EPIPHANY ONE
December 2006
Graphics and cartoons appear only in the printed version
SOLIDARITY
A new Australian lady entered a tram and sat next to a Salvation Army lass. She turned to the Salvo and said, "Scuse, please. You are vearink a uniform. Vot is it? The Salvo said, "I work for the Lord Jesus." "Ah, vunerful!" said the New Australian, "Ve are in the same business. I verken for the Kraft cheeses."
English Gentleman: Useful at a hunt ball. Invaluable in a shipwreck.
TAKING FLIGHT
Andrew Neaum
In both my nighttime dreams and daytime reveries, I frequently become a bird, something I enjoy enormously.
I am talking, of course, of feathered birds not sheilas, and so am not admitting to transvestite predilections, nor in any way to being an effeminate, new-age, panty-waist, nancy, troubled by my brute masculinity. I am most happy to be a man, thank you very, very much.
But oh to be able to fly too, to open my arms, let the sweet breeze tickle my feathered armpits, and lift me up, up, up, to soar and swoop and glide and hover. Then, inebriated on breezy air, to perch in sun-speckled, leafy solitude on the delicate branches of the highest tree, to view the world in perspective.
This frequent dream of mine to be a bird, which is very real and important to me, doesn’t bear analysis, or any attempt at realisation, of course. Because how can the essential and complicated me, so much of whom is concentrated in, and dependent upon, an impressively massive brain, contained in its great skull, be crammed into the tiny, narrow skull of a mere bird? Even the ostrich has a ludicrously small napper.
Birds are dumb creatures, a mere bundle of instinct and conditioned reflexes, totally incompatible with humanity. Dream on Andrew, about being a bird, but a dream it must remain, mere fantasy and foolishness.
Which brings me, at last, to my point. How, how, how, then, can the might and majesty of God transcendent, the Creator and cause of all that is, the eternal Reason, of necessity far, far greater, than the Universe he has caused to be, how can God, the all wise, the all good, the all loving, be contained in a mere human being,no matter how noble his skull? And yet this is what we purport to celebrate on Christmas Day in beautiful stories of Bethlehem!
There are two responses to this great question that appeal to me more than any other. The first is the least complicated.
Simply relish the impossiblity, and revel in the paradox. Be like the 3rd Century Church Father, Tertullian who is reported as saying:“I believe because it is absurd”
The 16th century martyr and poet Robert Southwell revelled in the impossible paradoxes thus:
Behold the father is his daughter's son,
The bird that built the nest is hatch'd therein,
The old of years an hour hath not outrun,
Eternal life to live doth now begin,
The word is dumb, the mirth of heaven doth weep,
Might feeble is, and force doth faintly creep.
But to complement this response there is another that I find both helpful and compelling.
To believe, as with all my heart I do, that God, in some very real though elusive sense, became man as an authentic human being, and yet, as such, was able to remain essentially himself, suggests that the essence of what makes God, God, is not to be found in his cosmic power and majesty, is not to be found in his transcendent, dazzling glory and otherness, is not to be found in his infallible all-knowingness or omniscience, is not to be found in his unknowableness, his impassability, but rather in qualities compatible with humanity.
We fallible human beings, for example, are distinctive for being capable of reflection upon good and evil. So it follows that a God of whom morality is an essential attribute, can still remain himself as a fallible human being.
We fallible human beings are also capable of interpreting experience in terms of thought and reason. So it follows that a God of whom wisdom is an essential attribute, can remain himself as a fallible human being.
We fallible human beings are also capable of attaching value to other things and beings for their own sakes and so it follows that a God of whom love and lovingness is an essential attribute can remain himself as a fallible human being.
Goodness, wisdom, love, then, so the sweet Christmas doctrine of the Incarnation teaches, are more essential to the Godness of God, than are might, majesty, dominion and power.
If God did become a fallible, time-bound, limited, truly one of us, human being, while still, somehow, being able truly and essentially to be himself, as the Bethlehem stories so sweetly suggest, then far more essential to the true nature of God than power, might, majesty, glory and flash, bang wallop, are love, wisdom and goodness.
And so behind all that is fundamental to divinity, and therefore to the very purpose of our existence, lie love, wisdom and goodness. Not power, celebrity, greed, money, egotism, genetic survival or replication. They cannot be what life and existence are all about if the Incarnation is in anyway true.
We exist to learn to love, radically, and to be wise, forgiving, good.
We exist to be humanly Godlike, that is, like God who in Bethlehem was a little baby thing, who in Galilee was a forgiveness, turn-the-other-cheek and compassion freak, who in Jerusalem was judicially murdered for being so and who, through it all, remained true to love and forgiveness.
