Bishop Philip Huggins
Tuesday, 2 September 2025
All human stories are stories of God, our Creator. So we say in our prayers, that we may find in His Presence, ‘light, happiness and peace’. All religions tell that we may grow into the image and likeness of God, ‘truth, goodness and beauty’. Bishop Huggins will soon participate in a reading of the names of all the children who have perished in Gaza. In this wise, Bishop Huggins explores Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the significance of children in our lives, and where we might find light – in our history, in our neighbours, in our worship.
Stories: Our Story in God’s Story
Being made by the Creator in God’s own image and likeness means all of us have a dignity and a bond in our ‘common humanity.’ (Genesis 1.26)
As scholars convey, each person is created in the divine image and is called to participate in the process of growing into God’s likeness. This ‘likeness’ is a life of beauty, truth, and kindness.
From this understanding also flows our declarations of human rights as articulated in the UN Declaration on Human Rights and as embodied in international law.
These include declarations on the rights of children.
Reading and applying the Convention on the Rights of the Child is utterly essential in current circumstances. There are so many places where children are robbed of childhood’s enchantment by abysmal adult leadership.
The death of innocent children is utterly heartbreaking. Tomorrow, in prayerful Vigil, we read the names of those who have died in Gaza.
This reality of our being – made in the image and likeness of the Creator – also exposes racism and sexism as a complete and cruel folly.
Theology matters. We are part of a God-given adventure towards the at-one-ment of all beings. Our worship – in my tradition, the ordered, mystical liturgy of Holy Communion – helps us, somewhat subliminally, feel the link between ‘Our Story and God’s Story.’
The practice of this theology critiques those who would divide us with their ugly aggression on city streets … who use democratic freedoms of protest to undermine our democracy.
‘One of the greatest gifts we can give to our children is the knowledge of where we have come from, the things for which we have fought and why. None of the things we value – freedom, human dignity, justice – was achieved without a struggle. None can be sustained without conscious vigilance. A society without memory is like a journey without a map. It’s all too easy to get lost … Life has meaning when it is part of a story, and the larger the story, the more our imaginative horizons grow…’ (Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in Uncovering their Names and Stories: 300+ years of a German-Jewish family 1697-2024 by David Marlow. Published by JewishGen 2025).
My friend David grew up without much knowledge of his family background. He knew this was related to life in Nazi Germany and the war. Now with grandchildren, he went on a journey to find out more so they would have some understanding of their family story.
Such a noble venture! His book is the fruit of this venture, and is a rich blessing, not just for his dear grandchildren.
This Sunday we remember some aspects of our story as the Church In Australia.
We are sustaining a tradition of remembering, on the first Sunday in September, our connection to people in Papua New Guinea and West Papua.
Scientists tell us, as the map below conveys, that in the last Ice Age (about six thousand years ago), we were one land (Alan Thorne and Robert Raymond, Man on the rim – the people of the Pacific, Angus and Robertson, 1989, p 52).
Our readings pertain to the ‘Coming of the Light’ in the Torres Strait.
Our other important remembering on Sunday is as regards the plight of folk in West Papua and their ongoing campaign for self-determination.
We journey on, seeking to honour our high calling, made in the image and likeness of our Creator.
As Rabbi Sacks says, ‘Life has meaning when we are part of a story and the larger the story, the more our imaginative horizons grow.’
In the Gospel this Sunday, we hear Jesus say to us:
‘While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.’ (John 12.36)
Light; delight, and enlightenment – this is a noble and wonderful story to be part of. Our persistence is obviously necessary in current circumstances.
This article was originally published by Religions for Peace Australia. It is republished with permission.
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