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The Anglican Church in Tasmania Search |
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a healthy church...transformingLIFE |
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August 2005 |
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Stewards of CreationTim Cadman of St Mark's Deloraine, one time organiser of forest blockades, talks with Doug Edmonds. Doug: Tell me about the start of your Christian journey. Tim: I was baptised in 1966 at St. Peter's Cringleford in Norfolk, confirmed at 14 and a server. At Cambridge I was in the chapel choir. At some point I joined the Greens and, in my twenties, migrated to Tasmania. And things changed for you in Tasmania? Tim: When you're young, in the first flush of male adulthood, everything seems so black and white. I'd come from Europe, where all the trees had been chopped down 3000 years ago, to this place of indescribable beauty, real soul-piercing beauty. The first time I saw a clear-felled forest, I was wounded, I couldn't believe it. Here was this tiny corner of the world that was so unsullied, like Eden before the fall. So I just thought it was wrong, full stop. I was going to tell the world and save Tasmania. I had a decade at Jackey's Marsh near Meander, basically living an alternative lifestyle. I was more of a pagan than a Christian, although I went to church at Christmas and Easter. I didn't lose my faith but I was very idealistic and rebellious. What form did your rebellion take? In the nineties I organised blockades and coordinated community responses to logging. I even went to Europe to talk about Australia's forests, met up with David Bellamy, and was part of a protest outside Australia House in London. I also met up with Beth, my future wife. In 1998 I came to a personal crisis as the organiser of a big forest campaign. After a decade in the trenches without a break, I was burned out and exhausted. To gain perspective, we moved to Bellingen in 1999 where one day, after a decade of being in the wilderness, literally and metaphorically, I had a very strong prompting that, 'Tim, it's about time you started attending church a bit more regularly'. Being part of a church community, and being loved, basically pulled me out of the trenches and gave me a fresh perspective on the dynamic interplay between spirituality, the environment and social responsibility. I realised that there had to be a better approach to conflict. Why? Because there's no love. I once said to a District Forester, 'God will never forgive you for what you've done.' I realised that was a very unkind - and untrue - thing to say; that Christ's foundational gospel is about love. I reappraised my whole approach in Bellingen. I left the environmental movement and became an advocate for sustainable forestry: accepting that economy, ecology and society are all interrelated. All the Biblical principles of stewardship support the change from a single bottom line of profit maximisation to a triple bottom line of profit distribution, where you end up giving back to the environment and to society. In 1998 I joined the Forest Stewardship Council, a world-wide, voluntary scheme for good forest management that brings together economic interests, social interests and environmental interests. All have an equal say and everybody's views are valued and included. How does this relate to your faith? I want to love everybody. I don't want to fight them. I want to value and respect others, not hurt them. Christ commands me to be that way. The idea of forest stewardship is ultimately a Biblical concept - we are put here as wise stewards, not unjust stewards. To me, the environment is a 'new' mission field for Christians. God needs to be incorporated in the triple bottom line because, if we forget the spiritual dimension, we ignore creation itself.
Photo Chris Thiele |
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