THAT’S EASTER — Life to Death – and Death to Life
Back in 2010, St. Helen’s Bishopsgate released this video.
Good to share (again).
See also THAT’S EASTER Death to Life:
Do you know death?
“Over the past three years, it’s been sobering as the world confronts its mortality. Covid’s death toll overwhelmed hospitals, filled the morgues, converted paddocks into mass graves. The words of Hamilton have felt prophetic: ‘Death doesn’t discriminate between the sinner and the saint, it takes, and it takes, and it takes…’
In the wake of Covid, we awoke to the reality of death. Suddenly, the false hopes of medicine, exercise, healthy diets to fix everything were exposed as fake, phonies, flimsy bandaids that offered only temporary solutions. And suddenly the desire for pretty things, faster internet, on-trend fashion, tastier coffee faded in comparison to the desire for life and love and longevity.
But death shouldn’t surprise us. …”
– At The Australian Church Record, Jeanette Chin shares something of her story, our story, and the sure hope we have in Jesus.
Book launch – Peter Jensen’s The Life of Faith: An Introduction to Christian doctrine
Moore College has now uploaded the video of the launch of Peter Jensen’s new book, The Life of Faith: An Introduction to Christian doctrine.
Do watch the full video – Peter speaks about his purpose in the book, and explains his use in the lecture room of some of the books he brought along. Very encouraging.
Get your copy of The Life of Faith: An Introduction to Christian doctrine from Matthias Media.
Correlations between leadership behaviours and ministry burnout
This week from The Pastor’s Heart:
“What is the relationship between clergy leadership behaviors and burnout?
How does destructive leadership behaviour relate to burnout?
What about conflict at church? How does a minister being the target of personal violence correlate to thoughts of quitting? “
Valerie Ling leads the Sydney’s Center for Effective Living and Center for Effective Serving.”
Seize the Day — Mothers Union Sydney seminar 2023
Mothers Union Sydney’s Annual Seminar for 2023 was held at St. Andrew’s Cathedral on Friday 24th February.
The theme was “Seize the Day – Work and Rest in the light of Eternity”.
A recording of the full livestream is now available on the Mothers Union website.
Speakers and topics on the day were:
- The God of All Our Days – Ruth Schroeter
- Days Well Spent – Paul and Cathy Grimmond
- Parenting for the Days to Come – Ruth Baker
The accompanying booklet is available at this link.
2023 Moore College Graduation – Occasional Address
The 2023 Moore College Graduation service was held on March 20.
The College has now published video of the occasional address given by the Rev Don West, Principal of Trinity Theological College in Perth.
Don speaks from 2 Corinthians 4:1-18.
Elon Musk, Apple co-founder, other tech experts call for pause on ‘giant AI experiments’
“Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and a host of other tech leaders and artificial intelligence experts are urging AI labs to pause development of powerful new AI systems in an open letter citing potential risks to society.
The letter asks AI developers to ‘immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.’…”
Related:
John Anderson speaks with Professor John Lennox on Artificial Intelligence.
“In 2020, Lennox published 2084 – Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity, which covers key developments in technological enhancement, bioengineering and AI. In the book, he discusses the current state of AI – its benefits, dangers and future implications. …”
“This is not futuristic speculation – this is already happening.”
The King?
“On that first Palm Sunday there were joy, acclamation, and tears. Yet, five days later the unthinkable occurred: Jesus was put to death by crucifixion. The contrast between the first Palm Sunday when crowds acclaimed Jesus as king and the day he was strung up on a cross, could not have been more stark. …”
– John Mason reflects on the twin themes of Palm Sunday and Good Friday – at The Anglican Connection.
Sin, addictions and faith based therapy
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“How do we as pastors help people with addictions? Addictions to alcohol, gambling, narcotics, gaming and sex addictions.
How much is sin? How much is addiction?
Penny Wilkinson and her husband Andrew direct the Overcomers Outreach ministry and the Overcomers Place in Sydney.”
– Watch or listen at The Pastor’s Heart. Very helpful.
Why it’s not enough to be a ‘Bible teaching Church’
“When my appointment to St Andrew’s Cathedral was announced about 18 months ago, a godly old Methodist minister wrote to me. He kindly thanked me for my ministry in Wollongong but added this note of caution: ‘Don’t let your boast be, “We are a Bible teaching church”. But rather, like St Paul… “We preach Christ, and him crucified”.’
Was my older Methodist colleague right? …”
– Dean of Sydney Sandy Grant writes at SydneyAnglicans.net.
(Also published in the current Southern Cross magazine.)
Preaching Hope on Good Friday
“The late Professor Chris O’Brien, after whom the Life House is named at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital said, ‘Everyone needs hope, we live on hope’.
We normally associate hope with resurrection and so preach hope on Easter Sunday, but this year I am going to preach hope on Good Friday.
The Christian life is full of hope because hope is based on promise, and God reveals himself as the God who makes promises to his people. His promises are the basis of our hope. …”
– David Cook has this encouragement for preachers at The Expository Preaching Trust.
Photo: David Cook at St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in August 2022.
A prayer for the NSW State election
From Dean of Sydney Sandy Grant:
Almighty God and Loving Heavenly Father, we humbly ask you to direct the hearts of those who seek election to our state parliament, and of us as we exercise our democratic freedoms.
May we vote unselfishly for the common good.
Protect politicians from the temptation of self-serving. Enable them to make realistic promises and help them keep their word.
Uphold those elected to serve in the new Parliament through all the heavy demands that come upon them, that they may serve with integrity.
May the decisions of our parliaments, state and federal, lead to the safety and welfare of this country, so that peace and happiness, truth and justice may be established among us. Amen.
“Airbags on Pokies” — The Dean of Sydney
Sandy Grant, the Dean of Sydney, writes about the choice before NSW voters this Saturday –
“Friends in Christ, I encourge you to join me in this prayer for our State, with the election of a new Parliament this Saturday, 25th March:
Almighty God and Loving Heavenly Father, we humbly ask you to direct the hearts of those who seek election to our state parliament, and of us as we exercise our democratic freedoms. May we vote unselfishly for the common good. Protect politicians from the temptation of self-serving. Enable them to make realistic promises and help them keep their word. Uphold those elected to serve in the new Parliament through all the heavy demands that come upon them, that they may serve with integrity. May the decisions of our parliaments, state and federal, lead to the safety and welfare of this country, so that peace and happiness, truth and justice may be established among us. Amen.
As you know, I have spoken strongly in favour of reforms to prevent and minimise harm from poker machine use, which currently sees people in NSW lose $8 billion a year. That’s about $23 million per day! And the worst losses are often in the poorer areas of our city.
I have been calling for reform for almost 15 years, since I first became aware of the dreadul damage done by poker machines on their users and families.”
– Read it all at the Cathedral website.
Image: If only modern poker machines took bets of just 25 cents.
Boldy and unapologetically trembling at God’s word – with Phil Colgan and Paul Grimmond
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“We are not called to be entertainers, but preachers. How might we as individuals and as leaders of God’s people tremble before him? And are we going soft on this?
What is the connection between the text and the preacher? As a preacher, how long since you have been rebuked and repented? How has your world view has been challenged recently?
Paul Grimmond is Dean of Students at Sydney’s Moore Theological College.
Phil Coglan is senior pastor at Sydney’s St George North Anglican Church.”
March — April 2023 issue of Southern Cross now out
The March — April 2023 issue of Southern Cross magazine, produced by Anglican Media Sydney, is out now.
Copies will be available in churches.
As well, you can download a PDF version, or read online, at sydneyanglicans.net/about/southerncross.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…