Ramon Williams: a look through the lens – documentary in the works
As mentioned earlier this week, a documentary on Ramon Williams and his media ministry is in the works.
There is also an opportunity for people and organisations who have benefitted from Ramon’s work to help honour him.
Christian Media and Arts Australia have a story – and there is further information from documentary producer Richard Attieh at TV Group.
Ramon Williams on Christian media ministry
Ramon Williams, who retired in February 2018 after fifty years of using his media skills to serve Christ’s church, has been interviewed by Keith Garner on Wesley Mission’s Wesley Impact.
Ramon speaks about how he begin his media work in the 1960s, his coverage of Cyclone Tracy in 1974, and what you need, most of all, to serve in this way.
Watch the interview here. Part 2 begins at 23:30 into the program.
(We gather there are plans to tell Ramon’s story more fully, and will share details when available.)
Ramon Williams, Australian Christian media powerhouse, decides it’s time to retire
Ramon Williams, the unassuming one-man Christian media powerhouse behind Worldwide Photos, has tonight announced, on medical advice, that his ministry will conclude.
Dan Wooding at IPA News published a profile of Ramon in July 2017 –
“Now 86, Ramon Williams has been supplying news articles and photos to the Christian media from ’down under’ for more than 50 years, and he is considered by many, including myself, as one of the great heroes of the Australian Christian media.
This self-effacing former missionary has, for more than half-a-century, been running the equivalent of a Christian AP (Associated Press) news wire…” – Read the full article at IPA News.
Ramon and his wife Dorothy, both graduates of SMBC, served as missionaries with WEC (Worldwide Evangelisation Crusade) in South East Asia from 1959 to 1967, and originally established Worldwide Photos as a department of WEC.
In this June 2017 profile in The Salvation Army’s War Cry, Ramon explains –
“… the mission called for someone to open a new department to produce good-quality audiovisuals. I accepted the challenge and (with wife Dorothy) came home to Australia in November 1967, to start the work.
I noticed in the ministers’ meeting, prior to the 1968 Billy Graham Crusade, that nobody was photographing the event for the Christian media. New Life, an Australian Christian newspaper, was willing to accept my offer to photograph the crusade but they could not pay. Afterwards I found The Australian Baptist was willing to accept photos but could not pay. I’ve been doing it ever since—supplying photos to people who cannot pay! …”
Astute observers will notice that the ACL website is one of many beneficiaries of Ramon’s cheerful generosity, and it is only appropriate that we publicly thank him here, through our website.
We are sure that many will echo our heartfelt thanks.
Photo courtesy IPA News.
Ramon Williams — a hero of Australian Christian Media
“If you read any published Australian Christian ‘news’ article over the past 50 years, it has almost certainly been distributed by one of the greatest unsung heroes of the Australian Christian movement, the “AAP-equivalent” of Christian wire news, Ramon Williams, now aged 81. …”
– Mark Tronson – and we at the ACL website – are very grateful for the faithful ministry of Ramon Williams over the years.
Many of our readers will have seen Ramon with his camera in and around the Cathedral and at other Christian meetings. (You’ll find some of his photos among these of Sir Marcus Loane, for example.) Photo: Christian Today Aust.
“The Areopagite” by Bruce Smith
The Areopagite
I’m restless
and have been ever since
that itinerant preacher
spoke his lines
on Mars Hill.
He campaigned on God
and righteousness
and capped it all
with talk of resurrection.
At the time
we mostly laughed
and dismissed him
as a fool,
but his words had power
and I’ve not been able
to forget them.Dionysius says he’s glad
the preacher came;
it’s changed his life, he says.
I can believe it,
it’s changed mine, too.
Resurrection from the dead,
like he spoke of,
in Jerusalem or Athens or anywhere,
must change everything.
I can certainly vouch for Dionysius
and Damaris, too, for that matter
(and there are others);
they are different
since the preacher came,
markedly different.We’ve never been able
to make sense of dying.
