CHRISTMAS DAY AND THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS
December 2006
Graphics and cartoons appear only in the printed version
MERRY CHRISTMAS LEGALLY TENDERED
Please accept without obligation, express or implied, these best wishes for an environmentally safe, socially responsible, low stress, non addictive, and gender neutral celebration of the summer solstice holiday as practised within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice (but with respect for the religious or secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or for their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all) and further for a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated onset of the generally accepted calendar year (including, but not limited to, the Christian calendar, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures).
The preceding wishes are extended without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform, or sexual preference of the wishee(s).
IF ONLY
An old Jewish bloke was crossing the street in Berlin in 1936 when he accidentally bumped into a burly stormtrooper. “Schweinhund,” snarled the Nazi. “Goldberg,” the old fellow replied, offering his hand.
CONGENIAL JOURNALESE
AND PLEASURABLE PARISH PRIESTING
Andrew Neaum
When you are faced with sudden death, your life is said to flash before your eyes. On a recent holiday, having been diagnosed with cancer and awaiting an operation that should, but might not, cure it, I revisited my old hand-written, pre-computer days journals in order to type them out. So I have had my life, if not flashing before my eyes, then most enjoyably wending its way before them.
While typing my journals and so ruminating upon my life, I discover that by and large, perhaps more fortuitously than deliberately, I have opted for fulfilment and happiness rather than for achievement and status. From the very start I seem to have turned my back on further study and degrees, upon looking for preferment or cultivating the influential, and instead to have opted for parish priesting, preferably in interesting and poorly remunerated places, and also for speaking my mind rather than minding my speaking.
Thwarted, thank God
My call to priesthood was to priestly life as observed and experienced in the life of a contented, parish-priest father. Children of the rectory usually have as their model and mentor only one parson. This is because they enjoy or suffer but one parish priest until they leave home, their father. Never having had to suffer a bad parish priest throughout my youth and early adulthood then, my experience of the parish priest’s vocation was limited, but in the most positive of ways. At first hand, in my own home and own parish, I observed and knew it to be a fulfilling, deeply satisfying, thoroughly authentic and worthwhile vocation, for that is what it plainly was to my father. He never seemed to aspire to be anything other than a parish priest, preferably in interesting and out of the way locations.
This is not to say that there have not been occasional niggles and stabs of regret throughout my own priestly life. Especially since settling in Australia where, largely for the sake of my family, I accepted less than outlandish and rather more conventional parochial settings. Here, caught up sometimes in diocesan politics of a particularly narrow and nasty sort, and having to defer to rather less than outstanding bishops and their usually far from dazzling diocesan functionaries, I have at times been tempted to concentrate the thin pool of talent that eddies around a typical Australian rural bishop by jumping into it myself. Thankfully I have for the most part been thwarted.
The parish is where I belong, is my vocation. The parish is where the body of Christ is best realised and loved. The parish is the diocese’s raison d’etre, not the other way around. Only when a diocese begins to look, feel and act like a parish, and its bishop like a pastorally minded and humble parish priest, as was the case on the Island of St Helena (one bishop four parishes) does a diocese begin to feel in any way authentic to me. To listen to diocesan functionaries condescend to and deprecate parishes and parishioners, mock their conservatism, laugh at the foibles of women’s guilds, too easily propose the closure of much loved little churches, or impose radical and ill-considered change, curdles my blood. It echoes, albeit in a very small way, the mocking, scourging and judicial murder of the original body of Christ.
Neither saint nor bastard
One of the fears of revisiting journals that are over twenty five years old, is that you will discover yourself to be unattractive and mean-spirited as a person. This, I am pleased to say, has not been the case. My earliest journal, for I seem to have lost one volume, dates from my last year as a curate in the Cathedral parish of St Mary and All Saints, Salisbury, Rhodesia. The record is intermittent and largely unreflective, a catalogue of mere events and of people visited, as well as a fair record of what Margaret and I ate in those frugal days. There is a devastating but accurate character sketch of the severely flawed Dean, to whom I was glad to say goodbye at the end of my three year stint in his long-suffering, albeit fascinating parish. There are a few comic or outrageous incidents reported and occasional expressions of dissatisfaction with my prayer life and spirituality which indicate that I said my prayers assiduously and conscientiously. I appear, even then, to have been very far from a saint but certainly no bastard.
My use of exclamation marks is copious and embarrassing, but my comments on the dreadful Rhodesian political situation are not as shaming as I thought they might be, for there is no evidence of racism. Nearly all of us during the nasty civil war that brought Robert Mugabe to power, were complicit with the myopic regime of Ian Smith which disastrously refused to compromise in any realistic way with the inevitable, and so instead of ameliorating the worst assured it. I am pleased to say that my journals indicate that such complicity did not necessarily imply personal racism.
Invaluable Journalism
We should all of us aspire to keep a daily journal. It does more than wash with colour fading memories. It also provides an invaluable family record and archive to refer to and enjoy in an age that no longer has time to place the present moment into perspective by recounting and reliving past moments around the hearth or a campfire.
