THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT
19th December 2004
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Poverty, Frost, Famine, Rain, Disease, are the beadles and guardsmen that hold us to Common Sense. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Here are two recent news stories: we've found the genes that make people believe in God and that make women unfaithful. At a stroke, scientists have scuppered religion and taken the moral sting out of infidelity. If you think you have any of these genes, go to your doctor at once and get them removed......Neither of the stories is true. Genes are one variant among many that make women cheat or people believe in God. All that has been found is that there is a tiny heritable factor in each trait. You can't even predict what an individual plant will do on the basis of such correlations and, when human reason comes into the picture, you can predict nothing. There will be plenty of nuns who lack the God genes and possess the infidelity genes; this will not make them worse nuns.
Brian Appleyard
GOOD NEWS & BAD NEWS
A man went into a Shepparton antique shop and said that he had just found two items in the loft of his old house. He produced an old fiddle and an even older painting, both in a very tatty condition. He asked the dealer to give them a wipe over and suggest a value for them. The dealer asked the owner to return in a few days. When he did so, the dealer confessed that the examination had turned into one of those good news/bad news stories. So the customer asked for the good news first. The dealer then said that what he had found was that the items were a Stradivarius and a Rembrandt, which had so amazed him that he had got them authenticated by a valuer of his acquaintance, a Pom, who had worked for many years for Sotheby's. "What then is the bad news?" asked the customer. "Well, you see sir, Stradivarius never really made it as a painter...."
GOOD NEWS
Fr Andrew Neaum
What was the best news of last week? Well I took possession of a new car. For the first time in my life I own a car that has both air conditioning and cruise control. I suppose this is good news. Those long, summer car journeys which had to be made with every car window open, ensuring arrival at one’s destination wind-blown, dessicated and panting for a beer or three, are now done with. The old “vegie van” will eventually be sold after eleven years of sterling service. I shall be sorry to let it go, it has been a faithful chariot.
Pork Pie
Also good news was that Rachel and I, last Monday, successfully made our first ever genuine English pork pie. It tasted authentically delicious. Mind you, we had to call Margaret to bring her practical genius to bear when we got into difficulty moulding the hot water crust pastry. How well it turned out in the end though, the pastry crisp and tasty and the smell of genuine lard, as we melted it in milk, sent me on a nostalgic trip back to childhood and my mother’s odoriferous kitchen.
Olives and strawberries
On Monday, as well as making a pork pie, Rachel and I left Margaret happy at the sewing machine from which we had called her to come and rescue our pork pie’s pastry, and we visited two of Shepparton’s bright spots. The first is the Olive Farm on the Melbourne road. There, at a price, you can buy the most delicious olives imaginable and after a judicious and lingering tasting session we duly did so. We then went to the strawberry farm where, with thunder thrillingly rumbling from behind the river’s gum trees, and in a very short time, we picked three kilograms of delicious strawberries. They have given us pleasure all week. There is an olive tree in the rectory garden which we have given more sun by pruning overshadowing tree branches. This year it bears a small crop of olives which I hope will plump up into great big beauties for us to pickle, something we last did when living in the Rectory at Ararat.
Atheist to Deist
Perhaps the best news of all was to read of the fall of an articulate and persuasive unbeliever. Professor Anthony Flew, a legendary British philosopher and atheist, who for many, many years has been a champion of unbelievers, much quoted and deferred to when I was at university all those years ago, has pronounced himself a deist! He believes in God, stating, “the case for an Aristotelian God who has the characteristics of power and also intelligence, is now much stronger than it ever was before....... the most impressive arguments for God’s existence are those that are supported by recent scientific discoveries...... I think the argument to Intelligent Design is enormously stronger than it was when I first met it.” The fall of such a high profile and articulate atheist, one so much more profound and intelligent than our ABC’s atheistic guru, Phillip Adams, fills me with unutterable delight, though of course to be a deist is still very far from being a Christian, as Flew, in his most learned interview with Dr Gary Habermas makes clear. He does, however find Jesus of Nazareth an attractive figure, as his last and politically incorrect statement of the interview makes clear: “....for goodness sake, Jesus is an enormously attractive charismatic figure, which the Prophet of Islam most emphatically is not.”
Termites Millipedes and Shakespeare
Wednesday was also good news. A perfect day, cool of breeze with a cloudless sky and the end of all that mugginess. Mind you the muggy weather has had its pleasures too, bringing back vividly to both Margaret and me, Zimbabwean summers with their hot sunny mornings and the gradual build up of great cumulous clouds, spectacular lightning and heavy rain. We missed the great swarms of nutritious flying termites and the roving hordes of millipedes. After lunch on the lawn, which comprised the remnants of the proud pork pie, Rachel and I read half of “All’s Well That Ends Well”, part of a project to make our way through as many of Shakespeare’s plays as possible. We stopped when I began to doze off, a tendency in me that is caused in part by my short nights and early mornings. My children have suffered from this ever since they were infants for whenever I read to them as children my spirited renditions, after a few pages, would begin to wind down, grow spasmodic and lapse into incoherence, whereupon they would have to shout and bellow to wake me up and get me going again.
