NINTH SUNDAY after PENTECOST (18)
1st August 2004
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Krauthammer refers to the “baleful history” of the Crucifixion story. What did the Crucifixion give mankind? Salvation, the opening of the gates of heaven, Western civilization, the greatest art, architecture, music, painting, sculpture, cathedrals and churches in history, the idea that all men are children of God and that each has an innate worth and dignity, which puts limits on the power of any state—and an end to slavery. No Cross, no Christianity. No Christianity, no West. No West, no freedom, no human rights, no America. Where does Krauthammer think our civilization and culture came from? P Buchanan
Poverty, Frost, Famine, Rain, Disease, are the beadles and guardsmen that hold us to Common Sense.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
A PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Lord, as we look back on the journey of our life so far, we see how your love and goodness have been with us, through many failings and dangers, in many joys and adventures. We have received much love from friends, enjoyed so many good and lovely things, been guided and inspired by the wisdom and encouragement of many teachers and writers. Often we have felt your presence near, and often we have had to walk by faith. Forgive our slowness, our failures in faith, the smallness of our love, our poor use of your grace. Accept our heart’s thanks for growing knowledge of you, for increasing assurance of your purposes of love and deepening knowledge of the things that are eternal. As we turn again to the journey ahead, it is bright with your mercies of the past, dear God and Saviour, for this we thank you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
CHIEF FORGET ME NOT
The Sydney Morning herald’s travel writer was touring America and he decided to visit one of the newly opened casinos on the Indian reservation. It was a Mohawk casino, and sitting in the lobby was a marvellous old bloke with a feathered headdress. “that’s Big Chief Forget-Me-Not,” said the manager, “Because this is Indian territory, he is allowed free use of the hotel for the rest of his life.” “Why is he known as Big chief Forget-Me-Not?” asked the writer. “Because of his memory. Although he is almost a hundred he can remember every detail of his life.” The travel writer decided to test the chief’s memory. “Okay, what did you have for breakfast on your 18th birthday?” “Eggs,” came the reply. The travel writer checked out the next day and happened to return to the hotel after another four weeks. There, in the foyer, was the old Indian chief. “How!” said the Australian. “Scrambled,” said the chief.
CHRISTMAS IN JULY
Last year in windy, cold July
I celebrated Christmas. Why?
Because the southern hemisphere
Still likes to ape the north, I fear;
In winter and imagined snow
To kiss beneath the mistletoe,
To echo Santa’s mad “Ho, Ho!”
And fizz and burp by yule log’s glow.
To glut on turkey, goose and ham,
Instead of Western District lamb;
On Christmas pudding, nuts and cake
That make distended bellies ache;
Nostalgic for another land,
A northern land, a motherland,
A land of woods coniferous,
Not gum trees odoriferous.
This southern hemispheric binge
Exhibits, then, that cultural cringe
Deplored by those who proudly think
That European imports stink,
Be they sparrows, starlings, rabbits,
Pommie accents, pommie habits,
Blackbirds, brambles, thistles, gorse,
Or the monarchy of course!
Avoiding, in no small confusion,
The sound and logical conclusion
Of all such chauvinistic views:-
That they themselves, by rights, should lose
The right of tenure to this land
Of arid soil and burning sand,
Because like blackbirds, thistles, gorse
They are imports too of course. Father Andrew Neaum
THE TRANSFIGURATION
Friday is a major festival of the Church’s calendar, The Transfiguration of Our Lord. The following passage from the Russian novelist Turgenev I sometimes use in sermons to illustrate a possible interpretation of the Transfiguration.
I saw myself in a dream, a youth, almost a boy, in a low pitched wooden church. The slim wax candles gleamed, spots of red, before the old pictures of the saints. A ring of coloured light encircled each tiny flame. Dark and dim it was in the church.... but there stood before me many people. All fair-haired peasant heads. From time to time they began swaying, falling, rising again, like the ripe ears of wheat when the wind of summer passes in slow undulation over them.
All at once some man came up from behind and stood beside me. I did not turn towards him; but at once I felt that this man was Christ. Emotion, curiosity, awe, overmastered me suddenly. I made an effort .... and looked at my neighbour.
A face like everyone’s, a face like all men’s faces. The eyes looked a little upwards, quietly and intently. The lips closed, but not compressed; the upper lip, as it were, resting on the lower. A small beard parted in two. The hands folded and still and the clothes on him like everyone’s. What sort of man is this? I thought. Such an ordinary, ordinary man! It can’t be! I turned away. But I had hardly turned my eyes away from this ordinary man when I felt again that it really was none other than Christ standing by me. Again I made an effort over myself.... and again the same face, like all men’s faces, the same everyday though unknown features. And suddenly my heart sank, and I came to myself. Only then I realised that just such a face - a face like all men’s faces - is the face of Christ.
