SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT
9th December 2007
Graphics and cartoons appear only in the printed version
FOUND WANTING
In the dark and yet strangely happier days before welfare handouts and dependency, when many folk experienced perforce the blessedness of real poverty, rather than today’s inflated definitions of it, Mendel saved for years to buy a really fine tailor-made suit, his very first. After he had been out in it for an hour or so, he noticed that there were things wrong with it. He went back to the tailor. “The arms are too long,” said Mendel. “No problem, just hold your arms out further and bend at the elbows.” “But the trouser legs are too long!” “Right, no problem, walk with your knees bent.” “The collar is too high, it’s halfway up the back of my head!” “O.K., just poke your head out further.” So Mendel went out into the world with his first tailor-made suit. As he passed a couple in the street, the woman said, “Look at that poor man! He must have been absolutely mangled in a car accident.” The man said: “But what a fine suit he is wearing.”
TRAVELLERS TALES (33)
(Andrew Neaum in the year 2000)
Paddy and Bunty Love are ex-Rhodesians, part of the great diaspora that left after the granting of independence to Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. One of the reasons that white Rhodesians clung on so long to power at the expense of the black majority, was because they claimed to know what would happen if ever they handed over power. Disaster would ensue. Sadly they have been proved right. Incompetence, cronyism, corruption and murderous evil now hold sway in what used to be Rhodesia. It is odd that the high-minded leaders of the developed nations deplore the present state of affairs so much less than they did the former. I contend that this is a form of inverted and particularly unpleasant racism, which indicates that it is intolerable for whites to be unfair to blacks, because whites should know better! That blacks should be unfair to blacks is only to be expected.
Confession and Resurrection
The Loves were unable to buy a house in Britain, or to rent a pleasing one further South, for want of capital. Those who left Rhodesia were allowed to take very, very little money with them. When Margaret and I left, with a small Peter and even smaller David, we were allowed to take only a thousand Zimbabwean dollars with us, not that we had much more.
Paddy is a real and practising Roman Catholic and he told me something about their “service of reconciliation” of which I was unaware. After the homily and readings and general confession, all those who are in attendance go up and confess individually to the priest, just one sin that is troubling them, as music plays. So a vestige of private confession remains. He also asked me about bodily resurrection, presumably not least because, like many elderly people (he is about 76), the thought of death’s imminence sometimes haunts him. Bodily resurrection, as sometimes preached and taught, can appear nonsensical. I gave him my own understanding of Resurrection, which makes sense to me if no one else, and I also talked about the necessity of some liberality in approaching the bible. I illustrated the point by retelling the story told of an old fellow I buried a year or so ago here in Wodonga. In his early nineties this man too was so worried about death’s imminence that he was moved to read the bible right through. He battled on as far as about the third chapter of Leviticus, until one morning he walked into the kitchen, tossed his bible on to the table and said, “I don’t know! Jesus was a good chap, but the fellow who wrote the book was a bloody idiot!” One sometimes sympathises! All of us need to remember that although words reveal truth and reality, they also obscure them.
Gatehouse of Fleet and Kirkcudbright
After breakfast we went for a drive. It was a misty morning, the sea a silvery grey. We wended our way in our car along narrow stone walled (or dyked) lanes lined with brambles which, in three or four weeks time, Paddy would contentedly despoil of their blackberries. We visited the local town, the lovely named Gatehouse of Fleet, built on the banks of the River Fleet and looked over Bunty’s church there. We could tell at a glance that it had once been a presbyterian building, for it is a plain and almost square box, but it has now a genuine Church of England smell and an altar not a pulpit as its focus. They get about forty communicants on a Sunday, which is good for a daughter church in a small town in Scotland. The Rector is apparently good, young and active. He is based in Kirkcudbright (pronounced Kirkoobree). We then walked past the mill with its water wheel still turning and around the pretty village, before making our way home along more back roads, many of them overgrown and overspread with the lovely deep-leafed gloom of beech trees. We had a cup of tea as we watched on television the ceremonies to mark the Queen Mothers’ hundredth birthday and then, leaving behind as a small token of our thanks a box of Terry’s chocolates and a bottle of Brown Brothers’ wine we departed.
