One piece of good news

Amidst all the mess in the Episcopal Church, I read one piece of great news this week. The Diocese of Northern Michigan had elected a new bishop who holds both Buddhist and Christian Ordination. He denies many of the basic doctrines of the Christian Church, but had still been elected as their next Bishop.

The good news is, that it appears that when the nomination was brought to the General Assembly he was unable to achieve the votes he needed, and so the election is now declared null and void and they have to start again. Praise God for this protection of His church. Read more here.

For a really interesting comment on the International Anglican scene, and especially on the recent communique from the Archbishop of Canterbury, try this article by Charles Raven.

Passion 09

We are very excited about the St Jude's Passion 09 Weekend in Inner Northern Melbourne. This a great event for our church to make good connections with the local community. We are running a series of connection activities over the weekend of August 7-9 that hopefully will be attractive to the local community. The program is here. It is our hope that through these connections we might see spiritual renewal taking place.

Anglican Disintegration?

The move this week of the General Convention of the TEC to repudiate the moratorium on the consecration of openly homosexual Bishops is another nail in the coffin of Anglican Unity. Whatever you think about the issue, to openly and clearly reject, not only the direction of the Lambeth Conference, but also the personal pleas of the Archbishop of Canterbury is a sign that the game is now up. The TEC continue to walk apart from the rest of us. Read here for more information.

Yes you might say, that the GAFCON inspired new province for North America is also a sign a that the game is up, and you'd be right! This is a serious attempt to preserve a place for traditional mainstream Anglicanism in North America, and an acknowledgement that the Communion as we knew it is disintegrating before our eyes. The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans is a serious voice for those who wish to keep walking the path of our forebears.

Great article

Richard Shumack from our Estates minsitry team has a great article published on the ABC online this week. Have a read about what he is thinking.

Considering Minsitry

Long time no post! Been a little bit busy!

A few weeks ago we had a terrific evening when we invited a whole bunch of people from Church to a "Consider Ministry" night. 35 people turned up to think about Vocational Christian Ministry. It was so great to be a room with so much talent and energy.

I spoke from Matthew 9:35-38 about the need for the laborers in the harvest. It struck me that when Jesus saw the crowds in the world, he was moved because they had no "shepherd" which is the same word as in Eph 4 for "pastor". What the world needs is shepherds and pastors.

We had two testimonies from current Ridley Melbourne students who are on placement at St Jude's. We talked about how you might make a decision for ministry, and pathways for preparation.

It was a great night for people thinking about Mission, Ordination and a variety of vocational lay ministries. It is such a privilege to work in a church where you can get this many people coming to a night like this. Now we need to "ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest".

29 Years

I was really stoked last night to discover that the year I became a Christian was the year that "B&B H" (St Jude's Mission Partners) left for South America. That's 29 years ago! How faithful is God to them, in sustaining them all this time? How faithful are they in sticking with this assignment? I was really humbled.

After Unichurch, where 98% of the congregation had not even been born when they first left, I was chatting to B. He had come to St Jude's as a Student (like the Unichurchers he had just spoken to) in 1974, and had been a member of the church when he felt his call to South America.

Next week, we will be running a "Consider Ministry" evening to encourage St Judeans to consider Vocational Christian Ministry (there will be a number of Unichurchers among them). We are hoping to encourage some towards ordination, and some towards Global Mission opportunities. I'm praying that someone next week gets stirred to think about mission, and can come back to St Jude's in 29 years time, and tell of God's faithfulness to them.

Reflections on 7 years

Sunday was the 7th anniversary of my induction as Vicar of St Jude's. It is good to reflect on what has happened, especially in the light of preaching yesterday on 2 Corinthians 10 - "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord".

I remember being quite scared in taking on the role at St Jude's wondering if I would be the bloke at the helm while St Jude's emptied. It is great to see that God in his mercy has not allowed that to happen. I can honestly say that this is a miracle of his grace. I am so deeply aware of my inadequacies and short comings, and for those to not cause St Jude's to stumble is very humbling indeed.

