No 8 – August 2011

Crows Nest Uniting Church

Cnr Shirley Road & Nicholson Street, Crows Nest

crowsnestuniting.org.au

From Michael's desk—The Parable of the Sower

I recently preached on the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9). This well-known parable speaks of seed being scattered, and landing on a path, rocky ground, amongst thorns; only some falls on good soil. The sower acts with an apparent disregard for achieving the best harvest. Why not plant all the seed in the good soil? Perhaps the sower needs some basic re-education in planting!

I spent some time thinking about this parable and realised that it's an insightful reflection into the spiritual life of a Christian community. Thinking of my own ministry, I offer what I know and believe indiscriminately. I don't sit down and calculate where the seed might best land. Rather I speak and act, and hope that fruit will be borne. In the spiritual life we don't apply laws of efficiency so much as seek to live out of principles of generosity.

We might apply this insight to the way we make decisions in our church, especially as we look to the future, an issue we have been thinking about recently in our Planned Giving program (and which Cavan has commented on, from a historical perspective, in another article in this newsletter.) When we look to the future of the church, especially in the Church Council, we endeavour to bring to this task the best wisdom and insights we can offer. But, in the end, we are not engaged in an exercise where we can guarantee certain results. For at the core of the church's life are values of faith, hope and love. At the core of the church's life is a vision for a renewed world. So we scatter the seeds of this vision, not knowing exactly where they will land. We try, the best we can, to learn from our experiences and to think about the consequences of our decisions. And yet always we must continue to move forward in faith, forever scattering seeds of love.

I think of our new Family Worker position in this way. A number of us spent a lot of time, talking, reflecting and thinking about the best way forward. We believe we have arrived at a good model.  It is a model of care for the young families within our church community and a model of outreach, which seeks to build on our connections with the Preschool community (which Sally has already worked hard at.) Especially in relation to the second point, we don't know exactly how it will work out but believe we need to be involved in offering opportunities, relationships and special events.

Living from a vision is challenging. There aren't guaranteed results. But it is exciting and it leads us forward in the life of faith. I look forward to the implementation of this new role.

Family Outreach—Sally Yabsley-Bell

G'day everyone!  I want to let you know some of the things that have been happening in the world of family outreach.

Swap Stall

During the school holidays, I ran, along with the community nurses at Crows Nest Community Centre, a swap stall at the early childhood centre.  I had a table of clothes and toys that people have donated to the Church.  Visitors were able to take anything they thought they could use.  And, if they had anything they didn't need, they could bring it back to the table for others to take.  Some people brought back mothers' groups who wanted to swap and share goods.

I did this over 2 weeks and the response to it was most encouraging. Many people asked if the swap stall will run every school holidays.

It was a really rewarding experience for me.  It showed me that we are building up a trusting relationship with the community nurses and the community. The nurses have let us in to their space and introduced us to the mothers and families who visit them regularly.

Chat Room

Chat room has picked up on Thursdays with a mothers' group joining us regularly. I am hoping this will lead to them taking over Chat Room when I finish up my time here.  I have 2 mothers who seem interested in continuing to run Chat Room for us.

8.30am  Service

Our 3^rd Sunday of the month 8.30am service has finally found a name -  "Conversation, Coffee, Kids and Kookaburras Serviced".  We added Kookaburras, a social bird that is up early, just like those who attend the service. The Kookaburra was also a special symbol to the local Aboriginal tribe.

This service has growing numbers of adults and kids. This week I think the kids out numbered the adults. We would like to invite those who haven't yet come to this service to try it out for a week.  You will meet some of our newer church members who only attend this service. We would love to see relationships grow between both services.

As always, if you have any ideas or questions about our family outreach, I would love to catch up with you to talk, so feel free to call me or email me to arrange a time to catch up.

Please note that my email address has changed to:

Sally.yab.bell@gmail.com

Kids Alive—Hannah & Ebony Collins-Woolcock

Kids Alive is a great chance for us to learn more about God and the world. In Kids Alive we colour in worksheets about God, we help each other and we read books. We write prayers, we discuss different topics and do lots of fun craft activities. Our favourite thing is the craft!

Planned giving from a historical perspective—Cavan Concannon

(Cavan is an  Old Testamen scholar.  He left Sydney last week to take up a position at Duke University in Virginia USA)

As Crows Nest Uniting finishes up its fundraising drive for the year, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on a little-known figure from early Christian history and his connection to an act of fundraising that poses questions that remain relevant for contemporary Christian communities.  In particular, this story forces us to think critically about how we raise and redistribute money and how much control we need to exert over its use, not unlike questions that arise from a reading of the parable of the sower and the seed. 