Gretna Green
We decided to divert to Kirkcudbright to have lunch. It is a famous beauty spot, with lovely old houses, a ruined castle and lots of visitors. After lunch and a stroll and drive around we had a fairly speedy run along the A75, bypassing Dumfries and travelling through rolling, fertile-fielded border countryside all the way to Gretna Green. This was a place the girls wanted to see. I would have made a special point of avoiding it.
It turned out to be very interesting. In the seventeenth century you could get married in England clandestinely, at little but a moment’s notice, at Fleet in London. It became more and more a scandalous place however, haunted by touts and “parsons”, so that in the mid eighteenth century clandestine marriages were made illegal in England. Not in Scotland though. So if you wanted to be married against your parents wishes you fled to Scotland and Gretna Green on the border, which became a well known centre for such marriages. Ceremonies were conducted there sometimes in a church, but as often as not in pubs and houses and by all sorts of self-styled “priests”, one of whom was a woman. Quality weddings tended to take place in a seventeenth century Inn, run by a man called Linton, and which had its own bridal suite. This building, as well as its outbuildings, still exists and has once more returned to being a hotel specialising in catering for the wedding industry. We were there on a Friday afternoon and witnessed three weddings in process. We saw a couple being driven off in a horse and carriage as we arrived, another being driven up in a vintage car, another kissing under the kissing arch after being married in a civil ceremony and prior to the “anvil ceremony” in the outbuildings of the old Inn that is now a hotel.
In 1856 a new Marriage Act became law that stated that one party of any wedding in Scotland had to be able to prove twenty one days of residency in Scotland. This put an end to clandestine marriages at Gretna Green. However today you can arrange everything by post in fifteen days and then appear in the flesh only on the actual day of the wedding at Gretna Green to be married. About 5,200 weddings were performed in Gretna Green the year before last. After this interesting stop we sped, at seventy miles an hour, pretty well the whole way back to Invergowrie by way of Glasgow (bypassed), Stirling (bypassed) and Perth (bypassed).
Highland Games
After church one Sunday in August we headed north to Montrose to experience the Highland Games there. These are a feature of not a few towns during the summer and it seemed a shame not to witness at least one. Montrose is a coastal town that we had visited once before. It is only about thirty or forty miles up the coast from Dundee, and so having packed lunch and drinks we were able to arrive before 1.00pm which was the time of the official opening. It was so warm that I didn’t bother taking a jersey and we all left our anoraks in the car, which had to be parked a fair distance from the site of the games. It wasn’t long before I needed to go back and get them, because the site of the games was very close to the sea front and the sun decided to hide behind a great slab of cloud as a cold sea breeze began to blow. In the rebellious U.D.I. days in Rhodesia there was a member of Smith’s inner circle called Lord Graham, and he was, I think, the Duke of Montrose. As far as I can remember he was considered by most people to be an amiable jackass. The Games at Montrose were opened by the current Duke of Montrose and coincided with a great gathering of the Graham clan and so there were lots of visitors from all over the world. It cost us £10 to get in and there were thousands of people there, many of them grossly fat, or so it seemed to us as we observed them wandering around. It proved to be an enjoyable, good and worthwhile day, not dissimilar to a big sports day and fete, and very well run with all sorts of activities running simultaneously. Most interesting of all to me was tossing the caber, apparently the world championship. The caber weighs 130 pounds and is like a telephone pole. The secret is to be able to balance the thing long enough to get up a bit of speed and then to toss it at just the right moment for its own weight, with the added little bit of momentum, to take it right over. Many failed. There was also throwing the hammer, shot put, and a very seriously taken tug-o-war final. We were interested in a “Welly Tossing” competition which sounded, when announced over the intercom, like “Willie tossing”, but proved to be simply wellington boot tossing. There were track races, bicycle races, long jump, high jump and pole vaulting, and all the time pipe bands marched in and played. Behind where we sat on a grassy bank, a solo bagpipe playing competition took place, the virtuosic music of which, after a while became very tedious. There were “heavy horse” competitions comprised of Clydesdale horses, beautifully groomed and decorated pulling fancy carts and trotting, surprisingly delicately, a figure of eight course, lifting their great and hairy hooves most elegantly. There was also highland dancing which I don’t much enjoy, but also girls dressed in sailors uniforms danced what I presume were hornpipes very intricately and impressively.
