SouthernCross THE NEWS MAGAZINE FOR SYDNEY ANGLICANS
MARCH 2020
Say, “Servant” PRINT POST APPROVED 100021441 ISSN 2207-0648
SYDNEY’S NEW DEACONS URGED TO IMITATE JESUS’ HUMILITY
Ye s , t h e r e ’ s s t i l l a d r o u g h t ! • C o r o n a v i r u s Spritual battles • The wisdom of “when”
moore.edu.au/advanced
Cover story
Deacons don “the rags of a servant” Twenty-two men and women lined up outside St Andrew’s Cathedral ready to be ordained last month – excited, freshfaced and dressed in robes many had never worn before. But as they took their vows inside they were charged with a ministry of “humble service”. The ordinands will disperse to ministries across Sydney and beyond, including parish postings, multicultural work, and hospital, Defence Force and school chaplaincy. Many of those ordained deacons at the service have just finished theological study at Moore College, and the Cathedral was crowded with their family, friends and congregation members. The Rev Stephen Gibbins was a Royal Australian Air Force pilot, flying the C-17A Globemaster prior to his college studies. He now works at Vine Church in Surry Hills as part of his training to become a chaplain in the RAAF. “I’ve just started to serve at Vine Church and there are a few people from Vine at the service continued on page 4
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Ready: The Rev Gary O’Brien waits to lead ordinands into St Andrew’s Cathedral.
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volume 26 number 2
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Happy snap: The new deacons smile for the traditional photo on the Cathedral steps with Archbishop Davies. from page 2
today,” Mr Gibbins says. “[It’s] nice to have their support, having only known some for a month or two. “I served as a student minister at MBM Rooty Hill and Village Church, Annandale during my time at college. There are people from both of those churches at the service, as others who I served alongside at those churches are being ordained today as well. It is great to see the faces of those who have played a big part in my ordination within the pews.” The former pilot was presented for ordination by Principal Air Chaplain, Archdeacon Air Commodore Kevin Russell. “For me, being ordained opens doors to be able to preach the gospel to the people of the Defence Force,” Mr Gibbins says. “After serving at Vine Church I’ll be serving as a chaplain in the Air Force, which could be anywhere in Australia. Wherever I’m posted or deployed, I’m expecting to be able to get on with the work of the gospel in each new location.” 4
For the Rev Vincent Chan, work at Fairfield with Bossley Park will continue, but as an ordained Robert Abboud minister. Rooty Hill “I feel both a great sense of David Anthonisz privilege and responsibility,” Anglican Community he says. “We’re all called to be Services (Anglicare) ministers of Christ, but to be Daniel Bishop freed up to do that in a full-time Engadine capacity is a great privilege that Daniel Budd I hope not to forget easily. Narellan “At the same time, reading Polly Butterworth through the vows that we’ll Abbotsleigh be making has added a right Andrew Callow sense of soberness to what I’m Bulli committing myself to before God.” Vincent Chan Mr Chan’s work in a strongly Fairfield with Bossley Park multicultural area of Sydney has Benjamin Connelly already taught him lessons. Willoughby “I’m two years in and so Paul Cooper ordination itself doesn’t change Modbury (Adelaide) things too dramatically,” he John Delezio says. “However, I’ve learned that Church at the Peak, multicultural ministry is really Peakhurst South hard work – there are no silver Stephen Gibbins bullets. And so I’m just looking Surry Hills forward to what God will keep teaching me in this area.” The ordinands include two Rev Polly Butterworth from school chaplains: the Rev Emma Abbotsleigh. Newling from St Andrew’s “I have been involved in Cathedral School and the schools ministry for years and
ORDINANDS 2020 Christopher Gray Minchinbury Peter Kerr Marrickville Emma Newling St Andrew’s Cathedral School
as I have the privilege to see the gospel change the lives of young women. It feels as though there aren’t enough hours in the day to do all that I would like to do in my role, however, I know that God is the Lord of my days. “Ordination has felt like a public acknowledgement of a spiritual truth – that God has called me into full-time gospel ministry,” she adds. “In the years leading up to ordination, through the preparation process, there have been so many opportunities for reflection, growth and insight into ministry practice, which I can highly recommend to those in gospel ministry. “I also look forward to the advantages ordination will give me: a fellowship with those who are similarly striving to connect Sydney with the love of Christ, through vocational ministry.” The day was a combination of excitement, selfies and pictures with family, and the weighty vows of ordination, prayer and reflection from Scripture. The Bishop of Georges River, Peter Lin, spoke from Philippians 2, urging all the candidates to imitate the
Parish support: The Rev Vincent Chan poses with family members, the Bishop of Georges River, Peter Lin, and a crowd of congregation members from Fairfield with Bossley Park.
humility of Jesus in their lives. “Today you sit here full of knowledge and loaded with ministry gifts,” Bishop Lin told the ordinands. “Can I say, we deserve none of it. We deserve nothing but we have been given it all in Christ and our unity in Christ ought to generate the humility of Christ... take the knowledge God gave you but use it humbly. Take the gifts
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began my role at Abbotsleigh at the beginning of 2019,” Polly Butterworth says. “So I’m excited to continue working for the Lord, SouthernCross
you did nothing to acquire and entitlement but as the rags of a use them humbly.” servant. Looking out on the robed clergy “So each day that you awaken Bishop Lin added: “On this special in the service of the risen Lord occasion as we ordain you in this Jesus, have his mindset. May kind of not-so-humble-looking your unrestrained, unstoppable attire, please don’t see these as ambition be the humility of symbols of status or robes of Christ.”
March 2020
All set to serve: (top) The Rev Stephen Gibbins (left) with Archdeacon Kevin Russell; (above) The Rev Polly Butterworth (left) and the Rev Emma Newling (right) with Archdeacon Kara Hartley.
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Maternity hospitals saving lives in Africa
Mission: safe delivery
Waiting for hope: A fistula patient in Afar, northern Ethiopia. From the age of six, Dr Andrew with his aunt, nurse Valerie Browning knew he wanted to be a mission doctor. “A missionary nurse came back from Tanzania and visited my church [St Jude’s, Bowral], and I remember just sitting on the floor of the Sunday school room while she talked about serving God in Tanzania as a missionary,” he recalls. “I thought I’d go off and live in a little mud hut somewhere and heal people, just care for people.” The reality hasn’t been exactly as he anticipated but, in God’s name, Dr Browning’s work has taken him to many isolated and poverty-stricken areas of the world, where health care is poor and the needs of the people acute. As a medical student, he did a practical elective in Murgwanza – at the same mission hospital where his old church’s link missionary had worked – and in the mid-1990s Dr Browning went to work in northern Ethiopia 6
Browning, to care for the Afar people. It was here that he really saw the horrific effects of fistula (see box) for the first time, and it placed a burden on his heart to help the women affected. “The need to do fistula work and my passion for it is a love placed there by God,” he says. “He’s gifted me with the ability to operate on these women and have the drive to cure them… that’s how he’s helped me be a good steward of those things for his glory. I couldn’t think of a better way to use my gifts than this.” Dr Browning adds that many people believe fistulas only occur because women are married, and give birth, too young, but he says there’s more to it than that. Also, if there are trained birth attendants in villages and the women at risk get to a maternity hospital, they can give birth by caesarean and won’t get a fistula
in the first place. “The first fistula hospital opened in New York in 1855 – fistulas used to be common in America and Europe and Australia,” he says. “Wherever you don’t have hospitals, you get fistulas. When I first went to Africa, 96 per cent of births were home deliveries, which meant thousands of women dying in labour, and thousands more with fistulas.” While he worked with Dr Catherine Hamlin for a decade (first at the famous “hospital by the river” in Addis Ababa, and later at a regional Hamlin Fistula hospital in Bahir Dar in Ethiopia’s north), Dr Browning had a great desire to take the work further afield. “In Bahir Dar there was myself and two nurses, and we’d see 600 ladies a year with fistula,” he says. “I thought, ‘We’ve just got to do more to prevent this in the first place!’ You want to focus on each individual girl as
WHAT IS A FISTULA? Fistulas are caused by injuries to the mother during an obstructed childbirth, and can appear as holes between the bladder, bowel, uterus, vagina and rectum. Often such a labour lasts for between three and 10 days, and both the mother and baby die. However, if the mother survives and remains untreated, she will leak urine and possibly faeces for the rest of her life, and be ostracised by her family and village.
made in the image of the God who loves her. You want to see her restored physically and, we pray, spiritually as well.” This was the impetus behind the establishment of the Barbara May Foundation (named after Dr Browning’s grandmother), which raises funds for health SouthernCross
March 2020
Work done where it’s needed: (clockwise from top left) Dr Browning operates on a fistula patient in South Sudan: “Through the work people see that God’s
love is real”; Dr Browning with fistula patients in Tanzania; the nomadic life of the Afar people in Ethiopia; a girl walks in the Afar region; a healthy mother and baby at the foundation’s hospital in Afar.
