While COVID closed the century-old doors of St John's Anglican Church three years ago, Reverend Emily Payne is now opening them up again.
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The Thurgoona building has been sealed since 2020, with the only parishioners being a few cheeky bats, but this Sunday, December 3, the silence will be broken as parishioners are welcomed to the Table Top Road site.
Reverend Payne, who has lived on the Border since leaving Melbourne during the COVID lockdowns, said she was thrilled to see the the oldest church in the Anglican Parish of Northern Albury reinvigorated.
On Sunday the church will be declared as a Mission District.
"The church was built in the late 1800s, it has charm and character, but it was sadly closed in 2020 at the height of the lockdowns," Reverend Payne said.
"It hasn't been doing anything all this time, it's basically been unused for several years, but it was decided to open it up again.
"This will officially happen on Sunday with the Bishop of Wangaratta, Clarence Bester, leading the commissioning service.
"We're expecting quite a crowd. Bishop Clartence is a fairly charismatic sort of bloke, so it should be pretty good energy and give a positive feeling to the whole thing.
"He's got a vision for the church and a vision for a community, of justice and of human flourishing that comes very much out of his experience of what the church was in the struggle against apartheid."
Reverend Payne said the Diocese of Wangaratta and the Parish of Northern Albury saw the need to resume worship services at the church in light of the burgeoning Thurgoona community.
She said she would be delighted to see people breaking into song again at the church, a practice that was strictly controlled during the pandemic.
"NSW on the whole was a lot less strict than Victoria, but not about singing," Reverend Payne said.
"So for ages and ages, we were only allowed to sing outside, so we were doing this thing where we'd start the service outside singing hymns, come in and do the rest of church service, and then go outside again and sing more hymns.
"And that was OK in summer, but it was not so OK for the rest of the year."
Reverend Payne said St John's is the oldest in the Parish of Northern Albury alongside worship centres in Lavington and Jindera.
She said Trinity Anglican College was founded within the parish and the new Mission District "anticipates a close relationship with the school".
"In a time where people are moving away from traditional institutions, we believe the community and traditions of the Anglican church still have much to offer," she said.
"Communities where people can be safe, belong, explore questions of faith, and work alongside others to serve the wider community, are still much needed. We hope this new church community will be all of that."
The commissioning service on Sunday will start at 11am.
