Nine Network to broadcast Easter Sunday service from St Andrew’s Cathedral on 9Gem

Posted on April 9, 2020 
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Archbishop Glenn Davies has today written to Rectors in the Diocese with the news that the Nine Network will broadcast the Easter Sunday service recorded at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney.

He writes,

“Throughout the pandemic we have always encouraged Sydney Anglicans to support their local church and to connect with their local livestream (a listing of churches live streaming is available on SydneyAnglicans.net). However, not all churches have the capacity to live stream, and not all parishioners have access to the internet.

Yet a TV service is a great opportunity to reach an audience who would not normally attend our services, as well as those who are unable to do so.

The hour-long service will air on 9Gem [channel 92 in Sydney] at 9am on Sunday. Filmed in the Cathedral, I will lead prayers for health workers in Australia and around the world, Dean Kanishka Raffel will preach and there will be Easter music from Rob Smith and a trimmed-down Cathedral choir, with social distancing.

Even though this service will not air on the main channel, the TV news broadcasts have been reporting our activities including my televised message designed for the news media. I am grateful to the Nine Network for this opportunity. I hope Sydney Anglicans will show their appreciation by supporting it and giving feedback to Channel Nine for its initiative.”

9Gem can also be watched on demand, though a free account is needed.

Image of Rob Smith singing “I heard the voice of Jesus say” courtesy Anglican Media Sydney.

Hot off the press: Resources for Easter

Posted on April 9, 2020 
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“Today is Maundy Thursday. The Easter weekend this year is going to look very different to what all of us were anticipating, isn’t it?

In my household, there will be plenty of lament as there will be noticeably fewer chocolate eggs as the usual visits with grandparents aren’t able to take place. (Maybe I should do a quick grandparent-style panic-buy of chocolate to supplement our stash so my teenagers can still eat Easter eggs from morning til night across the long weekend…wait. Maybe not…)

Nevertheless, the good news about Jesus’ death and resurrection and what that means for the world is unchanged – even in the face of so much sickness and death. Actually, especially in the face of sickness and death. God’s word to us in these times seems to speak more loudly into our minds, hearts and souls.

On that note, here are two Easter devotional resources for families that were created over the last week or so by students at Moore College, as part of their 2020 Mission Re-imagined …”

– Bronwyn Windsor, on behalf of the team at The Australian Church Record, has some great Easter resources for you.

The decade-old ministry book that envisioned the Pandemic

Posted on April 9, 2020 
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“Colin Marshall and Tony Payne aren’t prophets or sons of prophets (so they say).

But in their book The Trellis and the Vine: The Ministry Mind-Shift That Changes Everything (Matthias Media, 2009), they concluded with a mental experiment about a pandemic that sounds eerily close to what we’re currently experiencing …”

– Ivan Mesa writes at The Gospel Coalition.

The Pulse: April 2020

Posted on April 8, 2020 
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The April 2020 edition of The Pulse, the magazine of the Presbyterian Church of Australia in NSW, is now online.

Resources and encouragement from our Presbyterian friends.

Good news in the COVID-19 season

Posted on April 8, 2020 
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“This COVID-19 season has been intense. Everything is changing, anxieties are raised, people are suffering and death is having an impact on all of us. And significantly, it is not something that we can escape. In close to the last hundred years, there has not been a single thing that has plagued all of society without bias. COVID-19 does not play favourites or politics; it does not care about the first world or the majority world. There is nowhere on the globe that humanity can escape to where COVID-19 is not having an impact. And if it is not the case already, there will soon be no one who has not been negatively impacted by this disease.

But in this bleak reality, we who know the Lord Jesus Christ and the good news that he brings to a world in need of saving, have a real opportunity. …”

– At The Australian Church Record, Ben George has some encouragement for Christian believers.

Easter message from the Bishop of Bathurst

Posted on April 7, 2020 
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Bishop of Bathurst, Mark Calder, has released this message for Easter 2020:

Anglican Bishop of Bathurst says the Easter message is exactly what we need

This Easter – we’ve all had enough!

Enough of staying home, enough washing our hands, enough of keeping our distance…

Enough of the financial pressure because of loss of work.

