Archbishop’s address at Civic Commemorative service for William Cowper
“2 Timothy 4:7,8:
‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.’
It was this text that Bishop Barker chose for the funeral sermon of Archdeacon William Cowper in July 1858. It was an apt summation of a great man, a man who helped lay the foundations of our national life and lay them strong and true. He had a vision of what it is to be human and Christian, a vision which still offers us a challenge as to who we should be in our generation. Our city owes a huge debt to Cowper…”
– Archbishop Peter Jensen spoke at yesterday’s Civic Commemorative Service for Archdeacon William Cowper, at St. Philip’s Church Hill, York Street.
(Image courtesy William Cowper website.)
Ministry changes in Canberra & Goulburn
Bishop of Canberra & Goulburn, Stuart Robinson, has announced a number of ministry appointments in the diocese. Key among these is the invitation to Trevor Edwards to become a full-time Assistant Bishop.
Trevor has been Rector of St. Matthew’s Wanniassa and, since 2004, also part time Assistant Bishop with responsibilities for outreach and renewal in the diocese. Trevor’s many friends in Sydney will wish him well as he continues to serve the Lord Jesus in this new ministry.
Details from Bishop Robinson’s letter on the Canberra and Goulburn website.
Jesus: Connections for life
Dominic Steele has produced a booklet to spell out Jesus’ answers to the questions raised by Jesus All About Life campaign which starts in Sydney on September 7.
Details from Christians in the Media.
A Further Look into ECUSA Finances
“The attorneys for ECUSA approve the expenditure of missionary funds in the areas of San Joaquin, Fort Worth and Pittsburgh. These ‘dioceses’ are not — and probably will never be, unless and until they win their respective lawsuits and gain access to the funds of the majorities who voted to leave — self-supporting, even though the dioceses which left each allowed those remnants to keep their own properties and bank accounts. But that is inadequate for them to keep their own clergy paid while the suits are pending — because all of the individual parish pledges and plate collections must go 100% to the payment of the cost of maintaining the current lawsuits. Thus there are no local funds available to pay clergy, and the helpful DFMS must step in. …”
– Christian lawyer A S Haley has been gleaning information about the Episcopal Church’s finances and over the weekend posted this article at Anglican Curmudgeon.
The United Church of Canada’s uncertain future
‘
It’s not the only religious organization in Canada to suffer from a lack of interest. But more than others, perhaps, the United Church has tried to find relevance and attract attention by offering what many complain is an all-inclusive, interpretive and ‘watered-down’ brand of faith. …
At least one church has become a virtual no-God zone.
Gretta Vosper is the minister at West Hill United Church in Toronto and author of With or Without God: Why the way we live is more important than what we believe. …’
– read the full article at the religion blog of the National Post.
(Photo courtesy West Hill United Church.)
Why FCA UK and Ireland?
“Let me start with my nightmare: in my negative moments it seems not just realistic but likely.
In my nightmare the Church of England, Church in Wales, Church of Ireland and Episcopal Church of Scotland continue on their gradual drift towards the apostasy of The Episcopal Church in America, so that within twenty, or maybe only ten years, it becomes virtually impossible for orthodox Christians to be ordained…”
– Vaughan Roberts, Rector of St Ebbe’s Church in Oxford, spoke at the launch of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans in the UK and Ireland last month.
His talk has now been posted at the GAFCON website. (Photo: Joy Gwaltney.)
New Director for ‘Unity, Faith and Order’
From the Anglican Communion News Service:
“The Secretary General, Canon Kenneth Kearon, has announced the appointment of Canon Dr Alyson Barnett-Cowan as Director for Unity, Faith and Order at the Anglican Communion Office. The post is a new one in the Communion… Canon Barnett-Cowan is currently Director of Faith, Worship and Ministry of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada…”
– full report from the ACNS. (Emphasis added.)
However, see also The Anglican Church of Canada: Tearing The Fabric to Shreds!
(Photo of Canon Alyson Barnett-Cowan: Bruce Myers, Anglican Journal.)
Bishop Stuart Robinson — encouragement in connecting
Bishop Stuart Robinson in the diocese of Canberra and Goulburn has begun recording regular video messages to help keep in touch with people across his diocese.
You can see the first one (July 2009) at YouTube.
Let’s swap bank accounts
“I once heard the following illustration from one of the finest preachers in Wales:
Two brothers were talking one day. One of them had made a great success of his business career and had amassed a fortune. The other brother had made one bad decision after another and in the end racked up debts that he had no way of paying for. …”
– A useful sermon illustration at Martin Downes’ Against Heresies.
Church would defy loss of exemptions
The Presbyterian Church in Victoria will defy the law and take the consequences if Parliament removes religious exemptions to the Equal Opportunity Act, a spokesman said yesterday.
The Reverend David Palmer, head of the church’s ethics committee, warned a parliamentary inquiry into the exemptions that changes would create significant conflict between church and state. …
– from Thursday’s The Age. See also Jeremy Halcrow’s post at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Societas 2009
The Moore College students’ magazine, Societas, is now available for 2009.
More of the same from TEC
As reported by The Los Angeles Times, six candidates have been nominated for the upcoming election of two bishops suffragan in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. Of these, two are in same-sex relationships.
At Stand Firm, Greg Griffith wonders what happened to an online posting from one of the candidates. (Picture: Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles Bishop Jon Bruno.)
Cuts at Anglican Media
At SydneyAnglicans.net, Jeremy Halcrow reports on the changes at Anglican Media Sydney –
“Anglican Media has been forced to retrench Mr Hadley and two other senior staff, while three full-time positions will be made part-time, in the latest round of job cuts caused by the Diocese’s financial losses.”
– and Mark Hadley reflects on the personal implications of “seeking first the kingdom”.
Please continue to pray for all affected by the global financial crisis.
God’s place in the Dreaming
“The Uniting Church recently became the first major Christian denomination in Australia to commence processes to formally acknowledge, in the Preamble to its Constitution, Australia’s traditional owners and their pre-existing relationship with the Creator God. …”
– from The Uniting Church website – emphasis added.
(Romans 1:16-23 also speaks about everyone’s pre-existing relationship with God.)
See also:
In addition to recognising Aborigines as the first people to settle in Australia, the preamble also acknowledges that the church did not bring God to Australia’s indigenous people.
“They’re saying it’s not Europeans who brought God to this land on a boat,” Reverend Murray Muirhead, from the Aboriginal wing of the Uniting Church in Alice Springs, told ABC radio.
“God had already been here for millennia.”
– report from The Brisbane Times, July 21, 2009.
Communion, Covenant and our Anglican Future – the Archbishop of Canterbury
Reflections on the Episcopal Church’s 2009 General Convention from the Archbishop of Canterbury –
“the question is not a simple one of human rights or human dignity. It is that a certain choice of lifestyle has certain consequences. So long as the Church Catholic, or even the Communion as a whole does not bless same-sex unions, a person living in such a union cannot without serious incongruity have a representative function in a Church whose public teaching is at odds with their lifestyle. …”
– Read the Archbishop’s full comments at the Anglican Communion News Service.
(Photo of Abp Rowan Williams at ACC-14: ACNS.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…