Good News
Good Neighbour

At the workshop we held on 23 June 2019, we set a foundation for work which will now take place, in Church Council and across the Congregation, to shape our future in the ways identified.

There were more than thirty people who participated in that workshop. That group gave strong support to the proposal that Queanbeyan Uniting Church work to become an engaged Good Neighbour Church which is also a committed Good News Church, with other options less strongly supported.

I plan to speak, next week, about the option for being a Good News Church. Today, my focus is on the question: What does it mean, to be a Good Neighbour Church?

The starting point must be the briefing notes in the workshop from a few weeks back. The group allocated the task of arguing for a Good Neighbour Church was given these comments:

The gospel invites us to be a good neighbour to everyone around us. Entering into constructive and respectful relationships with the people who live in our city is central to our faith. Engaging in activities that are already underway around us, and sharing in the work of serving others, means that people will come to know us better, and come to appreciate how our faith motivates us to be faithful disciples, sharing with others.

People from a Good Neighbour Church will take part in many such activities, serving meals to people in need and volunteering to provide shelter to the homeless, as sorters and sellers at the local Op Shop, in the annual fundraising fete, and other ways. We need to build on these involvements, have more people participate in them, and seek out new opportunities for such engagements with others.

We want to be a good neighbour church: church that people think of first when they look for something in the community!

And that was the brief that carried the day at our workshop.

Now, as it happens, Jesus also has something to say about being a Good Neighbour. He was pressed on this point by a lawyer, a scribe who was a student of the Law, one who was—like Jesus—well-versed in the scriptures of the people of Israel.

The scribe, wanting “to test Jesus”, as Luke reports, posed a question. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Now, the stock-standard way that Pharisees and scribes dealt with a question that was posed to them, was to ask a question back, in reply. So, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?”, was how Jesus came back at him.

The scribe dutifully quoted scripture to Jesus—another much-favoured technique in the array of scribes and Pharisees. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Not one passage, indeed, but two; one from Deuteronomy, on loving God; and a second, from Leviticus, on loving your neighbour.

This, of course, opened up the way for Jesus to commend him, as a good scripture student. “You have given the right answer”, said Jesus; “do this, and you will live.” But “wanting to justify himself”, Luke writes, the scribe then asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” To which Jesus replied, not with a question, not with another scripture passage, but with a story: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho …”

And you know how the story goes: first one, then a second, traveller comes along the road, sees the injured man lying beside the road, and each of them continues on. Now, the story makes it clear that these were devout, committed, religious people; regular in the synagogue, knowledgeable about the laws and commandments, and presumably faithful to their scriptures as they travel to Jerusalem, to attend the Temple, to offer their sacrifices. Good religious people.

So, we may well presume that these passers-by knew well the scripture passages referred to by the scripture student who in discussion with Jesus: the command to “love God” as well as the command to “love neighbour”. Yet, although they knew these passages, although they could recite them by heart, although, perhaps, they were ringing in their ears as they made their pilgrimage to Jerusalem; nevertheless, their actions were not consistent with their beliefs. They did not stop to assist; they did not love the neighbour, lying bleeding and bruised by the roadside; and they, therefore, did not love God, the one who had created the wounded man, the one who yearns for positive, respectful relationships and diligent, compassionate care for one another.

It is one thing to say, we believe in God, we love God, we do what God requires. Yet central to the words of God repeated in the dialogue between Jesus and the scribe, is the simple command, “love neighbour”. Make your actions consistent with your words. Let your way of living be in accord with your expressions of belief. Be a caring person to your neighbour. Be a Good Neighbour Church.

Last weekend, Amy and I were amongst the 300 plus people gathering in Sydney for the meeting in council of the Synod of NSW and the ACT. We met to pray, to listen, to sing, to discuss, to decide. The theme was Living Church. There was a wide representation of people from across the Synod.

There was a lot of talking during that meeting, I am sure you will not be surprised. There was also a lot of listening, as we listened to inspiring keynote speakers, as we listened to people presenting proposals, as we met in small groups to undertake discernment together, as we debated and decided on a range of matters.

My sense is, very clearly, that the Uniting Church, as a whole, is very clearly a Good Neighbour Church. At different times during the Synod, we expressed the ways that we seek to be good neighbours with a range of people

On the first day, we spent a productive time exploring a comprehensive report on what is being done, and considering what might be done, to advocate for the needs and of particular groups in our society. The Uniting Church has been the lead body in a number of significant campaigns. We have been active in seeking fair treatment in relation to illicit drug usage, and very active in the Give Hope campaign for Asylum Seekers and Refugees.

Through the social arm of the church, Uniting, we have been involved in the broad community movement to seek better arrangements for Affordable Housing in Sydney, and relentless in pursuing responsible living within our environment and climate change advocacy. There has also been involvement in policy development relating to domestic and family violence, as well as the scourge of poker machine gambling.

During the Synod meeting, we were asked to consider what other issues required attention.

