TC Today

A new portrait of General Eva Burrows painted by the world-renowned portrait artist June Mendoza, was unveiled last Tuesday 27 March 2012.

The portrait was commissioned by some  friends who  wished to honour the General for her outstanding and significant contribution made to the world.

General Burrows was only the second woman to become world leader of The Salvation Army and served in that position for seven years from 1986 to 1993. Her early years of service in The Salvation Army were spent in Africa, where she was an educator in the schools programme for almost 20 years, then a period in Britain as Principal of the International College for Officers.

She was also head of the Social Services of the Army in Great Britain and Ireland. There followed a period of experience in Asia as leader of the work of the Army in Sri Lanka, before her return to Australia.

Artist June Mendoza is regarded as the most notable and successful portrait painter of the present day. She has painted such people as;

Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, the Princess Royal, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince of Wales, Prince Edward, Earl Mountbatten, Diana Princess of Wales, Duchess of Kent, Baroness Margaret Thatcher, Sir John Major, to name only a few.

The unveiling of the portrait at 69 Bourke St. Melbourne was attended by the Lord Mayor of Melbourne Robert Doyle, the Honourable Joan Kirner, former Premier of Victoria, the Honourable Jeff Kennett, former Premier of Victoria, Gordon and Marilyn Darling, first Chaiman of the National Gallery of Australia and Mrs Darling, former deputy chair of the National Portrait Gallery.

From a religious perspective the Reverend F. W. Faber (1814 — 1863) wrote in the middle of the nineteenth century that ―Holiness is an unselfing of ourselves.

I find this to be a most enchanting silhouette of the simple experience of holiness. It would seem to me that the very act of submission and obedience to the will of God is the act of ’unselfing,’ is it not?

 When unselfing, we give up and give away all that is not Christ. In Paul’s letter to the Christians at Colossi chapter 3, he articulates unselfing, firstly by telling them to “put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature,”  verse 5.

Then in verse 12, he asks them to ‘clothe themselves’ with such things as compassion, kindness, humility, geltelness and patience.

You see if unselfing is the negative, then clothimg ourselves is the positive. The act of ‘giving up and giving away’ is reversed by God’s giving to us, characteristics of His own nature.

Albert Orsborn is the writer of a song found in The Salvation Army song book, not often used these days, but one which has profound significance. From a non-sacramental Christian tradition, the verse is charged with sacramental meaning as a living witness of the inward grace of God.

My life must be Christ’s broken bread
My love his outpoured wine
A cup oer’filled, a table spread
Beneath His name and sign.
That others souls, refreshed and fed,
May share his life through mine.

I think it’s time for the song to find new breath and for its distinctive call to be lived out. What elegant poetry; the notion of our lives being the broken bread of Christ and the broken body of Christ for a world in need.

Our love, an outpoured gift to those within whom we live, and meet along the way. It is just that simply and without theological fanfare, Osborn’s words speak clearly of a life lived like Jesus.

Life is incredibly competitive, rarely are we content with such things as we have or as we are. An aspect of Christ’s life and teaching that we overlook is the life of contentment and simplicity.

Christian contentment is a life lived without competition. Not trying to be like someone else, not wishing we had what others have, no self-criticism about our limitations or lack of education, prominence, profile, position  or any other thing.

Many would argue that this is a utopian dream that exists only in the minds of those disconnected from the real world. I might be inclined to argue however, that the real world is a creation of our own complexity.

I have come to know that the more we make Christ the centre in our life, the more attention we give to His word and the more we choose to live Christ, the less important those other things become. It is a discipline to be developed, but it is the way of Christ and the way of Christ is a life of simplicity.

Simplicity and contentment is not a dream, it is part of the life with Christ that is within you. This is not something thing you need to pursue,it is already within you, just obscured by the clutter of daily obsessions.

Don’t you just love the notion that flows from Jesus comment, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32.

It is a satisfying idea, but I actually wonder how many understand it as an experience? Is freedom to be thought of as a life without anxiety, worry, entanglement or burden; because the truth is, I am not sure that any of us would be free if that were to be the case?

You and I are real people living in a real word and we cannot divorce ourselves from the daily grind related to those things good or bad that come to us often uninvited, or, when we mess up.

The message from Jesus to do with freedom follows His comment about holding to his teaching, and this has everything to do with living a life of obedience. It is in being obedient to his teaching that will keep us free from sin. Living without sin also includes living without the consequences of sin and therein lays our freedom.

Sin by itself will complicate life, but the consequences of sin are doubly complex and may have lifelong implications. You don’t need me to point to examples where this is evident all around us.

Being freed from the consequence of sin, is surely a blessing worth celebrating. It is also one of the most compelling reasons why we ought to try to influence others to give their life to Christ, so that they too might find the freedom Jesus spoke about. Freedom not just from their sin, but also the consequences of their sin.

For many living in Australia and other similar countries, ours is an expedient world. We are always looking for the latest, newest, most impressive thing. Many will buy clothing for example, wear it just a few times and never put it on again, or simply get rid of it. It is not uncommon for people to buy things and never use them at all.

We have grown up in a world that demands a quick response and we get it,or if we do not, then we become impatient or even angry. Our expectations of life around us are enormous and often unrealistic.

This kind of mentality translates into our spiritual expectations as well. We struggle to sit content with the “still small voice of God” in favour of an expectation that God should constantly be pumping out messages like neon signs.

We flick through the Bible without regard for the  familiar, in the hope of finding new, earth shattering and exciting inspiration as though the familiar has nothing to say to us today. How wrong we are, and what an injustice we do to the Word of God and ourselves.

From time to time when reading a familiar passage of Scripture, it occurs to us, “I’ve never noticed that before,” as a word, statement or a thought leaps from the page. God’s word is “new every morning.

Let the Word of God speak. Be willing to read again ever so gently the familiar, and welcome it like an old friend. If you will do that, then I am confident that the newness of inspiration will be yours.

This afternoon I announced at the Cadets Welcome Meeting that, Aylene and I are committed to seeing this Territory understanding the basics of Salvation, Holiness and Discipleship. Getting people saved, keeping people saved, teaching them what it means to be holy and helping them know how to get others saved, is the chief business of The Salvation Army. We are bringing salvation, holiness and discipleship back onto the agenda.
With this in mind, we want to invite 20 Salvationists to participate in some deep-level study of the ”Foundations of the Wesleyan Holiness Tradition” during the first part of this year at Booth College in Parkville Melbourne Victoria.
If you are a Corps Officer, you might like to think of one of the soldiers in your corps that you might like to encourage to attend. If you are a soldier, you might let your corps officer know that  you are interested.
Only the first 20 applicants will be able to participate this year, so you would need to act quickly to register with Booth College. You would not have any fees to pay – that will all be sponsored by Territorial Headquarters and Booth College. You would not have to write any assignments, and neither would you be involved in any ongoing study. You would undertake the course as an audit student.
All we would ask is that you register, attend the classes on Tuesday evenings commencing at the end of February, and be prepared to share back in your corps something of the insights and impact that the course had on you.
Further information can be obtained by contacting the Registrar at the Training College here in Melbourne.
We are bringing salvation, holiness and discipleship back onto the agenda, and we invite you to participate.