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Anglican Parish of Hamilton, 22 Gray Street, Hamilton (2026)

24/08/2026

Badges of honour
You know how you look in the mirror and notice a change or two. That somehow you weren’t quite as suave and smooth skinned as you were 20 years ago. This especially applies to those of us who are in our dotage. The folk who have noticed some grey hairs.
For me it was the jowls that I noticed. There are lines on my cheeks and around my neck that I’m sure weren’t there when I was 22. I jokingly mentioned to someone who knows me better than I know myself, that perhaps I could get some work done. Maybe tighten things up a bit. Make the ugly, flappy bits disappear and help me look a bit younger and more gorgeous than I really am.
Apart from the cost they kindly and appropriately reminded me that my jowls and lines are actually badges of honour.
These ‘interesting bits’ have been hard won over decades now. They display to all who can stand to look long enough, that I have actually been around the block a few times and while I have stumbled and tripped each time, experience does count for something. It must count for a lot actually.
Perhaps then I ought not to shy and shirk away from the wounds of The Master. Sure it was ugly, messy and bloody, but come the time to see his buddies again these unsightly bits are proof of his ID. Yes, it really is me chaps and here’s the picture to go with the story.
More than that, the mushed bits and ugly bits on his hands and feet are proof of love and marks of honour. They are the visual outward display of the love that burns on the inside.
Perhaps I’ll save my pennies and wear my jowls with pride after all.

23/08/2026

30/8/26

Ambushed
When I looked up the definition of the word ‘ambushed’ this is what I discovered.
“To confront an individual, group, or vehicle unexpectedly from a concealed or hidden position.”
Today we have the classic and well known story of Moses and the burning bush. Moses is just quietly minding his father in laws sheep and his own business when he is lured in to see the bush that is in flames and yet is not consumed.
Who wouldn’t be curious?
But alas for Moses, it’s just a cunning ambush by the Almighty to offer him a terrible and daunting job. To free his Israelite brothers and sisters from the evil clutches of pesky Pharaoh and lead them to the promised land.
So when I look back to my definition of the word ‘ambushed’ I can, without any hesitation, say that there is a very real sense in which Moses was ambushed.
“To confront an individual unexpectedly from a concealed or hidden position.”
Initially Moses does not see or know of God’s presence in the burning bush and so God is hidden or concealed from Him. Moses was not expecting this job offer. In fact when he was munching on his porridge over breakfast that morning he was probably just thinking what a nice quiet, uncomplicated day he was going to have. He didn’t plan to be ambushed. No one does; at least not in that ‘Moses sense’.
But there are times when we look for a change, a fresh start, a new beginning. We long to be ambushed and for the old shackles of the dreary and drudgery to be shaken and taken from us. In those circumstances we simply allow ourselves the potential to be ambushed. We are open to the possibilities God has in mind for us. Like Moses we can come to understand that it is the familiar land where we are ambushed and it is the curious unexplained event that changes our life forever.
But God is not the only thing that can ambush you. Tricky people and issues can ambush us. You think great aunt Jezebel is a sweetheart, but then one day when she is serving you a refreshing and heady brew with a tasty little morsel, she looks at you with a twinkle in her eye and a barely discernible smile plays around the corners of her mouth. She smiles winningly and asks you that pertinent and incisive question that you cannot squirm away from and you realise that you have been ambushed.
You can also be ambushed by despair which can come along in an unexpected tsunami wave and dump you head down in a swirling surf of bewildering sadness. An unexpected tragic death will do it. You didn’t sign up for it, you certainly didn’t want it or expect it, and yet here you are, struggling to know which way is up.
You can also be ambushed by joy. A chance meeting, a letter, a touch, a kiss. Something that is initially concealed from you one moment and then is all encompassing the next. Some of you will be familiar with the show on TV called ‘Long last family’ where people are reunited after long searches and many years. For the person who is searched out and found, there is a sense in which they are ambushed by joy. That which is hidden and concealed now confronts them and it changes them.
But the master of the ambush is the Master himself. Just ask Saul now known as Paul about the ambush on the road to Damascus. Ask the disciples who were called and followed. Ask the widow whose only son was raised from the dead, ask the 10 lepers who were cleansed, or those tortured souls who were delivered from their demons.
A couple of final thoughts about this ambushing business.
First, we will all be ambushed by someone and something at some point in our life. It's not a matter of IF, it’s a matter of when.
Secondly, It’s how we respond to our new reality that is important. Am I perhaps like Moses who tries to squirm out of the job with every flimsy excuse I can think of? Do I perceive the hand of God who has shoved me through into this new dimension; and when I am there with everything swirling around me, do I understand that He is in the tempest with me? Do I understand that this is exactly where I am supposed to be and this is absolutely what I am supposed to be doing.
Thirdly, Sometimes a jolly good ‘God ambush’ is exactly what we need. A jolly good shake. Ambushed so that all the cards we hold dear, selfishly and close to ourselves are wrenched from our hands and are mercilessly and irretrievably tossed to the four winds. Then we are left with only the cross to cling to.
Spare a thought and a prayer for those who are ambushed by war, by poverty, by accident, by natural disaster and by sin.
Those who have their self righteous perspective shattered and asked to embrace a cross instead. Those like St. Peter who in today’s gospel thought he had it right but he was ambushed by our Lord’s rebuke.