In one session, a large group of younger members of the Synod gathered on the stage, along with the Uniting Earth Advocates and the Uniting Director of Mission, Communities and Social Impact. They made a compelling presentation which convinced the Synod to adopt a Climate Change Strategy Plan. This has multiple elements, each of which needs significant and sustained buy-in from all of us across the Synod.

Last Tuesday evening, at the regular fortnightly meeting of the BS group within our congregation, there was a strong sense of enthusiasm about this plan, and a collective commitment to the kinds of action that are required of us in the church. As Amy works with this fine group of faithful disciples, seeking to follow the Way of Jesus in daily life, we can have some sense of assurance that the future of the church is in good hands. In our midst is a group that knows what it means to live faithfully and to serve others as good neighbours.

On the final day of the Synod, the body enthusiastically supported a set of proposals, shaped around the theme of NAIDOC Week 2019 (Giving Voice, Telling Truth, Talking Treaty) to encourage people across the church to become better aware of how to relate to First Peoples and advocate with our governments for treaties to be established with First Peoples nations. It was my privilege to be able to present those proposals and speak to them as an expression of my own sense that, the be good neighbours, we need to value and honour the place of First Peoples in our society.

So, in the Uniting Church, we seek to be a Good Neighbour Church. In our Synod, this is an active element of our life, as I hope I have indicated.

In Queanbeyan, it is clear to me that the history of this Congregation has involved many varied enterprises which demonstrate that we are Good Neighbours to those around us. Over the years, there have been playgroups for young families, and youth groups for people at the critical stage of exploring what shape their lives might take.

At the moment we provide some of the volunteers for Safe Shelter, ensuring that people without a home have a safe place of shelter at night. From our congregation, there are people preparing and serving meals with people of other denominations at St Benedict’s, as well as volunteers at The Jumble to offer goods at low prices to people with constrained budgets and to recycle useable goods, and at The Shed to provide companionship for people who are lonely,

For many years, the Spring Fair has offered an opportunity for constructive engagement with our neighbours from across Queanbeyan. Last year, this Congregation hosted a Fair Trade Conference, indicating that we want to support neighbours living in far away lands, to ensure that the work they do is fairly recompensed and that they have opportunities to love fulfilling lives, even if in societies that are much less well off than our own in Australia.

And in recent years, the proposal that we might work more closely with HOME to be a good neighbour to some with particular housing needs, has been active. We are a Good Neighbour Church. We seek to be a Good Neighbour Church. No doubt, we will continue to be a Good Neighbour Church.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighboir as yourself.” In these two passages which are cited in the story of Jesus and the scribe, we see how we are to be Good Neighbours: in a citation from Deuteronomy, on loving God; and in second quotation, from Leviticus, on loving your neighbour.

Let us be Good Neighbours.

At the workshop we held on 23 June, we set a foundation for work which will now take place, in Church Council and across the Congregation, to shape our future in the ways identified.

There were more than thirty people who participated in that workshop. That group gave strong support to the proposal that Queanbeyan Uniting Church work to become an engaged Good Neighbour Church which is also a committed Good News Church, with other options less strongly supported.

I spoke, last week, about the option for being a Good Neighbour Church. Today, my focus is on the question: What does it mean, to be a Good News Church?

The group allocated the task of arguing for a Good News Church was given these comments:

Telling the good news is central to who were are, and who we always have been, as a church. Living the good news in our deeds alongside our words is important, but primarily we need to speak the word of hope, offer the gospel of salvation, call people to faith and seek to build the church through the Gospel.

We know that the gospel is for sharing, so we need to share the good news in our lives, through our words, by our actions, in our relationships with other people. We know that the gospel is for living in all that we do, so whatever we do needs to be accompanied with words that testify to that good news. We need to develop programs and groups that focus on the Gospel. We need to be a good news church!

And closely related to that vision of being church was the description of a Discipling Church, which was described in this way:

In the early period of the history of the church, Jesus called a group of people to

follow him, spend time with him, learn from him, and in turn introduce others to him. This process of discipling is integral to who the church is and what the church should be. We need to provide people with training in how to share their faith, teach others about their faith, and grow more disciples.

Our primary tasks as a congregation are to share the good news, train people in faith, equip members for a range of ministries, and grow groups of committed Christians. We need to develop or adopt programmes that will train people to be able to disciple other people. We need to be a discipling church!

In fact, a number of people who participated in the workshop, observed to me that a Good News Church is so closely related to a Discipling Church. So today I want to take them together.

And in considering these two forms of church, we have the offering, today, of the well-known story of the visit that Jesus made to the house of Martha and Mary.

This is a story about telling stories. In the church, we need to be good at telling stories. The story of our faith is central and significant for us. We need to be clear about how we tell that story. And we need to be practised in the art of telling stories.

Let me ask you, as a simple story-telling exercise: how would you describe the insides of this church to someone who has not attended here? What story would you tell them?

