I am concerned about the decision of the Immigration Department to detain Scott Parkin, the American peace activist in Australia on a visitor’s visa, because he was considered a threat to national security. Parkin seems to have attended rallies such as the Forbes rally and spoken at various peace functions. There are no details of how he is a security threat.

This issue raises concerns about the line between free speech, legitimate protest and threatening national security. The Wellspring Community is a community of men and women who seek to follow Christ, live prophetically, work for reconciliation and practice peace through, among other things, challenging the powerful, and working for peace and justice.

We have invited people from overseas to help us engage in these tasks. Peter and Dorothy Millar from the Iona Community had a major impact on our activities and growth. We have invited the current leader of the Iona Community, Kathy Galloway, to visit Australia in 2006/2007. We are considering inviting Jim Wallis from Sojourners to visit. We are considering inviting people, perhaps young people, from third and fourth world countries who also are seeking to live prophetically. We have linked with Pace E Bene in the past and hope to do so in the future. How do we know when we will cross the line into threatening national security? At what point do we “incite discord in the Australian community”? When do we “represent a danger to the Australian community”? When do we prejudice “relations between Australia and a foreign country”?

And even if we do know where the line is, when should we refrain from crossing it? Allan Behm has commented that “where alarm and spin combine to constrain personal freedoms without having much impact on the problem - terrorism - the public has reason to worry”. Perhaps we are moving into a world where our personal freedoms to speak out, to protest, to actively oppose our government and other governments are being seriously constrained. Perhaps we need to be ready and willing to cross the line.

Following is a comment by a Friend of the Wellspring Community, Geoff Stevenson, about the high cost that attaches to living prophetically. We may need to think deeply about prophetic living in the face of constraints on freedom in our land.

“When we are working for an organisation, secular or Christian, there can often be tension between what we can ethically abide and what we are asked to do. The dilemmas most face are not outright black and white, but a murky grey. It can be difficult to know what is right. It can be difficult to have the courage to disagree with a boss or company policy. Sometimes it is difficult to disagree with others within our church. Sometimes our stand will lead to the loss of friends, sometimes relatives.

Christian faith is not the free and easy road to peace, joy, and bliss that many evangelists have implied. We are called into following Jesus on the road where the rubber hits and burns. The cost of following Jesus is clear in the New Testament, from Jesus’ own words and example to the disciples, from the lives of Paul and other followers.

The cost can be emotional, spiritual, physical, and financial, in terms of relationships, work and in all areas of our lives. The cost of following Jesus should not be understated.

I am particularly aware of the cost to those small number of prophetic people who seek to serve Jesus amongst the most difficult areas of life -amongst the poor, drug-addicted, overseas aid workers, in prisons and amongst those society distances itself from. They offer great sacrifice to help people and they do it because they are following Jesus. Sadly, many well meaning people who are distant from the realities are quick to judge, point the finger, and abuse the work of these people as not being of spiritual value.

I heard of one person involved in the safe-injecting centre in Kings Cross - a fervent man of faith, seeking, deeply, to serve God where he believes himself to be called. He desperately wants to save the lives of those who are drug-addicted, to keep them alive and to open their lives to the healing and love of God. There are many critics and everyone is an expert but no one asks him what it is about or why he does it. No one listens to his stories or looks at his faith. No one loves the drug- addicted as he does. Places like this are hard work, costly work and there is the additional cost of alienation from well meaning Christians who ridicule him, as the religious ridiculed Jesus.

I invite you to ponder the cost of following Jesus in your life. Are you ‘pulling out loose change’? ‘Opening your wallet’? Or, ‘digging into your bank account’? (Explore this metaphor beyond ‘financial’ cost).”