Canberra & Goulburn celebrates Sesquicentenary
Posted on April 8, 2014
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“The crowd of nearly 300 marchers were ebullient as they walked to St Saviour’s Cathedral, retracing the footsteps of its first bishop, Mesac Thomas… With parish banners fluttering and some members in period costume, it was a fitting climax to the diocese’s 150th anniversary celebrations. …”
Niagara Bishop to get public apology from blogger
Posted on April 8, 2014
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“The legal squabble between Niagara Bishop Michael Bird and an Oakville blogger who criticized him is over. The Diocese of Niagara says the pair has reached a settlement. …”
– Story from The Hamilton Spectator.
Apology and Timeline from David Jenkins (Anglican Samizdat).
(Photo of Bishop Michael Bird from the Diocese of Niagara.)
Also from Anglican Samizdat, The Diocese of New Westminster sells a church to make way for a mosque.
“Church of the Triune God” — a review
Posted on April 7, 2014
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“…I’m thankful for the recent Church of the Triune God: a book in celebration of the teaching and passion of Robert Doyle, a lecturer from Moore Theological College. Edited by Michael Jensen, it’s a collection of excellent essays on the themes he was so captivated by throughout his teaching career: the Trinity and the church.”
– At The Briefing, Sam Freney reviews Church of the Triune God, published by Aquila Press.
(Authors include Mark Baddeley, Mark D Thompson, John McClean, Ashley Null, Peter G Bolt, Benjamin Dean, Rory Shiner, Andrew JB Cameron, Kanishka Raffel, Chew-Chern Morgan and Greg Anderson.)
Around the web — 6th April 2014
Posted on April 6, 2014
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Here are a few items you may have missed this week –
- Inclusive, Safe, and Welcoming to All? – Stand to Reason on the termination of Mozilla’s CEO for supporting traditional marriage.
- Couple sentenced to death for ‘blasphemous’ text message in Pakistan – ABC News.
- Sympathy for the Devil – ‘Noah’ is no adaptation of Genesis.
- David Powlison, Director of the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation, visited Oak Hill College where he was interviewed about biblical counselling.
- Abp Welby: Anglican Communion sexuality decisions can mean African Christians suffer – ACNS.
New Bishop for Riverina
Posted on April 4, 2014
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The Rev. 
Rob Gillion from London has been elected the Bishop of Riverina.
Story from SydneyAnglicans.net.
Formulary Friday: Collecting our prayers
Posted on April 4, 2014
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“The Prayer Book Collects are like precious, highly-polished jewels adorning a crown. They are the short prayers which ‘collect’ together particular concerns and themes expressed in the liturgy – and invariably combine clear and easily-memorable phrasing with a highly concentrated shot of sound doctrine.
…the Prayer Book Collects give us a very helpful model for composing our own prayers – whether in our personal prayer times, or in public worship.”
– for Formulary Friday at Church Society’s blog, Mark Smith looks at The Collects.
Sin in the life of a Believer
Posted on April 4, 2014
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“Sin in the Life of a Believer is one of the issues that the Jesus Brings… programme brings to the forefront. If Jesus Brings forgiveness, rebirth, holiness and transformation, why do Christians continue to sin? Why do I have such a struggle with sin? Why is the world not becoming a better place as the gospel message continues to grow around the globe?…”
– Dean of Sydney, Phillip Jensen, writes his weekly article for the Cathedral newsletter.
NZ Report on same sex blessings and ordinations released
Posted on April 4, 2014
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“The long-awaited report of the Ma Whea? Commission into the question of same-gender blessings and ordinations has been released.
The report, which is the fruit of 15 months’ work by five eminent New Zealand citizens, lists 10 options to inform the General Synod debate at Waitangi next month.”
– The Ma Whea? (Where to?) Report can be downloaded from this page.
Photo Anglican Taonga.
The real story of Noah
Posted on April 4, 2014
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“The premiere of Darren Aronofsky’s Noah has sent some folk back to their Bibles to see if there was a whole bunch of details that they’d forgotten.
Apparently not. Where the Bible’s story has left some gaps, Mr Aronofsky has provided plenty of creative and speculative details. Rock monsters, stowaways and much, much more.
Do those additions help us understand the story more clearly? Well, if the original author thought that the point of the story could be made with the details provided, it would seem not.”
– Gary Ware (Mount Gambier Presbyterian) has written this piece for his local paper. Some good ideas you might be able to use this Easter.
