So I was quite disappointed to hear on Friday morning that they had been given an eviction notice, and that those who had refused to vacate the square had been fenced in by police. I was on house duty at IHH, so I could only go down there for a little while, but I thought it would be a good idea to go down and keep an eye on what was going on – there was a lot of concern about the number of police. I was aware that Rev Simon Moyle was down there kneeling on the ground praying between the police and protesters.

When I got down there I was sad to see that the protest was getting much more aggressive – lots of angry chanting. Of course being fenced in by police is going to turn up the pressure. I stood at the outer fence keeping an eye on what was going on. I noticed that a number of police officers without their badges. The officer closest to me didn’t have a badge on, so I asked him why not, and he said it was under his vest, so I told him it should be visible. (After this he ignored me.) The police were dragging protesters out one at a time. Gradually more people were arriving outside the fence to support the protesters inside, joining in the chanting. Then very suddenly the police started pushing us back onto Swanston Street very quickly. I was pushed over by an un-badged police officer, and somebody pulled me back up. I was quite frightened, and so I started yelling at him, ‘Who are you?! Where’s your badge?! What is your name, rank and number?!’ We got pushed back into the middle of the road, and I knelt down on the ground between the police and the protesters to pray. They started sending a group of four horses along the line of protesters, to ram us back, so I had to jump up quickly and move back a number of times to avoid being trampled while I was praying.

I eventually had to go back to the house (referrals to take, housework to do), but I was pleased to hear from Simon that the behaviour from protesters in the afternoon was much better. There were a few people trying to stir up aggression, but for the most part the crowd wasn’t being drawn into it.

People have been saying that that the protests are not about anything in particular, or that they are about too many different things. It’s true that it can be hard to work out specifically what the protests have been about, but believe it or not, they do have a common point. Occupy Melbourne has been united by the sense that the public is not being represented by government, and the our elected representatives are mostly serving the interests of big business. Now this connects with a whole lot of different issues – mining, war, global warming, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land rights, gay marriage, and the list goes on. So I can understand why some would find it difficult to find the common thread – but it is there if you look.

People have been saying that there is no point to Occupy Melbourne because things are much better here than they are in the United States. It’s true that things are much better in Australia than in the United States – we haven’t suffered the effects of the Global Financial Crisis all that much in comparison. It’s true that we are much better off here, but that certainly doesn’t mean we should continue to let things keep going in the same direction as they have in the United States.

People have been saying that the protesters needed to be moved because they were ruining business around City Square. If this is the case, I wonder whether fencing off City Square has been good for business? (And I wonder where the protesters were getting their coffee?) In any case, a City Square is not supposed to be a place for business, it is supposed to be a place where the people can meet and discuss the issues of the day. That doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be businesses there. (Businesses might even help to fulfil this purpose.) I just means businesses aren’t the point.

People have been saying that the protesters should have moved on Friday morning when they were given their eviction notice. I agree. I think it would have been most sensible for the protesters to leave when they were asked – and many of them did. If they wanted they could just relocate or come back to the same place the next day. All the same, this does’t justify the way the violence of the police.

People have said that the protesters should have expected the treatment they received from the police. I agree that people shouldn’t be surprised by it. They should be prepared for harsh treatment, and be prepared not to retaliate with violence.
But neither should the police be surprised when they are taken to court.

Our Mayor Robert Doyle has chastised the protesters for causing the cancellation of an awards ceremony at the Town Hall for schools that had been helping to fight poverty. I think it’s a pity that this ceremony had to be cancelled, but the only reason the protest spread to outside Town Hall was because on Robert Doyle’s orders the police caged in the protesters who refused to leave City Square, thus turning up the pressure on the protest and drawing in many more supporters. The police then pushed the growing protest into the Collins Street-Swanston Street intersection, and up to Town Hall. So the problem was actually caused the by Mayor himself.

People have complained about the protesters interrupting public transport. I did see some protesters sit down on the tram track at one stage early on and I don’t think this was helpful. However, most of the interruption of traffic could have been avoided if the police had not turned up the pressure on the protest and hadn’t pushed it out into the street.

People have also been saying that they saw protesters buying food at Starbucks or McDonalds, or using Apple products, and so they have sold out to capitalism. While there are certainly a lot of socialists involved in Occupy Melbourne, there are also capitalists involved. I’d suggest reading this article from the Age: ‘Media preoccupations overlooking the real nature of protest’

Lastly, people have said that the protesters needed to be moved on because the Queen of England is visiting, and Melbourne needs to look nice. But I’m sure the Queen of England has seen much more intense protests in her own country quite recently.

• what previous experiences they have had of community (at CSBC or elsewhere)
• what hopes they were bringing with regards to community

I invited them to write or draw what they were bringing onto a post-it and stick it onto the body, and to shares with the congregation what they were bringing to the discussion.
After Carolyn’s sermon (which was very conversational) we had a bit of time for silent prayer and reflection, then we also had some opportunities to respond to the discussion actively. I had been thinking about Paul saying that we have all been baptised in the same Spirit and we all drink of the same Spirit. (1 Cor 12:13) So I had some water at each end of the communion table, and I invited participants to

• wash their hands (some chose to wash each other’s hands) and think about what it might mean to be baptised in the same Spirit
• drink some water and think about what it might mean to drink of the same Spirit

We also had our standard candles for people to light, representing prayers.

The Earth Story in Genesis

God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.’
(1:29)

…a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground…
(2:6)

… but the dove found no place to set its foot, and it returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth.
(8:9a)

… Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and saw that the face of the ground was drying.
(8:13b)

‘… otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’
(11:4)

So [YHWH] scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.
Therefore it was called Babel, because there [YHWH] confused the language of all the earth; and from there [YHWH] scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
(11:8-9)

On the other hand, the human beings in the Babel narrative are rarely named. The human beings are referred to as ‘they’ or ‘them’, except in 11:5 where they are referred to as בְנֵי הָאָדָם (b’ney haadam) – ‘children of humanity.’ Van Wolde refers to U. Cassuto’s suggestion that this section should not be referred to as ‘the Tower of Babel narrative’ but rather ‘The Story of the Generation of Division’. In the story God is not concerned with stopping the building of the tower, but with making sure that people continue to spread across the earth. Van Wolde suggests that human beings build the tower in order to leave the earth (entering the heavens), even though in Genesis 1:27-28 God had made them responsible for the earth. God confuses the languages so that human beings will keep spreading across all the earth and take responsibility for its care.

I also brought also some incense sticks for people to light as incense offerings (since we are all priests), to symbolise something we wanted to offer to God. (I had considered bringing some livestock to sacrifice, but I decided that this would not be appropriate, and that the vegetarians and vegans among us would not appreciate it.) We also had our usual candles for people to light along with the incense sticks, to symbolise our prayers.