Date: 2009-03-16 16:55:02
Sometimes it is very hard to believe that the darkness has not overcome the light.
Like when someone loses a job and a whole family suffers – or when someone is stricken with a serious illness. Or when we listen to the news.
In 2005, not long after returning from many years out of Australia, I was invited to join a weekend with the Moreton Island Protection Committee, and I was hooked. Having a wilderness and such marine biodiversity so close to a major city would be inconceivable in Europe. I found it healing, positive, a thing of beauty.
When the news broke of the oil slick on that very island, I was in the process of packing for a weekend there, having signed up a while ago to help pick up rubbish on the eastern beach. The north-eastern beach then became covered in oil, rubbish and all, as did the rocks of North Cape. You will have heard the details. We went for one day and, being unable to cross to the eastern side, cleaned up on the western beach. There it all looked normal, except for the hordes of orange-jacketed, shovel-bearing gentlemen pouring out of the ferry – and one large dead turtle.
When the channel linking me to the spring of living water seems to be choked with the slick of despair, words alone will not clear it. The psalmist tells us to wait for the Lord, and sometimes it seems like forty years.
Are our churches – are we – equipped to comfort and counsel people grieving over the loss of habitat and fearing the future? This is an increasing challenge.
We are told the light shines in the darkness. Nothing can stifle it. I hang on to that as Easter approaches.
***
In Australia’s ecumenical life this week there is a light shining, as the NCCA announces the appointment of a new general secretary. Read about this exciting new development below! Read too about church leaders in various places taking a stand – on climate, on HIV-AIDS, on ethics and values.
May God who is the Source of all healing,
Jesus, the Human Face of Compassion
And the Spirit who hears the cries in the wilderness
Bless us now and always.
Amen.
Glenine Hamlyn
The National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) has a new General Secretary!
In the last newsletter we included an error to check your concentration. Did you pick it? On 26 May (not March) QCT is hosting an ecumenical service in Brisbane to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and Reconciliation.
See What’s On for details.
As politicians drag their feet on climate change, let's show them that we mean business - first of all by joining in Earth Hour on Saturday, 28 March, but then by reviewing our everyday practices and those of our churches.
The 5-15% emissions reduction target by 2020 is far too weak, say a broad range of Australian religious leaders in a recent letter to the Prime Minister.
Warning governments against using the economic crisis as a cop-out, churches in Europe lobby politicians before the EU decides its position on climate change.
At Easter many churches join together for combined services, peace marches, commemorations of the Stations of the Cross and other activities. We would love to publicize your service or event this year – please let us know the details.
Would anyone like to send us some feedback from services held on 9 March on the World Day of Prayer? It would be lovely to record these. We would also love photos if you have any. We look forward to hearing from you!
If you are in or around Brisbane, celebrate Harmony Day at the Multi-Faith Centre on Monday 23rd March.
See What’s On for details.
A new global alliance of values-based civil society groups, faith groups and Indigenous organizations will work with the UN on strategies to anchor positive moral and ethical values in business and politics.
Taking their example from church leaders in Africa, bishops in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have undergone AIDS tests in order to fight the stigma surrounding the disease.
… to order your materials for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and Reconciliation, 24 May – 3 June
... We would also love to publish details of anything you are planning ecumenically for the Week of Prayer. Please let us know – and take a camera along to any event you host or attend!
You can put in a submission or take part in a consultation round – find out how you can be part of the National Human Rights Consultation.
By trivializing gender violence, the media become part of the problem, says the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) on the occasion of International Women's Day. WACC is looking for participants in the next Global Media Monitoring Project.
