FEAST of THE ASCENSION
5th June 2011
Graphics and cartoons & liturgical material appear only in the printed version
SLIGHTLY SICK BUT IRONICALLY PLEASING TO VEGETARIANS
A Shepparton man went out to see his farmer friend out Devenish way. While there he saw a pig walking along with a wooden leg. "Why has your pig got a wooden leg?" he asked. The farmer said: "That pig is a great pig; it got a score of 99.99 in its VCE, it can count, and it's my children's best friend." "Yes, but why does it have a wooden leg?" asked the Shepparton man. "He saved my wife and kids in a fire, and he's the best pig we'‘ve ever had," answered the farmer. "But you haven't answered my question," said the man. "Are you stupid?" said the farmer."You wouldn't eat a pig like that all at once."
CHAUVINISTICALLY NATIONALISTIC BUT FUNNY
The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have therefore raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to "A Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada. The Scots have raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the Bastards." They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years. The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability. Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides." The Germans have increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Lose." Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels. The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy. Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be alright, Mate." Three more escalation levels remain: "Crikey!", "I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend", and "The barbie is cancelled."
Loud indignation against vice often stands for virtue in the eyes of bigots.
J. Petit-Senn
Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.
Leo Buscaglia
WARM TO SIN
Andrew Neaum
As I grow older, almost worse than the inevitable physical degeneration, is a growing realisation that I have few if any heroes left to inspire me. No truly wise, rock-solid, infall-ible folk, older and profounder than myself in whom to trust, and upon whom to lean and depend. Everyone, I begin to suspect is un-certain, fallible, sinful and as puzzled as I am.
I grow old, I grow old
Growing old, for most of us, it seems to me, is less a problem than growing up, and accommodating our self to this. When we are children our parents are as God to us. Wise and strong, they make our every decision, are always there to know and be everything for us and to answer all our questions. As we grow up we begin to realise that they are fallible, and then that they are probably little wiser than we are. It is a disillusioning revelation.
So too it is with all our heroes. I remember some years ago sitting in the gallery of the legislative assembly in Canberra and looking down at our parliamentarians during Question Time. The whole, marvellous, billions of dollars worth of Parliament House exists to allow, facilitate and encourage the men and women I sat watching to exercise their talents, display their wisdom, explore the best way forward for our lovely land. The very city of Canberra itself exists for the men and women I sat watching. Yet how little they looked in their baggy grey suits, how small, fallible, insignificant, ordinary; and likewise their questions and answers, their posturing, bleating and roaring.
But so too, as we grow older, seems everyone. Who isn't puzzled, worried, distressed, small, unsure? Who isn't foolish, fallible, faint- hearted? Who isn't running away from ultimate questions, the riddle of existence, God or no God? Is death the end of everything?
The biographies we read reinforce the same sad point. J F Kennedy, for all his touted talents and burnished reputation, was actually a philandering, bullying and essentially weak man. Leo Tolstoy, so wise and humane in his novels, was a vacillating and very silly fellow in real life. Mahatma Ghandi, for all his redeeming qualities, was little short of a crackpot, so his latest biographer reveals. Nelson Mandela, indubitably heroic on a wider stage than his home and family, was also vain, adulterous and neglectful of his family, and so on and so on.
Hypocritical, puzzled, floundering
It is not growing old that is the problem, it is growing up and realising this truth. We are all of us a pretty shabby, unimpressive lot, often frightened, always hypocritical, puzzled, floundering.
This might well be a problem only to peculiarities like myself. Certainly most folk appear to cope happily enough, either by worshipping crass, rat-bag,"celebrities" with the help of hideous rags like "New Idea", or by running away from the problem to the club room bar, obsessive golf, bowls, football fanaticism, a DVD induced stupor, or even to the unreality of religious certitude, to extreme fundamentalism with its spurious certainties and easy answers, or to astrological charts, crystal gazing and mantra muttering hocus pocus.
None of which is really my bag, and so I, Andrew Neaum, growing up, look around for wisdom, strength, inspiration, for people upon whom to lean, depend, rely on, people to admire, to be my mentors and gurus, only to discover that there are none.
Even the very, very clever, the brilliant, lead, as often as not, messy, messy lives, as shambolic as the lives of you and me. Even the good and the very best, appear always to have a dark side, when their lives are probed.
Which leads me to fall back upon my background, the Church, the faith, the tradition, upon what sustained my parents and theirs, and gave shape and purpose to their existence. Where does that faith, their faith, your faith, my faith direct us to look for solace, for strength, heroism, real worth, profound goodness, strong enough to lean against, rely upon and aspire to?
