TENTH SUNDAY after PENTECOST (19)
8th August 2004
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Marx’s famous saying that ‘religion is the opium of the people’ is habitually wrenched out of its context and given a meaning subtly but appreciably different from the one he gave it. Marx did not say, at any rate in that place, that religion is merely a dope handed on from above; he said it is something people create for themselves to supply a need that he recognised to be a real one. ‘Religion is the sigh of a soul in a soulless world. Religion is the opium of the people.’ What is he saying except that a man does not live by bread alone, that hatred is not enough, that a world worth living in cannot be founded on ‘realism’ and machine-guns?” P J Kavanagh
A PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Let the healing grace of your love, O Lord, so transform me that I may play my part in the transfiguration of the world from a place of suffering, death and corruption to a realm of infinite light, joy and love. Make me so obedient to your Spirit that my life may become a living prayer, and a witness to your unfailing presence. Martin Israel
DAD AND DAVE
Dad and Dave were hunting for wild pigs with their dogs when they heard some piglet squeals coming from beneath a fallen log. While Dad kept watch in case the parents came back, Dave squeezed right underneath the log into what turned out to be a large burrow. Whilst he was grabbing at the piglets, everything turned black. “Dad, what’s blocking the light?” “Son, you’ll find out if the sow’s tail breaks.”
NOSTALGIA BULLFROGS AND OTHER THINGS
Father Andrew Neaum
After church last Sunday Margaret and I sped off to Skipton to spend a night with old friends. Skipton is a village of about 600 people on the edge of the Western Districts, fifty two kilometres west of Ballarat. It was the first Australian parish of which I was Rector. There, about nineteen years ago, with newly born Rachel, Elizabeth a mere infant and the two boys primary school pupils, we settled into Australia in the best and most healthy of country settings. It was there that I abandoned my old portable Olivetti, took the plunge and bought my first computer. It was there that I first went cutting wood with parishioners to keep the rectory warm and discovered the Canadian wood splitter and how to “shell” great eucalyptus logs. It was there that I watched the squalls blow across “pleurisy plains” from the dining room window and learned to appreciate a landscape dotted with lakes and little dams. It was there, in Emu Creek, that we spotted our first platypus and watched black eels glide secretively around, eating their less fortunate relatives, smoked in the little factory in the town. There I developed my first Australian vegie garden, digging heavy, waterlogged clay and learning to lighten it with sheep manure and gypsum, eventually producing the biggest swedes I have ever grown. It was there that I watched sheep marked, crutched, sheared and managed, blessed fleeces in urine-incensed sheds and dug and bagged their manure to balance the parish books. It was from there that we first explored and learned to love the south coast, holidaying in Port Fairy. It was there that I settled into the Australian Anglican Church, in a diocese full of typically warm, welcoming and middle-of-the-road parishioners, but madly Anglo-Catholic and mostly unutterably conservative clergy. I managed to fit in fairly well with the diocese, rebelling only much later and in another parish, engendering a fair amount of clerical antipathy for so doing.
Bitter sweet nostalgia
Our trip back to Skipton was by the most obvious route, through Bendigo, Maryborough, Avoca and Beaufort. From Avoca onwards the country becomes beautiful, indeed, the Pyrenean highway from Avoca to Ararat is one of the loveliest drives I know, and the route from Amphitheatre to Beaufort is a delight. However, it was the road from Beaufort to Skipton that filled me with an intense nostalgia, not only for the place, but also for the youngish man I was in those days. We took a quick trip around the village before settling down in our friends’ house. The lovely little parish church looked disconsolate, grey-faced and lichen encrusted. We had power-hosed it once while I was there, to take off much of its Western District weather-mould, but the parish has now been joined to Beaufort and the rectory is rented out. It is little wonder that the building appears depressed and grey. In my day its heart was kept warm with a daily Eucharist, there is none of that now. We speculated as to whether, had I remained there, it would still be a viable parish. I like to think so, but who knows? Circumstances other than clergy competence or incompetence mitigate against the success of village churches these days. I left the parish with a healthy bank balance, but it was hard work keeping the coffers full even way back then.
Mammon rules
It is sad to see towns lose parish status and a resident priest. Too many people are prepared to allow their church to die rather than contribute actively to its life. There is usually far more fuss in a town when the bank closes than when the parish church does, mammon not God rules in our materialistic society. Even here in Shepparton our parish roll is loaded with the names of people who contribute nothing to the life, health or future of their parish church, content to use it at their convenience for baptisms, weddings and funerals and no more. We live off the past and upon the hard work and generosity of the few.
George and Robyn
The friends we stayed with are Robyn and George Lines. Robyn is a devoted Roman Catholic, George a devoted Anglican and they are the most interesting, well-travelled, pleasantly eccentric, literate and generous of people. They were good friends while we were there and have continued to be so since we left, bon vivants, and thus good to visit. So erudite is George that whenever the children asked us a question to which we had no answer, we would say to them, “ask Mr Lines” confident that even if he didn’t know the correct answer, with aplomb he would make up a convincing one. An Agricultural Scientist by profession he’s well read in most disciplines and has a truly wicked and witty sense of humour. At his 70th birthday, which began for him with a champagne breakfast and hot-air balloon flight, I recited a piece of verse in his honour, a section follows:
...For thirteen years I’ve known the man,
And grown to be his friend and fan,
Relishing his conversation
Learning, wit and cerebration
Both man of God and man of science
He holds together in defiance
Strange paradoxes of a kind
That puzzle those of simpler mind.
He’s wise, he’s daft, he’s strong, he’s frail,
Well esteemed, beyond the pale,
His head in clouds, his feet on ground
Madly sane, profoundly sound.
Of all Australians that I’ve met
On none like him my eyes I’ve set.
Distinguished looking, twinkling eyed,
His sympathies and interests wide.
Full of facts most recondite,
In conversation a delight,
His wicked tongue controlled in part,
By Robyn and his Christian heart.
He first to my attention drew
As sermon fodder in my pew.
Where if my sermon proved a dud
He’d ruminate his own good cud.
Then after church and over sherry
In the hall and waxing merry,
Sizzling, witty jokes he’d trade
Imported east from Adelaide.
And in his gracious home and fair
We ate exotic foodstuffs rare,
Boeuf Wellington so rare and red
It palpitated as we fed.
The best of wines the best of foods,
And George our host in best of moods
Holding forth with gleeful grin
His napkin tucked beneath his chin
The company was usually
Selected most judiciously,
Never dull, some rogues, no rotters,
Bishops, potters, farmers, squatters,
Sculptors, writers, scientists
Artists, priests and journalists,
Only once a mountebank,
A failed priest, a fool and swank,
A man who raised both ire and gorge
By out-pontificating George.....
Needless to say then, we had a lovely time with them. George is now suffering, with apparent fortitude, a variety of age’s ailments and his eyes are too bad for him to be able to read much, a great affliction for a voracious reader, but Robyn reads learned or witty tomes to him and their house is full of marvellous books, we came away with a small swag on loan.
We returned to a three funeral week with all their attendant interviews, homilies and pew sheets to endure, as well as a study group to research, confirmation classes to organise, a Wednesday sermon, Sunday sermon and children’s talk to prepare, and much more. It all makes for a stimulating life, but provides little material to write about and little time to write little about. The Wednesday night study groups I am enjoying, they are convivial affairs, good food, wine and talk leading on into the study itself.
Bullfrogs in love
Interesting was an email we received this week, out of the blue, from a woman whose child I had baptized when a raw, young assistant priest at the Cathedral in what is now Harare. She had stumbled across my website and she and her family are now part of the Rhodesian diaspora living in London. As I write about them nostalgia for Skipton gives way for nostalgia for Harare, and for our first home there as a married couple, Hadlow Place, a pleasant unit not far from the lovely park in the middle of Harare where, on warm bauhinia or frangipani scented evenings, newly wed, we would walk, pausing to sit and watch the bullfrogs, of whom I talked in last Sunday’s sermon, blow themselves up in a lily crowded pond, and sonorously croak their love to less windy sleeker and more modest lady frogs, echoing our love for each other. What a powerful and bitter-sweet emotion nostalgia is. I remember warming to the cartoonist Osbert Lancaster when I read of him, many years ago, as follows: “He was a chronic nostalgic....he was one of those people for whom the act of looking back was more intense than the original experience.” I am not that much of a nostalgic, but close enough to being one to both sympathise and empathise with him
.
