EIGHTH SUNDAY after PENTECOST
22 July 2012
Graphics and cartoons & liturgical material appear only in the printed version
UNCOMPROMISING
A politician was once asked about his attitude towards whisky. "If you mean the demon drink that poisons the mind, pollutes the body, desecrates family life, and inflames sinners, then I'm against it. But if you mean the elixir of Christmas cheer, the shield against winter chill, the taxable potion that puts needed funds into public coffers to comfort little crippled children, then I'm for it: This is my position, and I will not compromise!"
THIS AND THAT (53)
Andrew Neaum
When Jonathan Swift (yet another of the Anglican Church’s so many mad, splendid, sad priest-geniuses) was shown in old age something he had written when young, he remarked: “Good God! What a genius I had when I wrote that book!”
Oom yacka wurka
Faced with blank-page aridity and so in search of inspiration I have just reread the pewsheet I put together before I left for my last trip overseas. Among its many felicities was a transcript of the speech I made at my grand farewell “Boomerang Party”. As I read it, what should come to mind but Swift’s comment on his own youthful genius? The word “youthful” hardly applies in my case of course, for I penned the talk a mere couple of years ago, but the word “genius”, well, um, ah, hmm, (modest blush, self-deprecatory “ahem, ahem”, and a flurry of none too serious protestations as to my essential common-placeness).
To save precious time I am tempted to dish it up again in this week’s pewsheet, but as it is on the website entitled “OOM YACKA WURKA” to do so would be superfluous and a sign of unutterable desperation.
On this Monday morning as I write, the Confirmation is now behind us and it is a mere two weeks before we leave. I flounder beneath a welter of deadlines to be met and tasks to be done. Yet just now and then I detect within myself the merest trace, as elusive as the Higgs bosan, of “an unbearable lightness of being”. It is the first heartfelt and genuine twinge of holiday anticipation.
Confirmation
Confirmations involve weeks and weeks of preparation. There are adult “classes” and junior “classes” which take place for months before the actual Confirmation itself.
Mercifully the grim days of hordes of sullenly resentful and reluctant children being presented for preparation have long gone. Few parents nowadays retain sufficient residual Christianity to consider it expedient to steam-roller their children through the process that culminates in Confirmation. By and large these days junior classes are made up of children from actively Anglican, Christian homes. This means that candidates tend to be bright, well brought up and thoroughly delightful. Qualities characteristic of active Anglicans!
Certainly this has been the case this year. Diana took under her wing the group of eight candidates and found them keen, eager, lively, fun-filled, intelligent and responsive.
She chalked herself up into being a full time teacher when a new mother in Lesotho, many years ago. She remains extremely thorough, pays great attention to detail, is imaginative, graphic and creative. She is also far, far less verbally bound than I am. Her sessions this year attempted to link all that she was teaching to the fabric, symbolism and artwork in our lovely church. Her classes also involved invitations to a variety of parishioners to participate in a weekly session to get to know the youngsters and be known by them.
Candidates have also been encouraged to roster up and immerse themselves in Sunday worship. There should be much that this year's candidates retain, not least a realisation that their faith is grounded in and centred around something local, lovely and very real. Diana also took under her wing a late-coming adult candidate in Siobahn, who is already a committed and delightful server.
The adults classes on Thursday nights were taken by myself. There were four of us in all: Dianne Gribble, who like me was confirmed years ago but decided to accompanied her husband Gavin Gall and also Stacey Anderson from Kyabram. Our sessions were so good and lively that I almost regret the end of them. We talked animatedly about the Faith and much else as well. They really were delightful evenings. Thank you to the happy trio who, as so often is the case, turned my work into pleasure and therefore leisure.
I write this column listening to the music of Carl Maria Ditters von Dittersdorf. I love his name. It is almost as much music to my ears as are his many compositions. He lived from 1739 to 1799 and so is a representative of that all too short high classical period between the baroque and romantic eras. He was the music teacher of Johann Baptist Vanhal, another favourite of mine. The 8.30am congregation are familiar with Vanhal because whenever my daughter Elizabeth plays the organ here she invariably includes a melodic little piece by him which she knows I love. In years gone by I used to sit on the piano stool with her encouraging her to apply herself to learning this particular piece of music and much else. There is a report of Haydn, Dittersdorf, Mozart and Vanhal played string quartets together in 1785, the witness commenting that they played well but that the performance was not outstanding.
Kindling
On Monday, possibly in response to that sense of “an unbearable lightness of being”, I splashed out and bought a book on my Kindle. A couple of clicks and hey presto, it was here in my hands, all the way from London, within thirty seconds! I will be taking all the books I want to read on holiday on this one little electronic booklet called a Kindle. Amazing.