I was praying with a friend this afternoon, and he prayed about God building his church. And I recalled one of my colleagues reminding me in the midst of a very challenging time in the last few years, that St Jude's was "Jesus' Church", and to stop sweating on it like it was mine. How great to be reminded of these things - that this is God's work, and in his mercy and kindness I get to be a part of it.

Praise God for the privilege.

Anglican World

It is a big week for Anglicans, not that we'd really know it way down here at the ends of the earth. But this week the Anglican Consultative Council meets in Jamaica to consider the Anglican Covenant Document. The ACC is one of the "instruments of communion" that hold our loose association of churches together. They are the ones who set the "rules of engagement".

The proposed Covenant is the method by which the Archbishop of Canterbury hopes to save the communion. It sets out what we as Anglicans commit to, to hold us together.

The challenge will be to get a covenant that really holds us to biblical orthodoxy and that has the ability to exclude from the fellowship those who have chosen to tread a different path away from historic creedal Anglican Christianity. The fear is that it will be so weak that it will drive out the orthodox among us.

Of course, this is a matter very close to the heart of those of us who have joined the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans around the world. The question of whether the communion is heading towards or away from orthodoxy is key. There is good coverage of the events at the ACC meeting here if you are interested.

Holidays Study Leave and all that

Well it's been a busy week getting back into the swing of things after two weeks away.


Had a brilliant week with my two kids paddling down the Glenelg River in Western Victoria. We paddled and camped our way down the River over 4 days. It rained every day - a bit of a record after 10 years of drought, but the adversity made it all the more of an event. We weathered a storm in the night and freezing cold and wet, but it was fantastic. You can't buy the value of having that kind of an experience with your children. Now thinking what to with them next.

Then had a great week of Study Leave working on my Thesis for my D Min. Read some fascinating studies of church culture and wrote them up. About to start work on analysing all the interview transcripts I have about the culture of St Jude's over the last 35 years. It is a great topic. I am more and more convinced we should teach clergy how to "read" the culture(s) of their church. Certainly would make for healthier ministries.

Now I am back at work and immersed in preaching. A series in Paul's wonderful letter to the Galatians - Free for All-True Freedom in Christ at Unichurch. What a great grounding in the gospel it is for students.

AND 2 Corinthians - True Power in the morning services and at 5pm. Finishing off the Corinthians series I began last year. All makes for a busy Sunday!

Just pondering from 2 Cor 9, how the same trust in God that saves us, is the trust in God that is needed for our material well being. ALL things come from his hand.

Gone fishin'

Happy Easter.
Taking two weeks off writing.

Prayer Meeting

We had a wonderful prayer meeting at St Jude's on Monday night. They are slowly growing in attendance. February had 50 people, March had 63 and this week we had 74. I am delighted with this, and now dare to hope that we might crack the 100 barrier next month.


This month we focused in on the Urban Workers Ministry and we heard from Tim Patrick about some of the things that 5 is up to this year. He spoke of their twin goals to re-energise the Sunday services, and then to grow our outreach to Urban Workers from that base. He spoke of the changes that are being implemented in the Sunday services. He shared with us some stats about the the life of the congregation over time, and the need to not just be satisfied but to grow beyond our current ceiling.

We spent a good chunk of time then asking God to bless this ministry and to grow it as Tim had presented. We then sang a great song written by two of our Unichurch members, and then prayed for other parts of St Jude's ministry life.

It was a really rich night with lots of encouragement. This is the real powerhouse of our ministry and we must see it grow more and more.

Want to be part of breaking the 100 next month? May 4th at 8pm in the church.

Life of Jesus on TV

The John Dickson documentary on the Life of Jesus will be screened in Melbourne at 1am! on Saturday morning on 7. Worth taping I think.

My Sunday

I had a great day yesterday. I arrived at St Jude's at 8.30 and enjoyed talking with people who were all abuzz about the new colours inside the church building. Most of the people I talked to really liked them, and saw the intent of the bold new contemporary design. It was great that in the morning we had testimonies from CF who has been working in North-West Australia as a remote area nurse, and from JL who spoke of the importance of having a big bible world view when her daughter was facing a life threatening illness. By all reports both were terrific testimonies of God's faithfulness.

