Here are some resources to go with my sermon. Contact any of these places for more information on refugees & free email newsletters about refugees in most cases:

Brett Solomon
Refugee Campaign Coordinator
Amnesty International Australia
29 Shepherd St,
Chippendale, NSW
Locked Bag 23,
Broadway, NSW 2007
refugeebulletin@amnesty.org.au
http://www.amnesty.org.au/

ChilOut - Children Out of Detention
www.chilout.org
Email: friends@chilout.org
For information about the ChilOut announcement mailing list please visit: www.chilout.org/activities/call_to_action.html

The Refugee Council of Australia
http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/html/resources/advocateskit.html

Rural Australians for Refugees,
C/- 12 Newry Island Drive
URUNGA NSW 2455
http://www.ruralaustraliansforrefugees.org/

DEMOCRATS REFUGEE E-BULLETIN
If you have been forwarded this bulletin by a friend and want to continue getting them, please send an email to refugees@democrats.org.au
If you'd like to read a PDF or HTML version please go to http://www.democrats.org.au/campaigns/free_the_refugees/newsletters/

Christian World Service
1800 025 101
http://www.ncca.org.au/cws/refugees

8. Aug 31 - PUBLIC FORUM TO PROTECT OUR DEMOCRACY
Indefinite Detention of innocent people should not be part of any democratic system of government.
S A V E – Australia Inc, Edmund Rice Centre, A Just Australia and A Campaign for a Fairer Australia say…
"NOT IN OUR NAME, JOHN!"
IT IS TIME FOR ALL FAIR-MINDED PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN A DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT AND THE PROTECTION OF OUR HUMAN RIGHTS TO SPEAK UP…
Where: Mary MacKillop Place, 11 Mount Street, North Sydney.
Street Parking Available
When: Tuesday, 31 August, 6pm – 9pm
Refreshments on Arrival (Free Entry)
CONTACT: Maqsood Alshams 0422085222, Nina Burridge 0421334353, Lynda Smith 0266888198
For further information and detailed list of speakers please visit our website: www.SAVE.org.au
For details of the ruling, please see: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/high_ct/2004/38.html

9. Sep 19 – A classical concert in aid of ChilOut
Please support the performers and us! Book your tickets for a classical recital being held on 19 September at 4pm, at Crows Nest, Sydney.
Daniel Kaan (Tenor) and Pascale Touma (Piano) will be performing Schumann’s Dichterliebe (“Poets Love”) song cycle, and, with Ann Finlay (Soprano), a variety of music by Puccini, Verdi, Mozart, Schubert and others.
This recital will take place at 4pm on Sunday 19 September 2004 at the Crows Nest Performing Arts Centre in Holtermann St (opposite the council car park). This is very close walking distance to the Crows Nest restaurants...
The cost is $20 for adults and $12 for concessions. The performers are donating their time and all profits will go to ChilOut. More information as it becomes available: http://chilout.org/events Enquiries: 02 9967 3077.

Blessings,
Joe :-)

Refugee Sunday sermon

It's the Australian National Council of Churches Refugee Sunday today (as opposed to World Refugee Day which was a couple of months ago) & I preached for the first time in the morning service (the bigger service, there were over a hundred people) & the first time at all for over 3 years. I spoke after the minister who gave that stats (like 90% of arrivals detained are eventually recognised as genuine refugees by the governments own figures). I spoke for 7 minutes, but the record for the shortest sermon is held by Paul Zanardo, who spoke for 3 minutes.

It’s All Relative

I titled this mini-sermon “It’s All Relative” because God is relational, the gospel is relational; salvation is about having a right relationship with God which results in a right relationship with people; sin is what breaks relationship; indeed the meaning of life, the universe & everything is not 42 as readers of Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy might think, but love, which is about how we relate to others.

God is relational. He is father, son, & Holy Spirit & existed together in relationship before (or outside of) time. Being in relationship with himself he didn’t need to create humans out of loneliness, but he created us out of his love. His desire was that we would have relationship with him & with one another, but by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good & evil we rejected our dependence on God to know what was right & sought independence, breaking our relationship with God & establishing a relationship with Satan, or the accuser (Satan & devil both mean accuser in Hebrew & Greek respectively). Having broken our relationship with him he sought to re-establish that relationship through the cross, where he momentarily broke relationship with himself, and as Jesus took our sin, which is anything that separates us from God, upon himself, & the father could not look upon him. I don’t really understand how he did this when Jesus and the father are one, but by taking what breaks our relationship with God upon himself, dying with it but rising from the dead as conqueror over it, he re-established our relationship with God for anyone who wants it.