The story begins toward the end of the second century CE in Corinth, where, for some reason, the Christian community and its bishop, Dionysios, asked for and received a financial gift from the churches of Rome.  It is not exactly clear why the church in Corinth needed financial assistance.  It may have been the result of the Antonine Plague that had recently followed the Roman army back from the East or it may have been a dip in the local Corinthian economy (or some combination of both), but, for whatever reason, there was now a financial need in Corinth.  From the collection of Dionysios' letters, found only as summaries and small quotes in Eusebius' 4th-century Ecclesiastical History, we learn that Soter, one of the Roman bishops, took it upon himself to organize a large collection for the benefit of the Corinthians, surpassing earlier fundraising ventures for Christians and

 Christian communities outside of Rome.   This collection eventually made its way to Corinth and we have in Eusebius a few snippets of the thank-you letter that Dionysius sent in reply. 

If that was where the story ended we might merely have something interesting to say about the development of church hierarchy and organization.  Soter's collection, though not the first such financial collection in Christian history, was a large undertaking at a time when, contrary to how our denominations work today, there was no established organizational structure linking Christian communities together.  The collection was part of the process by which Christian communities, spread out over great geographic and cultural expanses, came to see one another as part of a larger, interconnected whole. But there is a bit more to the story itself. 

Dionysios, the Corinthian bishop, was himself a prolific letter-writer, writing a series of letters on theological and political matters to communities throughout the Greek East.  From what we know of these letters Dionysios fought against the influence of Marcion and supported communities that had undergone local persecution, but he also, and this is where he seems to have run afoul of other Christian bishops, fought against strict stances on lapsed believers and celibacy.  In several of his letters, Dionysios encouraged churches to readmit lapsed sinners, or at least make it easier to do so, and to take a softer line on requiring Christians to be celibate.  These latter positions made Dionysios unpopular in some early Christian quarters.  The bishop of Knossos on Crete, Pinytos, is known to have written a rather snarky letter to Dionysios telling him to stop sending milky teaching, fit only for children. 

It was because of these controversial stances that, when the financial gift from the Roman churches arrived, it came with a letter of admonition telling Dionysios to rein in his political and theological interventions.  The tension that this created can be seen in the fragments of Dionysios' response to the Roman gift.  In his letter he thanks the churches, and Soter, for their generosity but also reminds them that both cities can claim dual apostolic founding by Peter and Paul.  While we might not make much of such a statement, for Dionysios this was a claim to authority rivaling that of Rome, a way of saying that his opinions were just as valid and authoritative as those that came out of Rome.  In a sense, we might see this as a polite way of saying that Rome could just mind its own business, but thanks for the money nonetheless.  The tensions created by this dispute continued to frame the relationship between Rome and Corinth for several more decades, with Corinthian bishops acting independently of Rome on a number of broader ecclesiastical issues. 

This story of early Christian fundraising and diplomacy reminds us that questions of money and how it is to be used are not new to Christian history.  We must always find ways to wrestle with the need to give and the need to make sure that the money that we give is used properly, honestly, and for the good of those for which it was intended.  But we also must make sure that when we give, we do not give with unnecessary strings attached, with expectations that those who we hope to help should passively accept our opinions and beliefs in return for our financial gifts. 

Book review – Lin Gourlay

 Have you read Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks?  I have just read this wonderful novel and highly recommend it.

Geraldine is well-known for the research she puts into her novels.  This is no exception – the book is inspired by the true story of a native American, Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk who graduated from Harvard University in 1665.  He was the first the first native American to do so.

The story is told by Bethia Mayfield, the daughter of a Calvinist minster.  To be a Christian in those days was a harsh and unforgiving path to take, particularly for a female.  Bethia and Caleb form a secret friendship and ........you need to read the book to see how this friendship evolves. 

 Church Roster on the Web —Joyce Lum

The Church Roster can now be viewed on our website at http://crowsnestuniting.org.au (look under "Community").

Please check the roster regularly to see if you can help with any role on the roster.  Then, advise me at the church office by clicking on the link provided. This way of managing the roster was requested by the Congregation.

For a trial period, I will send weekly emails (if necessary) to alert the Congregation of urgent gaps in the roster.

Please note that you can still volunteer by signing up on the roster on the noticeboard in the morning tea area.

Many thanks to Rev Bruce Roy for his untiring input to our website.

Useful information

Church office:   Administrator: Joyce Lum — ph: 9439 6033

email:  crnestuc@bigpond.net.au, Office hours: Tues & Fri, 9.30– 2.00

Minister:  Rev Michael Barnes — ph: 9439 5851

email:  mbarnes1@primusonline.com.au

Family Outreach Worker:  Sally Yabsley Bell, ph: mob 0402 572 060

email:  Sally.yab.bell@gmail.com