A reflection by Rev Dr Geoff Broughton, December 2015 Parker J Palmer, an educator and Quaker, has been one of the most reliable spiritual guides in my life since I first met him nearly 20 years ago in San Francisco. In one of his recent books, Healing the Heart of Democracy, he writes about the […]
Carols of Compassion
Why are we singing Christmas Carols here, outside the Department of Immigration? Government employees, prison officers and border protection personnel – forget for the moment security guards contracted to private companies – are not theologically bound to love their enemies, to renounce retribution, or to act justly, to love mercy or to walk humbly. As […]
Advent: A Season for Singing
In a consumer culture like ours it has become a financial necessity for the retailers to be the “advent” of Christmas. In shopping centres everywhere the Christmas carols we love to sing appear along with the Christmas trees, decorations and the incessant advertising. Well-intentioned attempts to revive the “meaning for the season” fall largely on […]
“We can take still more”
SYNOD CALLS FOR GENEROSITY The Synod of the Diocese of Sydney has called on the government to increase the refugee intake to allow for more Syrian refugees, while calling on Sydney Anglicans to show ‘concrete acts of mercy and generosity’. The final night of Synod was given over to speeches and ideas from the floor […]
The Church in this place called ‘Five Ways’
More than 125 years ago the Anglican Church at Five Ways began life as a ‘wayside chapel’ of the large, grand and wealthy establishment church in East Sydney (St John’s Darlinghurst). Times have changed. Since those days before Federation there has been a role reversal for residents of the inner east! Unfortunately the church has […]