centres and maternity hospitals Australia for the past two years to Christ as a direct result. So, wherever they are needed – as for their children’s schooling, so someone has new life in that well as updating other facilities to now Dr Browning travels four they’re physically cured but also make them safe. The foundation or five times a year to Africa a new life in eternity with Christ, has opened two hospitals in or South-East Asia to perform which gives us greater joy.” Ethiopia and one in Tanzania, and fistula surgery and train others Last year the Barbara May is providing advice for another to do the same. Foundation’s three hospitals due to open later this year in He is regularly asked why he and rural health network helped South Sudan. works in Africa when, as an 15,000 women deliver their Dr Brownin g, his wife obstetrician and gynaecologist, babies safely, and for free. And Stephanie and the foundation he “could have a very lucrative although there’s still tremendous have been supported for career in Australia and a need, the changes for these locals years by a number of Sydney comfortable life”. The motivation are obvious. Among the 1.5 Anglican churches: Abbotsford, he says, is the love of Christ. million Afar people, for example, Belmore, Bowral, Church by the “Life isn’t about earning money! deaths during labour have been Bridge, Drummoyne, Gymea, Through the work people see reduced from 6500 per 100,000 Northbridge, North Sydney and that God’s love is real, and we’ve to 550. Roseville. They’ve been based in had people commit their lives “It’s really been God’s blessing SouthernCross
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on that place,” Dr Browning says. “The people are almost 100 per cent Muslim, so it’s God’s people bringing love to them and helping in that situation. “In Ethiopia our hospitals are the safest places in those regions to deliver your babies. We’re very proud of our midwives, and we want to replicate that model of care wherever we can. In order to stop fistulas, we need 2000 obstetric units – so there’s about 1996½ to go!” For more information about the work of the foundation, see www. barbaramayfoundation.com 7
Australia Day honours
Grant Dibden appointed bishop to the ADF
A life of service has been recognised with an Order of Australia medal at the age of 84 for Robyn Claydon, named on the Australia Day honours list. Mrs Claydon, whose husband David was honoured with the same medal two years ago, has a lengthy record of service in Sydney Anglican churches, schools and institutions, and Australian and international Christian churches. Mrs Claydon was deputy principal of Queenwood school in the early 1970s and later viceprincipal of Abbotsleigh school . As well as being a speaker and author, both she and her husband are well known for their work with the Lausanne movement. Mrs Claydon chaired the Australian Lausanne Committee from 1992-2006. She also served as vice-chair of the international committee. Also overseas, she developed and now advises St Andrew’s School in Hyderabad, India. As well as being involved in raising funds for the establishment of the school, Mrs Claydon is still active in organising the continuing sponsorship of students from poor communities. “The award is an unexpected honour, with thanks to the Lord for the opportunities I have
had to share my faith with school students, mentor young Christian teachers and emerging Christian leaders around the world, teach the Bible and speak at international conferences on the importance of taking the gospel to the world,” Mrs Claydon told Southern Cross. “I am grateful for opportunities to preach the word of God and one of my great joys is to continue to lead the Women’s City Bible Study at St Andrew’s Cathedral after 28 years.” The citation for Mrs Claydon reads: “For service to education, and to the Anglican Church of Australia”. Other Anglicans honoured with an OAM include Barry Smith of North Richmond, honoured for service to local government, and to the community. Mr Smith, a former parish councillor and churchwarden at St Matthew’s, Windsor, was the general manager of Hunters Hill Council for more than 20 years, until 2018. In the Shoalhaven area, Gerald Moore was given a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the Indigenous community. Mr Moore was CEO of the NSW Aboriginal Legal Service for six years, CEO of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care in 2016-17,
Former Army colonel becomes bishop in khaki The Rev Grant Dibden has
Honoured: Mrs Robyn Claydon (above) and the Rev Paul Dale (below). and is a member of Shoalhaven Aboriginal Community Church. Tragically, soon after the award was announced, Mr Moore lost his home in the South Coast bushfires. His two brothers also lost houses in the fires. The NSW Citizen of the Year awards were also presented on Australia Day, and the senior minister of Church by the Bridge, the Rev Dr Paul Dale, was honoured. He was named a NSW Citizen of the Year for services to the community at the North Sydney Australia Day celebrations.
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straddled the Army, Navy and Air Force in military training and logistics and is about to take on a spiritual challenge as Anglican Bishop of the Defence Force. The Primate, Archbishop Philip Freier, announced the metropolitan Archbishops of Australia had chosen Mr Dibden as bishop and the Government had approved him as the Anglican representative on the Religious Advisory Committee to the Services. Says Mr Dibden: “No-one is more surprised than me about this, but I am comforted to know that it didn’t take God by surprise! I’m also comforted by the fact that God promises to be with all of us until the end of the age [Matthew 28:20], and so I can rely on him and know that with his help I will be able to fulfil this most important role.” Given his background, the role might not come as a surprise to others. After graduating from the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1982, Mr Dibden was allocated to the Army Ordnance Corps. As a Lieutenant Colonel, he commanded the 7th Combat Service Support Battalion and, in 2001, instructed at the Australian Defence Force Staff College, developing relationships with Navy and RAAF officers. He was promoted to Colonel in 2002 to command the Force Support Group and be the Chief of Staff, Headquarters Logistic Support Force. Colonel Dibden left the regular Army in 2004, and was reduced in rank to Captain to enable his transfer to the Royal Australian Army Chaplains Department. He has held various Reserve SouthernCross
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chaplaincy app ointments, culminating in his current posting as the Senior Chaplain for 2nd Division. He has also served as the national director of Navigators in Australia. Dr Freier says, “Grant’s extensive military background gives him immediate credibility and rapport with the ADF’s most senior officers. It also means he understands their ethos, values and thinking that is inculcated over many years, and so is well placed to provide Christian input. “Grant has a long and active involvement with the Anglican Church. He was ordained deacon in 2004 and ordained a priest in 2010 by the Bishop of Bathurst.” The bishop-designate is already looking to the future. “As the Anglican Bishop to the Defence Force, I will be in a unique position,” he says. “I speak with the most senior leadership of the Defence Force, advising them on a range of weighty issues such as religious policy, morals and ethics from an Anglican point of view, in what is a challenging, secular and diverse environment. “On the other side, I advocate for the Defence Force, particularly the need for care and support of Defence Anglican chaplains, at the highest levels of the Anglican Church in Australia. “But arguably, the two most important things are serving the Anglican chaplains as their bishop and living out what every Christian leader should: loving the Lord with all my heart, mind, soul and strength, loving my neighbour as myself, seeking first his kingdom, and making disciples.” His consecration will be held on March 18 at Duntroon Chapel.
Surprised: The Rev Grant Dibden has been chosen as Bishop of the ADF.
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Oakhurst’s growing Sudanese church.
From Africa to Oakhurst
Dinka praise: Worshipping God in song at the Sudanese church in Oakhurst. photo:D-Mo Zajac Deep in the western suburbs of
themselves Christian,” he tells Southern Cross. “They call themselves Christian as an identity, not to follow Christ fully. This is the thing that we want to work on. To make sure we understand what Scripture says and to live like Christians.”
All together: Dinka speakers travel from across Sydney to worship in their heart language. photo:D-Mo Zajac John says, “some come from Campbelltown, some even from Caringbah because they want to worship in Dinka”. Sitting in the front row you will often see one white face, belonging to the Rev Alan Hamilton. “He’s the founder of the Sudanese church in Sydney,” Pastor John explains. “He was the first Australian pastor who gave us the space to use his church. That was in 1999. So he comes to our church every
Sunday to see how we are doing.” The church is also looking outward by supporting an Anglican Aid project to train Christian leaders from all over the young nation of South Sudan, through Bishop Gwynne College in the city of Juba. Despite a vision to have their own building one day, being at Oakhurst has its advantages. “Our children are mixing now with white Anglo Australians,” Pastor John says. “We’ve got
what we call ‘Christ for Kids’ on Monday night. So our children go together and they mix up with Australian kids and they do Bible studies together. “This is very important actually, because we will be one church one day, or maybe the Sudanese or African church will be a church where you have no boundaries. So that means you’re not going to be only Sudanese – they will be open to all other nations.”
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Sydney, there is a vision emerging. A vibrant church is growing at Oakhurst, a suburb in the Blacktown area, bordered by Plumpton and Bidwill – which are usually known for featuring negatively in news reports.
But on any Sunday there is to Australia from the civil war good news ringing out as 150 to turmoil of South Sudan, often via 200 members of the Sudanese refugee camps in Kenya. community meet for a Dinka Their pastor, the Rev Samuel language service. John, has a vision, which begins The children are mainly with introducing people to Jesus. Australian-born, but the parents “In South Sudan, and in Africa and some of the youth came in general, many people call
Pastor John speaks quickly and with passion. He is balancing a growing family with theological study. Ordained a deacon in Kenya after being forced out of South Sudan, he has now finished an Advanced Diploma at Moore College and graduates this month. He is also doing further study at Sydney Missionary and Bible College. He works at Oakhurst as assistant minister overseeing the Sudanese congregation while the new rector, the Rev Jason Ramsay, runs the family and night services. Both have a vision to grow the Sudanese congregation. Says Pastor John: “In the next five or 10 years, we are thinking to get a bigger church or a bigger place that will accommodate us. Maybe we can purchase land and build, or we can get an old church and then transform it. It will depend, you know, on what God will show us.” Most people in the Sudanese congregation come from the western suburbs but, Pastor
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Christians and the Coronavirus
“Pray with us”, says Wuhan pastor Christ in the crisis: Amid the “pestilence” in their city, Wuhan Christians are responding with faith. photo: Yun Zhongjun “Christians are not only to suffer now been declared a public with the people of this city, but we have a responsibility to pray… and to bring to them the peace of Christ,” says an unnamed church leader from the city of Wuhan, in a letter that symbolises the response of Chinese Christians to the outbreak of Coronavirus. The illness, which emerged from Wuhan late last year, has
“We acknowledge community health emergency by the World concern about the incidences Health Organisation. Churches of infection in Australia and have been urged to pray and to we express our sadness at the take sensible precautions during extent of the sickness, and services and major gatherings. especially the death, of many In January, Archbishop Glenn people affected by the disease in Davies wrote to clergy in the China,” he wrote. “We encourage Sydney Diocese, asking churches prayer for those affected families to pray for victims, health care and for governments and health workers and authorities. care workers seeking to address
and constrain the outbreak, both in China as well as in Australia.” Dr Davies noted that many of our churches have Chinese members – who are understandably anxious for their relatives in China – in addition to any concerns they and others might have about cases here. “While we should not be alarmed, as the number of confirmed
cases of the Coronavirus in NSW is low, we should also be aware of the dangers that the virus presents and take any necessary precautions for the safety of our congregations,” the Archbishop said. “I encourage you to pray for those who have been infected, for our Commonwealth and State governments as they address this crisis, and for the health and safety of our own communities.” Churches in Asia are using masks and hand sanitisers at services but, in the West, the Church of England advised caution for parishioners with coughs and sneezes but stopped short of suspending the common cup at communion. The letter from the pastor in Wuhan is an impassioned plea to the rest of the world. “As for family, I have gathered masks and foodstuffs and have ventured out of doors as little as possible. When venturing out in public I have worn a mask, but as for the rest, I have placed it in the Lord’s hands,” he writes.
