HOMILY FOR CLOSING LITURGY OF THE SYNOD 4 May 2003

HOMILY FOR CLOSING LITURGY OF THE SYNOD
4 May 2003

In his book “Christ and the Victory of God”, Anglican Bishop Thomas Wright said that
Christians need to develop a symbolic imagination if they wish to understand Christ who during
his life acted symbolically. Newer Australians, in contract with our older Indigenous brothers
and sisters don’t easily think symbolically, but nevertheless on our Synod journey and here again
in this gathering place we have been surrounded by symbols. (I believe I should mention that in
this year the Archdiocese is celebrating our first great symbolic act of worship, the Mass,
celebrated with the Aboriginal people of Stradbroke Island by Archbishop Polding and the
Passionist Fathers 160 years ago.) In our midst the Synod candle, symbol of Christ, the light of
the world, lit from the paschal candle in the Cathedral, has been burning brightly throughout all
our discussions. It rests upon a large clay jar that at the Cathedral was filled with water as a
reminder of our baptismal life in Christ that we are privileged to share, a symbol that is
reinforced by the marvellous dancing and creation images on the banners and booklets that we
are able to view in this hall. I’m sure you can also remember the small clay jars handed out at the
Cathedral (it seems a thousand years ago now) when we began our journey to the Synod.
Thoroughly biblical, seemingly a little strange for some, but nevertheless reminding us of our
fragility and nobility as children of God, the jars were taken back and placed within our parishes
as a reminder of the forthcoming Synod that has happened here over the last three days. So our
symbols have gradually changed, but the most important change has not been in the symbols so
much as in ourselves. Like the first people of God, we too have been people on a journey, being
moulded and shaped by what seemed like a never ending process of discussion groups, planning
groups, communications groups, reading groups, writing groups, liturgy groups, prayer
gatherings, Cathedral visits, Liturgies, Preparation Days, choir practice, liturgy practice, not to
mention the two Preparation Days here at Clairvaux Mackillop College. Nevertheless in the
midst of all that activity God’s Holy Spirit was at work. We arrived almost like wandering
strangers, but ever so slowly we became a community familiar with each other, and unified by
the realisation that we are brothers and sisters in the one body of Christ. In the midst of all that
seeming chaos the Spirit of God was at work, trying to create order whilst at the same time
seeking to enter our lives and draw us all a little closer to God’s vision for each one of us.
Over these last three days many people inspired us, none more powerfully than the young people
who addressed our gathering today, as did also the manifold Archdiocesan Kingdom activity that
we learned about in the strangely sounding BAPs (not bats). We realised almost for the first time
how much good is being done in the Archdiocese, often unrecognised and unacknowledged. At
the same time we realised the challenge that still lies ahead. The Rev Alan Kuchler, the
Moderator of the Uniting Church, who brought us that marvellously warm greeting in the
Cathedral on the occasion of our Opening Mass, said to me afterwards “you know it is easy to be
cynical about Synods, and perhaps they never achieve as much as we would like, but the great
blessing of the Synod is that it is always brings people of faith together for their mutual benefit
and that of the larger Church”. Our gathering here certainly deepened my faith and I hope it has
done the same for you.
At this Synod we have been largely engaged in the first two realities that we identified in Christ’s
vision, namely Christ himself and the communion of the Church. Now we are faced with the
stark reality of Mission and it is always a little bit challenging and frightening. Here in the
Synod we have given those earlier realities of Christ’s life our close examination, now with the
help of God’s Holy Spirit we will seek to address the third aspect of Christ’s life namely his
Mission by implementing the recommendations that we have drawn up from this Synod. Today
the short compact scripture reading from Gospel of John tries to help us in that regard:

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1) In the first place it assures us that all of us are chosen by Christ. Christ indicates in the
Scripture we have not chosen Him but He has chosen us. He did so and we have
responded through the power of the Holy Spirit. That may make all of us feel quite
marvellous until we realise that Judas was also chosen, and initially responded. The
challenge for us is that we just can’ t respond once in our lives, but we need the help of
God’ s Spirit to keep on responding. Judas is always there to remind us of what may
happen if we don’ t respond. Like Judas, sometimes in our lives we too may recognise the
fact that we have stopped responding, and yet the important thing is that we should never
lose hope as Judas did, but continue to work on our faith with Prayer, Liturgy, Spiritual
Reading and Christian Action. God has chosen us, so let us rejoice in his choice but let us
never take it for granted. I must admit I have a soft spot for Judas and I hope that one day
I will be able to meet him to hear the full story of his life but I am not sure where I should
go to do that, but I am sure that wherever it is it will be interesting.

2) In the Scripture Christ then tells us that faith is not merely a privilege. It also brings
responsibility. He now wants us to “ go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last” . Unlike the
man blessed with talents in another Gospel story faith is not meant to be buried. It must
be used to promote the reign of God and such response will vary from person to person.
For one, it may mean deciding to become a Special Minister of the Eucharist, for another
talking to the lonely person at the end of the street, for another making ethical
investments, for another protesting about war or abortion, for another making an impact
in business or politics. We are all called to work in the Kingdom according to our
different talents. So let us do that.

3) Christ also comforts us by assuring us that in all our endeavours God walks beside us and
we need to recognise this in our prayer “ whatever you ask the Father in my name He will
give you” . As one, who at the tender age of seven in Stanthorpe prayed unceasingly for a
pony that never arrived, and who at sixty-six prayed for rain in the same town which
arrived only after Archbishop Phillip Aspinall had made the same request, I realise there
must be certain pre-conditions attached to Christ’ s guarantee. The first condition must be
that my request should promote the reign of God, and in that regard I am not always good
at discerning that direction. Nevertheless the prayer of the Kingdom, The Our Father is
always a safe prayer to say and as a result it is a favourite prayer of mine as we strain
forward asking for the coming of God’ s Kingdom “May your Kingdom come, may Your
will be done”.

4) Finally we are commanded, and please note the word “ commanded” , to love “ one
another” . That is the very hardest thing Christians are ever asked to do. Sartre, the
French Philosopher, said that “ hell is other people” . Most would not agree with him but
sometimes we may feel that there is a great deal of truth in what he said. I try to see the
presence of the Kingdom of God by identifying each and every person as my brother and
sister in the one family of God. Sadly it is all too easy. Loving other people is the hard
part: the communication with others, the forgiveness of others, the practising of kindness
to others, the generosity to others, the commitment to others, the standing up for others,
the caring for others, and all of those different actions are the difficult parts of loving each
and every person. But we must work at it if we really believe that we are followers of
Christ.

Tonight as we move towards the end of this Liturgy can I say that it has been good to be with you
here over these last three days of Synod. Thank you for your friendship, your welcome, your
humour, your table fellowship, your challenges, your honesty, your wake-up exercises here in the

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hall, your intelligence, but most of all your faith. I believe that I am a better person for being in
your midst. Could I thank in a special way the Priests who have made heroic efforts to be here
over these last three days. For that I am truly thankful, as I am sure we are all thankful and I
would invite you to show your appreciation of their presence here during this time. We started
with symbols, so let us finish with another symbol, a simple one, one that is well-known to all of
us and one that emphasises what has happened here over these past few days. In the light of
Christ’ s command to love, and our willingness to try to obey him, could we now reach out to one
another with the sign of peace and friendship.