Abortion Tasmania: Hospital Chaplain’s perspective
Bishop of Tasmania John Harrower writes:
“Hospital Chaplain, Reverend Alan Bulmer, has written to Health Minister for Tasmania, The Hon. Michelle O’Byrne, in response to her draft Abortion Legislation for Tasmania.
As I read his sensitive letter, I was reminded again that the pastoral consequences of the life and death of the unborn are a very real part of a hospital chaplain’s ministry. His letter brings the personal aspect of the death of the unborn to the Minister’s attention and asks for the reconsideration and withdrawal of this draft legislation…”
– Read extracts of the letter at Bishop Harrower’s blog, or the full thing here (PDF).
Easter messages 2013 from around Australia
Here are some of the Easter messages we’ve seen so far from Anglican leaders around Australia –
Bishop of Tasmania John Harrower writes of Jesus as the Good Shepherd,
“He is not some hireling who will run away when the surprises hit, and the going gets tough. Rather, he is ‘the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.’…”
Bishop of Canberra & Goulburn Stuart Robinson’s Easter message. He also has a video message and shares this invitation for Good Friday,
“Do please consider joining me (or praying for) – this Friday at 11.00am, Belmore Park, Goulburn. It will be an ‘open-air’ Easter Service where I will explain the message of Jesus’ death and resurrection and invite people to respond.
I’ll be walking with the cross I’ve been carrying around the diocese from our Cathedral at around 10.30am to the park.”
In his video message, Archbishop of Melbourne Philip Freier, says,
“The victory of death over his life was not as it seemed. Christians know that Jesus’ death on the cross was a victory over sin and death. Even more his victory is for all time – his light overcoming the darkness of sin and despair in every age. He has made the impossible possible.”
Defence Anglicans Administrator (until a new Bishop is appointed) Eric Burton has an Easter message entitled, “A kick in the guts”.
Please pray for all who speak in Christ’s name this Easter, whatever their churchmanship, that they will speak faithfully and clearly the words of eternal life. (And maybe a word of thanks to those who do would be appropriate.)
Bishop of Tasmania calls for submissions against ‘draconian’ bill
Bishop John Harrower encourages submissions against a ‘draconian’ Abortion bill proposed for Tasmania.
Related:
Pastoral Letter.
When murder looks like abortion.
Rural ministry in Canberra & Goulburn
“…Director of St Mark’s National Theological Centre Professor Tom Frame has been appointed to a ‘tent-making’ unpaid position overseeing the new Mulwaree Mission District…”
– from the Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn.
Diocese of Tasmania submission on “Voluntary Assisted Dying”
Bishop John Harrower has posted some details on his diocese’s submission concerning “Voluntary Assisted Dying” in Tasmania – and he has also written a Pastoral Letter on proposed Abortion legislation for that state.
Good news for Braidwood
The Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn’s Bishop Stuart Robinson is continuing his ‘150th birthday [of the diocese] pilgrimage’ – and is using every opportunity to preach evangelistically.
This morning he and his wife Jane, with members of the local church, entered Braidwood and Stuart preached evangelistically in the park. He reports that more than 20 people made commitments or recommitments to Christ.
Bishop Robinson would appreciate continued prayer support (next “Bungendore, then Goulburn (Good Friday) then on Easter Saturday, Reid in Canberra and on Easter Day around Parliament House to the lawns of the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture for a sunrise evangelistic service at 7.15am.”)
Photo courtesy Alex Rea at The Braidwood Times.
In a little while – thanking God for Chappo
“My generation missed Chappo. I think I heard him preach once, maybe twice. By the time I went through Moore Theological College he was no longer the one giving sermon feedback. Others were the regular evangelists up at the Katoomba conventions when I attended them.
I heard a number of his jokes — even I knew of his encouragement of younger Christians with words along the lines of ‘Don’t worry, the first 40 years are the hardest’ — but I heard most of these stories from others who knew him better, or had heard him more often.”
– Coinciding with the day of a special Thanksgiving service in London, Sam Freeney explains why The Briefing (March/April 2013) will carry some special appreciations of our dear brother John Chapman.