On all who are ambushed by despair … have mercy
On all who are ambushed by sin … have mercy
When we have ambushed others through neglect or indifference … have mercy
On ourselves …. When we are ambushed ….have mercy.

15/08/2026

Of Sin
Sin is something I am imminently qualified to speak about. I went to every lecture in college about sin and I diligently did my homework.
But the sinning did not magically stop once I put on a clerical collar. Relentlessly over the years I have become the master sinner. Once I thought I had actually invented new ways to fall from grace. However it transpires that my ego was over inflated (again) and that all the really clever ways of sinning had already been thought of and honed to an art form.
So here’s some of the things I have learnt about sin.
First, we are tempted to sin not with the mundane, routine, dull and boring things. No, we are tempted by sparkly and attractive looking things. Things that are luscious to the eye and the senses.
Secondly, you sin before you even realise it’s what you are doing. Rarely do you hear the still small voice whispering ‘Do you really think it’s a good idea to have that second chocolate brownie?’ In my vast and wide reaching experience, I’ve already scoffed it down before I have thought of what numbers might appear on the scales in the morning.
Finally, sin promises you everything but can only deliver disappointment. To push the parable of the second chocolate brownie beyond its logical parameters, the second chocolate brownie promises you a marvellous mouth feel and taste sensation Even better than the first brownie. You might even believe that it has all the 5 basic food groups, sugar, butter, chocolate, fat and flour. You might be seduced into thinking that such a little chocolate brownie could never do much harm.
Ultimately sin no matter which form it presents itself, can only deliver disappointment. It just takes a lifetime to relearn this.

15/08/2026

23/8/26
Who you are
The usual path for the preacher today is as follows.
In this Q and A session, Peter is open to the Holy Spirit who reveals who Jesus really is. The Messiah.
It is not flesh and blood that has revealed this to Peter.
For Peter’s insight and faithfulness he is given not only a new name, but also the responsibility of being the rock of the Church.
The preacher usually goes on to say how fabulous this all is. That a grubby humble fisherman could be chosen as the rock of the Church and if there is hope for this guy who smells like the mullet gone off in the sun two days ago, well hec, there is hope for each and every one of us here and those who didn’t quite make it today.
Further, here is a clear indication of the Master leaving behind a physical, tangible church for the generations to come. Such is his care for us for he knows that we are going to need something to keep on reminding us and pointing beyond ourselves and to the divine.
All jolly good.
But peel back those layers and I detect something else going on here.
Peter sees who Jesus truly is and gives him his rightful title and a job to do.
‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’
Now in return Jesus gives Peter a new name and a job to do.
You are Peter, the rock of the Church.
One is a response to the other. One mirrors the other. A three step tango.
The recognition of who the other is.
The imposition of a new name.
Then a vocation to be lived.
The scary but good news is that this divine interchange is just not for St. Peter. It is for you and for me.
When we see the Master for who he is
When we can call him friend, brother, Lord then we will have nestled into a closer relationship, stepped through into another dimension with him and we will see what he can do. And not just nifty party tricks like water into wine, or the multiplying of the loaves and fishes, but we will also see what he can do with a cross and a grave.
But here’s the confronting bit.
In return the Rabbi tells us who we are. He gives us a new name and gives us a vocation to live out, to thrive, to stumble and ultimately to triumph.
This is not always easy and there will be some days when we will have much preferred to stay in bed, pulled the covers over our head and waited for the whole cataclysm to go away. It would be simpler and less complicated.
For knowing who we truly are, God’s adored child, is not just a glorious and wonderful thing, but also calls us to do all the things that are mentioned in the first lesson. It’s quite a job description.
“Let your love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
Bless those who persecute you; Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Do not claim to be wiser than you are.”
It’s quite a daunting list not just in the quantity of things but the quality of self less ness. The bar is set dizzyingly and intimidatingly high. We will accomplish these things only if we understand who we truly are and perhaps it might help if I tell you about another little boy who began to understand who he was. It happened like this.
Little boy is playing in front of his parents bedroom mirror when he stops and looks at the image that has stopped and is now looking at him. He ponders who the boy in the mirror his and therefore wonders who he himself is. Who am I? The thought is terrifying so he goes rushing to his mum who is peeling the spuds at the kitchen sink.
“Mum, mum who am I?” Without missing a beat she calmly continues peeling the spuds and replies ‘You know who you are darling. She repeats his name and address.
‘No No’ he tugs at her apron insisting that his mother has not understood the question and the urgency of his feeling.
Mother now puts down the potato and the peeler and wipes her hands on her apron. Sits down at the table and hoists him onto her knee.
She looks him straight in the eye and gives him the answer that he is really looking for.
‘You are a child of God and you are infinitely precious in his sight.
You are a child of God and you are infinitely precious in his sight.’
And next time you look in the mirror… you might remember….

