The message lives on
“Mr Eternity could never have imagined he would have crowds of Sydney-siders remembering him 50 years after his death, but that’s what happened at St Andrew’s Cathedral on Sunday.
But then again, he wouldn’t have imagined he would prompt city authorities to emblazon Eternity in fireworks on the Harbour Bridge at the turn of the century, either.
Arthur Stace was an alcoholic converted during the Great Depression, who then went on to devote his life to reminding people of Eternity by writing the word in perfect copperplate on Sydney Streets.…”
– Russell Powell reports on the tribute to Arthur Stace, “Mr. Eternity”, last Sunday at the Cathedral. (Photo of Arthur Stace courtesy HammondCare.)
See also this report from Eternity News, and these related posts.
Nathan Tasker sings Eternity
From Nathan Tasker’s album “Home” (iTunes), the single “Eternity (What we were made for)”.
Related:
Eternity: How Arthur Stace’s handwritten chalk message became a symbol of Sydney – Sun-Herald.
From here to Eternity: Arthur Stace in his own words
In 1964, 79 year-old Arthur Stace was interviewed on Sydney radio about why he wrote “Eternity”.
We’ve transcribed the brief segment. (A few words are unclear.)
Presenter: [One of ] the things that strikes a visitor to Sydney, and indeed many other towns right throughout New South Wales, is the fact that someone has been there before, in writing “Eternity” on the footpaths, on walls, almost anywhere, in very fine handwriting, and in yellow chalk.
For Monitor, Jim Waugh found Mr Arthur Stace, who writes “Eternity” and asked him, “Why?”. Read more
‘Mr Eternity’ remembered at Hammondville
“This month will mark 50 years since the death of Arthur Stace at Hammondville. Internationally recognised as ‘Mr Eternity’, Stace spent 30 years anonymously writing the word ‘Eternity’ across the streets of Sydney. …
After spending more than three decades writing Eternity on footpaths (500,000 times) – with initial inspiration coming in a sermon by Baptist evangelist John Ridley – Arthur Stace spent his final years as an aged care resident at Hammondville before dying of a stroke on July 30, 1967.”
– Story from HammondCare.
We understand that HammondCare’s David Martin will be on Open House on Hope 103.2FM this Sunday evening.
Related:
Cathedral to remember ‘Mr Eternity’, Arthur Stace, this Sunday.
The Eternity waterfall after 40 years.
(Photo: Arthur as the Emergency depot Manager at the Hammond Hotel Chippendale, 1930s. Courtesy HammondCare, used with permission. © HammondCare.)
Cathedral to remember “Mr. Eternity” Arthur Stace, 50 years on
This Sunday (30th July) marks the 50th anniversary of the homecalling of Arthur Stace, the man who wrote “Eternity” on the streets of Sydney from 1932 until 1966.
He died at Hammondville Nursing Home on the evening of Sunday 30th July 1967.
On Sunday, Arthur Stace will be remembered at a special service at St. Andrew’s Cathedral at 10:30am.
Why did he write “Eternity” right across our city? What happened to change him from a life of alcohol and crime and hopelessness? Was he a mystic or a loner? This Sunday, hear the wonderful news he discovered, and understand what drove this humble Sydney icon.
(He’s also being remembered, this Sunday and next, in the western suburbs. Is your church doing something? Let the webmaster know.)
Photo of Arthur Stace by Les Nixon, via Ramon Williams, used by permission. Taken at Burton Street Tabernacle, 27 December 1952. Right hand photo: the Eternity memorial in Town Hall Arcade.
Related: The Eternity waterfall after 40 years – 12th July 2017.
Reformation Preaching and the Modern Mind — Annual Moore College Lectures 2017
“The Annual Moore College Lectures will be given by Carl Trueman, a well-known church historian who has written extensively on reformation themes.”
– Beginning 3rd August. Details from the College.
The Banner of Truth Trust turns 60
“Iain Murray is 86 years old. Sixty years ago today, along with Jack Cullum and Sidney Norton, officially founded Banner of Truth, the Reformed-evangelical publisher that began out of Westminster Chapel in London in 1957.…”
– A cause for thanksgiving. Justin Taylor marks the anniversary. (Picture: Iain Murray.)
