PENTECOST SUNDAY
27 May 2012
Graphics and cartoons & liturgical material appear only in the printed version
THE POWER OF PRAYER
A bar called Drummond's (in Mt Vernon, Texas) began construction on an expansion of their building, hoping to "grow" their business. In response, the local Southern Baptist Church started a campaign to block the bar from expanding - petitions, prayers, etc. About a week before the bar's grand re-opening, a bolt of lightning struck the bar and burned it to the ground! Afterward, the church folks were decidedly smug - bragging about "the power of prayer". The angry bar owner eventually sued the church on the grounds that the church... "Was ultimately responsible for the demise of the building, through direct actions or indirect means." Of course, the church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection to the building's demise. The judge read carefully through the plaintiff's complaint and the defendant's reply. He then opened the hearing by saying: "I don't know how I'm going to decide this, but it appears from the paperwork that what we have here is a bar owner who now believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that does not."
THIS AND THAT (45)
Andrew Neaum
Although I admire Andrew Denton as an interviewer, I cannot bring myself to watch his new show on the ABC. It is daft how little things put us off. The use of the hideous neologism "funnerer" in the promotions of the show did that. As too did their line up of clowning "celebrities". Although hardly reticent myself, except possibly emotionally, I prefer reticence to swagger, and so don't appreciate the present day notion of celebrity, nor the dubious way the "honour" is usually conferred, by a skilful P.R. manipulation of the media. This surely is worse even than the canonisation process of the Roman Catholic church.
Big names trumped
Which is possibly why I found Fr Kim Benton, our preacher and guest speaker last Sunday, so enjoyable. Over the years we have invited as preacher and guest speaker to our Patronal Festivals, bishops, archbishops, top theologians and big names of all sorts. Kim, the mere priest from the parish next door, to my mind trumped them all. Not that he was at all reticent. On the contrary he revealed a fair bit of himself, (though mercifully not all), especially in his speech at the luncheon. However, he is no "celebrity", thank God.
Indeed, the Patronal Festival last Sunday was a pleasing and successful event altogether. It successfully blended each Sunday's two styles of worship almost seamlessly. It is good to be able to do this sort of thing well, and to realise that the differences of approach and taste at the 8.30am Sung Eucharist and the 10.30am Family Eucharist are in no way incompatible or mutually exclusive.
It was fortuitous that for this occasion we were able, for the very first time, to use a newly installed, higher and larger screen, though one reticent enough gracefully to retract into virtual invisibility at the push of a button when not in use. So too the projector, which has now been demoted from its front row and pedestalled celebrity to the virtual anonymity and dust of the building's rafters. Gavin, from "Power Audio", who advised us and then installed everything, was impressively meticulous and painstaking, a pleasure to deal with.
Many thanks to the team who arranged the meal in the hall after the service. They catered for the extra thirty diners who had not signed up with hospitable ease, and although there were not twelve baskets of leftovers, the achievement was impressive in a thoroughly New Testament way. Well done indeed. Thank you to all who contributed, and there were many, from the cooks, to the providers of cooking vessels. Heather Pearson was overseer, with some excellent lieutenants.
On the Saturday morning in the church, as I fiddled with the computer and new projector set-up to make sure that I knew how to make it all work, I noticed Carole quietly oiling up and dusting all the pews as her son Stewart assisted her with the vacuuming. She is a star.
Barbara Loxley asked me to print the "Grace" I wrote for the occasion. It is extremely painful for so reticent a parson as me to do this, but stoically I bear the agony:
Grace St. Augustine's Day 2012
It's cruel, dear Lord, and also wrong
To make good people sit too long
While lengthy prayers of gratitude
Delay enjoyment of their food.
Long, involved and wordy graces
Lead to glum and gloomy faces.
As guts begin to groan and rumble
So mouths begin to moan and mumble.
And so to your as well our relief
My thanks are short, this grace is brief!
Thank you Lord for Fr Kim,
For glasses filled right to the brim
For well-spiced, aromatic food,
And festive atmosphere and mood.
Thank you too for this our parish
For all the care and love you lavish
On its various congregations
Who worship you at five locations
For gifts and blessings by the score;
For answered prayers and even more,
For love that moves the heavenly spheres,
Makes sense of life, non-sense of fears;
That lightens burdens, tempers loss,
A love expressed upon the cross.
For all of this, our hearts we raise
In joyful gratitude and praise. Amen.
Hospice
At three o clock that Sunday afternoon, well fed and wined, I trotted off to St Brendan's for a Hospice Service at which I was due to deliver a short homily. I based it upon some lines from the famous if somewhat strange poem by William Blake called "The Auguries of Innocence", lines I returned to and repeated throughout the short address:
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine.
