Click here to join our Zoom bi-lingual service on Sunday at 10am.
Il Sassoferrato, The Virgin in Prayer, 1640-50
This Sunday we celebrate Mary, mother of our Lord.
From early on in church history Mary was honoured and esteemed. Jesus had ascended to be the judge of all creation, and the art of early Apostolic times shows him sitting in judgement with all creation being brought before him. Some people were judged worthy of entry into heaven but others were depicted as being sent to oblivion. At this stage of Christian history, Jesus didn’t seem very approachable, and so people turned to someone they thought they could approach with their prayers - Mary, a mother. She was seen as a source of comfort during the time of Christian persecution and an intercessor, a go-between, to Christ the Son, who judged the world.
Irenaeus called her the New Eve, Athanasius taught about her perpetual virginity, and the Council of Ephesus in 431 declared her to be Theotokos, Mother of God, because of the hypostatic union of divinity and humanity in the one person – her son Jesus Christ. If Jesus is God, then Mary is the Mother of God (not of God the Father or the Holy Spirit, of course).
After the English Reformations, the English church played down the role of Mary because we know that we can pray directly to God the Father and don’t need Mary’s help in doing that. Jesus is the only intercessor we need. If we don’t know what to pray, the Holy Spirit will speak for us. Anglicans do not pray to the Virgin Mary nor to any of the saints. Instead we ask them to join with us in our prayers as we are all part of the Communion of Saints, on earth and in heaven, continually praying to and worshipping God.
Anglicanism has not generally accepted beliefs concerning Mary's immaculate conception, perpetual virginity nor her bodily assumption to heaven after her death. These are counter-reformation dogma more formally adopted by what then became the Roman Catholic Church as a reaction against the reformations in Europe and in England. Some may hold these views as pious opinions but there is no scriptural basis for them.
We speak of Mary with reverence because she accepted God’s call to be the Mother of our Lord. She was present at his birth and at his death. She was chosen by God and willingly accepted this unique role in salvation history.
Lady Chapels, such as our own and from where this morning’s video service was filmed, is a chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and is common to most cathedrals and in many churches. Below is the Henry VII Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey, burial place of many English kings and queens.
Angela, our Parish Administrator, is back from leave and is working from home, during this lockdown period. She can be contacted by email at office@standrewsbrighton.org.au. The Parish Office phone still redirected to my mobile phone as most of the incoming calls relate to funerals and interments which have to be done on site.
We have been blessed with new dial-in access to our document servers which will assist us working from home while we are not easily able to access the Parish Office. A priority will be to ensure that the email address lists that we use to communicate with you at home, are more fully populated with names and not just email addresses.
This week at our monthly Deanery meeting of the local Anglican clergy spoke of what we are learning during this lockdown and pandemic about our churches, our people and ourselves.
Details of our on-line services and bible studies can be found on our At Home @ St Andrew’s webpage click here, and join us our ‘Catch up with the Vicar and friends’ on Wednesdays at 10.30am. You can join on line or by phone. If you need help connecting with us for any activity, call me on 0421 321 321.
We also have bible studies on Thursdays at 10am (English) and Fridays at 7.30pm (Chinese).
Click on the times above for the links to join these studies.
Other activities which may also interest and which you can join on-line:
“Pilgrimage in Lockdown” – a Zoom talk and discussion on isolation, pilgrimage and the wisdom of the desert, led by the Most Reverend Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York –
25 August @ 7pm. Click here to register click here. To join the talk on the night, click here.
Virtual reality, digital social relationships and how young people can navigate the opportunities and pitfalls of the online world are all up for discussion on this month's episode of Angles on Science, Faith and Culture. Host the Revd Dr Chris Mulherin is joined by Dr Katherine Canobi, a cognitive development scientist and author of the young adult science fiction novel Mindcull, and Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne Dr Philip Freier. The podcast is now available by searching for Angles on Science, Faith and Culture on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts, or click here to go to the website and follow the links.
Michelle and I trust that you will all be able to stay safe in the coming weeks.
