Archbishop Ric Thorpe

31 December 2025

Archbishop Ric Thorpe delivered this sermon on Matthew 28:16-20 at his installation as the 14th Archbishop of Melbourne on 30 November 2025. 

Well, first of all, thank you for electing me, for welcoming us, and for praying for us. Louie and I are honoured, humbled, daunted, and excited to be here. The Anglican appointment system involves a collective discernment of thousands of different people. So we stand before you today as people deeply called by God and called by you, and sent here by the Church of England, our families and friends, and by the God who sends us. Your encouragement, letters, cards, emails, videos, conversations have felt at times like a huge wave flowing over us.  

I have, however, encountered an early and significant problem: which football team to support? I have been lobbied theologically, on missional grounds, on practical grounds, and emotionally manoeuvred – that’s the polite way of saying it – to support at least seven teams so far. I may have to wait until I’ve been propositioned by all of them before making a decision.   

Melbourne’s sporting life is infectious. AFL, cricket. There is something I do want to say about the Ashes, but now’s not the time. Rugby, we love rugby, tennis, F1; we love sports, but what matters most is you. And we thank you for your welcome. And we want to, right at the beginning, honour Archbishop Phillip and Joy for nearly two decades of faithful service for national leadership in indigenous reconciliation and social justice, and for guiding this diocese through financial and cultural change. Phillip, we thank you as I follow you and all who have carried the staff before me and as I hear St Paul’s charge to Timothy about being a bishop and overseer, I know the weight and privilege of this role. I have big shoes to fill. So, thank you again to Bishop Geneive, to the Board of Nominators, to the Synod, and to all who have served so sacrificially this last year. And particularly, I want to thank the other candidates who are each remarkable leaders in themselves and whom we honour today too. We are deeply grateful.

Read more: Archbishop-elect looks towards a ‘new season’ in Melbourne

I love the passage Louie read, the Great Commission. Matthew tells us the disciples had gathered at Jesus’ direction and they worshipped him, but also they doubted. They had a mixture, I believe, of nerves and excitement, wonder and uncertainty. Perhaps that’s where we stand at the start of this new season. And this passage reminds us that we are part of something much bigger that builds on all those who have gone before us in the diocese of Melbourne.  

It’s all about Jesus. Jesus begins here, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”  

So whatever expectations we carry about leadership, direction, strategy, we must begin here. It’s all about Jesus. He is in charge. This is his church. He is the Lord of all. All authority belongs to him.  

I discovered this personally when I was 19 years old. I believed in God, but he felt distant. I’d built a safe, contained version of him, explaining away anything supernatural, making an argument for him being distant. Then a friend invited me to church, the same friend who later introduced me to Louie. And during the sermon, Jesus met me. It was as though the small structure I had built to keep him at arm’s length simply collapsed. And there he was, coming towards me, saying, “It’s not all about that, Ric. It’s about me.” And in my mind’s eye, he embraced me. I knew he loved me and accepted me. My life no longer orientated around me, but around him. That moment changed everything.

Louie and I have just been on retreat for a few days with Bishop David Urquhart, reflecting on John’s gospel on abiding in Jesus. Prayer and dedicated time in his presence is how we abide. It’s how we hear his voice, align with his will, and receive the strength of his love. To walk faithfully in this next season, we all must renew our commitment to prayer: intentional, expectant, scripture-shaped prayer. When we pray, God reshapes us and remarkable things begin to happen.

Read more: Meet the Thorpes

So from that place of authority and prayer, Jesus sends us. We’re all on a mission from God. He says, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” This is a summons to join God’s mission, his co-mission, his commission to redeem a people from every tribe and nation.  

We are to go to our neighbours, colleagues, streets, suburbs, and make disciples, sharing Christ, encouraging faith, helping people grow to maturity.   

Today is Advent Sunday. It marks the beginning of the church year, but it is also St Andrew’s Day. Remember Andrew: after meeting Jesus, he ran to his brother Simon Peter, saying, “We found the Messiah.” Disciples make disciples.  

And our diocese sits in a remarkable mission field: over 5 million people on our doorstep, around 140 cultures from indigenous communities to newly arrived migrants and international students. The nations have come to Melbourne. We must go to the ends of the earth. But God has also brought the ends of the earth here.  

We are a diverse diocese. Our diversity is a gift. When we look inward, differences can fracture us. But when we obey Jesus’ command to turn outward in mission, our differences become strengths, reaching different people in different ways. Mission unites us.  

I’ve been so inspired by studying some of the bishops who have served here before us. Charles Perry, the first bishop of Melbourne, rode across Victoria preaching, making disciples, training leaders, planting churches, establishing schools, shaping civic life. We are caught up in the same mission, not one that is static, but a people on the move, joining in with what we see God already doing, growing, multiplying, giving ourselves away.   

