THIRD SUNDAY in LENT
7th March 2010
Graphics and cartoons & liturgical material appear only in the printed version
ROMANTIC CANOODLING
AND DALLIANCE
A presbyterian Sabbatarian became so obsessed about not working on Sundays (the Christian Sabbath), that he even began to wonder if romantic canoodling and dalliance with his wife was permitted on the Sabbath. Was it work, in that it built up and strengthened his marriage, or play because it was enjoyable? It troubled him enough to cause him to consult his dour and prune- faced minister for an opinion. The minister, after consulting the Bible at length, told him “My son, after an exhaustive search I am positive that romantic canoodling and dalliance is not permitted on Sundays. Its purpose is primarily to build up and strengthen one’s marriage, not pleasure. Therefore it is work not play and so absolutely forbidden on the Sabbath day”. Disappointed, the man thought to himself: “What does a dour, bachelor, prune-faced minister know about real life and relationships? I will sneak off to the local rabbi, he really does know all about the Sabbath, for he is a man with a thousand years of tradition and biblical interpretation behind him.” The Rabbi duly pondered the question and then pronounced:”My son, romantic dalliance and canoodling, so long as it is within the bounds of a marriage relationship, is indubitably play not work.” The obsessive presbyterian replied,” Rabbi, how can you be so sure when my own minister tells me that romantic canoodling and dalliance is work?” The Rabbi replied softly,” If it were work, my wife would have our maid do it.”
THIS AND THAT
Andrew Neaum
I loved All Saints’ Church in Gatooma, Rhodesia, as much as I love St Augustine’s. It was my first parish church as a Rector.
Of all my privileges as a parish priest, the one I would find hardest to forego is living next door to a lovely church into which I can disappear in order to read, pray, cogitate and meditate.
Nectar-intoxicated bees and hoopoes
All Saints’ Gatooma had lancet windows, and was itself shaped a little like a lancet, for it was long and narrow, though not pointed at the east end. It had a steeply pitched, green corrugated-iron roof, the eaves of which curved up a little. The lancet windows in the long nave had copper window boxes on the inside which were filled with fragrant flowers for festivals. While I was Rector we built on to the church a lovely, matching chapel which can be seen in the photograph above, set at right angles to the nave, an elongated western transept. There I would sit at my early morning devotions looking out on to a great Australian eucalypt which, when in flower, hummed with the contentment of nectar-intoxicated bees. It shaded a Garden of Remembrance about which hoopoes used sometimes to stroll, the loveliest of birds, St Augustine’s-brick red in colour, with black and white barred wings and an impressive crest.
It was at Gatooma that Peter and David came into being and our lives. It is there that as they cut their infant teeth I cut my rectorial ones.
Charismatics
One of my difficulties in this my first parish was coping with a band of “charismatics” in the congregation. In those days such Christians were more a feature of mainline Anglican life than they seem to be today. They were folk who had undergone an overwhelming pentecostal experience which turned many of them, though not all, into fanatics. Those of us who did not “talk in tongues” as they did, and who had not been “born again” after their fashion were considered not to be fully Christian. They were intent upon turning us all into “real” Christians like them, not a happy prospect.
Austin Farrer
All this came flooding back to my mind last week when I was sitting cogitating in the lovely Lady Chapel of St Augustine’s. My Lent book is “The Brink of Mystery” a collection of sermons by one of the greatest of Anglican luminaries, Austin Farrer. I last read it on the Island of St Helena, but have been nourished by his wisdom, brilliance and deep faith ever since I was at theological college. Last Monday I read one of his sermons on that most famous of all St Paul’s passages, recited at many a wedding and which begins: Though I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
After his usual arresting opening, he goes on to consider “talking in tongues”, not in anyway decrying or debunking it, he is far too fine a scholar to do that, but he does press on to consider what it is that is actually said or chanted when tongues are talked, suggesting that if “it was not the articulate speech of men, whether Greek or barbarian. Was it not, then, the tongue of angels?
Divine yodelling
“You might say” he goes on, “that the Church of St Paul’s days was digesting the aftermath of Pentecost. The torrent of ecstatic utterance had been an impressive, first symptom of possession by the Spirit—impressive, because spontaneous and unpredicted. But when people saw it could happen, and laid themselves out to undergo it, the experience lost its worth. St Paul wants to bring it under control. On the other hand, he is anxious to avoid the impiety of ‘quenching the Spirit’ .
