THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
25th January 2004
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Unhappiness should be seen as a necessary seasoning, a spur to achievement. Napoleon, for example, suffered at school from feeling inferior to his classmates, who were rich aristocrat, while he was a penurious scholarship boy. When he allowed the return of the emigres, he had the satisfaction of seeing his former school fellows bowing down before him. But he had to conquer France to do it. Happy people are often lazy people. Was Alexander the Great a happy man? His drunkenness, his rages and his claims to divinity all suggest that he was not. Darwin was, one suspects, given to melancholy; so was Marx. Byron once wrote: "There's not a joy the world can give like that it takes away." Unhappiness may not be greatness, but it may inspire it....When public figures assume that `want' is `should', this is something to be deplored...being happy never made anyone happy for very long.
Petronella Wyatt
A PRAYER FOR THIS WEEK
Father, we bring to you the needs of all our families. We call you Father because we are all your children. Let your fatherly love strengthen our family and all families in peace and harmony, in love and faithfulness, in care and considerateness for each other, in faith and patience in our difficulties, in hope and forgiveness, in prayer and cheerfulness, through our risen Lord in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
DISAPPEARANCE OF DESCARTES
This is the most esoteric joke of the year
if you don't get it, look up Descartes in your dictionary of quotations
The philosopher Rene Descartes went into McDonalds and ordered a Big Mac. The cash register kiddie asked him: “Do you want fries with that?” The great man thought a moment and said: “I think not...” And he vanished.
WHERE TO FIND GOD
Fr Andrew Neaum
As well as dispensing waffle and rubbish, parsons listen to a great deal of it. One of the most common nuggets of nonsense they have to bear comes from those privileged enough to have been to a church school: "I was forced to go to church so much as a child, I can't bear to go now."
Throughout my youth I went to church twice at least on Sundays, and on weekdays, when at home, I said mattins and evensong with my parents every day as well. Sometimes I was encouraged into it, sometimes cajoled, occasionally forced. Although I was often bored witless at worship, I look back on those hours and hours of it in my youth with affection and nostalgia.
Cow Dung Floors
Ah! Cow dung church floors. Judiciously diluted with mud and then smoothed and dried, cow dung polishes up to a gold- flecked, shiny, greenish-brown floor that is less obdurately and cruelly resistant to a worshipper's unkneelered knees than is harsh concrete. Many of the African mission out- station churches of my youth had such floors.
There were termites in the rafters and occasional chunks of their dried spit-and-mud runnels dropped on to our heads during long prayers. There were lizards on the walls. There were crowds of people, acrid body-smells, shuffling and whispering bare feet, wailing babies. The liturgy was incomprehensible, the readings were incomprehensible, only the sermon was comprehensible because my father always preached in English and was translated.
The singing was magnificent, rich in harmony, stirring, thrilling and accompanied by drums and gourd maracas. When the women became excited they began shrilly to descant and then ululate, sometimes shuffling into the aisle in little impromptu dances.
People came and went throughout the services. There was little pretended piety. Most of the members of the congregation gawped open-mouthed at whatever happened to be going on. The arrival of the white priest and his family at an isolated mission outstation was a fascinating and rare event, and so we were always well gawped at throughout a service. This used to worry my brother who hated being stared at, even by our pet dog at meal times.
Worshippers scratched their heads, fiddled with their ears, eyes and noses, rarely closed their eyes, walked in late, very late and too late and suckled their bright-eyed, shiny- faced and lovely babies. There was no tut tutting, no censoriousness. It was all shamelessly off hand and casual. The services rambled on and on interminably.
Well Naturalised
As well as experiencing this African worship, I experienced European worship, for my father also took services in white farming areas. These were held in pretty little English-type churches, or in homes and clubs. They provided an interesting contrast. There seemed to be an authenticity and naturalness to the African worship which was largely absent from the European. The delicate little transplant from Europe that is Christian worship, survived in the loving care of Europeans, but only just. In the loving care of African peasants it put down deep roots, coarsened, naturalised, became strong and vibrant and took on a life of its own.
This, I think, was because the African peasant still lived in a largely undemythologised world, a world in which God, spirits, angels, demons and ghosts had not yet been elbowed out to life's periphery. In their world spiritual beings were experienced realities, not merely unexperienced, theoretical possibilities. Worship to African peasants was an activity that came naturally. This is why people like me enjoyed it so much, found it so invigorating, heartening and authentic.