It’s the one experience
we don’t handle well
and everything else
is affected by it.
We philosophise and protest
and try our religions,
but we make no progress.
We have nothing to go on,
nothing or no one we can point to
and say “There, beyond all doubt,
is the answer –
that’s what life’s about.”
But that’s exactly what the preacher offered –
he gave us an event, a happening,
something we could put our hands on,
and we just laughed at him.Yet they call us
Neophiliacs – lovers of novelty!
It’s not true.
We only love what’s new
if it doesn’t threaten
too much change,
at least that’s my problem.
Dionysius says we are the fools,
not the preacher.
He’s probably right.
The Areopagite, by the Rev. Bruce Smith. © 1984, from his collection of poems “I’ll Not Pretend”. Used with the kind permission of Bruce’s family.
Photo: Ramon Williams, Worldwide Photos.
A refection, of course, on Acts 17:16-34.
Marcus Loane on The English Reformation
In 1954, Marcus Loane – later Archbishop of Sydney and Sir Marcus – published his landmark “Masters of The English Reformation”.
It was republished in 2005 by Banner of Truth. If you haven’t read it, you ought to. (Availability.)
Here’s the Introduction —
“It was Martin Luther who declared that the doctrine of Justification by Faith Only is the article of a standing or falling church. The recovery of this doctrine was the key to the Reformation in Europe. It was the corollary of the translation of the Bible into the language of everyday life and its circulation in the homes and hands of ordinary people. These two momentous factors were to penetrate the Realm of England during the reign of Henry VIII and will forever be associated in a special sense with the names of Thomas Bilney and William Tyndale. These two, and many others as well, were to die at the stake as a result of their unswerving loyalty to the doctrines of Grace as made known in the Word of God. Nor did they die in vain. The supreme authority of Holy Scripture in all matters of faith and conduct was written into the sixth of the Articles of Religion; and the doctrine of Justification by Faith Only was summed up in unforgettable language in the Eleventh Article. Those two “Articles of the Christian Faith” are the bedrock on whIch the history of the Church of England since the Reformation must stand or fall.
But the pivot of the Reformation in England during the reign of Edward VI was the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. Ridley’s discovery of the work of Ratramnus led him to reject the doctrine of Transubstantiation and the Sacrifice of the Mass as totally foreign to the teaching of the New Testament. Ridley was able to convince Cranmer that Ratramnus was right; they came to believe that the bread and wine are “the pledges” of God’s redeeming love and that the presence of the Lord Jesus is not to be found in an earthly altar, but in the hearts of those who feed on Him by faith with thanksgiving. Ridley was to expound this doctrine with clarity and dignity in his Treatise on the Lord’s Supper, and Cranmer was to defend it with great learning in his controversy with Gardiner. This was the doctrine enshrined in the Source of the Holy Communion in the Book of Common Prayer in 1552.
When Queen Mary came to the throne, Ridley, Latimer and Cranmer were the outstanding Reformers who were thrown into prison. In all the debates which ensued, in their trial and condemnation for heresy, and in the sentence of death which consigned them to death by fire, the one basic issue was their doctrine of the Lord’s Supper as opposed to the dogmas of the church with regard to Transubstantiation and the Mass. If the Church were right and they were wrong, they were not only condemned to a terrible form of death as heretics but were doomed to a lost eternity. Their real greatness was seen in the fact that they dared to stand by their convictions, formed as a result of intensive study of the Scriptures, and to die at the stake rather than yield to the pressures that were brought to bear on mind and feeling. And the candle they lit is one which by the grace of God will never go out.
What happened more than four hundred years ago is still vitally relevant. The integrity and authority of the Bible have been under constant assault from many quarters and it is no longer the one Book in the homes and hands of all. Many people today think that a good life, a good name, and a good reputation will somehow make them acceptable to God. And the reformed doctrine of the Lord’s Supper has been obscured by an emphasis on the Real Presence which approximates more and more towards medieval teaching and practice. Let Bilney and Tyndale speak again; let Latimer and Ridley and Cranmer be heard afresh. They witnessed “a good confession” for their heavenly Master and sealed it with their lives.
