs, issue public statements, and determine the overall policies of the WCC. It also elects the Council’s eight presidents and its 150 member Central Committee to oversee the WCC’s work until its next assembly. Each of the WCC member churches selects its own delegates to the Assembly, with allowance made in the allocation of delegates for balancing of confessional, cultural, and regional representation. In addition to delegates and advisors from member churches, there will also be a number of delegated representatives form associated organizations and from non-member churches like the Catholic Church and Pentecostal churches with whom the WCC is in dialogue. Considerable effort is made to bring together as wide as possible a group of participants, and in recent years extensive programs have been organized for visitors.

Worship and Bible study give the Assembly its spiritual and theological grounding. Small group sessions invite the building of friendships and community across multiple boundaries, and some enjoy the experience of the Assembly as a kind of Christian festival.

The relationship between the Catholic Church and the WCC is monitored by a Joint Working Group (JWG). Established in 1965 to support ongoing dialogue and collaboration, the JWG has an advisory role to its parent bodies, namely the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) and the Assembly of the WCC to which it regularly presents an account of its activities. In this context, the Catholic Church through the PCPCU appoints 12 Catholic theologians as members of the Faith and Order Plenary Commission, and 18 members of the JWG. About 12 experts are invited regularly to different programs of the WCC, and two full-time Catholic staff members are seconded to the WCC office in Geneva. During its second five-year mandate, the JWG studied the possibility of Catholic membership in the WCC. Over the course of this study, the JWG became increasingly aware of disparity between the two bodies, particularly in terms of relative size and differing organizational structures, which would present challenges for both. In 1972, the focus of the JWG shifted from the membership issue to improved collaboration. 

Being together

The WCC describes itself as a fellowship of churches who confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour. Usually seen as a translation of the Greek koinonia, the word fellowship in this description recognizes that the unity in Christ of all who believe in him already exists before any decision to come together. It is a given reality which the WCC member churches are pledged to making visible; they are committed to being together and to staying together. Succinctly stated at the 1991 Canberra Assembly, the unity of the Church is both a gift and a calling. May this assembly with its focus on an ecumenism of the heart be for the churches and the world at large a Gospel witness to the Christian meaning of love and the kind of unity for which Jesus prayed.

(edited from an online article by Sr Dr Donna Geernaert, SC)

The ‘Season of Creation’ theme for 2022 is ‘Listen to the voice of creation‘. ‘Season of Creation’ is the annual Christian celebration of prayer and action for our common home.

This year, more so even than in previous years, the Season of Creation needs to focus on to listening to earth, to the groaning of creation, to the voice of creation. The floods and fires and droughts and earthquakes around the world speak volumes about the environmental crisis.

[There are excellent resources available on the Season of Creation website for congregational worship. The Season of Creation begins on September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation established by Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I in 1989, when he proclaimed September 1 as the Orthodox Day of Prayer for Creation. It ends on October 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of ecology. Congregations can focus on 4 Sundays in September and possibly also the first Sunday in October].

(lyrics here)

In July, Pope Francis defined the Season of Creation as “an opportunity to cultivate our ‘ecological conversion’”, recalling this concept encouraged by St. John Paul II as a response to the ‘ecological catastrophe’ announced by St. Paul VI as early as 1970. In his message for this year’s Season of Creation, he asked “in the name of God” that large extractive corporations “stop destroying forests, wetlands and mountains, stop polluting rivers and seas, stop poisoning people and food.”
(Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudatory Si’ can be found here).

In a recent Sojourners article two questions are posed:
* Can songs about nature contribute to climate activism?
* How can hymns and worship songs respond to the climate crisis?

Debra Rienstra, an English professor at Calvin University and author of Refugia Faith: Seeking Hidden Shelters, Ordinary Wonders, and the Healing of the Earth, said hymns and other worship music may play a role in shaping and deepening our feelings toward God’s natural world.