12/08/2026

THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY: Homily by Deacon Jannie

Father David asked me to do this Eulogy about what I think are the three important thoughts on the life of our Blessed Virgin Mary, how important she, is in this world and has been for me. To live our lives, she showed us how important it is to love and walk along side those we care for as Mary did with her family.

Phew.

Gazing on the beautiful windows in the Lady Chapel, looking on the adornments and nice wooden carving, we can meditate on and see and almost feel the love that is so important in raising the most precious part of raising children. No matter who we are, rich or poor, in all families around the world mothers love their children. Mary is our crowning glory.

That a young virgin who must have been totally in awe of the task set before her. A task so important to us all, as without her consent, she was willing to be the one to put herself forward for the situation that nothing else on earth would have saved me or you. We should all, as I am, be grateful. Without this happening by Mary, there would have been no Jesus, No Saviour in this world for all time. How grateful I am, and so you should be as well.

But how wonderful it is that we have the knowledge that Jesus and God by his Holy Spirit has saved us.

We should be so grateful, that Joseph was beside Mary to support and help raise the Son of God. No mean task for either of them.

Joseph took on the task of not knowing their future and taught him the skills needed to help feed the family.

Mary had the task of standing at the cross knowing that Jesus was a threat to the authorities of the day. How brave she was standing there helpless, but also knowing that his soul would be taken up to heaven.

That is the best gift to us all. That in time we will all be reunited with our loved ones.

Deacon Jannie

09/08/2026

‘You have looked at it but you haven’t seen it.’

It was just a sentence out of one of my favourite books, ’The hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy.’ A far reaching compendium which includes how to make a pan galactic gargle blaster. A refreshing beverage that theological students claim is a vocation.
My more serious quote comes from a discussion where one of the protagonists is excitedly chatting to another about the beauty of a fjord.
‘You have looked at it but you haven’t seen it’. And it struck me that this is true of me as well. How many times have I ‘looked’ at a thing of great beauty and not ‘seen’ it? I did not really appreciate it. I did not really enjoy it, engage with it and be moved by it.
Every inch of our local grampians opens up the possibility of such an experience. So does the ocean which is only an hour away. You can ‘look’ at these things for sure, but in order to really ‘see’ them you first have to stop. Completely stop. Breathe, then breathe several times more. With your gentle gaze caress every detail slowly. Allow the vision to enrapture you, delight you, enthral you. Do not move away, do not stop seeing it, until it lets you go. Those starry eyed couples who gaze at each other longingly over candlelit tables are experts at this process.
But you don’t have to go to the Grampians or the ocean. It can be with the roses in the back garden or the face of someone you see frequently. It happens with me at the altar as the Master looks at me and I look at him. In this exchange, in this living moment, I am not just looking, but I am seeing, as if for the first time.

