The Language of Worship

Author: Tim Watson

Rev Tim Watson plays guitar with people singing

The Language of Worship

On September 28, 2019

Group of people singing from a song sheet

Today I’m beginning an occasional series: “The Language of Worship”. At Holy Cross, we come from diverse backgrounds – and often have strong views about words and music! So the hymns and songs we use in worship reflect not just our diversity, but the diversity of the Kingdom of Heaven with its “treasures old and new” (Matthew 13.52). By finding out more about who actually wrote the songs we sing, and why, we learn more about the wonderful variety of the body of Christ – and more about the God we worship. “I will sing with the Spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding.” (1 Cor 14.15)

“All my hope on God is founded” was written by the great German Calvinist hymnwriter Joachim Leander in 1680, and translated into English in 1899 by Robert Bridges, an Anglican choirmaster and future Poet Laureate. Today we’re using the modernised version from the Australian hymn book Together in Song. The tune Michael was written (over breakfast!) by Herbert Howells in 1930, and named for his son who died tragically young.

“I heard the voice of Jesus say” is a 19th century hymn by Scottish Free Church minister Horatius Bonar, set to an old English folk song, Dives and Lazarus, which Ralph Vaughan Williams heard in a pub in the village of Kingsfold in Sussex, and published as a hymn tune in the 1906 English Hymnal.

“Give thanks” is the only published song by Henry Smith, written for a church in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1978 as a response to having become blind: “let the weak say I am strong, let the poor say I am rich …”.

Karen Lafferty was a nightclub entertainer who wrote “Seek ye first” in 1971 after attending a church bible study on Matthew 6.33, and now runs Musicians for Mission, an international ministry of Youth With A Mission based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Synod “together on the way”

By Tim Watson

On September 9, 2019

In Rector's blog

I have been away in Goulburn this weekend, along with our parish representatives Caity Cameron, Kirsty Baker, and Richard Stoddart, for the annual Synod of the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn. Synods (from the Greek sun-hodos: “together on the way”) are a really important time in the life of an Anglican Diocese, providing an opportunity for representatives of all the different ministry units – parishes, chaplaincies, schools, and diocesan services – to gather for three days of prayer and fellowship.

No doubt at this Synod there were discussions and debates, sometimes even fiery ones. Because one of the glories of the Anglican Church is its polyphonic – sometimes even dissonant! – synodal character. And this is a good thing: God did not make us uniform, but gloriously diverse, and there is plenty of Biblical precedent for passionate conversations between brothers and sisters in Christ (Acts 15, Galatians 2 …).

But the heart of any Synod is our unity in Christ, whose Body we are. And the really special thing about a Diocesan Synod is that it provides an opportunity to come together across our local parish boundaries, to give thanks for God’s faithfulness to God’s church, and listen together to the Holy Spirit as we discern the future into which God is leading us: “together on the way”.

So please pray for our bishops as they lead us in carrying out the deliberations of Synod, and for all Synod members, that they may be faithful to Christ who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Two hands locked in a handshake during a greeting of the peace in church

Feedback from “Better Together”

By Tim Watson

On August 18, 2019

In Cooperative partnership, Events and activities, History, News

On Sunday 11 August, thirty members of Holy Cross Anglican Church and St Margaret’s Uniting Church met together for a 2-hour workshop, to give thanks for our cooperative partnership over more than 50 years, and discern how the Holy Spirit is calling us into a shared future. Special thanks to Pastor Ken Perrin from Ainslie Church of Christ for facilitating our discussion with grace and wisdom!

Check out the feedback from our discussion, and please do email the Rector with any comments – we’d love to have your input into this ongoing conversation.

Feedback from “Christians Born in the 21st Century”

By Tim Watson

On August 5, 2019

In Events and activities, News, Youth Ministry

More than twenty Holy Cross members, aged between 8 and 80, met on Sunday 4 August for two hours of prayer, reflection and vision casting, to explore together how God is calling us to develop our ministry with children, youth and families. We were expertly facilitated by Andrew Edwards and Ben Paton (co-directors of Synergy, the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn’s youth ministry), with help from Karen Baron from ACT Christian Education In Schools, and some excellent input from our very own Kids Church, youth and parents.