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“As for the church, the safety of the congregation, a faithful witness, the possibility that members could contract the illness, have all become a great area of struggle. It is readily apparent that we are facing a test of our faith. “The situation is so critical, yet [we are] trusting in the Lord’s promises, that his thoughts toward us are of peace, and not evil (Jeremiah 29:11), and that he allows for a time of testing, not to destroy us, but to establish us.” The unnamed pastor quotes the Apostle Paul in Romans 8 and says, “Spoken for today, Wuhan’s pestilence cannot separate us from the love of Christ; this love is in our Lord Jesus Christ. These words are so comforting for us; we have already become one body with Christ. We have a part in his sufferings, and we have a part in his glory. All of Christ’s is ours, and our all is Christ’s. “Therefore, Christ is with us as we face the pestilence in this city; the pestilence cannot harm us. If we die in the pestilence, it
Getting the facts: A participant takes notes in the Wuhan Coronavirus session at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Switzerland on January 22. photo: World Economic Forum/ Greg Beadle
is an opportunity to witness to Christ and, even more, to enter into his glory.” The letter, which has been widely circulated online, ends with a call to prayer. “The past few days I have received many inquiries from foreign pastors,” he writes. “I especially ask them to turn their eyes upon Jesus. And do not be concerned with my welfare, nor be agitated or fearful, but pray in the name of Jesus. “Good-hearted people are,
through their actions, serving this city, especially the medical personnel who are risking their own lives. If they can take on such worldly responsibilities, how can we not more readily take on spiritual responsibilities! “If you do not feel a responsibility to pray, ask the Lord for a loving soul, an earnestly prayerful heart; if you are not crying, ask the Lord for tears. Because we surely know that only through the hope of the Lord’s mercy will this city be saved.”
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Farewell service for Bishop Lee
Commissioning of Dr Timothy Petterson at Shore.
The West says, “We love you, Ivan” “Your support is very dear to me. And I assure you, it helps to keep me going in the harder times. It is the Lord, of course, who sustains me behind your prayers.” The voice of Bishop Ivan Lee came through strongly in the message read by his daughter Sandy at his official farewell as Bishop of the Western Region, but he was not strong enough to be there. He was taken to hospital in early February, days before the event at Norwest Anglican. “Pain has been rather severe for the last three weeks,” Bishop Lee said. “I felt your support over the whole 16 years and, of course, even more over the last four years. I wish so much I could be with you all today.” Bishop Lee’s pancreatic cancer had spread to his liver. By the day of the farewell doctors were working to stop abdominal bleeding. His message ended
The region says thank you: (from left): Bishop Lee’s daughter, Sandy
Wheeler; Mrs Louise Cunningham; Bishop Lee’s granddaughter Zoe Adams and his daughter, Jessica Adams; Bishop Lee’s PA, Kirsty Grugan. photo: Ellen Ray
with a plea to follow Jesus: “It God for the ministry and the may not be possible to fix [the work of Ivan and Virginia since bleeding], in which case, I urge Ivan was consecrated bishop you all to trust in Christ and not [in] 2002... But of course, there in this life, as I will seek to do.” is also sadness because it is ill In opening the farewell, the health for Ivan that has led to this Ven Neil Atwood spoke for many farewell being held now, rather when he said there were “some than perhaps in three years’ time very mixed emotions”. when he would normally retire.” “It’s a great opportunity to pause Speakers and messages of and reflect with gratefulness to support showed the depth of feeling for the work of Bishop Lee and his wife Virginia. The Rev Steve Gooch, rector of Kingswood, said how thrilled Bishop Lee always was to hear of new ventures and people coming to faith, and “even happier if the ministry crossed cultures”. “The way Ivan and Virginia worked together was a great example to others in ministry,” SENIORS he said. “Many recall his visits PENSION & E R to Kingswood when he shared DISCOUN T about his battle with cancer, his honesty about the struggle, his desire to trust in Christ, his belief in God’s goodness, his understanding of suffering, his + Computer repairs and servicing + Website Build or Redesign biblical, spiritual response to + Maintenance programs + Computer setup and training + Expertise with PC and MAC + Data backup and recovery his problem, his patience with + AntiVirus protection and + General advice on hardware the pain, his unwillingness to Internet security and software options + Printer issues + Home Security System grumble. Ivan showed how to Installation suffer well. I thank him for that.” The Rev Dr Raj Gupta of for honest, reliable and friendly customer service Toongabbie called Bishop Lee a “tireless servant [who] has done so much behind the scenes that support@helpmypc.com.au most people would know little www.helpmypc.com.au about... When he got sick we saw
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Passing the torch at Shore his suffering for the gospel in a new and profound way. He was prepared to go through pain and re-live pain, if that was going to help bring people to Jesus. It was nothing short of inspirational.” The rector of MBM Rooty Hill, the Rev Ray Galea, spoke with affection for Bishop Lee and his clear witness to Christ. “We know the purpose [of suffering]: it’s to make us more like Christ, for his glory and our good,” he said, adding that for Bishop Lee it showed “all those words he said in good health were actually what he always believed when sickness came. “I remember interviewing him at a Good Friday service, and he spoke with such clarity and passion on his assurance in Christ’s death and resurrection. [He] shared the wonderful news of Christ crucified in the context of a man who was mindful that his days were numbered... I thank God for placing him amongst us in this season. We love you, Ivan.” Archbishop Davies, the final speaker, talked of being at college with Bishop Lee, and later being colleagues as regional bishops. “He’s always been resilient,” Dr Davies said. “I can remember meeting him in hospital when he rang me and told me the [pancreatic cancer] diagnosis 4½ years ago, and we had a wonderful time together, but a tearful time together. He had his funeral planned before Christmas that year. “But by God’s grace... he’s preserved Ivan over these last 4½ years. Ivan’s confidence in the promises of God have kept him resilient and been a wonderful witness to nurses and doctors and therapists alike. “His passion for Jesus has never abated and will never abate. When the Lord takes him into his glory, that passion for Jesus will be sinless and full and complete.” SouthernCross
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New beginning: The eighth headmaster of Shore, Dr Timothy Petterson, leaves the school chapel with Archbishop Davies after his commissioning service. On the last day of January the
in its 131-year history was Shore’s new headmaster was various locations throughout the Sydney Church of England welcomed by Archbishop (and passed the torch by the seventh North Sydney campus, including Grammar School, or Shore, old boy) Glenn Davies – with incumbent, Dr Timothy Wright, the War Memorial Hall, Playfair welcomed its new headmaster, council members, other heads who held the office for the past Hall and Preparatory School MAC. Dr Timothy Petterson, with a of schools, previous headmasters, 17 years. After the service, Dr Petterson commissioning and installation family members, staff and Year Other students across the and Dr Davies led the gathering service in the school chapel. 12 boys in attendance to mark school were able to witness the out to a morning tea on the The school’s eighth headmaster the event. service via live video streaming to chapel lawn.
Friends like you made all the difference for Chloe-Jane Her SRE teachers put Christ’s love into action when she needed it most, and it was the key to helping her follow Christ. Your support can help orient more young lives like ChloeJane’s, especially as they are told by the world their faith belongs in the past. Your tax-deductible gift today is so important to help ensure ministries working with children and youth like SRE are as effective as possible at teaching the gospel, modelling Christian living, and discipling young people. Your support today is an investment for eternity into the spiritual lives of young people.
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March 2020
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Regional communities struggle, despite recent rain
PLANT AND PRAY
What do you mean, there’s still a drought?
Rain, rain, come again: The view around the corner from the Anglican church in Narrabri after last month’s rain. Judy Adamson Plants are blooming, most of our dams are full, and everywhere in greater Sydney and throughout the Diocese people are breathing a sigh of relief. The drought is finally over… except that it’s not. Let me clarify: it’s over for us. But it most certainly isn’t over for the vast bulk of NSW. In fact, according to the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI), almost 99 per cent of NSW is still in drought. Surely, that’s an exaggeration? Again, no. Only 1.1 per cent of the state is regarded as “nondrought”: greater Sydney and a pocket of the north coast around Coffs Harbour. Happily, the proportion of NSW experiencing intense drought has dropped dramatically since January, but there’s a long road ahead. “We’re very thankful for the rain we’ve had,” says the rector of Gilgandra and Archdeacon of The North West region in the Bathurst Diocese, the Ven Grahame Yager. “As you drive around, a lot of the places are very green. It’s almost as if you can see the grass growing. It’s absolutely amazing. “The rain has finally stopped the dust storms in Gilgandra. We’d 16
been getting them every other week… Now we have to find a way to restock and plant and hold the community together until [local] income starts to flow again. “There’s also the hit and miss nature of the rain. I ran into a young mum who also works part time and I said, ‘How did you go?’ – which of course meant, ‘How did you go with the rain?’ – and she just visibly shrank and said, ‘No, we missed out’. It’s the best rain we’ve had in years, and there are still people who miss out.” Heavy, soaking rains across the Warragamba catchment last month mean that the water storage for greater Sydney reached 81.2 per cent by February 19 – almost double the level it was before the big wet started. But if you look at the levels of dams and major water storage systems across the state, about a third are at under 20 per cent capacity, even where there has been rain. Five are under 8 per cent full – and for most of those, that’s a vast improvement.