Yes, it is costly, complex, disruptive. Like having children, it is disruptive, but new life is always worth it. And what do we do on this mission? Well, we play our part in seeing the church grow in every dimension.  

Jesus goes on, “Baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I’ve commanded you.”  

Baptism welcomes people into the family of God. Teaching forms mature disciples whose lives reflect Jesus’ radical countercultural way.  

Churches that are intentional about evangelism and discipleship are more likely to make new disciples. Around the world, young adults are increasingly more open to faith.  

Read more: Archbishop Ric Thorpe on the next 10 years

Louie and I have been involved with the Alpha course for over 30 years. It’s an opportunity for those outside the church to explore the Christian faith. And we’ve seen countless people becoming Christians, being baptised, and flourishing in their newfound faith.  

Every baptism is a moment for the whole church to celebrate along with all of heaven as those new believers begin that life-fulfilling journey with Jesus.  

Teaching the faith is equally vital. St Augustine prayed, “Lord, help us to know you that we may truly love you. So to love you that we may fully serve you, whose service is perfect freedom.”  

Obedience to the radical teaching of Jesus is not restriction; it is freedom.  

We must continue to grow leaders at every level and from every background. We don’t lower expectations; we widen the pipeline.  

Ethnically diverse leaders, leaders from different socioeconomic and educational backgrounds, leaders in churches, schools, and civic life. As John Maxwell puts it, leaders are learners. If we stop learning, we forfeit the right to lead.  

So leadership formation, lay and ordained, is everyone’s work. It is the college’s work, but it’s also our work, spotting them, raising them up, and developing them.  

We must continue to extend our investment in schools. From the earliest days, Anglicans here understood the power of education, shaping values, imagination, and worldview.  

As Melbourne and Geelong grow, we need more schools with Christian foundations to serve the future of our cities. When we take the great commission seriously, we see growth in depth of relationship with God and one another, in impact on our communities with the love of God, and in the breadth of our church as the Lord adds to our number daily.  

James Moorhouse, the second bishop of Melbourne, understood this instinctively. Planting churches, appointing clergy, enabling this cathedral to be built, founding schools, making the word of God fully known through public witness. We stand in that inheritance.  

One thing you told me very clearly: you wanted the next archbishop to be a witness to the resurrection. I love that. I love that priority that you gave. And so let me state it plainly. I will proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ crucified and risen as long as God gives me breath.

Read more: ‘I will be a witness to the resurrection’: Archbishop Thorpe

Because of the cross, our sins are forgiven. Because of the resurrection, new life is possible today. Because he will return, we have hope for the future. I know this to be true because he lives in me and I abide in him.  

There is much work to do in every part of the diocese, from the edges to the very centre, and every one of us has a part to play in that. And we can only do this work because we are empowered by Christ.  

He says, “Surely I’m with you always to the very end of the age.” Jesus does not send us into the world and then stand back. He goes with us by his spirit, empowering, guiding, strengthening. Without him we can do nothing. With him, extraordinary things happen. The impossible becomes possible.  

As you pray, he listens and acts. As you make disciples, you yourself will grow. As you celebrate baptism and remember your own, your faith will ignite. As you teach, you will long to follow Jesus more.  

And so, as I joyfully receive this calling to be your archbishop, let me summarise simply and clearly our priorities as I see them.   

Prayer: a renewal of prayer for our churches, for our cities, for our nation alongside our brothers and sisters in all of God’s church.  

Mission: encouraging every Christian and every church to thrive in proclaiming Christ, who brings unity, restores faith, and awakens new faith.  

Church planting: establishing new congregations, so we play our part in the evangelisation of this diocese.  

Developing leaders: building a strong diverse pipeline of lay leaders, ordinands, clergy, senior leaders, and encouraging Christians to step confidently into civic life.  

Schools: laying foundations for new schools shaped by Christian faith for the good of future generations.  

Let’s not just think about the next five or ten years; let’s think about the next twenty-five years, a generation ahead. Above all, my desire is that each of you becomes everything Christ calls you to be. Imagine what God can do through us, united under his great commission in Melbourne, in Geelong, and beyond.  

So thank you for everything that has brought us to this moment in the history of this diocese. Louie and I have come on an adventure in response to God’s call and to yours. Now that we’re here, we cannot do this alone. Join us in this great adventure. Walk with us. Pray with us. Serve with us. Submit afresh to Jesus Christ who holds all authority. As you make disciples, play your part in seeing the church grow in depth, in impact, and in breadth, renewed and empowered by the Holy Spirit.  

At the beginning of this new season, I want to pray using a fifth-century prayer. So let us pray.  

Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings with your most gracious favour. And further us with your continual help, that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in you, we may glorify your holy name and finally by your mercy obtain everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For more faith news, follow The Melbourne Anglican on Facebook, Instagram, or subscribe to our weekly emails.

The post ‘The nations have come to Melbourne’: Archbishop’s sermon appeared first on The Melbourne Anglican.

 

Stuart Gardiner

25 December 2025

In his final Advent and Christmas meditation, Father Stuart Gardiner reflects on Luke 2:1–14.

 

A young couple far from home.

No room.

No comfort.

Just enough space to get by.

A child is born among the animals.

No audience. No status.

 

Out in the fields, shepherds work the night shift.

They’re the ones who get the message first.

Not officials. Not experts.

Ordinary workers, half-awake under the stars.

 

In a world obsessed with visibility and control, the Gospel starts with vulnerability

and obscurity.

The first people to hear the news aren’t the powerful or the educated, but working

shepherds.

Luke’s message is simple and subversive: pay attention to the quiet places —

that’s where peace begins.

 

That matters because most of us live under pressure to be seen.

We measure worth by success, by how visible we are.

But this story says something different.

The moment that changed everything happened in a forgotten corner.

That means our own small corners still matter.

 

It also turns the idea of power upside down.

Caesar runs an empire; Mary gives birth in poverty.

The contrast couldn’t be sharper.

Power isn’t about control.

It’s about serving and lifting others up.

 

And that word peace — it isn’t soft.

It’s not about keeping everyone calm.

It’s about setting things right.

Peace begins when we stop competing and start caring.

It starts in how we treat each other.

Small, simple, daily choices.

 

That’s where God works — or truth, or love, however we name it.

Not in noise.

Not in show.

But in what’s real, humble, and close at hand.

 

So, if life feels ordinary this Christmas, that’s okay.

The first Christmas was ordinary too.

Just people doing their best in the dark, and something good breaking through anyway.

 

Meaning still hides in those small places.

Hope still begins quietly.

Peace still starts close to home.

 

Always has.

Still does

 

Reverend Stuart Gardiner recently retired from the Anglican Parish of Westmeadows/Bulla.

For more faith news, follow The Melbourne Anglican on Facebook, Instagram, or subscribe to our weekly emails.

The post What really matters appeared first on The Melbourne Anglican.

 

Stuart Gardiner

21 December 2025

In the 4^th of his five Advent and Christmas meditations, Father Stuart Gardiner reflects on Matthew 1:18-24.

 

Joseph’s world falls apart overnight.

He’s engaged to Mary, then finds out she’s pregnant.

He knows the child isn’t his.

It’s public shame and private pain.

 

By law, he could have made a big fuss.

He could have protected himself and left her to face it.

But he doesn’t.

He chooses a quieter path — to end things without humiliating her.

That says a lot about his character.

 

Before any angel appears, Joseph has already chosen decency over pride.

He’s hurt, confused, and still kind.

Then a dream comes.

A messenger tells him not to be afraid — that something bigger is happening.

 

When he wakes, he acts.

No argument.

No drama.

Just steady courage.

 

When our plans collapse and our reputation’s on the line, we face the same choice.

Do we protect ourselves, or stay open to what might be bigger than us?

That’s where courage begins.

 

Many of us know this moment.

A job ends.

A plan unravels.

Someone we trust lets us down.

We tighten up.

We defend.

We try to control what we can.

Joseph shows another way.

He listens.

He waits.

He leaves space for what he can’t yet see.

 

That’s faith at ground level — not certainty, but steadiness.

Every time we choose integrity instead of reaction, we’re doing what he did.

We’re holding space for good to grow.

 

Real strength isn’t about control.

Sometimes it’s about trust.

It’s choosing what’s right even when we don’t understand everything.

Joseph never says a word in the story, yet his silence speaks volumes.

 

The Christmas story doesn’t start with power.

It starts with trust — one man deciding to stay decent when it would’ve been easier not to.

That’s the kind of courage that keeps the world together.

So when life turns upside down, let’s remember Joseph.

We don’t have to fix everything.

We don’t need all the answers.

We just need to remain decent.

Stay open.

Do the next right thing.

 

That’s often enough to allow something good be born

 

Reverend Stuart Gardiner recently retired from the Anglican Parish of Westmeadows/Bulla.

For more faith news, follow The Melbourne Anglican on Facebook, Instagram, or subscribe to our weekly emails.

The post Stay open appeared first on The Melbourne Anglican.

Bishop Paul Barker

19 December 2025

Ocean Vuong. The Emperor of Gladness, Penguin 2025

In October, Radio National had a weekend of the best 100 books of the 21^st Century. With thousands of others, I had voted for my top ten choices. This book was not listed as an option, which annoyed me. Having said that, it may not have made my top ten, but it would have come close.