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.
The whole poem is indeed a strange one, made up largely of couplets that appear to have been gathered together almost at random, some very beautiful, others little short of banal. Being Blake each image is doubtless symbolic of something. The poem begins with four incomparable lines:
To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.
Helium Balloons
At the end of the service we all headed outside and lots of coloured balloons were released into a clear blue sky. They drifted upward until they seemed but a handful of colourful confetti. As always when this is done Diana and I found ourselves wondering what happens to such balloons released like this. On our return we partook of a little gentle research. Apparently ordinary helium balloons drift up to an altitude of around five miles, the height of Mount Everest. There they begin to freeze in the minus 46 degree Celsius cold. In addition, the strong differential between the gas pressure inside the balloon and the near vacuum outside causes the balloons at that altitude to expand to the point were they eventually burst. Because the latex is frozen, the bursting balloon tears into shreds (the exact scientific term is called ‘brittle fracture'). These tiny, spaghetti-like pieces then scatter over a wide area as they fall back to Earth, where they begin to decay.
The Quivering Upper Lip
One morning last week, preparatory to tackling my little Hospice homily, Diana and I were talking about "grief". Public and emotional expressions of grief appear to be not only expected these days, but also encouraged. This is not at all to the liking of my reticence preferring self. I prefer grief to be expressed in private. Once a reporter holds a microphone out towards a person traumatised by loss or disaster to choke their grief into, I turn the television off in distaste.
As we discussed this I recalled an article entitled: "The Quivering Upper Lip - The British character: from self-restraint to self-indulgence. It is by Theodore Dalrymple, a hero of mine.
The first half of the article provides an almost lyrical description of British reticence. It then moves on to mourn its dissipation into the self-indulgent, "let it all hang out" ugliness that appears to dominate the British character today.
Dalrymple begins his article thus: .... my mother arrived in England as a refugee from Nazi Germany, shortly before the outbreak of World War II, she found the people admirable, though not without the defects that corresponded to their virtues. By the time she died, two-thirds of a century later, she found them rude, dishonest, and charmless. They did not seem to her, moreover, to have any virtues to compensate for their unpleasant qualities. I occasionally asked her to think of some, but she couldn't; and neither, frankly, could I.
...... The British seemed to her self-contained, self-controlled, law-abiding yet tolerant of others no matter how eccentric, and with a deeply ironic view of life that encouraged them to laugh at themselves and to appreciate their own unimportance in the scheme of things. If Horace Walpole was right—that the world is a comedy to those who think and a tragedy to those who feel—the English were the most thoughtful people in the world. They were polite and considerate, not pushy or boastful; the self-confident took care not to humiliate the shy or timid; and even the most accomplished was aware that his achievements were a drop in the ocean of possibility, and might have been much greater if he had tried harder or been more talented.
Existential modesty
......André Maurois, the great French Anglophile, for example, wrote a classic text about British character, Les silences du Colonel Bramble. Maurois was a translator and liaison officer between the French and British armies during World War I and lived closely for many months with British officers and their men. Les silences was the fruit of his observations. Maurois found the British combination of social self-confidence and existential modesty attractive. It was then a common French opinion that the British were less intelligent than the French; and in the book, Maurois' fictional alter ego, Aurelle, discusses the matter with one of the British officers. "‘Don't you yourself find,' said Major Parker, ‘that intelligence is valued by you at more than its worth? We are like the young Persians of whom Herodotus speaks, and who, until the age of twenty, learnt only three things: how to ride, archery and not to lie.'"
Aurelle spots the paradox: "You despise the academic," he replies, "and you quote Herodotus. Even better, I caught you the other day in flagrante, reading Xenophon. . . . Very few French, I assure you . . ."
Parker quickly disavows any intellectual virtue in his choice of citations or reading matter. "That's very different," he says. "The Greeks and Romans interest us, not as an object of enquiry, but as our ancestors and as sportsmen. I like Xenophon—he is the perfect example of a British gentleman."
.......The English must have been the only people in the world for whom a typical response to someone who accidentally stepped on one's toes was to apologize oneself. British behaviour when ill or injured was stoic. Aurelle recounts in Les silences du Colonel Bramble seeing an officer he knew on a stretcher, obviously near death from a terrible abdominal injury. The officer says to him: "Please say good-bye to the colonel for me and ask him to write home that I didn't suffer too much. I hope this is not too much trouble for you. Thanks very much indeed." Tony Mayer, too, says of the English that when they were ill they usually apologized: "I'm sorry to bother you, Doctor."