ETERNAL LIFE
A great deal of my time is spent in trying to make clear the faith I believe and to allow it to develop in new and creative ways. Nearly every sermon I preach is a clarifying of my own mind or a focussing of my own vision which I trust other people find worth sharing in. The following reflections on eternal life come from a book by John Austin Baker. He used to be the Bishop of Salisbury in England and head of the Church of England’s Doctrine Commission. He is now retired. He is someone who has helped form and clarify my mind with his writing over many years. The book I quote from is “The Faith of a Christian”, published by Darton, Longman and Todd. (AN)
What do we mean by ‘heaven’ or ‘eternal’ life, and what are the true grounds for desiring it? I was once asked whether, if it could be proved that there was no God, I would wish I had lived my life differently. The reply, so far as memory serves, was this: “No, I would not want to have lived my life by different values, because I believe that those by which I have at least tried to live are right in themselves anyway. But I would be very sad, because it would mean that truth, goodness, beauty and love are not eternal and will not triumph in the end.”
The reason for wanting there to be a ‘heaven’ is that the last word may rest not with evil or nothingness but with goodness and love. To the degree that we care about that we shall long for heaven as it really is......
Resurrection and Alzheimer’s
.....What of those who had no chance to live, those dying in infancy or before birth? Or again - and one of the most agonising cases of all for relatives or friends - those whose whole personal being was destroyed in this life by, for example dementia or Alzheimer’s or Creutzfeld-Jakob disease? Long before they die, it may feel to others that already they no longer exist. What is there to go on through death to Resurrection life?
In the Land of the Trinity
Such questions raise the whole issue of what we may call the ‘mode of being’ of creatures in eternal life. Even here we depend on the loving will of the Creator to sustain the cosmos from which we derive our existence. Because we are products of that ongoing physical system, our ultimate dependence on God is hidden from us, but it is none the less real for that. When we die, the intermediate physical support for our personal being ceases and the only power that keeps us in existence is the one that was actually doing so all the time, namely God. We then ‘transfer’, so to speak, to that spiritual mode of being which is God’s, for it is entirely in God’s loving mind and will that we exist. There God clothes us in whatever spiritual ‘body’ expresses our personal reality; and that can and will change ‘from glory to glory’ as the image of God grows in us. Moreover, being in this way with all other creatures ‘in God’, we shall be exempt from the conditions of space-time, and it will make no sense to talk of growth and change taking a longer or shorter period. It will simply be part of the interchange that is the nature of life in ‘the land of the Trinity’.
A Parable
This freedom from space-time means that what God holds in being beyond death will not be simply the person as he or she happened to be at that moment. A parable many help here. When someone dies and an obituary is written or an address given at a memorial service, we do not speak only of the cancer victim or the frail old body longing for release. We try to distil what that person was by bringing together facts and facets from their whole life story. What God delivers from death is something like our picture of the person we remember, only real and complete.
Resurrection & the mentally ill
Similar considerations apply in the case of psychiatric disorders and many other disabilities. So many conditions which ‘spoil’ a person’s nature are physical in origin. When the remorseless pressure of the body is removed, what emerges will be the person, known only to God, whom she or he longed and tried to be. Likewise, when the destructive emotional inheritance underlying a neurosis is no longer part of a person’s environment and she or he enters the realm of divine truth and love, there may be a marvellous unfolding of unsuspected beauty.
Resurrection and the still-born
As for the infants, they will not have had the chance to ‘make their own souls’ amid the joys and agonies of life. They are, as it were, almost entirely potential. But in the rich exchange of God’s people in heaven they will develop from the starting point of their innocence into a very special kind of perfection......
VEGETABLE CREATION
The world’s first and only potato museum was founded at the International School in Brussels and was last heard of in Washington, DC. It contains potato music written by J.S. Bach, potato jewelry, potato puppets, potato quilts, paper made from potatoes and pots made from potato peelings (potato mâché?). It informs visitors that there are more than 5,000 varieties of potatoes, and that Marie Antoinette wore potato flowers in her hat to popularize the plant.
PHILANTHROPY
Do not give, as many rich men do, like a hen that lays an egg, and then cackle.
Philanthropy is almost the only virtue which is sufficiently appreciated by mankind.
THE BRIGHT FIELD
I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the pearl
of great price, the one field that had
the treasure in it. I realize now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you. R S Thomas
O Lord, you have made us very small, and we bring our years to an end like a tale that is told; help us to remember that beyond our brief day is the eternity of your love.