THANKFULNESS, BUT RAIN STILL NEEDED Whoever you talk to from parishes across the parts of NSW that are still droughtaffected, the response is the same: tremendous gratitude to
God for the rain, hope in the hearts of locals, rivers flowing – sometimes flooding – for the first time in years, but a need for more rain, and soon. “The drought doesn’t end the day the rain starts,” explains the rector of Lightning Ridge, the Rev Kurt Langmead. “God’s heard those prayers of lots of people and it’s not a small thing to have a couple of inches of rain… but it takes more than a couple of heavy falls to refill groundwater levels that are so depleted. “If it’s not getting down deep, you’re not going to have water to draw upon in the growing season ahead, so you get shallow roots and a very short life for any seed that comes up. All you need is hot weather, or a dust storm, and they just blow away. “If you have 70-80mm, it’s great and it will fill the water tanks off people’s roofs… but it doesn’t break the drought. Especially when people are sometimes hundreds of thousands or a million dollars in debt from hand feeding.” The rector of Narrabri and Archdeacon of the Namoi, the Ven Dr Bernard Gabbott, says that in his area the rain will allow many farmers to plant a winter crop and prepare for the shortterm future. Yet a local farmer
who has had 250mm in recent weeks explained to him that they would need “several crops in a row for there to be any break”. “There is a noticeable lift in spirits in the town and district, but there remain some significant obstacles,” Dr Gabbott says. “First, the continued need for consistent rain is important, over a longer period of time, to allow for consistent farming. “Second, the availability of resources now is important, such as seed for planting and cattle for restocking – and the prices of livestock are rocketing! Third, the loss of a labour force will be significant going forward as, too, the continued impact on the local town economy. There will be a lag of 18 months to two years for businesses before money will move into the local towns.” A spokesman for the DPI says that despite some excellent rainfall in many areas of the state, “large areas of the Riverina, Western and Central NSW have not received enough rain to start drought recovery as there has been little improvement to soil moisture levels. “Producers and communities in these areas continue to manage drought, and widespread falls of consistent rain will be needed to support a state-wide recovery.” SouthernCross
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Close to the geographical heart of NSW, in Lake Cargelligo, the Rev Paul Kumasaka has watched the cycle of drought and good seasons numerous times over 23 years in his Riverina parish. This drought has lasted for perhaps three years, he says; a previous drought lasted for a decade. After about 40mm of rain, there is no longer “zero” moisture in the ground. Farm dams are almost full and farmers are hopeful, but virtually no grain has been harvested for two seasons. It’s crucial for there to be more rain within a month, and that’s not all. “It’s really a day-to-day game,” Mr Kumasaka says. “The biggest challenge is the upcoming sowing season for wheat, barley and oats, because the crops need to go in around May. That means that farm paddocks have got to be ready for sowing by then, with enough moisture in them, and of course there will have to be some seed. “Tilling paddocks is also a costly thing. So, the big challenges are
still coming for them. “Pray for us continuously, that we will do the best we can to help the farmers and the local businesses – the small retailers who are quite seriously affected. Shops are closing, one by one, and that forces us more and more to go to the major towns and the nearest one is Griffith, which is 133 kilometres away.” Archdeacon Yager asks people to pray for community resilience and support, follow-up rain, and to give thanks for the rain that has fallen. In Narrabri, Dr Gabbott says there is “incredible thankfulness to God among his people for this rain. It is a wonderful answer to constant and persistent prayer… We continue to ask for his grace and kindness, especially on those who have missed out and continue to labour under dry weather”. Mr Langmead says local churches and Christians have “an incredible opportunity to speak into this situation with the words of the gospel… we know
how the story finishes and that’s that God’s got it sorted, even if the rains don’t come, and that’s an incredible perspective. “My regular prayer at church has been that, as the rain comes down, the prayers of farmers and people in rural communities will go up to their Father in heaven and give him thanks for the good things he’s done. That people will look up and remember where it comes from and consider what
it means to genuinely express gratitude – not just with a prayer but with a whole life given back to him.” Since August 2018, Anglican Aid has sent out $457,000 in drought relief through dioceses across NSW and parts of Queensland. For more information or to donate, see www.anglicanaid.com.au; for Anglicare’s drought relief initiatives see www.anglicare.org. au/gowithout.
POST-BUSHFIRE CARE Anglicare Sydney has long-standing relationships with the NSW communities affected by fire. To date, the organisation has raised $760,000 for bushfire relief, with the aim of relieving and healing communities – as well as building on its existing services into the long term. Anglican Aid has sent the Diocese of Canberra-Goulburn $75,000 for badly affected parishes, with another $21,000 provided to Anglican schools for the 21 families whose homes were destroyed. More funds have been earmarked to provide long-term emotional recovery and support. Another $115,250 has been given to parishes in the Sydney, Armidale and Grafton dioceses – plus a Baptist church in the Grafton region – providing everything from food and gift cards to funds for those who have lost homes or businesses. This includes $5000 given to an RFS volunteer in KootingalMoonbi who lost his livelihood while out fighting the fires.
Wanted: Evangelist to Seafarers The Anglican Diocese of North West Australia seeks a Chaplain for Dampier Port. Email, from seafarer Ric
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March 2020
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Missionaries share experiences of the spiritual realm at CMS Summer School.
his parents had been involved in witchcraft. In the end, Ambessa “burnt most of his possessions… all those things that were from his family and his heritage, and after that we didn’t see any other signs of demon possession”. Ambessa even changed his name, so he no longer bore the “lion” name given to him by his parents. He was then discipled and taught carefully because, Mr Kay explained, what Jesus says in Matthew 12 and Luke 11 makes it clear that the “spiritual void” in a person needs to be filled with the truths of the Christian faith, or “the spirits will come back and invade, bringing all their friends with them”. “This experience was a big learning curve for us,” he said. “It was very confronting, but we thought, ‘This is what happens in the gospels’.”
Spirits in the material world
New life: Girls at a Hope for Justice house in Ethiopia celebrate Freedom Day, now safe from violence, exploitation and spiritual oppression. Given how often people assert School in January, the Rev Roger that the God of the Bible isn’t real Kay and his wife, Dr Lynn Kay, (or that “This is all there is”), it’s challenged their listeners to amazing how many believe in take the spirit world – the some sort of spiritual element to principalities and powers – as our world. They might talk about seriously as Jesus did, and to their guardian angel, buy a spirit understand it is something that catcher at the markets, and do or is active in the 21st century. say things to ensure good “luck”, “Evil is a power,” Dr Kay said. or avoid bad. “It is real, not an illusion, [and] to So, what do Sydney Christians overcome it requires more than think about this un seen human resources.” dimension of God’s world? At a She and Mr Kay say this with missionary session at Summer confidence, as their experiences
“It is real, not an illusion”: Lynn and Roger Kay. 18
during 10 years in Ethiopia taught them about both the reality of the spiritual realm and Jesus’ victory over it. JESUS IS LORD Two years into their work, a European friend in Mr Kay’s parish came to him with a problem: he was concerned a local man, Ambessa, might be demon possessed. Mr Kay was out of his depth – “I think I missed that lecture at college!” he joked – so he turned to an experienced Ethiopian pastor in the congregation named Tilahun. “I found one of his skills for analysing this situation was to ask the person to say again and again, ‘Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord’ – and if they are demon possessed, you will get a reaction,” he said. “It’s straight from 1 Corinthians 12 that no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.” Ambessa (which means “lion” in Amharic) and his partner came to church the following Sunday,
and when the congregation started to say the Apostles’ Creed, Ambessa began banging his head against a pillar. At the point where everyone says, “Jesus is Lord”, he threw himself on the ground and began to roar. In the end, Pastor Tilahun and a group of men carried him into the churchyard. Mr Kay found his church split about the event: “All the Westerners are thinking, ‘Psychological illness’; all the Africans are thinking, ‘Well, it’s obviously demon possession’,” he recalled. “There was just such a cultural divide, it was amazing.” Pastor Tilahun explained to Mr Kay that he would demand, in Jesus’ name, to know the name of the spirit. “The spirit would speak and give a name, and then he would command the spirit, in Jesus’ name, to leave that person, to leave this place to not enter anyone else,” Mr Kay said. This was done with Ambessa – although it had to be done more than once. And during the process they discovered both of SouthernCross
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SPIRITUAL SICKNESS Dr Kay shared in the missionary session of her work rescuing and protecting vulnerable children with Hope for Justice (formerly RETRAK), in which she also saw the effect of evil spirits. She said one day the police brought them a teenager named Fikirte, who was vomiting blood. Medical tests found no abnormalities, and the vomiting unexpectedly stopped. But, after she settled in at the centre, Fikirte began to show signs of psychological stress and mental illness – hearing voices, suicidal thoughts and social isolation. A mental health assessment recommended medication, close supervision and counselling. Eventually, in a counselling session, Fikir te told the psychologist that her mother and sister had been involved in witchcraft and both had died. Said Dr Kay: “Fikirte recalled hearing a voice telling her she was next. When we discovered this, we realised that we were probably dealing with an evil spirit or demon possession.” A pastor experienced in exorcism prayed over Fikirte SouthernCross
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all morning, without effect. In the afternoon the pastor, with a group of church elders, prayed again – still nothing happened. “He then asked if she had anything that belonged to her mother or sister and she said she had a scarf,” Dr Kay recalled. “The pastor told her to come back in the morning and to bring the scarf. “When she returned the next day, they lit a fire and, as they threw the scarf into the flames, we prayed for the spirit to leave Fikirte in Jesus’ name. As the scarf burnt, everyone heard an audible screech – a horrible sound – and Fikirte fell to the ground, exhausted. Clearly, Fikirte had been demon-possessed. “We then began a process of discipleship to ensure that Fikirte’s empty heart was not an open invitation to other evil spirits. She continued her program with Hope for Justice and completed vocational training. We helped her to find employment, a shared house and linked her up with a local church. “She has developed into a beautiful young woman with a real faith.” SPIRITUAL REALITY Both the Kays said how unprepared they felt to deal with situations like this at first. It was important, they said, not to make the mistake of assuming someone’s responses were solely psychological, just as it was also important not to assume demon possession. Medical checks and counselling were always part of the work they did with people such as Fikirte and Ambessa. However, the spiritual realm broke into their everyday lives in Ethiopia – and it happened numerous times. Dr Kay acknowledged that “this may seem very far from people’s experience in Australia”, but she also warned against ignoring the reality of the spirit world. “I think it will become more prevalent in Australia as people ditch God and Jesus and become
Wisdom: Pastor Tilahun and his wife Etatu at St Matthew’s, Addis Ababa. increasingly secular – because so closed off in the West is going people replace the spiritual with to come back into day-to-day life something else spiritual,” she told in a much stronger way than Southern Cross after the session. we’ve experienced before, and Dr Kay spoke of meeting a we need to be ready for that,” she newly registered shaman at a said. “With the increa sing gathering of businesspeople soon after her return to Sydney, secularisation of our country and plus a recent radio program that denial of Jesus, we can expect interviewed a practising witch, that evil spirits will try to fill the discussed witchcraft, and the spiritual vacuum. We know that Jesus is stronger, but we also rise in witch numbers. “It does really confirm for me need to know how to handle that the spiritual realm we have those situations.”
