Peacekeeping (Dona nobis pacem)

Intro...

Frustration beckons yet again - conflict rising in their throats -
words transform to violent acts - call me to the task...

Verse

What can I say in a room full of pain?
What can I hear in a chorus of screams?
What can I do in a place full of hate?
My heart beats so fast it could burst!

Chorus

Lord, bring peace.
They tell me that this is my prayer.
Lord, bring peace.
As if I can make peace appear...
out of thin air!

Verse

Who will approach the man with a gun?
Who will step up and be seen?
Who will confront the intent of death?
Life seems to sap from my soul!

Chorus

Lord, give peace.
They tell me that this is my prayer.
Lord, give peace.
As if peace might soon appear...
out of thin air!

Bridge

Trained as I am in the ways of the world,

here I am armed with but wit and a will

to see through a vision for the guns to be still

driven to put my own safety on hold

that security might be normalised here

turning this people away from their fear

I pause.... fragile... struggling between despair and promise

...

Chorus

Lord, make peace.
I ask - for this is my prayer.
Lord, give peace.
I ask - I pray - I breathe...
(out of thin air!)

c. A.Koh-Butler, 2018

Double-faith: Ghandi and non-violence

Mahatma Ghandi said:

"Non-violence and truth are inseparable and presuppose one another."
"Non-violence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our being."
"Nonviolence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed."
"Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man."
"Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain."

And

"Non-violence requires a double faith, faith in God and also faith in man."

Me Too - a response

(From my beloved, Terry Butler)

A long time ago, when I was in my late teens, I hit my girlfriend. It was done in a moment of grief, anger, and high emotion. She was having an emotional meltdown due to factors that had nothing to do with me. In my naivety, I tried to calm her, but being a clumsy teenager, what I said did not help an already volatile situation. She lashed out, hitting me quite hard in the face. I was shocked, not so much by the pain, but that someone would hit me. She hit me again, even harder, on the side of my head, giving me terrible pain to my ear. I was really stunned and now in pain. When she tried to hit me again I slapped her on the face. The slap shocked her into stopping her tirade of abuse, which in hindsight I realised was not really directed at me. It took a much wiser head to explain that to me a few days later. However, I was stunned at my own behaviour.

My brother and I were fortunate growing up. Our Dad instilled in us a good understanding of right and wrong, especially when it came to how you treat the opposite sex. He told us that any man who hit a woman is not real a man at all, rather a coward would be more appropriate. There were many other great bits of wisdom from him, and mum as well, but that was a real deal breaker in his eyes when measuring the worth of someone.

For days after the slap, I was racked with guilt. I was not trying to justify my actions to myself, and I’m certainly not trying to do that now. This is just an explanation of what happened. Eventually, I had to tell dad, mainly because I couldn’t bear to look him in the eye while carrying around the horrible thing that I’d done. So, when I told him, he asked me a lot of questions about the circumstances that drove me to the slap. Some of which were; Was she still talking to me? Yes. Do you still care about her? Yes. Would you do it again? No!

The important part of this story, for me, was how I felt when I did it. I didn’t feel powerful. I didn’t feel manly. I didn’t feel strong. I felt mortified.  I had apologised profusely to my girlfriend, and she said she forgave me, and laughingly apologised for beating me up and giving me a black ear.

The point is, how do men who inflict physical and sexual violence upon women and girls live with themselves? The recent wave of stories about men in positions of power, raping, groping, abusing, and physically attacking woman, makes me feel ill. How do they sleep at night? How do they look in the mirror, thinking things are ok? What kind of twisted world do they inhabit?

I don’t have to name them, you’ve all read the stories, you know who they are. However, there are lots more. Would they want their sisters treated that way? Or their mothers? Or do they just see women as ‘cock fodder’, another scalp to make them feel more like a man? Well not in my eyes.

I’m bereft of an answer to this disgusting problem and I’m still trying to get my head around the motivations, the justifications, the misremembering, and the denials.

I think men should start being real men and call it out when they see it. Groping, touching up, slapping. These things are not ok. Being with a bunch of mates, having a few drinks, and sexually intimidating women with lewd suggestions and catcalls is not ok. Be a real man and have some respect. We will all be better off. 

- TB

Giving Voice - singing a new song

Psalm 96:1
1 
O sing to the Lord a new song...


When I was a teenager, I loved to sing in the choir. Actually, I just loved to sing, but the choir was a particularly good place to do it. Singing took me away from the mundane and allowed me to glimpse something beyond. You could say, it was spiritual experience. It was available. It was accessible. It allowed my voice to get out of my body.

The Choir at my school was a joy to be a part of... there were several choirs and each held joy for me. Two weeks ago, I attended my 35 year reunion and I was reminded that Choirs (and the friendships made there) were a highlight. The Choirs sang interesting works. Some of them made me think... not just about the words, but about beauty and possibility. The songs helped me to believe in hope and heaven. They also provided my earliest theological fodder.

