Your Bob’s worth - Arid but healthy

Arid but healthy...A living system

In the dry north of South Australia, within an area corrupted by humans, foxes, cats and rabbits, there is an 87 square km 'oasis' known as the Arid Recovery Centre.

This is really a system (an eco-system) which contains many subsystems. There are Greater Bilbies, the rare Burrowing Bettongs, Stick Nest Rats, several species of Hopping Mice, reptiles of many varieties, numerous birds, and the amazing Trilling Frog.

Systems function well when they are healthy and interacting together.

What keeps the ARC as a viable system is the specially constructed fence which is designed to keep out predators, and the constant monitoring which detects and deals with any that slip through. These are predators like the fox or the cat which decimate the fauna in the system, or the rabbit which ruins the habitat.

There are sometimes unpleasant, naturally occurring events in the ARC, but these add to the strength of the system. Mulga snakes eat Hopping Mice. Wedge-tailed eagles take small reptiles and mammals.

The ARC volunteers need to know the difference between predators which have no place in the system, and fauna or events which are difficult, but are part of healthy living.

There are several organisations which conduct research at the ARC because it is vital to understand how a healthy arid ecosystem works so that when something goes wrong it can be dealt with in a helpful way.

Research is happening to find out if the dingo can control cats and foxes. What effect do rabbits have on slow-reproducing plants like mulga bushes? Are the dry gibber plains really devoid of life?

The world wide Anglican Church is also a system which can function in a healthy way, but doesn't always do so.

Predators come in several forms, not always people. They are sometimes character traits or spiritual deficiencies in the system. We need to 'fence out' what is not meant to be there and monitor it for whatever slips through.

We must also handle intelligently what are the naturally occurring difficulties in the system. To do this means we need to put significant effort into understanding how a healthy Anglican Church works. How do the community of faith, the Lord of life and the organisation of the church function in a healthy way within the corrupted environment around us?

The leadership is the fence.

The system can function in a healthy way itself if the leadership guards it from predators of every sort. They need to know what is meant to be there, and what is invasive. If the church were a body, we would have a system where the leadership is not the head of the body (that task is already taken) but the immune system.

This is why Lambeth is important.

The Bishops who attend have the opportunity to do the task assigned to them by the Lord of the system. But let's not forget that leadership is also local. The local subsystem is still part of the bigger entity. Let's enjoy it and keep it healthy.

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