A time for reflection and transformation
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From the Archbishop.
finding they had not been baptised into Christ Jesus, he remedied the deficit by both teaching and baptism (Acts 19:3-5). Some commentators try to minimise Paul’s view of baptism by citing his oft-quoted words: “for Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the gospel” (1 Corinthians 1:17). However, by not recognising a relative contrast in absolute terms, they fail to see Paul’s purpose in addressing the factionalism in Corinth, as if it were a badge of honour to be baptised by a particular leader. Yet, Paul clearly did baptise some Corinthians as he mentions them by name (vv 14-16), and his practice in the Book of Acts demonstrates his understanding of Jesus’ command to baptise disciples, as he himself was baptised by Ananias (Acts 9:18). Jesus, like John the Baptist, practised the rite of baptism as a sign of discipleship (John 4:1-2). Both made disciples and both signed and sealed such discipleship by water baptism. It is no wonder, therefore, that Peter’s first recorded sermon after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus was to preach repentance, accompanied by water baptism, for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2: 38). This was in accordance with Jesus’ practice in his earthly ministry and in obedience to the words of the risen Jesus in the Great Commission, which likewise connected baptism with discipleship (Matthew 28:19-20). While water can be cleansing and refreshing, a life-giving characteristic, it can also be fatal and destructive, taking life. It is instructive that the two narratives of the Old Testament, which are described as baptisms, contain both of these elements. The first is Peter’s reference to the baptism of Noah and his household. While the waters of destruction enveloped the evil men and women who lived in Noah’s day, the same waters buoyed the ark of salvation for the eight persons within, symbolising baptism (1 Peter 3:20-21).
Washed by water and the word Dr Glenn Davies
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ast month I drew our attention to the wonderful gift of
water that God has provided for the earth. I reflected upon the times that God withdraws water from the land and how we should respond. In early January, we were still in the grip of a long-running drought in NSW. Yet by God’s grace, and in answer to many prayers, he has sent rain upon our parched land. Perhaps too much of it all at once, some might say, but the refreshing rain, even in torrents, was a welcome sight to many farmers – as well as to those who had been valiantly fighting fires across our State for five months. We thank God for water. Last month’s Southern Cross also featured the love (and water) of both adult and infant baptisms: 10 baptisms at Redfern; 35 baptisms at St John’s, Parramatta; and 48 baptisms at Cabramatta. What a thrill to read of so many people coming to Christ and
receiving the dominical sign of salvation, as they are incorporated into Christ’s body through the waters of baptism. While most of these converts were Asian, some were Indigenous, some from the Middle East and others of European stock. This caused me to ponder how much we value baptism, and especially our own baptism, in our church today. A good question to ask Christians is when were they baptised, where were they baptised and by whom? Or, more pertinently, have they been baptised? I doubt that any of the adults baptised in the abovenamed churches will forget the answers to these questions, and no doubt the parents of those infants baptised will teach their children of the significance of the event as they mature. Paul, for example, did not take baptism for granted, as he quizzed some ill-informed disciples in Ephesus about their baptism. Upon
The second reference is Paul’s description of the salvation of Israel, who were baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Here, the waters, which parted so that Israel could pass through on dry land (notice, both adults and infants were included!), was Israel’s baptism and salvation. Yet these same waters were the agent of destruction for Pharaoh’s army. In other words, baptism in both accounts signalled salvation from destruction. On both occasions, trust in the word of God’s promise was required for salvation. Distrust in God’s word led to destruction. Our baptism, therefore, should be a reminder of both aspects: salvation and escaping destruction. Jesus had a baptism of water to fulfil all righteousness, but his baptism on the cross was to endure destruction so that we might be saved (Luke 12:50). To be a part of Christ’s body is to be washed and made clean (Ephesians 5:26). Our baptism is a sign not only of salvation but also of escape from destruction. We should rejoice in this gift of cleansing water, as it points us to the Christ who saves. For in Christ we draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:22). SC
A PRAYER FOR MISSION 2020 Our heavenly Father, fill our lives with the fruit of your Spirit, so that we may walk in joyful obedience, share your love by word and deed, and see Christ honoured in every community as Lord and Saviour. Amen
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March 2020
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The “what” and “when” of ministry
The wisdom of when In ministry and in life, we need to learn that the “when” is just as valuable as the “what”, writes Archie Poulos.
I
n James we read the comforting words, “If any of you lacks
wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (James 1:5). This is comforting because no matter what the issue, our world is so full of complexity and uncertainty that real, deep wisdom is necessary to know the best way forward. This is perhaps even more the case as we minister alongside one another – striving to grow each other into Christ-like maturity. How should we act? Thinking about how we minister is what I would like us to consider. When it comes to wisdom there are two interconnected issues that should be considered together. One is something we naturally think about, while the other doesn’t receive the attention 22
it deserves. The natural one is “What we should do?”. The less considered issue is “When should we do it?” An image I liken wisdom to is sailing in the Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race (not that I know anything nautical!). In the race we know where we start from, and we know the destination. Both must be clear and firmly fixed in our minds. But you do not get from Sydney to Hobart by setting sail and never altering direction. You “tack” the vessel back and forth, resetting the sails and modifying the direction of your vessel in response to the weather conditions and the position of other vessels. This “tacking” requires knowing what direction to point toward and how long to keep the yacht going in that direction. It is both SouthernCross
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what to do and when to do it. When done properly, the navigator will have a swift journey to Hobart. This is ministry – both the what and the when. In many ways the “what” is easy, as it is shaped by the destination we are heading toward. Our goal is to move people from contact to maturity by the word of God in fellowship, so that Christ will be honoured everywhere. In order to achieve this goal, God has told us the resources to use and given us these resources. The chief resources – and these determine what we do – are his word, prayer, each other and the Spirit, who renews our minds. Almost all our ministry actions are to enhance these God-supplied resources. In many ways the “when” is more complicated because the same action can, at one time, be just right, while at another completely wrong. We don’t have to go beyond Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 to see this beautifully described: There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. Another example of this wisdom about timing can be found in Proverbs 26:4-5, where seemingly contradictory advice is put side by side: “Do not answer a fool according to his folly” and “Answer a fool according to his folly”. This is not just about doing the right thing. It is doing the right thing at the right time. Part of the timing complexity can be understood when we realise people have multiple things going on in their lives, and so their response to a particular episode is influenced by all the other issues they are facing. Another consideration is the seasons of life. Seasons affect the way people engage with what is occurring around them. They function in seasons or cycles. There are daily cycles, weekly cycles, seasons and annual cycles. It is important to recognise these cycles to life and it does not usually work to push against them. At the end of the 19th century, France instituted a 10-day week, and from 1931-1940 Russia attempted to operate a six-day week. Both failed despite 10 years of trying, because our bodies naturally resonate with seven-day weeks (built into creation!). We regularly see the cycles of life operate. Daily personal Bible study creates habits in a way that occasional Bible study does not. Fortnightly home groups do not usually work well, as people have weekly cycles. Some people have seasonal affective disorder where they are sad through every winter. Most look forward to the Christmas break, and starting new ministries at that time is difficult. Bruce Miller wrote a book entitled Your Church in Rhythm in which he pushes further than the cycles of life, arguing that there are not just the seasons of day, week, season and year, but that SouthernCross
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our personal and church hopes also go through seasons. There are times where it is right to free up expectations, times where it is right to seize opportunities and times where we sit back and anticipate what is next. There is great wisdom in recognising such seasons. So often we do not perceive an opportunity to release ourselves, or others, from expectations. We may feel increasingly guilty or burdened by the inability to juggle all the issues we are responsible for. It is so valuable to say, “It is okay to let go of that expectation” or “There is no problem in realising you will never achieve that dream”. After the release of expectations, it is more likely that we will be able to seize opportunities when they arise. Recognising that sometimes we can let go of hopes, and at other times embrace opportunities, we have greater clarity and ability to anticipate what is next. A further consideration on “when” is “How long do we keep going?” and “When is it right to change course?” These are important questions which merit an article of their own. It is essential that we remember every believer and every ministry is a work in progress, and we will never arrive until we see the Lord face to face. Meanwhile, we tack backwards and forward in the joyous expectation that, under God, irrespective of our circumstances, we will one day become what we were meant to be. SC
The Rev Archie Poulos is head of the Department of Ministry and director of the Centre for Ministry Development at Moore College.