The book I bought was Maurice Bowra: A Life, by Leslie Mitchell. Bowra was an Oxford don upon whom I come across in my reading over and over again. His life and times in Oxford I am particularly interested in.
Though he would have liked to be considered a poet in his own right and was a friend and supporter of those who were, he himself appears to have written only “sharp satires, in verse, on his friends (and sharper still on his enemies)”. It has been said of him that “.....his prose was unreadable and his verse was unprintable.” One of his most successful verses is a Betjemanesque parody of John Betjeman himself, who apparently had choked with emotion when presented with a literary prize by Princess Margaret in 1958 (as with all parodies you need to be familiar with what is parodied fully to appreciate it):
Green with lust and sick with shyness,
Let me lick your lacquered toes.
Gosh, oh gosh, your Royal Highness,
Put your finger up my nose,
Pin my teeth upon your dress,
Plant my head with watercress.
Only you can make me happy.
Tuck me tight beneath your arm.
Wrap me in a woollen nappy;
Let me wet it till it's warm.
In a plush and plated pram
Wheel me round St James's, Ma'am.
Let your sleek and soft galoshes
Slide and slither on my skin.
Swaddle me in mackintoshes
Till I lose my sense of sin.
Lightly plant your plimsolled heel
Where my privy parts congeal.
Splendid news
There has always been just a sliver of doubt about our trip to Tristan. The booking, although made two years ago, has been provisional because berths are limited and there are always people who need them for medical, professional, scientific or government reasons and so have preference, no matter how early you book. On Monday, because we leave Australia on the 30th of July I sent the following little email to Cynthia Green, Private Secretary to the Island’s Administrator:
Dear Cynthia
In two weeks time we leave Australia for England. We will still be contactable at this email address, though rather less constantly.
Is there any hope yet of our booking being confirmed (or otherwise)? If it is confirmed I will need to pack gear for a bit of priestly work on the island. If it remains uncertain I suppose it will be best to take it with me anyway and hope for the best.
I am informed that we can be accommodated in the Church house, as I am to do duties while on the island, so I don't think there are any problems in that regard. Are there other important formalities that would be best seen to from home here in Australia before we leave for England?
After a couple of hours time I received the following email:
Dear Andrew,
I can confirm your bookings on the SA Agulhas II departing Cape Town on 5th September.
Yes, arrangements have been made for you to stay in the Rectory.
I can't think of any other important formalities that need to be seen to before you leave Australia. Best wishes, Cynthia.
A sea voyage of voyages
Most interesting is that the SA Agulhas, which was the vessel I thought I had booked on, has been replaced by a new ship built in Finland and brought into service only this year. It is called the SA Agulhas II and is a South African polar research and supply vessel. She was handed over to the South African Department of Environmental Affairs in April and arrived at her home port, Cape Town, in early May. At a celebration marking her arrival the ship was dedicated to the memory of singer Miriam Makeba.
Though by no means a large ship, at 13,000 tons she is far bigger than the one on which I travelled to the island way back in the nineteen fifties. That was a Royal Navy frigate called the HMS Actaeon. Upon that journey all of my family were hideously seasick for the seven day voyage. We left the island three and a half years later on a British Petroleum tanker. Both these voyages cost nothing, we simply hitched a ride. Those were the days.
The S. A. Agulhas II, being a research and supply vessel, has onboard laboratories for scientific research as well as cargo holds and tanks to supply South African polar research stations. In addition she has accommodation for 100 passengers in 46 cabins and facilities such as a gym, library, business centre and a 100-seat auditorium.
There should be all sorts of interesting people on board, including scientists of one sort or another. It will be good to be able to pick their brains. The eight permanent and six containerized laboratories are for different fields of marine, environmental, biological and climate research. Deep-water probes can be launched from a large door in the side of the vessel or, if the ship is operating in ice-infested waters, through a “moon pool”. There is a drop keel containing transducers for the measurement of plankton density and ocean currents and so on and so on. There is also a hangar and helideck capable of serving two helicopters.
Lunchtime conversations
Vicarage born as I am, and now a parish priest myself, one of the topics of conversation at Sunday lunches all my life has been to do with who was at church and who not. Such conversations are not mere gossip. They are a form of pastoral care. Good parish priests take trouble to be aware of just who is present at church and who not. If folk are missing through illness, disaffection or battered faith, they need a phone call or even a visit.
In a parish such as ours we are fortunate to have a diversity of priests to minister to a variety of congregations in different churches. This is a great privilege, but unless there is some way of apprising the Rector of who is silently missing from a congregation for weeks on end, he has no idea as to who is in need of any form of follow up.