Enough of not being able to get away for Easter like we’ve always done.

We grieve what we’ve lost in the space of a few short weeks.

We crave normality – wondering whether we’ll ever see it again.

And of course for some of us – COVID-19 has come all too close – we know someone who is sick… or someone who has tragically died.

The rapid spread of this virus across the globe, shows us how fragile life is and the sheer number of lives lost, confronts with our own mortality.

What hope is there for us?
The Easter message is exactly what we need to hear.
The Bible says that our greatest need is to be forgiven for pushing God out of our lives.

Easter brings the best news ever – that because Jesus died for our rebellion, and rose again in power, we can be forgiven and therefore be confident of living for ever in the new world he’s promised – a world without sickness and death.

And if our most profound need has already been met by God, we can trust him, to be there for us in all our other needs – including all that we’re going through now!

Easter 2020 is a good time reach out to God and find the help you need.

And Easter 2020 is a great opportunity to check out our church services from the comfort of your own home – at https://www.bathurstanglican.org.au . Happy Easter!

Do share widely.

On the Acquittal of Cardinal Pell

Posted on April 7, 2020 
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“The High Court of Australia, in a unanimous verdict of a 7-member bench, has acquitted Cardinal George Pell of the charges of child sexual abuse for which he has been serving time in prison: see Pell v The Queen [2020] HCA 12 (7 April 2020). He was immediately released. …”

– Neil Foster at Law and Religion Australia gives a brief overview of the High Court’s decision today.

Archbishop of Adelaide elected as Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia

Posted on April 7, 2020 
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Here’s a letter from Anne Hywood, General Secretary of the Anglican Church of Australia, 7th April 2020:

“The Most Reverend Geoffrey Smith, Archbishop of Adelaide, has been elected Primate by the Board of Electors.

He received the requisite majorities in each order of bishops, clergy and lay and has accepted this office in writing.

Archbishop Smith commences in the role immediately, given that Archbishop Philip Freier’s term as Primate concluded on 31 March 2020.

The Board of Electors commenced the voting process at a face to face meeting on 14 March 2020 and concluded the election process by electronic ballot concluding on 7 April 2020.”

(Photo of Archbishop Geoffrey Smith: Diocese of Adelaide.)

We ask Mark Earngey about ‘Common Prayer for Homes’

Posted on April 6, 2020 
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We asked Dr. Mark Earngey at Moore College about Common Prayer for Homes: Resources for Family Worship, released in the last few days. It’s a wonderful resource. Much of it will be familiar to our readers, and some if it will be new.

Our questions to Mark are in bold text:

What is ‘Common Prayer for Homes’?

Common Prayer for Homes is a flexible set of liturgical resources put together to help churches during the period of this present coronavirus crisis.

It consists of two classic-style orders of service for Sunday household worship, one modern order of service for Sunday household worship with children, an order of service for daily devotions throughout the week, a collection of occasional prayers (especially oriented to new family rhythms at home), and the classic seasonal arrangement of prayers, known as collects.

Who was behind putting it together, and what sources did you use?

In the week that it was announced that churches could not physically gather indoors, I observed our churches rapidly and rightly scrambling for ideas and resources.  David Peterson and I spoke together and agreed that providing churches with some solid liturgical structures might be a great help at this time.  I consulted with various ministers (from different denominations and locations) regarding whether such a resource would assist them, and the overwhelming response was that it would indeed help.

So, with David Peterson and a small group of Moore Theological College (MTC) trained clergy in our Diocese, we set ourselves to the task.  Since MTC mission was impact by the coronavirus and thus reconfigured around producing resources, we spent the week writing, editing, and producing these liturgical resources. Bishop Michael Stead was a solid encouragement along the way, and assisted with the process of utilising BetterGatherings.com to distribute Common Prayer in Homes.  

In terms of sources used, the main liturgical resources were the Common Prayer (2012) and An Australian Prayer Book (1978).  Other resources included: Common Worship (2000), the Book of Common Prayer (1552), the Church of England Catechism (1553), and prayers rephrased or newly written by ourselves.

These sources come unashamedly from the tradition of Reformation Anglicanism, with their strong biblical and evangelical themes arising from the genius of Archbishop Cranmer’s liturgical team.

