28 January 2007 Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

EPIPHANY FOUR

28 January 2007

Graphics and cartoons appear only in the printed version

RIB TICKLING

When Adam stayed out very late for a few nights, Eve became upset and said to him, “You're running around with other women!" she charged. “You are being totally unreasonable,” Adam responded. “You are the only woman on earth.” The quarrel continued until Adam fell asleep, only to be awakened by someone poking him in the chest. It was Eve. “What do you think you're doing?” Adam demanded. “Counting your ribs,” said Eve.

JOURNALISM

Journalism is to politician as dog is to lamppost. H.L. Menken

BELL BIRD

Sophie Bell gave me several little pictures last Sunday.

This is my favourite, thank you Sophie:

SENSIBLE

I always wait for The Times each morning. I look at the obituary column and if I am not in it, I go to work. A E Matthews

MERELY GOOD

OR REALLY GOOD

Andrew Neaum

A frequently told lie is that it pays to be good. If it really did, then of course, everyone, other than a crack-pot, would be good. But it doesn't pay to be good. One of the Gospel's assertions is that innocence and goodness and loveliness and beauty and truth attract crucifixion. It might well be claimed, therefore, that to be evil is to be a coward, is to be frightened of crucifixion, the crucifixion that goes with love and sacrifice.

It is not quite as simple as that, however. A certain type of goodness and virtue does indeed pay, and it is such common or garden goodness that we see all about us, probably just because it does pay and does not in any way attract crucifixion.

Goodness that pays

Keeping the law pays - no trouble from the police. Self control sexually pays - no messy adultery, jealousy, divorce. Self control with booze pays, as it does with gambling and pretty well everything. Honesty, within reason, also pays, for it leads to harmonious relationships. Loving your neighbour, within reason pays, for “doing as you would be done by” is the commonsense way to get on with folk.

Most of this goodness round about us is conventional goodness, common sense goodness, goodness that pays immediate and obvious dividends. Because of its obvious rewards it is taken largely for granted and doesn't much impress us.

Goodness that doesn’t pay

However, there is another kind of goodness, a deeper and more lovely sort of goodness, a goodness, that if our hearts are in the right place, moves us deeply to admiration, but which often, because most hearts are not in the right place, attracts crucifixion. It is a goodness that it is harder to define .

I think you see something of what it is all about if you have got children and have delighted in the openness, vulnerability, trust and innocence that begins to evaporate when first they go to school, because openness, vulnerability, trust and innocence are mocked, derided, laughed at, and crucified, at school. Which is why it is found to be necessary by every child to construct a mask to hide his true self behind in order to avoid crucifixion. Life from then on, for nearly all of us, involves, as T S Eliot puts it “preparing a face to meet the faces that we meet”.

Attracting crucifixion

This goodness that attracts crucifixion is more than childlike openness, innocence and vulnerability. It is all tied up with love and sacrifice.

Sacrifice, essentially is a sort of crucifixion, and the sort of love that truly opens itself to the needs of others and that sacrifices the self for the love of others, is often crucifixion indeed.

Now and then a rare and lovely person comes out from behind his mask, drops his conventional and usual obsession with building his own life, future, comfort and security and sacrifices it all for something he sees as more worthwhile. Perhaps for others in great need, be they drunks and down and outs, the housebound and elderly, the starving in the Sudan, abandoned children or simply a neurotic neighbour or two. He devotes all his time and energies to them, rather than to himself. To do this does invite crucifixion, for those you help will often demand greater and greater sacrifice, and if he is truly single minded in his sacrifice then many or most of the comforts and securities that everyone else spends their time amassing for old age will not be there for him.

What is more the more you do this sort of thing, the less socially acceptable you tend to become, you lose friends, approval and popularity.

We most of us tend to think that we are good decent living folk, the salt of the earth, would that there were more like us. No true Christian can think like that, because by and large we are simply conventionally good. Good insofar as it pays to be good.

Aspiring to be good

Christian goodness, the goodness of the Kingdom of God and Heaven, is anything but conventional. It is to do with hanging on a Cross, crucifixion.

I, insofar as I am good at all, am merely conventionally good, though like all of you reading this article, I trust, I do see sense and meaning in the Cross. Although I am too gutless to be good in the Christlike way, I have seen the sweet beauty and sense of sacrifice and love and know it to be the supreme good. I aspire to it.

This is one of the reasons I am Christian. For our wonderful, if much despised and derided Faith, maintains, in the Cross, that there is a lovely, profound and unselfish good and in the Resurrection that this lovely, profound and unselfish good, is not relative, temporary or an incidental by-product of blind evolutionary processes, but rather is eternal, resides in the very heart of God and is the goal of all authentic human existence. I love that goodness, and its Faith and its God.