Rienstra hosts a podcast that explores places of renewal spiritually, biologically, and otherwise. She told Sojourners that spiritual formation includes orthodoxy (right thinking), orthopraxy (right doing), but also orthopathy (right feeling). “Getting people to care about creation might be part of orthopathy“, she said. “Can we shape that pathos toward a renewed love for creation? I hope that answer is yes.”

Maybe the 2022 Season of Creation needs a focus on orthopathy, on a renewed love for creation and therefore the imperative to care for creation.

Richard Lindroth, a forest ecologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and teacher on Christian environmental ethics, wrote that inaction in Christian churches is a result of “long-term estrangement from the natural world.”

Debra Rienstra said there is a “disconnection of place,” which she sees as foundational in colonialism. “The Bible is about Indigenous peoples basically. So, what we need to receive from Indigenous people is connection to place“.

Ron Rienstra, a worship pastor, and co-author with Debra Rienstra of the book, Worship Words, said music as a commodity has tended toward wide appeal, choosing metaphors, but not making them particular to place. “When we sing or speak or argue theologically in abstract ways that are trying to articulate truths for all time, we’re removing ourselves from the time and place that we are. We’re clearly in a particular time that calls for us to sing, preach, and pray about what’s going on in the world in regard to climate change.”

Richard Lindroth notes, “We instinctively care for the things we love, and we love the things to which we are intimately connected. Creation connection is a fundamental and necessary antecedent to creation care.”

While Christian environmental ethicists in the past focused on “stewardship” or “creation care” – a theology of right thinking – it hasn’t motivated the church to do much. Ron thinks that is because “the whole conversation takes place under the umbrella of duty or obligation. That’s a very short-term motivator for most people. Connecting to and loving creation is the key to unlock people to actually do things“.

August Focus:

Abolish the ‘Fast Track’ Assessment Process for refugees

Introduced in 2013 by the Coalition to assess protection claims more quickly, ‘Fast Track Processing’ was implemented by changes to the Migration Act 1958. (Maritime Powers Amendment: Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload Act 2014).

‘Fast track’ replaced the Refugee Review Tribunal, an independent merits review system, with a new body, called the Immigration Assessment Authority (IAA) that no longer heard directly from people claiming asylum, but was generally restricted to information from the Department of Immigration.

Despite its claims of rapid assessment, review and removal, many people are still waiting for a decision on their claims. ‘Fast track’ is not fast! As of December 2021, 31,122 people were classified as being in the Legacy Caseload. Most of these people have been subject to ‘Fast Track’.

Everyone who arrived by boat and sought asylum between August 2012 and January 2014, and also refugees who are reapplying for Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs) and Safe Haven Enterprise Visas (SHEVs), are subject to Fast Track Assessment and Removal Processes.

You might consider writing a letter/email as part of a campaign to abolish the ‘Fast Track Assessment Process.

All resources for letter writing here.

Other helpful resources

Kaldor Centre on Fast Track determination

Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) fast tracking statistics

The Guardian – fast track assessment fundamentally unfair to refugees

Refugee Research online: Trauma, mental health and the fast track assessment caseload

Today is 6 months since the invasion of Ukraine.

It is also Independence Day in Ukraine, in commemoration of the Declaration of Independence of 1991. But public celebrations in Ukraine are banned.

Since the invasion began in February, Russia has occupied 13% more of the country. Ukraine’s economy has been strangulated. Invading soldiers have taken Europe’s largest nuclear plant hostage. Houses, hospitals, schools and other infrastructure have been damaged or destroyed. Damage is calculated to be hundreds of billions of dollars. Food production has been disrupted as there’s evidence landmines have been placed to contaminate agricultural areas, and Ukrainian grain harvests have been stolen and even set on fire.

The political history between Ukraine and Russia is complex.

The human cost is tragic.

