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Moore College

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Lady Jane Grey: A Firm Faith

Lady Jane Grey: A Firm Faith

January 8, 2021 by Mark Earngey

The following is an excerpt from a short biography written by Mark Earngey. Complementary copies are to be delivered to Sydney Anglican rectors as a Christmas gift from the ACR. If others would like to order copies please email editor@australianchurchrecord.net

Post tenebras spero lucem. After darkness, I hope for light. This phrase was reportedly etched with a pin onto a wall within the Tower of London shortly before 12 February 1554. The significance of these words arises, in part, because of their author: Jane Dudley, otherwise known as Lady Jane Grey, the so-called “Queen of Nine Days.” She was England’s first female monarch, and her execution at age seventeen remains one of the most moving and mysterious episodes of English political and religious history.

These words are also significant because they were etched within the broader context of that great movement of God five hundred years ago, which we know as the Reformation. The fearless Martin Luther in Wittenberg, the determined Huldrych Zwingli in Zürich, and the patient and meticulous Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in England – all these men, many women, and countless children, took their stand upon the Scriptures against the erroneous teachings of the Church of Rome. They defiantly declared that salvation was by “faith alone” and in “Christ alone.” When John Calvin first arrived in Geneva, this Latin phrase was still the ancient motto of the city, but it was not long before new coins were minted with the simpler version: post tenebras lux (after darkness, light). The expectation, desire, and hope of the light had come. The return of the gospel was as light after a long darkness.

Most of all, these words are significant because they are etched into the Holy Scriptures. Job 17:12 in the Vulgate edition of the Bible supplies this famous phrase and our English Bibles translate it in various ways, such as “in the face of the darkness, light is near.” This expression captures the confident expectation of Job during his prolonged period of pain in which he felt the darkness of death and yearned for the light of life. The innocent man had suffered severely and now, despite the mediocre efforts of his counsellors, he held onto the hope of heaven. “I know that my redeemer lives,” Job later declared, “and that in the end he will stand on the earth.” (Job 19:25).

So, at one level, these words reflect the reality of what Lady Jane Grey was facing: a confrontation of mortality with the firm hope of immortality. At another level, these words reflect the robust convictions of the Reformation: a rejection of Roman Catholicism and an embrace of evangelicalism. At the most basic and biblical level, these words reflect reliance upon the Redeemer, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Thus, the aim of this short biography is to tell something of these intertwined stories of Lady Jane Grey, the Reformation, and above all, the Lord Jesus Christ.

In 2021, Mark Thompson and Mark Earngey from Moore Theological College will be offering the MA unit CT528 After Darkness, Light: Doing Theology with the Reformers. If you would like to enrol for the subject, visit moore.edu.au for more information.

Also in 2021, Mark Earngey will be delivering a paper on Lady Jane Grey at the Priscilla and Aquila Centre conference on 1 February. Details here: https:// paa.moore.edu.au/conference/2021-conference/
Read more . . .

Tagged With: Australian Church Record, Church History, Lady Jane Grey

Gafcon Australasia 2021 – More Than a Giant Selfie

January 5, 2021 by Jodie McNeill

The iconic Temple Steps photo from Gafcon Jerusalem 2018 represents far more than a giant selfie. It records the gathering of a diverse group of Anglicans who share a common love of the Lord Jesus and a passion to joyfully embrace the orthodox teachings of his Bible.

It also captures the unity of a fellowship that offers love and support to those who have been shunned by their diocesan colleagues because they have chosen to stand firm upon the unchanging foundation of the Scriptures. The recent faltering of fidelity to the Scriptures in some quarters of Anglicanism in New Zealand and Australia underscores the importance of such vital fellowship.

As we prepare next July to bring together faithful Anglicans from Australia, New Zealand and our neighbouring Pacific Islands, we are planning a week-long conference that aims to help us enjoy and celebrate our common faith, so that we might be equipped and energised to faithfully proclaim Christ in our region.

Yet, as was the case at the Jerusalem gathering, next year’s Australasian event will provide much-needed love and support for our Anglican brothers and sisters who have become increasingly disenfranchised due to decisions that have initiated a conscious drift from orthodoxy towards impaired communion.

So, as we come together to be strengthened to faithfully proclaim Christ to the nations, we will also gather to offer support and resources to those whose conscience leads them to seek the fellowship of Anglican brothers and sisters outside their local context.

Our keynote speaker is Dr Ashley Null, who will be presenting to us an Anglican approach to unity, diversity and charity. As he reminded us earlier this year at the online Gafcon Australasian Celebration, “unity is a theological unity”, and that where the Scriptures are clear, they are compelling, since “salvation is both faith and morals”.

Furthermore, he highlighted that Cranmer’s principle was that, “where oppression is rightly being opposed, we must love those who disagree with us, and we must love into repentance those who are oppressing, as well as loving into freedom those who are oppressed.”

We look forward to Canon Null teaching us at this event, as he offers a vital framework for the Anglican church in our region as we seek to navigate a ‘new normal’ existence in the increasingly impaired fellowship.

Gafcon Australasia 2021 Conference will be held at Stanwell Tops Conference Centre, Sydney, from 19-23 July 2021, and details can be found at www.gafconaustralasia.org.

Whilst it will be hard to beat the Temple Steps as a photo location, we’re praying that those who gather for the 2021 Australasian selfie will share in a powerful expression of the unity, diversity and charity that will underpin our passion to proclaim Christ faithfully to our region.

Pre-register your place here: http://www.gafconaustralia.org/conference/
Read more . . .

