A MAGAZINE FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIANS FEBRUARY 2021 Cross on a pillar in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself John 12:32 FEBRUARY 2021 03 Editor's Note 04 Feature - Lent 21 05 From the Archbishop 06 Lent 07 2021 Lenten Resources 08 Feature - America . a deeply divided society 10 St George's Cathedral 11 Anglican Community Fund 12 Amana Living 14 Anglican Schools Commission 15 Anglicare WA 16 Goldfields 17 Liturgy 18 Mission 2020+ 20 Mission - Our Friends And Partners In Eldoret 23 St Bart's 24 Bunbury Bulletin 25 News From the Nor’West 26 Mission - ABM 28 Book Reviews 30 Archives 31 Crossword 32 Theatre - And Other Arts 33 Parish Vacancies In The Diocese Of Perth 34 Clergy News 34 Parish Vacancies In The Diocese Of Perth 35 Classifieds / Crossword solution 36 Where to Worship - St George's Cathedral 5 MARKS OF MISSION 1 To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom 2 To teach, baptise and nurture new believers 3 To respond to human need by loving service 4 To transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation 5 To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth 2 EDITOR'S NOTE Dear Readers, It’s good to be saying welcome to the February 2021 edition of the Messenger. It is a little late going to press this month due to the unexpected lockdown in WA. Lent 2021 is a main focus for many of our writers this month and if you haven’t yet given thought to what your extra Lent reading and bible study will be there are a number of excellent resources within that you can access before 17 February, Ash Wednesday. All eyes have been on the United States of America since their election in November 2020 and the article by Professor Andrew McGowan draws some sobering conclusions and raises challenges as he writes and reflects theologically on what the current situation in America may mean both there and for those of us in this part of the world, including for Christians. Regular contributor Peter Laurence, CEO of the Anglican Schools Commission, highlights the beginning of the new school year and the hope that the work of dedicated staff and students in the Anglican schools in WA bring as they look to the new year. Mark Glasson, the CEO of Anglicare WA, asks readers to consider the issues of faced by people on JobSeeker and the difference for families whose incomes will once again be below the poverty line when the extra supplement made last year comes to an end. If you want to read a story that will help you understand the impact of the ministry our agencies have in people’s lives, go to the story of Amana Living’s Edward Collick resident, Dallas, written by Amana Living CEO Stephanie Buckland. February has begun in a way that could not be anticipated with a lockdown in Perth, Peel and the South West; fires in the north east of Perth and floods in the north of the state. We at the Messenger know that reading and praying go hand in hand. May those for whom you pray know the depth of God’s love no matter what their circumstances. God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change; courage to change the things we can; and wisdom to know the difference. Sincerely The Messenger Team 3 FEATURE LENT 21 ent, Easter, and Pentecost present themselves year We enter into Lent because we know we cannot Lafter year with increasing urgency, inviting everyone remain the same. However much we resist change, we to engage more deeply with the Christlike God, setting are more fearful of being left behind. We want to go on aside all human definitions of God, allowing God who living, to go on growing, however painful growth can meets us in Jesus’ words and deeds to come clearly be. As Lent begins, we start out again, eyes fixed on into focus. Easter dawn’s first light, learning to be human together, a bit more adventurous, more sensitive, responsible, So, on Ash Wednesday we set out on a ninety-day courageous.. journey with all seekers after truth, through forty days of preparation we call Lent, to fifty days of Easter Perhaps, this time around, navel-gazing will give way to celebration culminating in the Day of Pentecost. looking up. Whether we have travelled this way a hundred times, or Perhaps, we can look neighbours in the eye, sharing one only once, or never before, we are pilgrims on a journey, another’s joys, bearing one another’s burdens. opening hearts and hands to receive God’s gifts, opening Perhaps our Lenten discipline, God’s eastering in our hearts and hands to share these gifts with anyone and hearts, will make us kind - attentive, imaginative, gentle everyone we meet on the road. with ourselves and with each other. We think we know the way and destination, for in Jesus’ Receiving grace and acting graciously might just be company ashes always lead to light and fire, as dying possible at last. leads to fullness of life. And yet, we do not know the way, and cannot know, because the way of the cross is the Selflessness, after all, comes from following in the same but ever new. This is a new day, and the world is footprints of the Lord who goes before us, emptying not the same. This is a new day, and we are not the same. himself of everything but love, calling us to follow in This is a new day, and the needs of our companions and his way. neighbours are not the same. Thanks to Covid-19 we are Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return. more alert than before to these truths, just as we are Repent, and believe the gospel. slightly better at recognising the fresh start of Easter dawn, the first day of God’s new creation, bursting with new life, sure yet endlessly surprising, mystery beyond all human understanding. 4 FROM THE ARCHBISHOP The Most Revd Kay Goldsworthy AO | Archbishop aul’s final words to the Christian community in 1 Jesus, even though we in WA may have become a bit PThessalonians are words of encouragement, urging complacent. We have been a bit relaxed in our COVID them toward peace together in the love of Jesus, and safe practices, sitting a little closer to each other, by- to thanksgiving and prayer, in every circumstance of passing the hand sanitiser, forgetting the elbow touch their common life. in favour of kissing or shaking hands again, secure in Now, all these centuries later, prayer remains one of the our little bubble. most used words in the Christian lexicon, and prayer is Breathing a collective sigh of relief, some of us started central in all we do - following Jesus, walking as he walked, making interstate travel plans, booking family reunions faithfully trusting God’s love in every circumstance. So it and work meetings, as if things were getting back to is that these words of St Paul to that early church have normal. Last week’s sudden lockdown stopped us in our life and agency for us here and now as we stand at the tracks, bringing a jolting halt to any dreams that back to beginning of a new year. The pattern then remains the normal, or business as usual, is currently the way for the pattern for us now: ‘admonish the disorderly, encourage world or the church. Certainly not yet, perhaps never. the faint hearted, assist the weak, be patient toward all, Lockdown and bushfires have again brought us to see that none of you repays anyone evil for evil, always our knees, carrying us more deeply into prayer and aspire to what is good for one another and for all.’ And if action, into commitment to one another, responsibility most of us don’t know this sentence off by heart, we can for sisters and brothers, neighbours and strangers. effortlessly recite the next: Rejoice always, pray without Giving thanks in all circumstances means being honest ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s about the real state of things, living with things as they will for you in Christ Jesus. are, lending a hand wherever we can, sure of God’s As 2020 drew to a close, I was fully aware that every closeness in bad times as well as good, even in the face parish and school we bishops had been with, were of darkness and terrible loss. praying week in and week out, daily, sometimes It might be worth reflecting that by no efforts of our hourly for people all over the world living and dying own, we are in fact better poised to begin together our in the pandemic. annual Lent journey to Easter than we would like to be, Now we are giving thanks for vaccines already being perfectly poised to encourage the faint-hearted, assist rolled out in some places, and looking to be close the weak, be patient toward all, seeing that none of in others. We give thanks for leaders acting to slow us repays anyone evil for evil, always aspiring to what opportunity for virus transmission, and for every person is good for one another and for all. Rejoice always, on the front line of medical aid and care, asking God’s pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, loving protection and mercy in their work, in their for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.