Southern Cross December 2016
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DECE MBER Southern2016 THE NEWS MAGAZINE FOR SYDNEY ANGLICANS CROSS Eyes of faith SCIENTISTS SEE GOD AT WORK, IN THEIR WORK + Euthanasia and dying with “dignity” & Holiday flicks ISSN 2207-0648 ISSN CONT ENTS Surely the worth of a society lies in how it treats those who can’t care for COVER themselves? Cancer research: Rebecca Poulos Dr Megan Best looks for DNA Feature patterns in the lab. 10 Sydney News 3 Australian News 4 Letters 5 cross Changes 6 Southern anglican DECEMBER 2016 media volume 22 number 11 sydney Essay 7 PUBLISHER: Anglican Media Sydney PO Box W185 Archbishop Writes 8 Parramatta Westfield 2150 PHONE: 02 8860 8860 2016 FAX: 02 8860 8899 Cover Feature 9 EMAIL: [email protected] MANAGING EDITOR: Russell Powell EDITOR: Judy Adamson Moore is More 10 ART DIRECTOR: Stephen Mason ADVERTISING MANAGER: Kylie Schleicher DECEMBER PHONE: 02 8860 8850 Feature 11 EMAIL: [email protected] Acceptance of advertising does not imply endorsement. Inclusion of advertising material is at cross Events 12 the discretion of the publisher. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Garry Joy PHONE: 02 8860 8861 Culture 13 EMAIL: [email protected] $44.00 per annum (Australia) Southern 2 SYDNEY NEWS Nativity star 2016 DECEMBER cross No room at the Star: Mary and Joseph arrive in Bethlehem in Born is the King. A NEW PRODUCTION IS LOOKING TO GIVE CHURCHES A BOOST FOR THEIR CHRISTMAS CAROLS Southern season. Born is the King is part nativity play, part carols service and was written by Dr Laurel Moffatt, a 3 doctor of literature and wife of the rector of Church Hill Anglican, the Rev Justin Moffatt. She says the idea for a Christmas play came about for fairly pragmatic reasons. “We’d wanted to involve the kids in our church more in the Christmas services, which up until last year had been a usual carols service with small parts that the kids did not have to prepare for. “Naomi Straw [Church Hill’s children’s worker] and I looked around for things we could do, but didn’t come across anything that really fit the bill… some sort of play that still involved everyone singing carols together. So I decided to write something for us. And this became Born is the King.” Dr Moffatt says the story has been written to be child-friendly, with roles easy for children to learn, along with more complex parts for adults to take on. The script itself retains plenty of big nods and little winks for adults to appreciate. It was also important to make the show work in a range of church contexts. “We have a small kids church and we don’t have a big budget, so this was written with that in mind,” she says. “But I also deliberately tried to create a resource that can be expanded if need be. If you have a big kids church, it’s extendable. “This isn’t just a performance for kids, it can be for all ages of people you have in your church. So for us… we had a Gabriel who was 30 years old, a Roman soldier who was mid- 20s, the two-year-olds were sheep, a nine-year old was Mary and an 11-year-old was Joseph. That was key – it not being just for kids, although it’s accessible to them.” This is the second year Born is the King has been “out in the wild”, with Church Hill and St John’s Diamond Creek in Victoria the first to run a production in 2015. Dr Moffatt says that as of last month 40 different people had bought the show, and productions are planned in Sydney, Adelaide and far away as Kuala Lumpur and Cape Town. “It’s pretty exciting,” she says. “It may be a bit of a risk, I guess, for people to try something like this, but the feedback I’ve gotten on the script has been good, people are enjoying using it, and churches are rehearsing it now for their Christmas events.” Born is the King is available online at citytocityaustralia.org.au for $45. The package includes the script, printable props and illustrations and other materials to be used for print and online advertising. Packed with love Sharing the cheer: Long-term volunteer Joy Austin packs Anglicare hampers. photo: Janine Jones THERE’S A CHEERFUL BUZZ AT ANGLICARE’S WAREHOUSE IN VILLAWOOD AS A GROUP OF MORE than 20 volunteers busily pack and seal hampers ready to distribute to clients as part of the annual Toys ‘n’ Tucker drive. “I love it – I love doing this and I’ve met some wonderful people through it,” says Joy Austin, who has been a volunteer for the past 18 years and was joined by husband David in 2004 after he