On this Fathers’ Day, it is natural to think of God’s nature as the perfect father: “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him” (Psalm 103:13). We give thanks to God for our fathers, and pray that God will help all fathers to model themselves on him.
The Sydney Anglican Synod starts this coming Saturday, which I will attend with our lay representative Karen Calayag. The synod is a bit like a parliament of the church, meeting for just 5 days per year. Apart from last year’s special synod to elect an archbishop, we have not had a full synod since before COVID.
You could think this sounds boring, or “political”, but in fact these synods are generally held in a very good spirit, and many encouraging things are said. The purpose is to work out how all the parishes can best work together to reach Sydney with the love of Christ. If it works well, then everyone goes back to their parish feeling empowered to continue their work in the harvest field. That has been my experience to date.
On Saturday, they are holding the synod “in the greenfields”, at the fairly new Anglican Centre in Oran Park, so that synod members can get a taste of the challenge we face to establish churches in newly opening areas of Sydney, where 250,000 people will soon be living on what has been farmland. We need tens of millions of dollars to acquire land for these new churches. I have been hoping and praying that our congregation may be able to help. I’ll tell you more after the synod!
In brief:
- Confirmation, with Bishop Michael Stead, is in two weeks’ time, on Sunday 18th September, 4.00 pm. This is the first confirmation service we will have held in over five years. If you usually attend in the morning, why not come to church twice that day, so you can support those young people who are affirming the promises made for them at their baptism.
Yours,
Andrew Schmidt
Rector