This is not the first time that the ACR has seen a pandemic. From 1880, the Church Record, as it was known, reported on all the news relating to the Anglican Church in Australia and New Zealand. So I did a bit of research and trawled through the archives to find out what the Church Record said about the 1919 influenza epidemic. I discovered that the ACR has ‘seen this movie before’ and has some wise advice for us today.
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Anglicans and pandemics: 101 years on – Bronwyn Windsor
Christians and Pandemics through the Ages (260, 1347, 1665,…2020) – Matthew Payne
Until the rise of modern medicine, western civilisation experienced pandemics very regularly. The best-known example is the notorious ‘Black Death’, a strain of bubonic plague that swept through Europe between 1347-1351, killing about a third of the continent’s inhabitants in the process.
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My Coronavirus Meltdown Moment
Have you had a Coronavirus meltdown yet? Today I had an ugly cry in Coles. I am feeling pretty embarrassed about it. As I jostled my way through the crowds and past empty shelf after empty shelf, I felt myself growing increasingly anxious.
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My afflictions, your glory (Ephesians 3:12–13)
As Paul writes Ephesians, he can see there’s a crisis approaching. He’d often written letters when groups of believers faced crises. Sometimes, the crisis involved false teaching. Sometimes, it was persecution.
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This Easter is different
Last Easter I felt for the first time that the people of Sydney weren’t listening
They were happy and comfortable without a care in the world
The beaches were heaven, the shops were the temple
And the chocolates and buns had more relevance than the cross
This Easter is different, the fires came this summer
They showed us the power of nature is not easy to control
Families left homeless. Animals left dying
The heroes were the ones who fought it in vain
The fires proved our nation could bandy together
And support those left homeless by the power of the flames
But when our Prime Minister prayed the journalists they mocked him
See this is a nation where god is within
This Easter is different though as the virus forced action
Our gods can’t protect us, their power is fake
We realise that wealth, neither wisdom, nor power
Has power to protect against this indiscriminate foe
But as we see people sick, and we see people die
And we witness how selfish some of us really are
When our Prime Minister prays, whilst journalists still mock
Now there are some who write ‘let him pray on’
See this Easter is different, our nation has changed
Our beaches are closed they’re not heaven just sand
Our nation is anxious many jobs have been lost
We ask for our leaders to chart us a course
Maybe our people are ready to listen
To hear of a true leader who rescues in power
He’s bigger than the virus and longer than the present
He promises a future in which there’s no tears
And so I pray
That this Easter will be different for my friends in this country
That the truth of the Gospel will be heard and received
That the death of the Christ on that cross long ago
Would be seen not as weakness but as strong by the one
Who created the earth, the skies and the seas
Who came to save people and died for THEIR sins
When he rose from the dead on that first Easter morning
He proved he is bigger than anything we see
This Easter is different and yet it’s no different
As we celebrate the messiah who conquered the grave
Trust in the Lord Jesus PLEASE fellow Australians
For all will be saved …. If they only believe
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