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Sermon
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CALLED TO A NEW HUMANITY “Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot
contain you,
much less this house that I have built!” 1 Kings 8: 27 Today’s reading from the book of Kings is part of the dedication of Solomon’s Temple – a ceremony that marks the lengthy completion of the Temple to house the Ark and the books of the Law (the Torah) in Jerusalem. It has two quite extraordinary elements. ONE. Solomon declares that God is far greater than anything we can imagine. God is everywhere and cannot be contained, for that would be to control God. TWO. God is not the exclusive property of the people of Israel. Today, we would probably put it this way: nothing that we could ever construct; be it a building, a nation, a philosophy or a religion could ever contain God. Where would such ideas come from? They are certainly not consistent with the ideas of Solomon’s time. Most scholars accept that these were added long after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. The original dedication is actually 1 Kings 8: 12, 13. Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.” It was during the exile that the Israelites came to understand that there were many others who treated them in the same way that they treated each other. Today, we would say that this is an acknowledgement that people share a common humanity. I want you to remember these two ideas: God is not ours to control and all God’s people share a common humanity. I
The interaction between the displaced people and the culture in which they find themselves runs right throughout the history of those of the Jewish faith. It has been a history of acceptance and also of persecution. Christians have far too often discriminated against Jews. (You will remember Mel Gibson’s extraordinary outburst.) Jews have even been the object of the most evil crime imaginable in what Pope John Paul II described as the “century of the holocaust”. But even in the darkest days of Nazi persecution, which you and I can not even begin to imagine, there were those who put their own lives at risk to do what they could to save them. Two of the most famous are the German Oskar Schindler and the Swede Raoul Wallenberg. There were many others; some known and others known only to God. Many Jewish survivors left Europe to find new hope and a new life in other lands. Some came to Australia. Let me tell you about one I met in the early sixties. Paul came from Poland and we discovered that we both shared a common interest. In my last year of school I came to know the music of Gustav Mahler. At that time I believed that the greatest piece of music ever written was Mahler’s 2nd Symphony. This was a piece that had a special place in Paul’s heart and he was one of those instrumental in arranging the first Australian performance in Sydney at that time. The thought of hearing it again was one of those things that sustained him through the dark years of persecution. I must tell you the title of the symphony. It’s called ‘Resurrection’. There are many people today working in our society who help and support those who come here. I know that there are some of you here who support the Hotham Mission Asylum Seeker Project. Here is what the Hotham Mission volunteer, Michelle Rowland, says about her experience. (The names are changed.) The first time I met Natalia, I was struck by her eyes - it was the strength that shined from this woman. Here she was, a refugee from Kyrgyzstan who had spent the last four years seeking refuge in Siberia before coming to Australia. She had been through so much and her question to me was ‘Why do you want to help me and why are you doing this?’ That was back in April 2001 at Hotham Mission’s office in North Melbourne. Since then, we’ve become wonderful friends. She married an Australian man of Russian background and they have had a beautiful daughter together. Natalia, like many asylum seekers in Australia, has a tough life here. We have endured countless visits to the Department of Immigration and completed copious amounts of paperwork. She was unable to work legally and was ineligible for Medicare. Despite our best efforts, the government forced her and her Australian daughter back to Kyrgyzstan in order to acquire a spouse visa. Another eight months of bureaucratic, corruptive red tape in Russia passed before her return to Australia. Through this and much more Natalia and I have formed a very special friendship. I smile when I think of the impact this one woman has had on my life and that of my family. I am privileged to see her family come together and start their new lives only a few suburbs from mine. They now plan for the future and are talking about schools for their two beautiful children Yulia and Helena. I look forward to celebrating my wedding with Natalia and Mihail present. Natalia is making our bonbonnieres – she’s a great cook! Australian society is made up of many different groups of people from different countries and backgrounds. For many years our society has valued and respected this diversity. It is what has made us what we are today. We are all Australians, and the contribution of this diversity has enhanced and made our society the fair, tolerant and generous society that has attracted newcomers here in the first place. Although, it must be said, we