retired. “I started because I saw an ad – it might even have been in Southern Cross – saying that Anglicare needed helpers. So I went along and that was it! A lot of people volunteer for quite a few years. It’s such a rewarding job.” Teresa Clark, Anglicare’s business manager for sustainable living, says there’s “no chance” the organisation would be able to prepare its many thousands of hampers in time if it weren’t for the volunteers – who, between them, will provide about 3000 hours of labour this year. And that figure doesn’t include the school groups who help with set-up or the “buddies” for truck drivers, who help lift heavy bags and boxes of donated food and toys. “We’re hoping to do more hampers this year because there’s definitely an increase in demand – an increase in the number of people doing it tough,” Mrs Clark says. “Churches are trying to support their local communities through the Christmas period so the orders are going up. Western and southwestern Sydney are always big pockets of need, and there’s a lot down in the Illawarra as well. But really, there’s need within every community… even in places you wouldn’t expect.” Mrs Austin, who attends St Thomas’, Enfield, focuses her attention on food hampers. She says the contents are more general than Christmassy, with basics provided such as coffee, tea, pasta, long-life milk or custard and tinned meat, fruit and vegetables, along with treat extras such as lollies and jelly. “This year for the first time we’re not putting a Christmas pudding in because some of the people receiving the hampers suggested pancake mix instead,” she says. “There’ll still be puddings available when they pick the hampers up so that, if they want, they can take a hamper and a pudding.” Mrs Austin and her husband originally planned to finish up last year, but still found themselves back and serving when November rolled around. “At some point we’ll have to stop,” she says. “I’ll be almost 80 by this time next year… but it’ll be hard to give it up!” For those interested in helping pack hampers, volunteer spaces are available before the finish date on December 16 – especially for driver “buddies”. Email [email protected] Georges River support Ready to go – with help: the Rev Stephen Gardner and the Rev John Bartik. TWO KEY GEORGES RIVER PARISHES WILL WELCOME SENIOR MINISTERS IN THE NEW YEAR, looking to turn over a new leaf in some of Sydney’s fastest-changing suburbs. The Rev John Bartik, currently acting rector at Revesby, and the Rev Stephen Gardner – an assistant minister at West Pymble – are moving into the parishes, with Mr Bartik heading to nearby Bankstown and Mr Gardner taking up the post at Canterbury with Hurlstone Park. “My wife Claire and I have had an interest in working in this area of Sydney for a while,” Mr Gardner says. “With the growth and change happening in the region, we wanted to help to see people won for Christ in the area – and we were also particularly wanting to serve in under-resourced locations as well. We’d been praying about it and early on this year going to Canterbury opened up. It’s really an exciting opportunity.” Major demographic changes are taking place in these parish areas, and both are also smaller churches aiming to kick-start new growth. Bankstown has been without a senior minister for some time, with the rector of St Martin’s, Georges Hall, the Rev Gary Bennetts, serving as acting senior minister. Says Mr Bartik: “Part of what attracted me was that it’s a church that’s doing things. They have a strong ministry in their ESL classes, and I am the ESL co-ordinator for the region. They also have a full- time evangelist there, Grant de Villiers, who’s been doing good work. Given I’ll still have to work in my ESL role alongside this role, it’s good that those things are going on! There’s still plenty to do, of course, because the whole area is in transition, as is the church.” As both parishes are unable to support a full-time minister on their own, Mr Gardner and Mr Bartik are receiving financial support from elsewhere. Mr Gardner is being supported as a missionary by West Pymble and other Sydney churches, while Mr Bartik will continue in his part-time role as Anglicare’s ESL co-ordinator for the Georges River region. Says Mr Gardner: “We certainly have some ideas of what we’d like to do [in the parish], but we also feel that the first year will also be spent discerning where we should go collectively with the people already working hard at St Paul’s.