Many churches are producing livestreams or recordings of services during the pandemic. Isn’t that enough?

It has been such a delight to see the leadership of local churches banding together with ideas, suggestions, and advise on how to produce livestreams and recordings of services.  But is that enough?

Well, the ministers I have spoken to have a great pastoral intuition and know that this crisis calls for something more than the ‘Pastor as CEO’ type of model.  That is, it calls for ordinary pastoral ministry – phone calls, writing letters, setting up practical care teams, hosting Zoom Bible studies, enabling and releasing leaders to help the pastoral work, and being creative about how personal pastoral work can succeed at a time like this.

Further, it seems to me that now is not the time for passive and non-participatory corporate worship (cf., the Singing-Sermon-Spectator service).  Indeed, I think that our consideration of corporate worship ought not start with the question, “what can the pastor and up-front team deliver to the screen?” – but rather, start with the question, “what sort of discipleship and practices do we want to encourage and see happen in household worship?”.  This may mean asking worshippers to pray a prayer of preparation before the livestream begins, or pausing the pre-recorded service and spend some time in prayer, or it may mean asking someone in each household to pray the collect for the day, or leaving some time after the sermon for households to share words of encouragement, or having someone in the household praying for God’s blessing at the end of the service, etc.

One of the beautiful things about traditional Anglican liturgy is the participatory nature of corporate worship.  It’s a real gift, and we would be crazy not to utilise that at the present time. This is where Common Prayer in Homes comes in. It can be printed or opened up on an iPad or Tablet and then modified according to what your church is providing.  And anyone can use it – mature Christians and those young in the faith.  It contains Creeds, Confessions, Prayers, Collects, and so forth – and it contains instructions on how to use them in a service like this.

If people in our churches have not been exposed to much classical Anglican liturgy before, then they will be introduced to the new and exciting world of Scriptural richness and carefully crafted words of prayer and praise.  Rather than slim pickings on a Sunday, we can offer a great spiritual banquet suited to different households.

So, to your question: are live-streaming and pre-recorded services enough?

Well, here’s my answer: if, in the production of our services, we do not expect much participation beyond listening to a short Bible reading and a long sermon, singing some songs, and saying amen occasionally, then I think it’s not enough.  It’s not bad (we could do a lot worse!), but it’s a bit of a thin diet, and it misses the present opportunity to help grow households in the faith.  Perhaps the present challenges might even prod some of us to consider whether we quite have grasped the riches of our own Reformation heritage adequately.  The English Reformers, in particular, shunned the spectator service and prized the participation of parishioners. Why not try a few weeks with Common Prayer for Homes and expand your parishioners’ spiritual horizons with the biblical wisdom handed down to us in the Anglican tradition?

One household – reeling from screen-tiredness – used it in conjunction with their church service, and wrote to me last weekend, saying: “it was the special touch we needed this morning”.  For these brothers and sisters, it was a helpful offline complement to the excellent online provisions offered by the church.

What hopes might you have about this resource once churches are able to meet again?

It would be great if our churches enjoyed the biblical wisdom of Anglican liturgy, and grew spiritually as we corporately confessed our sins regularly, soaked up Scripture multiple times during our services, heard a solid Biblical sermon, sung the praises of God’s glory with scriptural and extra-scriptural songs, prayed prayers for all kinds of people, and appreciated the rhythms of the church calendar.  That is, it would be great to see our churches embrace a biblically richer, and more active and participational style of worship.  And it’s not that hard either.

For those churches which utilise online service planning software, these important elements of worship could be added to the online service templates (=‘liturgies’!).  For example, I have seen one church do a good job of this by including the Collects every week.  It was as easy as copying and pasting the seasonal collects into the weekly prayer role, and having that emailed out to the relevant person who leads intercessions on Sundays. Of course, connecting technology with tried-and-tested liturgy could open up a world a creative possibilities – and that would be great to see.

Above all however, it would be wonderful to see the men, women, and children in our churches strengthened in their convictions about Christ Jesus, and thus strengthened in their worship and witness! Soli Deo Gloria!