My Brittle Bones
“I belong to a very ordinary Australian family, albeit with two obvious differences. First, compared with the stereotypical sports-loving, tough Aussie, some of us are quite weak and physically frail, thanks to a mutant gene. Second, my family has resisted the secularism that is a dominant feature of modern Australian life.…”
– a disturbing article relating to eugenics. Worth your time to read. (h/t SydneyAnglicans.net)
Bathurst Diocese welcomes new Bishop
“Bishop Ian Palmer, who was consecrated as the tenth Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Bathurst on Saturday (February 9), has said that he is very aware of the difficult financial situation facing the Diocese. … Bishop Ian Palmer was consecrated by Archbishop Peter Jensen, Metropolitan of NSW, supported by twelve other Bishops from throughout the Australian church.”
– Story here from the Diocese of Bathurst.
Also from Bathurst:
Anglican Schools in Orange and Dubbo to be sold
“The new Bishop of Bathurst, Ian Palmer, has announced … that Bishop-in-Council had decided to sell two Anglican Grammar Schools as going concerns for the 2014 school year…”
– Story here.
‘An Aussie Christian icon’
In a recent post at Reformation21, Paul Levy in the UK writes, “Colin Buchanan is, to my son and countless other kids like him, the equivalent of what John Piper is to Christian hedonists, Gresham Machen is to the OPC and John Stott is to English public schoolboys…”.
Now Eternity Newspaper has a profile piece on Colin. Good reminder to pray for him and his ministry.
New Creation Ministry ‘completes its work’
New Creation Teaching Ministry in South Australia – founded by Geoffrey Bingham (pictured) in 1974 – is closing down. Eternity Newspaper has the story.
(See also the New Creation newsletter.)
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.
Australian Church Record, December 2012
The latest issue of The Australian Church Record, and the results of their recent Survey of Sydney Synod members are now available from their website.
Christmas messages from around Oz, 2012
We’ll post Christmas messages from Anglican leaders around the country, as we discover them.
Please pray that all who speak in the name of the Lord Jesus this Christmas will do so with great clarity and faithfulness to his gospel.
Here are the messages so far –
Archbishop of Melbourne, Philip Freier. (video)
Bishop of Tasmania, John Harrower. (video)
Bishop of Canberra-Goulburn, Stuart Robinson. (video)
Dean of Riverina, Robert Harris. (text)
Bishop of Wangaratta, John Parkes. (2.5MB PDF – page 3 of The Advocate.)
Bishop of Gippsland, John McIntyre. (14.5MB PDF – page 3 of The Gippsland Anglican.)
Bishop of Ballarat, Garry Weatherill. (video)
Bishop of Willochra, John Stead. (PDF)
Bishop to the Australian Defence Force, Len Eacott.
And from the leaders of other denominations (via the National Council of Churches in Australia), messages are mixed – but that from David Jones, Moderator General Presbyterian Church of Australia, stands out:
Cry of a Tiny Baby
Bruce Cockburn the Canadian singer and songwriter describes the birth of Jesus beautifully in the chorus of one of his Christmas songs
“Like a stone on the surface of a still river
driving the ripples on forever
Redemption rips through the surface of time
In the cry of a tiny babe”
Something happened at Bethlehem that has sent ripples throughout the history of the human race.
If you have ever been robbed of something precious, you will want the culprit caught and punished and you will want your property returned to you. God has been robbed. He made us in his image and likeness but that has been defaced by sin.
Jesus has come to right the wrong done to God by his creatures, to pay the price of our sin and rebellion. But God wants back what is rightfully His. He wants his picture back. He wants his image and likeness restored. That is why Jesus came among us. That is the meaning of Redemption. That is the message of Christmas.
“Redemption rips through the surface of time”
“And the message is clear if you’ve got ears to hear
That forgiveness is given for your guilt and your fear
It’s a Christmas gift you don’t have to buy
There’s a future shining in a baby’s eyes”
(Second photo: Pilgrim Hill.)
Queensland’s first woman bishop
“…a Melbourne priest has been selected to lead the Southern Region of the Diocese of Brisbane as Queensland’s first woman bishop.
The Venerable Alison Taylor, Melbourne’s Archdeacon for International Partnerships and Vicar of St John’s Anglican Church Camberwell…”
– Story from the Diocese of Melbourne.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…