I missed both, because I went off to St Augustine's in Moreland. They are still searching for a new Vicar since Keil left. The Bishop was there and was trying to encourage the congregation to keep on trusting that God had a plan. I was there to hand over this lovely memento - an embroidered quilt given to the Vicar of St A's in 1895, and recently returned by his gt gt grandson. The Revd William Jordan was vicar there and under him the Sunday school grew to several hundred kids. I reminded the parish that even though times were tough now - the one who began a good work in them is faithful to complete it (Phil 1: 6). We have a few leads for a new Vicar and renewed determination.

Back to St Jude's for some more reactions to colours and meeting a new Dad, (Praise God for Elsie's safe arrival!) and some great chats with other faithful persevering saints.

Home for a little sleep, then 4.30 back at St Jude's for the service at 5. It was a terrific service. Tim preached a powerful message from John 2 about the cleansing blood of Jesus. What spoke to me was the reminder not to carry false shame and guilt, because the perfect sacrifice of Jesus has cleansed me inside and out. There was a great buzz in the service, and lots of prayers in the open prayer time - always a good sign. I met an older couple here, who I could tell were not wild about the new colours, but they were so gracious realising that their personal preference was not the key issue, but appreciated the statement about our life together.

Then 7.30 - packed to the rafters - 261 people crammed into every available seat (missing the first few rows of course). This was because of the baptism of 4 members of Unichurch. What a joy to hear testimonies of God's faithfulness, in calling people to himself, and to clap and cheer as 4 young people made their public commitment to Christ. Rob preached a brilliant sermon from John 11 on the purpose of Jesus' death. It was a cram over supper. I stumbled home after 10.

What a way to start holy week! God is indeed very good. Looking forwrd to praying tonight at the Prayer Meeting.

Just had a look at this trailer for a new video coming out of the Centre for Public Christianity which we hope will be shown on the TV over the Easter period. It is a film about the life of Jesus, giving a reasoned defence for believing the story.

It would be a good thing to mention to friends to watch. It is down for April 10 (Good Friday) at 1pm in Sydney. Let's hope they screen it in Melbourne too.

White water

This weekend I took my son to a school Kayaking camp. We had a great time, learning to kayak in the white water up on the Goulburn River near Eildon. It was a great opportunity not only to bond with Matt, but also to hang out with some people outside of church. (I am trying to do this more and more this year).

It was a great experience. I am very sore today, having found muscles I didn't know that I had. I ended my kayaking adventure capsizing in the main rapid in front of 50 cheering kids. The last thing I heard before I entered the white water washing machine was "go Dad"! I survived with only dinted pride and a waterlogged head.

It was so great too, to meet some more parents from the school and work on building relationships. It was a beautiful spot enjoying God's creation.

Diversity

Part of the St Jude's Vision is to work with other churches in the Inner North of Melbourne to seek Spiritual Renewal together. We want to do this because we realise that we won't see "spiritual renewal" simply by doing our own thing, but it will need to be a movement of God among the people of God in this part of the city.

So today I met with a group of church leaders from churches across the inner northern suburbs of Melbourne. We had a few denominations represented and it was a really good occasion. We heard of lots of different things happening in lots of different places. The theme was diversity as people spoke of what they were trying to do. It was very encouraging indeed.

One of the things that everyone seemed to agree on, was that the old Christendom models of ministry are a thing of the past. The future will be to think in new ways, pioneering, missional ways of reaching out to the world, and not simply expecting people to come to us.

We agreed to meet again to talk and pray and hopefully to cooperate together in what God is up to in the inner north.

Anglican Communion

I am heading interstate this week to speak at an EFAC meeting in Brisbane, among other things. I am speaking at EFAC on the state of the Anglican Communion, especially in the light of GAFCON. So this week I have been immersed once again in the international Anglican scene.

Sad developments in North America continue to astound me. The election of a bishop in Northern Michigan is who holds Buddhist ordination and follows both Buddhism and Christianity, being the most recent in a long line of abandonment of the Bible's authority.

