Outspoken Wollongong Minister Calls It As He Sees It
Illawarra Mercury
Saturday June 17, 2000
GORDON Bradbery confesses he is rather pleased at recent attempts to sabotage the Internet with a computer virus.
He says he likes the idea of the resourcefulness of the human spirit.
Perhaps he likes the idea there are others out there who, like himself, will swim against the tide of popular thought.
``Christ said radical things and they crucified him. Perhaps I am following in his footsteps," he says.
``I do not mean to deliberately irritate but where I see injustices or I perceive absolute dribble coming from the church, sometimes I feel somebody has got to say ``This is ridiculous!" and present an alternative perspective."
``I feel I am called to represent Christ in the 21st century."
It is easy to see why the Uniting Church minister has earned himself a reputation as a bit of a radical since arriving in Wollongong 41/2 years ago.
It is not only his appearance that provokes comment - black jeans, leather jacket and earring - but also his services with their strong contemporary themes.
To the non-Christian he has become an acceptable face of the church who can just as easily talk football as quote the apostles.
``Unless we have a contemporary faith it seems to me we will just replicate the faith of someone else and that's a sad thing," he says.
``The church gets itself in a place where it's defending something that is a bygone belief system."
Reverend Bradbery's office, behind the church in the mall, is rather austere. With its hard chairs and mostly bare walls it has all the warmth of a dentist's waiting room. The only colour comes from a painting of a rainbow in a blue sky.
Even his noticeboard is spartan with a few pictures, a poster on how to discuss difficult issues in a relationship and a notice saying ``S... happens."
Such a prosaic, and some would say practical, approach to religion has been rather less popular with his peers.
He observes he has never been asked to speak at another minister's induction. When he is allowed to speak at functions he is generally given a prepared text, leaving no opportunity for him to voice any kind of personal opinion.
But he is considered suitable enough for a police chaplain, a position carrying tremendous social responsibility - as well as 2am wake-up calls.
``I get the impression I am perceived as a threat," Mr Bradbery says. ``I am seen as being out on the radical edge. I am probably perceived by some as a heretic."
IT comes as little surprise that his childhood was not conventional.
He was born in Tamworth 49 years ago. Both parents were alcoholics and he and his brothers were taken away from them.
He never saw his mother again and later would bury his father. Neither parent made it to 50.
At age 10, he found himself in a Dr Barnado's children's home in Normanhurst in Sydney's north-west.
But he has no regrets: ``It set me free."
There he was introduced to the Christian faith through Sunday School at the nearby Methodist Church.
At 16 he left school and became a laboratory technician, then three years later became involved in a full-time youth work project and never went back to secular employment.
At 19 he organised a Christian rock festival and was quoted in The Sydney Morning Herald as saying: ``It is not theology that changes but the expression of it."
By his mid-20s he began to realise that he could take welfare work no further until he improved his education. He spent the next six years studying psychology and sociology at Wollongong University.
Even then it seemed he was emerging as someone destined to be an outsider. Mr Bradbery says he has accepted that it will always be so - he and his wife are separated.
``I am a loner. My inner world is very important to me and I spend time reflecting," he says.
``I am an introvert. I am a solitary human being."
Yet there seems to be a need to express his individuality, and in a way that is noticed by others.
He had his ear pierced in 1980 at a time, he says, when it was not acceptable for a man to do so.
``The Uniting Church has always had a place for us radicals," he says. ``It wasn't to be confrontational. It's an issue of me being me."
INSTEAD of attending a theological college - which perhaps some had imagined would tame his desire for individuality - he chose to study divinity at Sydney University.
The next three years were spent poring over ancient texts, mythology archaeology, Hebrew and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
``I didn't want to study in a church theological college," he says. ``I wanted to do it in a framework of open inquiry so that I didn't have the church breathing down my neck with its doctrines and its bias.
``The trouble is, too many clergy train within a framework of their own theological bias and never have their theology and beliefs tested."
Mr Bradbery seems well practised in outlining his faith to the doubters. He patiently explains how he reconciles the apparent conflict between the Christian faith and science. He does not believe the world was created in seven days nor is he likely to tell his flock of the joys of heaven.
No, God is not an old man with a grey beard. He is love, an emotion, a force.
``If my faith cannot stand up in the face of rigorous scientific and philosophical enquiry then I am a fool," Mr Bradbery declares.
HE is extremely articulate and reads extensively, often juggling several books and is well-informed on subjects ranging from art-house movies and the Internet to the personal affairs of historical figures.
Perhaps that's why his thoughts are sometimes bafflingly highbrow:
``I tend to analyse history through a Marxist model of economic determinism and historical materialism. Marx was a dreadful politician ... but he wasn't a bad sociologist," he says.
Yet at other times it is hard not feel that he has been seduced by the media as he is able to roll out the sound bites.
``We are a society that loves veneers. That ranges from what we wear to the surface of our kitchen benches," he offeres.
Several times he starts a statement by saying he must be careful what he says but there is an impression that he enjoys his outspoken reputation.
Even so, he is anxious not to become some sort of figurehead.
``I have to be there for those people who are not the trendies," he says.
``I am called to be the person who stands by those so alienated there is no one else."
He shifts in his seat and, for a moment, seems emotional.
``I have been to funerals where I am the only person there," he says. ``And all I know of them is their name and their age."
Such experiences bring a clarity of purpose to any life. ``Live for now, today," he says. ``I have buried too many people who were always going to do something tomorrow."
© 2000 Illawarra Mercury
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