The school I went to had been shaped by some of the finest Australian feminists: Betty Archdale and Kath McCredie and a raft of brilliant and dedicated teachers... many of whom I still count as friends. They taught, stretched, questioned, cajoled, cared and blessed us by drawing us out. You always get a few dodgy teachers, but, on the whole, they liberated our hearts and minds to embrace the world. Seeing so many fine women thirty-five years later, we are strong and proud.

Last weekend, my voice was questioned and criticized. I was attacked not only for what I say, but also for being a woman saying it. I was shocked and angry. In gradually letting people know about this violation of identity, I have been grateful for the support and empathy of many friends and colleagues. I also have a heightened consciousness about who responds as a friend and who uses their influence and power to combat such behaviour in our society and our particular communities.

(My work, undertaken with a male colleague, was also criticized publicly with allegations of a flawed approach to the use of the Scriptures. This, coming from people who had not read our actual work.  Our publications stand on their own merit and cannot be interpreted in that way. I have previously experienced this same type of criticism from male academics who have seen fit to criticize my work without reading it. When called out, they revert to... ‘well, that is what someone said to me...’)

Many of my friends are in positions of respect and authority. They have the opportunity and capacity to give voice to justice and rebuke those who diminish us. In reality, we all want to speak up for ourselves, but sometimes it is those beyond (allies and companions), whose voices in harmony allow us the liberty of singing out. As a woman, I invite men to speak up. For people who are marginalized (whether it be migrants experiencing racism or people who identify as LGBTIQ who experience homophobia), I encourage ‘others’ to speak up, stand with, and provide harmony. We should not leave people alone in their struggle for inclusion love and acceptance.

So, just to respond to those who have contacted me, in whatever capacity - I will not shut up.

Missyology

Missy-ology

- the study of women responding to God’s mission to the world.

(Thanks to Ian Packer, from whom I first saw the term.)

I am a Missy-ologist.

I celebrate curves and communal instincts. I do not conform to an ordering or power in the world. For women, from Eve onwards, have subverted masculine dominance. It has something to do with breathing... with blowing the hair off your face while breastfeeding, because your hands and arms are busy holding the life of the world in your embrace.

I do not have time for cigars and whisky - leave that to the pontificating whisky-boys. They can enjoy their sessions of measuring the walls in front of them. I long for the creative circle, where generative and gentle conversation involves a sharing of experiences and ideas to try. Such circles prioritize a culture of refinement through encouragement rather than criticism. Rather than hacking off rough edges, as those boys are want to do, the Missies add some sugar and cream, growing the softer and more responsive parts of themselves, to better nurture the Realm of Heaven.

The embrace of Missies is the firm and authoritative encompassing of all the love for all the world. We do not own or control the embrace. Rather, we hold up our tuck-shop arms and join shoulders in acts of knitting the fabric of the fullness of humanity. We are found among Matrons and Maidens. We aspire to be spiritual Nannas.

Celebrate the Missy-ologists you know - hear our breath blowing the hair from your face as we encourage you as you embrace the world God loves.



(PS - the people who drink whisky and play board games are ok...)

Rome - Wanderings

What does one say about Rome?

For the first time I am here, not as a tourist, but as a Minister.. somehow it changes things! I have been to Rome before, as an opera-singer and as a tourist... and as an avid reader of history.
Today, I arrived differently. I was picked up at the airport and pretty much Chauffer-driven into †he Casa Maria Immacolata (a Sisters of Charity Hostel for pilgrims). I have a lovely single cell-room, with very well equipped ensuite.

Trying to stave off the inevitable jet lag, I wandered the streets, finding myself at St Peter’s Square (which is more of a round than a square), watching the lengthy lines/queues to get into the Vatican. I went into some of the religious stores, wondering if I might buy something not too tacky... have acquired a decent candle for worship for the next few days.

I am now sitting in a quiet taverna close to the Case and the Mercato. I thoroughly broke the fast I have been on by ordering the fried 7 pieces of antipasti... the anchovy-stuffed-olives and the deep fired mozzarella  went well with the house red!

My first coffee in a month is perfect roman espresso... bless the Italians!

To be here for vocation rather than vacation subtley changes the world view... suddenly, I look at the many pilgrims differently.  I observe the Chapel and the local churches differently. I wonder how much of the character of Romans remains from the days when Paul wrote to the early church.

Romans have a confidence about their place in the world that traces back to pre-Paul times... yet, the heritage of Peter and Paul in this city is palpable. Rome was for Peter and Paul what Jerusalem had been to Jesus. It was the place of their final words, suffering, wisdom and blessing.

As I watch a pigeon consuming some crusts and sit at my red and white table-clothed place on the pavement, I smell the tobacco from the diner behind me. In a time when smoking at a restaurant is unthinkable in Australia, it is surprisingly evocative, to sense the slower change of the people and culture here.

Prophetic ministry - gets a Bedding down

For decades the reputation of the Christian Churches in Australia has been eroded by scandal upon scandal. I recollect my Nana telling me she had no time for the Church because of the hypocrisy she had witnessed - of people preaching against the ‘demon drink’ having one or two OR people talking about forgiveness condemning the poor, marginalised or outcast. Indeed, the Church seems to be particularly adept at crucifixion. 