My own journals invite me to write the only book I might like to write but almost certainly never will. A paean of praise to parish priesting. A defiant blast from the ram’s horn of a chronic nostalgic, while all over the land parishes amalgamate, close or deliquesce into “team-ministries” and other hideous novelties and stop-gaps dreamt up by dim and desperate diocesan functionaries.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS
A most blessed and happy Christmas to you all from Canon Andrew and Margaret Neaum, the Revd. Gail and Ian Bryce and the Revd. Dr. Helen Malcolm. Very many thanks for your good wishes and gifts, and for your good sense in being here this evening at this lovely service in honour of our Lord’s birth! We wish you many and varied blessings for the coming year and peace throughout the world.
FOR THE GRIEVING
We all bear griefs of one sort or another and so could well be interested in attending the third of our regular Grief Support Meetings. It takes place on January 9th at 7.30pm in the Narthex of the Church. The speaker at this meeting will be Joan McCann who has many years experience in grief counselling. Come along to hear good words, to share and to experience good fellowship. Encourage a friend or two to come along.
CONGRATULATIONS
Birthdays
Hilder Lidgard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25th Dec
Glenda Kuehnapfel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27th Dec
Mary Pearson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28th Dec
Thelma Irwin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28th Dec
Georgia Linton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28th Dec
Bill Kuehnapfel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30th Dec
Lesley Wells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2nd Jan
Jeanette Smith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4th Jan
Bev Martin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6th Jan
OFFICE CLOSED
The Parish Office will be open on Thursday and Friday the 28th and 29th of December and will then be closed for two weeks, reopening on Wednesday 18th of January. The Clergy will be on duty as necessary, but will have a laid-back and listless air about them. The Revd. Gail Bryce will be away at a Conference in Brisbane from the 2nd of January until the 9th.
SOULS TEMPORARILY UNSOOTHED
There will be no Tuesday “Soul Soothing” services until Tuesday the 9th of January.
IMPORTANT DIARY DATES
Jan 20th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding 3.30
Feb 10th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding 3pm
Feb 17th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wedding
21st Feb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ash Wednesday
Mar 3rd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding 2pm
Mar 10th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding 1pm
Mar 10th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding 3pm
Apr 8th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Easter Sunday
May 20th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Patronal Festival
May 25th - 26th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Synod
May 27th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pentecost
May 24th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Parish Fair meeting 4.30pm
June 18-21. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Clergy Retreat
Oct 15-18. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Clergy Conference
Nov 10th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Parish Fair
A GREAT CHRISTMAS PRESENT
Barbara Whyte on behalf of her Church Gardening Group has organised for us all a Day trip to the beautiful Cloud Hill & Range View Gardens in Olinda. The date is 8th Feb 2007, leaving the car park behind the church at 8.30am and returning about 6.30pm. The cost is $30 travel & admittance. Contact Barbara Whyte 58212738 or the Church office 58217630
GARDEN GROUP NEWS
There is a Garden Group Meeting on Fri 5th Jan at 10am and a Working Bee on Sat. 6th Jan early start to beat the heat.
ASSOCIATE PRIEST AWAY
The Revd Gail Bryce is away from the 2nd of January to the 9th attending a Conference in Brisbane to do with Children’s Ministry.
REQUESTS FOR PRAYER
Liam Bognar, David Burrow, Nancy Cooke, Mark Cowan, Donna Dyson, Hamish Fisher, Melissa Galizia, Denise McKellar, Leon Myer, Marven Mould, Bill McIntosh,Jan Riches, Cheryl, David, Don, Glenda, Greg, Heather, Judith, Maurie, Peggy & Carers, Robert, Ross, Sherena, Sue, Jim, Wayne & family.
Rest in peace: Mary Clark, Valma Hall
Anniversary of death: Annie Davis, Linda Maskell 5th, Doris Woodcock, Lesley Rankin 6th.
Duties for today and 7th January 2007
The Rosters are still being drawn up and so we will make do with random volunteering and “being volunteered” for at least this week and next. The Mowing Roster has been compiled.
Celebrant 6.30 Saturday 6th Jan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Neaum
Celebrant 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Andrew Neaum
Celebrant 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Andrew Neaum
Celebrant Dookie 8.45. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Layman
Celebrant Katandra 10.45. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Layman
Mowing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kay McGregor & Merv Cowland
THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH
Monday 1st January Rector’s Day Off
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
Tuesday 2nd January
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
Wednesday 3rd January
7.45am Mattins - Lady Chapel
10.00am Eucharist- St Augustine’s
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
Thursday 4th January
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
9.30am Eucharists at Tarcoola Village
11.00am Eucharist - Harmony Village
5.30pm Choir Practice
Friday 5th January
7.45am Mattins and Eucharist - Lady Chapel
10.00am Garden Group meeting/Library
11.00am Eucharist - Ave Maria
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
Saturday 6th January Associate Priest’s Day Off
7.45am Mattins - Lady Chapel
8.30am Garden working bee
12.noon Baptism
6.30pm Vigil Eucharist - Lady Chapel
Sunday 7th January EPIPHANY
8.30am Eucharist - St Augustine’s.
This Service will be celebrated with the Macedonian’s
as a Christmas Eucharist. There will be plenty of incense
and a very, very short sermon!
10.30am Eucharist - St Augustine’s -
8.45am St. Luke’s Dookie
10.45am St Mary’s Katandra West
12.15pm Orthodox Baptism
5.30pm Evening Prayer