An Obadiah Slope Column
A great interview – or was it a conversation – between David Marr and Helen Garner on ABC’s treasured Radio National’s Late Night Live. The topic, the Erin Patterson murder trial, lends itself to discussing religion, and Garner gives the Baptists a big tick of approval. Garner is the co-author of “The Mushroom Tapes” with Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein.
Marr: “Unlike your other two authors, you take the faith of the family that she slaughtered very seriously, the Baptist faith. Why is that? Where does faith sit with you these days?”
Garner: “I would call myself a Christian.
“It’s not something I, how can I say? I was never baptised as a child. I didn’t come from a religious family.
“So it’s only during my adulthood that I found, sort of found my way to some kind of Christian awareness or finding things about not the church, but the Bible, I suppose, things that I found useful in practical ways and that hardened me and helped me in my life. And there’s an enormous moral thing that goes with that. And so, I was very interested in – I’ve never personally known any Baptists, you know, I think that the Baptists are famous for good works.
Speaking of Pastor Ian Wilkinson, the sole survivor of the murders, “… he seemed a very impressive person to us in the court. He gave evidence steadily and calmly, and they all, the whole bunch of them, the Baptists that we saw there, they seemed like ordinary decent country people…”
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This is the day: Inevitably, Marr discusses Helen Garner’s diaries, a publishing success.
Marr: “Hey, is any day wasted where you don’t make a diary entry? Is that your way of saying, I have lived today?”
Garner: “Sometimes I’m surprised to find that I haven’t written for maybe two days. That’s just because I’ve been too flat out doing work things. But funny you should say that, because I saw something, and this goes back to when you asked about Christian things.
Recently, somewhere I saw a line, I think it’s from a psalm somewhere, and it says, ‘This is the day that the Lord hath made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.’ I thought, gee, that’s great.
I’m going to say that to myself every day. So I do. I wake up in the morning, and I’m thinking, oh God, I have to do this and that.
I go, hold on, save a thing. The more it comes to mind, the more I think it’s really quite challenging. It’s not one of those sorts of wet things that you would pin up on your kitchen wall.”
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This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24
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A very public toilet: Obadiah spotted this new toilet block at Parramatta Park. It looks very different from the dank masonry constructions he grew up with. And not just because it was a sunny day. It is a uni sex toilet, with just cubicles. The entrance and corridor to the cubicles are behind an open lattice, so that if someone called out in the event of trouble, they could be seen, especially at night. A thoughtful design.
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A very public sermon: Preaching at a state funeral must surely be one of the toughest gigs for a minister. There are people in the church building who know the departed better than you, and in many, maybe most cases, the person in the coffin may not know Jesus. How do you mention Jesus and them in the same breath?
Michael Jensen did a fine job in Sydney’s St Andrews Cathedral this week, preaching at the funeral for radio star John Laws. Jensen was Laws’ local minister. Here’s the ending of his carefully constructed panegyric.
“John signed off as we’ve heard a number of times already today, by calling us to be kind to each other. The voice from above broadcasts God’s eternal kindness to us. If we have [been] shown the kindness of God himself, it presses on us more urgently, John Laws’ daily challenge. And so I ask us all, are we a kind nation or have we become more mean, more cruel, more greedy, and more judgmental?
“Do our politicians and media figures call us to a greater kindness, or do they awaken our resentments? I think Laws’ call to us is more pointed than it seems. We’ve received more than we deserve. Amazing grace. Indeed. How could we not be kind?
“Now, John Laws has made his last broadcast, we cannot hear his voice again, but we can tune into another voice, the voice from above. We can pick up today the gospel of this other John, the one who tells us of the man John Laws admired. We cannot hear it read in the voice of John Laws. I’m sad to say, but we hear in these pages the voice that offers to us the eternal kindness of God in Jesus and the hope of eternal life in him. Amen.”
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And they are racing: Obadiah clocked a first this week, a trip to the races. He accompanied his very significant other, who has become the President of our disability sports club, to an event that gives charities the chance of winning a punt. The punt is on picking the best jockey for the night racing at Canterbury Park. Obadiah enjoyed seeing the horses race around the track and admired all the people who made it go like clockwork. For example, they keep moving the massive starting gate for each race. Obadiah dimly knew this, but it was fascinating to see it actually work.
Tim, in the Yellow top, drew our jockey from the barrel.