Tagged With: Anglican, Australian Church Record, GAFCON

From Sydney to Gunbalanya

January 4, 2021 by Peter Carroll

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Tagged With: alumni, alumni article, bible translation, CMS, Indigenous, Moore Matters, northern territory

Losing Community and Gaining Opportunity

December 28, 2020 by Michael Figueira

What is happening in the Australian soul? One of my lecturers at Moore Theological College would ask this question of many of those he met in the local community in order to understand our culture.

A common response that he heard from those in the medical profession concerned the alarming loneliness epidemic that has been sweeping through the fabric of our society and fracturing the Australian soul. This year the pandemic has only heightened the intensity of this reality.

One of the contributing factors to this loneliness epidemic is the disintegration of the local community. A local community can be understood as a group of people who are committed to cherish and relationally enrich one another with their time, energy, and resources. However, community is difficult to foster and maintain especially when individualism, consumerism and convenience is king. In a recent interview, philosopher James K.A. Smith identifies this issue, saying, “There is a not accidental correlation between our narrow view of freedom as autonomy and independence and our increased social isolation and loneliness… we get sealed into these cubicles of self-concern and we are walled off from community.”[1] The Western individualist mindset grates against what is needed to build community. Consequently, densely close-knit local community groups have been replaced by multiple, partial, and far-flung social networks. Schools, sporting clubs and churches are perhaps the only places where the relic of a sense of community is preserved.

The loss of community

The effects of the loss of community are profound and varied. With the demise of community there is a decline in honest conversation and meaningful in-person contact. Social media is touted as an ‘online community’ and an effective solution to connect with the hundreds of ‘friends’ one may have. Conveniently, the power rests in the individual who can dictate the level of relationship involvement and commitment on their own superficial terms. It gives a façade of friendship and community, yet only at arms-length. A simple like or a comment acknowledges one’s brief ‘commitment’ to the relationship. This has flow-on effects with the way that we as a society interact with people who share different worldviews. We simply ignore or shun the voices that put forward views that are in opposition to our own camp.

The loss of community also brings with it the loss of shared spaces where personal and meaningful interaction can be experienced. This has created a problem for those who wish to find a suitable partner in the dating space. Hence, the rise in superficial dating apps such as Tinder where potential partners come up on a screen with their curated profiles. One can examine the possibilities and express an interest by a simple swipe of the finger across the screen.

With the disintegration of community, boredom quickly sets in. Our thirst for entertainment flowing out of our consumerist mindset is an attempt to fill this void. Bingeing on the latest television shows from streaming services for hours on end and reclining in the comfort of our own four walls to shield ourselves from any sort of deep-rooted commitment to the lives of those in the community is the new norm. Furthermore, the loss of community has coincided with the breakdown and dysfunction of the family unit. The final battle lines against the onslaught of individualism was the family unit but this is being quickly eroded away. Christmas can often be the most painful season for people as they find themselves alone or are forced to ignore each other from across the room. The dinner table used to be the sacred space where a family is united from the labours of the day as they share in their highs and lows. Now the lounge room is where family members are entertained as they are glued to their screens in silence.

The loss of community is a dehumanising reality. It warps and disorders the way that we were designed to relate to one another and ultimately to God.

It stems from our sinful nature which seeks to alienate ourselves further from one another and from the life of God. Ephesians 4:18-19 puts it starkly: “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.” These individualistic indulgences of impurity and greed drive a wedge between relationships as people are objectified and commodified.

The Christian community

Community is not a word that you will find in your Bible and it can often be an overused buzz word. But Scripture does envisage the notion of a community. This can be seen in both the local church and the wider fellowship that Christians share because of who they belong to (1 John 1:3). We may try and liken it to a community group like Scouts, a Bowling club or the Country Women’s Association. However, it is a community that is unlike any other because it is formed and established by God as he saves people by his grace (Eph 2:4ff). In the book of Acts, Christians are living in close proximity, such that they are regularly, prayerfully interacting with each other, and the word of God is being taught, believed, and obeyed (Acts 2:42- 47). The Christian community is not only inwardly looking but it is also outwardly looking as it brings the message

of the gospel out into the world. There is a profound unity among Christians as they are brought near to each other by the blood of Christ (Eph 2:13). They no longer remain foreigners and strangers but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of his household built upon the foundation of the preaching of Christ (Eph 2:19-20). The implications for the Christian life is that it is lived in a transformed community of love and other-person centredness united in Christ (4:1-5:20). This reality should be reflected in the church (that is, the local assembly of God’s people), as well as the community of relationships between God’s people that can persist outside the regular assembly.

The Australian soul may descend further into loneliness, as it abandons the value of community. For Christians, the temptation is to follow suit and neglect meeting together (Heb 10:25). The comforting lures of individualism, consumerism and convenience are enticing, but Christians must no longer live in this way (Eph 4:17). Instead Christians are to foster a community of love centred on Christ as they bear with one another, forgive one another, carry one another’s burdens, pray for each other and encourage one another until the Lord returns (Col 3:13-14; Gal 6:2; Jas 5:16; Heb 10:25).


[1] www.publicchristianity.org/the-freedom- paradox/
Read more . . .

Tagged With: Australian Church Record, Student Article

Challenges and opportunities in rural NSW

December 22, 2020 by Mark Calder

Read more . . .

Tagged With: Anglican Bishop, bathurst, Moore College Missions, Moore Matters, NSW, regional, rural

The great unmasking of God

December 22, 2020 by Glenn Davies

“Christmas represents the great unmasking of God. In the coming of Jesus, we see God’s face.”
Read more . . .

Tagged With: Archbishop, Christmas Message, COVID-19, Sydney Anglicans, unmasking

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