No culture changes suddenly, and the elderly often retained the attitudes of their youth. I remember working for a short time in a general practice in a small country town where an old man called me to his house. I found him very weak from chronic blood loss, unable to rise from his bed, and asked him why he had not called me earlier. "I didn't like to disturb you, Doctor," he said. "I know you are a very busy man."
From a rational point of view, this was absurd. What could I possibly need to do that was more important than attending to such an ill man? But I found his self-effacement deeply moving. It was not the product of a lack of self-esteem, that psychological notion used to justify rampant egotism; nor was it the result of having been downtrodden by a tyrannical government that accorded no worth to its citizens. It was instead an existential, almost religious, modesty, an awareness that he was far from being all-important.
My wife, also a doctor, worked solely among the old, and found them, as I did, considerate even when suffering, as well as humorous and lacking in self-importance. Her patients were largely working-class—a refutation of the idea, commonly expressed, that the cultural ideal that I have described characterized only the upper echelons of society.......
Desecration
One of my petty dislikes is to see people who are obviously mediocrities having honours of one sort or another showered upon them. the German poet Schiller gets it right:
Ich sah des Ruhmes schoenste Kraenze
Auf der gemeinen Stirn entweiht....
Translated as:
I saw fame's most beautiful wreaths
desecrated on a mean brow....
CONGRATULATIONS
Birthday:
Eileen Kelly 30 May
Janet Kiddle 31 May
Gloria Wayman 2 June
Anniversary
Hilary & Alan Akers 3 June
A CHANCE TO BE ECUMENICAL
Sunday 27 May 7.30pm St Augustine's
Considering how close these days we "mainline" Christian denominations are to each other we do little to celebrate or mark the fact. Tonight there is a chance to do so. The Shepparton Inter Church Council invites us all to the Annual Ecumenical Service, which this year is to be held here at St Augustine's Church at 7.30pm. The form of the service has been planned by the churches of Poland and the homily will be given by Frank Purcell. Do please come along to worship with fellow Christians and share refreshments after the service.
FILM and AFTERNOON TEA
Thursday 31st May 1pm
‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen'
Proceeds to the Girl Guide Travel Fund to assist two local Guiding leaders and five Guides to attend a camp in the USA this year.
Tickets from Marj Earl 58283420 at Katandra, Barb 58655321, Coralie 58212759, Lyn 58211242 or Val 58290232.
UGANDAN MARTYRS
Saturday 2 June 8am
We celebrate this occasion with Morning Prayer and breakfast at St Brendan's. Please sign if you can come so we can let them know numbers for breakfast. This is an annual little ecumenical endeavour that has been in place for a good number of years now and is well worth supporting. It will also be a good chance to introduce yourself to the new priest at St Brendan's, Fr Taylor. The Ugandan Martyrs were brave Christians from both our Churches.
KATANDRA GUILD LUNCHEON
Wed 6 June Katandra West Hall 12 noon
The Katandra West Uniting Church and St Mary's Anglican Church Guild invites us to a Soup, Sandwich and Sweets Luncheon on June 6th at 12 noon. Admission is $10, and there will be a trading table, lucky door, raffle and marvellous entertainment. (Wilma Black 58283210, Barb Tomlinson 58655321)
MEN'S BREAKFAST
Saturday 9 June after 8am Eucharist
Sign up in the Narthex. The best breakfast in town. Top company. Speaker? Wait and see.
RAFFLE
Draw on 13 June after the 10am service
Prize: hand-painted plate by Joan McKellar. Tickets available from Guild members or Nola Brewer at $2.00 a ticket in aid of ABM.
CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations to Aaron and Ryan Bhat for their part in the most enjoyable musical "Beauty and The Beast". Aaron almost stole the show as a fine, and totally out of character egotistic, vain villain. Congratulations as well to Olivia and Oscar Lear and Maddie and Sam Coates who were commended for their ART WORK in the "News" for which they received book prizes.
FOR THE DIARY
May 27 Sun St Augustine's 7.30pm Ecumenical service
May 31 Thurs 1 pm Film and tea in aid of the Guides
June 2 Sat Ugandan Martyrs Morning Prayer and Breakfast
June 4 Mon Arise - Youth Group - Master Chef
June 6 Wed Katandra Guild Luncheon
Jun 9 Sat Men's Breakfast after 8am mass
Jun 12 Tue Grief Support
Jun 14 Th Parish Fair Planning Meeting 4.00pm
Jun 19 Tue Friendship Group
June 20 Wed Parish Council 7.30
June 21 Thur Guild
July 15 Sun Confirmation
Oct 20 Sat 2012 Parish Fair and Garden Party
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.
