PENTECOST SUNDAY
12th June 2011
Graphics and cartoons & liturgical material appear only in the printed version
THE DECADES PASS
A group of 40-year-old girlfriends discussing where they should meet for lunch decided upon the Ocean View restaurant because the waiters there had tight trousers and neat bottoms.
10 years later, at 50 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for lunch. It was agreed that the Ocean View restaurant was just the place because the food there was very good, the wine selection excellent and the waiters cute.
10 years later at 60 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for lunch. They agreed that the Ocean View restaurant would fit the bill because they could eat there in peace and quiet, the restaurant had an exquisite view of the ocean and the waiters were sweet boys.
10 years later, at 70 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for lunch. As it nothing ever changed it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the restaurant was wheel chair accessible, had an elevator and the waiters were kind.
10 years later, at 80 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for lunch. Without dissent they agreed to meet at the Ocean View restaurant, because they had never been there before.
MISERY ME, LACK-A-DAY-DEE
As I write, the lounge at the Rectory is littered with forms, files and papers. Diana leaves for England on Wednesday, spending a week on the way in Canada. She will be away for two months spending most of that time delighting in family and friends, minding grandchildren and doing some gardening for clients whose early summer gardens pine for her ministrations.
However, there will also be an important visit to Australia House to lodge a meticulously gathered, well ordered and huge file of the bumf necessary these days to apply for a Resident's Visa to Australia. If and when such a Visa is granted, it will be long after she has returned to Australia (if she is allowed to return). Actually to receive or be granted the Visa she will have to leave the country again. Hopefully New Zealand will suffice.
Presumably all the ridiculous red tape, intrusive information, and small-print obstacles and stumbling blocks are deemed necessary to confuse and deter cheats, cads and scoundrels, but they are galling to someone like me who considers his wife to be none of these. Diana herself has quietly gathered together and ordered everything without any of the explosive expostulations of frustration and rage that I succumb to not infrequently.
In my sermon last week I referred to a favourite duet which has become a little anthem to us both: "Sing me a Song O" from "The Yeoman of the Guard". While she's away I shall be more Canon Jack Point than Andrew Neaum: my song one
.... sung to the moon by a love-lorn loon,
Who fled from the mocking throng, O!
The song of a merryman, moping mum,
Whose soul was sad,
and whose glance was glum,
Who sipped no sup, and who craved no crumb,
As he sighed for the love of a ladye.
Heighdy! heighdy!
Misery me — lack-a-day-dee!
He sipped no sup, and he craved no crumb,
As he sighed for the love of a ladye!
MISSING THE BREEZE
FOR THE TREES
Andrew Neaum
"Spirit", as opposed to "matter", be it Holy Spirit or unholy spirit, is difficult to get your mind round. Indeed, the very notion or concept: "Spirit" is as impossible to grasp as the wind, as invisible as breath. Little wonder that in both Hebrew and Greek, the word for wind, for breath and for spirit is exactly the same word: "ruach" in Hebrew, "pneuma" in Greek.
Metaphors
So what is spirit? Breath and wind are, after all, only metaphors, good ones, certainly, but like all metaphors, essentially untrue, in that they are just comparisons. They are not actually to be identified with that to which they are compared.
We do know what wind and breath are. They are moving molecules of air, that is matter, whereas spirit, by definition, is not matter, it is the antonym of matter.
So what is spirit, as opposed to matter, be it Holy Spirit or unholy spirit?
Two realities
As far as humanity is concerned there are two realities. There is physical, material reality, made up of quarks, atoms and molecules, perceived, known and understood by way of our senses, by touch, smell, sound, taste, sight and so on, aided and abetted by marvellous telescopes, microscopes, and the whole wonderful apparatus and technologies of science.
Then there is spiritual reality, which is totally immaterial, unsubstantial, made up not of particles, atoms and molecules, nor perceived, known and understood by way of our senses. It is therefore totally inaccessible to all those marvellous telescopes, microscopes, and the whole wonderful apparatus and technologies of science. About spiritual reality therefore, science can have little if anything to say.
The spiritual world is made up of things that are easily as real as those that make up the material world, things like truth, love, value, beauty, goodness and so on, but not of spooks, ghosts, phantoms and fairies, all of which are either naive attempts to objectify, or materialise, the spiritual, into being what in essence it isn't. Or, on the other hand (as with angels especially) are "imaged" spiritual realities, spiritual realities imaginatively actualised, that enable us sometimes to acknowledge, react to and take them seriously in important, imaginative ways.
Dying for the immaterial
Spiritual reality is indeed as real if not more real, than material reality. We demonstrate this by being prepared to die, that is actually to give up our material existence for the sake of immaterial, spiritual realities such as truth, or love.
However as Christians we recognise, being material as well as spiritual beings, that in our space/time context, we simply cannot have one reality without the other.