Warm to sin
In animated conversation with Diana the other morning, I made a comment that I considered interesting enough to record in my journal. We were talking about someone we knew, who touted himself as a good Anglo Catholic. On reflection I commented, "Of course he isn't really an Anglo Catholic at all, it is just a veneer, a gloss, his relationship to sin is not warm enough for him to be a genuine Anglo-Catholic."
You see the Christian answer to human mediocrity failure and wickedness, is always love, love, love, but love's relationship to our fallibility, lack of heroism and sin, needs to be warm, rather than judgmental, sympathetic not condemnatory, empathetic nor puritanical. In others, most certainly, but often even in our self. Because if we are disgusted with and condemnatory of ourselves, we are almost always even more so with ourselves as perceived in others.
When we look around at our congregation, or at our friends and acquaintances, in order to be heartened, strengthened, given the courage to continue, we don't look so much for certainty in faith, or strength of purpose, or heroism, nor for brilliance, answers, absolute rectitude, rather, we look for love, lovingness, lovableness.
The fundamental heroism
Love is the only fundamental heroism that ordinary life offers us. Love, revealed once upon a time supremely on a cross. Love with open arms though, not puritanical rectitude, not finger-pointing, key-hole peeping, tut-tutting, but warm even to failure and sin, warm especially to failure and sin, not least because failure and sin in others involves usually a flash of recognition, "Ah yes!" we say. "Me too!" Is empathetic then, forgiving, accepting, compassionate, never cold-hearted, and when tough only reluctantly, hesitantly so, always accepting, empathising, affirming.
Our gurus, mentors, heroes, have to be simply the loving. There are no others, and we need no others.
Many of you regular worshippers in the various churches of this parish are that to me. You probably and rightly appear to recognise in me, all your own failures and fallibilities and yet still affirm, forgive, compliment, love, enjoy, appreciate. I love you for it and respond to it.
The bond of love
"If you love me," says St John's Jesus, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments, I shall ask the Father and he will give you another comforter to be with you forever.... I will not leave you orphans.... I will come back to you... I am in the Father and you in me and I in you...." "I will give you another comforter..." I am in the Father and you in me and I in you...."
The bond of love, the Comforter, God's Spirit, sent to be with us, in us, of us. Where is he?
For me he's in you, the people of this parish, in your love. Without it, without him, I shrivel up and die.
The bond of love, the Comforter, God's Spirit, sent to be with us, in us, of us, where is he?
For you, as God's people (at least in part) he's in me, your parson. In my love, without my love, without God's love in me, our parish begins to shrivel and die. Not entirely of course, for there is each member's love for each other and God's love in each for each other, but my love is so, so necessary too.
To live the faith, we don't demand or need from each other credal correctness, moral perfection, heroic sanctity. We need in each other only affirming, accepting love, the bond of love, Jesus in the Father, the Father in Him. Jesus in me, in you. You in me, I in you, the bond of love.
CONGRATULATIONS
Birthdays:
Dulcie Ackland 8th June
Iris Grant 8th June
Lyn Morcom 11th June
Wedding Anniversaries:
Wilma & Mal Spence 10th June
PENTECOST
Next Sunday, the 12th of June, is Pentecost Sunday. Wear something red if you possibly can, in honour of this great feast day of the Church. As part of that important feast there is the annual Ecumenical Pentecost Service at St Brendan's Church at 7.30 pm. The preacher will be the Revd Ross Stanford. Please support it with your presence.
COOPERATION IN RELIEF WORK
Your Rector visited Goulburn Valley Community Care and Emergency Relief Inc. last week. The purpose of the visit was to see if we can cooperate with them in our Emergency Food Programme. We decided to investigate cooperation at a meeting of our Social Responsibilities Committee.
It proved to be a most fruitful and interesting visit. The personnel at Community Care are truly delightful, welcoming and caring, their principles and policies are pretty well identical to ours and their resources far greater. They also offer counselling and referral options, as we too attempt to do, but they do so more systematically. They can offer volunteer training to folk from St Augustine's if ever this is required.
This being so we have decided to cooperate with them. From Mondays to Thursdays we will refer those seeking emergency food to Community Care in Broomfield Street. On Fridays and after hours, when they are closed at Broomfield Street, we will continue to provide emergency relief as necessary. Please continue to donate goods, we still need them, but we should now have to buy in far less food.
