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An extension to the FoU Newsletter
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An extension to the FoU Newsletter
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 EditorialThe Affirmation, written by me and also signed by Malcolm, was well received at the time, with acclaim from within my own worship community. The question arose as to what we might do with such a statement but nothing was done. The form was revised and launched on the Internet as The Adelaide Affirmation, on 25 November, 2003, during Feast. I presented a Taxonomy of Ethics derived from R84, as part of a work in progress, that summarised ethical values implicit in R84 and introduced discussion of ethics based on Lex Aeterna and Natural Law. It contained a criticism of ethics based on the notion of "celibacy in singleness and faithfulness in marriage" (cisafim). That, of course, lead to my own excursion into creative writing, in "Cisafim", that provided a lighter moment at a time of anxiety. Oompa, by the way, is still indignantly kicking up dust in the bush. I have combined an offering of creative writing with theological commentary in this issue, with "Images of Christmas". Thus VOICE has become an experimental venture, offered among friends as a vehicle for reflection and communication. Subsequent issues dealt with reactionary questions arising from the Tenth Assembly, asking, "What's All The Fuss About?". It also gave prior notice of FoU's Giftbook to the SA Synod and enabled me to publish a work presenting a novel voice of gay liberation. It was this work, focussing on fwnhV bow'nto" ejn th'/ ejrhvmw/- the voice of one crying in the wilderness - that inspired the title of this magazine. Other articles covered the decisions of the SA Synod, in "Ministry, Membership and Sexuality" and "Signs and Portents", and presented Jack Spong's article Exposing the Exodus Fraud and the No Longer Silent Phoenix Declaration. "Signs and Portents" was a vehicle for raising related issues of leadership change, the search for truth, knowledge and integrity and emerging, reactionary fundamentalism. It is notable that declarations such as the No Longer Silent, Phoenix Declaration and the Madison Affirmation [the link is an external one] call for an end to reactionary activity that diverts (and perhaps even subverts) the church from its mission in the world. Similar acknowledgement was made in the SA Synod Resolution, October 2003, stating that the issue of sexuality "has distracted the Church from its mission" (3.d). The Adelaide Affirmation, which was launched on November 26, 2003, calls for an end to religious, civil and institutional discrimination against GLBT persons. Advent and Christmas are relevant times in the church calendar to reflect upon mission, remembering that the Assembly of the Uniting Church decided " to call upon members of the Church to seek to live together in peace as people of faith, notwithstanding differing views in the matter of same sex relationships." Proclaiming the Gospel anew is a vital part of the church's mission, along with ministering to the poor, the under privileged, the dispossessed and homeless ones. It is also called to celebrate life in all its diversity and to make God present in the world through love, mercy and compassion. However you celebrate Advent, Christmas, New Year and Epiphany, may they be blessed times for you. Peace and Blessings For a Blessed Christmas And a Prosperous New Year Wal Anderson FoU Web Manager  Three Readings for Christmas Day WOMAN WITH CHILD and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a crib... She could be at ease for a time and care for her boy. She did not have much to offer him and even her own energy was low. It has been a hard day's journey across broken roads through a landscape marred with the signs of fighting. The local militia was everywhere bearing weapons and strife hardened faces. They wore the clothes of peasants, of farmers and labourers turned to defence of the homeland. There were no uniforms, no foreigners present with their boots, orders and hostile sneers. Among her own people she was safe for the time. Safety had become a relative thing to her. How does one define what is safe when your land is occupied by others? A small shelter from the wind or the night and the gentle touch of her husband was safe. It is safe when the men begin dancing or singing songs of liberation or when the wider family gathered around her. She had not experienced much of that of late, for even families passed hard judgements, made heavy demands or talked of war. "Drive out those who have taken over our lands," said some, as they secreted small knives within their cloaks. "Take back the homeland," she thought. Yes, take back the homeland by all means. Beneath her child's swaddling she could feel the explosives taped to his body. The fuses were not set, for this was a role play, a rehearsal for the distant thing. Safety can be put aside for the sake of the homeland, for Palestine, and the thought of what may lie ahead hardened her heart. "At least we will be together." She pulled the child closer to her breast and "His life will set us free, one day."