A DEFENCE OF THE ‘LIBERAL’ ANGLICAN WAY!!
A priest who left the parochial ministry about thirty five years ago in a storm of controversy was in the pulpit at Canterbury cathedral many years later, defending “the middle, liberal, traditional Anglican way” reports the Church Times.
The Rev. Nicolas Stacey, who was Rector of Woolwich in the diocese of Southwark in the heady days of ‘Honest To God’, condemned the “cautious, clammy and lifeless hand of the ecclesiastical establishment” as he went to be Deputy Director of Oxfam in 1968.
But many years later, preaching in Canterbury, he was urging Anglicans to “hang on in. We are going through a bad patch, but we shall come through it,” he said.
“When I look for help to fan the embers of my faith and survey the churches and the Christian scene I see a paradox. It is fundamentalists both Protestant and Catholic who are dogmatic, claim to know all the answers and have God sewn up who, to me, are the least credible - but they are the very ones who have the full churches and the most dedicated adherents.
“It is the middle, liberal, traditional Anglican way, which allows for questioning, doubt, uncertainty and tolerance, that lacks the cutting edge and conviction but which, to me, is credible, that is in decline.
“We may wish there were simple answers and easy, clear-cut solutions which tell us exactly what happened at the resurrection and condemn all gays, divorcees, adulterers and condoms as anathema. Those of us who live in the real world know that it is not like that.....
“I believe that the Anglican way, in spite of all its many faults, has a humility, a sensitivity, a tolerance, an understanding - dare I say a Christlikeness - which can challenge as well as comfort us.
PARISH FAIR
The Fete Committee is planning to send out to all parishioners a book of Raffle Tickets in the hope that everyone will have a go at selling them or buy them all for themself. Those who are opposed to Raffles can either send the book back or ask for it to be collected. Don’t forget the Parish Fair! Adrian Evans
CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations to John & Kate Horder on the birth of grandson Jack Andrew Morcomb
ECUMENICAL SERVICE, KATANDRA
On Sunday 8th August at Katandra there is an Ecumenical Service in the Uniting Church starting at 2.00pm and all of us are invited. On that day there will be no morning Eucharist at St Mary’s.
LUNCHTIME LECTURE & 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
DUTIES FOR THE 1st. August 2004
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joan Harder, Gwyn Cowland
Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jenny Pleming, Charlotte Brewer
Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beth, Rachel, Emma
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jenny Pleming, Joan McCann,
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Carole and Bev
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maureen and Christine
Intercessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Heather Carlyon, Maureen Cormican
Welcoming 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Edna Wilson, Pat Griffin
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jenny Pleming, John Pleming
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Norm Mitchelmore, Joy Campbell
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Pleming, Jenny Pleming
Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Heather Pearson
Mowing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Moore, John Pleming
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
FOR PRAYER
Thomas Bakker, Liam Bognar, Douglas Burns, Neil Feldtman, Kevin Fitzgerald, Richard Goodfellow, David Green, John Green, Ron Hall, Jean Hastie, Joyce Maloney, Els Minchin, 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 and his parents Leanne & Cameron, Glenda, Genevieve, Geoff, Jenny & Daryl, Darren, Judy & Kian, Elizabeth, Faith, Michael, Ruby, Toby.
Rest in Peace
Leigh Anquetil, Daisy Brereton.
Anniversary of Death
Tassie Zurcas 1st, Dorothy Fowler 2nd, Leo Rogers 5th, Alma Nowell 6th, Margaret Grantham, Fr Bruce Ball 8th.
IMPORTANT DATES
Aug 3rd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Baptism preparation
Aug 6th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dookie Guild
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 2nd
(Fr Andrew’s day off)
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
2.00pm Children’s Church Preparation Meeting
5.30pm Evening Prayer
Tuesday August 3rd
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Evening Prayer
7.30pm Baptism Preparation
Wednesday August 4th St John Vianney
7.45am Mattins - Lady Chapel
10.00am Eucharist - St Augustine’s
1.30pm Hakea Lodge
6.30pm Study Group - Rectory
7.30pm Prayer Support Group - Chapel
Thursday August 5th St Oswald
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
5.00pm Confirmation Preparation - Library
5.30pm Evening Prayer
7.30pm Choir Practice
Friday August 6th The Transfiguration
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
1.00pm Funeral
5.30pm Evening Prayer
Saturday August 7th
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Evening Prayer
6.00pm Vigil Eucharist
Sunday August 8th
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/Baptisms
2.00pm Ecumenical Service - Katandra Uniting Church
5.30pm Evening Prayer - St Augustine’s