Of the many books I have read this year, perhaps this is the one I anticipated and savoured the most. I had read Vuong’s previous book, On Earth We are Briefly Gorgeous and, unusually for me, his poetry. Having lived in Asia for several years, I am drawn to Asian writers and those of the Asian diaspora.

Vuong’s own story is moving. A refugee from Vietnam, via camps in the Philippines, he and his single mother were given asylum in the USA, where he was brought up in the USA in some hardship and poverty. He learned to read only at age 11. Now, in his 30s, he is an award-winning author and Professor of Creative Writing at New York University. His is an astonishing personal story and, understandably, there are autobiographical connections in this novel.

Set in a town called East Gladness, in Connecticut, Hai is a young Vietnamese boy who is preparing to suicide, jumping off a bridge. He is rescued by an elderly woman of Lithuanian heritage who is in the early stages of dementia. Hai becomes her carer, living in her house and gets a job in a fast food restaurant. Vuong has said about his book that he wanted to write about community among workers who stick at a lowly job for a long time. That, he says, is a decent thing. This is no rags to riches story, but it is a more common human experience. Hai’s life is far from easy, but that is normal for many. There is gladness even in the hardship and mundane, the everyday stuff of a human life.

I savoured this book because of its eloquent prose. The quality of writing is beautiful. There is depth and compromise in characters. Vuong is a Zen Buddhist, so this book is not Christian though there are allusions to Christianity here and there where characters refer to a Bible verse, for example. But the themes of war, violence, culture, refugee status and belonging, as well as being satisfied with the mundane, are themes for Christians to engage with and ponder.

Our world is full of extraordinary resilience in the face of hardship. Vuong draws us into hard lives, of resilient gladness.

In an interview, Vuong commented along the lines that good books, even sacred books are ‘porous’. They have hard front and back covers but the story escapes and lives and breathes. That image has stayed with me, and periodically in the months since reading this book, it has come back to me, porously dripping in my mind.

For more faith news, follow The Melbourne Anglican on Facebook, Instagram, or subscribe to our weekly emails.

The post An eloquent tale of resilient gladness appeared first on The Melbourne Anglican.

Hannah Felsbourg

18 December 2025

A Nigerian Anglican bishop’s greatest prayer as armed groups kill thousands is that more people would come to know Jesus, including the attackers. 

The country ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List, with the organisation documenting 3100 Christians killed between October 2023 and September 2024. 

Amnesty International documented at least 10,217 people killed by armed groups in seven northern states between May 2023 and May 2025, with hundreds of thousands displaced. 

Zonkwa Bishop Jacob Kwashi in Kaduna State said he wanted the persecution and killing of Christians to win more souls for Jesus. 

“Let the gospel, the fire of the gospel burn. Let the flame be so wild that more souls, more people will come to know Jesus,” he said. 

“Pray for the terrorists too that they will come to know Jesus.” 

Bishop Kwashi asked Australian Anglicans to pray that Nigerian Christians would hold fast to Jesus whether they lived or died. 

“Whether they kill me today, I will go home,” he said. 

Bishop Kwashi said he had conducted three mass burials since 2020, including one in April 2023 for 33 people killed in Zangon Kataf. 

He said attackers came at night when people were asleep, killing them and burning their homes.

Amnesty International said Boko Haram and other armed groups were carrying out escalating attacks across northern Nigeria. 

Read more: Massacre shows risks of Christian faith in Nigeria: Open Doors

Bishop Kwashi said Islamic extremist groups including Boko Haram were responsible for attacks in Kaduna State. 

The violence has drawn international attention, with the United States designating Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern on 31 October 2025. 

According to the US National Counterterrorism Center, Boko Haram targets Christians, security forces and Muslims it perceives as collaborators. 

The Nigerian government disputes that violence specifically targets Christians, saying criminal gangs attack all religious groups. 

Berwick Anglican Church parishioner Nathan Habila lived in Nigeria until migrating to Australia in 2013. 

He said he first witnessed violence against Christians in 1987 as a secondary school student, when churches across Zaria were burned and pastors were killed. 

Dr Habila said the violence continued and escalated over decades. In the early 2010s, Boko Haram bombed his next-door neighbour Sylvester’s Catholic church. 

He said Sylvester stayed to help injured people, then came home traumatised. By the next morning, Sylvester was dead. 

Dr Habila said seeing what happened to his neighbour convinced him to leave Nigeria. 

Bishop Kwashi said congregations gathered in burned churches the Sunday after attacks, refusing to let violence stop them meeting. 

Even where pastors were killed, members returned the following week to worship God. He said more people attended after attacks than before. 

“Nothing, not even bullets, not Boko Haram, nor any terrorist group can stop the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ,” he said. 

“The more they burn down churches, the more the churches keep multiplying.” 