Key points from our discussion includes:

younger and older Christians often have the same spiritual needs
relationships are more important than programmes
mentoring is of real value, both for younger and older Christians
rather than inventing new activities, it’s often better to re-think and re-purpose existing activities
young people need rest at weekends, and 9am on Sunday is not a very attractive time for them, though those who make the effort tell us that they find it really worthwhile
young Christians need contact with adult Christians who are not their parents!
youth ministry is a “whole church” activity and responsibility, though it can benefit from expert facilitation (of the kind that Synergy can provide)

Check out the photos below to see more details of our discussion – and please do contact the Rector if you have any comments / questions.

Seeing how God sees

By Tim Watson

On May 30, 2019

In Rector's blog

I’m writing this blog post from the beach at Narooma, where I’m staying with all the clergy of the Anglican Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn for our annual conference. It’s been a fascinating time getting to know brothers and sisters from a wide diversity of churches across our region, including our new bishop Mark.

I’ve been encouraged to hear Bishop Mark say that God’s vision for the future of the Diocese is something that we will all discern together over time, as we seek to see how God sees and feel how God feels. For Christians, authentic vision-setting does not begin with planning and strategy (though this is also important!), but with drawing close to God through spiritual disciplines leading to wise and patient discernment.

And this is a lesson that the psalms (which we’ve been studying all this month on Sunday mornings) can teach us too. They are a school of spiritual practice and a repository of wisdom, firmly based in the reality both of our messy lives and of God’s unchanging character. “The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” (Ps 119:130).

So let’s pray that our church life will be a school of wisdom, and that our vision – for ourselves, our parish, and the whole church – will be God’s vision for us, as we get to know God better.

May is Psalm Month at Holy Cross

By Tim Watson

On May 12, 2019

In Rector's blog

During the month of May, all of us at Holy Cross (adults and kids) are turning our attention to a book of the Bible which has had more of an impact on the church’s life of prayer and worship than any other: the book of Psalms.

The Psalms are a vital witness to the joys and challenges of the people of God, full of extraordinary poetry, great wisdom, and an extreme range of feelings. (Incidentally anyone who thinks that contemporary worship songs are too me-focused and too emotional to be good theology should take a look at a psalm or two!)

And crucially for us as Christians, the Psalms give us access to the worshipping life of Jesus himself. Born and raised as a pious Jew in a Jewish family, Jesus “grew in wisdom and divine favour” (Luke 2:52) by memorising these ancient texts. Indeed, some of the most ancient psalm chants (such as the Tonus Peregrinus) which are still sung today have their roots in 1st century synagogue worship. They are, literally, the words and music that Jesus would have sung.

So let’s take time this month to explore this mysterious, passionate, surprising book, and to let it form our hearts as we turn to God in worship. “If the psalm prays, you pray. If the psalm laments, you lament. If the psalm exalts, you rejoice. If it hopes, you hope. If it fears, you fear. Everything written here is a mirror for us.” (Augustine of Hippo)

Christos anesti! Christ is Risen!

By Tim Watson

On April 24, 2019

In Rector's blog

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. Without it, there would be no church today, and Jesus would be remembered (if at all) simply as a moral teacher who was unjustly killed. With it, the life and death of Jesus becomes bathed in a new light: it becomes a source of joy and hope in the midst of suffering, and not just for Jesus and his contemporaries – it becomes Good News for all of us.

But the Resurrection is such an unexpected event (literally a one-off!) that it’s not surprising even Jesus’s closest friends took a long time to come to terms with what it meant. And God is always gracious – God knows we also need time to adapt to this new, improbable reality which has opened up for us.

So today, now the season of Lent is over, we begin the season of Easter: fifty days for us to come to terms with this miraculous news, before we celebrate the coming of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Let’s take the time we need to welcome the Resurrection, and let’s ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the places in our hearts where God is longing to give us new life and hope.

Holy Cross Anglican Church Hackett

Following Jesus and building community in Canberra’s Inner North

Author: Tim Watson