Sometimes Parliament is seen as a soap opera.  If only it were!   For though it remains so white and suburban, even TV’s Neighbours has just included a transgender character.  It is a positive sign of the times but makes recent political developments all the more incongruous.  For whilst the wonderful Georgie Stone enlivens Erinsborough High, in politics a green light is being given to repression.  Why are we rushing towards religious discrimination laws when we’ve not yet even sorted our schools issues?  So the question I want to pose is this: what kind of neighbours do we want to be as Australians together? 

Current parliamentary discussion is failing trans people - not least those of faith - in both process and specific proposals.  Hence Equal Voices calls for postponement, into at least the middle of next year, to enable genuine consultation with those who will bear the greatest cost.  The proposed Religious Discrimination Bill is a move towards enshrining disturbing forms of religious privilege and segregation which can only corrode our pluralist culture...

One more step along the road we go.  For it is 6 years, almost to the day, since I successfully proposed a diocesan Synod motion for the Anglican Church Southern Queensland to explore a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), inspired by the work done by the Toowoomba Catholic diocese.  I was reminded of this this afternoon as I took part in filming Reconciliation stories with Anglicare Southern Queensland and other diocesan colleagues as part of a new and developing Anglicare Reconciliation project.  It has certainly been a sometimes frustrating, but also, above all, deeply enriching journey for me personally.  For - from Cunnamulla to Buderim, through Toowoomba, the Gold Coast, and Brisbane -  I have walked, yarned and worked with all kinds of people, from all kinds of different spaces and with all kinds of different stories.  So it was lovely to share today in bringing some of this together, in immediate advance of NAIDOC Week, in order to enable fresh steps ahead with many more people.  The RAP, is, and always was and will be, an ambitious project - seeking to work together over such a large and diverse area, with all sections of the diocesan family - and there is so much more to do, but today was an example of how rewarding this can be.

If Samuel Johnson were around today he might well feel that religion, rather than patriotism, is the last refuge of the scoundrel.  It certainly seems to be an excuse, or self-justification, for all kinds of bad behaviour, as well as a source of strength and inspiration to holiness in others. Not least this is the case in regard to some leading Christian approaches to LGBTI+ people and their vigorous intent on backlash.  At times horribly distorting reality, they even hijack 'religious freedom' into its opposite - i.e religious privilege - thereby further diminishing religion's positive features and making life very difficult for those very many Christians who believe and act differently.  Indeed, when it comes to the current contentious battle over 'religious freedom', as both a transgender person and a Christian, I consequently frequently find part of who I am dismissed by one contending group or another.  When, instead, will we recognise that the real problem are the scoundrels?  Just as Samuel Johnson was not attacking patriotism as such, only a false kind of patriotism, so we do well to call out those with 'bad faith', whilst finding a fresh consensus among those genuinely seeking balance  of conscience and liberty, whether we are secular or not. ..

Jim Thompson. our lovable bishop who ordained me deacon in London's East End, used to say that not a week went by without him wondering why he was still in the Church, and yet not a day or two without experiencing something of the amazing gifts which come with being a priest. I thought of this when I was reminded this week of the 25th anniversary of the passing of the ordination of women measure in the Church of England's General Synod.  Writing in the Church of England Newsletter this week, Emma Percy, Chair of WATCH (Women and the Church) in the UK, commented pertinently about the joys then, and the achievements and frustrations since.  As she reflects:

It is now 25 years later, almost half of my life, and the young people I work with have never known a Church of England without women priests... (now) part of culture appearing in TV, adverts, novels; both fictional and real examples. Yet, tensions over the role of women still continue in the church... The debates around women bishops meant that the church’s continuing uncertainty about really welcoming women into all orders of ministry was played out for the wider world to see. Sadly, this means that many younger people think the church is out of step with gender equality.

25 years on I rejoice that the church has benefited, and continues to benefit, from the priestly ministry of so many women. I rejoice in the ministry I have been able to have. I hope that we can continue to encourage women to serve in this way and that the Church of England will find ways to truly celebrate the momentous decision made 25 years ago.

Those are memories and reflections with which I concur.  It is a mixed bag.  Indeed, as my first grandchild comes to be baptised (in Christ Church Gosford) tomorrow, and in the wake of the Australian postal vote on marriage equality, it leaves me pondering: what will be the shape of the Church in another 25 years?...