still have much more to do, especially with our indigenous Australians. Let me continue Paul’s story. Paul’s ship had just passed under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. He was leaning over the rail of the ship which was full of immigrants. The person next to him asked him his name. Paul told him. “Oh!” said the other, “You can’t go into Australia with a name like that. You better change it!” So the first thing he did in Australia was to go to the nearest telephone box and run his fingers down the ‘S’s to find the closest name to his. From that day on ‘Paul Smilowicz’ became ‘Paul Smiley’. Alas, this was extremely common at the time. Multicultural Australia has made those who are building a new life here feel free to be themselves. But is this still true? We live in a world with the threat of terrorism. Sometimes the concern about terrorism can fuel emotions and prejudices. Last week, you will remember the taxi driver strike in Melbourne. This revealed the considerable racial and religious abuse that many of these people (many from India) have to put up with. In the last five years there have even been attacks on both Synagogues and Mosques. Let me tell you about an English couple I met who were here on holiday earlier this year. I asked them about how the recent terrorist incidents affected them. The husband said, “Life goes on and we forget about it. Our life hasn’t changed much at all. We still do the same things that we always did. But one thing that really does annoy me is the way it has changed the way I think about others. A stranger will attract my attention for some reason and there is a sudden distrust – just for an instant, but that’s all it takes. I have to make a conscious effort to hold on to what I believe about others.” If we allow fear to take over, it can very easily rob us of our sense of justice and fair play which is so much at the heart of our system of values. Of course there is a physical threat. Our society must diligently seek out those who plan or commit such atrocious, evil acts and bring them to justice. But these are extremists and to judge whole groups on the actions of a few is a betrayal of the very values we believe in. Vigilance is one thing but it must not be allowed to become a distrust of whole groups. Preserving our faith in others is achieved through knowing and understanding others. II
Let me turn to the global ‘stranger’. The willingness for countries and individuals to help out in tragedies is rising rapidly. None of us can forget the effects of the 2004 Tsunami. Many medical and surgical teams from Australia and elsewhere stopped what they were doing and rushed to do what they could all over the Indian Ocean. Global aid agencies quickly went to the aid of survivors. People all over the world contributed funds. Those of you who watched ‘Compass’ last Sunday night will remember this story. Charlotte Eaton is a young British music teacher who used to spend her holidays at her favourite holiday spot of Unawatuna in Sri Lanka. When she heard about the devastating Tsunami, she immediately quit her job and went to help. She had some money saved up and she used all of it in helping people rebuild their livelihoods: e.g. buying a cooker for one family so that they could make their restaurant function again. When this happened they could then employ others and purchase food from farmers. This could lift the whole community. She used her mobile phone to tell her family and friends back in England and they raised money for her to continue her work after she had used up all hers. Charlotte Eaton rushed to Unawatuna because she knew the place and the people. Our world is shrinking because of greater access to air travel and the Internet. People are exploring many different places and coming to understand other peoples and cultures and religions more than ever before. People can share the vision that it is possible for the human family to live side by side in peace, rejoicing in a beneficial diversity. In all the examples of the stranger I have given, those who helped others thought about nothing else other than that there were humans in need. When a natural disaster hits some Middle Eastern countries, the ambulances bear the Cross, the Star of David and the Crescent. Compassion and love transcend ALL boundaries that we construct between us. So often the violent images and words in the media cloud the fact that the world contains so much goodness. The hope for the modern world must be grounded in the idea found in most religions that when we are at our best, it is because we are called to a transcendence far beyond ourselves. The first President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Hável, said this: “However different the paths followed by different civilizations, we can find the same basic message at the core of most religions and cultures throughout history: people should revere God as a phenomenon that transcends them; they should revere one another; and they should not harm their fellow humans. To my mind, reflecting on this message is the only way out of the crisis the world finds itself in today.”
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A sermon presented by Robert Sanderson at St Aidan's Uniting Church
North Balwyn, on 27th August,
2006
IT MAY BE REPRODUCED WITH
ACKNOWLEDGMENT. |
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Page updated 01/09/06