A small reminder
Yesterday’s spectacular event above Russia (Meteor strike injures hundreds – BBC News) is a small reminder of the unexpected nature of Christ’s return –
“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command….” – 1 Thess. 4:16.
“Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” – Matthew 24:44.
The first step is always a study committee
‘How Denominations come to tolerate, accept, and then endorse homosexuality’ – that’s the title of a brief post by Kevin DeYoung at The Gospel Coalition.
“Tom Oden, writing in his book Requiem way back in 1995, explains how it happens. The first step is always a study committee…”
Related:
How Revisionist Activists Subvert the Church – at Stand Firm.
Aberdeen church breaks away over gay ministers row – The Scotsman.
Bathurst Diocese welcomes new Bishop
“Bishop Ian Palmer, who was consecrated as the tenth Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Bathurst on Saturday (February 9), has said that he is very aware of the difficult financial situation facing the Diocese. … Bishop Ian Palmer was consecrated by Archbishop Peter Jensen, Metropolitan of NSW, supported by twelve other Bishops from throughout the Australian church.”
– Story here from the Diocese of Bathurst.
Also from Bathurst:
Anglican Schools in Orange and Dubbo to be sold
“The new Bishop of Bathurst, Ian Palmer, has announced … that Bishop-in-Council had decided to sell two Anglican Grammar Schools as going concerns for the 2014 school year…”
– Story here.
The greatest of all Protestant ‘heresies’?
“Let us begin with a church history exam question.
Cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621) was a figure not to be taken lightly. He was Pope Clement VIII’s personal theologian and one of the most able figures in the Counter-Reformation movement within sixteenth-century Roman Catholicism.
On one occasion, he wrote: ‘The greatest of all Protestant heresies is _______ .’ Complete, explain, and discuss Bellarmine’s statement. How would you answer? What is the greatest of all Protestant heresies?…”
– See Sinclair Ferguson’s article at Ligonier Ministries.
2013 Priscilla & Aquila Centre conference talks online
Video and audio files from the 2013 Priscilla & Aquila Centre conference at Moore College have now been posted online – at the Priscilla & Aquila website.
Canberra-Goulburn Diocese 150th pilgrimage
“With the Diocese’s 150th birthday pilgrimage set to start in Eden this weekend, Bishop Stuart Robinson will officially receive the 2 metre cross he will carry at 1pm this afternoon (February 14). … it is a compelling invitation to share Jesus’ message of life, salvation and hope with others. ‘My aim is to highlight the ministry of Christ crucified, risen, ruling and returning,’ he said.”
– Stuart Robinson, Bishop of Canberra & Goulburn, would be very glad of your prayers as he speaks evangelically at every opportunity during the pilgrimage. Story here.
The ‘Must Read’ book in its field
At The Gospel Coalition, Justin Taylor draws attention to Dr Megan Best’s book Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: Ethics and the Beginning of Human Life – and the strong recommendation by Dr Don Carson.
“At last—a single volume examining beginning-of-life issues that is equally competent in biology, theology, philosophy, and pastoral care. This is now the ‘must read’ book in the field, a necessary resource not only for pastors, ethicists, and laypersons who share her Christian convictions, but also for anyone who wants to participate knowledgeably in current bioethical debates.”
(Tim Challies also makes mention of the book.)
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, as you will remember, was launched last November and is available from Matthias Media.
Guarding the Gospel
Moore College Principal-elect Dr Mark Thompson –
“On one occasion I heard [Archbishop Marcus Loane] remark with concern that a new generation of clergy had no idea at what great cost the diocese of Sydney had been won for the evangelical cause or how easily it could all be lost…”
Read it all here:
I did not know Archbishop Marcus Loane well. I did know, of course, that he was one of the truly great Archbishops of Sydney (there have been a few — Frederic Barker comes to mind, though he was never actually styled ‘Archbishop’, as do Howard Mowll, Donald Robinson and Peter Jensen). Nevertheless, he had retired the year before I entered Moore College as a student and, though over the next twenty years or so I heard loads of Marcus Loane stories (and even more impersonations of his unique voice and speaking style), I had very few opportunities to meet with him. When those opportunities came, though, they always left a deep impression. Read more
‘An Aussie Christian icon’
In a recent post at Reformation21, Paul Levy in the UK writes, “Colin Buchanan is, to my son and countless other kids like him, the equivalent of what John Piper is to Christian hedonists, Gresham Machen is to the OPC and John Stott is to English public schoolboys…”.
Now Eternity Newspaper has a profile piece on Colin. Good reminder to pray for him and his ministry.
Why does preaching matter?
St. Helen’s Bishopsgate has added two more interviews in its Preaching Matters video series –
Sydney’s Gavin Perkins is asked about the place of preaching in the church, and Paul Clarke from St. Helen’s speaks about Preaching Evangelistically.
Be edified and watch them both!
‘Carbon fast for Lent’?
The Anglican Communion News Service reports on calls for “a Carbon Fast for Lent”.
Perhaps reminiscent of TEC’s Episcopal Relief and Development 2008 Stations of the Cross liturgy.
The Origin of the Thirty-nine Articles
“What were the Articles meant to do? … They were part of a wider program of establishing the Protestant character of the Church of England…”
– Church Society has posted online a 2011 Churchman article by Dr Mark Thompson on The Origin of the Thirty-Nine Articles. Available here as a PDF file.
Melbourne Thanksgiving service for Stuart Barton Babbage
“About 12 months ago, soon after my appointment as Principal of Ridley Melbourne was announced, I received an invitation to have a cup of tea with Stuart Barton Babbage in his home in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. Meeting Babbage was a memorable experience…”
– Dr Brian Rosner gave the address at last week’s Memorial Service in Melbourne for Dr Stuart Barton Babbage. (Photo: Ridley College.)
Church Society calls for preaching on marriage
“In light of yesterday’s historic debate in parliament where MPs voted in principle to redefine marriage, Church Society have released the following comment, and are suggesting co-ordinated action by ministers…
As evangelicals, we are persuaded that the means God uses to transform individuals, churches and nations is the Word of God. Therefore, this April we are calling all evangelicals to preach on the true nature of marriage as a picture of the marriage all Christians will enjoy with Christ in the New Creation.”
– at EVnews.
Archbishop Jensen on the 225th Anniversary of Australia’s first Christian service
Here’s Archbishop Peter Jensen’s sermon given at St. Philip’s York Street on February 3rd 2013. It was the 225th Anniversary of the first sermon preached in the Colony of New South Wales, by the Rev Richard Johnson.
“Today we have little concept of the difficulties and dangers through which the First Fleet passed in order to deliver its cargo to these shores. Its arrival here was a masterpiece of organisation, skill and courage.
Given the ubiquity of modern communications, we can scarcely imagine what it was like to travel so far with little chance of report or cry for help. We forget how rarely European ships had passed this way and how uncharted the sea was. We can scarcely conceive how frail their ships were, how powerful the forces of nature that imperilled them, how lacking in the technical instruments by which the path may be found and the course traversed in safety.
I think we may say that in truth the voyage of the First Fleet was one of the greatest feats of seamanship in recorded history. …”
– Read it all at SydneyAnglicans.net.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…