COVID-19 has been devastating for our community – and our church

“In Berala, a mid-west suburb of Sydney, the toll of coronavirus measures is high and widespread: job losses, evictions, sleeping in cars and no money to make ends meet.

‘COVID may be the greatest challenge our church has ever faced – certainly it’s the greatest challenge our church has faced in the five years that I’ve been here,’ says Mike Doyle, pastor of the local Anglican church in Berala. …”

– Plenty for your prayers – for Berala and other parishes.

Fireside Songs — Colin Buchanan Online Concert for Adults Thursday 7th May

The Gospel Coalition Australia is partnering with Colin Buchanan to host an online concert for adults this Thursday, 7th May, at 7:30pm AEST.

Sounds like a great idea.

3 Minutes – 3 Thoughts – On Worry

Colin Adams, Pastor of Greenview Church in Glasgow, shares three encouraging thoughts at Unashamed Workman.

Never Alone – Using our isolation for the sake of eternity

“If we had not understood the word ‘isolation’ before now, then we have all had a heavy dose of this experience in the past month! The Government’s restrictions on movement have impacted us all, with the strong message: ‘Stay home!’.…”

– Archbishop Glenn Davies writes in the current issue of Southern Cross.

May 2020 Southern Cross now online

Anglican Media Sydney has released the May 2020 issue of Southern Cross – only available online – to read in your browser or as a PDF download.

Lots of encouraging articles.

For your prayers, there’s also a report (pages 9 and 10) on the coronavirus outbreak at Newmarch House at Caddens.

[Anglicare CEO Grant Millard] said the COVID-19 outbreak was “unprecedented and traumatic”. “Nothing actually prepares you for the trauma that our staff and residents and families are dealing with,” he said. “Please keep our residents and their families in your thoughts and prayers, especially those who are grieving the loss of their loved ones.”

The pandemic is making it harder to deliver medically assisted death, doctors say

“Some doctors say the pandemic is making it harder to provide medically assisted deaths to patients who request them, due to shortages of protective masks and gowns and last-minute scrambles to find places to perform the procedure…

One patient in Ontario had the procedure performed in a funeral home… The patient was given a room and had their life ended with medical help on the premises, she said. The patient’s funeral arrangements also took place there …”

– Story from the CBC (Canada) via the Anglican Samizdat.

How a NSW aged care facility became a ‘pseudo hospital’ for coronavirus


“A Western Sydney aged-care facility has become Australia’s second biggest cluster of coronavirus deaths, and its chief executive officer has warned more are on the horizon.”

– ABC News speaks with Anglicare Sydney CEO Grant Millard.

Plenty to pray about in this situation. Image: ABC News.

Gospel Presentation by Bishop Rick Lewers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjS0eLlv5ys&feature=emb_logo

Bishop of Armidale Rick Lewers shares the heart of the Christian faith.

Give thanks for bishops who know and tell the gospel!

Coronavirus and Christ

“In Coronavirus and Christ, John Piper invites readers around the world to stand on the solid Rock, who is Jesus Christ, in whom our souls can be sustained by the sovereign God who ordains, governs, and reigns over all things to accomplish his wise and good purposes for those who trust in him.”

– Here’s a new, and very timely, resource from John Piper at Desiring God.

It’s available in printed, text and audio formats, and in multiple languages. See his video explanation at the link.

Treasurer clarifies JobKeeper rules

In a press release this evening, Federal Treasurer, The Hon Josh Frydenberg MP, announced,

“Changes will allow JobKeeper Payments to be made to religious institutions in respect of religious practitioners (with the exception of those that are students only), recognising that many religious practitioners are not ‘employees’ of their religious institutions.”

– JobKeeper update 24 April 2020.

Anglicans and pandemics: 101 years on

“This is not the first time that the ACR has seen a pandemic.

From 1880, the Church Record, as it was known, reported on all the news relating to the Anglican Church in Australia and New Zealand. So I did a bit of research and trawled through the archives to find out what the Church Record said about the 1919 influenza epidemic.

I discovered that the ACR has ‘seen this movie before’ and has some wise advice for us today. …”

– Bronwyn Windsor shares the encouragement she discovered. At The Australian Church Record.

Church meetings and COVID-19 in Australia

“For most believers in Australia, ‘law and religion’ issues have been interesting but not part of their regular experience. But in this unprecedented time of the coronavirus pandemic, the simple activity of attending regular church services or home groups has been, like much of the rest of life, turned upside down. We now find that our normal weekly gatherings are potentially illegal!

In this post I want to review some of the recently-made laws that impact church meetings in Australia.”

– Neil Foster at Law and Religion Australia summarises the implications of the current health orders for churches.

Corona Crisis — a Five week series from the Bishop of Bathurst

Next Sunday, the Bishop of Bathurst, Mark Calder, begins a 5 week special sermon series addressing issues raised by the crisis.

This weekend, he turns to Psalm 13.

Do pray that this series might be a blessing to many across New South Wales, and further afield.

Protestants and Plagues

“The present pestilence of COVID-19 is often described as ‘unprecedented’ in the modern Western media, and understandably so.

However, the presence of pestilence was a familiar reality throughout early modern Europe. Our Reformation forebears so frequently encountered the plague that it would not be too much to say that the entire course of religious history, at times, hung by the thread of a mere matter of breaths.

Unsurprisingly, though contrary to the popular opinion in the modern blogosphere, our Reformers had a wide variety of responses to the plague. This lecture aims to explore the impact of the plague upon the Reformers, and explain the differences and similarities in their responses. This, of course, will be instructive to our own set of responses to COVID-19 today.”

Watch Dr Mark Earngey’s overview of some of the intellectual, theological, and practical responses to the plague throughout the early period of the Reformation.

Available now at the Moore College website.

What TV professionals want preachers to know about communicating through a camera

“We talk to TV professionals Evan Batten & Paul Richards about how preachers can best use video to effectively share the gospel.

We discuss the similarities and differences of presenting to a full room of people versus to a camera, how to relax and the difference post production can help make in capturing and keeping attention.”

– Watch it all at The Pastor’s Heart. Very helpful.

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