It is quite clear to me now that there are distinctly two strands in the Anglican Communion. One which is orthodox, biblical and adheres to the historical bases of our denomination - the bible, creeds, book of common prayer, 39 articles, ordinal. And the other which is syncretistic, post-modern, and wracked by the heresies of the first centuries. We are just going to walk further and further apart.

There seem to also be two ways to deal with this situation. The path of the official denominational leaders is to continue to listen and talk and find our common ground. The other is to state our common ground in doctrine and find out whether we are are one or two.

And all of this raises the interesting question of unity, and where it is found. Are we unified because we are Anglican, or are we unified because of what we believe. I am proud to stand in a tradition of the Anglican church which confesses a particular faith, and to find unity with others who profess that faith as well. Historically in this time, it is well encapsulated in the Jerusalem Declaration to which I gladly give my assent. We live in interesting times.

Vision Leaders

I had a great weekend. Apart from really good services on Sunday, I spent Friday night and Saturday with the St Jude's Vestry on our annual overnight gathering.

We spent Friday evening talking about the things that we thought we could contribute to the Vestry, the things we needed to be confident about our decisions and our different preferences for working as a team. This was great, as there are a few new faces on the Vestry this year. Getting to know what each other brings and how we like to work is really important.

Saturday morning we spent a chunk of time looking at Philippians 2:12-18 and praying for the ministries of St Jude's. We spent an hour on our effectiveness in meetings. We considered some ideas about the role of Vestry from the governance review which is underway. In the afternoon we talked about our Buildings and the growth of the ministry and the need for resources, and made a few decisions about where we should go from here.

It was a quality time, not just because we did good business together, but because we shared our lives with each other. It was so exciting to be with people who love the Lord and our church, and want to see it grow and achieve its mission, and who work so hard to see this happen. We need to keep praying for this group, that they will walk closely with God and seek to serve him faithfully.

If you're at St Jude's and see a member of Vestry, why not try and encourage them?

Video generation

Sydney Diocese has launched a great new service - video news for churches. Have a look here. What a great idea!

Spiritual Searching

I met a guy at a BBQ at the weekend. He was interested in what I really did with my time. Did I spend time listening to people with problems, and running church services? And how come I was at a BBQ on a Sunday anyway?

We began to talk about church a bit, what it was for and why I thought it was important.

He then said - "I guess there is a sense that there is something spiritual in all of us - although most of us (like me) are in denial". At that point the chops caught fire, and there was not much chance to go the next step.

But he illustrated the truth of Romans 1: 19-20 which I had just read the day before.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse;

I wish I'd had the brains to have remembered this at the time. Still, I'm sure God was in the conversation, and the opportunity is not lost forever.

Promoting the Gospel

A few years ago I bought this book by John Dickson. It is a great read about the whole range of ways people in churches can promote the Gospel. We are not all evangelists, but we can all be promoters of the Gospel, through - our answers to questions, our good living, our giving financially and our prayers - among others.

On Tuesday night, I head John speak on this topic. It was a fantastic address, full of encouragement and hope for ordinary Christians in the way they can be involved in promoting the Gospel every day. Speaking from what he described as the 2 most paradigmatic texts on Gospel promotion - Colossians 4:2-6 and 1 Petr 3:14-16.

He made 4 points:

1. Prayer is the most basic gospel promoting activity. All of us can be involved in winning the world for Christ through prayer.

2. All believers are to speak up for the Lord, when asked. This is our duty to have an "answer for the hope within us". (1Peter 3:15)

3. Allegiance to Christ is the greatest motivation to speak of him. That is - the antidote to our coyness about speaking about Christ, is knowing Him, and being sold out for him.

4. We need to live lives that are worth questioning. Do we so live that people ask us about our hope.

I think this is very liberating and helps us think carefully about how we are going to see Spiritual Renewal in our city.

Renew Prayer

Our Church is seeking Spiritual Renewal - lives changed and transformed by Christ. We can work as hard as we like, but this is truly God's work. Whatever we do must be His, and whatever is His we must do.


