Outspoken

A little over a week ago, we were discussing Bill Maher’s latest “New Rules,” in which Bill suggested we should merge with China. TomCat suggested we would be better off with Canada. I suggested that Australia might be a better fit, to which Animae kindly responded, “Absolutely.” I say that it was kind of her because, although there are many wonderful things abut Australia, I was not thinking of any of those when I made the comment. I was thinking of what I had been reading about their off-shore refugee camps. In fact, though, Australia has many issues similar to issues we see in the U.S., most of which can be bundled into “Republicans.” Called, I gather, “Conservatives” there.

So when Lona sent the “Gang of Five (TC, Nameless, Squatch, herself, and me)” an email about an Anglican priest in Gosford, New South Wales, who is putting up signage at his church which sound like things Jesus might actually say (and getting a lot of flak, also not unlike Jesus), I read it with interest. Lona had seen a news item on him on ABC (Oz Broadcasting Co.), which we in the US and Canada can’t view. But I looked on YouTube and found numerous videos, including a TED talk, which we can view. I picked this four-year-old one to embed rather than the TED talk because it is short and kind of introductory (and has a LOT of signs).

Father Rod Bower is the vicar (or pastor or parish priest or maybe some other term, depending on your tradition) of Gosford (St. Mary’s) Anglican Church, which is, as already mentioned, in NSW, Australia. In 2013, he decided to use the signboard outside the church – the one that letters can be put in and taken out to change the message – for something perhaps more important than announcing the dates and times of services.

It was a personal experience which move him enough to take this step – you might say it radicalized him.

He’d been called to deliver last rites, and the dying man’s family kept his male partner out of the room.

“They were anxious I would be judgmental of this man, and it really pulled me up that they could experience marginalisation because of me and because of what I represent,” Father Bower told [ABC] 7.30.

He returned to his church and put up a sign saying, “DEAR CHRISTIANS, SOME PPL ARE GAY. GET OVER IT. LOVE GOD”.

The sign went viral on social media and Father Bower realised he had a platform.

It’s brought him – well, it kind of reminds me of a verse attributed to Jesus: “Anyone who gives up father and mother, sister and brother, for my sake will receive hundreds, thousands, of fathers, mothers, sisters, and brothers, and persecution too.” He has tens of thousands of followers on social media. And he has death threats.

He’s emotional when he speaks about a serious threat before the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in 2014, and the conversation he had with his wife Kerry Bower before he set off to take part in the parade.

“We talked about there [being] not just my life at risk here, but also young LGBTI people are taking their own lives because of their experience of marginalisation,” he said.

More death threats followed, and Ms Bower says they both wondered whether they should stop being so vocal.

“We thought, what are we doing? We have children, we have grandchildren, this is crazy, nothing is worth this,” she said.

“But Rod said, ‘No, I can’t stop.’ And I kind of went, ‘I get it, we can’t stop because someone has to challenge this stuff’.”

He originally planned to focus on just three issues – but other things have gotten his attention too. I understand that perfectly. When one sees something – sometimes one just has to say something. Even if that something is not in one’s own nation. One of the biggest responses was to a sign more addressed to the United States than to Australia:

That one made waves all over the United States with those who saw it.

Father Bower has just published a book (literally just published: Amazon posted it just yesterday, and so far, only to Kindle) called Outspoken: Because Justice Is Always Social. But there are other vendors who have it in print.

Speaking as a citizen of the nation which can boast Jim Wallis, John Pavlovitz, and the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber III, I would be delighted – and humbled – to clasp hands across the sea with the nation which lays claim to Father Rod Bower.

Cross posted to Care2 HERE.