Michelle Coram
Michelle Coram was so Catholic at the age of seven she hoped to die a nice gory death like some of her favourite saints. These days she worships around a Uniting Church table full of wine, food and sacred stories, and hopes to die in her sleep at a ripe old age. Here’s her cross-denominational story.
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“And the places that used to fit me, cannot hold the things I've learned, those roads were closed off to me, while my back was turned." Painting Pictures of Egypt, Sara Groves
When I was seven I wasn’t just Catholic — I wanted to achieve sainthood, preferably via martyrdom. It’s a real tribute to the writing skills of the authors of Saints for Young People that they made being burnt, beheaded or torn apart by lions seem like variations of the ultimate happy ending.
Something happened to my Catholic faith between the ages of seven and thirty seven. I was confused when the Pope banned girls from serving on the altar. I was sad when the church refused to marry my friend who’d happened to fall in love with a man who was divorced. And eventually I became angry, as I watched priest after priest leave, usually because they too had fallen in love.
I spent a summer on the island of Iona as a volunteer a few years ago and saw that church didn’t have to be this way. I loved that the ecumenical Iona Community distilled the essence of the gospels with a minimum of angst. Loving relationships of all kinds were celebrated, not judged. And the communion table was an open one.
As I watched a woman minister break bread, something broke inside me too. I realised I needed to be part of a church that affirmed the many gifts of both women and men; and a church that didn't have such strict rules about who you could love, or how.
After I returned home to Adelaide, I attended a workshop run by John Bell, the Iona Community’s chief musician. He invited us to design our own church in our heads. The young woman next to me, Sarah Agnew, was a candidate for ordination in the Uniting Church. We both agreed that the churches we imagined were round and lamented the fact that no such circular church seemed to exist.
I lost track of Sarah after that workshop, but last year we both ended up on a trip to the UK organised by the Uniting Church. We met with a number of small, emerging communities and realised our dreams of what church could be shared substance as well as shape.
Recently Sarah invited me to be part of the Esther Project, a Uniting Church community that gathers over food, wine and shared stories. The project will stage a theatre production based on Esther from the Old Testament as part of the Adelaide Fringe and engage in interfaith dialogue with Muslim and Jewish communities. I realised this was my chance to help create the very community we'd been imagining.
We don’t have the money to physically build the circular church (yet!), but the essence of this community is round — it values men and women in partnership, lay and ordained, and respect for different belief traditions.
Staging a theatre production is a very big task for a fledgling community, but we take comfort from being part of a long line of crazy people in the Christian tradition. After all, George McLeod, the founder of the Iona Community, thought restoring the ruins of the Benedictine Abbey during the great depression was a good idea. George believed that only a “demanding common task” could build community. If George was right, I am sure our little community will grow and thrive.
I’m glad to be part of the Esther Project community, but my own story will never be a neat fit in any one denomination. A girl who grew up on martyr stories is always going to feel a little bit Catholic, no matter how many issues she may have with the Pope. And while I love the open communion table that the Uniting Church offers, I will always choke a little on grape juice. You’ll never find anything but a full strength alcoholic bevy in Catholic chalices!
If denominations were nationalities, I would call myself a dual passport holder. Or maybe I should borrow Kevin Rudd’s description of himself as, “A Christian of no fixed denominational abode.” Like Diana Eck, an American theologian, I define my faith not by its borders, but by its roots. Diana Eck also writes about, “Being cross-pollinated by the breezes of freedom.”
Turns out that belonging to more than one faith tradition doesn't have to be complicated. It's actually very simple. The Uniting Church doesn't ask me to give anything up from my original faith tradition; at the same time it provides me with a safe space to explore new ideas, friendships and possibilities. As I continue my faith journey, I do so with gratitude for both the denomination that shaped me and the denomination that now shelters me.
I'll always welcome the gift of community — whatever label you want to put on it, however I get to create it, wherever I happen to find it.
Michelle Coram is a lawyer and writer who lives in Adelaide. Michelle shares her house with two very spoiled cats who continue to adjust their lifestyle expectations upwards.She likes to mull over issues of life and faith and her many past mistakes at her blog.
Unpack the issues...
- Is a ‘denominational home’ important to your faith?
- What would your ideal worship space look like?
- The Esther Project — is based in Adelaide and includes:
- The Banquet — a faith community who meet over meals and shared stories every fortnight
- Peace Events — sharing sacred stories with local Jewish, Muslim, Ba'hai and Christian communities
- Esther and Mordecai — our first theatre production, to be staged for the 2010 Fringe Festival
- The Iona Community (Scotland)
- The Wellspring Community (Australia)
- For more information about the Uniting Church's trips to the UK see Cheryl Lawrie's blog, http://blogs.victas.uca.org.au/alternative/
- Sara Groves is an American Christian songwriter. Her website is www.saragroves.com.
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written by Sarah Agnew , October 15, 2009
I just had an email from a reader of The Esther Project website saying there is a round church that used to be part of the Sunraysia Uniting Church parish in Victoria. I think I'll have to have a look when I next drive through Vic. The only other round chapel I ever saw was also in Victoria, in Melbourne somewhere on the edge of the Dandenongs ...
written by alison (editor) , October 16, 2009
the church I was part of as a teenager - St Augustine's in Bunbury (WA) - was round. It was a bit annoying because everyone could see me yawn if i'd been to a saturday night party
written by Sid Gammon , December 16, 2009
Coming from a Congregational/Methodist background, I was somewhat stunned the first time I celebrated Communion as a Lay Pastor in a small ex Presbyterian country UCA church. A precious bottle of Port had been brought out as it had over many years. Wow! It was hard to catch my breath and continue.
I returned some years later to lead worship. The table was set and I was ready, including for the Port which was quite appropriate in that place.
Again I was taken by surprise. The best Tasmanian grape juice.
The Elder explained that a new comer to the congregation was an alcoholic. The Church family were caring for her without any fuss; just a lot of love.
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