We live in a very different world from the African peasant. Where is your God? Where is mine? Where do we encounter him? Some of us are fortunate enough to be able to point to a few strange experiences, though these are ambiguous and doubtful. There are a few blessed primitives among us who assure us that they can actually see demons, angels and ghosts, but although sincere, primitives such folk are, retrogressives, clinging to a world that knowledge and learning have destroyed. Our world has been demythologised. This is why worship to so many of us seems unreal. We worship what we do not know or experience, and so we have to pretend, strike pious poses, look and act devout when only puzzled, mystified or bored. We cannot afford to be casual and natural at worship like the African, it might give the game away.
This contrast between the African and the European worship of my youth is one of the reason why I am a thorough going Anglican sacramentalist. Someone for whom God has to be known and revealed in the ordinary stuff, in the bread and wine, of daily life.
If worship is to be as authentic and vibrant as African worship, more than just assent to propositions, or to a moral code; more than mere nostalgia or an expression of community and belonging, there has to be a real God to experience and know, even in a demythologised world.
So for me, it is the likes of Elizabeth Barret Browning who join forces with the African peasants of my youth to open my eyes to just such a real God:
Earth's crammed with Heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.
Gerard Manley Hopkins also joins forces with the African peasants of my youth to help:
The world is charged
with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out,
like shining from shook foil;
Henry Vaughan likewise joins forces with the African peasants of my youth because he
...felt though all this fleshly dress
Bright shoots of everlastingness.
African peasants, poets, musicians, bread and wine all help me, as a parish priest, to encounter the reality of the Divine in the very ordinariness of my demythologised world, help make genuine my genuflecting and authentic my worship. God bless them all.
BAD SERMONS
Each week in The Spectator there is a competition, and in one of them participants were asked to supply a text and an extract from a sermon worthy of winning the wooden spoon in the Times “Preacher of the Year” award. Here is one of the entries, a sermon on a famous text from 1 Corinthians:
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity. (1 Cor xiii 13)
Charity. The expression `love' is often substituted for `charity', but I prefer the original word. Love is such an amorphous term, all things to all men, including self-love. Whereas we all know charity means giving to others of our goods, our time and, yes, our love - but, most importantly, that perennial comforter a cup of tea, or char, from which `charity' gets its name.
And, as we look around our world today, which is the greatest charity of all?....Yes, the National Lottery, deriving its name from Lot, the Old Testament patriacrch who was selected by God, in His charity, to survive disaster and live peacefully in the Land of Nod.
So, as God has given the Lottery the nod, so to speak, buy your tickets from the machine installed by the font. Remember 5p in the pound goes towards church funds.
R.J. Pickles
CHOIR PRACTICE
On Thursday at 7.30pm there is a choir practice for all who can sing, like to sing and are happy to be a part of a permanent choir at the 8.30 Eucharist. Eventually I hope to get an ensemble of some sort going to augment singing at 10.30, preferably including young folk, but open to anyone who can play an instrument. Expressions of interest welcome.
LENT GROUPS
During Lent there will be a study group on Tuesday nights and one possibly on Wednesday mornings after the 10.00am Eucharist. Those interested please sign up in the Narthex. We are likely to be doing a study put together by the Bishop of Bendigo.
CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations to Joyce Cavill who celebrates her birthday today, the 25th, to Malcolm Button for Wednesday the 28th, and to Elaine McMullan for Thursday the 29th.
CHILDREN'S CHURCH
There is a list in the Narthex for the names of children to whom we can send an invitation to Children's Church on the 8th February. Helpers with preparing activities are also needed.
CATERING
If you are able to help the catering team with cooking or sandwiches, cleaning or setting up for functions put your name on the Catering list on the Narthex table.
STAMPS PLEASE
Continue to save your stamps for A.B.M. Last year $1,000 was made from this very simple venture it's recycling at it's best. They can be left at the office.
TRANSPORT
We have a person living in Poplar Avenue requiring a ride to the 10.30 service. Can anyone offer a lift.
ROLL UP DATE
We are keen to have an up to date Parish Roll which saves time, postage and embarrassment for your Rector and Secretary. There is a copy of our parish roll on the Narthex table (after services only, for privacy reasons!) If you would take the time to check your details and those possibly of any friends or neighbours who have changed addresses or personal circumstances, it will be appreciated. The changes need to be clearly printed on the paper provided and given to either Heather or Father Andrew when done.