So I am guessing that the most important church activity we can engage in is prayer. Where we seek God's blessing on us, so that the his saving power might be known. That is why I am convinced at the most important event in the church calendar after Sunday worship is the Prayer meeting.

This is not just rhetoric. I really believe what we read in Ephesians 3:20-21

Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

I'm praying for a great bunch of expectant, asking, imagining, pray-ers at the Prayer meeting tonight. I'm praying they will be astounded when God does more than we ask or imagine.

Leaders

Yesterday was the St Jude's Leaders' Summit. Each year we gather the leaders of our small groups, Sunday ministry leaders and those in oversight ministries together for the day. As usual it was a really encouraging day.

This year we were focusing on the Renew Vision. Rob Miller gave a great Bible Study on Psalm 67:1-2

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, 2 that your way may be known upon earth, your saving power among all nations.

He made the really simple point that asking God to bless us, (verse 1) will naturally take us in the direction of God's saving work in the world (v2), for us to see the nations saved.
We reconnected with the Vision, and spent the afternoon sessions thinking about strategies we could employ both in our leadership and in our ministry areas, to make sure the Vision kept on track, and moving forward.

The thing that stunned me once again, was what a great bunch of people the St Jude's leaders are. Young, energetic, excited about the Gospel, and keen to see our church grow. Thanks be to God.

Hoping to see LOTS of people at the Prayer meeting tomorrow night!

Lent

The church season of Lent is upon us. Pancake Tuesday today, Ash Wednesday tomorrow and then the 40 days leading up to Easter. I have been thinking about this season a bit. Partly prompted by the Estates congregation who try to observe this as a specially focused time of prayer for their mission.

I have to confess to not being into this much in the past. I think part of that is the silly reason of thinking it is a "bit too catholic" for my liking. But then I thought that, this is not really a sufficient reason to reject something that has been part of the church's life and practice for centuries.

So what is it about? Well it is really a time of preparing ourselves to remember once again the great sacrifice of Jesus and his resurrection at Easter. The mode of "preparation" for celebrating this, is one of repentance and searching our hearts, and making special times for prayer. You might argue that repentance, self examination and prayer should be the stuff of the normal Christian life, and you would be right. But surely there is nothing against having a special focus on this for a particular period.

Many have fasted during lent, or abstained from some particular thing - alcohol, chocolate, movies, etc etc. The idea here is that denying ourselves something will help us to remember to repent, examine and pray. Not a bad idea I guess.

The only dangers I can see in this is thinking a. that the abstaining is a good work in itself, b. that good works might earn us favour with God, and c. that we only need to repent for these 40 days in the year. But provided we remember we are saved by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus, we won't be in any great danger of this.

Perhaps the Book of Common Prayer collect (special prayer) for Ash Wednesday will help us:

Almighty and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let me know what you think?

On Friday Helen and I spent the morning with Stephen Holmes at Whittlesea and Kinglake. It was a surreal experience. The whole landscape looks like a war zone.

Standing outside the smouldering ruins of the Kinglake church, it is hard to imagine it was once a building, let alone a place of worship. The magnitude of the task of rebuilding this community is quite paralyzing. Where do you begin?

Stephen is keen for someone with a chainsaw to make him a communion table out of a blackened log, so he can hold service near the site.

We talked about how St Jude's could help. There are some practical things to do, but these seem very small in the scheme of things. We will keep talking and find a way.

Bushfires and Ministry

Going to visit the Anglican Minister in Whittlesea tomorrow and thinking about how we can support him.

The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne is doing some good things - Project Officers and extra Chaplains on the ground, for maybe even 6 months or more. You can donate to this at the Archbishop's Appeal.

But what can we do here in the city to help him show Christ's love to his hurting community? We need to give. We need to pray. It would be good to send some teams of people to help clean up. We can offer admin support. Other ideas?

Renewing us day by day

I have been thinking about the nature of our Spiritual renewal in preparation for the the things I will say at the St Jude's Leaders Summit next weekend.

The idea comes from 2 Corinthians 3:18: And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

That is - as followers of Christ we are in a process of transformation into the likeness of Christ and this is the work of the Spirit of God in us. It is a spiritual work of renewal.