May this book renew the impact of their life and death on another generation “in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” [1 Cor. 6:11].”
Photo: Ramon Williams. (This is a repost from 2014 in remembrance of the martyrdom of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer on 21 March 1556.)
The Bible in the hands of the Sovereign
“At the Coronation of the Boy-King, Edward VI, in 1547, three swords were placed in his hands, one each to represent his right to the realms of England, Ireland, and France.
But to the great surprise of the prelates and statesmen in the Abbey, Edward declared that there was another sword which had been overlooked; and in answer to their astonished inquiries, he said that this was the Word of God. …
On the eleventh birthday of the Princess Elizabeth in 1937, the personal gift of the Queen to her daughter was a beautiful Morocco bound copy of the Bible. …”
– The Australian Church Record has republished this piece from their archives – The Royal Law – by the Rev. Canon M. L. Loane, M.A., Vice-Principal of Moore College, May 28, 1953.
____________
Click the photo for a larger version: Archbishop Marcus Loane escorts Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh outside St. Andrew’s Cathedral in October 1973. Acting Dean of the Cathedral, Canon Stuart Barton Babbage, is following behind. The Queen was in Sydney to open the Sydney Opera House. With special thanks to Ramon Williams, Worldwide Photos.
Australia loses Indigenous Christian pioneer
“Archbishop Kanishka Raffel has paid tribute to Australia’s first Indigenous Bishop, Arthur Malcolm, who has passed away at the age of 87. …
His influence and ministry led to the public apology from the Anglican Church to Aboriginal people in 1988.
At St Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney, Australian Anglican Bishops led by the Primate, Sir John Grindrod, delivered an apology to Bishop Malcolm, saying
“My brother in Christ: … May I express on behalf of all non-Aboriginal people of our church profound sorrow for the suffering that your people have had to endure, with its violence and hurt. We humbly ask God’s forgiveness; and we seek your forgiveness as a leader of your people, for the actions of the past and those causing hurt at the present time. We have longed to share with your people the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We confess our endeavour has often fallen short of his love.”
In turn, Bishop Malcolm said
“My brother in Christ: For a long time we have been hurting… but it is through the message of Jesus Christ that we have learned to forgive. We have received this forgiveness, and now in turn we must also forgive.”
– At SydneyAnglicans.net, Russell Powell has this story about Bishop Arthur Malcolm.
Top photo: Archbishop of Brisbane Sir John Grindrod and Bishop Arthur Malcolm at St. Andrew’s Cathedral Sydney, February 1988.
Below: The Australian Bishops gathered at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney in February 1988.
Both photos by, and with thanks to, Ramon Williams, Worldwide Photos.
Vale Bishop Arthur Malcolm
News via The Anglican Board of Mission’s Facebook page –
“ABM is sad to report the passing of Bishop Arthur Malcolm. Bishop Arthur was Australia’s first Aboriginal Bishop and an outstanding leader and pastor in the Australian church. Bishop Arthur retired from his episcopal role in 2001 but has continued to inspire and encourage from his home in Yarrabah, North Queensland. ABM expresses our sincere condolences to Aunty Coleen and the entire family.
Bishop Malcolm was born at Yarrabah (Queensland) and began training as a Church Army Officer in Stockton (New South Wales) where he completed a Certificate course in Evangelism in 1959. During his time as a Captain in the Church Army he served at Lake Tyers (Victoria) and Brewarrina (New South Wales). People from Victoria and New South Wales express great affection for their beloved “Captain”.
He returned to Yarrabah in 1974 as Chaplain and was ordained by the Bishop of North Queensland in 1978. As well as ministering to his people at Yarrabah he had responsibility for Anglican people at Palm Island. He was made a Canon of St James’ Cathedral, Townsville in 1984 and consecrated Bishop with special responsibility to Aboriginal people in 1985.
