The Holy Spirit moves the church towards a new vision
A message from the Presidents of the World Council of Churches for Pentecost 2022.
A symbol of the trinity, cross and resurrection decorates the pulpit in the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, March 2020, Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC
As these days of Pentecost arrive, we recall the commitment of the church to bring good news to those who suffer the most from armed conflicts, from the harmful effects of economic ambition throughout this time of pandemic, and from the devastating damages that we have caused the planet.
Acts 1 and 2 relate that, in Jerusalem, the apostles received the promise of the power to witness and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit to bring the good news to all ends of the earth. It is not until Act 8 that these geographical advances in evangelisation are reported: not through the mouths of the apostles but instead though Philip, a deacon. This happens as a consequence of the persecution against the church.
In the Acts, the Holy Spirit brings new gifts, new ways to evangelise, new places to reach, new ways to live life, and pathways to reach those who have been discriminated against; it takes lives lived in the service of persecution and death and transforms them into lives in the service of Christ’s name and his good news; it gives power to confront political, military, and economic powers. The church understood the need to build safe spaces and thus save lives.
We pray that the impetus of this Spirit continue to move us in that direction. That it keeps putting words of eternal life into the mouth of the church. That its creativity is manifested through its unexpected actions and that, through its breath of life, take us wherever it wishes.
Guided by the One Lord “Ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising.”(Matthew 2:9)
Scripture
Revelation 22:5-9, For the Lord God will be their light.
Matthew 2:7-10, Ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising.
Meditation
Again and again the scriptures tell us how the Lord God walks with God’s people, protects them, and watches over them day and night. In all our journeying through life, we can be confident that God, who neither “sleeps nor slumbers”, protects us lest our feet slip and we fall.
Even in the greatest darkness, Christ is the guiding light for all nations, the glory of God in the world, the source of divine life, sealing a new covenant in his blood.
The way ahead into unity with one another, and so into closer union with Christ, is not always clear. In our earnest attempts to build unity ourselves, it is all too easy to lose sight of this fundamental message of the scriptures: God does not abandon God’s people even in their failures and divisiveness. As the story of the Magi re- minds us, God guides people of all kinds, with the light of the star, to where Christ, the light of the world, is to be found.
God sends the Holy Spirit whose light enables us to see with the eyes of faith the truth of the divine Child, and the call to unity and reconciliation of all things in him. It is this Spirit that leads us from dark- ness and tragedy into Christ’s light and life.
Prayer
O Lord God our Father, increase our hope in you and let us know at all times that you are walking with us, watching over your people. Open our eyes to your Spirit, and encourage us in our faith, so that we may confess that Jesus is Lord, and worship and rejoice in him as the Magi did in Bethlehem. We ask you these blessings in the name of your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.
Labor’s election win sees a return of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) to the control of the party that first passed legislation for it. Bill Shorten’s appointment as NDIS Minister makes him responsible for the scheme he championed and helped establish.
The NDIS is an incredibly important source of support for people with disability but in recent years a large gap has opened between those who make it on to the scheme and those who don’t. Of the 4.4 million Australians with disability, only around 12% are eligible for the NDIS. Many participants reported significant cuts to their budgets, forcing them to miss out on essential supports and their family members to give up work. Many people with disability are left with no services at all and incur significant out-of-pocket expenses to pay for supports such as allied health.
(Related article here: The NDIS crisis – what’s needed is more autonomy for people with disability).
Churches have been very responsive to disability and inclusion. Here are some examples:
From the Catholic Church on disability and inclusivity Jesus deeply loves each one of us. Each and every one of us is a unique and unrepeatable child of God. Nothing we ‘do’ or ‘achieve’, gives us this dignity and worth. It is part of who we are and how we have been created. The understanding that every life is precious and sacred – that each person is made in the ‘image of God’ and has inherent worth and dignity – is central to our faith.
