1^st November 2010

Rev Dr Max Champion, at Paradise Point, Gold Coast, Queensland

Lessons -- Psalm 1; Luke 6:20-31

Happy are you when people hate, exclude, abuse and vilify you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice, leap for joy because your reward is great in heaven for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. (Luke 6:22,23)

You would have to be deluded to call this happiness! It seems psychologically unhealthy -- and likely to cause a mental breakdown when the tension between how we are treated and our efforts to maintain a positive outlook becomes unbearable. Surely to be happy and count our blessings means to experience pleasure, satisfaction and peace of mind -- not hardship, unpopularity, failure and persecution. It doesn't make sense. Why would you be glad about rejection?

Such an approach to life certainly doesn't come naturally. Today everybody wants to be happy. Spruikers are only too happy to accommodate our desire for earthly bliss. 'Don't worry, be happy' is their sales-pitch, cleverly packaged to help us experience true satisfaction in life.

Nevertheless true happiness is elusive. Some of the wealthiest, most attractive and successful people, often portrayed as role models to which we should aspire, are deeply unhappy. Their outward 'joie de vie' often hides sorrows and regrets from which they can't escape. Still, like us, they must keep up the appearance of being happy or desperately try to find happiness in their few short years on the earth.

The way we think about 'happiness' has changed dramatically over the years. Since the eighteenth century the 'pursuit of happiness' has come to be considered as a basic human right. True happiness was to be found in being public spirited: looking to the well-being of others, as well as oneself. JS Mill said that the utilitarian standard 'is not the agent's [person's] own greatest happiness, but the greatest amount of happiness altogether (of all concerned)' and that we should be concerned to secure the 'greatest happiness of the greatest number'. (Paul Ramsey, Basic Christian Ethics, pp 113, 237.)

Until relatively recently, this public-minded view was generally accepted in Australian society. It is a recurring theme in the eulogies of old people who regarded it as a joy and privilege to take responsibility in the community, Church and nation. Happiness meant contributing to the well- being of the community.

Now, however, happiness is almost always identified with satisfying an individual's desires (and the desires of their groups). Self-realisation (my pleasure) is the distinguishing mark of the modern quest for happiness. It has 'no definition except what each autonomous individual might give it. (And) each individual has the right not only to pursue happiness but to define it as he / she wishes.' (Bishop Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks, p27). 'Choice' is what makes us happy.

Christians are not immune from this radical shift in understanding. There is much talk about 'my faith' and 'my spirituality', as if true happiness is something that 'I' define to 'my' satisfaction. And too often the Church also wants to please the world -- or at least that part of it which is politically correct in making choice ultimate. We are happy when community leaders 'speak well of us' (6:26) for our contribution to the general well-being of society, especially when we are tolerant of everybody's choices.

How different this is to the happiness about which Jesus speaks! The 'blessings of discipleship' flow from deep joy that God's grace-and- goodness have been embodied in Christ -- the One who was out of step with the happiness that people wanted. He caused them to be very unhappy with him because he insisted that many choices are harmful, self-centred and idolatrous.

It is important therefore to realise that, apart from the relationship to the rejected, crucified and risen Jesus, these blessings would be badly misunderstood and bring much misery. Nobody in their right mind is happy to be poor, hungry, sad or bullied (vv 20-23). We want to be rich, well- fed, full-of- fun and well thought of (vv 24-26). And we don't naturally choose to be too charitable to the destitute (vv 29,30) or to pray for those who wish us ill and to turn the other cheek (vv 27,28).

We must guard against any tendency to glorify misfortune. Remember that Jesus is speaking to those who have just been called to be his disciples (vv 12-16). They have given up a lot to follow him. In the eyes of the world (the crowd, vv 17-19) they are poor, impoverished and unhappy. Actually, their poverty in the eyes of their fellows is wealth in the company of Jesus. It is liberating to see through the shallowness of what passes for happiness and to stand firm against the tide of popular opinion in his strength. That brings a deep and abiding joy -- even in the face of ridicule and persecution.

This is not said lightly. Great numbers of our fellow Christians experience terrible persecution in many parts of the world. But it needs to be said, in a country where we Christians are apt to think that, if only we made the Gospel more attractive and avoided conflict within and outside the Church, people would flock to our congregations. Then everybody would be happy -- just like the 'good old days'.

Our reading dispels such illusions! To be 'happy' in the company of the One who, in love for sinful humanity, came amongst us and, for the joy that was set before him, endured death on the cross, is to be 'unhappy' with the state of the world (and the Church) which has turned away from God.

At present in Australia the Christian heritage is under fierce attack. In Federal and State Parliaments reports are being written and legislation is being passed to legalise euthanasia, abortion and same-sex 'marriage' and to end discrimination by curtailing religious freedom, particularly where churches are involved in health, welfare and education. These developments spring from an ideal of happiness based almost entirely on 'our choices' -- ideals which have replaced the Jewish-Christian view that to be happy is 'to not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor linger in the ways of sinners, nor sit in the seats of the scornful' (Psalm 1:1).

This way of thinking about happiness has permeated our society to create what Pope John Paul II rightly calls a 'culture of death' that dishonours the humanity of Christ and demeans the humanity for which we have been created in God's image. Others speak of the 'dictatorship of relativism', a return to 'the dark ages' or the 'eclipse of God'. It is a most unhappy situation.

The churches in Western countries like Australia are not exempt from this misery. In Losing my Religion: Unbelief in Australia (2009) Bishop Tom Frame says that, because Christianity has largely been reduced to living a good life and respecting others (p 295), mainline churches will continue to lose members.

'Left-leaning, cause-driven, liberal Protestant churches that lack doctrinal vigour and are preoccupied with the promotion of social justice and cultural inclusion will be the first to go. Their place will be taken by secular advocacy groups with tightly defined constituencies and social policy expertise.'

It is not hard to see which churches he has in mind! But he is in no doubt about the importance of movements which stand against this trend. 'For the congregations that survive there will certainly be greater conflict with the host society. This will prompt faith communities to renew their commitment to resisting some aspects of popular culture and heighten the importance of their beliefs and customs.' (p299)

This is the context in which the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the Uniting Church in Australia is happy to make its confession of faith in Jesus Christ and in adherence to the Basis of Union. Resignation, despair, silence and retreat into evangelical ghettoes are not options for those who are happy to be called into the company of Jesus. Sadly, many congregations and individuals connected to the ACC have opted to be happy in their own little fellowships, vainly hoping to dodge the conflict which is part and parcel of being called to discipleship. To think like this is to be deluded -- and cowardly.

We are at a point in our history where the faith of the universal Church needs to be strongly re-affirmed in order to set forth the splendour of the Good News that has come among us in the person of Jesus. We do not do this glumly out of a sense of duty but gladly in a spirit of gratitude for what God has done in the crucified and risen Christ to reconcile the world to himself.

We will not always be happy with what happens in the Church or our society and must speak on crucial issues where God's grace and goodness is held in contempt. At the same time, we shall be glad to pray for enemies in the hope that they too may come to experience something of the happiness to be found in his company. And we shall not forget that our happiness now is a foretaste of the future that awaits the Church in the world and the universe when Christ's reign comes to a glorious fulfilment, and idolatry and inhumanity, deprivation and hostility shall be at an end.

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Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.