During this time he developed an outstanding leadership amongst Aboriginal people and encouraged them in their education, community life and in the many struggles which Indigenous people in Australia encounter.
He has also been engaged in leadership and pastoral support in the non-Indigenous community and is well respected and admired for his sensitive and reconciling counsel. …”
Photo: Archbishop of Brisbane Sir John Grindrod and Bishop Arthur Malcolm at St. Andrew’s Cathedral Sydney, February 1988. – Photo by, and with thanks to, Ramon Williams, Worldwide Photos.
A celebration of uncommon leadership — Archbishop Kanishka Raffel’s sermon for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
“Princess Elizabeth was 25 years old and on tour in Kenya on her way to Australia, when she learnt the tragic news of the early death of her father, King George VI.
King George had acceded to the throne only after the unprecedented abdication of his brother King Edward VIII.
It had shaken the nation, and its impact on her father, the royal family and the kingdom is undoubtedly part of the background to Her Majesty’s unswerving devotion to her role.
Her uncle’s reign was the shortest of any British monarch. Her Majesty’s eclipsed that of her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, more than six years ago. …”
— Archbishop Kanishka Raffel preached at a special service at St. Andrew’s Cathedral Sydney today on the Occasion of the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Photo:
Queen Elizabeth shakes hands with Bishop Jack Dain outside St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, on 13 March 1977. Archbishop Sir Marcus Loane is at the Queen’s side, and Bishop John Reid is at centre. At right, Dean of the Cathedral, Lance Shilton, stands with Prince Philip. Photo courtesy Ramon Williams.
The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
Today marks 70 years since Queen Elizabeth II acceeded to the throne, on the death of her father King George VI.
Her Majesty has gone on to reign longer than any other British Monarch in history, and to become a beloved figure around the world – one who is unashamed to speak of the Lord Jesus.
Whatever your view of the British Monarchy, do be encouraged to pray for her, and to give thanks for her long, stable reign. As the Apostle Paul exhorts us,
“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” – 1 Timothy 2:1-6.
Photo:
Queen Elizabeth shakes hands with Bishop Jack Dain outside St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, on 13 March 1977. Archbishop Sir Marcus Loane is at the Queen’s side, and Bishop John Reid is at centre. At right, Dean of the Cathedral, Lance Shilton, stands with Prince Philip. Photo courtesy Ramon Williams.
In his biography of Archbishop Loane, “From Strength to Strength”, ACL Emeritus Vice-President Allan M. Blanch writes, on page 317,
At a special cathedral service on 13 March, the Archbishop preached from Revelation 21 about the City of God. He referred to Augustine of North Africa who, in the fifth century, ‘with the destroyers rapidly approaching the city … gave himself to contemplation of the City of God’.
Loane spoke of the citizens of that heavenly city: ‘They will suffer neither from poverty nor misery, from pain nor vice, from sorrow nor crying … There will be no room for a permissive society, or an alternate culture, or a wealthy elite, or a down-trodden minority; there will be no place for political intrigue, or public wrangling, or partisan interests, or power struggles’.
He concluded by saying, ‘Therefore let us pray that the Silver Jubilee of an earthly reign will enlarge our vision of all that lies beyond the frontiers of earth and time, and will strengthen our resolve to live our lives for the glory of Jesus Himself who reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords for ever and ever. Amen.’ [Emphasis added.]
St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney is marking the anniversary at its services today.
Happy 90th birthday to Harry Goodhew
We wish the Rt Rev Dr Harry Goodhew AO (Archbishop of Sydney 1993 – 2001, and currently one of the Anglican Church League’s Emeritus Vice-Presidents) a very happy 90th birthday today.
We pray for many continued blessings from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Photo courtesy Ramon Williams.
‘But Billy,’ you may ask…
“Andrew Blackwood was Chair of Practical Theology at Princeton and said of preaching, ‘These three remain, faith, hope and clarity, but the greatest of these is clarity!’