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For some, hospitals may be the only place to receive spiritual care
Being courageous in our evangelism.
One thing needed to talk about Jesus
Secular cathedrals
Phil Wheeler Stephen Gibson
I
recently read the observation that hospitals have become the
“secular cathedrals” of our city. It is here that many major life events take place: birth, giving birth and death. It is the place where people often contemplate their mortality as the surgeon operates to cut out the cancer – otherwise life itself could be threatened. Our secular society has defined away moments of transcendence. We live as though there is no need to communicate with “the man upstairs”. We have, in fact, defined him away. We are remarkably self-sufficient – most of the time. However, life’s special moments have a way of breaking in. My own father’s experience is a wonderful example of this. My dad was a young science student at Sydney Uni, working part-time on the trams shortly after World War II, when he saw Arthur Stace write “Eternity” on the footpath early one morning. You had to be up early to see the Eternity man in action! The memory stayed with him all his life. However, it was not until dad’s late 50s, when the doctor found advanced cancer requiring major surgery, that God wrote eternity on Dad’s heart. Dad’s cathedral was a major Sydney hospital where suddenly he said, “Pray for me”. During the weeks of his hospitalisation we shared Scripture readings and prayers in a way that up until then had been very uncharacteristic for my dad. He left hospital after successful surgery and went from once-a-year attendance at church to weekly attendance, and joined a Bible study group. The man of science became the man of faith, too, and there was no conflict between the two. Dad lived another 30 years after his operation. He is now with his Lord, face to face with his creator and saviour in eternity. At his recent funeral, I was able to make the point that dad had the privilege of seeing Eternity written on the footpath, and we all saw it written on the Harbour Bridge in the year 2000, but only God can write it on our hearts. God’s moment of breaking in was in the cathedral of a major Sydney hospital. Sometimes God’s best work will not be done at church but in the cancer ward or the delivery suite or the emergency department. It 24
is when our self-sufficiency is peeled away that we see how weak we really are and how great our need is for God. Often, we struggle as Christians to know how we can connect with our secular culture more effectively, and yet secular places like hospitals are great opportunities to see God at work in people’s lives. We can connect there. Let’s follow our Lord as he speaks to people, often with the megaphone of suffering, and other moments when they are briefly reminded that we are all dependent beings in need of our creator and saviour. Our hospital chaplaincy is first and foremost for the patients but it doesn’t end there. It also includes the staff – the doctors, nurses, physios, specialists and admin staff. Recently, in the same hospital where my father was a patient, a young doctor came into the chaplain’s office in tears. He and the chaplain talked for some time and he said, “I need to reconnect with my faith. My parents put me under great pressure to study medicine and everything else was left behind, including my Christian faith. I’ve been living a two-dimensional life.” The chaplain was able to connect him with a good church close to where he lived. He has reconnected with his faith. He is now living life in three dimensions. And all this took place in a so-called secular cathedral – a major Sydney hospital. Pray for our 22 hospital chaplains, and many trained chaplaincy volunteers in the Sydney Diocese, as they minister in these secular cathedrals. SC If you’re interested in adopting a chaplain as a link missionary to your church, or becoming a chaplaincy volunteer, see www.anglicare.org.au
The Rev Stephen Gibson is manager of health and justice chaplaincy at Anglicare Sydney. SouthernCross
March 2020
C
ourage has been in the news over this summer. We
have heard amazing stories as firefighters have risked their lives to save people and property from devastating bushfires. We’ve seen TV footage and observed first-hand some of the devastation on the South Coast and elsewhere, and can only imagine how frightening it must have been to face these dangers. One woman who stayed alone to defend her house (and who escaped the ferocity of it at one point by diving into her pool with her scuba gear on!), said to me, “It was probably foolhardy to stay and fight, but that is the sort of person I am”. As I surveyed the carnage, I couldn’t help but think how much more courageous she was than me! Courage is not the absence of fear but, rather, facing your fears and overcoming them because something else matters more. Courage is thoughtful and calculated, not blind fearlessness. Courage and boldness is what most of us need in evangelism. There are a few fearless evangelists out there who find it easy to pipe up and declare the good news of salvation through Jesus in any and every social setting. But for most of us, it is just not that easy and we could use a large dose of courage. We need courage to risk ridicule or dismissal, or the quiet contempt that might be directed at us when we ask a question or challenge someone about what they believe – and give reasons for the hope that we have. Very often, nothing much happens and our words do not bring dismissal or scorn. However, the fear of rejection, loss of social standing or conflict – getting into an argument and not knowing what to say – so often paralyses our evangelism. We need to care more about others’ eternal wellbeing and future than about our status in their eyes. Something must matter more. I saw a video recently of two women from a closed Middle Eastern country who courageously determined to reach their people by handing out bibles. They got a big map, some backpacks and started delivering bibles street by street, city by city. After 20,000 copies were delivered, they got arrested and spent many months in detention under interrogation, with the offer of release if only they would renounce Christ. They would not. Such courage in the face of opposition, the like of which very few SouthernCross
March 2020
Christians in Australia will ever face, humbles and inspires me. In Paul’s day, the Lord used the imprisonment of his people to ensure many other prisoners heard the gospel (Philippians 1:12-14). Opposition and persecution often have the opposite effect than anticipated – the brothers and sisters in Christ become bolder! May that be true of us here in Australia. It was a wise person who said, “Success is not final, failure not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts”. That is true with our evangelism. We often fail, stay silent or withdraw when we ought to speak up and be more intentional. Praise God that our failure to do so is not fatal. God is gracious and patient with us and we can begin again, with courage to pray, connect and speak up. We especially need that boldness with family and friends. At one level, speaking to a taxi driver is way easier than speaking to my unbelieving family members. J.K. Rowling wrote, “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends”. At our annual street Christmas party, I decided to up the ante a little and ran a Christmas Quiz with questions about events on Christmas Day, recent and ancient. The winner got a nice bottle of bubbly and the lowest score got a copy of Luke’s Gospel – “so they can brush up on their history” as perhaps “they don’t know the Christmas story as well as they thought”. I was a little hesitant about how this would go down, especially as one guy, beer in hand, declared at the start, “I hope there are no religious questions in this!” By God’s grace everyone enjoyed the fun and it has opened up all sorts of conversations with my wonderful neighbours – who I have lived next door to for a decade but, to date, without much by way of conversations about eternal matters. Like the Apostles in Acts 4:29 let’s pray, “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness”. SC
The Rev Phil Wheeler is the director of Evangelism and New Churches. 25
This month’s essay
Clergy moves.
Christ the thief: an image only half understood? Martin Kemp
It’s a strange simile, isn’t it? That Jesus would compare himself to a thief? Thieves are hardly glowing examples of virtue, yet Jesus and his Apostles use the image to drive home something true about Christ’s return: when he comes it will be like a thief. Of course, we all know what the point is: Christ’s return will be at an unpredictable hour. No robber bothers with a courtesy call the day before their visit: “Just ringing ahead to see whether you wouldn’t mind leaving the front door unlocked, thanks!” No: thieves come unexpectedly, so it’s best to stay constantly vigilant. The surprise that a robbery
entails is certainly part of what this image is meant to communicate – perhaps even the main part. “But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief,” Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:4. Jesus himself warns the church in Sardis, “I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you” (Revelation 3:3). But I do wonder whether there’s another aspect to this illustration. Preaching on 2 Peter 3 recently, I encountered again the thief who comes at the end of time. However, on this occasion I noticed a different emphasis.
PROTECTION AND CARE FOR EVERYONE
“I am committed to strengthening our culture of ‘safe ministry’ through education and professional development of our clergy and lay people, as we seek to maintain the standards of Christian ministry which are grounded in the teaching of the Bible.”
Glenn Davies, Archbishop The Professional Standards Unit receives and deals with complaints of child abuse or sexual misconduct by members of the clergy and church workers. A Pastoral Care and Assistance Scheme is available to provide counselling and other support to victims of misconduct or abuse. The Safe Ministry Board formulates and monitors policy and practice and advises on child protection and safe ministry for the Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney.
Abuse Report Line 1800 774 945 26
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief,” Peter writes in verse 10. Now, notice what comes next: “The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way,” Peter concludes in verse 11, “what kind of people ought you to be?” Suddenly my eyes were opened to another angle. Thieves aren’t only surprise visitors, they’re destructive, too. “The thief,” Jesus teaches, “comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). Paul thought of this aspect as well: “you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety’, destruction will come on them suddenly” (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3). During the Sermon on the Mount, theft is used to illustrate the transience of this world’s material possessions. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal,” (Matthew 6:19). Thieves are masters not only of the surprise element, but they’re also pretty good at making things disappear! Perhaps it’s our modernday wealth that has dulled our sensitivity to the destruction that burglary can bring. If I am robbed, it may only be a minor irritation in the larger scheme of things. But in ancient times – before modern standards of welfare and insurance – a robbery could literally take everything from a family. Occasionally we hear of
examples of modern burglaries that offer an echo of this perspective. Three weeks before Christmas 2018, thieves stole $30,000 worth of Lego from two toy stores in South Australia. Notice how the owner of one of these stores describes the scene: “There was Lego all over the floor that they tipped out, and sets all over the floor, and the alarm was smashed, boxes smashed, printer smashed.” He describes a scene of utter chaos. Accompanying pictures showed shelves stripped bare. It’s always exciting when a Bible teacher discovers a new angle, but my excitement was soon eclipsed by a more sobering thought. What exactly is being communicated by this image? It appears that the final day will see a terribly shocking cleansing by the returning judge that will be thorough and efficient; no corner of the house left unturned, no secret stash unfound, no prized possessions not handed over. “What they have will be taken from them” (Matthew 25:29). Startling. Yet with the same breath that helps us comprehend this angle, Jesus offers hope. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” The thief is also our Saviour. Thank God for that. The Rev Martin Kemp is rector of Waitara. Essays should aim to be about 700 words. Send to: newspaper@anglicanmedia.com.au or PO Box W185, Parramatta Westfield 2150 SouthernCross
March 2020
PATERSONS LAND IN BELROSE In 2009, the Rev Andrew Paterson became assistant minister to the parish of Berry with Kangaroo Valley, tasked with looking after the valley’s Church of the Good Shepherd. Ten-and-a-half years later, Kangaroo Valley is an independent parish and Mr Paterson and his family have moved to Sydney, where he became rector of St Stephen’s, Belrose in January. “We were first approached by the Belrose nominators in November 2018, but after thinking and praying about moving over the following two months, we decided it wasn’t time to leave KV,” Mr Paterson says. “In retrospect, it was probably God’s timing. But we hadn’t forgotten the nominators from Belrose, and about eight months later I made inquiries with Bishop Edwards about how their search was going. Us being here now is the result of those inquiries!” After being part of the Kangaroo Valley community for more than a decade, Mr Paterson and his wife Cecily thought the parish could benefit from “fresh eyes and new leadership moving into the future”. “We’re hopefully leaving the parish in a good situation,” Mr Paterson adds. “Kangaroo Valley has a great mix of all ages, from lots of babies to toddlers, kids and teens as well as adults.
