An Eton Mess: The Failure of English Bishops
“The Church of England has finally announced its proposals to their General Synod to deal with the vexed question of how to respond to same-sex marriage. The presentation was led by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Eton-educated Justin Welby and Stephen Cottrell, who together are seeking to lead the Church of England through these difficult times.
For the last six years the Church of England has been going through a process of discussion called “Living in Love and Faith” in order to get to this moment.
In a press release issued while Australia slept, the House of Bishops outlined the legislation they will propose to the upcoming General Synod.
So what are the plans, what do they mean, and what effect will they have on the wider Anglican Communion—especially here in Australia?…”
– David Ould writes at The Gospel Coalition Australia.
What’s an Eton mess?
“It’s a bowl full of broken bits of meringue, fruit and topped off with cream. If at this point you’re thinking that sounds awfully like what you did with your pavlova last year when you dropped it on the floor and rescued those bits not red-carded by the five second rule, then you would be absolutely correct. Eton Mess is, at it’s heart, a failed Pavlova dressed up in a fancy bowl and passed off as something worthy. It is the next generation of that other famous Anglican sweet; the fudge.”
What else is the Church of England on about these days?
Archbishop of Canterbury FC lace up for green campaign alongside Premier League stars
“The Archbishop of Canterbury’s football team will host a ‘green’ football match as part of a national campaign to raise awareness of the Climate Crisis with football the focus for practical steps to reduce carbon.”
Dean of Sydney: ALP ‘can do better’ on Pokies
A media release from earlier this week:
“The Dean of Sydney, Sandy Grant, a long-time campaigner for poker machine reform in NSW, has responded to the NSW ALP’s launch of its gambling reform policy today.
He said:
Although I am pleased to see some helpful steps in the ALP’s proposals that will be helpful, the ALP can do better by committing to the principal of introducing a cashless gaming card, with mandatory pre-commitment, for poker machine use right across NSW.
With NSW losses on poker machines approaching $8 billion per annum – that’s over $20 million/day! – we urgently need ‘Airbags on Pokies’.…”
January sale at Matthias Media
Matthias media has a number of terrific books on sale – the sale “ends 11:59pm 31 January 2023, unless a product sells out first. Our standard generous quantity discounts don’t apply.”
John Chapman’s A Foot in Two Worlds is available for just $5.
“This book from John Chapman helps us understand both the joys and the hardships that we experience as part of the normal Christian life.”
Many would find it a great help and encouragement.
See what else is on offer here. (This is not an advertisement – we just thought you might like to know.)
Same words. Different worlds. Reaching Roman Catholics.
On the Pastor’s Heart this week, Dominic Steele speaks with Leonardo De Chirico and Rachel Ciano on understanding our Roman Catholic friends and sharing the saving news of Jesus with them.
Leonardo De Chirico, Director of The Reformanda Initiative in Rome, is currently in Australia. Rachel Ciano serves at SMBC.
Last week to register for Launch 2023
This is the last week to register for Launch Camp
– 30 January – 2nd February 2023
– Katoomba, KCC and CMS sites
Launch camp has been an enormous help to so many students as they begin uni days with Christian friends and enfolded in uni Christian ministries.
The aim of Launch is to work out together what it means to live for Jesus in the transition to post-school life – years that are likely to be the most formative years of life.
Sydney Church History — repost
We first posted this link in August 2020. As CMS Summer School at Katoomba concludes for 2023, here are even more reasons to give thanks to God:
“In 1965 John Stott, the Rector of All Souls Langham Place in London, visited Sydney to preach on 2 Corinthians at the CMS Summer School.
‘I heard only one of those Bible studies but I was so taken by the way he stuck to the text and stayed with it. He could show you the logic of the argument in the Scriptures, prior to that I had tended to get an idea from the passage and to leap all over the Bible supporting the idea from other parts, so that the people I taught knew the ‘idea’ but not the passage from which it came or how that passage fitted into some overall argument from the Scriptures. It is to John Stott I owe what ability I have to expound the Bible.’
Those were the words of the esteemed Sydney evangelist and preacher, the late John Chapman…”
– David Cook writes to remind us of our history, and how God works. At The Expository Preaching Trust.
(David Cook has served in parish ministry, as the Principal of SMBC, and as the Moderator-General of the Presbyterian Church of Australia.)
P&A 2023 annual conference: Lazy Complementarianism
Coming up at the Priscilla & Aquila Centre at Moore College.
‘Compassion…’
“Predictions about the global economic outlook for the new year are not encouraging. Nor is the news of the ongoing aggression by Russia in Ukraine. Given the rise of powerful despots and divisions within western democracies, is there anything that we can do?
Two and a half millennia ago the Jewish people were in exile. In 586 BC Babylonian forces had rampaged through Judah, conquering Jerusalem, razing its walls and its temple to the ground. Political obliteration seemed inevitable as the cream of the population was taken to Babylon.
Yet the extraordinary thing was this:…”
– At The Anglican Connection, John Mason continues to remind us that our needy world waits to hear the truth about God.
The Vatican Files
Dr. Leonardo De Chirico of The Reformanda Initiative in Rome is currently speaking at CMS Summer Conferences across Australia.