 

Many of our readers will be familiar with the wonderful Reformation Worship: Liturgies from the Past for the Present, the fruit of much painstaking work by Mark Earngey and Dr. Jonny Gibson.

If not, learn more here. Doubtless, that work has been of great benefit in producing Common Prayer for Homes.

See this pre-publication commendation of Reformation Worship from Archbishop Glenn Davies:

“In the modern church where so little attention is given to ‘entering his courts with praise,’ this collection of liturgies should inspire and correct much of the blandness of the assemblies of God’s people on earth so that they might truly reflect that festal gathering of angels at Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, to which we have already come.”

And another by Mark Dever.

Hamlin Fistula Australia Newsletter — Tribute to Dr Catherine Hamlin

Posted on April 6, 2020 
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The latest (Autumn 2020) newsletter of Hamlin Fistula Australia Limited is a special tribute to Dr Catherine Hamlin.

It’s a 5.5MB PDF download from their website.

Easter preaching online during COVID19 with Sam Chan & Mike Raiter

Posted on April 6, 2020 
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From Dominic Steele:

“The zeitgeist has changed profoundly in the last month. Our 2020 vision calendar has been ripped up. We can’t predict what will happen next week, or even tomorrow.

As we prepare online presentations for Good Friday and Easter Sunday in this tumultuous context, two of Australia’s leading Chistian communicators  Mike Raiter and Sam Chan join Dominic Steele to talk about how COVID-19 has changed our task.”

– Watch or listen at The Pastor’s Heart.

Places of worship will become workplaces for Easter

Posted on April 4, 2020 
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From the ABC’s report of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s briefing on 3rd April 2020 –

Good Friday is just one week away, and the PM gave an update on how Easter church services can operate.

He said places of worship will be classified a workplaces — so the same rules will apply for people conducting services as they do for other workplaces.

This doesn’t mean churches will open, services will still have to be streamed or similar.

“It means there can be additional people taking part in the celebration of those services,” Mr Morrison said.

“Not people going to church, it’s the priests and the others formally involved in the conducting of the ceremonies, that way they can be faithfully relayed to the faith groups around the country.”

Full transcript of the press conference here.

South Carolina Supreme Court rebuffs ECUSA again

Posted on April 4, 2020 
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“On Tuesday, March 31, the South Carolina Supreme Court entered an order that denied without comment the petition filed the previous month by ECUSA and its ersatz diocese in South Carolina seeking a ‘writ of prohibition’ (that is, an order to halt proceedings) directed to the Circuit Court of Dorchester County (Hon. Edgar Dickson, Judge) in an effort to prevent him from interpreting or clarifying the August 2, 2017 splintered decision of that same Supreme Court.

This was the second attempt by ECUSA’s attorneys to derail the proceedings on remand before Judge Dickson, who was assigned to the case by the Court after three of the Justices (one of whom belatedly recognized she was disqualified) voted to reverse the judgment of Circuit Judge Diane Goodstein. …”

– A S Haley (The Anglican Curmudgeon) reports on the latest knockback of the The Episcopal Church (ECUSA) in its attempts to claim property from the Diocese of South Carolina.

 

Super fund transfer delayed amid COVID-19

Posted on April 3, 2020 
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“AMP has delayed the successor fund transfer of one of its superannuation clients, who previously decided to switch to another fund, citing current market volatility.

Anglican National Super in October 2018 decided it would end its 14-year long relationship with AMP and move to Mercer. …”

– Financial Standard.

For more:

AMP makes Anglican Super unhappy by stalling successor fund transfer – moneymanagement.com.au

“The situation has been confirmed by Anglican Super chairman, James Flavin who has told Money Management and Super Review that the fund has found dealing with AMP Limited on the successor fund transfer issue exasperating.”

Pastors, there’s never been a better time to pick up the phone

Posted on April 3, 2020 
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“A number of years ago, an older Christian man took on the role of coordinating men’s ministry at my church. What he did next was both a surprise and an unforgettable example.

His time wasn’t consumed with organising men’s events, though these did occur. His priority, over the following 12 months, was to meet with as many of the men at church who would accept his invitation. …”

– Encouragement from Steven Kryger at Communicate Jesus.

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