The Church seeks to welcome all people into a rich, meaningful experience of the Christian life, regardless of any physical abilities. We are committed to working towards a more just society, in which people with disabilities are free to make their own decisions about their own needs, and where their unique contributions to the life of the community are valued and respected.
In this spirit, the Church seeks to make the sacraments accessible to people with disabilities and to ensure the process of Christian initiation is appropriate to their needs and circumstances. Recent Church guidelines affirm that ‘People with disabilities are called to the fullness of sacramental life … The sacraments are gifts of God and the liturgy, which even before being understood rationally, ask to be lived: therefore, no one can deny the sacraments to people with disabilities’ (Directory for Catechesis, 2020).
The Australian Catholic Disability Council has produced a number of useful resources for parishes on issues surrounding disability and inclusivity, including a pastoral document for parishes, and guidelines for the celebration of the sacraments with people with disability.
Anglican Church on disability inclusion Significant commitment to ensuring that the public places in the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne have disabled access (see 2021 Synod report). The motion called for the allocation of funding in the 2022-23 budget for a full time dedicated disability access and inclusion officer for a period of two to five years. It also called on the diocese to reaffirm a 2010 synod resolution that called on parishes and organisation in the diocese to develop plans to remove obstacles that “prevent people affected by disability from sharing in congregational life”. Additionally, it noted a 2015 motion passed by synod that required the president to report annually on the progress of this disability plan until at least 98% of the diocese’s public places were disability accessible.
A paper on The Anglican Church of Australia and engagement of people living with disabilities (link here)
The Uniting Church on disability inclusion We are committed to ensuring people with disabilities are full and equal participants in all activities of the Synod.Striving for this goal means engagement and advocacy with individuals, congregations and presbyteries, and a range of organisations beyond the Synod.
Since 2010, our Disability Inclusion Advocates have been involved in developing:
Reflective Being, Being Reflective: 25 years of multi-faith perspectives on disability and spirituality in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand This book, edited by Andy Calder, Jayne Clapton and Trevor Parmenter, celebrates 25 years of the multi-faith disability and spirituality movement in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Since the inaugural conference in Brisbane, 1996, a further five have been held. Arising from the conferences, this collection explores issues of faith and meaning in the lived experience of disability. Contributors explore a range of issues including: ethics, care, friendship, discrimination, inclusion, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), love, justice, liberation and ‘cripped’ spiritualities. (Limited numbers (36) of in-person places are available. Please register by 7 June at the latest if you wish to be present. Register here and more information here)
Though small and suffering, we lack nothing. “And you, Bethlehem… are by no means least”(Matthew 2:6)
Scripture
Micah 5:2-5a, 7-8, From you shall come forth… one who is to rule Israel.
Luke 12:32-40, Do not be afraid, little flock.
Meditation
From the small and lowly city of Bethlehem, the Lord, the Son of God, made his entrance into the world. From the womb of a humble village girl, he took human flesh, and chose to live his humanity in obscurity and simplicity. Out of the obscurity has come a ruler, the shepherd and guardian of our souls. And though he is our shepherd, he became the Lamb who carried the sins of the world that we might be healed.
Bethlehem, a name that means the “house of bread”, can be a metaphor for the Church that brings to the world the bread of life. The Church continues to be a place where the weak, the powerless and the small are welcome because in her each has a place.
In the midst of political turmoil, Christians, like others in the Middle East, suffer persecution and experience a sense of marginalization, living in fear of violence and injustice. In Christ they find a model of humility, and from him they hear a call to overcome divisions and to be united in one flock. Though they are few, in their suffering they follow in the steps of the Lamb who suffered for the world’s salvation. Though few, they are sure in hope, lacking nothing.
Prayer
Good Shepherd, the fragmentation of the little flock grieves your Holy Spirit. Forgive our weak efforts and slowness in pursuit of your will. Give us wise shepherds after your own heart who recognize the sin of division, and who will lead the churches with righteousness and holiness, to unity in you. We ask you, Lord, to hear our prayer. Amen.
