TWENTY FIRST SUNDAY after PENTECOST (30)
24th October 2004
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
O bible chopped and crucified
in hymns we hear but do not read,
none of the milder subtleties
of grace or wit will sweeten these
stiff quatrains shovelled out four square -
they sing of peace, and preach despair;
yet they gave darkness some control,
and left a loophole for the soul.
An extract from Robert Lowell's "Waking Early Sunday Morning".
All things (e.g. a camel's journey through
A needle's eye) are possible, it's true.
But picture how the camel feels, squeezed out
In one long bloody thread from tail to snout.
C S Lewis and apposite to today’s Gospel
A PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Teach me, O God, so to use all the circumstances of my life today that they may bring forth in me the fruits of holiness rather than the fruits of sin. Let me use disappointments as material for patience: let me use success as material for thankfulness: Let me use suspense as material for perseverance: let me use danger as material for courage: let me use reproach as material for longsuffering: let me use praise as material for humility: let me use pleasure as material for temperance: let me use pains as material for endurance. John Baillie
IT ALL HAPPENED IN GUNDY
A tourist arrived at the Linga Longa pub in Gundy. "It's a long time since I've seen sawdust on the floor of a pub," he said approvingly. "Sawdust? That's not sawdust, mate. That's yesterday's furniture after the white-ants got it."
Five bikies walked into Gundy pub and, having ordered their beers, told the lone drinker at the other end of the bar to shout them. When he told them to go jump they punched him up an chucked him out of the door. "Not much of a fighter," said one of the bikies. "Not much of a driver, either," said the barman. "He's just driven his truck over five Harley Davidsons."
KNOWN BY THEIR FRUITS
Jesus, as his custom was
parabolically
Asked a pair of questions once
perhaps rhetorically.
“Can grapes,” he asked, “off thorns be picked,
or figs off prickly thistles?”
Questions asking, we surmise,
for negative dismissals.
But now that our geneticists
and scientists are honing
Techniques and skills allowing for
bizarre though clever cloning,
It’s only a benighted fool
who confidently scorns
The thought of thistle sprouting figs
or grapes that grow on thorns. Fr Andrew Neaum
HUMAN AND DIVINE
It is sometimes thought that anything that has to do with Christian devotion or spirituality must be cool and detached, controlled, subdued, emasculated. Christianity is thus perched on an icy pinnacle high above all jokes and jollity, tomfoolery and high jinks, tea and toast, all that is domestic and cosy; above hearth and bath, bed and board, all that is frivolous and human. It is no surprise that such Christianity appears to have no contact with what is real for people.
Real Christianity is not emasculated, and it includes a David struggling and dancing zestfully, the man alive, the Man of Michelangelo, the man after God's own heart. We are glad with him in his music-playing and we weep with him also as he cries: "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, would to God that I had died for thee O Absalom, my son, my son." No frozen detachment there. And indeed the cross of the Beloved Son is always heartbreak.
Those who identify serious devotion with what is controlled have to keep it apart from loud laughter. The totally serious cannot take seriously those who are comic. William Temple (Archbishop of Canterbury 1942-1944) can lead them back to sanity. Alan Watts said that Temple had a belly-laugh which could be heard for miles. “It rang out like church bells bewitched by elves. It undulated the air, so as to make weak leaves fall from the trees. there was never such a laugh in all Christendom.”
Bishop Barry once said that he despaired of conveying an adequate impression of Temple to those who had never heard him nor felt the exhilaration of his company, nor heard his enormous, Homeric laughter. Temple's official biographer ended with the comment of a Cumberland shepherd. “He was a very jolly man.”
To deplore an emasculated Christian spirituality is not to advocate a muscle-bound Rambo variety. It is simply to stress that Christianity does not teach that we become more divine by being less human. He whom we call the Christ was the most fully human Jesus and the most divine Lord. (Peter Watkins)
SAINTS
We are approaching All Saintstide hence this edited passage from William James’ 1901 Gifford Lectures published as the classic: “Varieties of Religious Experience”.
In spite of the Gospel, most of us believe in fighting fire with fire, in shooting down usurpers, locking up thieves, and freezing out vagabonds and swindlers.....And yet.....were the world confined to these hard-headed, hardhearted and hard-fisted methods exclusively, were there no one prompt to help a brother first, and find out afterwards whether he were worthy; no one willing to drown his private wrongs in pity for the wronger's person; no one ready to be duped many a time rather than live always on suspicion; no one glad to treat individuals passionately and impulsively rather than by general rules of prudence; the world would be an infinitely worse place than it is now to live in....