Operation World said church growth in Nigeria has been massive and continues despite hundreds of churches being destroyed. 

Nigeria is home to several of the world’s largest church auditoriums, including Dunamis in Abuja which seats up to 100,000. 

Bishop Kwashi said hundreds of Muslims were converting to Christianity despite facing death threats from their communities. 

He said they had encountered Jesus and come to believe that only through him did they have certainty of eternal life. 

Bishop Kwashi said Nigerian Christians held to the apostle Paul’s words: “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” 

Dr Habila said the resilience of Nigerian Christians could not be explained. 

“You can’t kill the Holy Spirit,” he said. 

“They can kill anything they want to kill, they can slaughter, but they can’t kill Jesus again. Nobody can kill the gospel.” 

For more faith news, follow The Melbourne Anglican on Facebook, Instagram, or subscribe to our weekly emails.

The post Nigerian bishop prays attackers would know Jesus appeared first on The Melbourne Anglican.

Jenan Taylor

17 December 2025

Niall Williams. Time of the Child. Bloomsbury, 2024.

Time of the Child tells the story of a small, ordinary community and the goodness that abounds in the lives within it.   

It is Christmas 1962, and in the rural village of Faha, Ireland, an abandoned baby, close to death, is found and brought to the clinic of village doctor, widower Dr Jack Troy. What happens next changes his life, that of his daughter, Ronnie, and indeed many others in Faha.

Jack and Ronnie are dutiful and respected, and their General Practice, located in their house, bustles with the comings and goings of Faha’s ill and anguished.

Despite their busyness and the esteem with which they are held, the doctor and his daughter live isolated by their inner lives, and after attending church, “On wet Sunday afternoons in December the old house took on the air of a ghost ship, adrift.”

Jack has sunk into melancholy, having concluded that, after all the suffering he treats daily, God perhaps does not love humanity as much as the Church claims.

He sinks further when he realises that because of his dutifulness he has lost the love of his life and the opportunity to truly be happy. He sees Ronnie, despite her beauty and youth, upholding her responsibility to stay with her father when her other siblings have left, and taking on the tasks of managing the general practice as her mother had – and becomes fixated on preventing his fate from becoming hers.

The arrival of the infant, whom they nurse back to life, brings colour back to the household, and the doctor and his daughter develop a deep, restorative love and attachment to this secret child. But how are they to hold on to this gift if the state and indeed the Church finds out?

Faha is humble and commonplace. It is so ordinary that in the early 1960s electricity has only just reached the village, and most of its people are resigned to marginal living. Yet there is something of the fable about it. Author Niall Williams draws Faha as a character in its own right. The rain-soaked town is where the reader also meets young Ruth Swain in The History of the Rain, and Noel Crowe in This is Happiness.

There is no need to have read the other books because each are stand-alone novels. I dare say though that whichever the reader enters first, they’d probably find themselves eager to know more about Faha and all the protagonists Williams has created.

There is tenderness to the way he writes his characters, even the ones who make you laugh out loud, or those whom you might be prone to despise. All fiction writers can be something like God, in that they breathe life into the people they sketch, but in the case of Williams there’s a sense he loves them dearly.

Williams admitted to literary magazine Pangyrus that he wants readers to “settle into the armchair of the narrative voice, to live inside the story, and outside of real time …”

Time of the Child does this. It’s the kind of book readers might want to wait for the right time to relish – like Boxing Day (as I did) when everyone has gone off to the shops or taken themselves to the cricket – just so they can be left alone to lose themselves in the finely drawn world, and exquisite language.

For me, it was a spiritual treat. I hope it will be for you too.

For more faith news, follow The Melbourne Anglican on Facebook, Instagram, or subscribe to our weekly emails.

The post Williams’ novel a treat for our spirits appeared first on The Melbourne Anglican.

Tearfund Australia (By Katherine Davies)

16 December 2025

With Christmas just around the corner and the pressure to buy, buy, buy filling the air, Tearfund’s Useful Gifts Catalogue offers a meaningful alternative – an opportunity to be a true changemaker this season.

I love a bargain. If I can save $20, it’s very tempting to pay $30 for a shirt I don’t need. And I love buying gifts, so when the sales roll around, beginning with a merry burst of texts, emails, ads and however else they can scream at me to buy more stuff my body begins to steadily rise in anxiety.

What do I need (want)? How many presents must I purchase so my kids know I love them? What should I buy for my family and friends? Where’s the best bargain? When will I find the time to click “Add to cart” before that store’s 24-hour sale disappears?

A low-level, frantic feeling rises up every time I see an advertisement for a sale.

This year, however, God has been quietly nudging me, culminating in a big push as I stood forlorn in my garden.

