SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT
9 December 2012
Graphics and cartoons & liturgical material appear only in the printed version
DOLTS AND A DOULTON
Bruce and Simon were checking out the junk shops in the hope of finding something of value for their antique stall at the Paddo Market. In the doorway of a particularly grotty shop, Bruce noticed a cat lapping milk out of a really lovely Royal Doulton saucer. He nudged Simon and gave him a knowing wink. Then, acting very casually, Bruce said to the old codger running the shop, “That is a very nice cat. Like to sell him?” “Well,” said the old codger, “I might be willing to let you have him for, say, ten bucks.” Simon picked up the cat and said, “We might as well take the saucer as well, seeing that he’s used to drinking from it.” “No way,” said the codger. “Well, could we buy it from you then?” “No way.” “But why?” “Because thanks to that saucer I have already flogged eighty seven cats.”
THIS AND THAT (62)
Andrew Neaum
The greatest surprise and joy of last week was to return from the Diocesan Conference in Melbourne and to be called over to church to meet one of two Muslim sisters we had helped back in 2007. She had returned to thank us, hug us and bubble over with joy and gratitude for our part in a long saga of escape from their oppressive, patriarchal family to return to their mother overseas and so on.
Resonances
Our church has been a refuge to them. They had loved its warmth, and the chapel in which to light candles and be still in God’s presence. Our part in their story had involved welcoming them into our building, reassuring them that God is a God of love as well as justice and of his forgiveness, providing them with prayer, counsel, advice, friendship, work in the parish office, love, advice and more. We had helped them to endure a long wait in a safe house nearby as red tape was untangled. Resonances aplenty from the Gospel account of the Samaritan returning to thank Jesus for his healing.
Wimps and simps
Before ever the word wimp became common currency in my family, which it did only in the late sixties or seventies we used the word simp if we wished to describe someone as a bit soft and sissy. This being so I decided on discussing so weighty a matter with Diana one morning that wimp must be of fairly recent coinage. We did a little quick research.
Neither wimp nor simp appear in my two volume Shorter Oxford Dictionary (bought in 1965 for £7.65). So the current ubiquity of wimp is interesting in a word so recent of coinage. Further research on the internet reveals an isolated instance of the word in 1920, but no further attestation until the 1960s which concords with my own observations. It is most reasonably suggested that the word is “a clipped form of whimper, perhaps influenced by J. Wellington Wimpy, a comparatively unaggressive character in "Popeye" comics.
The word simp, we learned originates in 1903 as circus slang, it being a shortening of the word “simpleton”. Nowadays, and certainly in my own family’s usage, however, its meaning has closer affinity to the word “simper”. Even the internet can be wrong.
By the way, and to my small mind most interestingly, both words occur in astrophysics as acronyms. “Wimps” being weakly interacting massive particles and “simps” strongly interacting massive particles.
In the eyes of wimps and simps I should not in a church pew sheet, however, be leading folk up the happy rambling garden paths of inconsequentiality with talk of wimps and simps. I should be preachifying or teachifying So enough, even though robust Christianity converts wimps and simps into attractive human beings and so no such cavilling twerps will be reading this pewsheet!
Now the continuation of an edited diary from Diana and my time in England
Wednesday 22 August, 2012 7.00am
I tap away at this journal after a really good sleep on the couch in the living room of Llew and Martha’s home in North London. (The bus stop, I need to remember, is “Nightingale Road”. All public transport in England now has a recorded announcement of the next stop and the vehicle’s ultimate destination. This information is also printed in lights on strategically placed small screens visible from most seats. Using public transport is a doddle).
This house, like so many London houses, is terraced and rather attractive from the street. Especially if residents go to the trouble of making their tiny street garden area attractive, as do Martha and Llew. The red brick of these presumably Victorian terraced houses is alleviated by whitewashed borders to the windows and doors. The more usual drab, mud-coloured bricks that predominate in London’s suburbs are reserved for the house’s hindquarters.
Inside most of such houses there is of necessity an economic use of space. The downstairs shower, toilet and hand basin in this one are ingeniously packed beneath the stair case that leads to the second story which is occupied by Non and his wife. They are a delightful couple, he being a university friend of Martha’s and a co-owner of the house with them. They share the little garden at the back which is bordered by productive, loosely espaliered apple and plum trees as well as profusely yielding blackberries, blue berries and raspberries.
