Carlton Conversations

Carlton conversations @ the Clare Castle Hotel

2010 series — ‘What I believe and why’

2010 Election Leaflets

Anyone for a bit of transparency in their 2010 election propaganda?

What a great idea. Thanks!

check out http://www.electionleaflets.org.au/

Election leaflets are one of the main weapons in the fight for votes in Australia.

They are targeted, effective and sometimes very bitter.

We need your help to photograph and map them so we can keep an eye on what the parties are up to, and try to keep them honest.

Election 2010 UCA Resources

Hi Guys, below is all the great work from uniting justice on some of the issues and things to think about leading up to the 2010 election. I have copied the page in full because it could do with a couple of home plus less clicks for you. I will have some hard copies at upperoom project this month or just download some now.  - Age

Your Faith, Your Vote, Your Voice

When it comes time to exercise one of our core democratic rights and responsibilities and vote in a parliamentary election, how do we think about our vote? Do we vote the way we always have? Do we vote on the basis of a single issue? Will we vote for whoever is promising the most? Is our vote based on which candidate will be better able to  represent our locality? Will we think about what kind of society we want and which politicians seem to share our values?

Building an Economy for Lifeinvites you to consider the values which underpin the policies of the political parties and candidates who are asking us to give them the responsibility of national leadership.

Download these resources

Building an Economy for Life Booklet

The cornerstone of the resources is the Building an Economy for Life booklet, which explores some of the major areas of public policy and current issues from a Christian perspective on human and ecological wellbeing. A fuller introduction to the theology and more detailed information about the purpose of the resource can be found here.

The booklet also includes an election toolkit with useful links to information on all things politics and elections and suggestions for planning activities such as pre-election candidates forums and a meeting with your local MP or candidates.

Click here to download the booklet

You can obtain hard copies of this booklet, free of charge, by contacting the Assembly office, on 02 8267 4300 or email enquiries@nat.uca.org.au

Hot Issues

The Hot Issues papers are A5 sized flyers that take a snap-shot look at particular topical issues such as Indigenous health, the Northern Territory intervention, gender pay equity, freedom of religion and multiculturalism. Several of these papers are available in hard copy - contact the Assembly office to place an order, on 02 8267 4300 or email enquiries@nat.uca.org.au

• Alcohol Misuse
• Christmas Island
• Taking the “Dis” out of Disability
• Gambling
• The State of Indigenous Health
• Northern Territory Indigenous Intervention
• Multiculturalism in Australia
• People Trafficking
• Freedom of Religion (web-only)
• Gender Pay Equity (web-only)
• A Tax on Financial Transactions (web-only)

Issues Papers

These web-only papers offer a more in-depth look at the issues and policies covered in the Building an Economy for Life booklet. Papers have been contributed from many parts of the Church, including the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress and numerous Assembly agencies and units.

• Recognition and Respect: Justice for Indigenous Australians
• Protecting the Persecuted: Compassion for Asylum Seekers and Refugees
• Tackling Climate Change: Ensuring our Future
• Beyond the Urban Fringe: Issues for Outback Australia
• Protecting Human Rights
• Justice in Income Support
• Sharing the Wealth: A Just and Progressive Taxation System
• A Decent Life for Older People
• Embracing our Diversity: A Multicultural, Multi-faith Society
• Justice in International Development

Additional Resources

How to plan a candidates forum

Read the statement ‘An Economy of Life’ adopted by the 12^th Assembly. 
http://www.unitingjustice.org.au/uniting-church-statements.html#economyoflife.

* all Federal Election 2010 resources have been printed on ‘carbon neutral’ paper

Feature Clip - Election

The link to enrol to vote = http://www.aec.gov.au/Enrolling_to_vote/Update_enrolment.htm

the most you can do

“The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope.” – Barbara Kingsolver

reacting

I’m reading a discussion paper prepared for the Uniting Church’s national assembly. The particular topic of the paper is irrelevant here, but i came across a paragraph that is becoming depressingly familiar, and it’s got me annoyed enough to have been stamping round the office all day. I’ve decided you should all share the brunt, not just my colleagues.

I quote from the report [which i won't name here - because it's not fair to single this one out over any other]:

Societal changes have meant a move from the modern belief in reason, progress and human potential to post-modernity with its scepticism concerning reason, suspicion of established institutions, pessimism about the future and relativism.

Have you ever noticed how many church reports frame post-modernity in negative terms [scepticism, suspicion, pessimism]? It’s really starting to piss me off.

Relativism is indeed a feature of a post-modern society – because we’ve recognised that the declarative truths of modernity emerged from within a particular cultural framework, and that they come with an innate bias [where the normal, for example, is male, middle class, educated, white, Christian]. The language that mediates truth is always culturally bound, so even if we’ve located a universal truth, our ways of communicating it will never be pure. Post-modernity has meant a move from ‘one size fits all’ in terms of education, belief, family structure, community; it doesn’t mean that there are no longer moral standards but that moral authority no longer comes automatically by virtue of position or status. The scepticism of progress has come because we recognise it often has a cost, and most often that cost is paid by those who can least afford it. Perhaps instead of speaking of ‘a suspicion of established institutions’, we could say instead ‘our society now recognises the limitations and failings of institutions, and readily critiques their assumptions and self-given authority’… Thank god for all of that, i say.