The saints, existing in this way, may, with their extravagances of human tenderness, be prophetic. Nay, innumerable times they have proved themselves prophetic. Treating those whom they met, in spite of the past, in spite of all appearances, as worthy, they have stimulated them to be worthy, miraculously transformed them by their radiant example and by the challenge of their expectation.
From this point of view we may admit the human charity which we find in all saints, and the great excess of it which we find in some saints, to be a genuinely creative social force, tending to make real a degree of virtue which it alone is ready to assume as possible. The saints are authors, increasers, of goodness. The potentialities of development in human souls are unfathomable. So many who seemed irretrievably hardened have in point of fact been softened, converted, regenerated, in ways that amazed the subjects even more than they surprised the spectators, that we never can be sure in advance of any man that his salvation by the way of love is hopeless. We have .no right to speak of human beings as of fixedly incurable beings. We know not the complexities of personality, the smouldering emotional fires, the other facets of the character-polyhedron, the resources of the subliminal region. St. Paul long ago made our ancestors familiar with the idea that every soul is virtually sacred. Since Christ died for us all without exception, St. Paul said, we must despair of no one. This belief in the essential sacredness of every one expresses itself to-day in all sorts of humane customs and reformatory institutions, and in a growing aversion to the death penalty and to brutality in punishment. The saints, with their extravagance of human tenderness, are the great torch-bearers of this belief, the tip of the wedge, the clearers of the darkness. Like the single drops which sparkle in the sun as they are flung far ahead of the advancing edge of a wave-crest or of a flood, they show the way and are forerunners. The world is not yet with them, so they often seem in the midst of the world's affairs to be preposterous. Yet they are impregnators of the world, vivifiers and animaters of potentialities of goodness which but for them would lie forever dormant. It is not possible to be quite as mean as we naturally are, when they have passed before us. One fire kindles another; and without that over-trust in human worth which they show, the rest of us would lie in spiritual stagnancy.
Momentarily considered, then, the saint may waste his tenderness and be the dupe and victim of his charitable fever, but the general function of his charity in social evolution is vital and essential. If things are ever to move upward, some one must be ready to take the first step, and assume the risk of it. No one who is not willing to try charity, to try non-resistance as the saint is always willing, can tell whether these methods will or will not succeed. When they do succeed, they are far more powerfully successful than force or worldly prudence. Force destroys enemies; and the best that can be said of prudence is that it keeps what we already have in safety. But non-resistance, when successful, turns enemies into friends; and charity regenerates its objects. These saintly methods are, as I said, creative energies; and genuine saints find in the elevated excitement with which their faith endows them an authority and impressiveness which makes them irresistible in situations where men of shallower nature cannot get on at all without the use of worldly prudence. This practical proof that worldly wisdom may be safely transcended is the saint's magic gift to mankind........
ENEMIES
It is easy enough to be friendly to one's friends, but to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business. Ghandi
WELCOME
Welcome to all visitors and to our Bishop and his wife. There is a bring and share luncheon after the 10.30am Confirmation and Eucharist and all are welcome to stay on. If you have brought nothing to share, there should still be enough to go round!
ALL SOULS
A week on Tuesday is All Souls' Day. All the departed laid to rest in the past year will be remembered by name at two requiem Eucharists as well as anyone else whose name is written on the sheet in the Narthex. There will be a candle provided for anyone attending either services to be lit in memory of their loved ones. The services are at 8.00am and 5.30pm.
CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations to Laurie & Nola Brewer who celebrate their wedding anniversary on the 25th October, also to Yvonne McIntosh who celebrates her birthday on the 28th and to Shirley Dean and John Griffin who celebrate theirs on the 29th. Congratulations too to Luca John Mason on his baptism and to Aaron, Claire and Nicole Henderson, Renee Hossack, Timothy, Lachlan and Nicholas Russell on their Confirmation.
PROFESSOR DOROTHY LEE
On Thursday December 9th at St David’s Uniting Church, King Street, there are two sessions led by the New Testament Scholar Dorothy Lee on St Matthew’s Gospel. It is from St Matthew that the majority of our Gospel readings on Sundays come next year. The sessions begin at 1.00pm and 3.00pm. See the Notice Board for more details.
CHARITY CARD SHOP
The Charity Card Shop is now open - Please note the new address: 299 Wyndham Street, (next door to the old National Bank). It is open from 10am to 4pm. All the usual charities including our own Anglicare will be represented. Bev. Reither
LECTIONARIES
Those who use an annual lectionary and would like us to order one for them should put their name down on the list in the Narthex. Lectionaries are booklets which give all the readings for every day of the year at both the Eucharist and Morning and Evening Prayer. They are useful for our Readers on Sundays, as well as for those who say Morning or Evening Prayer, or both, at home. We use two different lectionaries at St Augustine’s. At our Sunday Eucharists we use one that fits in with the new Prayer Book and it costs $9.00. At weekday Eucharists and at Morning and Evening Prayer we use an older lectionary that fits in with the big weekday book of readings that were kindly donated to our parish church and these cost $7.00 each.