I’ve been a busy bee in my garden. I’m trying to introduce more natives, and I’ve fallen in love with them: the swamp daisy with its bright blooms and interesting stems, the Pimelia and its tiny little rounded leaves with balls of small flowers surprising you in spring. I relish perusing my native nursery and bringing home another little treasure to add to my collection.

Then one day my husband invited a person over to give us a quote for a new driveway. He was friendly and chatty and full of good advice. In his previous life, he had been a landscaper and so began explaining to my husband the problems with my garden, which my husband kindly reported back to me. “Firstly, you’ve got too many plants; there are too many varieties of things.” I nodded as my heart sank – I thought he’d be impressed with my collection. “Your lemon tree has mites, your camellias and daphnes are diseased; you’ll have to prune them back and spray them and they need feeding. You need to prune that bush over there. It’s stealing all the sun from the lemon tree.”

The truth is, the lemon tree hadn’t fruited in a while and the camellias hadn’t bloomed. Deep down, I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t want to face it – I just wanted to buy plants!

I had been garden-proud, sure that any landscaper stepping foot on my lawn would look around and think, what an abundantly beautiful garden. Instead, he saw right through it and found excess, infestation and neglect.

I had been so obsessed with consuming any plant that made my heart beat that I hadn’t stopped to nurture and appreciate what I already had.

As I looked around my garden and the work that needed to be done, it dawned on me that the same could be said for the overconsumption that happens during sale time. As we swipe our card, what are we ignoring? What is the cost to our planet, to people and to ourselves?

In the UK, 80% of products bought during Black Friday sales end up in landfill, are incinerated, or are poorly recycled.* As for the clothes we purchase, in Australia, Baptist World Aid’s Ethical Fashion Report found that 89% of companies don’t pay garment workers a living wage at any part of the supply chain.

Something’s rotten, and while we often can’t see what our uninformed, frantic purchase is doing to our planet or to the people desperately trying to put food on the table, it’s happening.

It’s hard, I know – we seem to live and breathe consumption, whether it’s the plethora of clothes at our disposal, or new technology, food, TV shows, podcasts and social media – it’s in our faces and it’s only a click away.

We know the cost to the planet and to other people, but what about the cost to ourselves?

From my own experience, consumerism doesn’t breed satisfaction, it breeds discontentment. Always chasing the dopamine hit that doesn’t last. It steals our time, our money, our joy. The temple is full of superficiality and our spirituality suffers.

Jesus declared in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

God’s idea of abundance asks us to look at the birds of the sky and the lilies – He created a world where all have enough, where no one needs to worry about food or clothes. Unfortunately, when we neglect the abundant order of God’s Kingdom, a scarcity mindset can breed anxiety and greed. We can also see how systems and structures that perpetuate inequality are deepened. Those who have enough feel that they need to store up their treasures lest they disappear from the shelves like toilet paper during COVID. Jesus came to this world and demonstrated that true abundance comes from living in a loving relationship with a generous God, a heavenly Father who accepts you for who you are, not how much stuff you have.

Is consumerism distracting you from living in the abundance that Jesus declares for your life? Has it bred a scarcity mindset or made you believe you’re not good enough if you don’t have more stuff?

Ann Voskamp writes, “We say we want wholeness and peace but in a broken world, we’ve normalised brokenness, because brokenness, in all kinds of ways, is part of what it is to be human. But to be fully, wholly human is to actually have union and communion with our Father, our brokenness finding wholeness in the unity of the Trinity.”

God desires to spend time with us, to heal us and to do new work within us – and through us, restoring those systems of inequality. Through Him, the fruits of the spirit abound – peace, love, hope and joy amongst many others! That’s better than a T-shirt! But it comes through time… time in prayer, time in His Word, time with the Father!

Next time you’re tempted by a sale, think about what may be motivating your purchase – is it a quick fix to a deeper problem? How might this purchase impact our global neighbour or the creation God has called us to care for? Are there other ways to spend your time or show someone you care?

If you want one to say no to overconsumption but still show someone you love them, our Useful Gift Catalogue is a great place to start. Tearfund provides gifts bringing true abundance to those who live in some of the hardest contexts in the world – whether it be hardy seeds for a family to put food on the table or education for a girl who faces the threat of early marriage. These gifts nurture the world and God’s people, reflecting the heart of our generous King.

For gifts that do good visit Useful Gifts.

New in 2025: Share overflowing love, joy, peace and hope with our Good News Bundle! This set of four illustrated cards supports the ongoing work of Tearfund’s Christian partners as they help communities around tackle the root causes of poverty.

For more faith news, follow The Melbourne Anglican on Facebook, Instagram, or subscribe to our weekly emails.

The post Is consumerism getting you down?  | Sponsored  appeared first on The Melbourne Anglican.

