The caricature of Sydney Diocese is that wearing robes, and liturgical worship occurs only in church services that the diocesan centres of power mostly ignore, or even deplore.
But reading the latest Moore Matters – the newsletter of Moore Theological College – shows that caricature is certainly not accurate any more.
In a survey of northern Sydney, St Albans Epping, a Stole Parish gets a very warm write-up. What is a stole parish? Simply put, it is a parish where a stole, a thin band of decorated and colored cloth, is worn around the neck by a priest/presbyter, with each end hanging down in front. In Anglicanism, deacons wear stoles over their left shoulder. Stoles are worn over other liturgical garments such as a white Surplice and black Cassock.
An article by St Albans rector Phil Liu recounts a story by Margaret, a long-time member of St Albans, recommitting her life to Christ at the 1959 Billy Graham Crusade. A crowd travelled home on the train: “People started introducing themselves and began talking to each other. When it came to Margaret, she introduced herself and mentioned she went to St. Alban’s Epping, and someone replied, ‘St Alban’s Epping! Well, that means you’re barely Christian then,” and the group withdrew from speaking to her on the train…
“For those who are not familiar with St Alban’s Epping, it is regarded as a Stole Parish, which involves vestmnets like robes, stoles, candles and conducts Prayer Book liturgical services. In the memory of many in the diocese of Sydney, Epping had the reputation of not being an Evangelical parish. Some former members of Epping have shared their stories about moving away from the church because of the denial of Bibl;ical doctrine. However, another longstanding current parishioner has described their view as ‘St Alban’s has tyically hovered around the middle way.”
Doris Awad, a student minister at St Alban’s, also describes the style of the services and adds, “most importantly, faithful saints who have been loving and serving God and each other over many years. St Alban’s demonstrates the goodness of this church form, which is theologically sound and grounded in Reformed practice, but expressed in a way that is different to neighbouring parishes. It is a beautiful, wonderful rare gift– one that resonates with young people today. Our church is growing, with new faces in the pews every week keen to connect with the God of the Bible, brothers and sisters in Christ, and the tradition and history of worship.”
Stoles and liturgical garments were removed from churches at the height of the English Reformation, and became rarer in most Sydney Anglican parishes from the 1980s. Maybe they and prayerbook services are coming back. But given this write-up, in the Moore College paper, it is clear that Sydney’s Stole parishes and evangelicals are no longer automatically in separate camps.
Image: St Alban’s Epping. Image Credit: St Alban’s website