I wonder, how would you describe the colours on the mural? How many actual colours are there?

(I counted 18, across the different shades of grey, green, blue, brown, and creamy white-ish.)

How would you describe the shapes in the mural? And what reference point do those shapes provide? I am told that the shapes reflect the contours of the hills around Queanbeyan, as seen in this picture, which normally sits on the wall in the CAST area.

Come to think of it: how would you tell the story of this church, and especially of the CAST area? Who knows what CAST stands for? (Caring and Sharing Time area)

I was quite taken by the story told by Geoff McCubbin when he was here for the celebration of the 25th anniversary of this building. Geoff told a story about the two tables in the church: the table in the sanctuary, where the congregation gathers to share in communion with Christ; and the tables in the CAST area, where the congregation gathers to share in fellowship with each other. It is a story which explains the core commitments of our Christian discipleship. I thought that was a vivid story.

Telling the story can be powerful. It is central to our walk of discipleship. We are all charged with telling the story, of Jesus, of our faith, of our discipleship.

The gospel passage about Mary and Martha is a well-known passage. Telling the story is central to this incident. Telling the story is what Jesus was doing, when Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, to listen, and to learn from him.

However, as this story was told, we need to remember that it was the first century, and women were expected to provide the meals, not sit at the feet of the master to be taught. That was the place for women. Martha was disturbed by the disrupting of this expected place. How was dinner going to get on the table if everyone decided to sit and listen to Jesus’ teaching? Surely Mary must have had some obligation to attend to the guests, and surely Martha must have been quite hurt by Jesus’ words. Was Jesus really criticising Martha and elevating learning ahead of hospitality?

In shaping his gospel, the evangelist we identify as Luke specifies that Jesus has women followers who contributed to his ministry. In his first century context, Jesus in Luke would have been obliged to defend the right of women to learn, to be disciples, to be on the same level as the men. Mary’s right to learn is precisely what Jesus is protecting here by refusing to send her into the kitchen. Jesus will not let dinner take that away from Mary.

The point Luke is making is not that Mary has the better part, which is how translations usually render this verse. It sounds like it is an either—or choice: either listen and learn, or cook and serve. However, this is an inaccurate translation of the word used here (agathos), which simply means ‘good’. Mary has chosen the good portion. She has made a good choice. And Jesus is saying that Mary has the right to make that choice and not be squashed back into the expected first century role of being in the kitchen with Martha.

I suspect we have a problem with this story because we tend to interpret it as being a stark contrast between Mary and Martha. We see one who puts her distractions aside to listen to Jesus, and another who worries herself to distraction with trying to make dinner for all of them. Some may see in this story a contrast between productivity and learning, between practice and presence, between duty and love, between the active life and the spiritual life, between works and faith. I think such contrasts are unhelpful, and we should not be dwelling on what is seen as Martha’s shortcomings and Mary’s spiritual qualities.

Surely the two sisters represent together who we should be as people of faith. Listening to Jesus is not opposed to serving Jesus, but is presented as a legitimate choice for Mary. Jesus does not tell Martha she is doing the wrong thing. He says Mary has chosen the good thing at that point. If there is any critique, it is of Martha’s anxiety, not her service. They all do need to eat.  It is both-and, Mary and Martha, it is not either Mary or Martha.

Martha is engaged in the necessary task of serving others. Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, engaged in the necessary ask of spiritual and faithful learning. And both of them surely did each of these things out of love for Jesus. Is saying Mary has chosen the good part really implying that learning is more important than active service?

So, we might well deduce, from this story, and the one which came before it in chapter 10 of Luke’s Gospel (the parable of the Good Samaritan), that faithful disciples are equally to be Good Neighbours, and tell Good News. As a church, we can be both a Good Neighbour Church, serving those in need in our society, and a Good News Church, telling the story about Jesus, and Discipling others in this community of faith to be able to tell that story effectively and faithfully.

The body of Christ is not meant to be a homogenous whole.  It is made up of different gifts and graces. The gift of hospitality is as important as the gift of learning. Those serving others are reminded of the grounding provided by being attentive to faith needs. Those attending to the word of Jesus and the voice of the Spirit can be aided and grounded by the necessity of service.  The Uniting church has always had its heart the recognition that we find unity in our diversity, that the body of Christ is made up of people who practice their faith differently to each other, and who have a variety of gifts and graces. The church benefits from all these differences, as there will invariably be the right person with the right gift for any occasion.

The gift of hospitality and service, as a Good Neighbour Church, is as important as the gift of learning and discernment, as a Good News and Discipling Church. We need to be both people who grow their faith through learning and who meet the needs and grow the faith of others through serving.

So the story invites us to value each other, to appreciate the diversity of gifts which we offer together, and to rejoice in them. All are needed if we as a church are to exemplify lives of harmony and fullness, be well-rounded disciples, and to grow our own faith and the faith of others. We can be a Good Neighbour Church, sharing the Good News, Discipling others so they also can serve and share.