The world faces a global crisis on food exacerbated and brought to the fore by the war in Ukraine, but humanity can and must take remedial steps in economic and climate justice, a World Council of Churches-led meeting has heard.
(published 27th May 2022 on World Council of Churches website)
Dr David Nabarro, special envoy of the World Health Organization on COVID-19, urged the church and civil society leaders to act now in the briefing with participants from different parts of the world, particularly Africa.
After an introduction by Dr Manoj Kurian, coordinator of the WCC-Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, Nabarro cautioned, “that we don’t look back on 2022 as the year where there was a crisis of civilization, because building on the pandemic, humanity just could not find a way to promote equity, the realization of rights, and the wellbeing of not just people, but our beautiful planet.”
“So, we can offer it to future generations as a place of hope and growth,” said Nabarro.
The WHO envoy said he became aware in the middle of last year, “listening to many ministers of agriculture, coming together at a meeting in Rome in July, just one after the other saying it’s not working, climate change, COVID-19 and conflict are making the food security of our peoples really disturbing.”
Trade systems not working
Nabarro cited global trade systems not working, countries dependent on imports because of the COVID-19 crisis, and unable to get what they need.
He said, “Farmers, because of climate change and COVID-19, particularly smallholder farmers and fishers, cannot produce what they need.”
Marianne Ejdersten, WCC director of Communication, outlined the current trigger of a crisis.
“The world faces a food crisis triggered by war in a major breadbasket area of the world, making many other places face acute hunger, but the planet faced a food crunch before the war in Ukraine started,” said Ejdersten.
“A new global crisis is emerging from the war in Ukraine, with the potential to cause millions of people to go hungry, push food prices higher and spark unrest far from the conflict zone,” Ejdersten said. She highlighted that 811 million people go to bed hungry every night.
“Together. Russia and Ukraine account for more than a quarter of the global wheat supplies exporting to countries including Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Yemen, and Somalia, among many other countries,” said Ejdersten. “These are the most vulnerable populations in the world.”
Sofía Monsalve Suárez, secretary-general of FIAN International, the international human rights organization for the right to food and nutrition, said it is essential to look at when the crisis started.
“We have been in crisis since 2007, if you want if you remember the first big food crisis that we had, at that time,” said Monsalve Suárez. “And it’s the structural drivers of this food crisis, for instance, the inequality in terms of controlling land and natural resources, the inequalities in terms of tax justice, the issue of debt, has been mentioned.”
Dismantling capacity
The FIAN leader accused the World Bank and many international financial institutions of convincing countries and forcing them to dismantle their national capacity to produce food, store food and have public food programmes for distribution for schools and the like.
“Therefore, they were told it is better to rely on the global market. But now, since COVID-19, we have seen that these global food supply chains are extremely vulnerable to these eruptions, because of climate conditions, or because of geopolitical and war issues, as we see now,” said Monsalve Suárez.
Dr Thorsten Göbel, director of Programmes for the ACT Alliance, spoke on the global impact of the crisis on humanitarian responses and where hunger is strongly felt.
“We’ve heard or seen from ACT members that this has been particularly the case in conflict-ridden countries, like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Afghanistan or Syria,” said Göbel.
Mervyn Abrahams of the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group spoke on the national situation in South Africa.
“We have seen food prices spike since the beginning of COVID-19. And that has continued. So yes, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has sharpened the spike. But the issue around increasing food prices has been with us for quite a while,” said Abrahams. He noted that food availability is not a problem in South Africa, an exporter and that prices outstripping earnings are hitting the most vulnerable communities.
Impact on children
However, he said, “We have seen, in South Africa, it was reported that 199 children under the age of five in our public hospital system have died as a direct result of malnutrition in only the first two months of this year.”
Prof. Dr Esther Mombo of the theology department at St Paul’s University in Limuru, Kenya.
And yet the Kenyan theologian reminded that “the story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people has some lessons for us as we face the hunger crisis in different parts of the world.”
She said, “There is enough food to feed everybody in the world.