ANNUAL MEETING SICC
The AGM or the Shepparton Inter Church Council takes place here at St Augustine's on Thursday June 9th starting at 7.30pm. This is a dynamic ecumenical forum for both lay and clerical Christians and could do with more support.
KATANDRA: ST. MARY'S ANGLICAN
GUILD & THE UNITING CHURCH
We are invited to a Soup, Sandwich & Sweets Luncheon in the Katandra West Hall on Wednesday 15th June at 12 noon. Admission is $10, there is a trading table, a lucky door, a raffle and marvellous entertainment.
TEA AND COFFEE BAG TAGS
A family connected with the Ryder Cheshire Home where John and Kate Horder are staying during John's treatment are working towards a wheelchair for their child. They need to collect the child's equivalent weight in tea bag tags. Could everyone please save their tea/coffee bag tags, leave them at the Parish Office and Kate or John will collect them and pass them on. Many thanks.
UGANDAN MARTYRS
MEN'S & WOMEN'S BREAKFAST
On Saturday 11th of June we celebrate the Ugandan Martyrs with some of the good folk from St Brendan's. We meet at 8.00am here at St Augustine's for Morning Prayer and will then repair to the Hall for breakfast. This will be a cooked breakfast as we are combining it with a "Men's Breakfast", though not just for men. Please sign up if you intend coming to what is a most worthwhile ecumenical venture, there is a list in the Narthex.
CAMBODIA
David Bryce will be talking at the Wednesday Eucharist on the 8th of June. Instead of a sermon there will be a 20 minute power-point presentation on what he and Ruth are doing in Cambodia. This should be inspiring as well as interesting and I trust as many folk as are able will be present to listen and then stay on for a cup of tea and chat.
ANNUAL RALLY FOR ALL WOMEN OF THE DIOCESE
The Rally takes place at the Cathedral on Wednesday 15th June. It starts with Morning Tea for travellers at 10.30am and then at 11.00am with a Eucharist for which the Celebrant is the Right Reverend Bishop John Parkes and the Preacher The Very Reverend Michael O'Brien. Lunch at a cost of $10.00 is at 12.15pm. The Guest Speaker at 1.30pm is Fr. Tom Leslie, Assistant Priest at the Cathedral. Lunch must be ordered, let the office know if you'd like to attend.
SUNDAYS AT FIVE
There is an "alternative" monthly worship service tonight at 5 o'clock today. There will be an exploration of the influence of music and how this evokes memories & emotions good and bad. It is planned to take a trip down memory lane and the music for this service will be choruses. The service, held in the Narthex from 5-6pm, will include supper.
PARISH FAIR AND GARDEN PARTY
Sunday, 22nd October: A First Planning Meeting will be held on Thursday, 16th June, in Roz's Room at 4.00pm. Stall holders and other parishioners are requested to attend. For further information, please phone 58 313080
HALL COMMITTEE MEETING
There is a Hall Committee Meeting on Thursday the 16th June at 4.30pm.
"MOVING ON" GRIEF SUPPORT GROUP
Meeting Tuesday 14th June, in the narthex at 7.30pm. Joan McCann is our guest speaker, she will be speaking on the Passion Play at Oberammergau and how that relates to grief. All welcome
ROSTERS FOR REST OF THE YEAR
We are compiling our rosters for the rest of the year. A wonderful opportunity to help in the service of God and his people. Simply put your name on the lists on the narthex table, to become our face to welcome one and all, to read the scriptures, to collect our offerings to God, to say the intercessions, serve in the sanctuary, make tea for fellowship etc. Have a serious think about these "duties" and we should have our lists overflowing with willing folk. Many thanks to all who are prepared to help. The new rosters will be made up in the next few weeks.
