Liturgy and Leftovers

Dr Meg Warner, Principal

“You cannot claim to worship Jesus in the Tabernacle if you do not pity Jesus in the slum.”

These were the words of Frank Weston, Bishop of Zanzibar, as part of his Concluding Address to the Anglo-Catholic Congress of 1923. In a foreword to the publication of this address on Bishop Weston’s Death by the Society of Saints Peter and Paul in London, one reads:

I think this speech of his will be uncomfortable reading for the self-satisfied, for the smug and for the well-to-do, content with an aesthetic religion and indifferent to the troubles of their neighbours in the slums round the corner. But it is an inspiring message to those of us who are made unhappy by the inequalities of modern life and who, without knowing how things may be made better, are at least moved to a measure of sympathy when the hungry tramp with ragged trousers and squelching boots passes us on a wet day in Regent Street. And to us comes the command from the dead Bishop, hard enough to obey, to see Jesus in the ragged and in the oppressed and “when you see Him gird yourselves with His towel and try to wash their feet.

Bishop Weston’s “uncomfortable” words will be the inspiration for a public lecture at Wollaston Theological College to be given The Revd Professor Andrew McGowan on Tuesday 3 November at 7.00pm.

Professor McGowan’s chosen title for the lecture is “Liturgy and Leftovers: Anglicans, Reserving the Eucharist and Feeding the Poor”.

It will be a treat and a privilege to have Andrew McGowan with us. He is uniquely qualified to give this lecture, having centred his research interests on the Eucharist, sacrifice, food and meals, North African Christianity and Anglican Theology. He was editor of the Journal of Anglican Studies from 2013 to 2020. Andrew McGowan has recently stepped down as Dean and President of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University, but is a son of this diocese, in which both he and his father, the late The Revd Brian McGowan, exercised their priestly ministry.

Entry to the lecture is free, but you should get in early to reserve your place by registering on the College website or emailing info@wollaston.edu.au. Light refreshments will be served.