It was a delight yesterday to see the film Holding the Man with one of my most lovely, compassionate and Spirit-filled gay friends.  Based on the poignant 1995 memoir of Tim Conigrave, Holding the Man (a resonant expression drawn from Australian Rules Football) tells the story of the love and life he shared from schooldays with John Caleo, including the struggles they faced with others and their tragic early deaths from AIDS-related illnesses.  Adapted by Tommy Murphy in 2006, Holding the Man became one of the most successful of recent Australian stage productions.  This film version will hopefully widen the audience much further, honouring Tim and John by increasing light and understanding and strengthening our human solidarity against all kinds of sexual and gendered oppressions.

The film is certainly also 'a story of a generation'.  From a personal point of view, as an exact contemporary of Tim and John (albeit on the other side of the world), I was indeed touched by remembrances of my own school days, university experiences, and early adult life, especially of wonderful gay and lesbian friends who also endured much pain (including some even to shocking early deaths) whilst vibrantly helping to transform our inherited climate of fear and repression.  I also recalled my days as a young priest in London in the 1980s as the horror of the AIDS crisis broke upon so many, together with the horribly fumbled, generally fear-filled and, occasionally, fabulous response of Christians, as church bodies and individuals. 

How far have we come? In many ways, we have traveled a long way, even in Christian circles.  Yet only a few days ago the New South Wales Government banned the showing in schools of the film Gayby Baby, which offers the opportunity to enter into the experiences of children growing up in lesbian and gay families.  All credit therefore to Dendy Newtown for screening Gayby Baby at this time, to encourage others to enlarge understanding and provide public pressure upon uncertain authorities.  Indeed, as we bought tickets for Holding the Man, my friend observed to the young cashier that he had had to travel from the Central Coast to find the nearest screening.  'How sad', in this day and age', she replied, 'that cinemas everywhere aren't showing it.'  For all the gorgeous steps taken, we are still very much on the journey of compassion and solidarity, never mind of celebration.  Indeed, alongside admiration for so many like Tim Conigrave and John Caleo,  I was left yesterday with deep sadness, and renewed frustration and anger, at the slowness, and sometimes sheer reaction, of so many Christians fully to love their sexual selves, so many of their 'neighbours', and their God of infinite compassion and creative diversity.  In the context of my generation, the negative responses of Church authorities and Christian parents to Tim and John's love was more understandable, though no less shocking and stabbing to the very heart.  I rejoice in those, across the world and from so many Christian traditions, who are seeking to walk a different pathway, centred on a Christ of a very different yet authentically biblical hue.  Compared to the wider western world however, and even the attitudes of the bulk of our own church membership, I fear the institutional church is still a very long way from where we should be.  As Aussie Rules would have it, if we are not, in different ways, 'holding the man', then we are so often either not even on the paddock, or 'holding the ball' of a bygone generation.  May we be kissed afresh with peace, joy and understanding.

It was a delight to meet with local Muslims today to affirm our shared concern for one another, our city and peace in the world.  A number of people spoke well, not least Dr Shahab Abdullah the spokesman for the local Iraqi Muslim community.  Tea and cake then helped seal the deal.  What a contrast with the over-reaction of some, including those who closed three local military museums this week, thus, to my mind, exacerbating community anxiety rather than alleviating it. Even the police present seemed a bit embarrassed about currently having to wear firearms as part of the security reaction to recent events.  Whether that is alarmist or not, it certainly does not reassure those of us who tend to feel less secure in the presence of weaponry rather than with it.  More positively, it was a joy to speak with five Indonesian Muslim women who are in their last week of five in Toowoomba.  They spoke with wonderful pleasure of their experience here, not least the excited interest they had conjured up in visiting a local school yesterday.  Once again the benefits of 'table fellowship' shone through: last week in the Buddhist monastery, Sunday in St Luke's, today among USQ Muslims.  Such is an important path to peace.  As another Christian pointed out to me last week, in a much more conservative Christian setting, Jesus was much more a guest than a host.  Should more be willing to step out of their comfort zones and risk vulnerability, there would similarly be much more joy and solidarity to quell our own anxieties and transform the world's genuine fears.  Anyone for another cup of tea?

“If one part suffers, every part suffers with it." (1 Corinthians 12.26) - this is part of the reality of our contemporary lives in the one world we now inhabit. It is very difficult not to be affected by the sufferings of other parts of the world, particularly if we share in Christian relationship.  The situation in Iraq is a particularly grave one.  As the Archbishop of Canterbury observed recently:

what is happening right now in northern Iraq is off the scale of human horror… we cry to God for peace and justice and security throughout the world, and especially for Christians and other minority groups suffering so deeply in northern Iraq.

It is therefore a sad but important duty to share in prayer and solidarity with those who suffer.  As we do so, so much of scripture also comes alive in a powerful manner and we are drawn back to the cross and mercy-power of God.  

Yesterday, in St Luke's Church, we shared a particularly poignant Prayer together with other Christians.  The initiative was from a young Christian, Courtney Heyward, from another (independent Evangelical) church, who has been touched to the heart by the situation in Iraq.  It was a reflective occasion, with readings from scripture interspersed with times for silent or shared prayer. Stones, or 'prayer rocks', were given to everyone present to hold as we prayed, reminding us of the hard things endured by others (including the burying of loved ones by the side of the roads of flight) and of the rock of God's love at the heart of all things.  Towards the end of the gathering, each of us laid our stone at the foot of the cross and lit a candle of hope.  We also shared some ways in which we may offer practical support to the persecuted, including giving to appeal funds and advocating for the needs of refugees.  May God's mercy and strength comfort, turn the hearts of those who inflict terror, grant wisdom to those in leadership, and renew all who suffer.