What was the Reformation and why does it matter?
Last week, David Cook spoke at St. Helen’s Bishopsgate, on What was the Reformation and why does it matter?.
“The great pastoral effect of the Reformation is Assurance.”
Most encouraging. Watch on Vimeo.
Related: The English Reformers’ Teaching on Salvation. Talk by Donald Allister at the 1991 Church Society Conference.
Evangelical Christianity 150 Years Ago and Today
“Being an evangelical Christian in 2017 can be a fairly daunting prospect. There appear to be so many challenges in wider society and in the wider church. Surely standing up for the gospel of Jesus Christ and proclaiming it in the world is more difficult now than it was in the past!
Well, a little historical perspective can allow us re-evaluate our situation and encourage us by the inspiring examples of those who have gone before. It is for this reason I commend two recent books about nineteenth-century evangelicals.
The first little book is Allan Blanch’s A Pioneering Pastor: Thomas Sharpe of Norfolk Island and Bathurst.
Sharpe’s faithful evangelical ministry has been somewhat forgotten in our historical narrative of Christianity in colonial Australia. Sharpe was born 220 years ago in Yorkshire and was ordained in 1828 … for the specific purpose of Anglican ministry in Australia.
One of the wonderful features of Blanch’s biography is that he allows Sharpe to speak for himself through his journal. Blanch also provides important contextual background for the events — both ecclesiastical and social. This book is well-researched and easy to read.”
– At SydneyAnglicans.net, Dr. Ed Loane briefly reviews two new books – A Pioneering Pastor: Thomas Sharpe of Norfolk Island and Bathurst by ACL Emeritus Vice President Allan M. Blanch, and Bishop J.C. Ryle’s Autobiography, edited by Andrew Atherstone.
A Pioneering Pastor: Thomas Sharpe of Norfolk Island and Bathurst by Allan M. Blanch is available for $19.99 from:
Strathalbyn Books
P.O. Box 970, Bathurst NSW 2795.email: strathalbynbooks@gmail.com
Cheque or money order made out to Strathalbyn Books.
Click here to download an order form (PDF file).
An unexpected invitation from the German Government
“In the year of Reformation celebrations much is centred on Europe and especially Germany.
In June, our Principal was invited by the German government to join a ‘Dialogue with Germany’ in Berlin, Eisenach, Erfurt and Wittenberg on the relevance of the Reformation and how it is being celebrated in the land in which it all began. …”
– More interesting news from Moore College.
Photo: Mark Thompson outside the Wittenberg door.
Graham Cole back at Moore to celebrate the Reformation
Coming up later this month, Dr Graham Cole, former member of the Moore College faculty, will deliver a public lecture entitled: The legacy of the Reformation through the eyes of J.C. Ryle.
In the Marcus Loane Hall, Wednesday 19th July, 7:00pm – 9:00pm.
Graham studied at Moore College from 1973 to 1976 and was ordained in 1977. He served as Curate at St James Turramurra before returning to Moore to lecture in Christian thought from 1980 until 1992.
He subsequently served as Principal of Ridley College, Melbourne (1992–2001), Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago (2002–2011), Anglican Professor of Divinity and Beeson Divinity School, Alabama (2011–2015), and in 2015 he returned to Trinity to become its Dean.
– Details at the College website.
The Eternity waterfall after 40 years
Forty years ago, the Eternity plaque at the waterfall in Sydney Square was unveilled.
On Tuesday, 12th July 1977, The Sydney Morning Herald’s Column 8 wrote:
“TRUE to his words of last November, Ridley Smith, the Sydney Square architect, has immortalised the late Arthur Stace, ‘Mr Eternity’. You may recall that Column 8 campaigned unashamedly for a suitable memorial to Mr Stace, Sydney’s footpath evangelist for 20 years until 1967. Ridley Smith promised it without strings.
