1. I’m struck as I read the New Testament just how much of it is concerned with finding unity across distance.
Be it cultural distance (Jewish and non-Jewish Christians); confidence to live as a distinctive Christian minority who, nevertheless, are intelligible to the cultures around them (the so-called “stronger” and “weaker” Christians); and, of course, the mountains of passages about how to handle conflict, disagreement and sin.
A surprising thought rings out through these texts – unity within the body of Christ is deeply precious, it is worth contending for and is more important than being right. This thought is easier or harder to believe based on what’s going on around us.
I’ve got some pastor friends in Melbourne who tell me that they have to rebuild unity in their church when certain teams end up in finals together, such is the level of strong feeling. I’ve spoken with pastors in Washington who find the same after their presidential elections and in England after Brexit.
This referendum has just sorted us all into a binary – Yessers and Noers. And yet in the gospel we all share the same designations – loved and adopted children, forgiven sinners, branches in the vine.
2. To my sisters and brothers who voted for the Voice and are now disappointed by the result.
I mentioned at the Referendum Forum a few weeks back that we should ignore arguments that suggested that implied that the Voice would be the silver bullet for reconciliation or addressing indigenous disadvantage. The Voice proposal was not a messiah replacement. It was only ever a gesture towards the kind of world that Mary sang about where the humble are lifted up (Luke 1:52).
Because of the true Messiah Jesus, we will one day live in that world. Regardless of whether we’re observing the arc of the moral universe bending towards justice or not, we can be confident that:
One day justice will roll like rivers.
There will be more opportunities to gesture to Jesus’ grace in the public square.
And so let me urge you to resist the weed of bitterness (Hebrews 12:15). Bitterness grows a long taproot and spreads prolifically, so it’s best to pinch it out when you observe it.
3. To my sisters and brothers who voted no in the referendum.
I completely understand how tricky it might feel to live in a disappointed city when you got the outcome you, and the rest of the country, had asked for. Indeed, you might be feeling like the assortment of reasons that drove your vote have been trampled into an accusation or insinuation of racism.
That sense that the “other side” think poorly of you can calcify into indifference overtime. I think of the Brexiteer’s references to “Remoaners” – the dismissive nickname for people disappointed by the outcome of the Brexit referendum.
And so let me urge you to find grace for those who think differently to you. If you voted no because you didn’t like the model, when it comes time to feedback on future options, let’s look for ways to be constructive participants in that discussion.
Friends, this weekend is the Windows to the World festival – a time when Canberra’s embassies throw open their doors and display their culture. Renew is an embassy of the kingdom of God. In the way we treat one another in the aftermath of this referendum, we’ll be demonstrating our culture – that we are known by our love. I pray that it might show our city a different way to be.
grace and Peace,
Steve