Johann Sebastian
More good news is my developing relationship with Johann Sebastian Bach. As I listen to his cantatas in the chapel early on most mornings I am sometimes brought close to a state of exaltation. Bach’s great collection of masterpieces is as awe-inspiring and moving as a great gothic cathedral, and readily accessible to us all, thanks to modern technology. I listened last week to several magnificent cantatas, one sublimely contrasting hope and fear (No 66) and then (No 69a) Lobe Den Herrn Meine Seele, dealing with the healing of the deaf and dumb man and as not infrequently happens, the text, let alone the glorious music brings moments of sweet illumination, such as follows, where the poet deftly identifies himself, and so of course the listener, with the deaf and dumb mute as follows:
When I but recall
What thou, my God, hast, from gentlest youth,
Until this moment,
Blessed me with,
So can I just as little, O Lord,
Count thy miracles as the stars.
Thy grace granted to my soul,
Every living hour,
Resting on thy loving power,
I could not ever fully give thee thanks.
My mouth is weak, my tongue is mute
To tell thy praise and fame.
Ah! Abide with me,
And speak thy mighty "Ephphatha,"
Then shall my mouth be filled with thanks.
Which of course is the reason why this little article has been about good news about which to be thankful. It is God speaking his mighty "Ephphatha," to me!
Carol for Comedians
Three mighty kings, ‘tis said,
Once came to Bethlehem town
And each bore on his head
A golden crown.
Upon the East a star
Lay like a gorgeous gem
Which led them from afar
To Bethlehem.
There in a manger laid
They found a little child
And at their gifts displayed
It sadly smiled.
A vagabond came in
Who too had seen the star,
A man of merry sin
As such men are.
He had no precious gems,
God, frankincense nor myrrh,
No crowns nor diadems,
Poor wanderer.
He’d songs upon his lips
And laughter in his eye
And tales and jokes and quips
To pass time by.
He sang a ditty and
He winked so roguishly
The Child stretched out Its hand
And laughed with glee.
By Leonard Mann
From An Anthology of Australian Religious Poetry
edited by Les Murray
EDUCATION
We live less and less and learn more and more. I have seen a man laughed at for examining a dead leaf attentively and with pleasure. No one would have laughed to hear a string of botanical terms muttered over it. Remy de Gourmont
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Gracious God, you chose the virgin Mary, by your grace, to be the mother of our Lord and Saviour: so fill us with your grace, that with her we may rejoice in your salvation, and in all things embrace your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God now and for ever. Amen.
CONGRATULATIONS
Birthdays
Barbara Philp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monday the 20th
Erin Dunlop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Monday the 20th
Ella Egan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wednesday the 22nd
Joe Pearson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thursday the 23rd
Hilder Lidgard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Saturday the 25th
SAUSAGES
Two Wednesdays ago, overwhelmed with funerals and chores of one sort or another, I dug deep into my archives for a sermon to deliver at the 10.00am Eucharist. I came up with a bagatelle on the subject of sausages which made a tasty if less than tasteful analogy in comparing the Church to a sausage. It originated many years ago as a children’s talk, but adults have always enjoyed it as much if not more than children. In response Margaret Kidman gave me the following little parody of a piece of verse that begins:
The cottage was a thatched one
the outside neat and trim.....
The parody:
The sausage was a fat one
The outside was of skin.
But, all that was inside
Was a little dog named Jim.
CHRISTMAS SERVICES
The Christmas Services are listed on the back page. Please note that there are no services on Boxing Day at Katandra or Dookie. Nor is there a Vigil Service on Christmas Day evening! Don’t forget to offer to your relatives with children the 5.30pm Christmas Eve Service aimed specifically at youngsters.
CAROL SERVICE
Many thanks to those who joined up and stayed the course with the choir for the Carol Service and so contributed to its success. Our organist and all the singers did a most excellent job. Thank you too to the readers.
MIDNIGHT MASS
Midnight Mass begins at 11.30pm, but there will be carol singing from 11.00pm until the service starts. Come along early if you would like to join in. There will be incense used at Midnight Mass, but at no other Christmas service.
HALL KITCHEN
Please note that renovations will be starting on the Hall kitchen in the new year so this facility will not be available for use during all of February and the first week in March.
CHRISTMAS HAMPERS
Instead of delivering Christmas Hampers this year, the Social Responsibilities Committee has decided that we will stock up our cupboard with some substantial and perhaps rather better quality food, and give it out, judiciously, to any of the needy who come to us during, or indeed after, the festive season, which is a time that family budgets are sometimes in a dire state. We are able to do this because of the generosity of folk who regularly bring foodstuffs as part of their Sunday Offering and also the generosity of Fairley’s IGA, who make a substantial annual donation of goods to us. We are interested in the names of any families or individuals known to parishioners who might well be worthy recipients of a gift of food of some sort at this time.