Martha is a striking, graceful and gentle person, a creative. and successful picture editor for a large London publishing concern as well as preeminently an excellent mother. She and Llew, who is a tree surgeon, are vegetarian, organic and true alternative-lifers in a pleasing, gentle and tolerant way. As such they are stimulating company and meal providers to someone like me who is indiscriminately omnivorous and much given to masticating flesh. They are admirably resistant to the all pervasive materialistic, consumerist culture of our western world. Martha is a newly qualified Shiatsu instructor and masseur, this originates in Japan and is based, like acupuncture, on purported “energies” and “forces” in the human body. To me a dubious, semi-metaphysical basis for what by all accounts can be effective and soothing therapy and practice. Like many Anglican pew-sitters, devotees can enjoy the undoubted and highly beneficial practice of their religion or therapy, while sitting lightly on any metaphysical framework.
Llew yesterday had a fairly major operation on his knee. This means he will be on crutches for eight weeks. We travelled over to their house very early from Janet’s in Streatham to mind Max and Bella. Martha went off to work having deposited Llew at the hospital and came back with him in mid-afternoon. He seemed surprisingly well, though he’s the sort to put on a brave and cheerful face.
To my regret you can never find a tablet of soap in modern households. It is all bottled, pumped, liquid stuff.
I did some spelling homework with Max in the morning and also played a game with racquets and a ball that we devised for ourselves to suit our level of expertise. He is a lovely and slightly out of the ordinary boy, serious and sensitive, but with a sense of irony that lights up his face with joy periodically. He plays really well with his lively younger sister Bella.
We went together to buy some vegetables up the road and then made a sort of ratatouille mixed with already cooked quinoa for dinner. I added all sorts of spices and substances to it, including some past-their-best grapes, and it turned out to be very good indeed.
I am well into the biography of Maurice Bowra on my Kindle. Although it is enjoyable it doesn’t dazzle me as I thought it might. A lack of admiration for him as a person slightly blunts my taste for the book.
Thursday 23 August, 2012 7.05am
I awoke only at five past six, managing to get a shower in before the household began to rise, but not much else. As I write Diana is around and so too is Martha. Showering and performing ones ablutions in the tiny bathroom beneath the staircase has to be done rather more carefully and delicately than normal, but it is good that there is a shower. In some houses a bath is still the preferred and only option. For economic reasons many folk appear to turn off their hot water for most of the day, and it seems that hot water remains hot for about 24 hours. Yesterday was spent locally with Llew on his first day of recuperation. We took a big shopping expedition down to Wood Green, getting some veg and fruit at outdoor markets, including a great lot of elderly mushrooms. These I cooked partly for lunch and partly to add to a spaghetti bolognaise we will prepare, with soya mince and anything else I can lay my hands on today. Yesterday for dinner we knocked up a dhal which went well. The kids have been vibrant, sometimes demanding, but captivating and delightful enough to more than offset that.
Thursday 24 August, 2012 7.30pm
A day with no news from Tristan. After a morning of this and that including a little message to Gail Bryce because Jeanette Smith had kindly Skyped to inform me of Vida’s death, we headed off to town and to the Tate Britain, on the North Bank at Pimlico. It is a lovely part of the city, next door to the School of Art, a fine building probably restored eighteenth century, brick with stone but nowhere near as ornate as the neo gothic of Keble and St Pancras.
At the Tate we spent most of our time in the Turner gallery, this was very interesting to me and I enjoyed it, though I confess that a room of paintings illustrating “Victorian sentimentality” interested me as much. Many of these were surprisingly pleasing, some mawkish in the extreme. Interesting too is that Turner, before the preRaphaelites, should appear so much more modern than them.
We had a members card and so were able to have a drink at discount prices in the members restaurant. We bought some postcards for the Benalla girls, one by Beatrix Potter for Susan and a splendid St Francis and the Birds by Stanley Spencer. I had particularly wanted to see the preRaphaelite collection, but it is on tour in a big show claiming them to be “Victorian Avant Garde”. This exhibition comes to the Tate too late for us in mid September.
I bought, in a matter of seconds this morning, Rowan William’s little book on Narnia. I had read an article about it and decided I would like it. I would like to get straight into it, but must finish Bowra first. We head off early for Worcester tomorrow, picking up the car at about eight.
Saturday 25 August, 2012 6.30am Worcester
I sit in the dining alcove of a lovely house whose wild garden runs down to the Severn. It is owned by Hazel and David, Hazel being a relative, somewhat distant, of Michael Houghton. Hazel’s sister Annie, a spinster, came over for dinner with a giant dog. So our meal was enlivened by two great dogs because Hazel and David have a very large greyhound.
We had set off from London in our hire car, collected from Victoria, in the heart of the City and made our way out of town avoiding that part of central part of London where there is a congestion charge. It was interesting to be driving once more in London, round Hyde Park corner and up the Edgeware Road. It is no more difficult than driving in Melbourne. Diana is a good navigator who refuses to use the Tom Tom lent to us by Martha and Llew.