DUTIES FOR THE 24th October
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Margaret Neaum, Ann Weaire
Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Liz Booth, Peter Martin
Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Beth
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jenny, Stephen, Debbie
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . as arranged
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maureen Cormican, John Griffin
Intercessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Margaret Neaum, Christine Jones
Welcoming 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cecily McDonald, Shirley Dean
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nola Brewer, Frank Steen
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Merv Cowland, Gwen Cowland
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alan Akers, Adrian Evans
Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shirley Dean
Mowing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alan Akers, Mervyn&Stephen Cowland
DUTIES FOR THE 31stOctober 2004
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Victoria Heenan, Heather Fitzgerald
Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Pleming, Charlotte Brewer
Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michelle, Stephen, Debbie
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Joan McCann
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Griffin, Carole Henderson
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christine Evans, Maureen Cormican
Intercessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Victoria Heenan, Maureen Cormican
Welcoming 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bev Ralph, Beryl Goodfellow
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cheryl Richards, Judy Longley
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Max Ralph, Bev Ralph
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charlotte Brewer, Nola Brewer
Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cecily McDonald
Mowing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Norm Mitchelmore, Lawrie Tinning
IMPORTANT
DATES FOR THE DIARYOct 27th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Fair meeting 7.30 in Narthex
Nov 2nd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Baptism Preparation 7.30
Nov 4th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bishop in Council 9.30am
Nov 6th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wedding 4.00pm
Nov 9th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.F.S. Townsend
Nov 12th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chaplaincy Ecumenical Dinner
Nov 13th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wedding 2.30pm
Nov 13th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Parish Fair
Nov 14th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Children’s Church/Baptism
Nov 16th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Afternoon Guild 2pm
Nov 18th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Evening Guild 1.30pm
Nov 20th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding in Wodonga
Nov 21st . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bishop’s Pastoral Visit
Nov 26th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Synod Session
Nov 27th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Youth forum -Wangaratta
Dec 4th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Quarterly Garden Working Bee
Dec 5th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding 1.30pm
Dec 8th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . St. Mary’s Patronal Festival 8pm
Dec 18th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding 1.30pm
Dec 31st. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding 4pm
Mar 5th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Quarterly Garden Working Bee
Jun 4th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Quarterly Garden Working Bee
FOR PRAYER
Margaret Bakker, Liam Bognar, Daniel Cowan, Rita Esam, Richard Goodfellow, John Green, Ron Hall, Carole Henderson, Margaret Kelley, Frances & family, Joyce Maloney, Ann Mills, Lance Morecroft, Joan Morris, Margaret Noble, Richard Pearson, Ray Prosser, Lesley Rankin, Margaret Robinson, Rodger Saville, Phyllis Thompson, Laurie Tindall, Judy Tremellen, Peter & Eva Swindells, May Wallace, Lillian Walter, Stan Windley, Genevieve, Wendy, Darren, Albert, Michael, Leanne & Cameron, Judy & Graeme, Dorrie, Faith, Michael, Mary, Julia, Elizabeth, Timothy.
Anniversary of Death
Leslie Ramage 24th Laurence Sweet 26th, Edison(Ted) Condon, Jean Anselmi, Bessie Bourke 27th, Reg Shearer, Lorna Sanderson 28th, George Eric Bartlett, Ernest Young 29th, Pamela Taylor 30th.
Rest in Peace
William Dudley Griffiths, Albert Horder.
THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH
Monday October 25th
Father Andrew’s day off
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
6.00pm Evening Prayer
Tuesday October 26th
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
10.30am Various meetings in Wangaratta
6.00pm Evening Prayer
Wednesday October 27th
10.00am Eucharist - St Augustine’s
1.30pm Hakea Lodge
6.00pm Evening Prayer
6.30pm Study Group - Rectory
7.30pm Fair Meeting - Narthex
7.30pm Prayer Support Group - Chapel
Thursday October 28th
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
1.30pm Evening Guild
6.00pm Evening Prayer
7.30pm Choir Practice
Friday October 29th
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
6.00pm Evening Prayer
Saturday October 30th
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Evening Prayer
6.00pm. Vigil Eucharist
Sunday October 31st
8.00am Mattins - Lady Chapel
8.30am Sung Eucharist - St Augustine’s
9.00am Eucharist - Dookie
10.30amEucharist - St Augustine’s
10.45am Eucharist - Katandra West
5.30pm Evening Prayer - St Augustine