Holiness and Justice

Giles Fraser, former Dean of St Paul's in a recent column in The Guardian puts his finger on a critical issue concerning the relationship between holiness and justice that was provoked by visit to Bethlehem.

"This is the place where Jesus Christ was born," whispers a guide in an affected and well practised baritone. Bells jingle and incense fills the church. And thousands queue up for the experience with hushed reverence. Buses from plush Jerusalem hotels make their way through the Israeli checkpoint and disgorge their passengers just a few paces from the narrow entrance to this most holy of Christian shrines.

Crusaders lowered the once grand entrance so as to stop pilgrims entering the church on horseback. Nothing so profane as a horse, and its inevitable waste products, must go anywhere near so sacred a place. Leviticus 10.10 puts it thus: "You are to put a difference between the holy and the unholy, between the clean and the unclean." In other words, the church must be protected from the world.

Sitting on the far side of Manger Square, I find myself getting more and more angry with this deeply rooted understanding of holiness. Bethlehem is a place of such vast injustice and social deprivation. The Israeli separation barrier has severed the whole town from its traditional sources of social and economic vitality. Farmers can no longer reach their olive trees. Families who live just a few miles apart can no longer visit each other. Graffiti on the vast concrete wall offers a slender message of hope: "Nothing lasts for ever."

But it seems that for many of the pilgrims to Bethlehem, this complex political reality is something to be passed by on the other side. They have come to find a sacred space that is as protected from politics as the holy is from the unholy. Yet there is a terrible irony in all this. For the birth of Jesus Christ, in a smelly cow shed, and threatened by the forces of occupation, represents a wholesale rejection of precisely this idea of holiness. God is no longer to be set in some pristine otherness. The sacred is no longer to be protected from the profane. Which is why Jesus makes such an ostentatious show of fraternising with those who were traditionally debarred from holy space – the lame and blind, sinners, lepers, menstruating women.

In the life of Jesus, holiness is redefined as justice. Like the prophets before him, he is at best indifferent and at worst downright hostile to traditional forms of protection against defilement – washing, ringfencing the Sabbath from work, and so on. The task of religious professionals is not to keep God clean, as one might defend a brand new exercise book from inky fingers. "I have come to give good news to the poor, freedom to the captive, sight to the blind."  Occupy St Paul's: no church should insulate itself from human raw need

Looking forward - looking back in Timor Leste

Talking with friends from Timor Leste recently who are old enough to remember the Indonesian occupation and the violence surrounding the vote for independence I was struck by both their passion to build a new nation (looking forward) and a passion that those who committed atrocities should face justice and a public accountting for their activities. This is a view not shared by the current political leadership wo are urging everyone to simply look forward.

For a detailed look at the public record on the case of the Suai church massacre, where a militia leader was arrested and then released under political pressure from Indonesia into Indonesian custody see
http://www.laohamutuk.org/index.html

September 2009:
Maternus Bere's crimes, indictment, arrest and illegal release, reactions from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Amnesty International, Fongtil, Indonesian activists, the President of the Court of Appeal and others and photos of protest at Indonesian Embassy in Dili. Also no confidence motion, local and international media on this case. Mos iha lian Tetum. Also media articles about the case and background information on the Suai Church Massacre from CAVR and Geoffrey Robinson.

Following the Spirit – Fighting Injustice

Something new is emerging in Australia and across the world in signs of the recovery amongst charismatic and Pentecostal Christians of a commitment to stand with the poor and to struggle against injustice, according to Ash Barker, Director of Urban Neighbours of Hope, an Australian originated, missional order committed to living with the poor.

Ash was speaking at Kippax Uniting Church in Canberra during the launch of the anthology Following Fire: How the Spirit Leads us to Fight Injustice. The emerging focus on the Biblical call to seek justice, by Pentecostal and charismatic churches who up till now have concentrated solely on the power of the Spirit only for their own use, Ash , was of tremendous importance. He urged Christians committed to the radical character of discipleship to do what they can to support and encourage this development.

The anthology Following Fire, published by Urban Neigbours of Hope. explores how the Holy Spirit leads the Christian community in the fight against injustice. The anthology covers biblical foundations, historical precedents and practical models of Spirit-led justice-seeking. The anthology has been complied out of the conviction that the flowing together of the charismatic and social justice streams of Christianity, to which it points, has the potential to radically change the world.

While the contributors are mostly from Australia and New Zealand, there are a sprinkling of names on the contents page that will be familiar to Christians in the UK and North America, including Stuart Murray Williams, Martin Robinson, Tony Campolo and Richard Rohr.

Who are Urban Neighbours of Hope (UNOH)?

The UNOH community was first formed in Springvale - a multi-cultural city of Melbourne in 1993. The Churches of Christ mandated this new vision and auspiced the work, although UNOH workers and supporters are from diverse Christian churches.

In May 2001 UNOH was commissioned as "a missional order among the poor" by the Churches of Christ. This came after four years of prayer, refection and experimentation around being an Order. Since 1993 the UNOH workers have served in Springvale among Pacific Islanders, East Timorese, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Burmese, indigenous Australians and communities of people with mental illnesses. Ministries in these communities have focussed around starting new churches, leadership development, community development and evangelising.

Since March, 2002, UNOH has be serving in the largest slum in Bangkok, Thailand and has recently commenced a presence amongst the indigenous community in Mt. Druitt, in the outer western suburbs of Sydney.
http://www.unoh.org/html/s01_home/home.asp?dsb=12