TODAY, the memorial above will be officially unveilled (a small explanatory plaque is yet to come). Yesterday Column 8 had an informal peek. Mr Stace would be proud. There, set in aggregate near the Sydney Square waterfall, in letters almost 21cm (8 in) high, is the famous copperplate message. ‘Eternity’. The one-word sermon gleams in wrought aluminium. There’s no undue prominence. No garish presentation. Merely the simple ‘Eternity’ on the pebbles, as Arthur Stace would have wanted it.”
In 1994, journalist Alan Gill wrote, “The waterfall adjoins a modest cafeteria. [The Architect of St. Andrew’s House and Sydney Square, Ridley] Smith once told me that he hoped visitors would say ‘Meet you at Eternity’ as well as ‘Meet you in Eternity’.” (1)
Ridley Smith (pictured) was named for evangelist John G. Ridley, who was a friend of his father. In November 1932, Arthur Stace had been in the congregation at the Burton Street Tabernacle in Darlinghurst when John Ridley preached on the need to be ready for eternity. It was this sermon which inspired Stace to begin his 34 year campaign of writing that word on the streets of Sydney.
Arthur Stace died on 30 July 1967, fifty years ago this month.
Did the ‘small explanatory plaque’ mentioned by Column 8 ever appear? In 1994, Alan Gill wrote that some complained “the present inscription is ‘out of the way’ and doesn’t explain who Arthur Stace was. Other admirers of Arthur disagree. They believe the ‘odd’ location of the present tribute and the absence of an explanation are part of that blend of mystery and surprise that ‘Mr Eternity’ himself would appreciate.”
(Top photo showing the waterfall on the day of the unveilling, and the photo of Architect Ridley Smith in 2009, courtesy Ramon Williams, Worldwide Photos. Ramon adds, “Ridley Smith sprinkled water around the ‘Eternity’ replica so as to help photograph it.” While the pavement around the memorial has been replaced, “Eternity” on the pebbles remains, as seen in this 2014 photo.)
(1) Alan Gill, “Sydney’s Phantom Preacher”, The Catholic Weekly, 31 August 1994.
Why the Reformation still matters
Coming up this month: Graham Cole (former member of the Moore College faculty, now Dean of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago) is giving a public lecture at Moore College on Wednesday 19th July, 7:00pm – 9:00pm.
His topic: The legacy of the Reformation through the eyes of J.C. Ryle.
How the Reformation rediscovered Happiness
“Imagine facing judgment day every week.
Near to where I grew up, in the Oxfordshire village of South Leigh, is the parish church of St. James the Great. Over the chancel arch is a medieval wall painting depicting the final judgment. …”
– At Desiring God, Tim Chester shares one way in which the Reformation was revolutionary.
Reformation 500 resources from Church Society
Check out these free resources from Church Society –
1.) Reformation 500 Resources –
“Church introductions, Sunday school material, school assemblies, youth groups and Light parties – we’ve got you covered! This comprehensive set of resources introduces key themes of the Reformation through three central figures:
Martin Luther: How can we be right with God?
William Tyndale: Why the Bible matters so much?
Thomas Cranmer: How can everyone hear the true gospel?
Experienced children’s and youth workers, Robin Barfield and Nathan Phillingham, have provided teaching material, introductions, games and crafts suitable for different ages and groups. There are also activity sheets by Chris Joyce. Leaders’ notes provide some background to the series and suggest further reading.
Church introductions give ways of introducing the key people and ideas of the Reformation to your whole congregation.
The Light Party materials include teaching, games and craft activities for a family party, suitable for either church or non-church families. These resources do not overlap with the Sunday school or other sets of resources, using different Reformers to tell other aspects of the story.”
2.) Reformation 500 Magazine –
“In place of our usual summer edition of Crossway, Church Society are pleased to publish this special Reformation 500 magazine.
Containing articles by two Church Society Council members, Dr Andrea Ruddick and Dr Kirsty Birkett, the magazine provides a thorough introduction to the Reformation.
Andrea’s article explores the medieval background to the events of the 16th century, while Kirsty identifies key figures of the Reformation era and explains their contribution to its revolutionary events and teaching.”
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…