Because of this we keep a Pastoral Care Record each Sunday. It gives an indication as to who might be in need of our care. It is too easy to overlook folk who drift off into long-term illness, disability or nursing homes. We are not so crass as to imagine we worship a God so small as to stoop to count how many times his followers go to church. We do need to know those members of our family who need care, encouragement and love. Thank you to those who keep the record for us, it has already proved invaluable pastorally.
Vegies
Much of Monday morning was spent in the garden. Winter gardens are fairly bleak places. The only truly robust plant seems to be the dreaded oxalis or soursob. The Rectory garden has a very fine crop of this indeed.
Being frugal we keep unused seed from year to year to year, and so most of the snow peas planted this season have come to naught. The broad beans were planted a little late but we do have a couple of rows of healthy looking little plants. On Monday I put a cane and string structure beside each row to weave the plants into as they grow. I hated broad beans as a child because my father let them grow large and dished them up in a white sauce with bits of bacon in it. Nasty. Picked small and young and lightly fried in butter or olive oil with lots of garlic they are delicious. We pulled almost the last of our parsnips and carrots, and likewise out frost damaged aubergines, three fruit still firm and eminently edible.
BIRTHDAYS:
Scott Chandler 22 July
Joan Kitto 23 July
Robert Cook 24 July
STUDY GROUP - MARCUS BORG
Thursdays 26 July. 7.00-9.00pm
This course is led by Fr Rob Whalley. The fifth takes place this Thursday. Come along!
BILL HUNTER
Sunday 29 July after 10.30 Eucharist
The ashes of Bill Hunter are to be interred in our Memorial Garden on the date above.
PARISH FAIR PLANNING MEETING
Thur 9 August 4pm Roz's Room
Those involved already and anyone else interested, come and ask questions and find out what else is being planned for the great day. All very welcome.
SOUP AND SCONES LUNCH RUSHWORTH
Sunday 29 July in the Rushworth Church Hall
After the combined 10.30 Eucharist. $5.00, please let Dawn Wilkinson know if you are able to support us. 0358561768
WOMEN'S BREAKFAST
Saturday 18 August after 8am Eucharist
Put this in your diary. Why not invite some friends to make up a table at breakfast in the Supper Room - a great way to start a Saturday. Please indicate you are coming by signing the sheet in the Narthex.
CRAFT STALL AT THE PARISH FAIR
Crafts Please. Last year we were delighted at the response from the parishoners who donated so many beautiful items for the craft stall. WE ARE AGAIN ASKING FOR STOCK FOR OUR STALL. Last year was so successful we are hoping to repeat or better last year. Thank you for supporting our team. You can contact us: Gwen Betson 58 211 507, Dorothy Grant 58 215 319
PARISH FAIR AND GARDEN PARTY
Saturday 20 October 2012
At the request of the Planning Group, a Doll Display is planned for the Narthex on the day of the Fair. Folk interested in exhibiting their dolls are requested to talk to Pat Gibson, either after an 8.30am Sunday service or telephone her on 58 313 080. To allocate space it will be necessary to have a short meeting to ascertain the number of dolls, table space etc.
OUTREACH
Many thanks yet again are due to Helen Malcolm for producing another edition of "Outreach". These are available in the narthex. As is now our custom we post hardly any, preferring to encourage all of us to deliver copies to fellow members of our congregation in our own neighbourhood. It is also a spur to exercise and better health! What a force for good to each other we are!!