Tens of thousands have been killed. Invading soldiers have committed unspeakable war crimes and thousands of Ukrainian children have been forcibly relocated to Russia. One-third of Ukrainians have left their homes, sparking the largest refugee crisis since World War II. More than nine million people – around a quarter of the country’s population – have had to seek refuge abroad. Some 7 million people have been displaced internally* within Ukraine and some 13 million people are estimated to be stranded in affected areas or unable to leave due to heightened security risks, destruction of bridges and roads, as well as lack of resources or information on where to find safety and accommodation. (*Internally Displaced People – IDP)

Gendered impacts of the war are another concern. As most of those fleeing Ukraine are women and children, there are numerous further issues affecting them, including: a fear of sexual violence, worry for husbands and sons left behind, lack of access to sexual and reproductive health, vulnerability to trafficking, and loss of livelihoods.

Since February 2022, Australia has granted more than 8,500 visas to Ukrainians. According to The Australian newspaper, around 4,100 of these people have accepted the offer and are now in the country. Under the visa program, displaced Ukrainians can work, study, and access Medicare. The special visa program ended on 31 July. Displaced Ukrainians who missed the deadline will be able to reside in Australia on tourist visas, with no ability to work or access to Medicare.

Practical, pastoral and prayerful support is needed in response to this unfolding tragedy, including for Ukrainian refugees in Australia.

A prayer for peace
God of all peoples and nations,
Who created all things alive and breathing,
United and whole,
Show us the way of peace that is Your overwhelming presence.
We hold before you the peoples of Ukraine and Russia,
Every child and every adult.
We long for the time
When weapons of war are beaten into ploughshares
When nations no longer lift up sword against nation.
We cry out to you for peace;
Protect those who only desire and deserve to live
in security and safety
Comfort those who fear for their lives
and the lives of their loved ones
Be with those who are bereaved.
Change the hearts of those set on violence and aggression
And fill leaders with the wisdom that leads to peace.
Kindle again in us a love of our neighbour,
And a passion for justice to prevail
and a renewed recognition that we all play a part in peace.
Creator of all hear our prayer
And bring us peace. Make us whole. Amen
(Source: Christian Aid)

World Premiere of new film, ‘Mariupol. Unlost Hope’
27th August, 6.30-7.30pm
Venue: Ukrainian Community Centre, Essendon
3-11 Russell St, Essendon
This world premiere of the film will be in Essendon and will also be shown in many cities around the world. This is the story of five citizens, who lived in Mariupol for the first month of the war. They will tell what they saw, how they felt, and how they made decisions during the war. The film is shown with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the “Malvy” branch of the Ukrainian Women’s Association in Victoria.

References
The Conversation
Association of Ukrainians in Victoria
Ukrainians in Melbourne – Help and Support (Facebook group)
Conflict at the Crossroads

Reflecting on Luke 14:1,7-14

A somewhat surprising contemporary example of people with wealth, power, status and privilege would be ‘influencers’ – people who use social media platforms like ‘instagram’ and ‘TikTok’ to post short videos that go viral, which gains them a considerable following online. In turn, this enables them to gain ‘celebrity’ status, and then they are able to ‘monetise’ their fame.

A 2020 Forbes article, TikTok’s 7 Highest Earning Stars detailed how influencers can make ‘serious money’ ($1 million +). Plenty of people getting into this game, including Australian Harrison Pawluk. Below are two of his videos.

‘Old woman sitting in a food court on her own‘ (TikTok)
A Melbourne woman said she feels like clickbait after she was filmed without her consent receiving flowers from a stranger for a TikTok video that has now been viewed more than 57 million times.
She was objectified as an older woman, with the patronising assumption that women sitting alone are lonely, and that they will be thrilled by some random stranger giving them flowers.

In another stunt, the TikTok ‘influencer’ paid for groceries for a shopper and uploaded the video – for the purpose of self-promotion.

It does seem disingenuous to watch a TikToker use someone else’s weekly grocery shop as a mechanism to propel themselves to viral stardom.

In his defence, Pawluk said he had been inspired to “concentrate on random acts of kindness after witnessing the extent of the poverty and homelessness in LA”. But his simple acts of charity and kindness use and objectify others to add to his fame and fortune. And how much good he might do to give money to those really doing it tough, without needing to film the evidence of his generosity.

