SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER
7 April 2013
Graphics and cartoons & liturgical material appear only in the printed version
THE COST OF TEMERITY
In the greatest days of the British Empire, a new commanding officer was sent to a jungle outpost to relieve the retiring colonel. After welcoming his replacement and showing the courtesies that the protocol decrees (gin and tonic, cucumber sandwiches), the retiring colonel said, “you must meet Captain Smithers, my right-hand man. By Jove, he is really the strength of this office. His talent is simply boundless.” Smithers was summoned and introduced to the new CO. He was surprised to meet a limping, stooped, toothless, hairless, scabbed and pock-marked specimen of humanity, a particularly unattractive man less than four feet tall. “Smithers, old man, tell your new CO about yourself.” “Well, sir, I graduated with honours from Sandhurst, joined the regiment and won the Military Cross and Bar after three expeditions behind enemy lines. I have represented Great Britain in equestrian events and won a Silver Medal in the middle-weight division of the Olympic boxing. I have researched the history of.....” Here the colonel interrupted. Never mind that, Smithers. The CO can find all that in your file. Tell him about the day you told the witch doctor to go jump in a dung pit and drown himself or you’d beat the living daylights out of him.”
THIS AND THAT (79)
Andrew Neaum
Richard Holloway begins a recent article: No matter how they answer the God question, generous-minded people could profit from adopting an attitude of critical sympathy towards religion and maybe even taking the odd dip into it – provided they heed Canon William Vanstone’s warning that the Church is like a public swimming pool, where most of the noise comes from the shallow end.....
Holloway used to be the Bishop of Edinburgh, but his faith, since departing that post in the year 2000, has become more ambivalent and tenuous than most bishops would ever admit to. He has recently published “Leaving Alexandria: a Memoir of Faith and Doubt” which I have bought for my Kindle and will be reading with delight (he writes beautifully) as I take a month and a half to cross the Pacific and Atlantic oceans on my way to Europe in a couple of months time.
A good Easter
My last Easter in the parish went easily and well. Our very lovely services were well attended and appreciated I think. After the Saturday evening Vigil ceremonies, Diana and I, at about ten to eleven, went over to the church to initiate the Syrian Jacobite Orthodox Christians into the full mysteries of locking up our building. They were celebrating Easter in St Augustine’s according to their own rites and afterwards concluding their festivities with a meal in the narthex.
We went and sat down at the back of the church, having taken off our shoes, intending to enjoy only for a short while the rising and falling of their very Indian and lovely (once you have tuned in) chanting. Then Fr Bobi came down to our pew, resplendent in his cope, to invite me up into the Sanctuary. So as it turned out we were there till the very end, although dog-tired, joining in the lovely meal at the finish.
It was interesting to be able to observe and also to participate in their worship (I was invited to load the thurible several times, and to hold a flickering electric candle while standing alongside the priest for a while). Throughout I could recognise only the words “Alleluia” and “Amen”.
Theirs is an ancient, ancient Christian tradition, going back to first century Antioch. It is recognisably the same as ours while being colourfully very different as well. Only a few received communion and in one kind only, but followed by a sip of water from a common jug. As well as a tinkling-belled thurible, there were two brass disks on staves, also studded with bells, that were rattled and jingled at important moments. All mysteriously exotic and thrilling.
With the feast afterwards we didn’t get to bed until well after 1.30am on Easter Day’s morning, but it was a great Easter, not so much in spite of that as because of it.
On Easter day itself, after two Eucharists and a light lunch we had a fitful sleep before heading off to Benalla to feast on roast lamb with Lil, Nathan and the splendid little girls. There I broke the Lenten drought with a beer, a glass of red wine and later two glasses of peach schnapps. We also reacquainted ourselves with the piano which had been transported from us to Elizabeth and Nathan’s on Saturday. The house in Benalla begins to assume more the character of my family home than our Shepparton Rectory.
