|PIC1|Phipps was an industrial chaplain in England and reflects upon 'being Christian' within the market place and derived a philosophy of being a Christian on 'Monday'. Two powerful examples he gave as insights, says M V Tronson, has influenced his own understanding.
The first example related to a manager and a shop steward who were both Christians and who came to an equitable agreement over the wages and conditions being sought. The problem was that the manager's 'board' and the shop steward's 'workers' rejected out of hand the compromises. Being a Christian was not enough to achieve what these two men had thought was fair and reasonable.
The second example related to a young minister in Germany who had been appointed as an industrial chaplain. A senior industrial chaplain asked him why he was so excited. The young minister exclaimed, 'I'm taking God into industry'. 'That will be very interesting for God', the older man ironically replied.
Phipps explained that making a profit is survival. It is imperative. If an employer is losing money, then he cannot pay the workers, who would then in turn be unable to feed and house their families. The Trade Union movement is then to try to ensure workers' needs are taken into reasonable consideration, so there is no exploitation. On top of this system, the elected politicians maintain and create laws that enables this process to flow.
"Herein lies the daily test for our local elected officials," M V Tronson notes. "Unlike Federal and State politicians, whose decisions are made in a geographically remote place, it is the Shire Councillors who experience regulations that do not work for the community. They live next door, their kids in the same school, shop in local supermarkets, attends Chambers of Commerce and Rotary, worships in local congregations, and the like."
M V Tronson said that Shire Councillors who follow the Lord Jesus Christ, have what Phipps refers to as 'God on Monday' bewildering complexities in decision making. Solomon would blush. Decisions are often between the least inconvenient to local residents or the lesser of two evils. As one example, even former prime minister Bob Hawke had to have his architectural drawings altered for his new Sydney harbour home to meet neighbours complaints of blocking their view.
Soon after arriving in Tweed Heads three years ago M V Tronson said, he asked Warren Polglase who had been a Councillor and a mayor to brief him on the Tweed Shire. His experience from Eurobodalla Shire illustrated the wisdom of such political insights.
"Tweed local politics is stranger than fiction," M V Tronson says. "The NSW Labor government sacked the Tweed elected Councillors in 2004, then it was shown that natural justice had been denied, then a vital sentence or two needed to be deleted from the Tweed Shire web site on the original findings, and with much hubris from all sides. Then at the following State election where the voters had a say, (albeit a bit wider geographical area than just the Tweed), the sitting Labor member lost his seat."
"Our democracy is astonishing, there are many willing to subject their reputations to the local neighbourhood, to wider political scrutiny and all this acrimony," M V Tronson noted. "I have good friends on both sides of this camp and it's not about 'mud throwing', rather good conscience."
'God on Monday' reflections are not just topics of conversation, M V Tronson points out, they deal with real life complexities where imperfect decisions are made in an imperfect world where adverse advice if provided for every-which-way. "And good conscience is not an easy thing to explain in local government," he said.