When Jesus saw a crowd of people, he told his disciples to give them food. When we provide food to the hungry, we are not doing them a favour, but acting as expected of us by God, as God’s people through Jesus Christ.”
The presence of Christ, turning the world upside down. “When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.”(Matthew 2:3)
Scripture
2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:5, But the Lord is faithful, he will strengthen you.
Matthew 2:1-5, He was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
Meditation
Christ’s coming disturbs the ways of the world. In contrast to so many political leaders, the Lord comes in humility denouncing the evil of injustice and oppression that accompanies the ambition for power and status. Jesus’ presence creates disturbance precisely because He rocks the boat of those rich and the powerful that work only for their own interests and neglect the common good. But, for those who work for peace and unity, Christ’s coming brings the light of hope.
We all need to acknowledge the instances when our ways are not God’s ways of justice and peace. When Christians work together for justice and peace our efforts are more powerful. And when Christians work together in this way, the answer to our prayer for Christian unity is made visible such that others recognize in us Christ’s presence in the world today. The Good News is that God is faithful, and he is always the one strengthening us and protecting us from harm, and inspiring us to work for the good of others, especially those living in the darkness of suffering, hatred, violence and pain.
Prayer
O Lord, you have illumined the star of hope in our lives. Help us to be united in our commitment to bring about your Reign of love, justice and peace and so to be the light of hope to all those living in the dark- ness of despair and disillusionment. Shine your light upon us and set our hearts on fire so that your love surrounds us with warmth. Lift us up to you, you who have emptied yourself for our sake, so that our lives may glorify you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Humble leadership breaks down walls and builds up with love. “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?”(Matthew 2:2)
Scripture
Philippians 2:5-11, Who… did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited.
Matthew 20:20-28, The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.
Meditation
Jeremiah denounces the bad leadership of the kings of Israel who divided and scattered the people. In contrast, the Lord promises a shepherd-king who will “execute justice and righteousness in the land” and gather together the members of his flock.
Our world craves good leadership and is constantly seeking someone who will fulfill this desire. Only in Christ have we seen the example of a king or leader after God’s heart. As we are called to follow him, we are also called to emulate his way of servant-kingship in the world and in the Church. In Christ we encounter one who does not tear down and divide but builds up and makes whole for the glory of God’s name. He is one who comes to serve, rather than be served, and his followers are called to do the same.
Today, the Middle East is experiencing the loss of its people to exile as “righteousness and justice” are becoming scarce commodities not only there but throughout the world.
Leaders, both in the world and in the Church, have responsibility to bring together rather than to scatter or divide the people of God. The more faithfully Christians emulate the servant leadership of Christ, the more division in both the world and the Church will be overcome.
Prayer
God, our only refuge and strength, help us to seek our Lord Jesus Christ not in the palaces of the powerful but in the humble manger and to emulate him in his meekness. Encourage us to empty ourselves as we serve each other in obedience to you. We pray in the name of Christ who with you and with the Holy Spirit reigns forever in glory. Amen.
The Herb Feith Centre has announced: “With a heavy heart we announce the passing of Betty Feith. Betty was a staunch supporter of Indonesia, and strong advocate for social justice. While the Centre bears her late husband’s name, it works towards supporting her legacy of enhancing Indonesian-Australian relations too”. (@HerbFeithCentre)
Betty Feith (née Evans) passed away on 18th May 2022 after a long illness. Betty was a volunteer with the VCC for many years, especially in the library, in addition to her involvement with the NCCA (National Council of Churches in Australia).
Betty Feith was a teacher and volunteer whose work inside and outside the classroom reflected her ideals of a peaceful, just and inclusive society, and her abiding Christian faith.
Betty was actively involved in the ACSM during the 1940s-1950s (and in 1979 was National Chairperson – Victorian Area Council of the Australian Student Christian Movement).