Home
It was a fascinating afternoon and we stayed until the final parade at half past five. On the way back we took a small detour to view a most impressive old bridge, arriving home at gone seven to have the remains of a home made corned beef pie and soup. The girls and Margaret then watched a performance of “Cats” they had recorded, while I wrote up my journal to send off to the family in Australia and South Africa because the next day would be a full one. We were to head off early to Edinburgh for a visit that was to culminate with our attendance at a performance of the Tattoo. (to be continued)
HOLY RELICS
In many cultures and religious traditions, certain things are perceived to have power and miraculous properties. For Catholics, holy relics are things that draw our attention and adoration to God. In the following passage a Presbyterian minister and writer, Frederick Buechner helps us to see that even seemingly mundane or commercial objects can serve as spiritual facilitators. I remember sitting parked by the roadside once, terribly depressed and afraid about my daughter's illness and what was going on in our family, when out of nowhere a car came along down the highway with a licence plate that bore on it the one word out of all the words in the dictionary that I needed most to see exactly then. The word was TRUST. What do you call a moment like that? Something to laugh off as the kind of joke life plays on us every once in a while? The word of God? I am willing to believe that may be it was something of both, but for me it was an epiphany. The owner of the car turned out to be, as I'd suspected, a trust officer in a bank, and not long ago, having read an account I wrote of the incident somewhere, he found out where I lived and one afternoon brought me the licence plate itself, which sits propped up on a bookshelf in my house to this day. It is rusty around the edges and a little battered, and it is also as holy a relic as I have ever seen..... (untraced)
CONGRATULATIONS
Birthdays
Marj. Malcolm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11th Dec
Margaret Osbrough. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13th Dec
Caitryn Foster. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14th Dec
Tolsa Baxter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14th Dec
Anniversaries
David & Lynda Harcoan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9th Dec
Maurice & Nancy Fennell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12th Dec
NATIVITY PLAY
At the 10.30 Eucharist today the Children’s Church children will be staging a simple Nativity Play. It will take place after Communion and I am sure gladden our hearts.
CAROL SERVICE
The Carol Service this year is all but upon us. It takes place THIS FRIDAY the 14th of December at 7.00pm. It is followed by drinks and nibbles in the narthex. Please bring a plate of something delectable or a drink of something ambrosial or both.
DEBRIEFED
The Parish Fair Debrief Meeting went well with some very good suggestions made to improve things next year. What was a little strange was that a fair number of Stalls were not represented by the presence fo or even an apology from their organisers. I speculate darkly to myself as to why this was so.
CHRISTMAS ON YOUR OWN
If anyone is daunted by the thought of spending Christmas Day on their own, have a word with the clergy because a married couple has offered to share their Christmas Day meal with just such a person or two.
GRIEF SUPPORT GROUP
“Moving On”
The Grief Support Group meet this Tuesday the 11th of December at 7.00pm. The subject to be considered is “Preparing for Christmas”.
ANGLICARE CHILDREN’S GIFTS
Gifts collected for the Anglicare Christmas Appeal will be sent during the week ending the 15th Dec. Any further contributions by the 12th Dec please and thank you to those who have contributed so far.
AFTERNOON GUILD
The Afternoon Guild meets in the Den on Thursday, 13th Dec at 2pm.
ROSTERS
We will soon be doing the duty rosters for next year. If you wish to go on to or come off a roster please indicate this clearly on the sheets in the narthex.
CHARITY CARD SHOP
Please note that the card shop is now open and our own Anglicare Cards are on sale there. Please give this your support: Scots Church Hall, Fryers Street. Mon-Thurs from 9.30-4.30; Fri 9.30-6.00; Sat 9.30- noon.
ADVENT STUDY
The Advent Study group meets in the Library on Thursday evenings at 7.30 pm.
CHRISTMAS CAKES
Thank you indeed to all the good folk who made Christmas cakes for us. Your clergy have been gallivanting hither and thither around Dookie and Katandra, delivering them to many folk on our roll as a token of the prayers and thoughts of we towns folk, in the light of the hardships so many in the country have been experiencing.