Related: Noah: A No Holds Barred Review (h/t Tim Challies).
“The character of Noah in this movie is so far removed from his biblical counterpart that he’s absolutely unrecognizable. He’s a maniac who is an idolater, a warlock, a murdering psycho, and in reality has absolutely no idea what’s happening with the flood… Noah doesn’t preach righteousness and repentance for 100+ years (2 Peter 2:5), and the Noah in this movie is a violent butcher of a man, completely the opposite of how Genesis 6:8-13 portrays him.”
GWC’s Mark Dickson on Moore College
Posted on April 3, 2014
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Mark Dickson, Principal of George Whitefield College, speaks about the significance of Moore College for the church in Africa and elsewhere.
Watch the 5 minute video. A cause for thanksgiving to God and a strong prompt for prayer for Moore College.
The weekend when Britain changed
Posted on April 3, 2014
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“Saturday 29th March will go down in history as the day when same sex couples exchanged marriage vows on live TV and radio, and when a large proportion of the debate was taken up by what Christians believe. The official voice of the Church of England, and the establishment-leaning voice of evangelical and catholic orthodoxy were virtually silent on the weekend itself and in the days leading up to it. …
My own article of two weeks ago, suggesting that Christians disturbed by current developments at this time could turn to prayer, was picked up by veteran Guardian religion correspondent Andrew Brown as an example of swivel-eyed loony reactionary opposition to the march of progress and civilization. I was grilled about my article on Premier Christian Radio, formerly a strong voice for evangelical Christianity but now sadly increasingly a mouthpiece for the views of Steve Chalke and Brian Maclaren. …”
– The Rev. Andrew Symes writes at Anglican Mainstream.
Thank you, Lord, for John Richardson
Posted on April 2, 2014
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Adrian Reynolds at the Proclamation Trust, adds his thanks to the Lord for John Richardson.
And Canon David Banting has a substantial tribute at Anglican Mainstream.
“I met John first through his writings, while I was a vicar in Oldham. Get into the Bible (1994) was a brilliant overview of the Bible, from first creation to new creation, and introduced many to Biblical theology at its best. It was 1998, when I moved to be an incumbent in Chelmsford diocese, that I first met the lanky John face-to-face. It was the beginning of a lasting friendship and partnership in the ‘proclamation and defence of the gospel’. I can think of few people I have come to respect more than John…
John’s earlier years were shaped in part by Anglo-Catholic traditions, and he never lost his love and passion for the Church’s health and calling. But his theological grounding was evangelical. It was first outlined at St John’s Theological College, Nottingham, and later, after the typically mixed Anglican experience of a confusing curacy and an unhappy foray into incumbency, crucially galvanized and cemented by a ‘first-class’ year at Moore College, Sydney.”
(The talks on marriage David mentions in the full article may be found here – search for ‘Richardson’.)
Other labourers in The Lord’s Vineyard
Posted on April 2, 2014
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Sometimes we may forget we have brothers and sisters labouring in other parts of the Lord’s Vineyard. Here’s the latest from The Presbyterian Inland Mission (PDF) and Australian Presbyterian World Mission (PDF).
The Ugley Vicar — with the Lord
Posted on March 31, 2014
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Lee Gatiss in the UK shares some very painful news:
“I’m sorry to be the bearer of sad news, but our good friend and faithful minister of the gospel, John Richardson, died this morning after recent illness.”
John was a good friend of many and a very able defender of the gospel. There will be many tears.
From a poem John wrote last year, entitled “The Lifeguard”:
When Jordan’s verge I someday tread,
These words I’ll hear inside my head,
“If you would see the Promised Land,
To call the lifeguard, raise your hand.”So if you see my hand go up,
Don’t hand to me the water cup,
Or fetch the bedpan, next of kin —
These cannot save me from my sin.And do not think that I am calm,
That’s not why I lift up my arm!
It’s just this thing (you’ll understand),
“To call the lifeguard, raise your hand.”For he’ll be looking for that wave,
That says, “Saviour, come now to save,”
My anxious fears he’ll bid subside,
He’ll land me safe on Canaan’s side.
Read it all and you will understand why John’s friends can rejoice, amidst the tears.
The life and ministry of Deaconess Mary Andrews
Posted on March 31, 2014
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The life and ministry of Deaconess Mary Andrews is the focus of this year’s Moore College Library Day – Saturday, May 10th 2014. Details from the College.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…