Well I had quite an amazing evening last night. A fundraising dinner with our Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at Bishopscourt! Present also were Peter Jensen (Archbishop of Sydney), John Woodhouse (Principal of Moore College), Bruce Baird and 15 or so others who made fantastic company. We were there to try and raise the funds to help Moore college through this challenging time in the economy, and Mr Rudd was our honoured guest.
Kirst Sandell (2nd year Moore), Afred Olwa (PhD. student, Moore), and Tim (3rd year Moore) were simply there to share our experiences as students. And it was a humbling and greatly encouraging night.
The real highlight was the address by the Prime Minister. As usual, his speech was prepared for him in advance – but during Archbishop Jensen’s address, John Woodhouse’s speech and the short interviews with us students, he was jotting down some notes. Then, as he rose to speak it became apparent that he spoke not from the pre-prepared speech, but from the notes that he had jotted down. What came next was an amazing display of intelligent and genuine public speech. Engaging with those who had just spoken (so much so, I was referred to as “mate”!), Kevin Rudd rehearsed his deep knowledge of the theology and ethics of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He then went on to explain his tension between being “true to thine self,” and how he handles making a public prosecution of his faith. It was an incredibly honest and genuine moment of sharing. His commendation of Moore College came next. Followed lastly by his exhortation to acts of mercy in light of the economic challenges ahead. Us students were particular urged to think through what claims these challenges might make on us in the parish we will minister in. The night ended in prayer and thanks.
And then he left around 10:30pm (after an already hectic day – he’s been preparing the country’s budget!) and went off to another meeting.
I was blown away mainly by 1) his genuine faith and honest time of sharing, and 2) the physical and emotional strength he must have to meet and greet people all through the day, and yet engage with them with such friendliness. Praise the Lord for the encouraging night we had!
Let’s hope it encourages many to give financially to the work of Moore college in service to Christ’s church. And may we all take up our cross as we move into this next challenging period of our country’s life.
As Bonhoeffer says in his Cost of Discipleship, “When Christ calls a man, He calls him: Come and die.”