We stopped en route to Worcester at a circle of ancient stones in the Cotswolds, and then later on the scarp of the Cotswolds over looking the Vale of Evesham on a grey, lowering, rain-threatening day. It was a spectacular view. We then headed down the scarp as Diana reminisced on her family holidays as a girl, recalling biking down this particular slope. Her family would go with their bikes on meticulously planned holidays by train to selected and interesting places staying in bed and breakfasts and exploring the local terrain.
FROM THE REGISTERS
Birthdays:
Dora Blackley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Dec
Caitryn Foster. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Dec
Anniversary:
David & Lynda Harcoan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Dec
Maurice & Nancy Fennell (60th!!). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Dec
FOUND-ONE EAR RING
One lonely screw back ear ring has been handed in -found on the right hand side of the church. Please contact the office if it is yours.
HOME MADE FRUIT MINCE PIES
Deliveries 9 & 16 Dec Sundays
Please sign up in the Narthex if you would like to order home made mince pies. The money will go to the Christmas Appeal. $3 - half a dozen $6 - 1 dozen
St MARY’S KATANDRA
PATRONAL FESTIVAL
9 December 8pm Sunday
Celebrate with the congregation at their Patronal Festival Eucharist followed by what is always an excellent supper. Have a word with the Rector if you would like a lift and do consider coming along.
ARISE 255 YOUTH GROUP
10 December Monday
Christmas break up: Gather at Kids Town for a play and BBQ dinner.
FRIENDSHIP GROUP
11 Dec 2pm in the Narthex
A reminder to the Friendship Group that they are meeting on the 2nd Tuesday this month for their CHRISTMAS PARTY. Please bring a plate and a gift to exchange- no more than $5.
VESTRY MEETING
12 Dec Wednesday 2pm at the Rectory
ADVENT STUDY
13 Dec Thursdays 7.30 - 9.00pm Rectory
This is the last of these four studies. Led by the Rector, based on a chapter from Francis Spufford’s impressive book “Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity can still make Surprising Emotional Sense.”
TRISTAN DA CUNHA for BREAKFAST
15 December after 8am Eucharist Saturday
There is a Men’s Breakfast coming up. So, all you fellows, sign up for it in the Narthex. The Speaker: Andrew Neaum on Tristan da Cunha.
NATIVITY PLAY
16 Dec 10.30am during Sunday Eucharist
Next Sunday the Nativity Play takes place. All children are most welcome and indeed encouraged to be a part of the play.
CAROL SERVICE
AND
FAREWELL TO DEACON GRACE
21 Dec Friday 7.00pm
Our Carol Service at St Augustine’s is always different. This year there are new carols by the choir and old favourites for the congregations, as well as an interesting Russian Christmas Story to augment the biblical story. More importantly however, Deacon Grace leaves us at the end of December and so the Carol Service will be her “official” farewell. At the end, over in the Supper Room we will crack champagne bottles, speechify prettily, make a presentation and eat tasty nibbles all in her honour. Please bring along something delicious to share.
ST PAUL’S RUSHWORTH
Combined Evening Eucharist and Meal
30 Dec Sunday 5pm
Join the ‘Almost New Year Celebration’ when Rushworth and Murchison invite everyone to join them at 5pm in Church followed by a delicious meal after in the Hall. Please contact Phil Lowden 58 561 513 or Dawn Wilkinson 58 561 768 for numbers Tickets $20 including raffle ticket
WE COLLECT USED STAMPS FOR CHARITY
Fr Norm Hart of Euroa sorts and sells used stamps to raise money for ABM (Anglican Board of Mission). Please encourage others as well as yourself to put them by and bring them in to our box on the Narthex table.
OUTREACH AVAILABLE
The Christmas Edition of Outreach should be available this Sunday. However as I write the printer is giving us trouble so it might not be.
