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The Messenger
The Messenger
St George the Martyr, Goodwood
February, 2026
Dear Friends
IT HAS BEEN VERY HOT OF LATE, in case you haven’t noticed what’s been happening in Adelaide. Our beautiful stone church takes a while to heat up, but then it takes just as long to cool down. As a result, our Sunday services have become rather warm. There is a story about Fr Geoffrey Taylor of St Peter’s Eastern Hill, Melbourne, who once preached on a warm Sunday. It was a short sermon. “In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It’s very hot today,” he said. “But it’s hotter down in Hell. So, choose carefully. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
Fr Taylor trained me to say mass when I was newly ordained as a priest, and he did a very good job, I think. I have always seen the mass as a reflection of heavenly worship – what we do here, we do because it aligns with what we believe is happening is heaven, the continuous worship of God. We therefore try to make heaven present in good liturgy and music, not because we have invented it, but because this is the best way we can join into the worship, we hope to be partakers of in eternity. We preach about the divine reality – we preach the risen Lord, and there is no reason why we should not worship the Lord with our best with the vision of the divine reality of the heavenly temple.
Fr Taylor was also a good friend of Fr Swettenham the Rector here at the time. The story goes that Fr Swetenham visited Fr Taylor in Melbourne and was so impressed with the new red carpet at St Peter’s he decided to get the same red shade for St George’s, which is why we have that red carpet now. When Fr Swetenham died in 1977, Fr Taylor came across for the requiem. Should you ever visit St Peter’s in Melbourne, right next to Parliament House, do admire the matching red carpet there. Fr Swetenham’s wife, Margaret visited the church recently, and it was good to meet her again. We have a lovely painting of the nativity in the sanctuary given by Margaret in memory of her husband.
Lent
We are rapidly approaching the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday 18 February. The church’s calendar is designed to balance our human needs – so we have periods of restraint and periods of exuberance; joy and penitence. It is part of our training ground to be fully human. We cannot morn continually, nor can we party continually – those who try only one aspect inevitably spiral into endless depression or unsatisfied hedonism. But the Church is the training ground for eternity. We mourn in black, take on penitence in purple and rejoice in gold with our vestments to show this cycle of human life. Lent is the particular time that we discipline ourselves by the three calls of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in penitence and discipline so we might grow more fully into our true humanity as a child of God.
Prayer is our way of being with God. It is the conversation with the divine, that deepens our commitment. It helps our human wills to leave our obsessive desires and bring them to God’s will for us. Our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane, before he was betrayed, prayed that this cup of suffering might pass from him. We all want to avoid the cup of suffering, what ever form that takes for us. But he concluded that prayer with the petition that not his will but God’s will. In this he shows his human nature, shrinking from the pain and suffering to come, but knowing that goodness and the salvation of all, comes from making his will conform to that of the Father’s. So, it is for us. Our prayer is always that God’s will be done, not our wandering wills of desire.
Fasting is the next call. Now make this realistic. Give up something that you want but is within your bounds. Don’t give up life-giving medicine – that is definitely not God’s will. Nor give up being a world-class super-model, that is not realistic to the majority of my congregation, and my apologies to the sensitive souls who take affront at that.
Finally, there is almsgiving. Money is often our closest friend and as a result our closest enemy. Learning to live without a little to help others is a salutary and necessary lesson in life. At funerals we often hear the words that we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out, and that means we are going to leave our credit cards, wallets and mobiles behind. So, start the lesson now.
Consider also coming to a weekday mass, or saying one of the daily offices, or just being more diligent in your prayer life during Lent. I was reminded of this quote by the 20th C Anglican priest and theologian, Fr Martin Thornton, who said, “The Eucharist is the living heart of the Body of Christ… the Daily Office is its continual beat or pulse… and personal devotions are the circulation of the blood which gives life and strength to all its members.” When practiced with faith and charity, the threefold rule opens our hearts to the fullness of God’s grace in our daily life.
A good thing for Lent is actually to write a rule of life, putting down your objectives as a commitment to the season.
But as I said, we balance things – penitence is balanced with rejoicing, so we shall be having a parish lunch for Shrove Tuesday the 17 February at 12.30 at the Goodwood Park Hotel – let me know if you wish to come so I can reserve a table. We had a great lunch there for the Epiphany, the 12th day of Christmas on 6 January.
There will be masses here at 8 am and 10 am on Ash Wednesday. That’s a good time to make the commitment, with the imposition of ashes to show our repentance and dedication.
We will also have a weekly Lenten study here on Wednesday at 5.30 with pizza and wine.
