Nepal appeal launched by Anglican Aid
“Anglican Aid has joined other agencies in launching an appeal for victims of the Nepal earthquake.
A huge quake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale struck the mountain Kingdom on April 25th…”
– Read the latest from INF and CMS via this story at SydneyAnglicans.net – and there’s a donation form for the Nepal Emergency Appeal here.
For background, here’s a message from Global Recordings Network Nepal Director, Surendra Shrestha”
“We need your special prayer because we have no water supply at all, no electricity and food starting to get shortage. No shop is open and even if there is open, no supplies there. We need God to intervene in this situation to provide all this need during this time. We don’t know what to do, we are in very confused situation. We all are nervous and nothing coming in our mind except pray. All around us looks like war zone. Some of the village is 95 percent destroyed. In one village call Barpak there were 1200 houses and only four of them are standing. The results are still coming in and earthquake is still on and off [aftershocks].”
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends
“100 years ago an Aussie Padre by the name of Andrew Gillison, serving in the 14th Battalion, found himself heading for Gallipoli.
At first, the chaplains were ordered to stay on ship and care for the wounded, but Andrew was not the kind of Christian man to stay where it was safe when others were in need…”
– Read Bishop of Armidale Rick Lewers’ ANZAC message.
Prayers for ANZAC Day
Over at SydneyAnglicans.net, Mark Charleston has some prayers which could be used on the ANZAC Day weekend – and with links to more for Defence Anglicans.
Related: Anzac Day: More Than Civil Religion – Ian Lambert, Bishop to the Australian Defence Force
(Photo: Defence Anglicans.)
The Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
The latest issue of The Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood has been released and is available as a download without charge.
Worth checking out. (h/t Tim Challies.)
Anzac Day – A reflection — Bishop Stuart Robinson
As we approach the 100th Anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli and the 70th Anniversary of Victory in the Pacific later in year, I’m minded to report a conversation I had with a soldier – NX146695 – who witnessed the formal “surrender” in the eastern half of the Netherlands East Indies on September 9, 1945.
On Morotai Island, NX146695, along with 10,000 Australian and Allied troops, stood motionless as Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Military Forces, General Blamey accepted Japanese Second Army Commander, Lt. General Teshima’s surrender of approximately 126,000 men.
NX146695 has vivid memories of that great day.
But he also carries memories of the cost; the cost of freedom; the cost of peace.
NX146695 (who is now 92) came face to face with death – and survived; many of his friends and comrades did not.
Indeed more than 100,000 Australians have given their lives – from the Boer War to Peacekeeping operations in this new century.
Even as we speak Australian Forces are on their way to Iraq to engage with a new enemy…not a country per se – but an ideology cloaked in a religion; ‘I.S.’ by name.
NX146695, Sergeant Harold Robinson, my father, knows first-hand the reality of being ready to lay one’s life down for another – as do so many of those who will read this simple piece.
It was Jesus who once said, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this that they lay down their life for their friends” John 15:13.
That inscription is also found on countless headstones across the former Western Front. I served as a Priest in Flanders and in the dead of winter I’d stand in those old trenches and weep as I contemplated the agony and the despair that faced combatants (on all sides).
And yet all is not hopeless. It isn’t.
Lest we forget that in order to bring peace between God and his wayward family, that’s exactly what Jesus – the one who first articulated those headstone inscriptions, did. He gave his life.
Yes, Jesus absorbed sin’s curse and sin’s punishment that I might go free.
My sin was laid in him – his righteousness was laid on all who believe.
He was willing to pay a very great price; the price of peace – his life for mine; for all who believe.
And we know his work was effective; we know that peace with God is available to all who trust this Jesus, because God raised him from that death; the price for sin having been fully paid by God in Christ.
As we honour those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom, so too must we honour and worship and serve Him who gave his life that we might be set free from the clutches of our last great enemy – even death itself.
– Bishop Stuart Robinson is Bishop of Canberra & Goulburn.
Sticks and stones: why words matter
Matthias Media has made the first chapter from Steve Morrison’s book Born This Way available to read online.
Read it here, and also watch Steve talk about the book.
