Hallelujah to hard rock in one Glorious Day

It was Scott Morrison like few have ever seen him before: hand held aloft and eyes shut in a moment of praise.

Eyes closed, hand raised, Scott Morrison – next to wife Jenny – sings along to Glorious Day at Horizon Church in Sutherland, Sydney, yesterday morning. Picture: Gary Ramage

It was Scott Morrison like few have seen him before: hand held aloft and eyes shut in a moment of praise at the Pentecostal church he calls his “bedrock.”

The Prime Minister allowed cameras inside the Horizon Church in the Sutherland Shire, in Sydney’s south, for the first time in his political career. Although he has long remarked about his faith, no one has been allowed to witness it in practice.

And for a man trying to come from behind in the polls, he may have taken some solace from the sermon, which was a parable about the hope that so often follows ­disappointment.

Bill Shorten was also doing the rounds on the so-called ­“campaign-free” day yesterday, attending St Andrew’s Anglican Church in the inner-Brisbane suburb of Indooroopilly with his children, wife Chloe and his mother-in-law, Quentin Bryce, a ­beloved former governor-general.

Dame Quentin joined the Shorten campaign for the first time.

Yesterday was Easter Sunday and, as senior pastor Brad Bonhomme told the 1000 worshippers in Mr Morrison’s electorate of Cook, that’s the day Jesus Christ proved his “disillusioned” doubters wrong and rose again.

“And even after all the miracles Jesus did, one after the other, people said ‘We are disillusioned, we are disillusioned’,” Mr Bonhomme said during the sermon.

“The message of the gospel is the message of Christ. He was the one who is actually offended, we were the ones that left him in the gutter. He remained faithful.

“This is a message of restoration, of strength of feeling, where Jesus says ‘Although you run from me, I still care’.”

Morrison with daughters Lily and Abbey and Deputy PM Michael McCormack on the ‘Rock Star’ at the Easter Show. Picture: AAP

Mr Morrison’s faith has become a talking point because unlike other major forms of Christianity or other religions, Pentecostal believers can sometimes speak in tongues and be called before the congregation to be “healed” instantly by the grace of God.

The Liberal leader met his wife, Jenny, through church when they were in school, married at the age of 21 and have raised their daughters Abbey and Lily within the Horizon Church, which is under the umbrella of Assemblies of God.

“This has been the bedrock of our family,” he told media after the service attended yesterday morning. “They’re a wonderful community and they reach out all across the community, they always have. This community is full of love, it’s for others and they have just been such a tremendous support for us personally.

“It’s a part of our lives.”

Church officials were protective of worshippers, however, ­allowing media to record just one song, ­Glorious Day — to which Mr Morrison sang along with closed eyes and raised hand — and urging ­reporters not to speak with people when they left.

Mr Bonhomme ended his sermon, which could be heard from the street, with an exhortation to trust in the love of God.

“No matter what you are going through, his love, his mercy, his grace is sufficient,” he said.

When the Morrison family left, one of the churchgoers laughed: “He’s in a Kia!”

Another responded: “Yeah, normal people car.”

In his Easter message, ­Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said it was a “time for worship, for reflection and a special opportunity for families to come together”. “We wish you and your loved ones all the best this Easter. For many Easter is a time that carries deep meaning,’’ he said.

In the afternoon Mr Morrison switched gears and pressed flesh at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney.

Joined by Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, the Prime Minister took his two daughters on a thrill ride called the “Rock Star” and again raised his hands in the air as the ride operator dutifully played AC/DC’s Back in Black as arranged. As ever, though, it was the often unpredictable run-ins with real people that proved electric.

Mr Morrison ran the gauntlet of reactions from enthusiastic support — and Sharks fans — to those who thought he was former prime minister John Howard and others who knew him as “that bloke from TV”. One man grinned and waved at Mr Morrison before being asked by his companion: “Do you know him?”

Largely, however, the “ScoMo” branding works and it was yelled at him in the animal farm, the produce stalls and sideshow alley by young and old alike.

Little wonder, then, that the resurrection story has so much ­appeal for the man.