Service for Las Vegas
“A special service will be held at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney on Thursday, October 5, in commemoration of those affected by the Las Vegas massacre at the weekend. …“
– Details from SydneyAnglicans.net.
Developing Rectors Program at Moore College
“In March, Moore College’s Centre for Ministry Development (CMD) launched the Developing Rectors Program – a program to equip new Rectors across the Diocese…”
– Read about the program at the Moore College website.
Moore College Open Day on Saturday October 28
The next Moore College Open Day is set for Saturday October 28.
“The day includes a sample lecture from one of our faculty, a campus tour and plenty of opportunities for questions. You are welcome to drop in at any point during the day, lunch is provided at 12 noon.”
– Details from Moore College.
Lisa, Bruce & Co @ Parramatta
“What does complementarian ministry look like?
We chat to Lisa Boyd & Bruce Morrison of St John’s Cathedral, Parramatta about the ins-and-outs, ups-and-downs of working as a team. …”
– new from The Australian Church Record.
Praying together this Sunday
“Archbishop Glenn Davies has urged churches to set aside this Sunday as a day of Praying together for Marriage.
The Archbishop foreshadowed the initiative in this month’s edition of the Diocesan magazine, Southern Cross, which includes a prayer Dr Davies wrote for the day.
The Australian newspaper last week reported the initiative, set down for this Sunday, September 17th. …”
– Read the story from SydneyAnglicans.net, and please be encouraged to pray.
Related: Archbishop Davies’ prayer.
Archbishop Davies to Sydney Anglicans: Enrol to have your say in the postal plebiscite
Archbishop of Sydney, Dr. Glenn Davies, has recorded a brief video message, and has written to Sydney Anglicans with an encouragement to participate in the postal plebiscite.
His letter may be downloaded from this link (PDF file). We have reproduced the text below: Read more
New Head for Anglican EdComm
“Anglican EdComm, the Education Commission of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney has announced the appointment of Stephen Kinsella as its next Executive Director.
Mr Kinsella, who is currently Headmaster of The Illawarra Grammar School will take up his new appointment in early 2018.”
– Story from SydneyAnglicans.net.
(Photo: The Illawarra Grammar School.)
Bill fails religious protection test – Anglican Diocese of Sydney Media Statement
Anglican Diocese of Sydney
Media Statement, 6th August 2017
Bill fails religious protection test
“There are serious religious issues and freedom of conscience concerns arising from the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 being promoted by some liberal MPs” said the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney today. Read more
Moore College Sunday resources
Moore College has released a couple of videos you might be able to use in conjunction with Moore College Sunday (nominally this Sunday, 6th August).
Moore College – A Light for your path.
Lots of other resources here.
From The Principal’s message at the link above:
“We must never lose our sense of dependence upon God and his grace towards us.
Without his sustaining and guiding providence Moore College would go the way of many others before it – drifting from the word of God, blending into the world of the secular academy, losing touch with the gospel mission that alone justifies its existence.
Our need and our vulnerability are well-known to God. We must be aware of them too. That, as much as anything else, is a stimulus to prayer.”
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.
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.
ABC ignored church’s ‘positive story’
“A senior female Anglican leader has expressed ‘disappointment’ that her ‘positive’ story in fighting domestic violence was ignored by the ABC in its controversial TV program claiming Christian men who go to church occasionally are the worst abusers of women.
Sydney diocese Archdeacon for Women Kara Hartley was interviewed for more than an hour by ABC journalist Julia Baird for the report on 7:30 that aired on Wednesday night, but none of her comments were aired.…
Archdeacon Hartley’s remarks came as the Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, Mark Coleridge, revealed he had, on request, provided the ABC with extensive comments for a related online essay by Baird and co-author Hayley Gleeson. But not only did Baird and Gleeson not publish any of his remarks, they falsely reported he had not responded.
Only after the diocese made an official complaint to the ABC did it amend the article yesterday.”
– Story from The Australian. (Photo courtesy Sam Law.)
Related:
A summary of major public statements from Diocesan Leadership on the issue of Domestic Violence – Anglican Diocese of Sydney.
Domestic Violence: A starting point for answers – Kara Hartley, The Australian Church Record.
Bolt Report editorial, 20 July 2017. – Sky News via The Herald Sun.
Update:
An Unholy Row – ABC TV Media Watch, 24 July 2017.
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.
Freedom laws needed
“The Diocese of Sydney, along with a number of other Christian groups, has called for special legislation to enshrine freedom of belief as a ‘positive right’ in Australia, rather than as a negative ‘exemption’ to other legislation.
The call came in a submission to the Federal Government inquiry into the ‘protection and promotion of the human right to freedom of religion or belief worldwide, including in Australia’. …”
– Report from Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Recent news from Moore College
Here are a few recent news stories from Moore College. They are a good reminder to pray for all serving and studying at the College, with the Winter break now on (24 June – 16 July).
John Chapman Preaching Conference 23 September.
In September, Dr Bryan Chapell, Senior Pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church, Peoria, Illinois USA, will present at our next one-day John Chapman Preaching Conference considering the topic Application in Expository Preaching. (Early bird price ends tomorrow!)
David Helm’s visit to Moore helps provide clearer thinking about Bible exposition.
The College was privileged to hear David Helm, author of Expositional Preaching, One-to-One Bible Reading and The Big Picture Story Bible, preaching on Revelation 14 in late May.
Moore’s registration as a Self-accrediting Higher Education Provider was recently renewed for another 7 years. This outcome is a testimony to an enormous amount of effort by the College’s Registrar Rhonda Barry, in particular.
Recent Two Ways Ministries Conference at Moore at bursting point.
Moore College was pleased to host a conference in its new building with Phillip Jensen and Al Stewart presenting the talks. The Annual Two Ways Ministries’ Queen’s Birthday Conference was on the subject of work.
Remarkable opportunity for MA students to join the dots on recent Reformation tour.
Moore held an MA (Theol) Reformation Study Tour unit, in which Moore students joined a tour group that travelled from Prague through Germany and Switzerland and finished up in England.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…