09/08/2026

Of homecoming
At this time of year there is a curious day in our lectionary called Mary Mother of the Lord.
Our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters call this ‘the Assumption of Our Lady’ and our Greek Orthodox brothers and sisters call it ‘The falling asleep of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
It's a day that we know must have happened. The day when the Mother of Our Lord died a physical death. There are at least two possible points of view.
One says that when she drew her last breath mother Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven. Much like our Elijah catching a ride on the chariot or Our Lord ascending into heaven.
The other says that she went to heaven after she died much like you and I plan to one day.
I don’t think that it really matters which theory you subscribe to, but what does matter is that Our Lord and his mother are in heaven, united together in the love that they shared while they were here on earth. Today reinforces our understanding and enhances the teaching that love and life really do continue beyond the grave with those who we miss and cannot see temporarily.
For those who might be squeamish about such popery a couple of simple little sayings might help.
One from a friend of mine who once quipped but quite seriously said
‘You can’t say I love you Jesus, but your mums a dead roman catholic’
or
‘No Mary… no Jesus. It’s as simple and as mysterious as that.’
Or
‘If Mother Mary is not in heaven with her son, where exactly is she?’
This day should be a day of great hope and reassurance for if a lowly teenage peasant lass can make it to heaven, then goodness gracious there is hope for everyone here today and those who are not.
But my feeble attempts to explain something of this beautiful and exquisite day were completely gazumped by somebody who had been saying their prayers a lot longer than I. They saw the reunification of Jesus and his Mother as a kind of ‘homecoming.’ Now how come I didn’t have the insight to see it that way? Perhaps it might be helpful to think of the next funeral we attended as a kind of homecoming.
Sister Carol Wildt in France wrote
‘I picture the Assumption of Mary as her homecoming! Having completed the mission of her earthly life and longing to be with Jesus and Joseph, Mary is now reunited with her son and her husband. What a homecoming that reunion must have been like!�I also find myself wondering how Mary’s Assumption affected John and the other disciples. Mary was no longer physically present with them, they could not see or hear her, they could not confide in her and seek counsel from her. What a challenge to their faith in Jesus and His promises. With Mary’s body literally gone and no burial site to visit, there was no physical reminder of Mary, only memories and, at times, an unexplainable presence.
In our own day, many of us have met or know of persons who have experienced the loss of a loved one as a result of war, accident, violence, unknown circumstances, etc. and the body is never located. The feast of Mary’s Assumption gives hope and consolation to them as they grieve and mourn the loss of their loved one, believing that the person is not lost or annihilated, but enjoys eternal life with their God who loves unconditionally.
The Assumption symbolises for me the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise, “I go to prepare a place for you.” This scriptural quote speaks to me of transition. In these days of transition, Mary’s Assumption brings hope and a deepening realisation that present life, with its challenges, joys, struggles and dreams is not the definitive heaven we seek. As the funeral liturgy states: Life is changed, not taken away. If I, like Mary, continue to walk the path of my baptismal and vowed commitment wherever God leads me, I, too, will be raised up and reach the place that Jesus has prepared for me.
In several weeks, the global community will observe the 80th anniversary of the beginning of World War II. This period of history saw millions of people die as a result of genocide, concentration camps, slave labor and the numerous evils of the war. The war showed the world what happens when the human person and human body are not valued and are perceived as unworthy of life. Mother Mary is a powerful statement that the human person and the human body are sacred and will be glorified for all eternity. God’s creation of each person (including you and me) is very good.
While the Assumption signifies God’s crowning of the creation of Mary as she ends her earthly life, it also signifies for me that I hope to follow her when my earthly life has ended. You and I can celebrate the hope of reaching heaven and living with the Trinity just as Mary has. My deepest hope is that following in Mary’s footsteps on the path that God has laid out for me will bring me to my true home and that I, too, will celebrate a homecoming with God, family, friends and all who I hold dear.’

02/08/2026

Do I really need to say this?
One of the excruciating lessons that I have to continuously learn and relearn, is the need to set and keep a guard over my mouth. I am privileged to have many conversations each and every day and frequently I find myself falling into the trap of saying more than I need to or should.
To my detriment and therefore to the pain and angst of others, I have learnt that you cannot ‘unsay’ things. Once it’s out and spoken you can’t retrieve and pretend like it didn’t happen. You can’t ‘erase’ the conversation, what is said and the way that it is said. And don’t get me started about electronic conversations which are there for all to see, print out, read and distribute literally around the world in a matter of seconds.
Some little ways forward that I have found are useful for me and therefore might be of some help to you gentle reader.
With the issue of text or email don’t send it unless you are absolutely sure and you have re read it a couple of times. Maybe get an editor in chief to check it over before you do anything. Maybe even sleep on it for a night or two. Print it out and read it over the breakfast table whilst slurping down your porridge. Is this the sort of message you would like to receive? Can it be construed and misinterpreted in ways that you don’t intend?
As to the spoken word that is much harder because it happens so quickly, there and then in the very moment. The only thing I have found that helps me … sometimes … is to try to listen to a small insistent voice pleading…’Do I really need to say this?

02/08/2026

Mary Sumner …Thank you!