KATANDRA AND DOOKIE
The Rector hopes to continue getting to Katandra and Dookie each month, usually on the 3rd Sunday. However, for the next two months his visit is likely to be on some Sunday other than the third because of special services at St Augustine's
OLD PALM CROSSES FOR ASH
There is a collection plate in the narthex office for old Palm Crosses to burn to make ash for Ash Wednesday.
DUTIES 25th JANUARY 2004
Readers 8.30 Frank Harder, Heather Pearson
Readers 10.30 Nancy Fennell, Joan O'Reilly
Servers 8.30 Michelle, Steven, Debbie
Servers 10.30 Jenny Pleming, Zebedee, Joan McCann
Euch. Assists. 8.30 Bev Condon, Heather Fitzgerald
Euch. Assists 10.30 Christine Evans, Carole Henderson
Intercessors Heather Carlyon, Nancy Fennell
Welcomers 8.30 Joyce Cavill, Gwen Betson
Welcoming 10.30 Adrian Evans, Cheryl Richards
Sidespeople 8.30 Merv Cowland, Gwen Cowland
Sidespeople 10.30 Alan Akers, Adrian Evans
Tea 8.30 Heather Pearson
Mowing Frank Steen, Michael Egan
DUTIES FOR 1st February 2004
Readers 8.30 Jeanette Smith, Norm Weaver
Readers 10.30 Liz Booth, Peter Martin
Servers 8,30 Beth, Rachel, Emma
Servers 10.30 Jenny Waite
Euch. Assists 8.30 John Griffin, Carole Henderson
Euch. Assists 10.30 Bev Condon, Maureen Cormican
Intercessors Carole Henderson, Joan O'Reilly
Welcoming 8.30 Shirley Dean, Bev Reither
Welcomers 10.30 Charlotte Brewer, Christine Jones
Sidespeople 8.30 Norm Miitchelmore, Joy Campbell
Sidespeople 10.30 John & Jenny Pleming
Tea 8.30 Wilma Spence
Mowing John Moore & John Pleming
PRAYER
Prayer List
Liam Bognar, Rosalie & Phil Brown, Judy Carlyle, Rita Esam, Iris Grant, Ron Hall, the Harrison Family, Jean Hastie, Fr Wayne Ireland, Ann Mills, Joan O'Reilly, John Perry, Ray Prosser, Rodger Saville, Gwen & Bob Scott, Peter & Eva Swindells, Des Walker, May Wallace, Brian Warel, Malcolm Waterson, Bruce, Natalie & baby Alexandra, Ashley, Brydie & baby, Craig, David, Elizabeth, Emily, Faith, Gary, Keith, Midge
Rest in Peace
Frank Brooke, Ethel Peters, Morris Higgins
Anniversary of Death
Joseph Hatton and Ann Colpitts, Nathaniel Lucas and Olivia Gascoyne and all who arrived on the 1st Fleet 26th, Margaret Bone 29th, Clarrie Hooper 30th, Elsie Byrne 31st.
IMPORTANT DATES
Jan 31st 9.00am Garden Working Bee
Feb 7th Wedding 2.00pm
Feb 7th Wedding 3.30pm
Feb 8th Children's Church 10.30am
Feb 14th Wedding 3.00pm
Feb 15th Harvest Festival
Feb 25th Ash Wednesday and AGM
Mar 21st Mothering Sunday
Mar 25th Lady Day - Wangaratta
April 11th Easter Day
May 18th - 21st Annual Priests' Retreat
May 26th St Augustine's Patronal Festival
May 28th -29th Synod
Jun 5th Ugandan Martyrs - Breakfast
June 12th Mass for Africa
Oct 3rd St Francistide Pet Blessing
Nov 13th Parish Fair
THIS WEEK
Monday January 26th Australia Day
Father Andrew's day off and everyone else's
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Evening Prayer
Tuesday January 27th John Chrysostom
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
11.00am Home Communions - Katandra
5.30pm Evening Prayer
Wednesday January 28th Thomas Aquinas
7.45am Mattins - Lady Chapel
10.00am Eucharist - St Augustine's
11.00am Banksia Lodge
12.00 Meeting Melbourne
1.30pm Hakea Lodge
5.30pm Evening Prayer
Thursday January 29th
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Evening Prayer
7.30pm Choir Practice
Friday January 30th
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Evening Prayer
Saturday January 31st
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
9.00am Working Bee - St Augustine's
5.30pm Evening Prayer
Sunday February 1st
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 - St Mary's Katandra West.
5.30pm Evening Prayer