Highfields Anglicans

24/10/2026

I realized the liturgy is a place of rest for parents. It is not rest in the literal sense—bringing children to Mass is an athletic event and a sacrifice of love. But the parent’s spirit can rest in this: The Mass will carry you even when your attention is scattered. Even when you cannot hear a word, your spirit may join the prayers and know that, amid everything else, Jesus is present and you are at home in the house of God.
- Althea Kemp

Being a parent reorients one's spiritual life. Time becomes scant! Wrote prayers and repetitions may be an underappreciated blessing

23/10/2026

Pray for peace in South Sudan.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, has hosted a private meeting of ecumenical leaders, faith-based NGOs and government officials at Lambeth Palace, to discuss the ongoing conflict in South Sudan, as the country prepares for its first elections.

The meeting, jointly convened by the Church of England and Christian Aid, was attended by representatives from the South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC), who outlined the grave political and humanitarian situation in the country and the role churches are playing in peacekeeping, before presenting attendees with a letter and statement, calling for international support.

In response, Archbishop Sarah, Archbishop Richard Moth (Archbishop of Westminster) and the Right Rev Gordon Kennedy (Moderator of the Church of Scotland) presented the South Sudanese delegation with a letter, which read: " We have heard your longing for peace and have seen your efforts to mobilise communities to build bridges. Your role in peacebuilding is known around the world. In the coming months, it can prevent even greater suffering affecting the people of South Sudan, at this critical and volatile time in the run up to elections.

"We commit to stand with you, in solidarity, in prayer and in the spirit of the Ecumenical Peace Pilgrimage.

"We also know that far more than elections will be needed for peace. We pray that leaders will have priorities aligned with the heart of Jesus Christ."

Read more on Anglican News: https://bit.ly/4zR2zJ7

Read on the website for the Archbishop of Canterbury: https://bit.ly/4iAXqim


Archbishop of Canterbury

23/10/2026

Our email update is available at this link.

There will be a retiring collection for the chaplaincy service at Highfields State School and Secondary College at St Anne’s this Sunday.

22/10/2026

What we confess is that:

Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:38-39)

Our confession is that God is not aloof from the powers of darkness, sin, and death. God is not aloof from Satan and his dominion in the world. We confess, rather, that God is sovereign over them. Having created the powers, he somehow allows them space in this world. Yet they are not out of God’s view or care. Which rightly increases our fear of the Lord.
- Kristine Blaess

It's tempting to offer easy answers in light of suffering. God's providence is more complicated, more difficult, and yet more satisfying.

21/10/2026

The first audience of Matthew’s gospel would have known exactly how it was intended. The story undergirded their creed — Jesus is Lord. Not Caesar. They might have laughed upon hearing or reading it. "Caesar thinks everything belongs to him. We don’t think that! Because nothing belongs to Caesar. Everything belongs to God!" - Diana Butler Bass

Simple, but not easy

20/10/2026

The Most Rev. and Rt. Hon. Dame Sarah Mullally, Archbishop of Canterbury, offered prayer for Pope Leo XIV following his surgery on October 13. Later that evening, the Vatican announced that the pontiff, the first pope born in North America, had been diagnosed with lung cancer.

“My daily prayers remain with Pope Leo XIV following his cancer diagnosis, and I assure the Holy Father and the Catholic faithful of the prayers of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion,” Mullally, a former cancer nurse, said in a statement shared on October 14.

“I pray that the Holy Spirit – the Comforter, Healer and Giver of Life – will sustain him in the days and weeks ahead, and that his recovery will be swift and complete.”

The archbishop of Canterbury offered prayer for the pope following his surgery on October 13 and subsequent diagnosis with lung cancer.

19/10/2026

Bishop Daniel Abot has returned home to Toowoomba from London with the prestigious Cross of St Augustine, presented to him by the Archbishop of Canterbury, after initially believing notification of the award was a hoax

18/10/2026

Yet when God took on human flesh, became one of us in the person of Jesus, we could see his face. And we do see God’s face today, shining through each person made in God’s image. Jesus doesn’t need an audience that asks what will Jesus do next? King Jesus needs followers that seek to answer the question, what would Jesus do?, and do it! in wisdom and humility. - Melissa

Sermon for 18 October 2026. Jesus doesn’t need an audience that asks what will Jesus do next? King Jesus needs followers that seek to answer the question, what would Jesus do?, and do it!

17/10/2026

Theistic faiths insist that ultimately God is our home. God dwells with us, and we in God. In Judaism, one way of referring to God is shekhinah, meaning the dwelling or settling of the Divine Presence, a word that also is used to describe the nesting of birds. The ancient Hebrew prophet Isaiah spoke of Immanuel, “God with us,” as the promise of shelter and safety for Israel, one of the names that Christians later adopted for Jesus…. - Diana Butler Bass

The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.—Maya Angelou Historian Diana Butler Bass emphasizes

16/10/2026

Our email update is available at this link.

Prayers for Bereaved Parents. October 15 was International Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day, when bereaved parents from Australia and around the world pause to remember their babies who’ve died. On the Sundays around this date I will offer some special, quiet prayers for those who have expe...