Yippee! In our Anglican calendar it is Mary Sumner day. This year it happens to fall on a Sunday so we’re making a bit of fuss.
Mary Sumner was the founder of Mothers Union. This parish is gorgeously blessed because it has such a healthy, vibrant and laughter filled group of people who are members of our Mothers Union. In fact it is probably one the strongest Mothers Union groups in the diocese and numbers wise, it is certainly the strongest organisation in our parish.
Mothers Union is especially concerned with family life and therein lies the rub. Full disclosure and confession, I should quickly point out that the Diocesan Mothers Union chaplain who also happens to be your vicar, comes from a family where his parents were divorced and each went on to remarry. Does this disqualify me from this wonderful and undeserved role? Perhaps my qualifications and heritage are besmirched.
Perhaps I am not in good standing to be the MU chaplain or even a Mothers Union member. When my parents were going through the throes of divorce in 1977 this may well have been the thinking. There are people still alive today who can tell you with hand on heart, that they were asked not to attend MU because of their marital status.
Perhaps it might help if I let you know that while the nastiness of the separation and divorce were exploding around me, there were a couple of priesty people and one Bishop, who were exceptionally kind and compassionate. I came out the other side aspiring to pass on that same pastoral care. I have no idea if these clerics were members of Mothers Union, but they did show forth inclusion, welcome and support of me and my family, even though and perhaps especially because, my family was in tatters.
We have come a long way in our thinking since I was a gawky, pimply 17 year old. All sorts of ragamuffins and recalcitrants are not only welcomed into Mothers Union, but they are rejoiced in and they ministry to us. We actively seek them out and encourage them because they are authentically human with no pretence or dressing up. Life in the raw, to be loved, redeemed and rejoiced in. They have much to teach us and we as Mothers Union and a parish, are all the more colourful and accessible for what they bring to us. Mary Sumner, … Thank you.
And that for me at least is the beauty of Mothers Union and Mary Sumner. That the healing begins with the acceptance of everyone. Mary Sumner being married to a vicar would not have always found it easy. Toss in the pressures of being a mum and there must have been days. The organisation she started would have been a challenge for her but it would also have been a source of blessing and encouragement.
Mothers Union sets the bar high, for we all need principals to strive for, but it is also the first to be there in the grit and gravel, when love is shredded as sometimes it is.
And when this happens we turn and have a good long hard look at our warts and realise that none of us is perfect and far from tut tutting, we open wide the arms of welcome to those who seek us out and say to them…
‘Welcome friend; I’m just like you. We’re all a bit grubby around the edges; we all have gashes that we hide away from others. Love has unravelled for me sometimes and there are many weeks when I am just holding it together.’
And we can say this and live this when we have reflected on the words of the gospel.

‘You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.’
It seems to be that the Master knows that those who are wild and wooly like a scarecrow are the most fun and the most fruitful.
So today we gather and give thanks for Mary Sumner who could not have foreseen the fruitful organisation that would still all be happening in Western Victoria in 2026. Today we give thanks for the Mothers Union, in this parish, throughout our diocese and throughout the world.
And today as a begrimed Mothers Union chaplain, I say with a big cheesy grin and a twinkle in my eye “Mary Sumner …Thank you!”

26/07/2026

What’s “angertainment?”
This new word came from Ed Coper. In his book Angertainment he outlines the theory that with the internet we were promised a global village.
Instead we got a gladiatorial arena where our strongest emotions of fear and anger are manipulated for the profit and entertainment of those who should know better.
These folk are really quite good at pitting many against each other for the profit of themselves.
They do so by putting out on the screen the wackiest, ludicrous and emotive ‘grab clicks’. Our news feeds are full of carefully worded headlines which seek to draw us in to a slurry of outrage and furry.
Further the tagline of the story will always couch the topic as if the event was a simple black and white, story and seek to draw us down a particular line of reasoning.

Short, pithy anger inducing headlines are what we have been sucked into buying, digesting and integrating.
Here’s some from a news feed on June 25th
“Queensland teenager acquitted of planning a terror attack against Liberal Party members.”

“Man charged with murdering former partner Crystal Beale and dumping her body denied bail for second time”
A story that began with
“The argument is more nuanced and complex than what we might first believe. There are valid points on both sides and further negotiation and understanding is the way forward to a more fruitful, long term outcome for all”
would probably not excite us, draw us in and make us investigate further. In short it would not generate the dollars.

People have realised that in the attention economy, your anger is the only currency that matters. Whatever happened to
‘Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God’? These words from the prophet Micah are the antidote for the sepsis of angertainment that has seeped into our world.

Anglican Parish of Hamilton

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