Photo courtesy of Stonemeadow Photography
“We’ve had a wonderful relationship with the whole church over a long time, and we love the beauty of the valley and its wonderful community very much. It certainly was a difficult wrench to say goodbye… the church and the community will always be a special part of our lives.” Mr Paterson says St Stephen’s is looking to build up its ministry to families and children in the Belrose area, and “we both hope we’ll be able to be used by God
in this way. It’s an energetic parish with changing demographics, as more and more families are moving into this area. We are both looking forward to lots of prayerful partnership with everyone at church here. “Oddly enough, at Kangaroo Valley we had a fair bit of contact with people of all ages from the Northern Beaches as people moved from here to KV, so the demographics and culture of the Northern Beaches aren’t that unfamiliar to us!”
that the right place will open up for us’. We were keen to work in a church that was multicultural, as we’d had 10 years of working cross-culturally and thought it would be a waste to go to a church that was predominantly Anglo. “Strathfield is a fascinating church and about half of its members would be from Sri Lanka and India. There’s a lot of people from South-East Asia, and a smaller traditional congregation. It’s a very interesting, very diverse place. “One of our friends mentioned us to somebody, who put our name into the ring. I spoke to Michael Stead [the local bishop], he contacted the church and it all came together quite quickly – in just a few weeks! We finished up with CMS in October so, essentially, we could move straight in at Strathfield. The sense of timing had God’s blessing all over it. It’s amazing the way it worked out.” The couple say the church is very warm and welcoming, with some good ministries
to the community. They want to strengthen those, help members grow in godliness and seek ways to reach out effectively with Jesus’ love in the area. Says Lynn Kay: “Churches don’t stay alive unless they continue to interact with the community in which they’re placed and provide real spiritual nurture and encouragement for people, so we need to work out what that will look like and keep doing that.”
CROSSING CULTURES IN STRATHFIELD After 10 years serving with the Church Missionary Society in Ethiopia, the Rev Roger Kay became rector of St Anne’s, Strathfield in November, and his wife Dr Lynn Kay became the Australian director of Hope For Justice (formerly RETRAK) – the anti-slavery organisation she worked with while in Ethiopia. Mr Kay was rector of St Matthew’s, Addis Ababa. Says Dr Kay: “It’s sometimes hard to articulate what all the different reasons were [for coming home], but we were very sure this was the right thing to do. Just as you feel the calling to overseas ministry, you do also have a sense that now is the right time to come back. The Lord’s will was in that.” While Dr Kay knew she would be working with Hope For Justice when they returned, Mr Kay had no idea about what his role would be, or where. “I didn’t even know if I’d get a job!” he says. “You make the decision to come back thinking, ‘We’re really trusting the Lord SouthernCross
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Letters to the editor
BRAGA FAMILY GOES WEST The Rev Chris Braga is leaving Summer Hill after 13 years to become the rector of Glenmore Park with Mulgoa. He and his wife Beth see themselves as building on the work of the Rev John Lavender and his wife Karen, “and the phenomenal ministry they’ve had for a generation”. “We feel very humbled to take on a church that they’ve made into what it is and shaped the culture of it, from a group that began meeting in their garage,” he says. “John’s been such a great evangelist, he really loves people and that’s been such a critical part of the life and growth of the church.” Having said that, Mr Braga would not be happy to go if he didn’t feel it was the right thing for his family. A move from the innerwestern suburbs to the outer western fringe, near Warragamba and the planned new airport, naturally involves school upheavals and other changes, “so I said to the kids, if this doesn’t work for you, we won’t go,” he says. “But they’d been to the [local] school, they’d seen it, and they were completely engaged in the decision making… they said, ‘Dad, let’s do this’. And I’m content because my first role is to lead my family.” Mr Braga, who has also been chairman of the Youthworks council since 2014, leaves Summer Hill with a combined sense of joy and pain. Joy, because of the opportunities
BAPTISMAL JOY
that lie ahead, and pain because of the many good things happening in the parish. “I’m really invested in where I’m going to, but I love the guys at Summer Hill! It breaks my heart to leave,” he says. “But [I feel] a genuine sense of responsibility for the churches in Sydney – you’re not ordained to one particular church. You’re ordained to help to churches of the Diocese. It’s the most important job in the world.” Mr Braga describes his wife Beth as an “incredible person”, who has been very involved in women’s ministry at Summer Hill and “absolutely brilliant in her preparedness to be on this adventure, helping the kids think about change and being flexible”. “She’s excited about being involved in the
lives of the staff team [at Glenmore Park with Mulgoa] and caring for them,” he adds, “plus working out how she can contribute to the life of the church – particularly women’s and children’s ministries.” While much of what awaits in the new parish will be different – from the location to the school to the people, Mr Braga notes that the character of ministry will not be so different. “I have the same kind of gospel-focused churchmanship as John, so it’s not a change in gear for the parish. And we have the same focus on mission and seeing people converted… it’s all about doing the next thing for Jesus.” Mr Braga will be inducted on April 7.
IN THE NAVY
In mid-January the Rev Catherine Wynn Jones moved from her role as chaplain to the Diocese’s Professional Standards Unit to become a chaplain with the Royal Australian Navy. She has already served the naval 28
Reserve as a chaplain since last year. “I loved my time at the PSU so much,” she says. “It was a fantastic team and it took some real consideration to leave. But the challenging nature of the role probably did have a time limit, so this opportunity… was God’s timing.” Ms Wynn Jones’ interest in naval chaplaincy began about five years ago, when she noticed an Australian Defence Force stall at a Christian conference she attended. “I was intrigued,” she says. “I went up and spoke to one of the chaplains and asked them what was unique about their role… and it just seemed really interesting. That began a conversation, which continued over subsequent years, and the doors kept opening. “They were actively seeking chaplains – there’s not a great number of female Navy chaplains. I pursued the Reserve training
over the past few years and when I was offered a full-time contract late last year I decided to accept.” Ms Wynn Jones now works on a Sydney naval base, spending time with sailors and officers in a pastoral capacity. She may be called upon to officiate at funerals, weddings or baptisms, in addition to looking after people’s spiritual needs and general wellbeing. “A lot of people may not be Christian, but you’ve got a responsibility to care for people and meet them where they’re at,” she says. “There are great opportunities to minister to younger members of the Defence Force, those who are encountering long periods of absence from their family, those who are resilient and rising to the challenges that the Defence Force offers – and, in the midst of that, engaging in a meaningful way with the hope that Jesus offers to all people.” SouthernCross
March 2020
I’m loving the photos and stories of folk going down into and coming up out of the baptismal waters following repentance
and faith in Christ, which ATTENTION DURING SERMONS you featured this month (SC, Yes, David Morrison (SC, February) and over the past few February), “our hearts should be years in Southern Cross. lifted… by the word of God for 20 Keep them coming, please! or 30 minutes”. However, I do not David McKay agree that the fault necessarily Blaxland lies with the worshippers if they aren’t. BIGGER IS BETTER Parishioners in constant I just wish to say thanks for chronic pain with, for example, increasing the size of the font back issues, could have trouble in Southern Cross (well, it was coping with a 10-minute sermon. bigger in the latest edition!). It In such situations, it would is so much more comfortable to not matter how inspiring the read. message and how mesmerising Julie Smith the presentation. Carlingford Besides, not all church pews (Ed. People will be happy to know are the equivalent of Business that the larger print is here to stay!) Class in one’s international
airline of choice. Even if they are not back breakers, any pew could, unfortunately, cause considerable discomfort if underlying issues prevail. Perhaps this is why one sometimes sees passengers who appear to be healthy standing on public transport when seats are offered or available. Bob Scott Eastlakes
Letters should aim to be less than 200 words. Send to:
newspaper@anglicanmedia.com.au or PO Box W185, Parramatta Westfield 2150
CHAPLAIN CHANGE AT POW The new full-time Anglicare chaplain at the Prince of Wales Hospitals campus, the Rev David Anthonisz, was ordained a deacon last month. After spending 28 years in the workforce as an engineer and senior manager – with a range of church ministries to children, youth and others – he left his job to go to Bible college. “I’d always wanted to go into full-time ministry, but I’d wondered if it was more about me rather than it being God’s calling,” he says. “But my wife Michelle and I were praying, and it came out in her prayer that we should look into further ministry… and within the passage of three months I’d quit my job and had started at Moore College! “I went from managing 35 project managers to really just trying to manage myself back at college. It was a very steep learning curve… but I think one of the benefits of having all those years of secular work and managing people is that I received lots of life experience – normal life in terms of going to work, the tension between family and career, and the ups and downs of each day. To be able to draw on that experience in pastoring provides both understanding and compassion.” Mr Anthonisz says he always saw himself in an assistant minister’s role after graduating in 2018: “I just wanted to get in and be part of work in the kingdom”. Last year he did that at North Ryde, “and I loved my time pastoring God’s people there” but, in looking for further work, the opportunity at Prince of Wales came up. “God in his providence has provided this SouthernCross
March 2020
role, and I’m relishing it,” he says. “The fantastic opportunity we have in hospital chaplaincy – both employees and our dedicated volunteers – is to meet people at their point of need during a critical time in their life and, with their willingness, bring their concerns before God in prayer, that they, too, may experience God’s love, mercy and compassion. “I’m really looking forward to being part of this important ministry of helping people, in whatever small way, depend more on Jesus in their time of need and for life, so they might walk into our churches to find out more about this Jesus guy who is Lord of all.” In another Anglicare chaplaincy moves, its two student ministers from last year, Bethany Downes and Zack Hankin, have both begun ongoing jobs as hospital chaplains. Miss Downes is now the full-time Anglicare chaplain to Liverpool Hospital, while Mr Hankin is working part-time as chaplain at Sutherland Hospital. In addition, because of a reduction in
Commonwealth funding for chaplaincy at Concord Hospital, its Anglican chaplain Dale Baikie has moved into a residential aged care chaplaincy role at Donington Court in Castle Hill.