So we avoid the trap that some religions and heresies fall into, of denigrating or despising the material, because in fact the material points to the spiritual, is suffused with the spiritual, as Elizabeth Barret Browning suggests in this passage from her long poem "Aurora Leigh":
Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round and pick blackberries.
By "the rest" she means thoroughgoing materialists like Richard Dawkins and co.
The great and sophisticated Christian doctrine of the Incarnation, which states that our entirely spiritual God, in Jesus, wonder of wonders, became flesh, that is became material, points to a beautiful compatibility between the material and the spiritual. What is more the great and sophisticated Christian doctrine of the Resurrection suggests that even beyond space/time, that is, after death, the material has some sort of place or significance, or resonance.
Missing the breeze for the trees
So, on this feast of Pentecost, when we celebrate the Holy Spirit of God at work within space/time, we remind ourselves that to Christians there is more to reality than what merely meets the eye. There are two realities, the spiritual and the material, different but by no means incompatible.
The spiritual is to be discerned in and through the material, though never totally identified with it. Nor is it to be objectified into quasi material beings, like conventional spooks, ghosts, phantoms, fairies or whatever. Rather, and far more subtly, it requires to be metaphored, of similed into perceptibility.
The disciples on the first day of Pentecost, were overwhelmed by spiritual reality, by truths beyond telling, by love beyond expression, A reality metaphored into visibility as flame, into audibility as rushing, mighty wind, into further audibility as the babbling of glossolalia or "talking in tongues", and then personified in lives totally changed, turned upside down.
To focus only on the metaphor or on the simile itself, that is on the tongues of fire, the sound of a rushing mighty wind the ecstatic babbling of over excited disciples, is to miss the wood for the trees, or rather is to miss the breeze for the trees. It is to miss spiritual reality for material reality.
Powerful beyond telling
The spiritual reality is, above all else, God's love which had to be articulated and perceived only in metaphor and simile, until made more visible and real in Christ's life, death, and resurrection.
The spiritual reality that is God's love, once perceived, acknowledged, and accepted, has the power to transform and metamorphose, to suffuse the material with hope, joy, direction and peace. The spiritual reality that is God's love, is the very Holy Spirit of God, powerful beyond telling. We celebrate this at Pentecost.
Opening up
One of the great reasons for being church-goers is to open ourselves to the power of God's Holy Spirit of love.
In church, Love's great story is told, retold and told again. It is made present on the altar, week in week out. The church calendar ensures that the whole narrative, not just the best bits, are told year in year out.
In Church, God's love is metaphored, similied, storyified, liturgified, sacramentalised. It is sung, told, painted, stain-glassed, sculptured, enacted and reenacted, over and over again. It invites, encourages, softens us up to a power that metamorphoses and changes lives.
The spiritual reality that is God's love, is also personified in the lives of the community that gathers at the communion rail week in week out.
This Spiritual reality that is God's love, the very Holy Spirit of God, invites us to love more than just ourselves and our families and friends. It challenges us to accept more than just comfort and ease, to forgive rather than to grudge or avenge, to embrace our neighbours, strangers, enemies, circum-stances and world, and by doing so to transform not only ourselves, but the world, breaking down rather than erecting barriers.
If we are here in church for the best of reasons rather than just for comfort, reassurance and reinforcement. We are here to open ourselves to the spiritual reality that is God's Love, God's Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit. We are here to be radicalised then, to be bowled over, opened to the other, to others, to embrace not merely family and friends, but beggars, thieves, scoundrels and scallywags, to turn the world upside down or be crucified in the trying.
Who would want anything else than to be Christlike, Godlike, Spirit-filled? Happy Pentecost.
PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
There is a Parish Council Meeting on Wednesday in Roz's Room at 7.30pm.
CONGRATULATIONS
Birthdays:
Lesley Kenna 12th June
Clare Wilkie 13th June
Eileen Quaife 15th June
Jackie Phillips 15th June
John Horder 15th June
Daniel Bagley 15th June
CRAFT STALL at the PARISH FAIR & GARDEN PARTY
The Craft Stall ladies met recently. They were thrilled with the beautiful hand-made articles which members of the Parish donated last year. They would love to have similar itmes for this year's Fair. Any items that are saleable are welcome. Donations of lavender for lavender bags could be left at the Church Office. Dorothy Grant
WELCOME
Welcome to the baptism families, Imogen Maskell, parents Luke & Jody-Lee, Emilia Grieve parents Joshua and Ellen Olivia denHartog parents William and Keysha, Isobel Black Griffin parents James & Natalie
OUTREACH
Please collect your Outreach from the Narthex table. If you are able to deliver any it would help save on our postage costs.
WOMEN'S BREAKFAST
Please place your names on the list on the Narthex table if you would like to attend the
Women's Breakfast. Guest Speaker Marge Earle. This Saturday, June 18th. All welcome.
