Father George’s Weekly for 3 July 2022

Dear People of God

Grace and peace to you.

For those of you who were unable to attend the Cathedral on Wednesday evening for Gail’s Ordination to the Diaconate, or to watch it on the video link, it was a wonderful evening as six new Deacons were made, the Canon for Reconciliation installed and the 175th Anniversary of Bishop Tyrrell’s Consecration and the Foundation of the Diocese of Newcastle and therefore the establishment of Newcastle as a city (even though it was still largely a convict settlement at the time). Bishop Tyrrell had oversight of a diocese which extended from the Hawkesbury to what is now the southern part of the Diocese of North Queensland, and he travelled it all by horseback or coastal shipping: times have changed somewhat and I rather think that our bishops are pleased not to have to ride horses everywhere!

Gail has let me know that she would prefer to be addressed as Gail, The Reverend Gail, or Deacon Gail. There will be a presentation to Gail from the parish at the combined service on the 5th Sunday of this month (31 July, 9:30am St Paul’s)

I received an email on Thursday from Mother Sharon, which states “I am hereby resigning from the position of Honorary Assistant Priest and all other roles and duties in the Parish of Beresfield/Thornton, effective immediately.” Sharon was unable to obtain other accommodation in the area and has, for the time being, relocated to her daughter’s place in Cessnock. She has been Honorary Associate in this parish since 2018 and contributed significantly through study groups, Quiet Days, preaching and more. We wish her well in this new stage of her life.

This Sunday we celebrate the Patronal Festival of our parish. The Calendar combines the feasts of Peter and Paul: in some places they celebrate Peter and Paul separately. There are various feast days associated with one or the other and we have the options: the date was actually during the week, but we took the option of transferring the observation to the next available Sunday.

By now you will have realised that the Market Day scheduled for Saturday was cancelled. The forecast of heavy rain did not fill us with confidence as the grounds at Thornton are still waterlogged from previous events: at this rate we might well have to combine Market Day with Sea Sunday! Get your waterwings ready!

The Parish Luncheon was a great success and great thanks are due to the band of ladies who set up, organised catering and service, and then managed all the washing up and cleaning afterwards. The speakers, Professor Craig Pennell and researcher Dr Tegan Grace, from the Hunter Medical Research Institute gave an outstanding presentation which has aroused interest in their program of research into pre, neo and post-natal wellbeing. Contact details will shortly be available for those people who are interested in follow-up matters.

Grace and peace

Fr George

gmainprize@bigpond.com

0410 586 119

COLLECT and READINGS for the Feast of Ss Peter and Paul, Apostles and Martyrs

Sentence

“My grace is sufficient for you” says the Lord, “for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2Cor12:9)

Collect

Almighty God, whose apostles Peter and Paul glorified you in their deaths as in their lives: grant that your Church, inspired by their teaching and example, and knit together unity by your Spirit, may ever stand firm upon the one foundation, your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, lone God, now and for ever. Amen.

Acts 12:1-11 James killed and Peter imprisoned

Psalm 87 The joy of living in Zion

2 Timothy 4:6-8 Paul’s farewell to a beloved assistant

John 21:15-22 Jesus and Peter

Sermon (Fr George)

Why have a Patronal Festival? For that matter, who have a Patron Saint?

We are people of space and time, living in communities. We celebrate birthdays and other anniversaries and heaven help anyone who forgets their “significant other’s” birthday or wedding anniversary especially the wedding anniversary! I suspect that there are people who have not made it to the 26th wedding anniversary because they failed to remember the 25th!! Our communities are important to us: they give us a sense of belonging. When the going is tough they are there to support and encourage. In sickness they provide care; when we are happy there is someone with whom to share our happiness; when we are overwhelmed by grief, they stand by and support us, often with wordless care. I have often been told by someone that when they felt they could not go any further when grief hit them, it was the casserole left on the doorstep, or the grass mowed, or simply the wordless smile that let them know that there were people who cared for them.

Jesus spoke of the angels in heaven who watched over the little children. The concept of community very quickly took an important place in the emerging Christian church, not only amongst the earthly believers but stressing that link between the community of the church on earth and the company of the redeemed who stand in the nearer presence of God.

I once went to Rotorua, that volcanic place on the North Island of New Zealand, and did the usual tourist thing and went to Whakarwarewa. There was a Māori guide there who explained the meanings of the meeting place with the Tiki emblem above the front door, the assembly place in the forecourt and the structure of the meeting house. When they assemble as a community they go into the meeting house which represents the body of the ancestor: the timbers holding up the roof are figurative of the bones of the ancestor. They are constituted as community beyond mere considerations of time and place. I spoke to her afterwards and she started explaining the religious significance: in response to her query I owned by own identity as an Anglican priest and had the immediate response that the reason Christianity took off so quickly amongst the Māori was because it spoke to them strongly of community. “We’re all Anglican here and you must meet our priest, Fr Ben Tehara” who was, coincidentally, also an Industrial Chaplain in the NZ branch of ITIM and who went on to become one of the Māori bishops. He and I spent an afternoon together discussing the theology of community. Ancestors are important, as the Australian First Peoples are telling us.