FOR THE DIARY
July 23 Mon Arise 255 - Youth Group
July 28 Sat Garden Working Bee
July 29 Sun Burial of William Hunter's Ashes 11.30am
July 29 Sun Soup and Rolls Rushworth - lunch
July 30 Mon Fr Andrew and Diana leave
Aug 9 Thurs Parish Fair Planning meeting 4pm
Aug 11 Sat Fr John Southerden arrives
Aug 13 Mon Rushworth Guild Casserole lunch
Aug 16 Thur Guild 50th Birthday lunch
Aug 18 Sat Women's Breakfast
Aug 23 Thu Guild S.O.S luncheon-Hall
Sept 23 Sun Outreach Deadline
Oct 07 Sun 3.00pm Guitar Concert
Oct 20 Sat 2012 Parish Fair and Garden Party
Oct 27 Sat Murchison Car Boot Sale
Feb 03 Sun 7.00pm Cologne Chamber Orchestra
Duties for Sunday 22 July
Readers 8.30 Gwyn Cowland, Carole
Intercessor 8.30 Norm Weaver
Servers 8.30 Michelle, Beth, Soibhan
Euc. Assts 8.30 Grace, Bev Condon
Sidespeople 8.30 Dianne Gribble, Gavin Gall
Welcomer 8.30 Bev Reither, Eileen Quaife
Welcome Table 8.30 Dorothy
Tea 8.30 Gwyn Cowland
Readers 10.30 Aaron Bhat, Ryan Bhat
Intercessor 10.30 Christine Jones
Servers 10.30 Jenny, Nick, Ella
Euc. Assts 10.30 Grace, Linda
Sidespeople 10.30 John Pleming, Robert Gilbert
Welcomers 10.30 Yasmine Bhat, volunteer
Welcome Table 10.30 Dorothy
Projector 10.30 Charlotte
Children's Church Diana
Mowing 28 July Marg Carroll, Brendan Carroll
Altar Linen -July Ella Egan
Monday Office 23 July Joyce Oxley, Bob Galt
Duties for Sunday 29 July
Readers 8.30 Victoria Heenan, Flori Gatu
Intercessor 8.30 Bev Condon
Servers 8.30 Michelle, Beth, Soibhan
Euc. Assts 8.30 John Horder, Carole Henderson
Sidespeople 8.30 Joy Campbell, Trevor Batey
Welcomer 8.30 Beryl Goodfellow, Shirley Dean
Welcome Table 8.30 Dorothy, Bev Condon
Tea 8.30 Bev Reither
Readers 10.30 Nancy Noonan, Joan McCann
Intercessor 10.30 Charlotte
Servers 10.30 Rick, Maddie, Sam
Euc. Assts 10.30 Joe Fernandez, Linda Prosser
Sidespeople 10.30 Charlotte Brewer, Leoni Gilbert
Welcomers 10.30 Kylie Milsom, Volunteer
Welcome Table 10.30 Dorothy
Projector 10.30 Mary
Children's Church Grace
Mowing none
Altar Linen -July Ella Egan
Monday Office 30 July Jenny Mintern, Pat Gibson
REQUESTS FOR PRAYER
At the beginning of each month this list is cleared. Names need putting down again on the list in the narthex and signed in. No names to be listed without permission.
Hilary & Alan Akers, Margaret Bakker, Liam Bognar, Nola Brewer, Betty Bush, Michael Egan, Debra Davies, Christina Furze, Frank and Joan Harder, Bruce Hodgson & family, Katherine Holt, Margaret Kidman, Ted Kitto, Elsie Lieschke, Judy Lloyd, Colin Mackenzie, Joy Markey, Elvie McInnes, Olive Paez, George & Ethel Rumble, Sandra Simonis, Peter Swindells, Patricia Sparkes, Heather Steen, Faye Warren, Joyce & Ray, Cheryl, Tom.
Rest in Peace:
Ted Mead, Pearline Dempsey, Koop Purss
Anniversaries:
John Stone, Lillian Uttley, Mitre Davkovski (22 July), Donald Seymour (23 July), Irene Dickie, Bridget Howell (24 July), Sarrah Robbins, Maxwell Mathieson, Edward Anquetil (25 July), Frederick Grutzner, Isabel Lynas, Betty Shortridge (26 July), Jessie Ross, Daisy Brereton (27 July), John Wood, Jamie Thompson, Ethan Smith, Mavis Church, Freda Shemshedin (28 July).
READINGS NEXT SUNDAY
2 Samuel 71-14, Psalm 8921-28, Ephesians 211-22
THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH
Sunday 22 July
5.30pm Evening Prayer- Lady Chapel
Monday 23 July Mary Magdeline
Rector's day off
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
5.00pm Evening Prayer- Lady Chapel
5.30pm Arise- Youth Group
Tuesday 24 July
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
10-12pm Play Group
12noon Bishop in Council
5.00pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
Wednesday 25 July St James the Apostle
7.45am Mattins - Lady Chapel
10.00am Eucharist - St Augustine's
5.00pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
6.00pm EfM
Thursday 26 July Anne Mother of BVM
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
8.25am Narthex Breakfast
10.15am Gruztner
11.00am Harmony(non Eucharistic)
5.00pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Choir Practice
7.00pm Study - Marcus Borg-Narthex
Friday 27 July
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
8.25am Narthex Breakfast
5.00pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
Saturday 28 July
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist
9.00am Garden Working Bee
6.00pm Vigil Eucharist
Sunday 29 July 9th after Pentecost
8.30am Sung Eucharist - St Augustine's
10.30am Eucharist - St Augustine's & Children's Church
8.45am Reserved Sacrament - St Luke's Dookie
10.30am Eucharist-Murch/Rushw combined @ Rushworth
5.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel