THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
13th January 2008
Graphics and cartoons appear only in the printed version
CONVERSING WITH SNOUT
A female CNN journalist heard about a very old Jewish man who had been going to the Western Wall to pray, twice a day, every day, for a long, long time. So she went to check it out. She went to the Western Wall and there he was, walking slowly up to the holy site. She watched him pray and after about 45 minutes, when he turned to leave, using a cane and moving very slowly, she approached him for an interview. “Pardon me, sir, I’m Rebecca Smith from CNN. What’s your name? “Morris Fishbein,” he replied. “Sir, how long have you been coming to the Western Wall and praying?” “For about 60 years.” “60 years! That’s amazing! What do you pray for?” “I pray for peace between the Christians, Jews and the Muslims. I pray for all the wars and all the hatred to stop. I pray for all our children to grow up safely as responsible adults, and to love their fellow man.” “How do you feel after doing this for 60 years?” “As if I am talking to a flaming wall.”
TRAVELLERS TALES (38)
(Andrew Neaum in the year 2000)
Our last Sunday in Invergowrie arrived. The Eucharist at All Souls’ had a good crowd present, everyone in attendancee you would expect, and the most communicants since we had been there. During Communion Rachel and Susie sang “It’s a Gift to be Simple” and then the small singing group sang Doreen’s favourite hymn, “Sweet Sacrament Divine. At the service’s end I recited a piece of verse on Invergowrie and Dundee to much acclaim, whereupon the Parish Secretary, Dave Kerr, made a speech and we were given lots of little presents, cards and, as the result of a whip-round, seventy pounds or so, which more than covered the cost of the valet service to Ashley’s car, I am pleased to say, and was totally unexpected. I won’t inflict the piece of verse in its entirety upon you, just the end, which works up to a climax of local patriotism calculated to rouse acclaim and applause:
... what a lovely church, All Souls!
For miles its spire attracts, cajoles
Believing Christians in, to see
How beautiful their faith can be.
The fairest church in all Dundee
Or so it seems to biassed me,
For I, inside, beneath its steeple
Have met my Lord in lovely people.
I’ve also visited the highlands,
Lochs and lowlands, firths and islands,
Glasgow, Edinburgh, Lochgair,
Kilmarnock, Braemar, Perth and Ayr;
Forfar, Plockton, Achnasheen,
Iona, Mull and Aberdeen;
Inverness and Loch Aline;
Scone, Dumfries and Gretna Green.
Stonehaven, Brechin, Crieff, Auchmithie,
Forres, Findhorn, Nairn Drumlithie,
Jedburgh, Fishnish, Corran, Keith,
Pitlochry, Glamis and Monifieth
Comrie, Aviemore, Dalwhinnie,
Carnoustie, Abernyte, Baldinnie.....
But best, by far, have been to me
Invergowrie and Dundee.
Attempted robbery
The girls and Margaret were given Celtic jewellery, I an Edinburgh glass paper-weight and other bits and bobs. Lady Kinnaird gave us a bag of little bits and pieces separately. We then had a bring and share lunch which was most convivial and pleasant. We supplied some bottles of champagne and in case there wasn’t enough I went off to the local supermarket to buy an extra bottle, which in the end we didn’t drink and so could have with the bishop, for he and his wife were coming in to dinner a few days later. The robust girl on the till at the local supermarket attempted, casually and with no apparent malice, indeed almost as an afterthought, to cheat me out of ten pounds worth of change. She hoped that I would think that I had given her a ten pound rather than a twenty pound note and closed the till accordingly. It was almost comical really, because I anticipated it, having inadvertently made a comment to her as I handed her the money which sounded as though I considered the amount I gave her to be the exact amount required, rather than double!
Shakespeare limericks
The Dundee philosophy lecturer presented me with a selection of his poems, which are very good indeed - several of them, on the still-birth of a daughter and most moving, and one on the Assumption that had been printed in Black Friars magazine, excellent. He is a man of great talent, and of course so widely and retentively read! He and a friend play a verse game they call “Shakespeare limericks” - they each compose a limerick that encapsulates the whole plot of a selected Shakespeare play, the best one winning - he quoted some of his friends efforts to me, saying that they are better than his, as indeed they are, brilliant! It was a lovely day and our time at Invergowrie was obviously much appreciated by the parish.
A perfect avenue of beeches
The following day we decided to visit a formal garden at Drummond Castle near Crieff, a visit Elizabeth had proposed for the day we had visited Scone some weeks previously, but which we called off for want of good weather and sufficient energy. So after lunch off we went, bypassing Perth and through lovely fertile and rolling countryside. We stopped for a while in Crieff where we experienced a heavy downpour of rain, The girls and Margaret visited a confectionary factory and it cost 30 pence, that is little short of a dollar, to use the public toilets I noted with disgust in my journal. When the rain stopped we travelled a mile or so down the Stirling road and then turned in to Drummond Castle drive, one of the most perfect beech avenues I have ever seen. Large, remarkably closely planted beech trees lined a narrow, one way, tarmac strip, their branches interlocking over the drive. The avenue lasted for perhaps a couple of miles and then, looming up close to the road and melding into, or growing out of a rocky crag there was the castle, with very beautiful and thick woods all around.
Drummond Castle and gardens
We parked and walked beneath a wall arch into an outer courtyard and then through another arch in the building itself. We bought our six pound’s worth of tickets and passed on into another courtyard between on one side a huge, old, baronial style castle/house and on the other an even older and more emphatically castle like castle with a tower. Best of all though was a stone balustrade looking out and over one of those marvellously symmetrical, formal gardens that you associate with the eighteenth century. It is a very large specimen of this sort of garden, with gravel paths, lawns, formally trimmed bushes and trees, statues, fountains, a sundial and intricate patterns of little foot high box hedges bordering the gravel paths and rose and lavender beds. There is even an ornamental, stone, three arched bridge over a pond on one side. All this was spread out before and below us, to be reached by walking down several levels of elegant stone steps, a hundred and thirteen of them in all. At the far end of the formal garden was a hedge behind which, we discovered later, was a beautiful and productive vegetable garden and nursery with espaliered fruit trees and a large area of grass. Beyond this was beautiful woodland with huge copper beech trees planted by Queen Victoria.
The finest in Scotland
We wandered all over the gardens, the only visitors because we had arrived late, about half an hour before the gates closed, though an hour and a half before required to leave. The view of the mansion, castle and balustrade from the garden below was magnificent. Certainly the most impressive and beautiful of all the castles we have visited, and mercifully the buildings are not open to the public so there was no traipsing around inside to the point of gawp-fatigue. The gardens were first laid out in the seventeenth century, were redesigned in the early nineteenth century and restored from neglect in the 1950's. They are apparently the finest of their kind in Scotland and among the finest in the world.
The rose of Lancaster
We had a good run back home, arriving with half an hour to spare before stepping out from the Rectory to cross Station Road and dine with a delightful All Soul’s parishioner, a bachelor in his mid forties. He leads a very active life, being a keen sailor, skier and walker. He has two physics degrees, the second in radiography and so he looks after hospital machines that cost several million dollars each and which are used to bombard cancerous tissues. I asked him about the number of times dentists should X ray patient’s teeth, because my dentist is always doing my teeth and he said that X ray’s should never be taken unless there is very good reason and as the lesser of two evils. Something to talk to my dentist about. We had a very good soup followed by a pork cutlet in sauce, and then fresh melon, mango and kiwi fruit. He is one of those gentle, kind and amiable folk in whom you can detect no trace of guile or malice. We got home by 11.00 and I had a good go at a book on Oliver Cromwell, trying to finish it before we left. The Royalists called the wen on Oliver Cromwell’s large nose “the rose of Lancaster”. It is a good way to remember which county had the white and which the red rose...... Cromwell’s Lancaster Wen being very red!(to be continued)
A GREAT LITTLE POEM
The following poem I came across in an article by Paul Johnson. The poem was very highly regarded by Wordsworth, and little wonder. It is by Anne Laetitia Barbauld.
Life! We have been long together
Through pleasant and through cloudy weather;
‘Tis hard to part when friends are dear;
Perhaps ‘twill cost a sigh, a tear; -
Then steal away, give little warning,
Choose thine own time;
Say not Good-night, but in some brighter clime
Bid me Good Morning!
Paul Johnson writes as follows: “Mrs Barbauld was a very old lady when she wrote it, near death, so what she wrote was in her heart, and from her heart it enters ours, cleanly and directly. What makes it especially poignant is that she was not a religious woman in any customary meaning of the term. But she knew what all poets know - must know - that there is something after life.”
My own researches reveal that she lived from 1743-1824 and was married to a mentally unstable clergyman who committed suicide. She was one of a circle of dissenting radical intellectuals and supported radical causes. She wrote a most interesting poem called “Eighteen Hundred and Eleven” it foretells the decline of Britain’s “Midas dream” of wealth, and the rise of prosperity and culture in America, whose tourists will come to visit with nostalgia “the gray ruin and the mouldering stone” of England.
HENRY VIII
Some years ago a historian called Susan Maclean Kybett suggested that Henry VIII did not die from syphilis as once commonly believed, but from a chronic lack of vitamin C that caused him to develop scurvy. Kybett maintained that the ailment affected Henry’s personality and could conceivably, therefore, have influenced his decision to marry six times and have two of his wives beheaded. More importantly, it could have fostered his break with Rome. In an issue of the British monthly ‘History Today”, Kybett wrote that Henry VIII’s frequent colds, constipation, bloated body, collapsed nose, bad breath, ulcerated legs and wild mood swings are all symptoms of scurvy. This affliction was common in Tudor England, where fruits and vegetables were not only scarce but also shunned by the upper classes as unfit to eat. All of this reminds me of a Presbyterian history teacher in the school I once taught English in. Knowing me to be a chauvinistic Anglican he once sent his Form 4 boys down to me with the following instructions: “Tell Mr Neaum that Mr Stewart said in history that the Anglican Church was spawned in a syphilitic bed of adultery....” Absolute nonsense, of course. The Anglican church goes right back to the first missionary to the British Isles hundreds and hundreds of years before Henry VIII, though that scurvy knave did play an important part in its history!
How many of our daydreams would darken into nightmares, were there a danger of their coming true! Logan Pearsall Smith,
A committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours. M. Berle
CONGRATULATIONS
Birthdays
Joan O’Reilly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14th Jan
Edith Robins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18th Jan
Val Downie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19th Jan
Heather Carlyon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20th Jan
Wedding Anniversaries
Joe & Heather Pearson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18th Jan
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
As usual the parish AGM takes place on Ash Wednesday which this year is very early, the 6th of February. We need all reports by the end of this month please if they are to be inculded in the booklet of reports.
Nomination forms for Wardens, Councillors, Synod Representatives and Parochial Nominators should be on the table in the narthex this Sunday.
LENT STUDY GROUPS
With Lent so early this year it is time to start thinking positively about what we plan to take up in order to help make the Forty Days an enriching and worthwhile experience for us. Lenten Study Groups are a part of this. There is a list for the names of those who would like to sign up for one such on the table in the Narthex.
We are offering two courses this year. The Revd Gail Bryce will be leading what looks like a very stimulating course from England on Mondays at 1.30pm. Canon Andrew will be leading one on Wednesdays at 7.30pm, preceded by a Eucharist at 7.00pm. This course will involve the reading of a chapter each session of a little book by John Austin Baker and discussion of it afterwards. The book is called “Travels in Oudamovia”. The times we have chosen are not necessarily fixed and comments as to their suitability are invited.
ORTHODOX BAPTISM OF JESUS
The Orthodox celebration of the “Baptism of Jesus” will take place this year on Saturday 19th of January at 9.00am. This is a big day for our Macedonian parishioners but others are welcome and encouraged to attend too. The Icons in the Church are auctioned off temporarily at the end of the service and there is a procession out to the fountain where the waters of blessed and a cross thrown in for the youngsters to compete for.
CHOIR SCHOLARSHIP
The first ever St Augustine’s Choral Scholarship has been applied for and likely to be awarded soon. More news later.
DATE FOR READINGS SESSION
We intend holding the first short session on “Reading in Church” after the 8.30am and 10.30am Eucharists on 3rd of February. The whole point of this exercise is to improve our reading not to criticise or demean! At Katandra last week I myself botched the reading of the Gospel and was only too glad to have this pointed out to me.
Next Sunday’s readings: Isaiah 49:1-7, Psalm 40:1-14, 1 Cor 1:1-19, John 1:29-42. The version used in our parish is the New Revised Standard Version, but if you don’t have that, reading the lesson through in another translation will help you come to grips with its meaning.
SOOTHED SOULS
There was a good turn up for the first Simply Soul Soothing reflection of this year on Tuesday. They are now back in full swing every week on Tuesdays starting at 12.15pm and ending with lunch.
DATES FOR THE DIARY
Jan 19. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Orthodox Baptism of Christ 9.00am
Jan 26. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding
Feb 6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ash Wednesday and AGM
Mar 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wedding 2.30pm
Mar 8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Weddings 1.00pm & 3.00pm
Mar 23. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Easter Sunday
April 10, 11, 12, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Catechesis Training in Shepp
April 17,18, 19. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Catechesis Training in Shepp
April 19. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Weddings 11.00am, 3.30pm
May 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wedding 1.30pm
June 1st . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patronal Festival
Duties for 13th January 2008
Vigil Eucharist at 6pm 12th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Neaum
Celebrant 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Andrew Neaum
Celebrant 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Andrew Neaum
Celebrant 8.45 St. Luke’s Dookie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gail Bryce
Celebrant 10.45 St. Mary’s Katandra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gail Bryce
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jeanette Smith, Heather Pearson
Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nancy Noonan, Andrea Fisher
Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michelle, Beth, Volunteers
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter, Daniel, Bethany
Intercessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carole Henderson, Children
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Carole Henderson, Margaret Neaum
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chris Evans, Jenny Pleming
Welcoming 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Joy Campbell, Eileen Quaife
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Charlotte Brewer, Sandra Simonis
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Merv & Gwyn Cowland
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Charlotte Brewer, John Pleming
Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Heather Pearson
Welcome Tbl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Judy Lloyd
Mowing 12th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Norm Mitchelmore, Mike Egan
Duties for 20th January 2008
Vigil Eucharist at 6pm 19th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Neaum
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pat Griffin, Heather Carlyon
Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nancy Fennell, Heather Carlyon
Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Beth, Daniel, Ben
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Joan, Tom, Helen
Intercessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Celebrant, Jenny Pleming
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ian Bryce, Heather Fitzgerald
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jenny Pleming, Carole Henderson
Welcoming 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joyce Cavill, Gwen Betson
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Frank Steen, Jenny Moran
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Joy Campbell, Trevor Batey
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nola Brewer, Alan Akers
Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Val Rose
Welcoming Table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Heather Carlyon
Mowing 19th Jan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kay McGregor, Merv Cowland
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.
Hilary Akers, Liam Bognar, Nicky Cavill, Jack Cook, Christine Day, Emmie Dean, Donna Dyson, John Green, Pat Griffin, Kath Grills, Frank Harder, John Moore, Margaret Neaum, Margaret Noble, Albert Oxenbury, Reg Oxenford, Margaret Osborough, Kevin Richards, Jan Riches, Carole Shields, Peter & Eva Swindells, Lorraine Vogul, Antony & Robyn, Bill, Darren, David, Glenda, Peter, Rhianna, David & Judith, Layla, Les, Myra.
Anniversary of death
Nicholas Auldrige, Percival Brooke 13th, Margaret Tobias, Ethel Peters, Cyril Caldwell 14th, Ron Taig, Joyce Stewart 15th, Keith Dean, Colin Ferguson 16th, Ernest Guyatt, Ilias Petcopoulos 17th, Valerie Ford, Judith Climas 18th, Madge Grutzner, Niko Rendevski, Leona Hopkins 19th.
THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH
Monday 14th January
Rector’s Day off
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
Tuesday 15th January
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
12.15pm Simply Soul Soothing
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
7.30pm Baptism Preparation - Narthex
Wednesday 16th January
7.45am Mattins only- Lady Chapel
10.00am Eucharist - St Augustine’s
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Choir Practice for 10.30 Eucharist
7.30pm Parish Council - The Den
Thursday 17th January Antony of Egypt
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
9.30am Eucharists - Tarcoola
11.00am Eucharist - Harmony Village
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Choir Practice
Friday 18th January
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
Saturday 19th January - Orthodox Baptism of Jesus
Associate Priest ‘s day off
7.45am Mattins Only - Lady Chapel
9.00am Baptism of Jesus - Orthodox Tradition
6.00pm Vigil Eucharist
Sunday 20th January, Septuagesima Sunday
8.30am Eucharist - St Augustine’s
10.30am Eucharist - St Augustine’s
8.45am St. Luke’s Dookie
10.45am St. Mary’s Katandra