This divesting of myself of all but essential possessions has its moments of pain, but is also a liberation. Diana has already undertaken the exercise and my father and mother did much the same to their family when they left Zimbabwe and disappeared to St Helena. It is a form of nest destruction. Something that has to happen eventually to each and everyone of us, to be either embraced or resisted. I am consoled by reflecting that to be initiating the exercise myself does indicate that I remain happily, if deterioratingly, in the land of the living, a very good place to be.
RETURN TO
TRISTAN DA CUNHA (14)
Wednesday 26 September, 2012 (continued)
Yesterday was a sunny and fine day and after our usual stroll to the church to say mattins and a brief visit to the internet café and to the shop, we called in on Carlene at her office. She wasn’t there, but at the potato patches, so we reported our empty gas cylinder and lack of hot water to her efficient deputy, Desiree. While chatting over our front garden wall to Jim Kerr shortly afterwards the gas bottle was efficiently changed and we went to the Tourist Centre to watch a demonstration of traditional carding and spinning of wool and to see one of the makers of the model long boats display his wares.
In days gone by the Tristan longboats were renowned for their seaworthiness and buoyancy. They were made of painted canvas tightly stretched over a wooden frame, but they have been overtaken by modern techniques and designs and so are no longer made or used. The advantage of glass fibre over canvas is obvious, one mild encounter with a rock and canvas is rent, not so with glass fibre. The longboats stored alongside the Administrator’s house which are made of glass fibre, don’t ever seem to be used.
After this, it being a fine day, we went for a walk westward. The wind had died down to nothing and so I was in my shirt sleeves and Diana in little more than hers, the sun warm on our backs. I wore my sun hat for only the second time since our arrival. We passed the ridge over to the potato patches and decided to carry on to Burntwood, the westernmost point of the settlement plateau and from where you are supposed to be able to sight Nightingale Island, the closest we are likely to get to it I fear. As we got half way across the very pleasing grassland past the potato patches, so the wind suddenly picked up coldly from the west. It was hard to explain why, because at more or less the same place on the way back it died back once more. It is all to do with the island’s lee.
The mountain as always was fascinating to behold with great gulches galore, some of them making deep gashes in the plateau itself, others spreading debris and boulders over wider, surface areas of the plateau. We passed through a gate and sheep mustering paddock, across one of the stone debris littered areas where there was a great cement mixer and a pile of sand. Apparently to make concrete needed for the construction of a half completed shed close to the cliff at the bottom of a large paddock full of sheep with many lovely little lambs, a few of them coal black. The shed at present is only girders set into concrete, the girders all securely roped, perhaps from before when the concrete was poured, or possibly still considered necessary in so very exposed a position. We pressed on to the end of the plateau into a very cold wind, finding finally a pristine black sand beach where, in the dry areas, it was whipped up by the wind to sand blast our skin smooth of all warts, wrinkles and hair. Very smooth, fine sand with tiny specks of glitter in it, possibly mica. We walked the beach appreciative of the sand, but not for long in so chill a wind. We then settled down in a grassed and sheltered gully to eat an apple and to be lulled by the roar of the breakers and awed by a shining, endless ocean vista.
We made our way back along the cliff tops and through the potato patches, which we found strange and fascinating. Tiny fields that are considerably lower than the pastureland in which they stand, all of them surrounded by stone walls. The soil here appears far deeper than in most places on the island and there are lots of strange, conical hummocks and hillocks made up of volcanic rocks and aggregate, into some of which have been hacked sheltered spaces for small holiday dwellings to which the islanders come sometimes for weekends. The gas cylinders and elaborate rain-catching drums and plumbing were evidence of some level of comfort in these buildings.
There were some patches being hoed and worked by family groups as we passed. This manner of growing potatoes has evolved over many years and is an important part of Island culture. The potato in years gone by was an all important staple and still features importantly in people’s diet. When I was a boy on the island, much of the pastry made for puddings used potatoes rather than flour and to my appreciative young taste buds was none the worse for that. Whole families go out to plant, cultivate and harvest the potatoes and to spend weekends there. There is also an annual “ratting day” during which the stone walls are pulled apart to enable the dogs to pounce and kill the disturbed rodents.
We wandered around in warm sunshine and looked down from the cliff top upon Runaway Beach which looked very inviting with both sand and interesting rock pools. We took some photos of the Hill Piece from the West, stopped in a grassy valley to eat our second apple and made our way home to an egg, baked beans and toast supper and to watch “Law and order U K” on the box.
Later: 1.15pm
I have returned from an interesting morning. After the 10.00am Eucharist I did six Home Communions and, as nearly always, was moved by the fortitude and courage of old folk who remain stoically humorous in adversity. I took photos of most of those I visited, their faces full of character. The first was an old lady called Winnie, the mother in law of Cynthia who remained with us through the service. The weather as always proved a good opening conversational gambit, and all seem to think the east wind heralds rain. It should however assist the overdue supply ship, Baltic Trader, in its slow journey towards us. My next visit was to another old and wistful looking lady, she was on her own, but obviously well cared for by her relatives, her home very old-style and in its way attractively so. The next visit was to Frances, a fine and acute old woman, apparently the daughter of “Big Mary”, an important figure and character well remembered from my boyhood. Then on to Gabriel, who is the husband of Mary who was one of the two islanders at the 10.30am Eucharist, a lovely couple. When I said I was wanting to buy eggs she gave me a half dozen. There is a fairly large New Zealand Pohutukawa tree in her yard, trees which the authorities are trying to eradicate from the island, this I regret, though they do appear to be very invasive. I then went on to a lovely woman called Irene who lives with members of her family in a really beautifully decorated and maintained home. She showed me a fine photo of herself and her husband to be, when they were courting, she, touchingly, with a bible or prayer book in her hand. My last visit was to a young man, in his forties, injured in a motorbike accident when looking for the man who was tragically drowned some months ago. Apparently the place where he was drowned was beyond Burntwood where we were yesterday. People sometimes walk round the bluff at sea level to somewhere called the Caves. It was while making this walk that a rogue wave took him. We had a good chat and laugh together about sheep farming in Australia compared to Tristan, my stories about gathering sheep manure and being piddled on by ewes in the shed above were much appreciated. The young man has a lot about him and is one of the cray fishermen as well as a mechanic. They are reticent about pay and I obviously don’t push, but it does seem that the average wage would be only about two hundred quid a month. The crayfish fellows get fifteen quid for a hundred pounds of fish, which they consider peanuts.
On getting home Diana was not there, probably still at the church, so I went on to the internet café, but couldn’t get on line though I noticed the French boys had their own computers socketed in. Back home to write up this diary.
Thursday 27 September, 2012 9.27am
For lunch yesterday I tarted up the left overs of the left overs of the macaroni lunch we had for lunch on Tuesday. I did so by successfully adding a tin of tomato, chili and peppers.
We were reflecting this morning on boils, carbuncles and sties in the eyes and such like. All of these were a feature, I seem to remember, of life here on the island when I was a child. In the Tristan diary from the very early 1900s that we are reading the author uses poultices a lot as a remedy for all sorts of things and I remember my father using them on me, bread poultices so hot that they really hurt.
In the afternoon I twice visited the internet café. The first time it was crowded, the second time, a brief visit, revealed no interesting emails. However I did learn that there is a cord on the other side of the room which allows one’s own laptop to be connected up, so I must give this a go sometime.
I have a visitor coming to see me at 10.00 today, a talkative person who I know will be time consuming, with all sorts of problems to be talked over. I also need to knock next Sunday’s sermon on the head today so as to have it printed tomorrow before Carlene’s office closes.
There was an awards ceremony yesterday in the village hall. A large swag of medals to honour the Queen’s Jubilee were handed out by the Administrator, all recipients being men except for one female constable who did at least receive two medals. The life boat crew and mountain rescue team all received a medal though Diana was told that unless the tide is right, the harbour is too shallow to allow for the lifeboat’s use. At the ceremony Kobus informed me that £200 would be about right as the average wage, though fishermen can earn considerably more. I chatted to the “Education Adviser” Jim Kerr. He told me that he had attended church a bit at Norfolk when at home there, not least because he was friendly with the local vicar who was on the Board of the school he worked at, though it was not a church school. When I asked about his personal belief he gave a commendably honest answer: “I am working at it”. We have arranged to have a prayer session for their little granddaughter in England seriously ill.
I also had a long chat to Anne, the principal of the school and also on the Island Council. She is a Roman Catholic and very articulate and sensible. She will let me know when I can go in and do a School Assembly for them. Her views on the volcano chimed with those of Harold, for she too emphasised that the volcano experience and exile had taught islanders that “outsiders” were not special and didn’t need automatically deferring too. The difficulties of wielding leadership in a small, close knit community were also acknowledged, but she thought such difficulties these days were pretty successfully coped with, though obviously when it comes to criticism or censure of folk within the community, it is more easily administered by outsiders.
We got back relatively early and idled time away with TV instead of more productively. Bob brought round the video I had asked for and I have been able to put it on to my little computer and so can leave the disk with Sue in Cape Town.
Diana has done great work in tidying up the vestry, far more sensitively than I would have done, not throwing anything away that wasn’t very, very obviously rubbish. The wind is in the North today, the sea rough, the weather warmer, the cloud down and the wind not so strong. We met Amy and Harold waiting for the bus to take them to the potato patches again, always a delight to encounter, he full of fun and wise observations. I also met Gerald Repetto, a lively little boy with whom we used to play many years ago. Still an amiable fellow though not I think much of a church goer.
FROM THE REGISTERS
Birthdays:
Merv Cowland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 April
Win Fehring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 April
Gladys Petschack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 April
Anniversary :
Joan & John Morrow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 April
GRIEF SUPPORT - “MOVING ON”
9 April Tuesday 7.00pm in the Narthex
A “Special Memories” evening, bring something precious to share
FRIENDSHIP GROUP
16 April Tuesday 1.30pm Art Gallery
Meet at 1.30pm at the Art Gallery. For a lift call Val: 58216974.
LADIES GUILD
18 April Thursday 1.30 in Roz’s Room
At the AGM Anita Saville was elected President with Betty Bush her Deputy. Joan Kitto and Barbara Loxley remain Treasurer and Secretary respectively. This month a general meeting.
LAY SILENT RETREAT
19-21 April Feathertop Chalet Harrietville
‘The Still Point of the Turning World:
Walking the Labyrinth & Centring Prayer’
The 2013 Diocesan Lay Retreat is to be led by Helen Malcolm and Rob Whalley. For more information please call 57 213 484. The cost is $200, but partial “scholarships” are available from the Diocese.
A FAREWELL MEAL
An “Elegiac Banquet”
10 May Friday 6.00pm Church Hall
A Farewell to the Neaums will be held on the date above. There will be a dinner and drinks, a speech or two and if anyone would like to put on an act of any sort for us, make an offer to John Griffin or via the office. There is sure to be a rueful verse from the Rector.
DIARY DATES
April 8 Mon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.15am Lady Day Wangaratta
April 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7pm Grief Support - Moving On
April 16. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Friendship Group
April 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ladies Guild
April 19-21st weekend. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lay Retreat - Harriettesville
April 22. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Arise 255 Youth Group
April 28 Sun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Deadline for Outreach
May 10 Fri. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rector’s Farewell 6.00PM
May 23 Thu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4pm Raffle sub Committee Roz’s Room
May 31-June 1 Fri-Sun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Synod
June 2 Sun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Patronal Festival & Induction of New Rector
June 8 Sat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Martyrs of Uganda Service and Breakfast
June 13 Thur. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4pm Fair Planning Group Roz’s Room
Oct 19 Sat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Parish Fair
Oct 26 Sat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Murchison - Boot Sale
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.