“What then does he do? He advances a double argument. First, he says that since there are many spiritual gifts, we should aspire most eagerly after the best. Speaking with angel-tongues is a fine thing, but prophesying is a finer; that is, inspired preaching is better than inspired yodelling.
“If people reply that nevertheless all spiritual gifts have their place, St Paul advances his second argument. All gifts have their place, very well, but how is that place to be fixed? By the overruling principle of brotherly love. If you love your fellow Christians, you will not address them often, or for long, in double-Dutch. It will do them little good, and it will be a bore. If you persist, may it not be taken that you are vaunting yourself, puffed up, behaving yourself unseemly, playing your own hand? Love does not strike such attitudes as these........” Now that is what I call putting things into perspective.
Anaesthetics and aesthetics
At a most enjoyable barbecue last week I was introduced to an anaesthetist and was able to initiate an interesting conversation with the following little ice-breaker. “An anaesthetist? Wonderful, for we are in much the same business. You put individuals to sleep with your drugs, deliberately. I put congregations to sleep with my droning, unintentionally.” I learned a fair bit about anaesthetics from him, a fascinating subject.
The new double storeyed units being built on the corner of McKinney Street and Maude Street begin to tower skyward. They will not only overlook our church’s lovely gardens, but also the Rectory and its gardens. In its own small way this is an example of “killing the thing we love”, of beauty being destroyed by a desire for beauty.
A next door neighbour’s heavily treed and lovely old garden, a home to owls, doves and honeyeaters that provided for church and rectory a lovely tree-scaped view, has been subdivided to provide a lovely tree-scaped view for new homeowners at the expense of our lovely view. It is the price of progress. We might even one day have to do something similar ourselves, but it is still regrettable.
Cologne
The concert this afternoon, all the way from Cologne, reminds me of a little piece by Coleridge who was less than enamoured of that lovely city. Perhaps he was jilted there, or robbed:
In Köln, a town of monks and bones,
And pavements fang’d with murderous stones
And rags, and hags, and hideous wenches;
I counted two and seventy stenches,
All well defined, and several stinks!
Ye Nymphs that reign o’er sewers and sinks,
The river Rhine, it is well known,
Doth wash your city of Cologne;
But tell me, Nymphs! What power divine
Shall henceforth wash the river Rhine?
It is not only lovely verses that stick in my memory. More pleasant associations with Cologne arise from my mother’s liberal use of Eau de Cologne, (obviously not from the Rhine below the city) a refreshing perfume with which she would liberally swab our fevered brows when we were at all headachy.
Judas Iscariot
Our guest preacher at 8.30am today, the Revd. Dr. John Pryor, with his usual scholarly acumen considers Judas Iscariot. The archetype of all traitors Judas is not a person easy to be witty about. However in the first half of the 19th century there was a bishop of Exeter. Henry Philpotts who was as unpopular with his clergy as have been several of those I have had the misfortune to suffer under. The Revd. Sydney Smith, a famous wit of the time, said of him thus: “I must believe in the Apostolic Succession, there being no other way of accounting for the descent of the Bishop of Exeter from Judas Iscariot.”
COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS
Canon D Neaum 1912-2001
At this time my father, in partnership with a Mr. Flanders, started another factory, this time in Belper itself. It was a “Half-hose” or men’s sock factory. During its building I was always hanging round and because both my older brothers were to be employed there, saw much more of them. Once again the Neaum contingent was concerned with the mechanical side while the partner saw to the business and office part.
I was never much interested in metal working for wood was my delight, but one day my father thought I ought to know something of metal and its tools. This happened when the factory was in production and I was pottering round the workshop end. Pa handed me a piece of copper rod and told me to cut off an inch long piece and then file it into an octagon. I put the rod into the vice and taking the hacksaw, cut off an inch. The surface I made was terrible so my first job was to file the cut side smooth. This done, I carefully marked out the eight sides to be filed and then set down to it. I was quite proud of the result for it was truly a copper octagon some one and a half inches across. In due time Pa came to see how I was getting on and I handed him the result of my effort, expecting not praise for that was not Pa’s way, but, shall we say, satisfaction.
Without a word, Pa took the copper bar, looked at the end I had sawn, put it into the vice and, with a few strokes, erased my saw marks. He then cut off his inch and where the cut had been made there was no need for filing smooth. Then, without any marking at all, he filed his octagon taking a few minutes, not the hour or more it had taken me. When it was finished he put it and mine on the palm of his hand and held them both towards the light. The difference was shocking, for his showed an entirely smooth face on every surface while mine had something like seven different sheens. There was no need for words for I realised that engineering was not my forte. I could take down and re-assemble a car or motor bike engine but would never be an engineer for when I had ‘de-coked’ a car engine I was never satisfied with the result until Fran had passed it, for he had magic fingers.
But those small things mentioned, let me come to the greatest event during the early days of my 14th year. Dear Fr. Baldwin had announced the time of his retirement and the days of Christ Church having an assistant priest were drawing to an end. Shortly before that happened I was spending the evening with Fr. and Mrs. Watson when they asked me if I would like to spend the night at their home. Neither they nor we had telephones at that time and I said I would have to let my parents know that I wouldn’t be home. I was told that they already knew of it and had agreed. I duly spent the night there and left early, with Fr. Watson, to serve at the Convent Mass and then returned home to be greeted by my elder sister with the request to go upstairs to see what Ma had got to show me. Mother was in bed and lying in her arms was a baby! I had had no idea that such a treat was even expected, for Ma didn’t ‘show’ when pregnant.
The infant so born was a girl child who became my ‘Baby’ from her birth and right up to the time of writing when she is seventy three years of age. She and I are the final two of our generation, she being the last of our family’s six children.
Some twelve years later, we wanted my young sister, Anne, to be one of our bridesmaids but she, being something of a ‘Tom-boy’, refused. She didn’t even come to the wedding but, after the reception on our returning home, where we had hidden the car to save it being messed about by any of the younger guests, she sprang out from behind the garden gate, two pistols in her hands and shouted, “Stick ‘em up!” - a welcome we never expected!
By the way, let me say that of all the five weddings of his children, my Father never attended one! We didn’t expect him to!
(to be continued....)
CONGRATULATIONS
Birthdays
Heather Nichols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..7th MarchHeather Camm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11th March
NOTABLE GUEST PREACHER
Our preacher at 8.30am during Lent is the Revd. Dr. John Pryor and most interesting he is too. His subject this week is the engimatic Judas Iscariot.
NEXT WEEK 8.30 SERMON OUTLINE
Week
4 - Peter
Readings next week: Jn 18.12-27
1. Topographical
Comments
2. Peter’s Actions
3. What gives him away - and why does he do it?
4. Did he abandon Jesus?
5. Failing Christians
MOTHERING SUNDAY
Next Sunday is Mothering Sunday and as is customary there will be Simnel cake and posies to distribute. Thank you, in anticipation, to the cake makers. If anyone can donate flowers or herbage suitable for modest posies, or even better could help in making them please bring them and yourself to the Hall at 9.00am on Saturday.
Sign up if on that day you wish to join the folk at Katandra for lunch with the Bishop. We have hired a small bus please indicate on the list in the narthex if you would like to come and require a lift. For those who would like to contribute to their bus seat a reasonable offering would be $5.00.
LENT COURSES
Lent Course (1) The Revd. Helen Malcolm.
Mondays 7.00pm (Library)
Lent Course (2) The Revd Gail Bryce.
Wednesdays 1.30pm (Library)
Lent Course (3) The Revd Andrew Neaum.
Thursdays 7.00 pm (Library)
TODAY FROM COLOGNE
Don’t forget the fine concert at 2.30pm on Sunday the 7th of March in St Augustine’s by the Cologne New Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra. A lovely programme. The price of tickets: Adults: $35; Concessions $30, Students: $25. Tickets can be bought at the door from three quarters of an hour before the concert. Contact Jeanette Smith for more information: 58215092.
OUTREACH
We will be producing a modest Easter edition of “Outreach”. Any submissions need to be in hand by next Sunday. Helen Malcolm will be putting it all together for us. God bless her.
LADY DAY
In Wangaratta Cathedral on Wednesday 24th March starting at 10.15am with morning tea followed by the Eucharist at 11.00am. Bishop John Parkes is celebrant and preacher. Lunch at 12.30pm ($10.00) is catered for by ABM. The guest speaker will be the Rev’d Robert Whalley, Bishop’s Chaplain. Please let our office know by the 15th of March if you would like lunch ordered for you.