FOR THE DIARY
Dec 9 Sun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8pm St Mary’s Katandra Patronal Festival
Dec 10 Mon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Arise 255 Youth Christmas Bash
Dec 11 Tue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Friendship Christmas Party 2pm
Dec 12 Wed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vestry 4pm
Dec 13 Thur. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4th Advent Study Group
Dec 15 Sat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Men’s Breakfas
Dec 15 Sat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2pm Carols at Mercy Aged Care
Dec 16 Sun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nativity Play at 10.30 am
Dec 19 Wed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Parish Council and drinks
Dec 21 Fri. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7pm Carol Service & Deacon Grace’s Farewell
Dec 30 Sun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 pm Rushworth Combined Service and Meal
Feb 3 Sun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cologne Chamber Orchestra
Feb 13 Wed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ash Wednesday & AGM
May 23 Thu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4pm Raffle sub Committee Roz’s Room
June 02 Sun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patronal Festival
June 13 Thur. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4pm Fair Planning Group Roz’s Room
REQUESTS FOR PRAYER
Betty Adams, Hilary & Alan Akers, Joyce Auldrige, Liam Bognar, Nola Brewer, Ella & Michael Egan, Victoria Heenan, Bruce Hodgson & family, Mia Hogan, Katherine Holt, Edwin Johnson, Dos King, Elsie Lieschke, Colin Mackenzie, Helen McDonald, June McKellar, Lynn Morcom, Menique Richards with Shylah & Mitchel, Richard Ross Edwards, Ethel & George Rumble, Lynda Saville, Suzanne Singh, Nicole Sleeth, Patricia Sparkes, Heather Steen, Janet Whelan, Joyce & Ray, Fr Peter, Paul Simon & Cheryl, Beryl, Lucy, Mitchel, Shenley.
Rest in Peace: Nell Dent, Garth Wallace.
Anniversaries: Ewen Boord (9 Dec), Emily Griffin, Christopher Walsh, Joyce Elliott (10 Dec), Bernice Batey, Elma Jackson (11 Dec), Alma Watts, Neville Batey (12 Dec), Anna McInnes, Violet Ball, Rodney Seamons (13 Dec), Jack Rankin (14 Dec).
Duties for Sunday 9 December
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bev Condon, Pat Griffin
Intercessor 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Griffin
Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michelle, Soibahn, Beth
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Griffin, Barbara Schier
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bev & Max Ralph
Welcomer 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Eileen Quaife, Anita Saville
Welcome Table 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Dorothy Cook, Bev Condon
Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Val Bambrook
Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ryan Bhat
Intercessor 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aaran Bhat
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rick, Sam, Maddie
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jenny, Joe
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Pleming, Yasmin Bhat
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leoni Gilbert, volunteer
Welcome Table 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dorothy Cook
Projector 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sandra Simonis
Children’s Church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nativity Play Rehearsal
Mowing 15 Dec. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Marg & Brendan Carroll
Altar Linen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pat Griffin
Monday Office 10 Dec. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jenny Mintern, Jan Phillips
Duties for Sunday 16 December
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Heather Pearson, Victoria Heenan
Intercessor 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Norm Weaver
Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beth, Soibhan, Michelle
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Heather Pearson, John Horder
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Joe Pearson, Joy Campbell
Welcomer 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cecily McDonald, Bev Reither
Welcome Table 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Dorothy Cook, Bev Condon
Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gwyn Cowland
Readers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Martin
Intercessor 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nancy Noonan
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jenny Pleming
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Grace Sharon, Joe Fernandez
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Pleming, Mitch Macheda
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Beryl Black, Irene Crawford
Welcome Table 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dorothy Cook
Projector 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Charlotte Brewer
Children’s Church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nativity Play
Mowing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .none
Monday Office 17 Dec. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Barbara Brown, Pat Gibson
READINGS NEXT SUNDAY
Zephaniah 314-20 (8.30 only), Philippians 44-7
THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH
Sunday 9 December
2.00pm Sudanese Church Service
5.30pm Evening Prayer- Lady Chapel
8.00pm St Mary’s Katandra-Patronal Festival
Monday 10 December (Rector’s day off)
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
5.00pm Evening Prayer- Lady Chapel
5.30pm Arise 255 - Kids Town
Tuesday 11 December
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
10-12 Play Group
12.00pm Bishop in Council
2.00pm Friendship Group
5.00pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
Wednesday 12 December
7.45am Mattins - Lady Chapel
10.00am Eucharist - St Augustine’s
2.00pm Vestry
5.00pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Hospice
Thursday 13 December Lucy
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
10.00am Mercy
11.00am Ave Maria
11.00am Harmony Devotions
12.15pm Clergy Lunch
5.00pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Choir Practice
7.30pm Advent Study Group
Friday 14 December
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
8.30am Narthex Breakfast
5.00pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
6.00pm Murchison and Rushworth PCC
Saturday 15 December
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist & at 8.30 Men’s Breakfast
6.00pm Vigil Eucharist
Sunday 16 December 3rd Sunday in Advent
8.30am Sung Eucharist - St Augustine’s
10.30am Eucharist - St Augustine’s (Nativity play)
9.00am Eucharist - Rushworth
11.00am Eucharist - Murchison
8.45am Eucharist - St Luke’s Dookie
2.00pm Sudanese Church Service
5.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel