© 1999 Alcress Communications

As we continue on with our Gospel readings covering the last part of Matthew's Gospel, we find Jesus is encountering increasing opposition to himself and his message. No longer were his opponents indifferent, but now they were hostile, but they feared public opinion. So they sought to trick Jesus. They used his openness to questions, as a means to attempt to defeat him. And in the next story in the Gospel narrative, the defeat of the Pharisees and the Scribes, led their political opponents to seek Jesus' endorsement on their view of the absence of the Resurrection.

In both these cases, it is interesting to notice that it was words that were used to trap Jesus into a political position. There are many people who have made a profession of twisting words for their own benefit. To attempt to have what is said interpreted in a new concept.

The door stop question, - "Mr Howard, Mr Howard have you stopped beating your wife?" or "Mr Beasley, Mr Beasley, is your alcohol problem now under control?" Successful politicians have learnt to recognise the sub-text, sadly many people are caught by clever journalism, seeking not illumination, but denigration. Those fans of Sir Humphrey Appleby will recognise the power of twisting words for personal benefit.

It is also worth noting, that to oppose the Liberal position on university fees, does not mean that one sides with Labor. One of the tragedies of the Westminster System is that it seams to promote the idea that there are only two alternative views, and this often hamstrings us from finding God's solution. In the same way that zealous Christians and politicians have always claimed that God is on their side, now it is the party members that see Jesus as their supporter and seek to win the Christian vote in that way.

In some ways, we are lucky that we are such an apathetic nation with regard to religion, because it has meant that the church has been free to oppose government policy no matter who is in power. In America, no one will be elected president unless they are designated as born again and the Christian vote is manipulated by careful minders.

Sadly, the church has seen politics introduced, and our middle course that we as a diocese have sought to keep is in danger with an influx of people from Sydney and with Sydney shaped views. This radical right has already start to plot their candidates for the new bishop, with our own archdeacon indicating at a public meeting that our job in nominating candidates for Bishop was to get our candidate up. Quite rightly one of the youngest members present queried this thinking. I do ask the question, is it a coincidence that the Archdeacon is leading a campaign to discredit that parish at this time.

Now I can be tempted to be sucked into the gutter of political intrigue in the church. It is a game, and those of you who know me well will know I have a passion for games. I could seek to find a candidate that needs my support, and plot and plan to see that they are elected, but this is missing the boat. If my faith is in a omnipotent God, then why must I give anyone political support unless, they were man's rather than God's choice.

These are critical times for the Diocese, and indeed for the parishes of the Diocese, for a political appointment will destroy us. I believe that we are in trouble now not so much that God has deserted us, but rather we have deserted God. Patronage and power-plays are sadly the norm in the upper levels of this diocese, but our responsibility is not to try and play this evil game. Rather we should use the light to expose it, and prayer to defeat it. Political appointments will have no time for the views of the country, but will seek to pander to the powerful city blocks that support them. Politics has its root meaning in the greek word Polis - a city.

The city, as I have said before, is not the place of God. In the city, water comes from taps, milk from cartons and food from grocery stores. It is the people of the land, that are close to God, where God and people in partnership to survive. Certainly this is an act of faith, (although not every one recognises it). The planting of seed and indeed all activities are done with the sense that God will do his part. (Perhaps some of the greatest disasters on the land have come when humanity has over stepped the line).

On the land, it is a case of rendering to Caesar the things that are his and to God the things that are God's. We do not grow crops or wool by waiting and praying, but by hard work. But we wait and pray that God will do his part as well.

Jesus is actually warning us of two things here. There is the danger of secularising the sacred and on the other side, the danger of making sacred the secular. Jesus is encouraging us to be both good citizens and good Christians. We are to be citizens of heaven and of earth. Giving God, and the civil authorities their due. How often do Christians make bad citizens? How often do we miss the opportunity in our daily walk to bring the divine into the world? Christians need to be engaged with every part of society - Rotary, Parents and Friends, School Councils, Municipal Councils, Parliament, Green Groups, Gun Clubs and the list goes on. We are the Body of Christ and the voice of Christ who is to be proclaimed to the ends of the earth. Church, is the centre point and if you like the power source for people to go out. We meet here to Go out to love and serve the Lord - But our place is in the world.

In an accountability group that I belong to, we ask the question - How have I brought a Christian Influence to my environment….

We make the secular sacred, when we withdraw from the world. The classic example is the group who are known as the exclusive brethren. Few people know them because they are exclusive. Fearing the worlds influence, they have turned their back on the world and on the people of the world and mix very much with themselves. They are godly people, but they do not touch the world with their lives so the draw no one else to Jesus.

It is easy for us - who live and work in the world to take these things into the church - into God's world. This is the great danger of politicising the election of a bishop. But more than this - it is the danger of viewing the church as just another organisation that needs to be managed. Much of the church growth theories out of the USA are thinly disguised management theory (Which I might add does not work in the business world either). Church is about being a membership drive and not about being a live giving source. In the much vaunted Bill Hybels movement, the twin attitudes of providing good entertainment and following up those who are not there is what they proclaim. But this is not restricted to America.

St Hilary's Kew in Melbourne have the same thing, providing a service to their people - walking clubs, discussion groups etc. and it is the young people that flock in. Why? They are after entertainment. In the Bill Hybels system, you fill in a card each time you come and this is punched into a computer and your absence is then identified and a follow up letter dispatched. Very Efficient, Very Secular. We know who isn't here and we meet them in the street. And what does it matter anyway? They still believe.

As people of faith, which the land forces us to be, then we need to keep the balance between the secular and the sacred. To keep these things in proportion. A tragedy each week would fill this church, because people in these times are experiencing a need. Our challenge as God's people, is to show the world that you and I have something that their lives miss. People do not come to the church, if we show little difference to the world. The trick is to be both in the world and in the kingdom at the same time.

I am not sure that I have the answer to how. I am not even sure that there is any set formula. But I do know that the fundamental starting point is when we become people of prayer. The election of a Bishop is a good opportunity for us to pray corporately with people from all over the diocese. Will you join me in this challenge.

Let us render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's and may God grant us the power to distinguish the two.

AMEN.