So as Christians we ask that a Patron Saint be a particular part of our community of faith. We believe that they pray for us as we pray for and with those who have gone before us. They provide an example for us. Some have been martyrs, and we celebrate two of those today, the two giants of the first communities; some have been pray-ers, some teachers, some monastics and contemplatives, some were largely unknown beyond their initial communities, some were reluctant, some were clergy, many were lay, some, like Paul, went through huge trials and tribulations; some flourished in early and mediaeval communities, and some are of our town time and place. In Canterbury Cathedral there is a chapel dedicated to the Melanesian Martyrs and another to the Martyrs of the 20th Century. Mary McKillop might have been canonised by the Pope as St Mary of the Cross, but is nonetheless known to us as the Australian St Mary McKillop. The Anglican Church has generally refrained from canonising individuals because we can’t speak on behalf of the whole Church, but nonetheless King Charles I is often referred to as “St Charles, King and Martyr” (much to the disgust of certain Republicans!) and refer to The Blessed William Tyrrell and The Blessed John Oliver (onetime Bishop of Orth Queensland)

Paul is a great exemplar for the Church in our present time. We might not, in our society, suffer imprisonment, torture or death for the faith, but there are plenty of societies around the world where this is the case. The suffering in our own communities is largely because of ignorance or perceived irrelevance and people pursue other gods. Paul, like most of us, is a conflicted person and who, like most of us, has many struggles to overcome. But Paul, as an exemplar for us, counts all as nothing compared to the hope in Christ Jesus and the final bliss of complete community with him.

We can all use someone to pray for us. Yes, I know we can pray to Our Father in heaven and through the intercession of the One who ever intercedes for us at the throne of God, and who, being within the Godhead, has something of an advantage, but one can never too many friends in high places.

Paul, as we rejoice in our fellowship with you and all the company of the redeemed, pray also for this little corner of faith, for strength through our trials and tribulations. May we learn you’re your example that everything is as nothing compared to the joy to which we are called.

Amen

Intercessions (Deacon Gail)

God of the nations, whose sovereign rule brings justice and peace, have mercy on our broken and divided world. Shed abroad your peace in the hearts of all and banish from them the spirit that makes for war, that all races and peoples may learn to live as members of one family and in obedience to your law, through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. We pray especially for those in the trouble spots of the world – the Middle East, Ukraine, Afghanistan and other disputed territories that they may achieve some resolution of tensions.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Send out the light and truth of your gospel and bring people everywhere to know and love you. Enable those who minister among us to commend your truth by your example and teaching. On this feast day of Peter and Paul, we thank you for their example. In the wider church we pray for Justin, Archbishop of Canterbury, and for the Lambeth Conference about to assemble, and especially that you will draw our fractured Communion together in mutual respect and celebration of our diversity; for our sister Diocese of Guadalcanal; the Anglican Church of Kenya, the Lutheran Church of Australia; and in Australia the Diocese of Riverina.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray in this Diocese for our Bishop Peter, for our Bishops Assisting Charlie, and Sonia; for Anglicare; for the parishes of Morpeth and Fr Stephen; Mt Vincent, Kurri Kurri Weston and Mthr Theresa;, and Raymond Terrace and Fr Steve. In this parish we pray for our priest George, our Deacon Gail, and their families, for all those who seek Baptism or Confirmation; for Mother Sharon as she begins a new phase of her life; for our Altar servers and Sacristans. We pray for our neighbouring Roman Catholic Parish of Our Lady of Lourdes

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We give you thanks for the fellowship of the communities in which we live and work. We commend to your keeping ourselves and each other, our families, those with whom we work and learn, our neighbours and our friends. Enable us by your Spirit to live in love for you and for one another. In our local community we pray for Palm Valley Motel, Beresfield Tyrepower, Tarro Grocery Store and Beresfield Aluminium.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We give thanks that you are the God who brings mercy and wholeness. Comfort and heal, we pray, all who are in sorrow, need, sickness, or any other trouble. Give to those who care for them wisdom, patience, and gentleness and, to us all, your peace. Especially today we pray for those who have asked for our prayers Lynn, Betty, Tom, Di, [ ] ; those on our regular prayer list and those known only to us. [ pause ]

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We rejoice in the fellowship into which you have called us with Paul our Patron, with the Blessed Mother Mary, with Saint Peter and all your saints. We pray for your mercy on all who have died: those whom we have loved and remember. We pray for Sylvia Pike, Carol Hinton and Willfread Ranyard whose anniversary of death is at this time, and for your priest, John Southerden, who has recently died. May we all be brought to a joyful resurrection and the fulfilment of your kingdom.

+Rest eternal, grant to them O Lord; and let your light perpetual shine upon them.

Almighty God, you have promised to hear our prayers: Grant that what we have asked in faith we may by your grace receive, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

Faith and the Environment

What is “The Environment”? Is it something quite separate from human beings and just happens to be there around us and quite independent of us? Perhaps it is a dynamic system of which we are a part, and which is vital to maintaining a healthy planet.

Whichever way we think about it, its impact on our lives is vitally important. Climate Change is one aspect of it; “the hole in the ozone layer”, rising sea levels, increasing salinity of the oceans and poisoned rivers…they are all affected by human behaviour.

No matter how small a part we are of the total scene, the way we treat the world in which we live has an impact on the whole system: every human being adds up to a major effect.

The Christian Church believes that all of Creation belongs to God and we insult God by failing to respect Creation. Each individual is a temporary inhabitant and the legacy we leave is vital to our successors: will they thrive or die out?

And now for something completely different…….

The second in a series of “Something to Think About” © George Mainprize 2021

Grant Killen took lots of photos during the service and you can see them all at https://2015killen.smugmug.com/Christ-Church-Cathedral-Ordinations-to-Diaconate-2022/n-pDxQfH

(that line “The second in a series” belongs below the “Something to think about” piece but it crept in here and refused all my editing attempts to get it to sit in the correct place! G)