No more time for nostalgia or writing though. I must organise a funeral and throw together a pewsheet.
INSPIRED BY A SERMON ON ‘PRAYER’
A still, small corner of our church
We’ve set aside for prayer.
A Chapel where God’s people come
To greet the new day, there.
A silence broken only by...
The music of the Saints.
While coloured windows stir the soul
The mind, a picture paints.
A sacred spot - serenity.
There’s beauty all around.
We kneel and peace envelopes us.
For this is holy ground.
A sweet reminder of His love,
The Cross - the sacrifice.
His ever-present nearness brings
A glimpse of Paradise. Joan McCann
LITTLE OLD LADY
Knock knock... Who’s there? A little old lady. A little old lady who? I didn’t know you could yodel.
CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations to Margaret Neaum who celebrates her birthday on Monday the 9th and to Beth Brewer who celebrates hers on Saturday the 14th.
RAFFLE TICKET SELLERS
We need some raffle ticket sellers for Tuesday, at IGA. Any volunteers have a word with Adrian Evans, Norm Mitchelmore or Heather Carlyon.
PARISH FAIR
Don’t forget to turn all those surplus oranges into marmalade for the fete. Jumble, craft, mystery parcels, books, all are needed!
ECUMENICAL SERVICE, KATANDRA
This Sunday 8th August at Katandra there is an Ecumenical Service in the Uniting Church starting at 2.00pm and all of us are invited. There is no service at St Mary’s this morning.
CHOIR NEWS
Next Sunday we hope to be singing a new setting to the Eucharist - all choir members please be at Thursday’s practice if possible. Tiffany is excused! New settings of the Eucharist tend to annoy people, but annoyance in this case will soon give way to delight!
LUNCHTIME LECTURE
AND DISCUSSION
The Power of Inclusion
Implications for the Indigenous,
Refugees and Disadvantaged.
Speaker - Frank Brennan SJ.AO
Date - Friday 13th August 2004,
12.30 - 12.45pm(Light lunch)12.45pm - 1.30pm(Lecture)
Venue - Lecture Theatre,
School of Rural Health,
Uni of Melbourne, Graham St, Shepparton
THANK YOU
Glenda Kuehnapfel wishes to thank all the friends for their prayers, cards and phone calls. It was a wonderful comfort while unable to attend the services of worship. A special, great thank you to dear Bev Condon for bringing Holy Communion to our home.
SPIRITUALITY IN THE PUB
“Are Australians Spiritual”
Dr David Tacey
David Tacey, a Melbourne Catholic, is Associate Professor and Reader in Arts & Critical Enquiry at Latrobe University. He teaches courses on contemporary spirituality, literature and the psychology of religion, and is the author of six books on spirituality and culture.
Friday 13th August 2004 at 7.00pm at Makabys Restaurant, The Causeway, Mooroopna
Ticket Price $28 includes a 3 course meal Drinks at Bar Prices See the Notice Board for further details
A.B.M.
Report on Gold Coin Appeal. Thanks to you all for your donations in aid of: KYE Inn, Southern Myanamar, “Build a Reservoir”. I have sent them $338. Please note: Mission Boxes are due back in September.Nola Brewer
WORLD VISION
On Thursday 26th August at 7.30pm, Ian Neil of World Vision, Australia is speaking about his experiences in Malawi and South Africa where, in 2003, he visited World Vision HIV/AIDS programs and spoke with community and church leaders. See the Notice Board!