Our solemn masses on Sundays and our weekly masses on Wednesday start with the Litany, which is a special responsorial intercession for the season.
Benediction and Reflection
Our benediction and reflections on the first Wednesday of the month with Deacon Ben Falcon resumes this Wednesday 4 February at 5.30 with pizza and wine in the gardens to follow, weather permitting.
Fr John Devenport
On 22 December, Fr John Devenport died. Fr John had been priest in charge here after Fr Peter Thomson moved to Toorak Gardens. He had recently retired from Burra and decided to attend St George’s; but the first Sunday he attended Fr Peter announced his move. So, he gallantly took on St George’s until I arrived in 2002. His requiem mass, celebrated by his son Paul, was at St Saviour’s Glen Osmond on 6 January.
New Archbishops
The Rt Rev’d Sarah Mullally has now become the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury. We remember her at our masses with the Pope, Leo, and Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, as a reminder that we should never be just the Anglican Church in Adelaide, but part of a wider Christian commitment.
Our new Archbishop of Adelaide, the Rt Rev’d Brad Billings was elected in December and will take up his position here on Saturday 7 March. He formally takes up his position by sitting on the bishop’s chair or throne: hence we call this an enthronement. The chair is there because anciently a bishop was the main teacher of the diocese, and a teacher always taught sitting down in a chair, hence we still talk about university chairs. The new archbishop has been a lecturer at Trinity College in Melbourne, and has published several books, including commentaries on the Gospel according to St Luke, so he does have the experience to be a teacher to the diocese. His qualifications include a doctorate in theology and a Master of Law in Canon Law and was formerly an assistant bishop in Melbourne Diocese.
Anniversaries
Fr Peter Thomson and Fr Michael Varnish will celebrate the 50th anniversary being made priest on 2ndFebruary. They were ordained together at St Peter’s Cathedral.
In the meantime, I, with you, look forward to the cooler weather.
God Bless,
Fr Scott
An essay from the US Living Church Magazine, October, 2025
Services
Sunday Services
8.00 am Mass
10.00 am Solemn Sung Mass
Weekday Services
Monday Fr Scott’s Day Off
Tuesday 10.00 am Mass,
followed by gardening.
Wednesday 8.00 am Mass
Thursday 12.00 noon Mass
Friday 8.00 am Mass
Saturday 8.00 am Mass
Consider giving to the church; our bank details are
BSB 105033 account 151992640
Please put “offering” in the description if that be the purpose.
February
1 THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE (Candlemas) (from 1st)
3 First Anglican Service in Australia, 1788
3 Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary in Denmark & Sweden, 865
3 Blaise, martyr, Bishop of Sebastea, Armenia, c316
5 Paul Miki and the Martyrs of Japan, 1597
8 SEXAGESIMA
10 Scholastica, sister of Benedict, Abbess of Plombariola, c543
14 Cyril and Methodius, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869 & 885
15 QUINQUAGESIMA
17 Shrove Tuesday – The Holy Face of Jesus
18 ASH WEDNESDAY
20 William Grant Broughton, first Bishop of Australia, 1853
22 LENT 1
23 Polycarp of Smyrna, Bishop of Smyrna, c155
24 MATTHIAS, APOSTLE AND MARTYR
25 Ember Wednesday
27 Ember Friday
27 George Herbert, Priest, Poet, 1633
28 Ember Saturday
March
1 LENT 2
2 Chad, Bishop of Lichfield, Missionary, 672
7 Perpetua and her Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203
8 LENT 3
15 LENT 4 Mothering Sunday
17 Patrick, Bishop of Armagh Missionary, Patron of Ireland, c460
18 Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, Teacher of the Faith, 386
19 JOSEPH OF NAZARETH
20 Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, Bishop and missionary (d. 687) or 4th Sept.
21 Transitus of Benedict, Abbot of Monte Casino, Father of Western Monasticism, patron of Europe, c550
21 Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1556
22 LENT 5 PASSION SUNDAY
24 Paul Couturier, Ecumenist, 1953
24 Walter Hilton of Thurgartan, Augustian Friar, Mystic, 1396
24 Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, Martyr, 1980
25 THE ANNUNCIATION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
26 Harriet Monsell, Founder of the Community of St John the Baptist, Clewer, 1883
29 LENT 6 PALM SUNDAY
Address for correspondence
The Parish of St George the Martyr,
The Rectory
34 Angus Street
Goodwood, SA, 5034
Email: stgeorges8@bigpond.com
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St George the Martyr Anglican Church, Goodwood 