Job and Peter Parker: Sermon for October 18

Job 38:1-7, 34-41

I am a reader of comic books. Mainly the Marvel comics: the X-Men and the Avengers and my favourite, Spider-Man. When family and friends give me the weird “why are you reading that?” look, I explain that comic books are full of deep and meaningful explorations of life’s big questions. And usually my family and friends snort and walk away.

Issue 40 of The Sensational Spider-Man is called “The Book of Peter”. In it Peter Parker, who as a high school student was bitten by a radioactive spider, is having an extremely bad time, culminating in his Aunt May, his last remaining family member, lying in a coma after being shot. Peter goes to take his anger out on a dumpster and in the middle of destroying it is interrupted by God, who looks a little like a homeless New Yorker. God and Peter then have a discussion about the meaning of human suffering. Peter asks God if he’s being punished for something, or tested, and God says no, human suffering is a mystery. God’s exact words are: “Hard to explain why it’s necessary to someone who wasn’t there when the foundation of the earth was laid … or when the walls were built around the oceans …”

And this is why I love comic books. Because in the middle of a Spider-Man comic, God references the Book of Job.

Vale Alan Gabriel Jones

I was in the city having lunch before a meeting yesterday when I got a call from my mother. My brother had been talking to our father and apparently our grandfather had about 24-48 hours of life left. He had dementia and slowly his mind and body have been shutting down. That process was coming to an end.

“Don’t leave clergy alone with children”

Over breakfast I was reading yesterday’s Melbourne Age (because I am always a little behind in my newspaper reading) and I came across the following headline on page three: Don’t leave clergy alone with children.

It’s about a report made to the Anglican Church about how they can prevent child abuse by clergy. I know how important that is. But I’m finding the article difficult.

Yesterday at a funeral I approached two teenage girls who had spoken and told them they could call me or arrange to see me anytime if they wanted someone to talk to about their loss. If by any chance they choose to do that, I don’t want to have to make sure there’s a third person around because I’m not trusted to be alone with them. Every couple of weeks I attend a music group for pre-schoolers. After the formal program the mothers gather for coffee and the children and I usually play outside, without another adult present. This isn’t a danger for the children.

I don’t like this world in which adults are not to be trusted around children. I really don’t like a world in which my profession makes me seem less trustworthy rather than more trustworthy. I know that it’s the fault of the clergy who have abused children and the churches that in the past have covered that up. But I can’t help feeling that “don’t leave clergy alone with children” is going way too far.

New webpages

The linked congregations to which I minister: Lancefield; Mount Macedon; Riddells Creek and Romsey, now have their own website. It can be accessed here. From now on all my sermons will be posted on my page over there and can be accessed here. And if you want somewhere to get married (not looking at any particular cohort of my friends) the Mount Macedon page has information on their wedding package.