Billy Graham was one of the clearest preachers I have heard, I heard him preach for two weeks at his Sydney campaign in 1968. Dr. Graham would often stop and ask himself, ‘“But Billy,’ you may ask…” He would anticipate and answer the question on peoples’ minds.
Dialogical preaching which anticipates questions raised by the sermon is a very good friend of clarity in preaching. …”
– David Cook continues to encourage preachers at The Expository Preaching Trust.
Photo: Billy Graham and Archbishop Marcus Loane in Sydney, 1968. Photo courtesy Ramon Williams.
Pastoral letter from Bishop Mark Short to the Anglican Parish of Cobargo
Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, Mark Short, has sent this pastoral letter to the Anglican Parish of Cobargo. In this fire season across Australia, each loss is locally felt, and this is one.
January 1 at 12:27 PM ·
Dear sisters and brothers of the Parish of Cobargo,
I write as your Bishop at a time of shared loss and grief.
You have lost treasured buildings, valued homes and beloved friends and neighbours. Many of you have faced overwhelming situations and have worked selflessly to care for others .
The Bible assures us that God is close to the broken-hearted and it is right and healthy to grieve. The Bible also assures us that in Jesus Christ God is able to bring restoration and hope. This journey of hope will take time, and it is a journey we will make together. Be assured of the prayers of the rest of the Diocese and our readiness to work with you as, with God’s help, we renew and rebuild.
Almighty God,
In your wisdom you have so ordered our earthly life
that we must walk by faith and not by sight:
give us such trust in your fatherly care
that in the face of all perplexities
we may give proof our faith by the courage of our lives;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. APBA, p465
In the love of Jesus,
+Mark Short
The Bishop’s pastoral letter includes the prayer, written by the Dean of St Andrew’s Cathedral, The Very Reverend Kanishka Raffel, to be read on Sunday:
“Lord of all days and years, and time and eternity, You made this land and have blessed us with its riches and beauty.
You are a refuge to all who seek your shelter, our strong defence in trial and tribulation.
Send rain we pray to extinguish flames and heal our land.
Mercifully protect life and property.
Give help and hope to our neighbours assailed by fire.
Comfort and provide for those who grieve.
Uphold those who suffer loss,
Give peace and hope to those bewildered and broken-hearted.
We thank you for men and women of courage and selflessness.
We thank you for brave communities of care and support, We thank you for those who share your comfort and hope, We thank you for those at a distance giving and praying.
Lord, you sent your Son so that we would know your power to save, your presence with your people in this world of turmoil, and your promise to renew the whole creation. Turn our hearts to you, that we may have faith for this day and hope for eternity.
We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
“St Saviour’s Church Quaama in the Parish of Cobargo. Locals tell me that the bell-tower always appeared to be the most rickety part of the structure. Yet it still stands [top photo]; a reminder that in the most challenging circumstances our call to summons people to find comfort and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ endures. Thank you for your prayers as the communities of the Diocese face a difficult weekend.”
(With thanks to Ramon Williams for forwarding this letter and images.)
The Bible is a wilderness, not a garden: Lessons from Donald Robinson
“In 2001, a young West Australian skipped Hebrew class to listen to a slight elderly man dressed in bishop’s purple and a clerical collar teach on the Epistle of James.
The class stood as he entered the room and remained standing while he prayed. They addressed him neither by his name (Donald) nor by the title of his most recent posting (Archbishop), but by the clerical order he occupied through the laying on of hands: ‘Bishop Robinson’.
The whole spectacle struck the young West Australian as otherworldly and exotic, though not inauthentic. Its effect was to lull students into a false sense of security – a security quickly removed as this unassuming figure treated the class to an exegetical tour de force, with original and daring insights thrown at the unsuspecting class with a velocity for which none were prepared. …”
– Rory Shiner writes at GoThereFor.com.
(1982 photo via Ramon Williams.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…