Jenan Taylor

15 December 2025

Anglican leaders have extended their solidarity to the Jewish community in Australia after a massacre at Bondi Beach during a Hanukkah celebration on Sunday.

A child was among 16 people killed, and about 38 were injured when at least two gunmen shot at families gathered at the celebration and others near the Bondi Pavilion.

The incident has sent shockwaves around Australia and the world, and has been declared an act of antisemitism and terrorism.

ABC News reported it was the deadliest mass shooting in Australia since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.

Melbourne Archbishop Ric Thorpe condemned the massacre, describing it as a senseless act, and a “profound evil that has no place in Australian society.”

Addressing the Jewish community in a social media message, he affirmed Melbourne Anglicans were unwavering in their support for them.

“This was an attack on your community, but it is also an assault on the shared values of harmony and religious freedom that we all hold dear.

“May we reject division and instead work together to protect the safety and dignity of every person in our nation,” Archbishop Thorpe said.

The incident comes as Victoria’s Jewish community celebrates the Chanukah Pillars of Light festival at Federation Square.

Read more: Faith leaders prioritise togetherness to tackle discord

Jumbunna episcopate Bishop Paul Barker expressed grief and sympathy for the Jewish community in a letter to leading rabbis participating in the celebrations.

He encouraged clergy and lay leaders to reach out to Jewish neighbours and the Jewish community with compassion and sympathy.

“We pray for peace, for a joyful celebration, and for an end to religious violence in Australia and beyond,” Bishop Barker wrote.

Provincial Archdeacon for Reconciliation, First Peoples Recognition and Treaty the Venerable Canon Uncle Glenn Loughrey said violence against individuals and communities were never justified.

He invited participants of an interfaith discussion group he facilitates for the Australian Federal Police, and clergy and community members to join in a silent witness and mourning event for the dead and injured.

Other Anglican leaders, including Brisbane Archbishop Jeremy Greaves, Newcastle Bishop Peter Stuart, and Christian organisations including the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change expressed their condolences to Jewish Australians.

“We pray for healing, physically and spiritually,” ARRCC president Thea Ormerod said in a statement to the Jewish community.

“You have long felt a lack of safety but, with this event, your sense of safety in Australian society has been violated. This is wrong.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called Sunday a dark day in the nation’s history and vowed every effort would be put into place to address the incident.

Police confirmed that one of the two gunmen had been killed and the other, a 24-year-old man, was in custody.

Canon Loughrey’s silent witness event is at 1 St Leonards Avenue, St Kilda, today.

For more faith news, follow The Melbourne Anglican on Facebook, Instagram, or subscribe to our weekly emails.

The post ‘Unwavering’ support for Jewish community vow after Bondi terror appeared first on The Melbourne Anglican.

Stuart Gardiner

14 December 2025

Father Stuart Gardiner reflects on Matthew 11:2–11 in the third of his five Advent and Christmas meditations.

John the Baptist is in prison.

Nothing has gone as he expected.

He preached judgment and power.

He thought God would act fast and loud.

Instead, Jesus is healing, forgiving, and mixing with outcasts.

John sends a message: “Are you the one, or should we wait for another?”

That’s not unbelief; it’s disappointment.

He expected fire and got mercy.

Disappointment can blind us to what’s real.

We need to look again.

Truth doesn’t always arrive in the shape we were waiting for.

Jesus doesn’t argue.

He says, “Tell John what you see — the blind see, the lame walk, the poor hear good news.”

He’s saying: “Judge by what’s happening, not by what you imagined.”

We know how that feels.

We hope, we work, we pray, and life doesn’t co-operate.

The door we thought would open stays shut.

We start to think hope was a mistake.

Read more: Stop Pretending

But maybe the problem isn’t hope.

Maybe it’s how we measure it.

The signs of life are sometimes smaller and slower than we expected.

They’re still real.

Faith isn’t certainty.

It’s the courage to look again.

It’s trusting that something good is still at work, even when we don’t see it yet.

Jesus praises John after that.

He calls him more than a prophet.

It means we can question and still be faithful.

Doubt isn’t failure.

It’s evidence that we’re awake.

When life disappoints us, let’s not shut down.

Let’s pay attention to what’s actually happening.

Healing and kindness are still breaking through the cracks.

They just don’t shout.

John expected God to come with thunder.

God came with compassion.

That’s still the pattern.

Real change starts quietly.

Real truth often looks ordinary.

So, when our story doesn’t match our plan, let’s pause.

Let’s look again.

We might already be standing in the middle of the very thing we’ve been waiting for.

Reverend Stuart Gardiner recently retired from the Anglican Parish of Westmeadows/Bulla.

For more faith news, follow The Melbourne Anglican on Facebook, Instagram, or subscribe to our weekly emails.