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. 
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the Pope’s horses and all the Pope’s men (and women),
couldn’t put Humpty together again.
 
For good and ill, the era we know as the Reformation has hugely shaped us.  It involved immense fragmentation: both a breaking down and a breaking open.  Like Humpty Dumpty, that which went before had ‘a great fall’ and could not be put together again as it had been.  Especially within Christian life, it has thus bequeathed so many features we simply take for granted.  Some have lasting value.  Others are much more questionable.  This includes the very existence of different Christian traditions, in what, from the 19th century, we have termed denominations.  This was  not, of course, an intended outcome.  Indeed, it would have seemed anathema to any Reformer, as well as to the Church of Rome.  Yet it is part of our Reformation inheritance.  So what do we make of this, for God’s continuing mission?  What is worth keeping?  How might we move on together?
 
This reflection is not a traditional potted history. Nor does it seek to draw us into comparisons of our different Christian traditions, never mind reassemble past dynamics and rhetoric.  Instead, it outlines briefly both vital differences and also important similarities between that age and our own.  In doing so, it identifies a number of negative features which often mar our churches and world.  It also suggests a number of positive features which can heal and take us forward.  Hopefully, in the contemporary spirit of ‘receptive ecumenism’, these may then provide a basis for assessing which Reformation gifts we will own together and which we will leave behind.  What else, we might then ask, do we need for our journey onwards today?...

Better late than never?  Today I am coming out fully as a transgender person.  It has been a lifelong journey to this point and I am sure there are more struggles to come of a different nature.  Tonight however I feel the deepest sense of joy and freedom - like that of Paul in his letter to the Galatians (more reflections about that and other wonderful trans affirming parts of the Bible and Christian Tradition in due course) - and I know that I now stand more clearly in the imperishable image of God in which I am created.  I feel greatly blessed by this moment and all who have inspired, gone before, supported and/or stood by me.  Thank you to anyone reading this who has been part of that :-)  For my coming out has profound spiritual dimensions for me which I believe are sources of healing, strength and renewal for us all.  Like my little grandchild cradled in my arms in the photograph (see left) I feel more intimately part of God's 'new creation', a little child cradled in the love of God. 

Below is the letter sent (with the kind support of my archbishop) to my fellow clergy today in the Anglican Church Southern Queensland,  together with just a few resources which may help our mutual understanding and growth.  Together with the archbishop and my college principal, my loving partner and I pondered and prayed hard about the best way to share my news, aware both of the current contrasting levels of knowledge and care in our churches and also seeking a path of healthy transparency without causing unnecessary reactions in some quarters.  I therefore hope and pray that this may be part of our continuing journeys into wholeness and joyful life for us all...

It is easy to become afraid these days.  After all, we live in a very fast-paced world and today’s media brings us immediate revelations of fresh horror and violence anywhere across the globe.  These can quickly disturb our thoughts and emotions and magnify such troubles out of all proportion.  They can also lead us to mistrust others different from us, not least those who themselves are survivors or potential victims of the very forces which may be challenging us.  We live in times therefore when we badly need to grow love among all people.  For love, expressed in prayer and wise action, is the only true antidote to fear.  When fear rises within and around us, will we close the doors of our lives and world to others, as the first disciples did after the terror of Jesus’ death?  Or will we, like those first disciples, re-open those doors and re-connect with others in new ways, as we experience and grow more deeply in the peace of Christ?  Being sensitive to fear and violence is human but how we handle these things is what shows God among us.
 
A wonderful sign of the divine presence in the midst of our troubled world was the All for Peace gathering at St Luke’s this July.  It came about at the request of our Iraqi Muslim community who asked if we would host something to acknowledge the pain of Iraq and the wider world.  Muslims asking Christians to host a joint event – in a church building -for peace: imagine that in many parts of our world!  What a lovely expression of the model of loving community for which so many parts of our city of Toowoomba have been working and praying so hard.  It was certainly a moving occasion, with a nearly full St Luke’s, and with contributors including our Mayor, Federal MP, District Police Inspector, faith leaders, St Saviours school children, and many more!  We reflected together on the violent acts which had recently taken place in France, Germany, Turkey, the USA, Sudan and elsewhere.  We lit candles.  We placed flowers outside in a public witness.  We recommitted ourselves together to help make Toowoomba even more of ‘model city of peace and harmony’.  For one good model or example can be like the one candle which dispels the darkness which can seem so threatening.  Each of us, in the strength of Jesus’ nail-marked hands, can be that candle for our own fears and violence, signs of divine love for everyone, lightening up our world.