主任牧师寄语 16/08/2020
伊尔·萨索费拉托，祈祷中的圣母，1640-50年
这个主日我们纪念圣母玛利亚。
从教会历史的早期开始，玛利亚就受到重视和尊敬。耶稣已经升天成为所有受造物的审判者，早期使徒时代的艺术作品显示他坐在审判台上，所有受造物都被带到他面前。有些人被判定有资格进入天堂，而另一些人则被描绘成被遗忘。在基督教历史的这个阶段，耶稣似乎不太容易接近，所以人们转向他们认为可以通过祷告接近的人——圣母玛利亚。在基督教遭受迫害的时期，她被视为安慰的来源，也是审判世界的圣子基督的代祷者和中间人。
依勒内(Irenaeus)称她为“新夏娃”(New Eve)，亚他那修(Athanasius)教导她永远保持童贞，以弗所(Ephesus)在431年宣布她为“神之母”(Theotokos)，因为神性和人性的实体结合在一个人身上——她的儿子耶稣基督(Jesus Christ)。如果耶稣是上帝，那么玛利亚就是上帝的母亲(当然不是圣父或圣灵)。
英国宗教改革后，英国教会淡化了玛利亚的作用，因为我们知道我们可以直接向天父祈祷，而不需要玛利亚的帮助。耶稣是我们唯一需要的代祷者。如果我们不知道该祷告什么，圣灵会替我们说话。圣公会教徒不向圣母玛利亚或任何圣人祈祷。相反，我们请他们与我们一起祷告，因为我们都是地上和天上圣徒交通的一部分，不断地向神祷告和敬拜。
英国国教没有普遍接受有关圣母无玷原罪、永久童贞或她死后身体升天的信仰。这些反宗教改革的教条被后来的罗马天主教会正式采纳，作为对欧洲和英格兰改革的反抗。有些人可能认为这些观点是虔诚的意见，但没有圣经教义的基础。
我们崇敬地谈论玛利亚，因为她接受了上帝的召唤，成为我们主的母亲。他出生和死亡时她都在场。她被上帝选中，欣然接受了这个在救赎史上独一无二的角色。
女士礼拜堂，比如我们自己的lady Chapel，今天早上的视频服务就是在这里拍摄的，是一个献给圣母玛利亚的礼拜堂，在大多数教会和许多教堂中都很常见。下面是威斯敏斯特大教堂的亨利七世女士礼拜堂，是许多英国国王和王后的墓地。
在这段禁闭期间，我们教会的行政职员Angela在家工作。可以通过电子邮件office@standrewsbrighton.org.au联系她。教会办公室的电话在下个星期会转到NBN，但它仍然会转到我的手机上，因为大部分来电都是有关葬礼的，这些葬礼都必须在现场进行。
在目前无法轻易进入教会办公室的情况下，我们正在努力使我们的文件伺服器能够拨号进入，为了能准时收到教会信息，请首先确保在我们用于在家与您通信的电子邮件地址列表中完整地填写了姓名，而不仅仅是电子邮件地址。
在本周举行的每月一次的圣公会牧师会议上，当地的圣公会牧师谈到了我们在这次封锁和大流行期间对我们的教堂、我们的社区居民和我们自己的了解。
我们的网上服务及查经详情可在St Andrew’s的网页上找到，At Home @ St Andrew’s，并于星期三上午十时三十分加入我们的“与主任牧师及朋友见面”。你可以通过网络 加入或电话加入。如果您有任何事情需要联系我们，请致电0421 321 321。
我们在星期四上午10点(英文)和星期五晚上7:30(中文)有圣经学习。请点击上面的链接加入。其他你可能感兴趣并可在网上参加的活动:
“禁闭中的朝圣”——一个关于隔离、朝圣和沙漠智慧的Zoom网上谈话和讨论，由the Most Reverend Stephen Cottrell, York大主教8月25日@晚上7时主讲。注册点击这里。想参加晚上的讲座，请点击这里。
在本月的《科学、信仰和文化角度》(Angles on Science, Faith and Culture)中我们将要讨论虚拟现实、数字社交关系以及年轻人如何把握网络世界的机遇和陷阱，牧师 Dr Chris Mulherin博士 将主持本节目，认知发展科学家、青少年科幻小说《Mindcull》的作者Katherine Canobi博士以及墨尔本圣公会大主教Philip博士共同参与。
祝福大家在未来的几周内安全。