Hilary & Alan Akers, Liam Bognar, Joyce Cavill, Bruce Hodgson & family, Katherine Holt, Dos King, Bob & June McKellar, Lynda Saville, Sandra Simonis,
Rest in Peace: Reg Olphert, Peter Ackland
Anniversaries: Sandra Ford (7Ap), Kylie Oakes, Rowland Crosby, Margaret Montgomery(8 Ap), Valma Hogan (9 Ap),Ethel Robertson, Maisie Lear, Nancy Tacey, Minnie Laslett(11 Ap).
READINGS EASTER THREE 14 April
Acts9 1-6, Psalm 30, Revelation 56-14.
Duties Second Sunday of Easter 7 April 2013
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bev Condon, Heather Pearson
Intercessor 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pat Griffin
Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Horder, Soibhan, Michelle
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Griffin, Joe Pearson
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gwyn and Merv Cowland
Welcomer 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Eileen Quaife, Bev Ralph
Welcome Tbl 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Dorothy
Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Barbara Schier
Reader 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ryan Bhat
Intercessor 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aaron Bhat
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jordan, Veila
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jenny, Joe
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Pleming, Rob Gilbert
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Irene Crawford, Yasmin Bhat
Welcome Tbl 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dorothy Cook
Projector 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Black Family
Children’s Church 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mary Pearson
Mowing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .none
Monday Office 8 April. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jenny Mintern, Jan Phillips
Duties for Third Sunday of Easter14 April 2013
Readers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pat Griffin, Norm Mitchelmore
Intercessor 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Victoria Heenan
Servers 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Griffin, Michelle, Beth
Euc. Assts 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Horder, Bev Condon
Sidespeople 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Di Gribble, Gavin Gall
Welcomer 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bev Reither, Pam Nicholls
Welcome Tbl 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dorothy Cook
Tea 8.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shirley Dean
Reader 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chris Evans
Intercessor 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrea Fisher
Servers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jenny,
Euc. Assts 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joe Fernandez, Chris Evans
Sidespeople 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Pleming, Donna Venables
Welcomers 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charlotte Brewer, volunteer
Welcome Tbl 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dorothy Cook
Projector 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mary Pearson
Children’s Church 10.30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Diana Neaum
Monday Office 15 April. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barbara Brown, Pat Gibson
Mowing 20 April . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Garry Grant, John Horder
THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH
Sunday 7 April Second Sunday of Easter
4.00pm Jacobite Easter Day Mass
5.30pm Evening Prayer- Lady Chapel
Monday 8 April The Annunciation
Rector’s Day Off
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
Tuesday 9 April William Law
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
5.00pm Evening Prayer
7.30pm Grief Support
Wednesday 10 April
7.45am Mattins - Lady Chapel
10.00am Eucharist - St Augustine’s
2.00pm Vestry
5.00pm Evening Prayer
5.30pm Hospice
6.30pm EfM
Thursday 11 April George Aug. Selwyn
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
10.00am Mercy
11.00am Harmony
11.00am Ave Maria
Hospital
12.30pm Clergy luncheon
5.00pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Choir Practice
7.30pm SICC AGM @ St Augustine’s
Friday 12 April
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
5.00pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
Saturday 13 April
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
6.00pm Vigil Eucharist
Sunday 14 April 3rd Sunday of Easter
8.30am Sung Eucharist - St Augustine’
10.30am Eucharist & Children’s Church St Augustine’s
9.00am Rushworth - local
11.00am Christ Church Murchison - local
8.45am Eucharist - St Luke’s Dookie
10.30am Eucharist - St Mary’s Katandra
2.00pm Sudanese Service
5.30pm Evening Prayer