Our work is loving the world
Dear Friends,
In recent weeks the Anglican world has been making headlines. For the first time in its long history, the Church of England has elected a woman — Dame Sarah Mullally — as Archbishop of Canterbury. Her appointment is historic and deeply hopeful for many who have long prayed for leadership that reflects the full dignity and gifts of all God’s people.
At the same time, the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) has announced that it will no longer recognise the Archbishop of Canterbury’s authority, naming itself the “true” Anglican Communion. These developments have sparked grief and frustration across the Anglican family, as long-standing divisions rise to the surface.
While these global shifts are significant, they will not alter the make up of the Australian Anglican Church which remains in communion with Canterbury, or the heart of our shared life here on the ground. Whatever happens in Canterbury or Abuja, our calling at Kenmore–Brookfield remains the same: to love God, to love neighbour, and to bear witness to hope in our local community. We continue to gather for prayer, share meals, to offer our service that responds to the human need around us, and seek justice for those who are hurting. In the midst of large-scale debate, the faithful rhythms of local life matter more than ever.
In one of my favourite poems, the poet Mary Oliver wrote, “My work is loving the world… which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.” Our call is to be faithfully present where we are — attending to the small and the beautiful, rejoicing in what grows, celebrating new life wherever we encounter it, and giving thanks for one another.
As the wider Communion wrestles with its long history of issues, our best contribution is to keep living the gospel right here: to remain grounded, gracious, and open-hearted; to model a church that listens more than it shouts; and to trust that God’s Spirit continues to move through every act of kindness and courage.
Our work, as Oliver says, is “loving the world.”
May we keep at it — tending to our common life, praying for the global church, and rejoicing that the God who calls us to love each other has never stopped loving us first.
Peace and grace,
Rev’d Deborah Bird
Some helpful words and prayers from Australian liturgist, Elizabeth Smith:
It just might be a good time in the Anglican world to lament our disunity, confess our resistance to loving our Anglican neighbours, and pray for the Spirit to work on all of us. Praying is always preferable to finger-pointing; and, as a wise priest said when I was a curate long ago, we confess our own sins, not other people's.
A prayer of lament - disunity
O Christ, your body is stretched and torn
by your friends who cannot befriend each other.
We bring long-held grudges and recent grievances,
and we chew them over,
even at the foot of your cross.
We tiptoe around chasms of misunderstanding,
we pick our way anxiously
among stumbling-blocks of language and culture,
and blame each other for every mis-step,
even while singing of your Spirit.
We tremble to name the troubles we see
in the church and the world,
for fear of our own sins finding us out,
for fear that we will become easy targets
for everyone’s hostility.
Have pity on us,
for our hands are not strong enough
and our hearts are not big enough
to hold all together in love.
When will you come to us, foolish as we are,
downcast and despairing?
When will you send us a breath of your Spirit
with the perfume of resurrection and hope?
A Confession and Words of Assurance
Let us confess our sins, trusting in God’s forgiveness,
as we pray together:
Lord Jesus Christ,
you prayed for your friends that they would be one
as you and your Father are one.
We confess our resistance to your prayer.
We have failed to maintain the unity of the Spirit
We have broken the bond of peace.
For the times we have not listened to each other,
when we have spoken in anger, haste or fear,
we are sorry.
For the times we have not loved each other,
when we have competed, insulted or judged each other,
we are sorry.
For the harm that our disunity has done
to our witness to the Gospel,
we are sorry.
Have mercy on us, we pray.
Restore us to friendship with you
and with one another,
through the power of your Spirit. Amen.
Words of assurance - unity
No powers, no height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation
can separate us from the love of God
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Christ offers us the gift of peace,
peace that the world cannot give.
Christ calls us back into communion with him
and with each other.
May the peace he breathes on us
become our gift for the world he loves. Amen.
A prayer to the Spirit – for unity
Come, Holy Spirit!
Breathe your peace on us,
and on the whole Church of God.
Give us grace to be worthy of our calling.
May we bear true witness
to one Lord, Jesus Christ,
one faith in his death and resurrection,
one baptism that has made us members of his body,
one God and father of all.
Banish from our hearts all bitterness and envy,
all anxiety and fear.
Pour out afresh today
your astonishing variety of gifts,
so that the body may build itself up in love.
Teach us to recognise the grace of Christ in one another,
and to bring our own treasures with humility,
for the service of others.
Come, Holy Spirit!
The Messenger
By Mary Oliver
My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.
Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,
which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,
which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.