THE MERCIFUL GOD

My fault throughout my ministry - if it is a fault - has been to focus too much on speaking, preaching, counselling, on the loving-kindness of God, his compassion and mercy, at the expense of his majesty and judgement; on the loving, affirming words of Jesus at the cost of his severe and solemn ones. At an unconscious level that probably has much to do with my own story, my own search for a father’s love, my own need for affirmation; yet I have done so consciously and deliberately because many people’s apprehension of the Christian faith is often minimal, at best hazily remembered from childhood, at worst bizarrely distorted by an extreme fundamentalism. Thomas Merton warns of those who would use fear to convert people and make the Gospel the exclusive preserve of the chosen few:

The magicians keep turning the Cross to their own purposes....saying that Christ has locked all the doors, has given one answer, settled everything and departed, leaving all life enclosed in the frightful consistency of a system outside of which there is only damnation, and inside of which there is the intolerable flippancy of the saved - while nowhere is there any place left for the mystery of the freedom of the divine mercy....

There is a severity about many of Jesus’s words, but the fiercest are addressed to those religious leaders who draw strict boundaries between “us” and “them”, whose obsession with the letter of the Law is stifling the spirit; and the whole impetus of his words and actions is the tenacious love God has for his world and every person in it, not least the socially unacceptable and outcast. The persistent love we see enfleshed in Jesus at once corrects and completes whatever else may be said of God and his relationship with his world..... Michael Mayne Page 81 of “Pray, Love, Remember” published by Darton, Longman and Todd.

CONGRATULATIONS

Birthdays

Malcolm Button. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28^th Jan

Elaine McMullen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29^th Jan

WELCOME

We welcome into the family of God by baptism today, Chloe den Harthog and Eliza Bagnato. Welcome too to their parents, relatives and friends, and as always thank you to our congregational sponsors.

SOY LIFE

Don’t forget to collect Soy Life Products bar codes and hand them in to the office..... if we get fifty we can apply for an important grant.

SKITS AND SKETCHES

We would like to transform our annual Soiree in July with some substantial skits and sketches. Anyone with any theatrical talents please speak to John Griffin.

MEN’S BREAKFASTS

Mens Breakfasts have been scheduled this year for: Mar 10^th, Jun 2^nd, Oct 6^th, and Dec 1^st. Please note the dates in you diary.

SERVERS PRACTICE

There is to be a Servers Practice on Thursday 15^th of February at 4.14pm.

HALL COMMITTEE

A Hall Committee meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday 30th January at 5.00pm in the Den.

VESTRY MEETING

We hope this year to hold Vestry Meetings on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 4.00pm. This means that the first for this year is on Wednesday 14th of February.

GRIEF SUPPORT

The Next Grief Support meeting is on Tuesday 13th of February at 7.30pm. The very moving ABC Video "Losing Layla" will be shown. Do come along to see it, discuss it and to share in good fellowship. Bring along a friend or anyone who might benefit from attending.

SIMPLY SOOTHING

This peaceful service of reflection in the Lady Chapel, followed by lunch in the Narthex, takes place on Tues. at 12.15pm.

ARISE 255

On Friday 2^nd of February, beginning at 6.00pm there will be a BBQ for young people recently confirmed and others, which will include a short and interesting video, games and discussion. We will be contacting all the recently confirmed, but any young folk will be welcome and are encouraged to attend. Sausages, bread, tomato sauce and cordial will be provided.

KATANDRA GUILD

The Katandra Guild Eucharist which marks the beginning of another year's worth of good work, fellowship and fun is at 11.30 am on Wednesday 14th of February.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The St Augustine's Annual General Meeting take place this year, as usual on Ash Wednesday which is the 21st of February. Nomination Forms for Parish Councillors and Wardens are, I hope, available on the Narthex table.

ANNUAL REPORTS AND AUDITED ACCOUNTS

Reports for the Annual Meeting need to be handed in to the Parish Office by the 8^th of February. We prefer them to be submitted either on a disk or by email, to save typing, but otherwise in a legible form for copy typing. Audited accounts should be submitted to the Treasurer, Norm Mitchelmore by the same date.

GARDEN GROUP NEWS

There is a Garden Group Meeting on Fri 2^nd February at 10.00 am and a Working Bee on Sat. 3^rd February, an early start to beat the heat.

COUNCILLORS AND WARDENS

Available in the Narthex are forms for the nomination of Councillors and Wardens. These are responsible, honourable and, I like to think, enjoyable positions. If you are asked to nominate, seriously consider doing so, but only if you are likely to be able to attend Parish Council meetings regularly (on the third Wednesday of every month at 7.30pm) and also have the time and commitment to keep St Augustine’s a vibrant, growing, inclusive, faithful and altogether scintillating comm-unity of God!