DATES FOR THE DIARY
Dec 12th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Vestry 3pm
Dec 13th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Afternoon Guild 2pm/Den
Dec 14th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nine Lessons and Carols 7.00pm
Dec 19th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Parish Council
Dec 24th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Children’s Christmas Eucharist 5.30pm
Dec 24th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christmas Eucharist Katandra 8.00pm
Dec 24th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Midnight Mass 11.30pm (Carols at 11.00pm)
Dec 25th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Christmas Eucharists 8.45 Dookie
Dec 25th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Xmas Eucharists 8.30am & 10.30am St A’s
June 1st . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patronal Festival
REQUESTS FOR PRAYER
At the beginning of each month this list is cleared and ALL names need putting down again on the list in the narthex and signed in. No names should be listed without a person’s permission.
Tony Armstrong, Liam Bognar, Nicky Cavill, Jack Cook, Christine Day, Emmie Dean, Donna Dyson, John Green, Pat Griffin, Kath Grills, Frank Harder, Sam Martin, Denise McKellar, John Moore, Margaret Neaum, Margaret Noble, Reg Oxenford, Jan Riches, Pam Thomson, Lorraine Vogul, David, George, Glenda, Peter, David & Judith, Layla, Roslyn, Maureen, Myra, David.
Rest in Peace: Gwynneth Williams, Doris Young.
Anniversary of death: Ewen Boord 9th, Emily Griffin, Christoper Walsh, Joyce Elliott 10th, Bernice Batey 11th, Alma Watts 12th, Anna McInnes, Vi Ball 13th.
Duties for 9th December 2007
No Vigil, Patronal Festival Katandra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Neaum
Celebrant 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gail Bryce
Celebrant 10.30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gail Bryce
Celebrant 8.45 St. Luke’s Dookie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Andrew Neaum
Celebrant 10.45 St. Mary’s Katandra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .No Service
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Liz Gyles, Celebrant
Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jenny Moran, Chris Evans
Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michelle, Beth, Volunteer
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Peter Lear, Volunteer
Intercessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bev Condon, Children
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ian Bryce, John Griffin
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chris Evans, Carole Henderson
Welcoming 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jeanette Berry, Anita Saville
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Substitute for Roz, Frank Steen
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Max Ralph, Bev Ralph
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alan Akers, Nola Brewer
Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Val Rose
Welcoming Table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Heather Carlyon
Mowing 24th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kay McGregor, Merv Cowland
Duties for 16th December 2007
Vigil Eucharist at 6pm 15th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Neaum
Celebrant 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Andrew Neaum
Celebrant 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gail Bryce
Celebrant 8.45 St. Luke’s Dookie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gail Bryce
Celebrant 10.45 St. Mary’s Katandra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Neaum
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Heather Fitzgerald, Norm Mitchelmore
Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ian Bryce, Nancy Noonan
Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michelle, Ben, Daniel
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Joan, Volunteers
Intercessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Celebrant
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M. Neaum, Heather Fitzgerald
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carole Henderson, Bev Condon
Welcoming 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joy Campbell, Pat Griffin
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nola Brewer, Sandra Simonis
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Joe Pearson, Bob Galt
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Pleming, Charlotte Brewer
Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bev Reither
Welcome Tbl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Val Rose
Mowing 15th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Norm Mitchelmore, Michael Egan
THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH
Monday 10th December Rector’s Day off
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
Tuesday 11th December
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Bishop in Council
10.00am Playgroup
12.15pm Simply Soul Soothing - Lady Chapel
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
Grief Support “Moving On”
Wednesday 12th December
7.45am Mattins only- Lady Chapel
10.00am Eucharist - St Augustine’s
3.00pm Vestry
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
5.00pm AGM People Helping People
5.30pm Choir Practice for 10.30 Eucharist
Thursday 13th December
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
11.00am Eucharist- Harmony Village
2.00pm Afternoon Guild/Den
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Choir Practice
7.30pm Advent Study - Narthex
Friday 14th December
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
7.00pm Carol Service
Saturday 15th December Associate Priest ‘s day off
7.45am Mattins and Eucharist Trad Rite Lady Chapel
6.00pm Vigil Eucharist
Sunday 16th December, Third Sunday in Advent
8.30am Eucharist - St Augustine’s
10.30am Eucharist - St Augustine’s
8.45am St. Luke’s Dookie
10.45am St. Mary’s Katandra