Dulcie Ackland, Hilary & Alan Akers, Heather Baker,Liam Bognar, Peter Burgess, Betty Bush, Debra Davies, Michael Egan, Christina Furze, Frank Harder, Bruce Hodgson & family, Katherine Holt, Bill Hunter, Margaret Kidman, Elsie Lieschke, Merle Maskell, Adrian Moule, Isabelle Richards, Sandra Simonis, Heather Steen, Faye Warren, Joyce & Ray, Kate, Charlotte, Steve & Kaye.
Anniversaries: Milan Marcetic, Rohan Lynas, Geoffrey Waite (28 May), Roy McNair (29 May), Rudolf Neff, Chase Robinson, Tyler Robinson(30 May), Patricia Ramage, Vernon Auldridge (1 June), Jack Shacklock, Florence Attwell, Margaret Hoare (2 June).
Duties for Sunday 27 May
Readers 8.30 Gwyn Cowland, Pat Griffin
Intercessors 8.30 Heather Pearson
Servers 8.30 Michelle, Beth(C),Soibhan
Euc. Assts 8.30 Carole, John Griffin
Sidespeople 8.30 Joy Campbell, Trevor Batey
Welcomer 8.30 Eileen Quaife, volunteer
Welcome Table 8.30 Dorothy Cook, Beverley Walsh
Tea 8.30 Val Bambrook
Readers 10.30 Aaron Bhat, Ryan Bhat
Intercessors 10.30 none
Servers 10.30 Olivia, Oscar,
Euc. Assts 10.30 Jenny P, Linda Prosser
Sidespeople 10.30 John Pleming, Leonie Gilbert
Welcomers 10.30 Bev Condon
Welcome Table 10.30 Dorothy
Projector 10.30 Charlotte
Children's Church Mary Pearson
Mowing 2 June John Pleming, John Wellman
Altar Linen -May Gwenda Betson
Monday Office Joyce Oxley, Bob Galt
Duties for Sunday 3 June
Readers 8.30 Heather Pearson, Jeanette Smith
Intercessor 8.30 Victoria Heenan
Servers 8.30 Michelle, Beth(C),Soibhan
Euc. Assts 8.30 Heather Pearson, John Horder
Sidespeople 8.30 Joe Pearson, Joy Campbell
Welcomer 8.30 Beryl Goodfellow, Heather Nichols
Welcome Table 8.30 Bev Condon, Beverley Walsh
Tea 8.30 Gwyn Cowland
Readers 10.30 Joan McCann, Peter Martin
Intercessor 10.30 Mary Pearson
Servers 10.30 JennyPleming, Grace & Eve Way
Euc. Assts 10.30 Linda Prosser & Joe Fernandez
Sidespeople 10.30 John Pleming, Beryl Black
Welcomers 10.30 Charlotte Brewer & Frank Steen
Welcome Table 10.30 Bev Condon
Projector 10.30 Lionel Waterson
Children's Church Diana
Mowing none
Altar Linen -May Bev Reither
Monday Office Rosemary Moore, Jeanette Smith
READINGS NEXT SUNDAY 3 June
Isaiah 6:1-8, Psalm 29, Romans 8:12–17
THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH
Sunday 27 May Pentecost Sunday
5.30pm Evening Prayer- Lady Chapel
7.30pm Pentecost Ecumenical Service
Monday 28 May Rector's day off
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
5.00pm Evening Prayer- Lady Chapel
Tuesday 29 May
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
10-12pm Play Group -Roz's Room- Church Hall.
5.00pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
Wednesday 30 May
7.45am Mattins - Lady Chapel
10.00am Eucharist - St Augustine's
5.00pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
6.00pm No EfM this week
Thursday 31 May Visitation of BVM
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
8.25am Narthex Breakfast
11.00am Eucharists - Harmony
12.15pm Clergy Luncheon
4.00pm Confirmation Class - Juniors
5.00pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Choir Practice
7.30pm Confirmation Class - Adults
Friday 1 June Justin Martyr
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
8.25am Narthex Breakfast
5.00pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
Saturday 2 June
8.00am Morning Prayer St Brendan's Martyr's of Uganda
6.00pm Vigil Eucharist
Sunday 3 June Trinity Sunday
8.30am Sung Eucharist - St Augustine's
10.30am Eucharist - St Augustine's
12.15pm Baptism
9.00am Eucharist - Rushworth
11.00am Eucharist - Murchison
8.45am St Luke's Dookie - Reserve Sacrament
5.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel