Reverend Margaret Blair has been awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for her service to the Uniting Church in Australia. Ms Blair served as a minister at Western Port Presbytery, the Uniting Church of Wodonga and in Ringwood after being ordained in 1993. She was vice-president of the Victorian Council of Churches and spent significant time with the Uniting Church Synod of Victoria and Tasmania. Today, Ms Blair continues to work in the community with HICCI, where she served as president from 2010-2014. She reflects upon the honour in her own words…
A friend of mine once commented that the problem with the Australia Day awards is that there are not enough ordinary women in the list. Well I am certainly helping to address that. Ordinary and a woman.
I have been part of the Uniting Church since it was formed in 1977. After a teaching career, I answered a call to ministry and was ordained in 1993. Over the years it has been a privilege and a joy to be able to serve the church in a range of different ways.
My colleagues and fellow church members do this too, many in ways that far exceed what I have done. My family, in particular my husband Andrew, have always offered encouragement and support along the way.
The Uniting Church was formed out of the understanding that the different denominations must seek ways to work together in unity. It was great to be able to be part of the Victorian Council of Churches and a number of different groups helping the churches and people of different faiths to work together.
Today I continue this with my work for HICCI, which is seven churches of Healesville and Yarra Glen working together to serve our community.
I have been proud of the way the Uniting has been at the forefront of issues of justice for people who are marginalised in our community. The central place of our First People was recognised in 1994 with the formation of the Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress that is an autonomous body within the Uniting Church. The work of Healesville Uniting Church ‘Walking Together’ group is part of this broader understanding.
On the Sunday before Australia Day our local Uniting Church responded to the call of our national assembly and we held worship services that were part of a Day of Mourning.
We recognised the violent dispossession of our first peoples and the churches complicity in that. This was manifest in the injustice and abuse in taking away the land, law spirituality, language and culture. Abuses that have continued to this present day.
Australia is a great place to live and I want to see it even better. I believe that celebrating Australia Day on a different date would be the logical way to respect our first peoples and be part of healing divisions in our nation.
There are other ways we can build an even better Australia where mateship and a fair go really do hold sway. What I would describe as the Jesus way. To achieve this we need a whole rethink of what is important. We don’t live in an economy but a commonwealth.
Rather than putting money at the centre, we need to build our communities so that those with the least are cared for the most.
Asylum seekers should be given a go, including those on Manus and Nauru. Newstart and aged pensions should be increased to let people live with dignity. Education funding should be used primarily in our state schools. The diversity of our people should be celebrated.
The challenges of our changing climate are focused by the destruction of the dreadful fires burning in our nation. We marvel at the commitment, skill and bravery of firefighters. We honour those who are providing practical and emotional support through time, goods and donations.
Out of this we are realising that we all need to work together to makes changes in the way we live so our children, grandchildren and generations beyond can inherit a liveable world.
We acknowledge that we have failed as stewards of God’s creation as we have fractured the intricate web of life. Our hope is in coming together to seek a new way forward.
The Uniting Church puts it this way. It recognises that we need to change with changing circumstances, that we are ‘a people on the way’. Our founding documents say that on this journey of change we are informed by biblical, literary, historical and scientific expertise that in each generation is expressed in fresh words and deeds. I have been privileged to be a part of this journey.
– Margaret Blair OAM.