There are incredible acts of selfless compassion and kindness that happen in and through church and charity groups. Mostly the people will remain unknown to those they are called to serve.

Even singer Jon Bon Jovi ‘gets’ the idea of sacrificial giving, care and compassion – behind the scenes. He has set up 3 JBJ Soul Kitchens to feed those who are struggling. He himself washes dishes behind the scenes, and helps prepare and serve the food.
(Plenty of celebrities also give generously to the poor and needy without needing public recognition).

Closer to home, many of our churches, working in collaboration with community groups, host soup kitchens, manage night shelters, staff cafes set up to welcome people, support for refugees and asylum seekers, and so much more. It is stunning work!

Highlighting today the work of Olive Way at Brunswick Uniting Church as an example of happens in many other places too where food is provided to the disadvantaged. Facebook page here.

Jesus speaks about the coming reign of God which begins in the present, with a reversal of values and status, where the last will be first and the first last. The followers of Jesus will follow his example (Philippians 2:1-7), and will begin to rehearse humility and self-effacement rather than seeking honour or climbing the social ladder.

Reading: Philippians 2:1-7
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

Bruce Henry was appointed Presiding Clerk for Quakers Australia (Religious Society of Friends) at the Yearly Meeting in July 2o22. He is currently in Melbourne and will be a guest of the Victorian Church Leaders Network when it meets on 16th August.

He is the signatory on an important public statement from the Climate Emergency and Species Extinction Working Group of Australia Yearly Meeting:

Quakers in Australia call for sustained action in all areas of human activity to transform the root causes of environmental destruction and climate change to create afairer, healthier and more equal society. We continue to be deeply concerned about the slow progress towards climate justice both in Australia and other countries.

Australian Quakers believe we must consider the world as an en-Spirited whole, to accept no boundary to repairing and sustaining the Earth for the future, and to appreciate more deeply the creative energy in all living things and life processes. We seek to mend what has been hurt, and to strengthen our courage to discern and bear witness to this spiritual care for the Earth.

We call on the new Australian Government to carefully consider the voice of Australian people who have so clearly expressed similar impatience with Australia’s response so far. That voice has heard the authoritative warnings from climate scientists, emergency response leaders and many others with expertise in disaster relief following fire, flood and crop failure. Many Australians understand the existential nature of the climate emergency and the ominous implications of continueddecline in our biodiversity and unique natural ecosystems. But others feel threatened and are worried by the changes required of them, in addition to those now suffering enormously from the effects of the climate crisis. They need our love, support and government assistance during the difficult years of transition that lie ahead.

Australian Quakers share the concerns of many people worldwide that yearn for global peace and justice. We endorse the statement by our Quaker representatives at the United Nations who say to the international community: “Our human existence is dependent on the health of the planet. Yet we exploit nature and human beings for profit over wellbeing, resulting in environmental crises that threaten the survival of our and other species. We can heal these relationships and protect future generations.

The Earth is our spaceship; its natural resources are limited. Unsustainable and unjust economic approaches are driving environmental crises, including climate change. The “global economy is almost five times the size it was half a century agoand has already been accompanied by the degradation of an estimated 60% of the world’s ecosystems.”

In this part of the world we must heed the voices of our Pacific Island neighbours andothers in the region who are already bearing the burden of rising sea-levels, growing salination of land, and cry out for help. Our neighbours did not cause the climate crisis but are suffering its consequences. As good neighbours we must respond by playing our full part in addressing the causes of climate change and in helping communities mitigate its impacts.

We grieve with those who are so saddened and concerned about the world they currently live in or will inherit that they feel driven to take direct action. We must find ways to hear their voices, and not ignore their cries for help and more urgent action. Quakers recognise the climate emergency is more than physics and chemistry.It is about humanity recognising the value of being guided by the interdependent values of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, community and earthcare.

Adopted 9 July 2022 at Yearly Meeting 2022