'When someone starts talking about principles, watch your back!'  This was one of many 'bon mots' I learned from Geoff Garner, my delightful supervising vicar when I was a curate in the East End of London.  Partly what he was saying was that when human beings become agitated, for or against a controversial proposal, humanity  and genuine love go out the window.  So called 'principles' and 'values' become used as weapons: at best providing insulation from genuine engagement, or, often, simply being used to harm others.  Geoff himself knew well to his cost how this worked.  As a founding member of LGCM (originally the Gay Christian Movement), as an inter-faith adviser to the Bishop of London, and in the open and humane way he ministered with others, he was frequently a target of others' internal difficulties and defensiveness.  For Geoff, and for me, this is far from how Jesus lived, taught and acted.

Last weekend I spoke at the Toowoomba Marriage Equality event, sharing my own, positive, perspectives on what is too often an area of Christian 'principled' resistance and denial (click here for my address on that occasion).  At the meeting, I was once more struck by the qualities of love, joy, and kindness so many LGBTI+ people have for one another and others.  Since then, I have once more been overwhelmed by the generosity and warmth of fellow marriage equality supporters with whom I have corresponded.  This, I believe, reflects the immense wellspring of love within the LGBTI+ community which still longs for full release.  It is a powerful contrast with the spirit of some Christian circles which persist in turning their backs on this wonderful source of renewal for us all.

Most certainly, there is also Christian discomfort about marriage equality which is neither bigoted nor defensively armed with principles.  One of my close Anglican colleagues for example is wary of marriage equality legislation because they feel some advocates are themselves equipped with principles (such as exaggerated 'rights' discourses) which they can wield like aggressive weapons.  Perhaps, but I saw none of this last weekend in the keynote addresses of Marriage Equality leaders such as Shelley Argent and Rodney Croome.  Instead they spoke with humour and humility about those things which touch all our lives: love and family, pain and joy, being valued, recognition and relationships.  These are not abstract principles but the realities of life which bind us together.

One Christian leader who has upbraided me since last weekend accuses me, among other things, of being infected by humanism.  It is one accusation - unlike many others - which, with qualifications, I am happy to own.  For a healthy Christian humanism is surely an antidote to picking up the weapons of principle.  Like my mentor Geoff Garner, I see in Jesus the embodiment of the humane as well as the the holy, someone who stood not on principle but in the power of love: in that sense being both fully human as well as fully revealing of the mystery of divine love which transcends all our human differences (male and female, Jew and Gentile, and all the rest - including queer and straight).   

Julia Baird, in a recent article, reflects, in a typically incisive and balanced manner, on the challenges of discerning what is 'free' speech and what is 'hate' speech in the marriage equality debate.  My sense is that part of the answer is in returning with prayerful discernment to the Christian injunction about 'speaking the truth in love' (Ephesians 4.15).  Too often this can mean Christian justification for simply being mean, aggressive, demeaning, or worse.  When I hear or read the words 'I just want to say this to you in Christian love', I am also instinctively tempted to duck for cover, just like Geoff Garner.  It is hardly that I do not care about truth and truth-speaking.  Part of my problem is that parts of the Church do not really want to explore truth and sometimes actively seek to silence the truths of others.  No, the heart of the matter is what we mean by love.  Is it truly an openness to genuine truth-seeking and the fresh insights of the Holy Spirit, or is it only a cover for ego and group fear and defensiveness?   Whatever our views on marriage equality - and, sadly, the debate is likely to go on in the Church as a whole for ages after it is settled in Australia in law - when we come to 'speaking the truth in love', perhaps we need to spend more time on that last word love.  It is too easy to leap to principle without love.  For those of us who share in pastoral care, the ability to share a prophetic word is also important.  Yet we need to be kind and compassionate in how, as well as what we say.  For me, much maligned 'political correctness' often seems really to amount to no more than being polite and respectful to others - precisely the opposite of the Pharisaism, wielding principles like weapons, which Jesus so abhorred and transcended.  We are not all agreed, not will we be, with or without a plebiscite.  Most Christians however, for and against, genuinely seek to honour God and our conscience.  So let us seek the truth indeed, but let us be gentle with it.