Growing up ‘outside the Church’, I share the wider society’s suspicion of Church motives and Church behaviours. As a Minister in the Church, this makes me particularly mindful of guarding integrity, truth and transparency as precious and necessary for our wellbeing.

I become more conscious of the societal suspicion when I venture into public spaces. People harbour very long-term hurts and experiences of confusion and rejection, often arising from past encounters with an institutional mentality that appears as the antithesis to the teachings and example of Jesus. One might almost say, some in our society view the institutional Church as the Anti-Christ!

When I was the Uniting Church Minister at the city congregation in Newcastle, this was particularly evident. Weekly (sometimes daily) news stories about paedophilia and institutional cover-ups haunted  both Catholic and Anglican communities. Being a woman Minister, many of the victims approached me for conversation. I was shocked and horrified at the shunning of these people from their own places. It was shameful to witness, particularly as I knew so many people in both churches who were working very hard to change things. However, individuals struggle to redeem the culture of institutions if those same institutions pull the wagons around in defense, and do not allow themselves to be refined and restored, through confession and correction.   

The public places where I have heard so much disappointment and disillusionment have included: NAIDOC and Reconciliation Week events, Rallies supporting humane responses to refugees and asylum-seekers (Love Makes a Way, Jesus was a Refugee, Release children from detention, Public readings of leaked files from Manus and Nauru), and Marriage Equality (Australian Christians for Marriage Equality, Love is Love). At such events, wearing a clergy collar brings two major responses: people cursing or spitting at you OR thanking you for restoring their faith and confidence that God cares (or, at least, that “the Church doesn’t just comprise arseholes!”). 

Being engaged in public ministry, prophetic action and public theology is complex and difficult. It requires spiritual discipline, as the stories are hard and challenging. It requires deep commitment to prayer and bible study, as finding the faith response means plumbing the depths of lament and identifying hope and light in the darkness. It requires friends and colleagues, companions on the Way of Jesus together, who understand what it is to carry the burdens of others and share the responsibility for ministering to a hurt and broken world.

One of our companions on this prophetic journey is, in the words of a member of his Parish, “a deeply spiritual man”, and, in the words of a member of his Parish Council, “creative and faithful”. He is also funny. When you are in his presence, you want to smile, because there is honesty and hope and the deep joy that comes from knowing Our Lord. He is human, enjoys a good meal and good company, but never forgets that we are blessed in order to bless others. As a true Evangelist, he has a heart for reaching, connecting with, communicating with those who are beyond the Church’s current reach. His name is Chris. He is my friend. Just over a week ago, he celebrated a “YES” mass, welcoming people to the Lord’s Table who had felt unable to approach for a very long time. What wonderful ministry.

It was therefore with dismay that I learnt that Chris was to be suspended from ministry, pending institutional procedures...

                       

Yesterday, Chris sat in a pew in the Parish where he is Priest, listening to a letter being read to his congregation informing them that he was “suspended from ministry”.  It did clarify that the issue/s of concern had nothing to do with sexual abuse of children... something Churches always need to clarify these days, due to our decimated reputation.

The Mass was celebrated (minus a few people who walked out).
Then the Parish Council then made their own courageous response in a statement.
You really couldn’t write a script like this. Unless, perhaps, you were TS Eliot describing the corruption and lack of transparency in Church politics.

What the institution may not understand is that prophets (whether on social media or on the stage or in the pulpit) are accountable for their calling to God. Most of us are also accountable to our churches (denominational structures) and so we obediently sit there and take what committees and councils dish out. Deep down, we know, however, that the institutions also will face God. This gives us the courage to continue. When one falls, another picks up the cross, and then another. The public prophetic calling doesn’t go away with one scalp or two. Call us heretics or blasphemous, but don’t underestimate God’s capacity to raise up more of us.

Prophets make religious institutions uncomfortable. Largely, this is because the prophetic ministry involves telling truth to the world, to self, AND, most dangerously, to Church. If Pirate Church has accomplished one thing, it is to let people know that the whole Church is not oblivious to its own failings. The Church should stop claiming to be perfect and remember that it is a house of sinners. As such, it is able to offer a foretaste of the Kingdom of Heaven... not in its fullness, but a glimpse. One which was seen when people take a risk to stand for good.

Despite their fears and concerns and despite the punishing experience Fr Chris must be enduring, I believe the Parish has been blessed, is blessed and will emerge from this wiser, stronger and better equipped for mission and ministry in the world. Chris’ exemplary leadership is a great contributor to that. 

My prayer for the Parish and for Chris:

Gracious One, who was rejected by the authorities,

You understand the pain and frustration being experienced.

Place your Wisdom within Chris - and your patience and comfort.

Give your energy and confidence in the Gospel to the people of St Cuthbert’s, 

especially their Parish Council. 

Bless the Diocese with fresh commonsense and humility 

And a spirit of reconciliation.

Above all, O Lord,

May you work for good in all things.

Amen

For published news on the situation:
To read the Perth Newspaper Report - click here!