By Su Sze Ting
In June 2022, about a month after the election victory of Anthony Albanese, Celia Kemp, a former member of the church, Emily Hayes and I met to speak about a sermon series called Water, Voice and Covenant.
We were excited at the Prime Minister’s commitment to implement the Statement of the Heart and wanted to do a series that reflected our hope that this Statement, which spoke about the necessity of truth telling, the Makarrata Commission, a voice to Parliament and the possibility of a treaty, would come to pass.
At that time, the traditional owners of Singleton Station were starting their fight against the water license given by the government to Fortune Agribusiness, the owner of Singleton Station. It was to be used for running a farm. As it was 3 years ago when I last spoke about this license, let me refresh your memory:
a) It was the largest groundwater licence in the Northern Territory, likely in Australia.
b) It allowed Fortune Agribusiness to extract up to 40GL of water a year.
c) To put this in context, this is roughly four times the water that is currently consumer in Alice Springs
d) The largest groundwater licence granted in New South Wales, a state with a longer history of agricultural industry, is 15 GL/year.
e) It is deeply worrying that a groundwater licence of such scale is granted in an arid zone with limited rainfall. There is so much uncertainty about the groundwater estimates and the behaviour of aquifers.
f) Fortune Agribusiness has admitted that groundwater dependent ecosystems, ie large trees, will be affected by the drawdown of such large volumes of water.
g) Traditional owners are deeply concerned at the grant of this water license. “We’re worrying about life,” Maureen O’Keefe, who grew up in the region, told a CLC meeting. “We have climate change, and we don’t have rainfall every year,” said Ms O’Keefe. “I’ve been crying for this country. All the springs will be dried out. All the cultural sites will suffer.”
h) Traditional owners launched court proceedings against the Northern Territory government. They lost. They appealed the decision and lost again.
Of course, we all know the results of the voice referendum. A referendum that begun with so much hope was defeated and was crushingly disappointing for so many Aboriginal people who believed so strongly in the idea of Voice, Treaty and Truth.
For so many of us, turning on the news is a despairing act.
The need to know, grasp, exercise and hold on to hope feels important at this particular juncture of time.
Shanon and I have been learning this prayer by Paul in the book of Ephesians and it feels exceedingly relevant now.
What is Paul praying for? Paul is praying that:
a) The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation as we come to know him.
b) With the eyes of our hearts enlightened:
1. We may know the hope to which he has called us.
2. We may know the riches of our glorious inheritance amongst the saints.
3. We may know the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe.
c) God put this power to work when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. Christ is above all name in this present age and the age to come.
Jesus is above all names in this present age and the age to come. What do you think about when you think about the present age?
At this time, I think about evil and injustice. The price that the world has paid for rampant capitalism. There is a widening gap between the rich and poor. Inequality is increasing: In Australia, people in the highest 20% of the wealth scale hold nearly two thirds of all wealth (64%). Those in the lowest 60% hold less than 20% of the wealth (17%).
You turn on the news and you hear about the war in Ukraine that has been going on for more than 3 years. You read about the desperation of the people in Gaza hungry for food and the reports of starvation being weaponised and people being shot for seeking aid. Of course, recently, there was the bombing of Iran by US and Israel and the retaliatory missiles being launched at Israel. There are wars that we don’t even read about: The civil war tearing Sudan apart and the plight of the Rohingya Muslim in Myanmar.
In the Northern Territory, there has been a slew of legislative changes including removing the right of anyone to seek a merits review of a ministerial decision. And we also grapple with the despair of events that occur here in Alice Springs and recently with the devastating news of a young disabled man dying in Coles while being restrained by off-duty police officers.
It’s all pretty despairing.
And yet, there is a future time, a future age that is to come as John described in the book of Revelations. This is the age where there is a new heaven and a new earth as prophesied by Isaiah. There’s a beautiful city, the heavenly Jerusalem coming down from heaven to earth. Jesus will come and live amongst his people. And all the things that cause us to despair in this present age, the injustice and corruption, will be no more. There will be no more death and wars. There will be no more pain. Tears will be wiped from every eye. Evil will be ultimately conquered and defeated. God will be making all things new. There will be a complete renewal, redemption and restoration of all creation.
The idea of Jesus reigning in the coming age, this age described by John, is understandable. But what does Paul mean when he says that Jesus is reigning at this present age?