The post Look Again appeared first on The Melbourne Anglican.

Penny Mulvey

13 December 2025

Have you watched a game of sport between people with disabilities? Let me assure you, it is no walkover for any of the players. Whether it is wheelchair, basketball or football, the players are fully committed. Chairs clash, people tumble, quickly being helped back into their chair, hands move fast over the wheels, manoeuvring the player into the position of attack. Balls are quickly thrown (if playing basketball) or handballed (if we are watching footie), as wheelchairs crash, disengage, reform. It is exciting, mesmerising and passionate. Like all sportspeople, the players take no prisoners. They are there to win!  

Last October, the 2025 Toyota AFL Open in partnership with Disability Sports Australia held its Wheelchair Grand Final Day  at LaTrobe University in Melbourne.  

Joel Fernandes was selected by Queensland Sporting Wheelies to play in it, wearing  the number 3 jumper. Sadly, for the Queenslanders, the NSW Blues won, 52 to 45. You can watch videos of these games. It shows the passion, the speed and the intensity of the players. They really know how to tackle each other in their chairs! 

Victoria won Division 1 (Wheelchair); NSW/ACT won Division 2 (Wheelchair); Tasmania won Division 1 (Inclusion) and Northern Territory – Division 2 (Inclusion). 

And in a great result, Joel was awarded the Most Valued Player on the ground in the final of wheelchair competition when his Queensland team finished in second place. 

For over 60 years, DSA has been promoting and supporting disabled sports along with seeking to expand opportunities for people with disability across the country. On its website, Disability Sports Australia describes itself as “disability-agnostic, focusing on building the capability of sports organisations to ensure inclusive and accessible opportunities for people with disability”. 

DSA’s ultimate goal is to build a future where sport is inclusive for all Australians. 

Joel Fernandes is a dear friend of the Leprosy Mission. Apart from being married to Helen, our Head of International Programs, he is also a role model for fellow disabled sports people, who love his passion for all sports and his optimism for life.  

Read more: ‘People with disability complete body of Christ’: Advocates

Name a sport, and you can probably just about guarantee that Joel will have tried it. Joel’s spinal cord was severed as a result of a serious car accident in Timor. He was just 26. The local hospital provided no guarantee of safety due to the ongoing civil war between East and West Timor. He spent two and a half years as a total invalid, at the mercy of friends and relatives to carry him around.  

A fairy godparent, in the form of Motivation UK, gave him back his life. The gift came in the form of a wheelchair. And not only did he receive a chair, he also was given the essential instruction on how to use the chair, especially how to transfer from chair to bed.  

“Without instruction,” Joel explained, “I would still be on the ground!” 

And once Joel conquered the transfer process, a whole new world opened up for this man who does not quit.  

This extraordinary Timorese man was introduced to Spinal Life Australia, and there at the spinal cord injury unit, he discovered sport … many sports to be precise. 

Joel started at the social level, but it wasn’t long before he moved up the ranks into competitive tournaments. He now plays at competitive level, rugby, basketball (as mentioned above), AFL, pickle ball, archery, through Sporting Disabilities.  

The International Day of People with Disability 2025, theme was “fostering disability inclusive societies for advancing social progress”. Sport has enabled Joel to embrace inclusion. No longer does he have to rely on others to live life. One special chair on wheels revealed a whole new world for Joel. 

Disability inclusion is a no brainer for Leprosy Mission Australia.. You could say it is in their DNA. So specific days that seek to remind all of us about caring for people, whatever their ability or disability, are warmly embraced by them. 

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports that “people with disability are more likely than those without disability to have poor general and mental health.” 

This doesn’t surprise Leprosy Mission, as it has witnessed people who, when cured of leprosy, are often physically, mentally and psychologically restored. Their mental health changes for the better.  

Joel was very concerned for his future. He could see only darkness ahead.  

“After my accident,” Joel explained, “I thought I won’t be able to work again, or have a girlfriend or a wife. Once I had the training, I realised I could do things. 

“Wow, I’ve got a life,” he said with some amazement. 

 Joel now works with Sporting Wheelies, under the auspices of Spinal Life Australia.  

“It’s a casual position,” Joel explained. “My work is going to schools to play wheelchair basketball with the students and tell my story of how I got my disability.  

“We put the students in wheelchairs and sometimes if they have someone with a disability at their school, we try to raise awareness about disability, and how they should treat their friends with disability equal with others. Also, that they can still do lots of things.  

“And because I also play lots of sports, it always keeps me busy.”

Penny Mulvey is the former Chief Communications Officer at the Diocese of Melbourne. 

For more faith news, follow The Melbourne Anglican on Facebook, Instagram, or subscribe to our weekly emails.

The post Wheelchair basketball no walk in the park! appeared first on The Melbourne Anglican.