ARISE 255: YOUTH GROUP
FRIDAY 12th
Come along and discuss about “Respecting our World” It’s the only one we have and we all need to be able to live on it. Mary Pearson
CAT LOVERS
Caring homes wanted for much loved mature cats. Owner away for 6 months. Ring Joan McCann if you are able to help. 58222059
DATES FOR THE DIARY
Mar 7th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cologne New Phil.Chamber Orchestra 2.30pm
Mar 9th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Grief Support Group ‘Moving On”
Mar 12th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .“Arise 255" Youth Group
Mar 14th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mothering Sunday
Mar 14th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75th Anniversary of St Mary’s Katandra
Mar 15th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Visiting Indonesians for lunch
Mar 16th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Friendship Group
Mar 17th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Parish Council
Mar 18th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Evening Guild
Mar 20th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wedding
Mar 27th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Garden Working Bee
Apr 3rd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Macedonian Easter
Apr 4th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Easter Day
Apri 17th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Men’s Breakfast
Apr 24th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Garden Working Bee
Apr 27th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rector disappears for six months
May 15th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Men’s Breakfast
June 6th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patronal Festival
Aug 5th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Meeting Parish Fair 4.00pm Roz’s Room
November 13th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Parish Fair and Garden Party
Duties for 7th March 2010
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gwyn Cowland, Heather Fitzgerald
Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Joan Mcann, Andrea Fisher
Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Beth, Michelle
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Greg Pestell, Joan McCann
Intercessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Victoria Heenan, Andrea Fisher
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Heather Fitzgerald, Carole Henderson
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Greg Pestell, Joe Fernandez
Welcomers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bev Reither, Beryl Goodfellow
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Charlotte Brewer, Gloria Wayman
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bev & Max Ralph
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alan Akers, Nola Brewer
Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pat Griffin
Welcoming Table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Margaret Hoare
Mowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . none this week
Duties for 14th March 2010
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Liz Gyles, Bev Condon
Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Greg Pestell, Mary Pearson
Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Michelle, Beth
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Helen, Tom, Zebedee
Intercessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pat Griffin, Children
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Horder, Bev Condon
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Christine Evans, Greg Pestell
Welcomers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bev Ralph, Heather Nichols
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesley Kenna, Nola Brewer
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trevor Batey, Joy Campbell
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesley Kenna, Charlotte Brewer
Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gwyn Cowland
Mowing 27th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Pleming, John Wellman
Welcome Table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dorothy Cook
READINGS 14th March
Lent Four
Joshua 5:2-12, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
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.
Prayer Requests
Nicole Ackland, Jeffrey Andrewartha, Debbie Bagley, Laura Bates, Val Cowper, Malcolm Elliott Diane Feldtmann, Kath Grills, Frank Harder, Hilder Lidgard, Wyn Lawrence, Sophie Mould, Maureen Olphert, Albert Oxenbury, Mavis Proctor, Koop Purss Kevin & Isabelle Richards, Peter Swindells, June Warner, Heather Vines, Bill & Glenda, David, David & Judith, Sandy.
Rest in Peace
Bert Fidge, Tom McDonald.
Year’s Mind
Frederick Stephens, Ian Watts 7th, Lawrence Brewer, William Fallis 8th, Jean Poulton, Margaret Killop 9th, Willis Mitchelmore 10th, Christine Warbuton, Cheryl McKellar 11th, Clare Tomlinson, Grace Mead 12th, John Still, Shaun Carter 13th.
THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH
Monday 8th March - John of God & Labour Day
Rector’s ( and everyone else’s) day off
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
7.00pm Lent Course- Rev Helen Malcolm - Library
Tuesday 9th March - Sister Emma
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
10.00am Playgroup - Roz’s Room
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
7.30pm “Moving On” Grief Support Group
Wednesday 10th March - John & Charles Wesley
7 .45am Mattins only - Lady Chapel
10.00am Eucharist - St Augustine’s
1.30pm Lent Course - Rev Gail Bryce - Library
2.00pm Vestry - Library
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Hospice meeting - Hospice House
6.00pm EfM - Roz’s Room
Thursday 11th March
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
11.00am Eucharist - Harmony
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
4.00pm Catechesis - Atrium
5.30pm Choir Practice - St Martin’s Chapel
7.00pm Lent Course - Canon Andrew - Library
Friday 12th March
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
11.00am Ave Maria
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Arise 255 (I finishes at 7.30pm)
Saturday 13th March
Associate Priest’s day off
7.45am Mattins only - Lady Chapel
9.00am Bishop in Co. Strategy Meeting. - Beechworth
6.00pm Vigil Eucharist - Lady Chapel
Sunday 14th March 4th Sunday in Lent
8.30am Sung Eucharist - St Augustine’s
10.30am Children’s Church Eucharist - St Augustine’s
8.45am Eucharist(Harvest) - St Luke’s Dookie
10.45am 75th Anniv. Eucharist - St Mary’s Katandra
12.10pm Mothering Sunday Luncheon