 And
this shall be a sign unto you; You shall find the babe wrapped in
swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with
the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, through all people
goodwill. [Luke 2:12-14]"Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace, through people goodwill." But that's not the quote that we usually read, you say, and you are right. The word, ejn (en), translated as 'through' in the text above from Luke 2:14, can also be translated as 'in', 'among', 'to', 'by' or 'on', and the translation 'toward' given in the KJ Version, is peculiar to that sixteenth century rendering. I have translated ajnqrwvpoi", anthropos, literally meaning 'man-faced', that is, 'all of human kind', in the inclusive sense of 'all people' rather than as 'men', also rendering an alternative to the KJ version. Among all people, goodwill or through all people goodwill makes more sense to me. I could never work out just how the action of "goodwill towards people" operated in the KJV phrase. Was the flow of goodwill from the angels or from God towards humanity? Did the people show goodwill towards themselves, that is, among each other, as an expression of "peace on earth"? Did goodwill reside in the birthing, as suggested by connection to Isaiah 9:6 through the use of the word 'peace'? The ambiguity, of course, allows diverse understandings. The NRSV and NIV renderings did not help much, with their respective renderings, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors" and "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to all men on whom his favour rests." It does tell me that I am not the only person who has struggled with the meaning of this proclamation, however, as the words "those whom he favours" used to render ejn ajnqrwvpoi" eujdokiva", involve an extraordinary semantic shift, combining "man-faced (ones)" with "favour", a rendering that carries the meaning implicit in eujdokiva, eudokia, goodwill, with its nuances of pleasure, benevolence, delight, satisfaction and desire, but with God as the subject (as in Lk 3:22). In consequence, "all people whom he favours" suggests that there may be those whom God does not favour, making God's goodwill conditional or arbitrary, a thing that diminishes the very glory of God that prefaces the proclamation. The goodwill must therefore belong among or through the people so, "on earth peace, through all people goodwill" or "on earth, peace among people of goodwill" is the Christmas proclamation. That still preserves God as the source of "peace" and of "goodwill" and emphasises that God is acting through humanity. That is glorious indeed! Peace on Earth: it seems a remote hope, doesn't it? The face of humanity does not always express goodwill. Only one continent on Earth is free of needy refugees, victims of racial, ethnic, religious, economic and ecological strife- Antarctica. Yet even there the presence of peril persists in the ice-melt. Global warming and economic exploitation threaten every place as does war, terrorism and human greed. Misery does not respect national boundaries and neither does hope.  SO, WHAT OF HOPE? I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For
the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children
of God;
... in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. [Romans 8:18-19, 21-22 NRSV] Traditional Christmas is a wonderful expression of hope transmitted in the simple message of the birth of a child. I am thinking of eschatological hope, yet not of end-things yet to come, as expected but unrealised, even though that may be part of the story, for we know that the child of the Christmas narrative grows to manhood and makes his journey to the Cross. I am not thinking of a realised eschatology, either, as something achieved, already come, although that is part of the story, too, seen in God With Us, the prophetic name of the child. I am thinking more of a hope being realised, a real hope, if you like, as in the immediacy of the prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11). I am thinking of goodwill in action as an expression of hope in which the final goal, the eschaton, is expressed in the immediate and continual desire for peace. Hope knows immediacy, as it is continually with us as an existential attitude of faith, a fundamental human passion in which we strive towards a difficult or distant good. Such hope meets us in our common humanity and is seen in the action of holding out a starved hand to receive food and shelter, in laying down of arms, in handshakes between former enemies or in hands that toil with new beginnings in new relationships, in new homelands, in lives remade. Hope is seen in giving, in opening opportunity, in removing barriers, in fair dealing and in offering hospitality to the stranger. Such a hope is expressed in "Peace on Earth" and it is realised in crossing boundaries of race, ethnicity, culture, social and economic condition, to greet the other as the next one to love and show mercy. Such hope will be realised if the strength and depth of our compassion, mercy, forgiveness and open-handedness is great enough. Indeed, the proclamation, "on earth peace, through all people goodwill" demands it. Is this naive, perhaps? Is it time for a reality check? We know very well that race, ethnicity, culture, socio-economic status and other human conditions confront us, presenting seemingly insurmountable difficulties in living together. Peace is remote in our time. Goodwill is strained and frequently absent. An outstretched hand may hide a weapon when people feel threats to their beliefs and way of life. Cultural particularism is a reaction to globalisation and economic tyranny, in which fundamental cries of jihad or of "war against terrorism" represent opposing forces of survival or dominance. An American tank bearing down on a rebel village carries the hopes of President Bush for change, indeed, for peace as he understands it. Terrorists, also, act in hope of a change for the better, even those who sacrifice themselves and their children as suicide bombers. Loads of boat people are carried by hope, as are voices of outrage from within detention camps. Hope in this way involves action, an intervention, an objectified process, with goals and desires set in human hands and tears or in concrete, razor wire and fire power. Our every day hopes are like this, too; whether it be hope for change, hope for a better life, better things, better relationships, our hopes are objectified goals or processes. Commonly, we may seek after an elusive something, some serendipitous happening or rescue event that we welcome as bringing us what we have always wanted but never quite defined. I do not mean wishful thinking, here, or a facile optimism but our deeper desires or goals grounded in hope. Hope is the ground of the goal, not the goal itself. We can live in hope, even when things hoped for are ill-defined, ineffable or distant, as mere hankerings for change. Hope is born in despair as the ground of desire, of dreams and of visions. It is the vehicle of desire for change, not the tenor, as we reach out to a future good that we deem possible. What sets the Christmas hope apart is the fact that it is prefaced by a proclamation of Peace. Usually, our hopes are not indefinable but they may be beyond us! We can name them and we can change them according to what is most needy, life affirming or ecstatic as we reach beyond to satisfy immediate goals. Hope is not the goal itself, however. We act in hope as a continuing process of becoming, of unfolding desires, struggles or truths that determine our goals in the midst of our living. Hope is a process of conversion, a journeying through provisional expressions of desire. The immediacy of that desire is found in the Christmas proclamation, "Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace, through all people goodwill". In this there is a converting hope, in which we pray, reflect and act continually, so that ... the creation itself will be liberated ... ... we know that the whole creation has been groaning giving birth, becoming free and we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly, waiting in hope for what we do not see, and we wait in patience, rejoicing in the glorious liberty of the children of God. [Based on Romans 8:22-25] Our reality check says that we must do this ourselves. We cannot countenance an outside rescuer, some objective thing beyond ourselves looking inwards, but must count on ourselves as co-rescuers as we look outwards from ourselves towards others. We stand with God, grounded in God, the Ground of Being, and Peace is a work of graciousness among us and through us, as we work together in hope of better things. "Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, through all people goodwill" grounds our hope as we work for a better world. AMEN Welwood L. Andeson Remove the barriers the Lord is come. Images of Christmas 2003
Christmas Bowl 2003: Give a Little Hope This Christmas
Hope permeates the season of Advent. "Giving a little hope" signifies giving life, joy, peace, love, thanks, freedom and blessing to those depserate for them, as exemplified by the people featured in the Christmas Bowl Kit. Caesar D'Mello Morer Information about the Christmas Bowl appeal. A gift to the world For 53 years, Australians have been giving a gift for the world through the Christmas Bowl. In 2003 the Christmas Bowl will support 53 projects in over 20 countries. Peace for the world Christmas Bowl supports many projects in the middle East, including emergency assistance, health programmes, agricultural projects, refugee camps support and repatriation projects. Joy for the world The Christmas Bowl helps to support refugee families in Australia. It has enabled actions of community awareness, government lobbying and building practical support networks. Light for the world Your gifts support the work of the New Sudan Council of Churches (NSCC) in southern Sudan. The NSCC is playing a key role in peace initiatives. Christmas Bowl also supports rehabilitation and health programmes which include health training, education support, broadcast radio and women’s leadership training programmes. Hope for the world Through the Christmas Bowl, children in communities around the world are to embrace a better future.  The Adelaide Affirmation Written to coincide with the Adelaide Feast Festival of 2003, and launched on 25 November, The Adelaide Affirmation seeks to bring a resounding "Yes" to the full, responsible participation of GLBT Christians in the life, mission and ministry of the church. It calls for an end to religious and civil discrimination against GLBT people. At the time of this issue of VOICE being posted on the Net, there have been 93 signatories in affirmation. The Adelaide Affirmation is not a petition but a resounding "Yes" to a statement on sexuality and faith in the context of the current debate within the church. It is a prophetic call to the church, presented in solidarity as a call for action. By adding their names to the document, each person affirms the content of the statements and their personal stand. While the Adelaide Affirmation originated among people of the Uniting Church, it recognises that other Christian people may also affirm it, as indeed some have done. Thus it is open to all persons of goodwill who wish to affirm it. There is no coercion. It was recognised from the outset that this statement would be very useful to persons and congregations in defining their own responses to issues of sexuality, faith and membership. The document was launched on the Internet and sent to a small, closed group of about thirty recipients within Uniting Network by email. The web site will remain open for a few months, to receive "signatures" and then sent to the Assembly as a witness, not as a petition. The Adelaide Affirmation, is now open to additional signatures being added. Read the statement and consider adding your support. A Wonderful Gift to the Church
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/ (trans. the voice of one crying in the wilderness)
Mk. 1:3
Remove the barriers
the Lord is come.
This page is maintained by Wal Anderson, who is a member
of Friends of Unity Executive.
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