In 1947, Betty met Herb Feith, whose Jewish Austrian parents had sought asylum from Nazism in Australia in 1939. Together, Betty and Herb undertook war relief activities, collecting door-to-door in Melbourne suburbs on behalf of Germans and other Europeans who were struggling with post-war shortages and hardships.
In 1950 Betty and Herb, together with a group of other University of Melbourne students and ASCM members set in motion a pioneering initiative in international aid focused on Indonesia. The main idea behind the programme – that Australian graduates would not only make available their technical expertise in response to the shortage of skilled graduates in the new Republic (in particularly in the newly formed national Indonesian public service), but also take part in Indonesian society as a whole, living and working alongside their Indonesian colleagues – had first arisen during discussions at a World University Service Assembly that year. Betty was secretary of the initial planning committee of what would become known as the Volunteer Graduate Scheme for Indonesia (VGS), the forerunner of international volunteering as it is understood today.
The VGS was officially recognised under an intergovernmental agreement by both the Australian and Indonesian governments in 1954, and later became AVI (Australian Volunteers International) which has programmes in communities across Asia, the Pacific and the world.
Jakarta was the first location to receive Australian volunteers and Indonesia continues to be the top destination under the Australian Volunteers for Development program.
The VGS scheme was designed to be an expression of unity and understanding across cultures, promoting genuine understanding of and solidarity with Indonesia. Salary equality was a central aspect of the Scheme. Volunteer graduates worked on the same pay scales and conditions as similarly qualified Indonesians – a departure from the usual custom among expatriates working in Indonesia at that time.
In January 1953, while travelling home from India, Betty visited Herb in Jakarta, where he was then employed in the Ministry of Information. They became engaged, and were married on 29 December 1953 at the South Camberwell Methodist Church, Melbourne.
From July 1954 to August 1956, Betty and Herb lived and worked in Jakarta, under the auspices of the Volunteer Graduate Scheme. Betty was employed in the English Language Inspectorate in the Ministry of Education, Instruction and Culture.
Betty and Herb remained closely involved with Indonesia and with promoting understanding among Australians of their nearest northern neighbour. The family lived in Jakarta for a year in 1967, during which time Betty worked for the Indonesian Council of Churches.
Betty and Herb Feith and family on the left
From 1968, Betty taught English and Asian studies at various secondary schools in Melbourne. From the 1970s she taught Indonesian history and Asian studies at tertiary level, the first of their kind in Victoria. From the late 1970s Betty co-led several study tours to Indonesia in her capacity as a lecturer at the Burwood and Toorak Teachers’ Colleges.
In 1984, Betty completed a Master of Educational Studies at Monash University. For her Masters thesis, Betty wrote a history of the Volunteer Graduate Scheme, in which she documented the ethos of the Scheme as an ‘episode in education for international understanding’, underpinned by a belief in racial equality and a spirit of identification with the Indonesian Republic. This history was published in 2017 in a book entitled Bridges of Friendship.
In addition to her community involvement with refugees, Betty’s church service has focused on issues to do with peace and human rights. In 1994, she and Herb co-led an international relations workshop with the Karen Burmese leaders in Manerplaw on the Thai-Burma border. Manerplaw was at that time the headquarters of the Democratic Alliance of Burma (now Myanmar), which formed in the wake of the military regime coming into power in 1988.
For four years from 1996, Betty and Herb lived and worked in Yogyakarta, this time through the Overseas Service Bureau’s Australian Volunteers Abroad programme – the successor of the Volunteer Graduate Scheme. Betty, who gained a qualification at Deakin University in teaching English as a second language, taught English at the University of Atma Jaya.
Betty had a lifetime involvement in church and other service, including for the Christian World Service (renamed Act for Peace), the Division of Social Justice (Victoria) in the Uniting Church of Australia, and other ecumenical organisations including the Victorian Council of Churches.
Betty described women in the Uniting Church as ‘householders (as it were) in the tents and caravans of faith and in life, as in mutuality we pilgrim together in life’s journey’ (Women in Ministry, 46). This expression of common purpose, and of ideals married to actions, reflect convictions central to Betty’s life and work as a whole.