DATES FOR THE DIARY

Jan 30^th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hall Committee 5.00pm

Feb 2^nd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Arise 255 /Youth B.B.Q. 6pm

Feb 8^th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bus trip to Cloud Hill Olinda

Feb 10^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding 3pm

Feb 13^th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Grief Support meeting 7.30pm

Feb 14^th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Katandra Guild annual meeting

Feb 14^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vestry Meeting 4.00pm

Feb 14^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wedding 4.00pm

Feb 15^th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Evening Guild

Feb 17^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding 4pm

Feb 18^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pre Synod Consultation Euroa 3.00pm

Feb 19^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Community Kitchens Workshop 2-4pm

Feb 20^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Afternoon Guild

Feb 20^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Shrove Tuesday Pancake Party 6.00pm

Feb 21^st . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ash Wednesday Eucharist then AGM 7.00pm

Mar 3^rd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wedding 2.30pm

Mar 10^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Men’s Breakfast

Mar 10^th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Macedonian Wedding 1pm, Wedding 3.00pm

Mar 14^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A B M Missionaries at 10.00am Eucharist

Mar 14^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Vestry Meeting 4.00pm

Mar 18^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mothering Sunday, Speaker and Lunch

Mar 21^st . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Parish Council Meeting

Mar 25^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Outreach Publication Date

Apr 8^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Easter Sunday

Apr 22^nd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sunday Wedding 2.00pm

May 19^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Scott Cowdell Seminar

May 20^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .St Augustine’s Day Celebrations & Lunch

May 25^th - 26^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Synod

May 27^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pentecost

May 24^th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Parish Fair meeting 4.30pm

June 2^nd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Men’s Breakfast

June 18-21. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Clergy Retreat

Oct 6^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Men’s Breakfast

Oct 15-18. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Clergy Conference

Nov 10^th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Parish Fair

Dec 1^st . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Men’s Breakfast

Duties for 28^th January 2007

Celebrant 6.30pm Sat 27^th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Andrew Neaum

Celebrant 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Andrew Neaum

Celebrant 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gail Bryce

Celebrant 8.45 Dookie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gail Bryce

Celebrant 10.45 Katandra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Andrew Neaum

Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Norm Mitchelmore, Victoria Heenan

Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carole Henderson, Courtney Craven

Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Beth, Alex, Philippa

Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joan, Bethany, Daniel

Intercessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Margaret Neaum, Jenny Pleming

Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Griffin, Heather Fitzgerald

Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carole Henderson, Bev Condon

Welcoming 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shirley Dean, Gwen Betson

Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frank Steen, Nola Brewer

Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Max Ralph, Bev Ralph

Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nola Brewer, John Pleming

Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pat Griffin

Mowing (27^th ). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gary Grant, John Horder

Duties for 4^th February 2007

Celebrant 6.30pm Sat 3^rd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Neaum

Celebrant 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gail Bryce

Celebrant 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Andrew Neaum

Celebrant 8.45 Dookie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Neaum

Celebrant 10.45 Katandra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gail Bryce

Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pat Griffin, Norm Weaver

Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jenny Pleming, Maureen Cormican

Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Volunteer, Michelle, Beth

Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jenny, Zebedee, Joe

Intercessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Victoria Heenan, Mary Pearson

Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ian Bryce/M. Neaum, Carole Henderson

Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bev Condon, Jenny Pleming

Welcoming 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Beryl Goodfellow, Bev Reither

Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sandra Simonis, Hilder Lidgard

Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Joe Pearson, Bob Galt

Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alan Akers, Nola Brewer

Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gwyn Cowland

Mowing ( 3^rd ). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Egan, John Pleming

REQUESTS FOR PRAYER

Hilary Akers, Norma Anderson, Liam Bognar, Arthur Balaburov, David Burrow, Nancy Cooke, Mark Cowan, Donna Dyson, Hamish Fisher, Melissa Galizia, Denise McKellar, Leon Myer, Marven Mould, Bill McIntosh, Margaret Noble, Margaret Osborough, Peter & Eva Swindells, Lorraine Vogul, Buffy, David & Judith, Darren, Frank, Glenda, Greg, Heather, Lynda, Mary, Maurie, Peggy & Carers, Robert, Ross, Sue & family, Jim, Wayne & family.

Rest in Peace

Leona Hopkins, Barbara Crosby

Anniversary of death

Margaret Bone 29^th, Clarrie Hooper 30^th, Elsie Byrne 31^st, Marion Nagle 3^rd.

THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH

Monday 29^th January

7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel

11.00am Funeral - St Augustine’s