I came across this lovely quote that expresses the depth of what is happening:

“the long and intricate, daily business of formation in Christ – that is, the practice of the dispositions and habits of the heart that changes our word spirituality from a wish or a desire or a fantasy or a diversion, into an actual life lived to the glory of God.”

Growing in Christ is not automatic. It is brought on by discipline and determination and repentance, and surrendering to the work of the Spirit in us. Keeping in step with the Spirit. (See Gal 5:25).

Where is God?

After the worst bushfire tragedy in Victoria's history many are asking this question - Where is God? or How do we answer our friends, when they ask us - How could a loving powerful God allow this to happen?

Here are some suggestions. (please note that one answer will not do - it is a complex problem and this could be the start of a long discussion):

1. "I don't really know or understand" is a good and biblical way to answer the question. That is because, none of us know the mind of God. Consider this from Isaiah 40:12-14

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has directed the spirit of the LORD, or as his counselor has instructed him? Whom did he consult for his enlightenment, and who taught him the path of justice? Who taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

Or this from Romans 11:33-36 quoting Isaiah 40 ...

O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has given a gift to him, to receive a gift in return?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.

The point is of course, that we would be very silly indeed to speak the mind of God beyond what he has actually told us. His ways are so far above our ways, that we should answer with great care.

Also as an aside here - these verses remind us that, those of us with faith need to beware the temptation to take on "defending God" or as a friend of mine said this week, to "get God off the hook" for this tragedy. To do so would be a dangerous route for us to take away from his sovereign rule over the world.

2. "He enters into the suffering of human beings" would be another part of the conversation. God is presented right through the scriptures as a God of great compassion, and love. And He became one of us in the person of Jesus, sharing the griefs and trials of the human condition. Weeping with us in our pain, and rejoicing in our joys. The Lord Jesus, was often "moved with compassion" on those in need. He advocated for the poor and the marginalised. He showed the highest expression of love - to lay down his life for his friends, that they might be saved. He knows what we are going through and shares our griefs.

3. "The world is damaged because of sin". It is a sign that the whole creation is in bondage to decay, when we see things like this happen. (As it is whenever we see death, be it a 23 year old man, or an 89 year old saint - death is an enemy, and part of the fallen world.) Paul reminds us in Romans 8:19-23 that the creation is groaning under the load of its own brokenness.

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

And God, in Jesus, is the only way out of that groaning. We have been joining the creation in groaning this week. We have heard its groans as clear as a bell, as it waits for the time it will be set free from bondage to decay, and will obtain that glorious freedom.

4. "That God has promised a day when he will restore the creation". The subjection of this world to its futility will one day come to end, when Jesus returns, and renews the whole creation. This is Christian hope for the bush fire victims, AND the wars in Sudan, and Congo, and Iraq and and.

Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; 4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." 5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new."

5. "God rules his world". We must not, in all of this make the mistake of saying that God was not present when the fires raged through. God was and is actively ruling over his creation. He is the one who makes fire and wind and they work at his command.

Psalm 148:7 Praise the LORD from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps, 8 fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling his command!

Psalm 135:5 For I know that the LORD is great; our Lord is above all gods. 6 Whatever the LORD pleases he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. 7 He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

Why he chose to bring these winds out of his storehouses on that day, and use fire to fulfil his command, I don't know. But to deny this, and somehow say God was not there and impotent against nature would be to deny his very character.

Why not post a reply with how you are answering these questions?

In the meantime have a look at what Tim Anderson wrote in the Hearld Sun, and what Jono Smith has written about God's sovereignty to get you thinking.

A fine example

Yesterday I conducted a memorial service for an old saint from St Augustine's Moreland - Dorothy Duver. I remember meeting this tiny old lady about 6 years ago when St Jude's was in partnership with Moreland. She was a faithful attender, quite hard of hearing, unobtrusive, and at first glance not particularly outstanding. How wrong appearances can be.