References Feith, Betty, Women in Ministry: The Order of Deaconesses and the Campaign for the Ordination of Women within the Methodist Church, 1942-1977, Kyarra Press, Melbourne, 1990.
Feith, Betty, ‘An Episode in Education for International Understanding: The Volunteer Graduate Scheme in Indonesia 1950-63 – ‘Putting in a Stitch or Two”, in McCarthy, Ann & Zainuddin, Ailsa Thomson (ed.), Bridges of Friendship: Reflections on Indonesia’s Early Independence and the Volunteer Graduate Scheme, Monash University Publishing, Melbourne, 2017.
Sunday 29th May Raise us up and draw us to your perfect light. “We observed his star in the East.”(Matthew 2:2)
Scripture
2 Timothy 1:7-10, This grace… has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus.
John 16:7-14, When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.
Meditation
In this fragile and uncertain world, we look for a light, a ray of hope from afar. In the midst of evil, we long for goodness. Our confidence rests in the God we worship. God, in wisdom, enabled us to hope for divine intervention; but we had not anticipated that God’s intervention would be a person, and that the Lord himself would be the light in our midst. This exceeded all our expectations. God’s gift to us is a “spirit of power, and love.”
In the midst of humanity’s darkness, the star from the East shone. The star’s light was not only an illumination at a particular historical moment but it continues to shine and change the face of human history. Despite the vicissitudes of history and the changing of circumstances, the Risen One continues to shine, moving within the flow of history like a beacon guiding all into this perfect light and overcoming the darkness which separates us from one another.
The desire to overcome the darkness that separates us compels us to pray and work for Christian unity.
Prayer
Lord God, illumine our path by the light of Christ who moves us and leads us. Guide us to discover a small manger in our hearts where a great light still sleeps. Creator of light, we thank you for the gift of that unfading Star, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Heal our divisions and draw us closer to the Light that we may find our unity in him. Amen.
On this day, 24 May, in 1738 a man named John Wesley had a profound experience that changed his life – and arguably transformed the Church as well.
Wesley was an Anglican priest. He was a fervent preacher, but he was lacking in faith and growing in misery.
A spark of life began however when Wesley led a prisoner to Christ by preaching a gospel of faith and forgiveness, and he saw a man instantly transformed. His more enthusiastic Moravian friends encouraged him to have faith and to expect transformation and assurance.
On the morning of May 24, 1738, he opened his Bible to read the words: ‘There are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, even that ye should be partakers of the divine nature.’
That evening, a still depressed Wesley ‘unwillingly’ attended a Christian meeting in Aldersgate, London. There he heard a reading from the Reformer Martin Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to Romans. At about 8.45 pm, as he heard Luther’s words, something deep and dramatic took place.
In Wesley’s words: ‘While he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.’
Wesley went on with his brother Charles to pioneer the radical movement of Methodism, spreading evangelical revival across the country and the world. It probably would never have happened were it not for his ‘Aldersgate experience’.
The strange warming of the heart has become emblematic for many interpreting their own spiritual experiences. It emphasises the importance of true conversion, the possibility of deep assurance and the power of an experiential salvation.
Since Methodism wouldn’t be what it is without Aldersgate, today is celebrated across the Methodist Church.
John Wesley used to say that he thought very little of a man who did not pray four hours every day. He would rise up at 4am every day to seek God for the first four hours of the day. In his later years Wesley was known to spend up to 8 hours in prayer.
Here is John Wesley’s Covenant Prayer: I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.
A special liturgical prayer for the day reads:
‘Almighty God, in a time of great need you raised up your servants John and Charles Wesley, and by your Spirit inspired them to kindle a flame of sacred love which leaped and ran, an inextinguishable blaze. Grant that all those whose hearts have been warmed at these altar fires, being continually refreshed by your grace, may be so devoted to the increase of scriptural holiness throughout the land that in this our time of great need, your will may fully and effectively be done on earth as it is in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.’