Of course, post-modernity is bad news for those who previously demanded authority by virtue simply of position. It’s bad news for those who equated knowledge with power, and kept it from others. It’s bad news for people and groups who want everyone to think like them, or who need absolutes to feel safe. It’s good news for everyone whose voice has been excluded, or dismissed as ‘wrong’ or ignorant because it speaks a different truth. Well, it could be good news, if we let it. Coincidentally, the church has a gospel imperative to make it good news.

Continuing the paragraph:

In relation to the church, we have moved from a Christian society to a post Christian, individualistic, consumer society in which the church has far less prominence.

Basically, the church is not the [self-selected] centre of the world anymore. We weren’t doing that good a job at being the centre of the world, and many theologians would argue that the church can only do its job when it isn’t. But that’s not what really bothers me. It’s reducing the description of post-Christian society to being simply individualistic or consumer. It’s both of those things, of course, and i wish it wasn’t. But it’s also become a global society – which means people understand the diversity of the world better. Our society understands the limits of knowledge, and the extraordinary potential and the dangers of human progress. It’s cynical, idealistic, optimistic, pessimistic, all in the one breath. Our society is made up of people who want to change the world, and others who want the world to stay as it is – much like every generation before us. The pressures to consume are enormous, more than ever before, and the church needs to speak prophetically against that. Alongside that, though, is also a capacity to be informed about the world more than ever before – and its about time the church started to celebrate that.

Surely incarnational theology would have us believe that the gospel speaks into and from within every culture, context and era. I wish that those who see post-modernity as a threat would also understand the damage that modernity has done to the gospel – and i guess it’s up to the rest of us to invite them into the world of possibility that post-modernity offers.

thanks for letting me stay…

i have changed where home is
i have become a guest in the place of your faith

no more trying to make myself fit
contorting, awkwardly

i have changed where my home is.

The Culture and Context Unit, within which i work, celebrated its first birthday last week. It’s been a fun ride so far…

I’ve been spending today writing up some medium to long term strategies to match the Synod’s priorities. One of the Synod’s priorities is risk-taking, and as part of the planning process we need to show a link between our units work and that priority. It’s a fabulous aim, but i’ve found myself having to rationalise why some of the things we do are risks. Staying as part of the church, for instance, when most people would assume the risk is in going out into the world.

One of the principles that formed the unit was the idea of being a guest at the world’s table. I suspect that one of the reasons why this team gravitated together at the beginning was because that was our natural instinct anyway. We like being out there. We know ourselves in the world. And increasingly, for many of us, the church is almost a parallel universe, operating in a different orbit. This is where we feel alien, not there.

I don’t know where home is, but i don’t mind not having one. And in letting go of the need to make the church my home i’ve found unexpected appreciation for it. Not wishing the church different has meant I’ve started to recognise its worth. I’ve given up the fight, relinquished my right, and found its goodness. It means that while this is not my home, and i doubt it ever will be again, i love that it’s yours, and i love that you let me stay when i need somewhere to crash for a while…

so thanks. that’s all.

Feature Clip - Pee in the Shower

This is clever and made me laugh (Almost enough to pee my pants)

UpperRoom - Permaculture

The upper room project meets the first Monday of each month (6:-8:30pm) to engage with spirituality and justice as struggled with and fought for by the Prophets and Jesus. We meet upstairs in the Shine Caf?/Bar (74 Kingsway Glen Waverley) with gallery space, discussion corners, opportunity for practical response and pondering space.

We hope the upper room will be

Space to rest/relax with your tribe

Be challenged by the prophetic call of compassion

Connect with heartbeats for living

There will be food, wine and friends plus

Please bring your friends - all are welcome

This month Upper Room - Di will be sharing about permaculture and some of what she learnt in a permaculture course in Uganda.  This quote from her blog should be enough to make conversations and debate a plenty

“One of the most challenging questions for me was: “If our faith is calling us to care for people and live with ethics, fair trade and care for the earth, how can we too live in solidarity with the poor?” Given that ethical and fair trade means are a more expensive option, how does this make us view our choices and options. This question I will explore more as I develop a deeper understanding of the connection of Permaculture and my Christianity.

Check out her thoughts here http://dianegreenwood.com/

Facebook event if your on it

Enrole to vote

Still no date for the election but I though a community announcement was due If this is your first time voting or you have changed address now is the time to click this link and enrol to vote.

By completing this one enrolment form you will be enrolled to vote in federal, state/territory and local government elections.

http://www.aec.gov.au/Enrolling_to_vote/Update_enrolment.htm

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