In the name of God, our Creator, Redeemer and Giver of Life, Amen.
I remember that in my father's study there was a whole wall from floor to ceiling dedicated to books. When I was little I was fascinated by them and I used to go in there and try to read them - wonderful musty dusty books with strange names, like Sir William Napier's "Strictures on the War in the Peninsula". When my father died, we donated many of the books to libraries, but there was still a lot left. I kept the books and bought more. Yesterday a colleague of Sue's brought us bookcase, which means we now have ten bookcases in our house, all of them stuffed full of books. I know my sons have an impressive collection of books, as well as DVD's and Videos. We have computers overflowing with files - you can keep a whole series of books on one little disc. Sometimes it seems that we are drowning in information.
This is not a new thing; human beings have always loved collecting information. In the Bible, the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes laments, "Of making books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh."
I guess the problem began when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Ever since then human beings have been driven to search for knowledge, for facts, for certainties. We have been driven to explore the highest mountains and the deepest seas; we have sent explorers to the moon and spacecraft to other planets as well as beyond the solar system. It is our obsession, human beings have to know, we have to have the facts, we have to be certain.
This same obsession drives our governments. Every year thousands upon thousands of new laws and regulations are set in place. Every aspect of our lives must be controlled. Our food, our education, the houses we live in, the way we buy and sell, the way we travel - it is all covered by legislation.
This octopus of law also grasps at the way we think and what we believe and the way we deal with other people. There is nothing wrong with knowledge and the law. Eve saw that "the fruit of the tree was good for food, and it was a delight to the eyes and the tree was to be desired to make one wise." If we apply Eve's judgement to the law, then it must be useful, like food, it must be satisfying and delight us, and it must be wise.
Jesus also gave an assessment of the law. Of course he was talking about the Torah, the holy law of God, but what he says is a judgement for all law. He said that the whole of the law and the prophets was summed up in two great and simple commandments. Love God and love your neighbour. Jesus insists that the law must be loving.
It seems to me, then, that there is something we can take to heart. Humanity's search for knowledge and its desire for controlling things need not be the curse of sin which fell upon us when the fruit was taken from the tree in God's garden.
If it is useful, if it is satisfying, if it is wise, and above all, if it is loving, then it will be good knowledge and good law and it will bring a blessing and not a curse.
We can apply this principle to the laws passed by parliament. It is right, for us, as citizens and as Christians, to question laws which violate these principles. We might think of the laws surrounding refugees and boat people and ask if they are useful, satisfying, wise and loving. How does the industrial relations legislation measure up? Or the anti-terrorism laws? I read that if a 17 year old person is arrested, then only one of their parents is to be told. If this parent then tells the other parent, then they have committed an offence and can be charged. This is only one aspect of the law, but, it certainly does not sound either useful or wise. And if we are to judge by the response from State Premiers and the Muslim community it is deeply unsatisfying as well. Moreover, since it is a law based on fear and prejudice, it cannot be said to be loving. As a citizen and as a Christian, I suggest that the anti-terrorist legislation will be a curse and not a blessing.
But does the Christian community, the church, do any better? We have just completed a sitting of Synod and passed a great deal of… I nearly said wind! A number of ordinances have been agreed to. Some are undoubtedly useful, satisfying, wise and loving - for example, the Safe Ministry legislation which is for the protection of children who are in our care. Other legislation is more questionable. Synod debated the possibility of bishops being allowed to delegate the sacrament of confirmation to priests. It is certainly useful and easy to do; but is it satisfying? Bishop Reg Piper told us how much he delights to see young people committing themselves to Christ in this way. He sees confirmation as a privilege and honour for the bishop. For him, to delegate it would be deeply unsatisfying. Some people argued that the proposal is loving because it allows those who know the young people best to celebrate with them the joy of affirming their faith in confirmation.
In the end, we will probably find that all our human knowledge, all our laws will be a mixture of good and bad.
However, we should never be afraid to look at them closely. We believe, as followers of Christ, that there are two great commandments which we follow out of the love of Christ. One is to love God and the other is to love our neighbours in the same way we love ourselves.
This is the standard by which we should live our own lives, and it is right that we should apply the same standard to our church and to our nation.