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A novel vision for the Uniting Church
A novel vision for the Uniting Church (by Paul Langkamp)
Assembly President elect, the Rev. Alistair Macrae, publicized his election last year, with a press release entitled, “Prayerful activist elected church’s next president”. Apparently a well-considered statement, it began by thanking members of the Assembly for their confidence and asking for their prayers. Mr. Macrae “outlined his hopes for the church”: He said the Assembly had been immersed in the process of discernment about unity and diversity but that “if we are to be truly church, neither can be pursued at the expense of the other. To isolate them is to create idolatry.”
The “process of discernment” surely refers to the Reforming Alliance’s objection – and the majority of church members’ objection - to the Assembly’s intention to ordain homosexuals. “Unity and diversity” Macrae further explains as; “… a church that is grounded in prayer and worship, both activist and contemplative, traditional and contemporary, orthodox and experimental, contextual and universal, which values both personal holiness and social holiness” Unity and diversity he seems to consider a balancing of opposites that recognize “..... that spiritual vitality, oxygen, comes when we hold the great polarities of faith and life in creative tension rather than eliminating one or the other.
He knows, as every good storyteller knows, that interest is created by tension – the greater the tension and the greater the opposing forces, the great the excitement. For the novelist, neither force can be pursued at the expense of the other. They have to be balanced – to have a good reader-grabbing story. Indeed, Macrae declares, “And for many of us that freedom for diversity is the oxygen that keeps us in the church and the faith.”
Oxygen? Has Macrae forgotten about the very presence of Christ himself in worship, who gives us life, indeed eternal life? And what of the last sentence of this vision; “To isolate them is to create idolatry”? Is it a warning? A threat? Is it merely a mixing up of spin, sociological and Biblical ideas? Idolatry is worshipping an undeserving object, and Macrae means that both ends of his polar pairs are worthy. His statement makes no sense at all.
As usual, God’s Word makes the matter clear for us. Colossians 3:5 “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” All Christians are united in the Church, Christ’s body, by their gratitude to Christ for their salvation, and their ongoing striving for sanctification. Making God’s church oxygen – like a novel’s excitement - is idolatry. In Macrae’s media release we can see what muddy thinking arises when we try to justify sin in our lives, and in the church. Surely, the church to which more than a million Australians, at the last census, look for leadership in their Christian lives can give better leadership than this.
This media release was until recently to be found at the website for the Centre for Theology and Ministry, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania. Then Macrae was announced as the principal of that Centre. There is a new website. On it, Macrae is now called the Chief Executive Officer of that Centre.
