To Be or Not to Be...

That was the question for Hamlet, prince of Denmark. He was contemplating his options to confirm the truth about his father's death.

And it might well have been the question we all had as we prepared ourselves for yesterday's ballot - should we change the Australian Constitution to remove the Queen as "head of state" and replace her with an Australian? (You or I might well be nominated, but would need a two-thirds majority of both houses of parliament in joint sitting to get elected. Sorry, I don't think anyone here has a chance of ever being elected President of Australia!)

By the time you read this, the die will have been cast, even if the result is not yet clear. That is why I am writing now, before the vote. I am trusting that you gave earnest and prayerful consideration to your part in this. The founding fathers made decisions which have affected us, and now it is our turn to make choices - one way or another - which will affect our children and grandchildren...

Not that I believe that yesterday's choice/s was/were the most important of the decade/century... I do hope that those who didn't vote with the majority will allow yesterday's decision to "work", that they will allow the republican or monarchist model to facilitate good government, that we will be a united Australia.

Jesus was sending out seventy-two disciples two by two. They were to go into the villages and towns ahead of him and announce that "the Kingdom of God has come near you". Some towns would reject them and they were to shake off the dust and say to them, "Remember that the Kingdom of God has come near you!" (Luke 10.1-12)

That question is more critical for our country than any of the arguments presented for and against a republic. How have we responded - and how are we responding - to the good news of the Kingdom as it is offered to us?