48th Annual Synod of WA Begins with Worship

“Seek always to hear the word of Christ speaking to us, and to be reminded day by day that Christ goes ahead of us, leading always. May that be the spirit of our Synod.”
Uniting Church, Synod of Western Australia Moderator, Rev Dr Ian Tozer.

The 48th Annual Meeting of the Synod of Western Australia began with a worship service at Mount Pleasant Uniting Church led by the Moderator, Rev Dr Ian Tozer.

The Moderator’s theme for his 2023-2025 triennium is ‘Being with Jesus in Ministry’ and the service continued to expand on this theme, leading the church into the weekend meeting.

The opening service constitutes the Annual Synod meeting which is taking over the weekend of 13 to 15 September 2024. Uniting Church community gathered in the worship centre at Mount Pleasant Uniting Church, and others watched online, to recognise this important time in the life of the church.

We were called to worship with a moving solo vocal performance by Joshua Adams who sung words from Psalm 137, ‘by the waters of Babylon’.

A Welcome to Country was given by Rev Mitchell Garlett, Nyungar man and Minister at Maman ‘O’ Miya Uniting Church, who welcomed the gathered people to Wadjuk Nyungar land.

We heard from scripture, readings from Psalm 137 and from Jeremiah 29, and New Testament readings from Corinthians 1, and Luke 14:25-33.

In his sermon, Ian recounted a story of a time some years ago when he visited a bookstore in the USA. He discovered that the religious books, including the Bible, were placed in the ‘self-help’ section, alongside books like The Power of Positive Thinking, by Norman Vincent Peale. He spoke of his feeling that this merging of religion and self-help symbolised a major cultural shift, one that blurred the lines between faith-based guidance and self-reliance. Ian said:

“There is a basic difference between books that are rooted in faith and understood to be discussing how God relates to us, and self-help books. […] The God we worship is a God who seeks us out, a God who finds ways through Scripture and story and people to connect with us. That’s what God is about. Self-help books, it seems to me, are books that are based on the notion that I can know. I can decide what is relevant. I can make a decision about what is right, and in my own power, as it were, I can put myself in the place of God.”

Ian then went on to reflect on this cultural shift, “cultural climate change”, as it is expressed in the teachings of the prophet Jeremiah, who warned people to turn their hearts to God and not rely on superficial reassurances. He contrasts the message of self-help books, which offer quick fixes and the promise of success, with Jeremiah’s warnings that true spiritual fulfillment requires patience, struggle, and acknowledgment of loss.

He then reflected on this shift and the current state of the church, describing it as “ecclesiastical climate change”, where the world is different, and the church must adapt to new challenges. He encouraged the church to have patience and perseverance, much like Jeremiah advised the exiled people to settle into their situation.

“When I was approached about being Moderator, I was asked what I thought the big issues were for the church. I said one of them is what I’m going to call ecclesiastical climate change. Where things are different now”. He referred to the much-used phrase ‘the good old days’ and said “we are not in the same place we were, however, in this place we are called, using the word of Jeremiah, to become very clear about where we are and who is here with us.”

He also emphasised the importance of lamenting losses, quoting Oscar Romero’s saying, “There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried.”

He then turned to the passage in Luke, about those who were travelling with him. In that passage, the words of Jesus “call to us to be willing to put God’s way first. To acknowledge that that will be costly. It will take our best thought, and our best energy, and our best time, and we may find ourselves frustrated and struggling, and yet we follow Jesus Christ. And so, we continue.”

As he concluded, Ian urged the church to follow Christ’s path:

“Seek divine help. Follow the way of Jesus Christ. Be people who encourage one another and allow people to lament and express their sadness and loss. Because in our being where we are with the people we are there with, being the people we are called to be, the heart is that God always says yes to us. ‘You are mine. I love you. Follow me’, said Jesus Christ. Amen.”

The service concluded with the Constitution of the 2024 Synod introduced by the General Secretary, Rev Dr Andrew Williams.

In the Moderator’s Charge that followed, Ian reflected on the establishment of the Uniting Church in Australia, a church which sought “to begin a new thing, a new way of thinking in a new location. […] We are still finding our way to be where we are. We still bring much that our ancestors brought with them when they arrived here. And yet it is our constant desire to be a community of faith that is rooted in this place, not just singing of another place, but dwelling in this place and doing the work of God here.”
He went on to acknowledge that “we are living on land where God was present among people who have lived here from time immemorial. We are still working through the nature of being God’s people alongside the First Peoples of this place, and it is our calling to continue that work, together with learning from all the variety of Second Peoples who have come. And in this anniversary year, when we remember the Covenant made in 1994 and the Preamble in 2009, we are called to be a church which continues the work.”
He went on to say, as we acknowledge that there have been many changes since Union, and more still to come, we are called as a church to be ‘where we are’, in our current context, “that this might be the place where we serve Jesus Christ.”

He concluded with the hope that we might “seek always to hear the word of Christ speaking to us, and to be reminded day by day that Christ goes ahead of us, leading always. May that be the spirit of our Synod.”

You can watch the service in full at the Mount Pleasant Uniting Church Youtube channel.

Article by Wendy Hendry.