DUTIES FOR THE 8th August
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frank Harder, Heather Pearson
Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christine Jones, Nancy Noonan
Servers 8,30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michelle, Stephen, Debbie
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Zebedee, Tiana
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Heather, John
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Christine, Bev
Intercessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pat Griffin, Children
Welcoming 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jeanette Berry, Anita Saville
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nola Brewer, Frank Steen
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trevor Batey, Victoria Heenan
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alan Akers, Adrian Evans
Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bev Reither
Mowing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . nil
DUTIES FOR THE 15th August 2004
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeanette Smith, Norman Weaver
Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joan McCann, Nancy Fennell
Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Beth, Kate, James
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joan McCann, Jenny Pleming
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bev and Heather
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Carole and Maureen
Intercessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Carole Henderson, Andrea Fisher
Welcoming 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Joy Campbell, Eileen Quaife
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cheryl Richards, Judy Longley
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bob Galt, Joe Pearson
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charlotte Brewer, Nola Brewer
Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bev Reither
Mowing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alan Akers, Mervyn & Stephen Cowland
FOR PRAYER
Thomas Bakker, Liam Bognar, Douglas Burns, Rita Esam, Neil Feldtman, Kevin Fitzgerald, Richard Goodfellow, Charlie Grant, David Green, John Green, Ron Hall, Jean Hastie, Margaret Kelly, Joyce Maloney, Margaret Noble, Richard Pearson, Ray Prosser, Raymond Read, Isabelle Richards, Margaret Robinson, Rodger Saville, Peter and Eva Swindells, Laurie Tindal, May Wallace, Brian Ward, Malcolm Waterson, Michael with Leanne & Cameron, Glenda, Genevieve, Geoff, Jenny & Daryl, Darren, Judy & Kian, Elizabeth, Faith, Michael, Ruby, Toby, Wendy.
Rest in Peace
Ron Lindrea, Lenard Lindrea, Daisy Brereton
Anniversary of Death
Margaret Grantham, Archdeacon Bruce Ball 8th, Ian Malcolm 9th, Jocelyn Howells, Hilda Hillas, Ken Hardy, Olga McNab 12th, Mathew McInnes 14th
IMPORTANT DATES
Aug 8th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ecumenical Service Katandra West2pm
Sept 4th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Quarterly Garden Working Bee
Sept 11th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wedding
Sept 17 -18th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Synod
Oct 3rd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . St Francistide Pet Blessing
Oct 16th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wedding 3.00pm
Oct 23rd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wedding 3.00pm
Oct 24th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Confirmation
Nov 6th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding 3.30pm
Nov 13th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding 2.30pm
Nov 13th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Parish Fair
Nov 21st . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bishop’s Visit
Dec 4th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Quarterly Garden Working Bee
Dec 5th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding 1.30pm
Dec 18th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding 1.30pm
Mar 5th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Quarterly Garden Working Bee
Jun 4th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Quarterly Garden Working Bee
THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH
Monday August 9th
(Fr Andrew’s day off)
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Evening Prayer
Tuesday August 10th
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Evening Prayer
7.30pm G.F.S. Townsend
Wednesday August 11th
7.45am Mattins - Lady Chapel
10.00am Eucharist - St Augustine’s
1.30pm Hakea Lodge
5.30pm Hospice Care Meeting
6.30pm Study Group
7.30pm Prayer Support Group - Chapel
Thursday August 12th
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
1.30pm Valley Nursing Home
3.00pm Various Meetings - Wangaratta
5.00pm Confirmation Preparation-Library
5.30pm Evening Prayer
7.30pm Choir Practice
Friday August 13th
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
10.30am Rural Deanery Meeting - Seymour
5.30pm Evening Prayer
Saturday August 14th
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Evening Prayer
6.00pm Vigil Eucharist
Sunday Pentecost 11 August 15th
8.00am Mattins - Lady Chapel
8.30am Sung Eucharist - St Augustine’s
9.00am Eucharist- St. Luke’s Dookie
10.30am Eucharist - St Augustine’s
10.45am Eucharist -Katandra West
5.30pm Evening Prayer - St Augustine’s
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