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Tasmanian Anglican

October 2002

 

 

 

 


John Stott

 


Phyllis Trible

 

Making Connections - National Anglican Conference 2002

Report from conferee Jenny Matthews

 

 

The National Anglican Conference held in July 2002 was a celebration of connection within the diversity of this denomination. Bruce Kaye, General Secretary of the Anglican Church of Australia characterised the church as a 'collection of warring tribes when the peace existing beween them was more like an armistice.'

The various speakers John Stott, Phyllis Trible, Tom Frame, David Gitari, John Peterson, Hugh MacKay and Shane Gould were encouraging and challenging, as they shared their life experiences. The Anglican Franciscan Order was represented and there was an amazing smorgasbord of workshops on a very wide range of topics. One of the volunteer team was Lyndon Sulzberger, known to many Tasmanians and now living in Sydney.

Paradoxes

For me, hearing John Stott for the first time was inspiring: he talked about a radical personal commitment to Jesus, and overcoming the 'bog of relativism' abroad in our society today.

Shane Gould talked about the paradoxes in her life: how at 16 years of age she was made Australian of the year, yet ran away from home soon after; and how she avoided soul-destroying victimhood by borrowing an idea from Edward de Bono and designing a way forward by creating a work; spending time with people and changing her attitude to [unavoidable] suffering.

Wrestle

It was good for me to listen to feminist theologian, Phyllis Trible, say that she would wrestle with the Bible until she got a blessing from it. [I would at an earlier period of my life have avoided such a person!] Certainly I got a blessing from the conference, rejoicing in the amazingly diverse community of the Anglican Church in Australia. This conference was so worthwhile.

If you have the chance to go to a National Anglican Conference - jump at it!