It was wonderful yesterday to hear story after story of Dorothy's influence in people's lives. She was born up near Ararat and came to Melbourne in 1950's to become a Deaconess. We don't know if she ever did the study, but she soon started work for the Bush Church Aid society ending up cooking for the hospital in Ceduna. She as a great cook (never cooking the same dessert twice in a year!). Later she cooked and kept house for CMS at St Andrew's Hall.

But what is most remarkable was her diligence in ministering to people's spiritual needs. A faithful pray-er, she never missed her quiet time. She would counsel people on the telephone and was a tireless visitor. We know that she pounded the pavements throughout Coburg, telling people about her church - just knocking on door after door, greeting, praying and inviting people to church.

I met one lady at the service who counts Dorothy as the one who led her to Christ, by visiting her when she moved into the area, and continuing to do so, showing care when her mother had died, and praying for her to come to faith. She did. Today she loves the Lord because of Dorothy's unassuming faithfulness.

Once she was visiting relatives on her annual visit to the country. After the visit she left behind her shoes and her Bible. When she realised she rang the family and said - "please post my Bible to me, I'll get the shoes next year". And she did.

I came away, so encouraged and uplifted having learned more about this great saint. How just like God to use a quirky, forthright, tiny slip of an old lady, to bless his people and grow his kingdom. Thanks be to God for Dorothy Duver.

Tim Patrick's Commissioning

Tim Patrick was commissioned as Senior Associate Minister at St Jude's 5pm Congregation last Sunday. Tim took the Anglican Oaths and Declarations as part of his commissioning. We did this in public, to underline how important it is that we have confidence our ministers believe the biblical faith and commit to live their lives according to his word.

Here is part of what Tim said:

“I..................... firmly and sincerely believe the Catholic Faith and I give my assent to the
doctrine of The Anglican Church of Australia as expressed in the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests and Deacons and the Articles of Religion, as acknowledged in section 4 of the Constitution, and I believe that doctrine to be agreeable to the word of God.

I declare my assent to the Fundamental Declarations of The Anglican Church of Australia as set out in sections 1, 2 and 3 of the Constitution."

The Fundamental Declarations are as follows:

FUNDAMENTAL DECLARATIONS

1. The Anglican Church of Australia, being a part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ, holds the Christian Faith as professed by the Church of Christ from primitive times and in particular as set forth in the creeds known as the Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed.

2. This Church receives all the canonical scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as being the ultimate rule and standard of faith given by inspiration of God and containing all things necessary for salvation.

3. This Church will ever obey the commands of Christ, teach His doctrine, administer His sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, follow and uphold His discipline and preserve the three orders of bishops, priests and deacons in the sacred ministry

Tim has committed himself to some pretty serious stuff. We ought to uphold him in prayer.

Renew Vision Update Feb 09

Last year St Jude's launched our Renew Vision - To Seek the spiritual renewal of inner northern Melbourne, our City and the World. Read more here.



I thought it was time to update some of our progress in Vision implementation.

Here are some of the things that are underway:

• We have made prayer a priority for the Vision and have re-launched our monthly prayer meetings as "Renew Prayer" where we focus in on aspects of the Vision each month. Last Monday there were 50 people at the meeting. We want to encourage each one to bring a friend next month. All of our leaders are expected to be part of these gatherings.
• We wanted to put some staff resources into raising up leaders, training and global mission, and so we appointed John Sugars as Assistant Vicar on Jan 1st to work 3 days a week in this area.
• We appointed Tim Patrick to the 5pm Congregation to help that part of our ministry re-focus on reaching the many young urban professionals in the inner north of Melbourne. He was commissioned on Sunday Feb 1st.
• We are currently reviewing the "governance structures" of St Jude's so that we have better accountability and reporting structures and a clearer idea what everyone in oversight ministries is supposed to be doing. The team is meeting this week and a report will come to the Vestry in a few months time.
• We are holding a lunch meeting for other church leaders in the Inner North of Melbourne to share some of our hopes and hopefully launch a prayer movement.
• We are working hard to launch a new St Jude's Website for better communication.

There are lots of other plans in place for 2009 and each team is working hard on their Vision goals.

Please pray for Spiritual Renewal - first for our church, and then for our World.