Many have found his insights extremely valuable in understanding the Roman Catholic Church so they might humbly and lovingly share the saving news of Jesus with their Roman Catholic friends.
From The Reformanda Initiative:
“The Reformanda Initiative exists to identify, unite, equip, and resource evangelical leaders to understand Roman Catholic theology and practice, to educate the evangelical Church and to communicate the Gospel.
Evangelicalism currently has an incoherent relationship with Roman Catholicism. Many evangelicals are uncertain about what Roman Catholics actually believe. Do they believe in the same Gospel, or something entirely different?
This question is important for leaders of evangelical churches and organizations and for hundreds of millions of evangelical believers around the world. …”
A key linked website is The Vatican Files where Dr De Chirico shares what is happening in the Roman Catholic Church. A recent article is entitled, “God has many ways to save.” Cardinal Cantalamessa and Roman Catholic Universalism:
“Like every Christmas season, the tradition of the ‘advent sermons,’ whereby the preacher of the Papal household addresses the Pope and the community working in the Vatican, was repeated this past December when Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, a capuchin, preached three sermons.
This preaching role is important because it is officially appointed by the reigning Pope and assigned to a priest whose task is to preach to the community working and living in the Vatican (Pope included) on special liturgical festivities. More generally, the Vatican preacher contributes to setting the standard of Roman Catholic homiletics even beyond the little community of the recipients and is looked upon as a ‘model’ for good Roman Catholic preaching.
For these reasons, it is always useful to have an eye on what he says and how he says it. …”
See also The Reformanda Initiative Podcast.
How a man reading the Bible revolutionised my Bible reading
“For most of the time I have been a Christian, talking about personal Bible reading has made me uneasy.
I usually regarded people who talked about their deep quiet times (often early in the morning) as spiritual skites. That was simply jealousy, because most of my attempts at quiet times could be likened to the Wright brothers’ experiments with flight. A lot of effort, airborne for a short time, then a crash.
Weirdly enough, it was a combination of the pandemic and technology that came to my rescue. …”
– Anglican Media Sydney’s Russell Powell shares some great encouragement for you.
How the Bible makes sense of modern life and culture – with Christopher Watkin
From Dominic Steele at The Pastor’s Heart:
“How does the Bible’s unfolding story makes sense of modern life and culture?
Christopher Watkin, who lectures in Philosophy at Monash University, has a new book out that paints a picture of a Biblical Theological worldview and interacts well along the way with all the major thinkers of the age.
Chris has done us pastors a significant service here.
One of my friends has called it the most helpful book for those of us in pastoral ministry since Don Carson’s late 1990s contribution, The Gagging of God. …”
Before you watch Harry & Meghan
“The age of the internet accelerates the pace of rumour spreading from the old school gossip magazines and water coolers. Twitter and Netflix are the latest machines for globalising gossip. My secret today can be the topic of public scrutiny tomorrow.
The thing is, by watching and reading and gossiping, we’re leaping into a carefully managed trap. We’re suckers for a good juicy story about a family imploding. And what’s bigger than that family being our King and Princes? …”
– Murray Campbell has some thoughts on the story almost everyone is discussing.
Pope Benedict XVI — His Life and Legacy
“According to Benedict, the evangelical understanding of the church is a ‘new concept’ whereby the church is only a community summoned by the Word. Benedict looked at evangelicals with a mixture of spiritual curiosity and Roman perplexity.
Benedict did have a high view of Scripture, and his last books were focused on the life of Jesus according to the historical accounts of the Gospels. Yet we must understand his true position. …”
– At The Gospel Coalition, Leonardo De Chirico reflects on the life of Pope Benedict.
See also:
Remembering Benedict XVI – Carl Trueman at WORLD.
“A deeply learned theologian rather than a philosopher, Benedict made signal contributions to thinking about the nature of the secular world. Indeed, though many of his most significant intellectual contributions predate his papacy (2005-2013), the accuracy of so many of his observations and analyses has given his work a mantic quality.”
Why Religion will Return to the West
David Robertson writes:
This is an important article by Greg Sheridan – which we republish with permission. Please do read the whole article – but this quote stuck out for me –
“Christianity was just as weird to the sophisticated first-century Graeco-Roman civilisation of the Mediterranean as it is to the most disillusioned sophisticate of today.Happily for contemporary Christians, they have a readily accessible account of how the first Christians spread the gospel in a hostile, alien and comprehensively pagan culture. It’s a primary source, uniquely immediate and reliable, and still in print.It is found in the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament, and in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. It’s worth reading these two short books – only 50 pages between them – straight through, as they offer a gripping, vivid picture of the first Christians. …”
Photo: Greg Sheridan, Foreign Editor, The Australian.
Amazing Grace shown to sinners like us
Two hundred and fifty years ago today, the hymn Amazing Grace was first sung. The Rev. John Newton wrote it to accompany his sermon on 1 Chronicles 17:16-17 on New Year’s morning 1773.
At the time, Newton can have had no idea of what a blessing that hymn would be to millions.
There’s no better way to begin a new year than by remembering God’s grace shown to us in Christ, to bless God, and to tell others of him.
JohnNewton.org has resources linked from their front page.
Update: Marylynn Rouse, Director of the John Newton Project, has contributed this piece just published in The Times.
(What is the good news Newton knew? Glad you asked.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…