Christmas message from the Archbishop of Canterbury
Posted on December 23, 2021
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The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Christmas message to the Anglican Communion is a somewhat sombre affair, with a focus on COVID, Climate Change, and the coming Lambeth Conference.
Related:
Canadian commentator and author Mark Steyn on GBNews spoke overnight on the Church of England’s missed opportunities during COVID lockdowns.
Christmas message — Bishop Mark Calder
Posted on December 22, 2021
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The Bishop of the Diocese of Bathurst, Mark Calder, has released this terrific message for Christmas 2021.
Here’s the text:
Will Christmas celebrations offer any reprieve from the anxiety and uncertainties we face through COVID-19 at the present time, especially with omicron?
About a month ago, it looked as though we could plan for a pretty much normal Christmas. Hotel quarantine for international travellers has been scrapped. Requirements of wearing masks and checking in through the QR codes had been relaxed and we were able to plan family reunions and Christmas holidays.
Now all of that is up in the air as NSW case numbers are blown out of the water. Some of your friends may have now been deemed as close contacts of a COVID case and you’re not able to meet with them. Christmas holidays have had to be put on hold for many people. Some planning to travel to Queensland are now no longer able to get there simply because they haven’t got their test results back in time.
I think anxiety levels are now higher than they at any time during the lockdowns that we’ve known.
Yet into all of this, Christmas will surely come, and it is the message of Christmas that can give us some hope, some comfort, and some perspective.
Perhaps you’ve been singing some of the ancient carols, where we sing words such as:
“He came down to earth from heaven, Who is God and Lord of all”.
“So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heav’n”
“Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled”
By turning up here on earth in the historic person of Jesus Christ, God reached out to us in love, and the invitation is there this Christmas and always, to reach back to him and find some hope, strength, perspective, calm, peace, and even joy, in the midst of our mess.
Don’t miss the truth of Christmas — Archbishop Kanishka Raffel
Posted on December 21, 2021
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Here’s the first Christmas message from Archbishop Kanishka Raffel.
With thanks to SydneyAnglicans.net.
Great to share – you can also download it from this link.
Submission to Parliamentary committee on the Religious Discrimination Bill
Posted on December 20, 2021
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From Neil Foster at Law and Religion Australia:
“The submission of Freedom for Faith to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry into the Religious Discrimination Bill is now available for download here. I prepared the submission with input from other board members.
Submissions to this committee can be made at their website here, but only until 5 pm Tuesday 21 December.
There is also a short survey that the Committee have released which it would be good for anyone concerned with religious freedom in Australia to fill in before that same deadline.”
Image: Diocese of Sydney. (Emphasis added.)
Five misleading Untruths about the Federal Religious Discrimination Bill
Posted on December 20, 2021
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“Would a Federal Religious Discrimination Bill (RDB) allow a nurse to say to a patient with HIV that AIDS is a punishment from God?
Would the RDB allow a disability worker to say to a disabled girl that her disability is caused by the devil?
Would it allow a doctor to refuse treatment to a gay patient just because he’s gay?
These are some of the claims being made about the Religious Discrimination Bill that’s before Federal Parliament. …”
– At The Gospel Coalition Australia Akos Balogh takes a look at some of the claims which have been made about the Religious Discrimination Bill.
See also:
Your voice needed on Religious Discrimination Bill – SydneyAnglicans.net.
Parliamentary survey open to all until Tuesday December 21.
UK Pastors write letter to the Government explaining they will choose God
Posted on December 19, 2021
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“Victoria is not the only jurisdiction in the world to introduce laws prohibiting conversion practices. While Victoria’s The Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Act remains the most extreme, both in the breadth of what is banned and in the criminal sanctions that are threatened, other Australian State and several countries have or are in the process of banning elements of Christian practice and belief.
The United Kingdom is introducing legislation to ban so-called conversion practices. More than 2500 pastors have signed a letter to the Government, explaining their position…”
– Murray Campbell in Melbourne draws attention to an important Christian response to proposed bans on “Conversion Therapy” in the UK.
(The website was over bandwidth last we checked, but an archived version is available here.)
Sunday Morning Encouragement
Posted on December 19, 2021
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With thanks to Emu Music.
