The Bishop of Tasmania’s Pentecost message

In his Pentecost message, Bishop John Harrower reminds us that the Holy Spirit points us to Christ. Watch it here.

(In 2012, Pentecost falls on Sunday, May 27.)

9Marks Journal – Wanted: Apostolic Pastors

“Jesus hasn’t called our churches to fulfill the great commission alone. So look up, look out, and see what encouragement and unexpected fruit God may have in store for you as you work to bless other pastors and churches…”

– The latest 9Marks Journal looks at caring for the work of the gospel outside your local patch.

Making the most of the Cross

“The second sermon I ever gave was a cracker. People told me! It was logical, engaging and humorous. I succeeded in explaining, illustrating and applying the Bible in a way that captivated the listeners. My girlfriend (now wife) even started to believe that I might have some hope of becoming a preacher! But, it’s time for public confession. I basically pinched the whole talk, idea for idea, point for point, from John Chapman.

I don’t think I was the first to do this, and I’m certain that I wasn’t the last. You see, I’d looked over the Bible passage again and again, and I couldn’t see any way to make it clearer than Chappo…”

– Dave McDonald commends Chappo’s book Making the Most of the Cross.

John Woodhouse to retire from Moore College in 2013

Diocese of Sydney media release, 16 May 2012:

The Archbishop of Sydney, who is the President of the Moore Theological College Governing Board, has announced that the principal, Dr John Woodhouse, will retire from the position early next year.

Dr Woodhouse would have reached retirement age at the start of 2014, but has told the Board that after careful deliberation, he believed the time had come for him to plan to step aside from the role.   Read more

Greg Goswell to move to PTC Sydney

Moore College graduate Greg Goswell will return to Sydney (from Melbourne) to lecture in Old Testament at the Presbyterian Theological Centre at Burwood in 2013. News here.

Prayers for Defence ministry

Our friends who minister to Australia’s Defence personnel would be very glad of your prayers on a regular basis.

There’s the current Prayer Diary (pdf) and other prayer resources at this link.

Falls Anglican Church Virginia has last Sunday at property

“A departing Anglican congregation held its final services at a Virginia church property that they lost to The Episcopal Church in a years-long court battle.

The Falls Church Anglican, a congregation that broke away from the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia years ago over the increasingly liberal theology of the denomination, held two services on Sunday, leaving the property to a much smaller Episcopal congregation…”

– story from Christian Post. Photo: Falls Church.

Simple Bible reading advice

“Wherever you settle on this question, be sure to ignore headings as much as possible. In fact, the best exegesis experience I ever had in the gospel of Mark was using a text without headings, paragraphs, or verses. Just 40 pages of a block of text with page and line numbers. A wonderful teaching tool I used for years and highly recommend.”

– In a discussion about ‘the spirituals’ in 1 Corinthians 12, Bill Mounce offers this advice for reading the Scriptures.

New West Synod moves to lift same sex blessing ‘partial moratorium’

From a report on the Synod of the Diocese of New Westminster, which concluded yesterday –

“Of interest to many was the passing of Motion #1 on the afternoon of May 12th by a substantial majority of Synod.

In this motion, Synod requested that the Bishop lift the partial moratorium that has been in place since 2005 and authorize priests of the Diocese of New Westminster to bless the civil marriages of gay and lesbian couples in those parishes that support this pastoral act. …

Bishop Michael responded by saying that he will think about this decision and that he plans to confer with many members of the diocese…”

– from the New Westminster website. (Photo: Dioc. New Westminster. h/t Anglican Essentials Canada blog.)

Related: The Anglican Debacle: Roots and Patterns by Dr Mark Thompson, 2008.

Same-Sex Marriage ‘makes a lot of sense’

“Same-sex marriage makes sense if you assume that the individual is the center of the universe, that God—if he exists—is there to make us happy, and that our choices are not grounded in a nature created by God but in arbitrary self-construction…”

– Michael Horton’s piece at The White Horse Inn is well worth reading. (h/t Tim Challies.)

Moore College Open Nights and Open Weeks

Moore Theological College in Newtown is holding an Open Week 21-25 May, and an Open Night on Monday 28 May, with others later in the year.

Info here.

UK Advertising Standards Authority investigates blogger

This from well-known UK blogger “Archbishop Cranmer” –

“Apparently there have been a number of complaints about one of the advertisements His Grace carried on behalf of the Coalition for Marriage. He has been sent all manner of official papers, formal documentation and threatening notices which demand answers to sundry questions by a certain deadline. He is instructed by the ‘Investigations Executive’ of this inquisition to keep all this confidential…”

– Read about it here.

What I say is who I am!

“When a lot of our time is spent within the Christian community, or when we talk about Christian things with fellow-believers rather than non-believers, we easily get used to what we sound like and it just sounds normal. To us, the words we say mean what we know they mean. But for others, the words we use may be giving a very different signal…”

– Greg Anderson, Head of the Missions Department at Moore College, appeals to Christians to think about how we communicate.

The Working Mother

“If you want to divide a church, cause a rift in a family, ruin a dinner party, and bring hatred upon yourself – raise the issue of working mothers. Few subjects create more heat and antagonism than this one. There are not many more sacred cows, nor more strident voices bullying opposition into silence, than this topic.

So most people keep their wisdom to themselves. And woe-betide any man who cares to venture an opinion. He is not a mother, does not understand, has a vested interest in having somebody to stay at home and serve his needs and never adequately shares the housework, so has no right to speak. Thus, with nervous fingers I approach the keyboard, remembering that there is not much difference between a brave man and a fool…”

– Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen approaches a hot topic in his weekly column.

Evolution’s End? President Obama calls for Same-Sex Marriage

“Is President Obama’s “evolution” on same sex marriage finally complete? His call for the legalization of same-sex marriage yesterday is an historic and tragic milestone. An incumbent President of the United States has now called for a transformation of civilization’s central institution. And yet, no observer of this president could be surprised. The arrival of this announcement was only a matter of time…”

– Dr Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, looks at the unsurprising announcement from the American President.

Related: New York Times story.

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