One way of looking at sin is that it is anything that damages relationship. Primarily our relationship with God, but most of what damages our relationship with God are the things we do that damage our relationship with one another. If we are the cause of a broken relationship with another, we have damaged our relationship with God and need forgiveness, cleansing & the strength & wisdom to rectify the situation, which we get from God by asking. The whole gospel is relational. One way of looking at salvation is being brought into a right relationship with God, which will bring us into a right relationship with people.

In MT 22:37-40 ‘Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”’

And in JN 13:34f. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

And Paul says in RO 13:8-10 ‘Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to its neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.’

Everything is about how we relate to one another, and the standard is the love of Jesus. So if the meaning of life, the universe, & everything is love, who are we to love? One of the things God wants from us is to stretch ourselves and reach out to people who we would not normally have reached out to, particularly those having a hard time. For example:

PR 19:17 ‘He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.’

LK 14:13f. “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Widows, orphans, the poor & aliens (or refugees) feature prominently in God’s plans & in Scripture. The word alien (which means a refugee) or aliens are used over 70 times in the bible where God is telling his people to love, provide for, share with, grant justice to, look after & not to oppress them, reminding them that they (the Israelites) were or are aliens, or that we are aliens & slaves, telling his people that they (his people) are under the same law and are considered the same in his sight as the aliens, & that God loves & provides for them & watches over their ways. For example:

EX 22:21 “Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt.”

LEV 24:22 “You are to have the same law for the alien and the native-born. I am the LORD your God.”

ZEC 7:10 ‘Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.’

In EPH 2:10 we read ‘For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.’

It is clear from the Scriptures that some of these good works are looking after the poor, widows, orphans, refugees and basically anyone having a hard time. Here’s how Jesus describes his work:

LK 4:16-21 ‘He [Jesus] went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
LK 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
LK 4:19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.”
LK 4:20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”’

As people called to do the work of Christ, we are called to preach good news to the poor, proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour, or in other words to reach out in love to everyone having a hard time. So what are some things we can do for refugees?

One thing is to be informed about what is going on by subscribing to a free newsletter by one of the refugee advocacy groups. Even if you think your not up to doing anything about the situation refugees in this country are in it’s a good idea to subscribe to such a newsletter because the information way well motivate you to take some action. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome & although I have been concerned about the situation for refugees in this country for several years, I hardly have any energy. Subscribing to email newsletters has motivated me to write to refugees, march in a couple of marches, attempt to visit refugees in detention & preach this sermon in the last year or so & I will write to my local MP next.

Another thing is writing to refugees in detention. If you would like more information about any of these activities, ask me afterwards.

______________________________________________
Blessings,
Joe :-)

Spiritual warfare, what is it?

This is a conversation I had with a friend on Windows Messenger yesterday. Greg is not his real name, only the name, spelling mistakes & spacing have been changed [& stuff in square brackets added].
___________________________________________________________________
Greg says: G'day Joe, how's life?

Joe says: Good. I have finished weeks of having mysterious problems & getting nowhere & now things are finally working properly after I reformatted my HDs, reinstalled everything & bought a new modem.

Greg says: Ah yeah, I've just done a format, nothing like a nice clean system. - How's your site going?

Joe says: Good. It was after I last updated it that things went wrong. From my perspective I felt like I was getting a bit of spiritual warfare. I've got more articles & updates partially completed for it.

Greg says: Spiritual warfare? how's that work?

Joe says: I'm a Christian so I believe there is a war between good & evil going on, including in the spiritual realm where there are forces for good (led by Jesus) & forces for bad (led by Satan), so when I put some stuff up about Jesus on my web site without putting in the prayer first the spiritual forces of evil mucked up my computer until I got some friends to pray for me & the situation, a couple of hours after which I got everything working.

Greg says: I thought Christians are against war.

Greg says: When I was young.

Joe says: I am against war in the physical because, as the bible puts it, "our battle is not against flesh & blood but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Spiritual warfare isn't about hurting anyone, it's praying for good to be done, doing warfare against evil. Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, healing (physical & emotional), etc. and praying for good to be done are the way to fight spiritual forces of evil.

Greg says: True to that.

Greg says: But war is war, and with our thought we create the world, so therefore thinking war is creating it.

Joe says: I think capitalism with it's economic rationalism which says everything is about money is the most dangerous force in the world today.

Greg says: True to that.

Joe says: My mum thinks like you do but I'm using words to describe something that's not like physical warfare because they're the words the bible uses & hence widely used by Christians.

Greg says: Which in turn is dangerous due to open interpretation don't you think?

Joe says: OK, here's something that might stretch your imagination. I believe Jesus rose from the dead, so he's still alive, but he went up into heaven after about 30 days of appearing to over 500 men (women weren't legal wittnesses in those days & we don't know how many of them he appeared to), & sent his spirit which lives inside everyone who wants it & helps us understand the bible.

Greg says: That's very fundamental though.

Joe says: So understanding the bible isn't about being the best bible scholar (although knowledge is helpful), but about being in touch with God.

Greg says: I assume that would have to have some sort of deeper meaning as we all know that's not physically possible.

Joe says: Except that Jesus is God in human form and is all powerful. People have been raised from the dead. It happens in hospitals all the time but it also happens miraculously, it just doesn't get into the newspapers all that much.

Joe says: People it happens to aren't interested in proving it happens so they don't go seeking publicity.

Greg says: People have not been raised from the dead, I know people who claim they were, medical science was what happened, - so I assume you believe God/Jesus controls medical science?

Greg says: My uncle, RIP, was 'raised' from the dead. but he wasn't human afterwards.

Greg says: His spirit had left the body entirely.

Joe says: I believe medical science is a gift from God but I have heard of incidents that defy medical explanations.

Joe says: What do you mean raised, but without a spirit?

Greg says: I personally defy medical explanations.

Greg says: That's no feat.

Greg says: He was revived after a heart attack, with no spirit or awareness.

Joe says: In a coma?

Greg says: Sort of.

Greg says: He was dead.

Joe says: But his heart was still beating?

Greg says: Not till medical science stepped in.

Greg says: I gotta go, but I'll not be far off and will be back soon.

Joe says: But after medical science stepped in they got his heart beating again but he didn't regain consciousness?

Greg says: Back, nope, He was a Christian Brother, His master called I guess.

Joe says: I don't get what you mean by he was revived but his spirit had left. Perhaps I should leave it for a face to face discussion sometime.

Greg says: I wasn't there to see him, I can't really say, but from what I'm told he was dead 45 minutes or so before they restarted his heart, but the brain, not working.

Joe says: OK.

Joe says: I've heard of cases where people have been revived & gone on to live normal lives after a few days & I have a friend who spent 2 hours without breathing (about half at the bottom of a dam & half with his father giving him mouth to mouth in the ambulance on the way to hospital) who is fine.

Greg says: So he wasn't dead, just unconscious?

Joe says: Yes.

Joe says: It's not the same as being revived from the dead but he's the only one I know personally except that my mum, dad & brother were all clinically dead momentarily and revived while in hospitals. I'm the only one in my family who hasn't been clinically dead.

Greg says: Still, it's not raised from the dead, or anything like that.

Joe says: No.

Greg says: So the return of Christ, in a non-literal sense, what does it mean?

Joe says: I think it is literal.

Greg says: Then what is the spiritual equivalent?

Joe says: But even if you didn't want to believe his body came back to life (although all the apostles died hideously because they say that he did, so I doubt they were bluffing) you could still believe that his spirit is in the world today & that we are able to communicate with it.

Greg says: I do in a way, I just don't believe it is 'his' - I have trouble with the concept that someone who lived so long ago with no knowledge of our times is still seen as someone in the know.

Joe says: I, & a lot of other people, believe that (1) because his spirit is still around, he's still in touch, (2) his spirit was from the beginning of creation so he knows a lot of stuff from before he came to earth, & (3) his spirit is where we get our good ideas from, so he is the source of our medical knowledge, scientific knowledge etc.

Greg says: That's so far out.

Greg says: So where do all the bad ideas come from?

Greg says: The devil?

Joe says: Everything that isn't good comes from taking something that is good and misusing it. For example, I believe sex is good but then someone goes and misuses it and that is bad.

Greg says: So the Devil has just as much of a spirit floating around as Christ?

Greg says: That makes sense

Greg says: Hence the wars.

Joe says: The devil tempts people to do bad, but it's still people not doing things God's way that is bad.

Greg says: That doesn't make sense, E.g. terrorism as it's on the table, is bad. They claim they work for god, just as we do... - 2 wrongs don't make a right.

Joe says: I believe the story of Adam & Eve means people chose to make their own decisions (the tree of the knowledge of good & evil) instead of trusting God & doing things God's way.

Greg says: What is 'God's Way'?

Joe says: I believe Jesus is the ultimate example of a good person (as well as being God incarnate), so if I do something claiming I am doing it for God but it's unlike Jesus then I'm just fooling myself & doing evil.

Greg says: Like George W Bush's God's Way or Ghandi's God's Way?

Joe says: Ghandhi acted a lot more like Jesus than George Bush does. Jesus said "My kingdom is not of this world" & ran away & hid when they tried to make him king by force.

Greg says: No s**t. I would too.

Greg says: Idiots.

Joe says: He healed the sick, fed the hungry, kept company with people who were rejected like prostitutes, publicans, tax collectors & leprosy victims.

Greg says: Exactly my point, open to interpretation, dangerous to be taking it on a literal level.

Joe says: The point was a really big group wanted to make him king & he could have done it if he wanted to, but Jesus' warfare, or spiritual warfare, is to heal the sick, feed the hungry, make people feel better about themselves etc.

Joe says: To make the world a better place is doing the work of the kingdom of God, or in other words the kingdom of Jesus.

Greg says: -And when that goal is achieved what does he do?

Greg says: I can never be achieved as the philosophy perpetuates itself.

Joe says: That's in books like Revelation in the future. He comes back in physical form (although not with an ordinary body like ours are now), makes a new heaven & a new earth & we live with him.

Greg says: No s**t?

Greg says: Wow.

Joe says: There is a time limit for evil in the world.

Greg says: I don't think so, just that world.

Joe says: That's hell, being separated from God because someone wanted to do evil rather than be with God which requires us to be good.

Greg says: That's so exclusive.

Greg says: As a philosophy.

Joe says: That's a pretty pessimistic view of eternity if you think evil is just going to keep going on & on.

Greg says: I don't believe in eternity, except as a concept, But I certainly don't believe eternity has anything to do with what we are experiencing now.

Joe says: Why is it exclusive? Anyone who wants what is good, wants to be with God, gets to; & anyone who wants to do evil, who doesn't like what God is (whose character is seen in Jesus) gets to stay away from him, in the end.

Greg says: If that were true we'd all be going to hell... and I can't believe that.

Greg says: Who defines what is good? Each religion has different ideas on that, you can't all be right.

Joe says: It's not about the things we do that are mistakes. One difference between Christianity & every other religion in the world is that everything else says we must make ourselves good enough for God (or to be a god), but Christianity (when it's preached correctly) says we can't do it so God made a way for it to happen, all's we have to do is ask.

Joe says: Pretty well every religion is on about looking after the needy & being a peacemaker (except for fundamentalists, who all have one thing in common, they ignore the fundamentals of their religion).

Greg says: That just sounds like laying the blame if and when it doesn't work out.

Greg says: So it's an ideal? overall, look after the weak, make them strong, so they can do what? Look after the weak?

Joe says: It works like this, God's spirit works in people to do good, some people accept it (I believe Ghandhi went with the spirit of God a lot) & some people fight it. Some people want what is good but make mistakes along the way, for which we have all the forgiveness we need because of the work Jesus did on the cross, but some people don't want what is good & resist God more & more & go and start wars because the partly own companies that end up making a huge killing (in both senses) & will end up with what they want eventually, separation from God(which is hell).

Greg says: That's so freaky dude.

Greg says: So fundamental.

Greg says: LOL.

Greg says: So how come we're all living with it here?

Joe says: I believe some things which are associated with fundamentalists, like I believe the bible & stuff, but the greatest commandment (to quote the bible) is to love God with all your heart, mind, soul & strength.

Greg says: Or is this 'neutral ground'? LOL.

Joe says: This is the time that evil is allowed to exist until God sorts out those who want to be with him from those that don't (and by that I don't mean people who say with their mouths that they don't believe in God but show by their lives that God is working through them all the time).

Greg says: -Yes, I understand that all too well, which is why in that case - if judged by your lives, as Christians, when it's time, I don't as many of you will be going to God's new world as you think, as the fundamental and literal interpretations of the bible are fundamentally hypocritical and perpetuate the evil you claim you are fighting.

Greg says: I don't think* - I'm not saying you personally, as you say it's not what you believe it's how you live.

Joe says: The bible says "Love God with all your heart & all your mind & all your soul & all your strength. And the second is like it, love your neighbour as yourself. These sum up the law & the commandments." & "A new commandment I give unto you, love one another as I have loved you." There are other verses that say the entire law (or bible) is summed up by loving each other. People who call themselves fundamentalists & preach hatred are disobeying the fundamentals of their religion whether they are fundamentalist Christians, Muslims or Buddhists (rare, but they do exist). Or fundamentalist Jews (those two laws about loving God & your neighbour are from the part of the bible the Jews use [as well as Christians]).

Greg says: Love God, what is that?

Greg says: Is that everything?

Joe says: To love God is to do things God's way, to love people & to do good. And to get God's help to do this at every opportunity.

Greg says: All these holes, with all these patches, The structure is flawed to start with to need so many patches and excuses.

Joe says: That's why we need Jesus

Greg says: He's not going to do much for you, God helps those who help them selves... God was around way before Jesus, Jesus can't possibly be god in the reality of history, only in a literal sense can Jesus 'be god' and that in itself is quite an arrogant view that 1 man was so special 'God' picked him to take over...

Greg says: Men picked Jesus to take the place of God.

Greg says: Evil men.

Joe says: Not that Jesus was, then God picked him. God was, decided to come to earth in human form & that form was the man Jesus who was always going to be God in human form before he was conceived.

Joe says: Not everyone who uses the name of Jesus does evil. Most charities in the world are staffed by Christians.

Greg says: Not everyone who uses the name Jesus does good... very rare cases.

Joe says: They're not as rare as they are out of the public eye, whereas the people who do evil are in the public eye a lot more.

Greg says: That's true, but the people doing evil aren't in the public eye all the time either, If you're talking about general media, we just forget that as I think we both know that's all a distraction from what's really going on anyway... No I'm talking about overall. In a very broad sense.

Greg says: Global, historical, past present and into the future, not eternal future, just the religious climate of our knowledge in for our lifetime and maybe a little beyond.

Joe says: I think the forces of evil have a lot of influence over the media, hence it becomes a tool for discouraging people & doing evil in itself. Generally media is owned by people who worship money & have no qualms about robbing people of quality of life & life itself to get it, so more of what is evil gets in than what is good. Also bad news gets 20% more attention & when papers have tried printing only good news they went broke.

Greg says: That comes down to the social structure of our society rather than our religious values as a society though don't you think?

Joe says: The fabric of our society is the people who we are that is shaped by our values. Society's values may not always come directly from 'religious beliefs' (although often they do), but what those religious beliefs are describing is going on in everyone's heart, some just know what they're doing & can put a name on it, some can't, & some lie about the name in which they do what they do.

Greg says: Ah, so lying, that'd be something that wouldn't be to good. Sensitive issues as everyone does it to some degree, Either to themselves or to others, on many levels. - But again, that is a human concept, created and governed by humans, you don't need religion to be truthful or deceitful.

Greg says: As it is in the eye of the beholder. The singular outcome is not possible until everyone thinks the same thing at the same time.

Greg says: Very conformist.

Joe says: No, but religion is about why where truthful or deceitful. For example I would say that someone who is truthful is going with God & someone who isn't is not going with God. It's a religious statement about the motives of everyone. It's not just those who believe in religion who are affected by it, but from my perspective everyone is making decisions from religious motives.

Greg says: That's sensible.

Greg says: I like that.

Joe says: Wow! What a discussion!

Greg says: It's the same observation I have, but yeah, From a point of view from someone who 'doesn't believe in religion' - (That's not the case, I have no choice but to believe in it as I know it exists in many forms, I don't question the existence of religion.) I question the effects it has on people as I observe religion as a disability, not unlike my physical one, but religion in many forms is.

Greg says: Maybe quite like it in a spiritual sense, restricting.

Joe says: I believe that religion which is a disability is where to try to make ourselves good enough for God. If we just accept God's help in making us all we can be it's not restricting or a disability, although there will still be mistakes along the way.

Greg says: Progress and the like?

Greg says: Yes, it's a hard call even from the sidelines.

Joe says: What about progress?

Greg says: Accepting God's will, where does that come from?

Joe says: That's our free will.

Greg says: So if it's ours, it's not god's.

Greg says: I have free will either accepting or rejecting god, I still have free will.

Joe says: It's our choice, our free will, whether we will work with or against God's will.

Joe says: Yes.

Joe says: Hence there is suffering because some people have chosen to inflict suffering of their own free will.

Greg says: The problem here is my definition of God. I can't see the creationist point of view as being plausible.

Joe says: Why not?

Greg says: Facts.

Greg says: Science.

Greg says: Logical Theory.

Joe says: What facts? If you mean evolution, plenty of people believe in God & evolution, they believe that was God's method.

Joe says: Logic always falls flat on it's face if you don't have all the information, which none of us
have.

Greg says: Basic maths, Facts+Science+Logical Theory dictate the creationist theory invalid.

Joe says: Greg, I would like to post a copy of this discussion one my web site after removing your name & email if that's OK with you.

Greg says: LOL. I dunno, it's pretty all over the place.

Joe says: I have a web diary that's just for things like this.
___________________________________________________________________
Blessings,
Joe :-)