Blogs

Last week I went to a Presbytery meeting.

This is rare, but I was compelled by the topic - a proposal that the Uniting Church accept same-gender marriage. (This proposal will go to the triennial Uniting Church Assembly meeting to be held in July in Melbourne.)

The meeting was well attended, and the Moderator, Simon Hansford, who chaired it, facilitated a helpful process of conversation.

Last year on Anzac Day, ABC presenter, Yassmin Abdiel Magied, tweeted,

‘Lest we forget (Manus. Nauru. Syria. Palestine.)’

Her tweet unleashed a torrent of outrage and vitriol.

One TV host said, ‘Lest we forget Yassmin you are brown, you are Muslim, and you are a girl, and that’s the only reason you have a job at the ABC.’ He then called her an’ idiot’ and a bitch.’

Yassmin took down her post and apologized.

What evidence do you need?

For a long time, I was a fan of ‘doubting Thomas’ (John 20:24-29); his willingness to ask hard questions, his unwillingness to accept at face value what others told him. In a way, he is a forerunner of the scientific method, ‘Without evidence, don’t believe.’

Now, I see other dimensions to this story. Yes, there is much to admire; yet, there are limitations in Thomas’ demand for proof.

Easter invites us to experience death and life in that order. Many people respond, “I want my life now, and death can come later.” As my mother would say “A life that wants dessert before the main meal.”

It is a life that avoids pain at all costs and becomes obsessed with happiness. When pain and suffering come (or broken dreams or disease or obesity or insufficient funds), so unprepared for the feeling are we that we run away, desperately searching for a sugar hit of happiness.