Just a reminder of the post I put up a couple of years ago about How to be Single at Christmas.
Oh, and in case anyone is wondering what I’m eating for Christmas dinner, let’s just say that Lidl’s promotion of Rudolph Steaks is very welcome in Praepostorial Towers.
You’ve missed out one that I know is important to you: a clear commitment to social justice, local, national and global. Sublime aesthetics are all very well but most Freshers are young people and they want to know what you stand for. Otherwise, saying, in a nutshell, ‘all is well’ rings rather hollow. So a church that doesn’t indulge in party politics but does for instance condemn the malevolent stupidity of attempting, again, to fight an anti-Western ideology with indiscriminate Western bombing would let Freshers know that this church at least is smart enough to read the signs of the times and apply relevant Gospel values. Rather than just be vaguely lovely when our government is getting away with murder.
These are wise comments Alan. Several decades ago when i was a fresher…the anti-Vietnam protests in Australia were in full flight.
I don’t think the church took a high enough profile, but many of us participated.
Then there were the anti-apartheid demonstrations, when South African Rugby visited…these too were important.
A wise Archbishop of Adelaide (later Australian Primate) Keith Rayner reminded us that one of the roles of young Christians is to pursue causes, be enthusiastic, and to challenge the church.
Having been a University Chaplain (University of Adelaide, South Australia), and now a priest in an inner city church of a University town (Adelaide, South Australia http://stmarymags125.blogspot.com.au/) I perceive much wisdom in your comments here
I also want to add another dimension, which is true both of our church (St Mary Magdalene’s Adelaide, & of the Cathedral Church of St Peter, Adelaide):
that social outreach is important.
A very Anglo Catholic principle.
Two decades or more ago a group of ‘earnest’ (quite the wrong word to describe the lovely kids who were uni students in the 80s) but genuine Christians ….sat around for weeks wondering about how they should put their faith into practice. Finally they just decided they needed to DO something. That something was putting on a slap-up meal on Saturday nights. That has continued for nearly thirty years. Diocesan parishes and schools volunteer every week.
Really looking forward to my first Christmas here, when the parish will outdo itself with a proper Christmas dinner for those who we are called to love.
I am impressed by the quality of University and young professional volunteers who staff this wonderful ministry.
It strikes me that most freshers get this as authentic Gospel…and so do I
The gospel reading that we have just heard comes in two paragraphs. One apparently easier on our ears and easier on our minds than the other. After all, Jesus says, ?When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens?. Well, after the week…
To Perth this morning for the first meeting of the Electoral Synod. There is a vacancy in the diocese for a new bishop and this was the first part of the process. Most of the time today was devoted to listening to what people from the congregations want from a new bishop. It made me…
I've enjoyed playing around with the Political Compass webpages. No surprises at all about the result I got when I took the test, I could have predicted it pretty accurately beforehand. However, it is interesting to think about the questions that they ask.
Yes, that was me in the swimming trunks and wellington boots trying to prevent water from coming into the Rectory.
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