DATES FOR THE DIARY
June 6th Arise 255/Youth Group
June 8th David Bryce to speak at Wed 10.30 service
June 8th Vestry 2pm
June 11th Ugandan Martyrs (Men's & Women's Breakfast)
June 14th "Moving On" Grief Support Meeting
June 15th Katandra combined Guilds luncheon, 12noon
June 15th Diocesan Women's Rally/ Wangaratta
June 15th Parish Council
June 16th Evening Guild 1.30pm
June 16th Parish Fair Planning Group meeting 4pm
June 18th Women's Breakfast
June 20th Arise 255/Youth Group
June 21st Clergy Retreat until 23rd
June 25th Garden Working Bee
July 12th Social Responsibilities Meeting 12.00 noon
July 17th Bishop's Visit
July 21st Friendship Group 2pm
July 30th Garden Working Bee
Aug 20th Wedding
Aug 27th Garden Working Bee
Sept 3rd Women's Breakfast
Sept 10th Harvey Norman Sausage Sizzle (Fete)
Sept 17th Men's Breakfast
Sept 24th Wedding
Sept 24th Garden Working Bee
Oct 1st Wedding 2pm
Oct 8th Wedding 2pm
Oct 8th Wedding 3.30pm
Oct 22nd Parish Fair & Garden Party
Oct 23rd Confirmation
Oct 29th Wedding
Oct 29th Garden Working Bee
Dec 3rd Women's Breakfast
Dec 10th Men's Breakfast
Dec 10th Wedding
Duties for 5th June 2011
Readers 8.30 Gwyn Cowland, Heather Fitzgerald
Readers 10.30 Charlotte Brewer, Jenny Moran
Servers 8.30 Michelle
Servers 10.30 Jenny, Vanita, Valerie
Intercessors Pat Griffin, Andrea Fisher
Euc. Assts 8.30 Heather Fitzgerald, John Griffin
Euc. Assts 10.30 Greg Pestell, Jenny Pleming
Welcomers 8.30 Anita Saville, Pat Griffin
Welcomers 10.30 Frank Steen, Sandra Simonis
Sidespeople 8.30 Joe Pearson, Norm Mitchelmore
Sidespeople 10.30 John Pleming
Tea 8.30 Pat Griffin
Welcoming Table Judy
Mowing 4th John Pleming, John Wellman
Altar Linen for June Gwenda Betson
Duties for 12th June 2011
Readers 8.30 Liz Gyles, Bev Condon
Readers 10.30 Christine Evans, Courtney Craven
Servers 8.30 Michelle
Servers 10.30 Greg, Joe, Zebedee
Intercessors Norman Weaver, Children
Euc. Assts 8.30 Carole Henderson, Bev Condon
Euc. Assts 10.30 Christine Evans, Joe Fernandez
Welcoming 8.30 Judy Lloyd, Eileen Quaife
Welcomers 10.30 Charlotte Brewer, volunteer
Sidespeople 8.30 Gwyn & Merv Cowland
Sidespeople 10.30 Charlotte Brewer, Alan Akers
Welcome Table Dorothy Cook
Altar Linen for June Gwenda Betson
Tea 8.30 Val Bambrook
Mowing none this week
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. The list for names of those to be prayed for is kept in the top drawer of the little plastic box of drawers on the narthex table.
Deb Bagley, Liam Bognar, Marlene Bovaird, Tom Downie, Kath Grills, Frank Harder, Katherine Holt, John & Kate Horder, Ross Judd, Hilder Lidgard, Lyn Morcom, Margaret Kidman, Albert Oxenbury, Isabelle Richards, Dawn ScottPeter Swindells, Suzanne Singh, Patricia Sparkes, Fay Warren, David, Harry.
Rest in Peace: Kevin Wallace, Margaret Hoare.
Anniversary of death: Brian Senior 4th, McKellar 5th, Malcolm McInnes 6th, Ruby Wood, Peter Walker, Beatrice Norris 8th, Frances Crawford, Robert Malcolm 10th, Lawrence Jones, Harold Merigan, Jovan, Maria, Bogoja, Blaguna 11th.
THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH
Monday 6th June
Rector's day off
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Arise 255/Youth Group
Tuesday 7th June
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
10.00am Playgroup
11.00am Eucharist Shepparton Aged Care
4.15pm Confirmation Class - Library
Wednesday 8th June
7.45am Mattins only - Lady Chapel
10.00am Eucharist - St Augustine's/David Bryce
2.00pm Vestry - Library
5.30pm Hospice - Hospice House
6.00pm EfM
Thursday 9th June
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
11.00am Eucharist - Harmony
5.30pm Choir Practice - Rectory
7.30pm S.I.C.C. Meeting/St. Augustine's
Friday 10th June
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
11.00am Eucharist - Ave Maria
7.30pm Parish Council - Murchison
Saturday 11th June
Associate Priest's Day off
8.00am Morning Prayer for the Ugandan Martyrs
6.00pm Vigil Eucharist - Lady Chapel
Pentecost Sunday 12th June
8.30am Sung Eucharist - St Augustine's
10.30am Eucharist - St Augustine's/Kid's Church
8.45am Eucharist St Luke's Dookie
9.00am Laity led Service - St. Pauls Rushworth
10.45am Eucharist - St. Mary's Katandra
11.00am Laity led Service - Christ Murchison