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	a healthy church...transformingLIFE
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	September 2003
		Bishop's reflection by John Harrower
			The God of life: the God of miracles Ludovico knew then that he'd seen a miracle . . . a miracle boy who represented everything that every Italian held dear, the power to love, unconditionally, forever, to forgive, to live after the worst of atrocities, and, most of all, the power to believe in God's miracles. The danger of the Enlightenment, or the sometimes termed 'modern' mind, is that all is claimed to be known or scientifically, eventually, knowable: we will be enlightened. The tragedy of this rationality is what I would term the 'limited life': life constrained to that which is cognitive and understandable to ourselves. The creative arts explode this travesty of the limited life, as also does our experience of life in all its mystery and grace. An example of what I term the so called 'modern mindset' is the effort to control our physical, social, intellectual and spiritual environment so that it is 'safe'. Thus our cars are increasingly 'safe', our electrical supplies and water supplies are 'safe'; our relationships can be 'safe' &endash; so go for it! Yet, as helpful as some aspects of this culture of safety may be, there is not only the impossibility of its achievement, but more significantly the shallowness of seeking life within it. Not only is the 'safe life' an impossibility, but it is 'life limiting'. Life in relationships, in achieving and in the depth of being truly human and truly alive is full of risk taking, of stepping outside our controlled or so called 'safe' zones. But as Hector, the survivor in James McBrides' 'Miracle at St Anna' Hodder 2002 concludes, Safety was the greatest risk of all, because safety leaves no room for miracles. And miracles, he had learned, were the only sure things in life. The miracle of grace, of God's goodness and mercy and transforming joy bursting through into life, gives freedom to live life fully. A healthy church will be a risk taking community. May I encourage you to take some risks based on your encounter with God as the focus of your entire life; to express the Lord Jesus Christ in every aspect of your life; to be guided by the Holy Spirit and to recognize the Spirit's voice by looking to both the witness of the Bible and the tradition of the church. We are called to risk releasing God's people into new beginnings. There is a host of creative options open to us. I look to our clergy and lay leaders to explore alternative models of worship; the formation of new congregations; church planting and the development of home groups. We must engage with the members of our communities in new and creative ways. We risk life because we trust in the God of life, the God of miracles.