The essence of Christianity, therefore, and in the words of Herbert McCabe is: If you don't love you're dead, and if you do, they'll kill you.
To me this truth, this unique picture of God, is so challenging, so wonderful, compelling, awe inspiring, so life-giving and life-enhancing, I would want no other God, faith, philosophy, Gospel or story to live by.
Not for me cold atheism, with its ultimate purposelessness, pointlessness and futility, though there are times when it does seem to me rationally compelling.
Not for me, indecisive, dithering, can’t-make-up-my-mind agnosticism,
Not for me, half-hearted nominalism, God-only-when-I-need-him-ism, God-only-if-he-cures-me-or-my-mum-from-cancerism!
Blow to all that primitive nonsense! Instead, I open my wings, to the sweet breeze of God’s Holy Spirit, heavenly wings, and with angels and archangels swoop, glide, soar and fly the sweet incarnational faith of God as love and beautifully, fallibly, truly, somehow, one of us.
Behold the father is his daughter's son,
The bird that built the nest is hatch'd therein,
The old of years an hour hath not outrun,
Eternal life to live doth now begin,
The word is dumb, the mirth of heaven doth weep,
Might feeble is, and force doth faintly creep.
CONGRATULATIONS
Birthdays
Emmie Dean. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tuesday 9th
Anniversaries
Tiffany & Scott Chandler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Friday 12th
MOVING ON
The Grief Support Group meets in the Narthex on Tuesday 9th at 7.30. The speaker is to be Joan McCann .
SIMPLY SOOTHING
The Simply Soul Soothing reflection time and luncheon begins again on Tuesday in the Lady Chapel and Narthex at 12.15pm. A lovely service with a pleasant chat over lunch afterwards, come along and bring a friend.
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
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, Margaret Noble, Margaret Osborough, Jan Riches, Peter & Eva Swindells, Cheryl, David, Don, Glenda, Greg, Heather, Judith, Maurie, Peggy & Carers, Robert, Ross, Sherena, Sue, Jim, Wayne & family.
Anniversary of death: Margaret Tobias, Ethel Peters, Cyril Caldwell 14th, Ron Taig 15th, Keith Dean, Colin Ferguson 16th, Ernest Guyatt, Ilias Petcopoulos 17th, Valerie Ford, Judith Climas 18th, Madge Grutzner, Niko Rendevski 19th, Maria Balaburov 20th.
Duties for 7th January 2006
Celebrant 6.30pm Sat 6th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Neaum
Celebrant 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Andrew Neaum
Celebrant 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Andrew Neaum
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Norm Weaver
Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charlotte Brewer, Jenny Pleming
Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michelle, Beth
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jenny, Joe, Zebedee
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Margaret N, John G, Carole H
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bev Condon, Carole Henderson
Intercessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Celebrant, Nancy Noonan
Welcoming 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jeanette Berry, Anita Saville
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nola Brewer, Sandra Simonis
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Trevor Batey, Joy Campbell
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alan Akers, Nola Brewer
Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Val Rose
Mowing (6th). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kay McGregor, Merv Cowland
Duties for 14th January 2006
Celebrant 6.30pm Sat 13th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Neaum
Celebrant 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gail Bryce
Celebrant 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Andrew Neaum
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeanette Smith, Gwyn Cowland
Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nancy Noonan, Joan McCann
Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Michelle Beth
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joan, Peter Lear, Jack Lear
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ian Brice, Heather Fitzgerald
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maureen Cormican, Chris Evans
Intercessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bev Condon, Children
Welcoming 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joy Campbell, Pat Griffin
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Hilder Lidgard, Jenny Moran
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bob Galt, Norm Mitchelmore
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Pleming Charlotte Brewer
Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bev Reither
Mowing (13th). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Norm Mitchelmore, Lawrie Tinning
THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH
Monday 8th January Rector's Day Off
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
Tuesday 9th January
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
12.15pm Simply Soul Soothing - Lady Chapel
7.30pm Grief Support
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
Wednesday 10th January William Laud
7.45am Mattins - Lady Chapel
10.00am Eucharist- St Augustine's
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
Thursday 11th January
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
11.00am Eucharist - Harmony Village
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Choir Practice
Friday 12th January
7.45am Mattins and Eucharist - Lady Chapel
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
Saturday 13th January Associate Priest's Day Off
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist (Old rite) - Lady Chapel
6.30pm Vigil Eucharist - Lady Chapel
Sunday 14th January 2nd Sunday after Epiphany
8.30am Eucharist - St Augustine's.
10.30am Eucharist (Kid's Church) - St Augustine's
8.45am St. Luke's Dookie
10.45am St Mary's Katandra West
5.30pm Evening Prayer