My contention this morning is that our culture is in crisis. I use the word `culture` in the sense of `the way of living which is transmitted from one generation to another`. And I use the word `crisis` in the sense of `a turning point`. I have in mind the medical use of the term crisis – `the point where a decisive change occurs leading either to recovery or death`.

Let me now outline what I will be suggesting

Firstly, that our modern secular society emerged from and is a product of the Christian West.

Secondly, that our culture has cut itself off from its roots and, as plants wither and die when cut off from their roots, so do cultures that forget their past.

Thirdly, that our culture is in crisis. We have reached the crisis point, the critical moment that leads to life or death. The evidence for this is overwhelming and I literally could speak for hours on the way our culture is collapsing. But for today I intend to limit myself to a few examples

Fourthly, the catalyst for positive change is what I refer to as `awareness` - known in the Christian faith as `Contemplative Prayer`. And at this point I would ask you to hold judgment as to the meaning of word `prayer`.

That is an outline of the argument. Let`s now go back to the beginning and consider what we today describe as `our secular society`. The word secular is quite tricky. For many people it means `anti religious`. Not so. The word secular meansthisworld over and against some other spiritual world. The meaning of the word is very important as Barth and Bonhoeffer pointed out in the 1950s. They were the prophets of the secular society. They brought us back to earth as the context of Christian faith rather than some life after death heavenly kingdom.

Karl Barth was the theologian of the twentieth century and was among the first to spell out how Jesus differed with the religion of his day. You see this in his attitude to the religious practices of his day. Sabbath observance was the core of Jewish religiosity, and Jesus made it quite clear that it was more important to meet human need than to observe the Sabbath. The Christian faith is about this world, not some other heavenly world. Bonhoeffer took it one step further and coined the phrase `religionless Christianity`, otherwise translated as `secular Christianity`. Bonhoeffer pointed to secular society as humankind`s `coming of age`.

All this was fifty years ago. What has happened since then? Lloyd Geering is very perceptive on this. Like Barth and Bonhoeffer he maintains that our secular society `emerged out of the Christian West, is a product of the Christian West, and is motivated by the values, aspirations and visions of its matrix`.And then he goes on to say` `Those who turn their backs completely on Christianity….are cutting themselves off from their cultural and spiritual roots. As plants without roots wither and die, so do cultures that forget their past` (1)

And that is I would suggest is precisely what is happening today. What I am suggesting is, as indeed is Lloyd Geering, that the modern, secular and humanistic world should recognize its Christian roots. ``Values such as freedom, love, justice and the pursuit of peace were central to the Christian faith and the early years of the secular state.` (2) Such is not the case today. The plant has cut itself off from its roots.

Our society has changed enormously over the last fifty years. So much so that even the Wall Street Journal is concerned about it. In the past` `Inadequate parents could sort of say `Go outside and play in the culture` and the culture could more or less be trusted to bring the kids up. ` It goes on to say that ``You can`t do this today because the culture will leave them distorted and disturbed.` This is probably the understatement of the year in that our society today actively promotes a culture of violence, sexualisation and politics so gross that it is hardly recognizable as the culture in which we grew up.

The point I am trying to make is that the preponderance of the good things in our society flowed from our Judeo-Christian inheritance and that to try and live off the capital for ever and ever is a pipe dream from which we are just awakening.

Let me give some examples of the problems we face in our secular society:

(1) In the West Australian newspaper of 3 September there appeared a very large advertisement `Defence Chaplains needed . . . Right now we need Chaplains to provide spiritual ministry and pastoral support`In other words `We are in a hell of a mess and we need to do something!` And within the advert is one of the strangest calls to ministry I have ever heard. ` `If you have a sense of adventure, enjoy keeping fit and like developing lasting friendships, then take up this opportunity today`. Some may find this advert offering hope. I find it pathetic, but then I must admit that I am not exactly a fan of the army and I see those killed in war not as heroes but as victims of a distorted and simplistic view of life.

(2) A second example is found in the riots in England. These have been described in many ways. The politicians, as might be expected, saw it in terms of law and order and criminality. The words of the Prime Minister of the UK sum up this attitude, `It is criminality, pure and simple . . . It is not about politics. It is about theft.` The opposition saw it in terms of `what we might expect from left wing mollycoddling.` Others saw as a form of protest but it bore few signs of it. Still others saw it in terms of the `recreational violence` which we are starting to see in Perth– some of it being alcohol fuelled and some of it being `pure` violence. These factors were involved, of course, but the malaise we saw expressed goes far deeper than that. It is about the lack of direction within our society at large.

Natasha Reid graduated as a social worker in July. Two months later she had a criminal record for stealing a flat screen TV during the riots – a TV screen she didn`t even want. She already had one hanging in her bedroom. To her aunt she said `I don`t get it, Aunty, why did I do it?` I can suggest some reasons, the first of which is that the things that normally restrain people are no longer there. If there is an opportunity then it is invariably taken. We are a generation bred on a diet of consumerism and sucked in by advertising. As John Pitts says, ` We used to be defined by what we did. Now we are defined by what we buy`. We are a society without roots and devoid of direction.

(3) A third example. Janet Albrechtson is a lawyer/journalist who has a regular column in the Australian. She is my bęte noire, my thorn in the flesh. Perhaps it is because you need to be a lawyer to react so negatively to another lawyer. Be that as it may, about two months ago she really hit a high spot in asserting that Hermione and Lady Ga Ga are the heroines of our day. I have nothing against Emma Watson alias Hermione of Harry Potter fame. She is a good actress. For Albrechtson, however, her great attribute is that she is about to study at Oxford and `being responsible for herself`. The same goes for Lady Ga Ga whom she praises for `being true to herself by being herself` – whatever that might mean. She praises Lady Ga Ga for her words `I was so far beneath and now I`m so far above`. Bully for you Lady Ga Ga! Albrechtson is a gifted writer and portrays vividly, if unconsciously, a society without roots and devoid of direction. But let me not be too critical. She is but the messenger and, as we all know, little is to be gained by shooting the messenger.

(4) I do not have time to spell out how the world financial crisis in which we are now involved is an example of a culture in crisis but that is precisely what it is. We are debt men walking.

Collateralised Deposit Obligations and Derivatives are in effect betting slips. The Global Financial Crisis – part 2 – is to me a striking example of a culture in crisis. Greed is not good!

One could go on for hours with examples of a culture in crisis, including the parody of politics being played out in the national parliament, and the pathetic Home with Julia shown on the ABC in the name of satire. I don`t object to the concept. It is the quality that leaves me gasping. If the ABC can put out stuff like this, we really are in trouble. I liked the letter in the paper the other day by one person saying that he found the programme hilarious and couldn`t stop laughing. He ended the letter by expressing the hope that his parents might give him the DVD for his fifth birthday!

There are many, many examples of our culture in crisis. The big question, of course, is what do we do about it?

Firstly, we must not try to reinstate Christendom – the exercise of power by the Church. Christendom is dead and all the Queen`s soldiers and all the Queen`s laws will not put Christendom together again. The past has passed and it is futile to try and unwise to try and re-instate it. It is a different playing field on which we play today.

Secondly, and this is not contrary to what I have just said, we have to recognize the historicity of the Christian faith. The Christian faith is a historically formed tradition. If you leave out the historical aspect, you leave out the central affirmation of the Christian faith – Jesus of Nazareth.

What then do we do? Keith Rowe states it clearly and succinctly. We must `rethink Christian belief in the light of insights and understandings not available to earlier generations.`

How do we do this? And here I am almost embarrassed at the simplicity of my suggestion. The answer to the question of what we do about the crisis in our culture is – wait for it – to pray! And before you laugh me out of court let me explain what I mean by prayer, and my belief that more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.

By prayer I do not mean asking God for something, or expecting God to do something. That to me is a parody of prayer. Prayer to me is `being present to the presence of God`, My ideas of God and prayer have changed greatly over the years, and so have my ideas on prayer. I do not see God in terms of an extra terrestial all powerful ruler whose mind can be changed through prayer, but I do see prayer as central to life and until we learn to pray we will continue to mess up and our society will spiral down into chaos and destruction.

Prayer is `being present to the presence of God`. In prayer we move to a deeper level of reality. We move beyond the rational. We move from the rational to the real.

And let me now repeat what I must have said fifty times in this place. There are I believe three forms of prayer – three forms of being present to the presence of God.
One consists of words – words in which we seek to relate to the ground of our being, to life itself. It is like looking at a painting and trying to relate to it by using words. `What a marvellous painting`.

The second form of prayer is meditation. This is when the lips are stilled but the mind is active, when we try and work out the intent and meaning of the painter. This is the rational aspect of prayer, using the mind to elicit meaning and purpose.

The third form of prayer is contemplative prayer when we still both the tongue and the mind and simply let the painting impact upon us. It is not irrational! It is beyond the rational – and this is why so many people have difficulty with it because we are such a rational society. `I think therefore I am` is how Descartes put it. No! `I love therefore I am`. Life is about being in love, and prayer is about awareness of it; experiencing awareness, enjoying awareness and deepening the awareness of what we sometimes call `ultimate reality` – that which really counts. Prayer isn`t a matter of achieving or earning or receiving. It is about seeing and from that seeing everything else proceeds. If the culture of fear, self centredness, and producing and consuming are the only games we play then they become our reality. What we seek to do in prayer is to break free from that reality and become aware of a deeper reality. Prayer is the cleansing of the lens of perception so that we can see things as they really are.

What I am suggesting is that in our culture today the real has become unreal and the unreal has become real. As John Dominic Crossan says, `We have moved from the Age of Enlightenment to the Age of Entertainment`.

People sometimes ask me `In the light of all this where lies your hope?` It is where it has always been – in the radical social implications of the way of life embodied in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus offers us `life in all its fullness`. At the moment we are experiencing it in all its frailness. As Richard Rohr puts it, and we repeat every communion Sunday:`Jesus gives us real eyes to realise where the real lies`. Apart from this I am without hope and I see homo sapiens becoming another dead branch on the evolutionary tree. Life will go on - there is no question about that – but it will go on without so called homo sapiens. When this will happen I have no idea but it is a sobering thought that one of the most brilliant scientists Australia has produced, Frank Fenner, puts it at the end of our present century. As Ronald Wright says in his book `The Short History of Progress`: `The future of everything we have accomplished since our intelligence evolved will depend on the wisdom of our actions over the next few years.`

Our culture really is in a state of crisis!