No Regrets, No Retreat
“I don’t use the television much anymore. There was a time when I watched a lot of movies and a lot of programs, but these days there isn’t a lot that catches my attention enough to actually dedicate the time to it. There isn’t much that promises more value than I would get from the same time spent with a good book. But I always make an exception for Dispatches from the Front…”
– Tim Challies highlights the latest video from Tim Keesee.
You might have missed — 10th April 2015
Here are some posts you may have missed in recent weeks:
Is there a Future for Confessional Anglicanism? – ACL conference audio.
When to make a stand (PDF) – Dr Mark Thompson.
David Ould interviews Archbishop Eliud Wabukala and Dr. Ashley Null at the Anglican Future Conference in Melbourne.
Dr Wesley Hill speaks at Moore College.
New collection of essays by Professor Edwin Judge launched.
ACL Regional Information Nights, coming up on 27th April and 4th May.
The dead end of sexual sin
“Indwelling sin is a parasite, and it eats what you do.
God’s word is poison to sin when embraced by a heart made new by the Holy Spirit. You starve indwelling sin by feeding yourself deeply on his word. Sin cannot abide in his word. So, fill your hearts and minds with Scripture…”
– Rosaria Champagne Butterfield writes about what she learned from John Owen about our status in Christ as we struggle with sin.
Honest Evangelism — new book from Rico Tice
Rico Tice (founder of ‘Christianity Explored ’) has a new book out, ‘Honest Evangelism’.
David Ould has the links – including where you can get a copy. This looks to be a very helpful resource.
The interview (8:50) is well worth watching.
Preaching Colossians
In the latest Preaching Matters video from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in London, Charlie Skrine talks about preaching through Colossians – and the normal Christian life. Watch it here.
Archbishop of Sydney’s Easter message 2015
“It is a measure of our society’s fast pace (or perhaps commercialism) that this year, hot cross buns came on sale just after New Year’s Day.
By now, three months later, we have become so used to them that we forget they are marked with a cross.
The speed of our lives leaves us little time to reflect on the timeless truth of this symbol.
You may eat and enjoy your hot cross buns without ever noticing. But if you stop and think about it, the cross is out of place on such a treat.
Because the cross is an instrument of torture. The cross means pain. The cross means death. So why was Jesus, God’s righteous son, on a cross at all?
The Bible tells us that on the cross, Jesus took the judgment that we deserve. He died, was buried and three days later, rose again.
What does the cross mean to you?
For followers of Jesus, the cross is now empty because Jesus has risen from the dead and offers us new life.
This Easter, the mark of the cross can mark a new beginning for you, too.”
Dr Glenn N Davies
Archbishop of Sydney
Easter 2015 AD.
Watch the video from Anglican Media Sydney.
Read the text (PDF will download to your device).
And the story from SydneyAnglicans.net.And here’s a version formatted as two to an A5 page, suitable for printing to insert in your church newsletter this weekend. (115kb PDF.)
When to make a stand
“Three great ‘stands’ in the history of the church:
- the stand of Athanasius over the person of Christ;
- the stand of Martin Luther over the authority of Scripture and justification by faith alone;
- the stand of the GAFCON Primates over the priority of Christ and his mission, the authority of Scripture over denominational processes, revisionist theology, and ethical practice. …
Being prepared to make a stand has characterised genuine Christian leadership throughout the last two thousand years. But why? And when? And how?”
– Moore College Principal Dr Mark Thompson gave this talk at a seminar during the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Conference in Melbourne last week.
Very helpful. Download it here as a PDF file.
(Picture: Detail from ‘Luther at the Diet of Worms’, by Anton von Werner, 1877.)
The visible Church of God — Article 19
In his latest video on The Thirty Nine Articles, for the American Anglican Council, Canon Phil Ashey looks at Article 19 and the Visible Church of God.
Wesley Hill at Moore College
While in Australia recently for Liberty Christian Ministries, Dr Wesley Hill (Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania) visited Moore College.
He spoke with the Faculty, addressed the students, and also sat down for a guest interview with Archie Poulos.
Watch the interview (9 minutes).
Watch his lecture and Q&A session (52 minutes).
Good resources for pastoral ministry.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…