PENTECOST ECUMENICAL SERVICE
The annual Ecumenical Pentecost service will be held at St Brendan's Church, Sunday June 12th at 7.30pm. Preacher: the Revd. Ross Stanford. A warm welcome is extended to everyone to share in this service.
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 $10, trading table, lucky door, raffle & marvellous entertainment.
TEA AND COFFEE BAG TAGS
Please save your tea/coffee bag tags and leave them at the Parish Office for Kate and John Horder to collect. They are being collected as part of an effort to raise money for a wheel chair for a child. Many thanks.
ANNUAL RALLY FOR ALL WOMEN OF THE DIOCESE
The Rally takes place at the Cathedral, Wang-aratta 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. Lunch must be ordered, let the office know if you'd like one.
ROSTERS
Have you given any thought to our plea in last week's pew sheet for more parishioners to be involved in the ministry of our Sunday worship and beyond. Please place your names on the lists on the narthex table. The rosters for the next 6 months will be made up soon.
PARISH FAIR AND GARDEN PARTY
Sunday, 22nd October
The 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.
"MOVING ON" GRIEF SUPPORT GROUP
Meeting Tuesday 14th June, in the narthex at 7.30pm Joan McCann is our guest speaker and will be speaking on the Passion Play at Oberamagau and how that relates to grief. All welcome.
DATES FOR THE DIARY
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 4pm/Roz's Room
June 18th Women's Breakfast
June 20th Arise 255/Youth Group
June 21st Clergy Retreat
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
READINGS NEXT WEEK
Exodus 34:1-8, 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Duties for 12th June 2011
Readers 8.30 Liz Gyles, Bev Condon
Readers 10.30 Christine Evans, Courtney Craven
Servers 8.30 Carole
Servers 10.30 Greg, Joe, Zebedee
Intercessors Norman Weaver, Children
Euc. Assts 8.30 Ian Bryce, 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 Gwenda Betson
Tea 8.30 Val Bambrook
Mowing none this week
Duties for 19th June 2011
Readers 8.30 Norm Mitchelmore, Victoria Heenan
Readers 10.30 Linda Prosser, Andrea Fisher
Servers 8.30 Carole
Servers 10.30 Frank, Beth, Sophie
Intercessors Celebrant, Greg Pestell
Euc. Assts 8.30 Heather Fitzgerald, Carole Henderson
Euc. Assts 10.30 Jenny Pleming, Greg Pestell
Welcomers 8.30 Gwen Betson, Volunteer
Welcomers 10.30 Nola Brewer, Volunteer
Sidespeople 8.30 Bev & Max Ralph
Sidespeople 10.30 Nola Brewer, Volunteer
Tea 8.30 Gwyn Cowland
Welcoming Table Bev
Mowing 18th Norm Mitchelmore, Alan Jefferies
Altar Linen June Gwen Betson
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 Scott,Sandra Simonis, Peter Swindells, Suzanne Singh, Beryl Sutton, Patricia Sparkes, Fay Warren, David, Harry, Peter.
Rest in Peace:
Krate Damianopoulos, Margaret Hoare
Anniversary of death:
Iris McKellar 5th, Maria Marcetic, John Eccles 12th, Len Robertson, Ella Davis, Leo Kenna, Olive Emery 13th, Brian Morris 15th, Mary Taylor, John Greenwood, Reginald Keeley 16th, Betty Norman 17th, Aubrey Goodfellow, Graham Davey, Harold Rawlings 18th.
THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH
Monday 13th June
Rector's day off
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
Tuesday 14th June
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
10.00am No Playgroup (exams in hall)
11.00am Eucharist - Shepparton Aged Care
4.15pm Confirmation Classes/Library
7.30pm "Moving On" Grief Support
7.30pm Baptism Preparation
Wednesday 15th June
7.45am Mattins only - Lady Chapel
10.00am Eucharist - St Augustine's
12 noon Katandra Combined Luncheon
4.00pm Eucharist - Banksia
7.30pm Parish Council Meeting
Thursday 16th June
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
9.30am Eucharists- Acacia & Hakea
11.00am Eucharist - Harmony
1.30pm Evening Guild
4.00pm Parish Fair Planning meeting/Roz's Room
5.30pm Choir Practice - Rectory
Friday 17th June
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
Saturday 18th June
Associate Priest's Day off
7.45am Mattins - Lady Chapel
8.00am Eucharist
8.30am Women's Breakfast
6.00pm Vigil Eucharist - Lady Chapel
Sunday of Easter 19th June
8.30am Sung Eucharist - St Augustine's
10.30am Eucharist - St Augustine's
8.45am Eucharist - St Luke's Dookie
9.00am Eucharist - St. Pauls Rushworth
11.00am Eucharist - Church Christ Murchison