IMPORTANT DATES FOR THE DIARY
Dec 19th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50th Anniv. Service St Bernard’s Katandra
Dec 24th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.30pm Children’s Christmas Eucharist
Dec 31st. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding 4pm
Jan 8th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding
Feb 5th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wedding
Feb 9th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Annual General Meeting
Feb 12th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wedding
Feb 19th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wedding
Mar 5th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Quarterly Garden Working Bee
March 12th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding
Jun 4th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Quarterly Garden Working Bee
Duties for 19th December 2004
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Heather Carlyon, Norm Mitchelmore
Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nancy Fennell, Lionel Waterson,
Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beth, Kate, James
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jenny Pleming
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Heather Fitzgerald, Bev Condon
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christine Evans, Maureen Cormican
Intercessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Victoria Heenan, Jenny Pleming
Welcoming 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Beryl Goodfellow, Cecily McDonald
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sandra Simonis, Charlotte Brewer
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bob Galt, Joe Pearson
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charlotte Brewer, Nola Brewer
Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bev Reither
Mowing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frank Steen, Michael Egan
Duties for Midnight Mass 11.30, 24th December
Readers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Margaret Neaum, Jeanette Smith
Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Michelle, Steve, Debbie
Euch Assts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maureen, Bev
Welcoming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Church Wardens or Councillors as available
Sidespeople. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Church Wardens or Councillors as available
Duties for Christmas Day 25th December
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Carole Henderson, Norm Weaver
Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Peter Martin, Andrea Fisher
Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beth, Glen, Renee
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jenny Pleming
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carole Henderson, Christine Evans
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maureen Cormican
Intercessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Heather Carlyon, Nancy Noonan
Welcoming 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Heather Pearson, Bev Ralph
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jenny Pleming, John Pleming
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Merv Cowland, Gwyn Cowland
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charlotte Brewer, Nola Brewer
Duties for Sunday 26th December
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Heather Pearson, Frank Harder
Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charlotte Brewer, Maureen Cormican
Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michelle, Steve, Debbie
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joan McCann, Tiana, Zebedee
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Carole Henderson, Bev Condon
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Christine Evans, Bev Condon
Intercessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pat Griffin, Christine Jones
Welcoming 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Anita Saville, Heather Nichols
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cheryl Richards, Judy Longley
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Norm Mitchelmore, Joy Campbell
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alan Akers, Adrian Evans
Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cecily McDonald
Mowing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Moore, John Pleming
FOR PRAYER
Joyce & Vernon Auldrige, Liam Bognar, Len Brereton, Daniel Cowan, Nancy Craig, Rae Egan, Lachlan Falls, Richard Goodfellow, Ron Hall, Noel Heenan, Barry Henderson, Thelma Irwin, Tanya & Peter Lindberg, Jackie Liversedge, Joyce Maloney, Ann Mills, Margaret Noble, Richard Pearson, Ray Prosser, Margaret Robinson, Rodger Saville, Susan Stone, Peter & Eva Swindells, Gladys Trencher, May Wallace, Lillian Walter, Brian Ward, Stan Windley, Darren, Elizabeth, Faith, John, Lindsay, Gladys, Alan, Glenda, Dorrie, Brian, Mary, Julie, Pat, Jackie, Bernie, Kyla, Georgina.
Anniversary of Death
Anella Fennell 19th, Bertha Northey 20th, Frederick Nowell, Maxwell Allen 21st, Vera Tattersall, Kim Chapman, Gwendoline Hounslow 22nd, Garnet Wall, Chloe Schaper 23rd, Christine Swainsbury 25th,
Rest in Peace
Christopher Walsh, Bernie Bazeley
THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH
Monday 20th December Fr Andrew’s day off
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
6.00pm Evening Prayer
Tuesday 21st Decmber
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
1.30pm Funeral - St Augustine’s
6.00pm Evening Prayer
Wednesday 22nd December
10.00am Eucharist - St Augustine’s
1.30pm Hakea Lodge
6.00pm Evening Prayer
Thursday 23rd December
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
6.00pm Evening Prayer
7.30pm Choir Practice
Friday 24th December
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Children’s Church & Eucharist
11.30pm Midnight Eucharist
Saturday 25th Christmas Day
8.00am Mattins- Lady Chapel
8.30am Sung Eucharist
9.00am Eucharist-Dookie
10.30am Eucharist-St. Augustine’s
10.45am Eucharist - Katandra West
Sunday 26th December
8.00am Mattins - Lady Chapel
8.30am Sung Eucharist
10.30amEucharist - St Augustine’s
5.30pm Evening Prayer - St Augustine