A Fireside Chat with Bishop Rod Chiswell
Posted on December 18, 2021
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The December 2021 – January 2022 issue of The Link from the Diocese of Armidale is now up on their website.
Lots of encouraging articles and fuel for prayer.
Bishop Rod Chiswell writes,
“Greetings from Armidale. I hope you’ve weathered the winter and stayed warm in your patch. Since moving to Armidale, I’ve rediscovered the joys of sitting by the fire. So, this letter from me comes as a kind of fireside chat to share some of the things that are on my heart.
During my first eight months in the job as bishop, at every opportunity in parishes around the Armidale Diocese, I have been underlining the central importance of God’s word. …”
– Read it all on page 3 of The Link, available via this page.
Also in this issue, Bernard Gabbott reflects on “shepherding a scattered mob” during COVID in Narrabri.
The Diocesan vision is to “Introduce people to Jesus and help them home to Heaven”. How wonderfully clear and encouraging!
Your voice needed on Religious Discrimination Bill
Posted on December 17, 2021
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“Supporters of protection for religious freedom are being urged to take part in a survey by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, as the Parliament considers the Religious Discrimination Bill 2021. …”
– Here’s post from SydneyAnglicans.net on an important matter.
The survey referred to closes at 5:00pm on Tuesday 21st December.
The post also includes the questions from the survey.
Does God Care? — from Quiz Worx
Posted on December 17, 2021
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“Christmas is meant to be a time of fun, excitement and parties. But sometimes there is also sadness, uncertainty and worry.
In our mixed up world, do you ever wonder ‘Where is God when sad and bad things happen? Why doesn’t he do something?’
This Christmas, the Quiz Worx team are excited to bring you a brand new Christmas show called Does God Care?.
Using fun, animations and puppets we unpack the Christmas story from the Bible to show that ‘YES – God Does Care! …”
– If you haven’t already seen it, check out this Christmas resource from the wonderful Quiz Worx.
Statements on the nature and development of the Anglican Communion from the first Lambeth Conference to the Anglican Covenant
Posted on December 16, 2021
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“The fact that the Lambeth Conference is going to be held next year means that in the coming months there will be much discussion about the nature of the Anglican Communion.
In order to provide a historical perspective on these discussions, I have decided to post a paper I first wrote in 2011 which uses primary sources to trace the development of Anglican thinking about the nature of the Anglican Communion from the time of the first Lambeth Conference in 1867 up to the issuing of the proposed Anglican Covenant in 2009. …”
– Anglican theologian Martin Davie posts the first of a three part series to give some historical perspective to the coming (and ignored by many) Lambeth Conference.
New video: Thank you for supporting the Gospel in Greenfields
Posted on December 15, 2021
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Here’s the latest encouraging video from the Archbishop of Sydney’s New Churches for New Communities.
Our trust vindicated at Christmas
Posted on December 15, 2021
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“At Christmas, God proved himself worthy of our trust.
Having put the world on notice that he was going to pay us a visit, he told us where. …”
– Neil Percival, Rector of the Parish of Young, has had this Christmas message published in The Boorowa News.
Private prayers in Victoria a legal ‘grey area’
Posted on December 14, 2021
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“I’ve written about The Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Act numerous times given the extraordinary nature of this Government intrusion into the lives of religious Victorians. In this post, I want to inform people of one further way these laws will encroach on religious and civil freedoms and commonsense.
The laws will come into effect in February 2022. Churches are supportive of some measures contained in these laws, but the Act goes well beyond what is reasonable or right. …
Private prayers are considered a ‘grey area’ by the VEOHRC (Victoria Equal Opportunity Human Rights Commission). If that doesn’t make your eyes pop out of your head and roll down the hallway, what will?”
– Murray Campbell in Melbourne issues further warnings about Victoria’s new “anti-conversion” law.
What to measure in church life
Posted on December 14, 2021
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From The Pastor’s Heart –
“It’s time to review what’s happened this year and have robust informed conversations about what we will do next year. What won’t we do again? How we will do things differently? And why?
To make realistic decisions, we need to know what’s helpful to measure. And what isn’t.
Not everything that’s measurable matters. And not everything that matters is measurable.
Mike Hastie has been serving on the team at Newtown Erskineville Anglican Church, and is about to become the senior pastor of Toongabbie Anglican Church.”
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…