VACANT PARISHES Parishes and provisional parishes, vacant or becoming vacant, as at February 13: • Albion Park • Balgowlah • Bomaderry • Bulli • Campbelltown • Carlingford and North Rocks • Christ Church Northern Beaches • Darlinghurst • East Lindfield • Gordon • Georges Hall* • Greenacre* • Leura • Lindfield • Malabar
• Menai • Mittagong • Mt Druitt* • Narrabeen • Newport • Newtown with Erskineville • North Epping • North Sydney • Penshurst • St Clair* • Sans Souci • Seaforth • Shoalhaven Heads • Summer Hill • West Ryde • Willoughby Park
* denotes provisional parishes or Archbishop’s appointments
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Positions Vacant, Classifieds and upcoming events
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Book review
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Penrith Anglican College is an independent Pre-K to Year 12 co-educational day school. We invite applications for the following position:
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Penrith Anglican College is seeking to employ an experienced College Chaplain with a vibrant Christian faith consistent with the beliefs and values of Sydney Diocese of the Anglican Church. To download a full job description and selection criteria, visit our website at www.penrith.nsw.edu.au/ employment. Applications should be sent to: applications@penrith.nsw.edu.au Applications close 9am Monday 30 March 2020. To Serve Christ A member school of the Anglican Schools Coorporation
NOTICE TO ALL INTENDED JOB APPLICANTS: It is an offence under the NSW Child Protection (prohibited Employment) Act 1998 for a person convicted of a serious sexual offence to apply for a position which involves contact with children or young adult people. Relevant checks of criminal history, apprehended violence orders and previous disciplinary proceedings will be conducted on recommended applicants to such positions.
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DIARY MONDAY, MARCH 9
John Chapman Preaching Conference This year the theme is “Preaching Old Testament narrative” and the special guest speaker will be Nigel Styles, the director of Cornhill in London. The general admission cost is $15, which includes afternoon tea. For further details and tickets see moore.edu.au/preaching. Moore College, 1 King Street, Newtown | 2pm-5pm
the commissioning of incoming principal the Rev Dr Katy Smith. There will be the conferring upon students of graduation certificates, diplomas and advanced diplomas earned through the Australian College of Theology. The night will also be the final opportunity to farewell and thank MAC’s outgoing principal the Rev Jackie Stoneman. St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney Square | 7.30pm
FRIDAY, MARCH 27
Mary Andrews College Graduation and Commissioning instagram.com/sydneyanglicans 30
Mary Andrews College invites you to its 2020 graduation and
Sally Swan Through the Valley of the Shadow: Australian Women in War-Torn China by Linda Banks and Robert Banks (Pickwick Publications, 2019)
I
’ve been brainwashed. I find it almost impossible in this era of
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Hearts that ache for the lost
Does your church or organisation have an upcoming event? Send information to: newspaper@anglicanmedia.com.au SouthernCross
March 2020
instant everything to want to read anything that doesn’t declare “three-minute read” at the top of the page. Thanks, internet. Have I become sensitised to holding a book in my hand and having the patience to find the treasures in the text? And in the case of this book, not a lot of text – only 118 pages. I’ve just finished reading Through the Valley of the Shadow: Australian Women in War-Torn China by Linda and Robert Banks. A compelling title. As we delve into the year, so soon after the excesses of Christmas and the holiday period, we need a book like this one. To remember that today is not the only day that matters, nor the ones to come, but that the people of yesterday must still teach and influence us and – more than that – stretch us into a more godly and missional tomorrow. We don’t stand alone. We are, in fact, on their shoulders. This book tells us the stories of five young, single Australian women who went with the Church Missionary Society to China during times of war and unrest around the turn of the 20th century. And stayed a long time. The reader is the beneficiary of a great deal of research that utilises personal diaries, newspaper articles, letters and books. The writers have gathered decades of information and put them into captivating chapters for us. My reading locations could not have provided a clearer perspective. I read at the hairdresser, latte in hand. I read at a beachside café, watching hundreds of attractive, wealthy people stroll past. A particularly poignant moment was when I read about the women in this book: “their hearts ached when they saw worshippers prostrating themselves before statues of idols”.
What is wrong with my heart that it no longer aches? I see idolatrous people from my café seat and feel little towards them. Will my coffin, like the one of the women in the book, declare “Jesus only”? How could I agree, like those in the book, that a massacre is a “significant stimulus” to missionary endeavour, rather than a whopping setback? You must read this in order to find out. These women had a well-developed strategy for reaching women, and then their families; for reaching students and staff. These women knew how to pray and to trust. They experienced tremendous fear and surprising joy, and could say in the midst of a devastating crisis, “Sisters… we’re all going Home together” and take courage! I loved these women by book’s end, and I can’t help but keenly want to be like them. Looking around me I see very few live examples of such extraordinary living. Imagine deriving genuine solace equal to genuine fears: “after the screams and sounds of shooting it was a comfort to have such a great promise as ‘Fear not, for I am with thee (Isaiah 41:10 KJV)’”. These were women who also lived through the Japanese occupation of China, despite fears of germ warfare (the plague literally being dropped from planes), murder, rape, looting and witnessing constant injustice. As a fellow camp internee said of Martha and Eliza Clark in the mid-1940s in Shanghai, “Their faith was indeed sufficient for them in all things”. Books like this one provide a vital reality check for a modern life which derides wisdom and experience from history, and which discourages reading for more than three minutes. Pick up this little book and be amazed at the size of its challenge, and perhaps win a new ache in your heart. SC
Movie review continued from page 32
written and performed with care, and there’s a genuine onscreen camaraderie between the women that is lovely to watch. A male choirmaster was brought in to lead the real-life group – and another to knit together the song they first performed, using words from letters home – but I think the writers have made the right dramatic choice in keeping it solely among the women. It ensures that they and their experiences are always the focus, even amid the excitement/panic of preparing to perform “on the telly”. Because this film ticks the boxes of a cappella singing, women and the military, it may have a few of you thinking about Bruce Beresford’s 1997 movie Paradise Road. If so, stop now! This is no SouthernCross
March 2020
prison camp choir started by a missionary. The humour of most of these women is pretty earthy and innuendo-laced, and they do like a drink or three. Not everyone will appreciate that. But the experiences we’re shown in Military Wives will be very familiar to defence families across the globe. It’s about love, survival and friendship amid the hardships of war, even though that war is being experienced on the home front. It deftly mixes good humour with drama and is never rah-rah in support of war or “the boys”, nor is it sickly sweet. And while it’s not difficult to guess where this story is heading, chances are you’ll enjoy it anyway. Be armed with tissues. SC 31
SouthernCross
Songs on the home front Judy Adamson Military Wives Rated M Coarse language
O
nce upon a time, an everyday bunch of wives,
girlfriends, mothers and daughters of servicemen and women formed a choir, which spawned a national and international network of song and support. Their story is retold here – more or less – in Military Wives. More, because about a decade ago a bunch of women on an English military base did form a choir to keep their spirits up while their husbands (and wives) were on deployment in Afghanistan. They did perform at the annual Festival of Remembrance, televised across the UK, and this was the launching pad for similar choirs across Britain, and the world. Less, because we do get fictionalised stories of the women and families involved. It’s up to you whether you think that matters. What the film gives us, on the whole, is a feelgood treatment of what could have been a very dour subject. These women do it tough. They wait, worry, hope and love their spouses from a distance, anxiously listening to news broadcasts, some afraid to even pick up the phone in case it’s bad news. If you have any military spouses in your church with their other half overseas, love
them. Support them. They need it, and Military Wives underscores just how much. Kristin Scott-Thomas plays Kate Barclay, wife of the colonel on the base, who is upright, uptight and not very popular. She jollies Lisa (Sharon Horgan), laid-back wife of the new sergeant-major, into taking over the planning of events for the wives. Well, sure! Drinkies, anyone? Knitting? Strippers? Kate is unimpressed, but with the death of her only son the last time the unit deployed overseas – and lonely nights spent watching the Home Shopping network – she needs distraction and a positive outlet just as much as the others. The friction between Kate and Lisa is created for dramatic effect, and it’s a little irritating at times, but happily the writers have the true story as their guide and this provides a core of real heart to the film. We’re presented with a disparate bunch of women, who have a range of flaws and vastly different ways of coping with the pressures they face. You will easily see people you know among this rag-tag group of amateur singers! Even minor characters are continued on page 31