When Jesus was resurrected from the dead, it was the inauguration of his new kingdom. It was ushering of his new kingdom here on earth. It is the beginning of redemption and renewal of this world. The prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it was on heaven.”, came true.
As Tom Wright described in his book, Surprised by Hope, “The resurrection story is the story of God’s kingdom being launched on earth as in heaven, generating a new state of affairs in which the power of evil has been decisively defeated, the new creation has been decisively launched and Jesus’ followers have been commissioned and equipped to put that victory, and that inaugurated new world into practice.”
The resurrection was the launching of Jesus’ kingdom but it is not the completion of his new kingdom. That ultimate future hope is still to be realised. It will be realised in the coming age, where there is a new heaven and new earth.
We live in this time of “Now and Not Yet”.
How do we live as resurrection people, as people who participate in this ultimate hope of Christ? How do we become people of hope and resurrection with a conviction of this glorious inheritance that Jesus has for us? How do we not become mire in despair?
I believe that God has called us to become colleagues and partners in this ultimate project of renewal and redemption. Paul in his letter to Ephesians encourages the Ephesians, Chapter 2, to think of themselves as being God’s workmanship, being created in Christ Jesus for good works.
In 1 Corinthians 15:58, Paul encourages the Corinthians to be steadfast. Immovable. Always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing your labour is not in vain.
God builds his kingdom. God will bring the new heaven and new earth. He will sum up all things in Christ both in heaven and on earth. Jesus will be the centre and focus of this new world. But we can participate in the work in building for his kingdom.
Again, drawing from the book by Tom Wright: “Every act of love, gratitude and kindness, every work of art or music inspired by the love of God and delight in the beauty of his creation; every act of support of one’s fellow human beings, and for that matter, every non-human creature, and of course, every prayer, all spirit led teaching, every deed which spreads the gospel, builds up the church, embraces and embodies holiness rather than corruption, and makes the name of Jesus honoured in the world – all of this will find its way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation which God will one day make.”
It is easy to be disheartened. It is easy to lapse into despair. I spent the days after the Voice referendum being so deeply sad at the result. It felt like in a gut punch to traditional owners when the court of appeal handed down the judgement for the Singleton Water License There are times that it feels that all we do is in vain. But I take hope in Paul’s words: Your labour in God’s work is not vain. What we do in Christ and by the Spirit in the present is not wasted.
When Martin Luther was asked what he would do if the world was to end tomorrow, he said that he would “plant a tree”.
What trees are we planting?
There are examples in this church that I can point to:
- Emily writing a letter to Minister Burgoyne (co-signed by other ministers) talking about the overcrowded prison and the need for humane habitation for prisoners. I think about all the people who continue to serve faithfully in the prison ministry – Every 6 weeks, visiting prisoners. Leading them in worship and prayer.
- I think about the people in this church who are involved in work with young people in this town: through teaching and support work. Offering hope and encouragement to them.
- I think about the care shown by Karen to Renata and the work that Sarah is doing in Somerville as a chaplain.
- I think about those who cooked for the community members of Yuendumu who came to mourn the death of Kumanjayi White.
- The acts of prayer, worship and welcome to build community and God’s kingdom in this church and Alice Springs.
- I think about the work involved in truth-telling about this history of this town, about the creation of the map in Adelaide house. This work of speaking the truth about Alice Springs (Mparntwe), Adelaide House and the place that it holds despite the result of the voice referendum shows that work of reckoning with our past and truth telling continues.
- I think about all the traditional owners who continue to speak up about the impact of the Singleton water license on their country. On their cultural sites which depend on water. They believe that this gift of water is worth fighting for and preserving, and they, in an act of defiant hope, has decided to continue the proceeding to the high court.
The hope that we have is not a naïve hope but rather a hope of people who know that there is life beyond death and healing beyond suffering.
By looking forward in expectancy in God’s ultimate work of redemption for this world, we know that the present will not be able to crush us.
We mustn’t contain this truth – we must share this hope in all that we do and say.
For each of us today, I pray this prayer of Paul, that the eyes of your hearts will be enlightened and that:
a) you will know the truth which he has called you;
b) you will know about your glorious inheritance
c) you will know about the immeasurable greatness of Jesus’ power in you
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
