Good Shepherd Sunday - 25 April 2021
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We are a beacon of God’s light and hope welcoming all to our table of love and diversity. Good Shepherd Sunday — 25 April 2021 UNFURLINGS III Dive the gap between content and discontent: deep creative river. The future is not somewhere else but here and now: sunlight, rain dancing. Stop trying to prove yourself; become a swallow in flight; blur of joy. Change in Syria or the next Syria starts here: with me, with you. Into the rising wind the kestrel bites her wings; holds her head so still. When it comes, as it will, let the breeze of summer warm you, all you need. Ian Adams, Unfurling (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2014), p. 6 ✜ READINGS FOR NEXT WEEK 2 MAY 2021 Easter 5 Acts 8:26-40; Psalm 22:26-32; 1 John 4:7-21; John 15:1-8
WELCOME Acknowledgement of Country Nganyi kaaditj Noongar moort kyen kaadak nidja boodja. As we gather for worship, we acknowledge the Whadjuk Noongar people as the original custodians of this land, and their ongoing relationship with it. We acknowledge their leaders, past, present and emerging. A very warm welcome to our service this morning, particularly if you are visiting St Luke’s for the first time. We hope you will join us for refreshments in the Alexandra Hall following today’s service and please be most warmly welcome. Children are welcome at all our services and there is a dedicated play area for younger children at the front of the church with Worship Bulletins and pencils available. Children are invited to join our Sunday School activities on the second Sunday of the month during school term time. If you have any questions or particular needs, please speak to one of our friendly welcomers. We invite you to share in a time of stillness and quiet before the service begins. Our Parish Mission Statement We are a beacon of God’s light and hope welcoming all to our table of love and diversity. Donating to St Luke’s As we move to a more cashless society, you are encouraged to give electronically. Our bank account details are: Name: Mosman Parish Council BSB: 706-001 Reference: Direct Giving Account Number: 3000 3046 Alternatively, you may wish to use our ‘Donation Point Tap’ at the rear of the church by using a contactless enabled card, mobile or wearable to donate. If you prefer to give cash there is an offertory bowl available. Community Garden Op Shop The St Luke’s Community Garden is a means to bring Our Op Shop is open Wednesday, Friday and together members of the local community through Saturday 9:30am—1:00pm. We recycle quality the invigorating and connecting activity of gardening donations of clothes for women, men and children; and is a demonstration site for organic, sustainable, jewellery; homeware items; bric a brac; and books. eco-friendly urban living. The Community Garden is Any excess donations are then sent to Clutterbugs open to anyone who would like to become a General and other charity shops including The Salvation Member or a Bed Holder. More details at Army and Save The Children. www.stlukescommunitygarden.com. PAGE 2
FROM THE RECTOR Though the imagery is not as prevalent is this particular cycle of readings, it is still Good Shepherd Sunday, the Gospel reminds us. While we might wish to imagine the Good Shepherd as the one in the famous parable—the one who upon finding the lost sheep lovingly hoists it over his shoulders to bring it back to the other ninety-nine—this is not the shepherd Jesus speaks of today. This Good Shepherd has to protect the flock from wolves, and lays down his life to do so. In gathering the lost and searching for the scattered, Jesus does the work of his Father who desires that all should be found, welcomed, loved, and cherished in the family of God. Whilst many at the parish level consider the Good Shepherd to be the Rector, many of us have, in a way, a small subset of the community under our care. We are in relationship with one another, we care for each other pastorally, we provide hospitality to our visitors. Part of how we exercise leadership in those roles should be as a pastor, as a Good Shepherd does. This can manifest in at least two ways: by leading through service and by truly knowing those whom we serve. If all we do is the minimum, if we say our words without thinking, if all we do at our desk is churn out group emails, our ministry is hollow and is not true service. Allowing the Holy Spirit to empower our actions and provide the words we say requires communion with our God; to spiritually reflect on our roles and feed our spirits. As listeners, we must engage in active listening, taking time to reflect and discern whether there is a question or concern ‘behind’ the one expressed. That is, don’t just respond to what a specific complaint might be, but take a moment to see what motivates the report, what factors into the person coming to you with the issue at hand. All of that is easier to do if, like the way Jesus describes himself in today’s Gospel, we too get to know ‘our sheep.’ A name is not enough. More than what we do at church, organise social gatherings from time to time. Encourage one another to live the Gospel by noticing each other’s service with acknowledgement. Above all, be attentive to the needs of each person individually, and rally around someone—in turn it will be each of us—who needs the loving support of the Christian community. All of this is a small part of truly being a Good Shepherd here and now. On this Good Shepherd Sunday, we also pray for The Oratory of the Good Shepherd (OGS), a dispersed international religious community, within the Anglican Communion. Members of the oratory are bound together by a common rule and discipline, which requires consecrated celibacy, and are strengthened by prayer and fellowship; they do not normally live together in community but meet regularly in chapter and retreat and report to one another on their keeping of the rule. In Australia, Bishop Lindsay Urwin is currently the Superior General of the Oratory and Bishop Ken Mason (dec) was a notable member. Alleluia! Christ is risen. PAGE 3
OUR SERVICE TODAY Our service is in the yellow Easter service booklet. Hymns are in the printed insert. The psalm is on a printed insert. Opening Hymn Our Father God who gave us birth First Reading Acts 4:5-12 Psalm 23 Second Reading 1 John 3:16-24 Gradual Hymn Long ago you taught your people Gospel John 10:11-18 Offertory Hymn Dominus Regit Me (The King of Love my Shepherd Is), Closing Hymn June Nixon (1942–) Recessional O Lord, through all our days Grand Choeur in G Major, Théodore Salomé (1834-1896) For Your Contemplation ✜ In the first reading we hear of “a crippled beggar who was healed in the name of Jesus. What areas in your life are in need of healing at this moment? ✜ The psalm declares that the Lord “leads me beside still waters.” What still waters do you need to be by at present? ✜ The First Letter of John affirms that Jesus lad down his life for us and asks us “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” How do you answer this? ✜ In the Gospel parable Jesus says, “the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Who are the sheep that you are called to shepherd and how do you give of your life for them? So I ask you to share my prayer, that ‘the mountain be cast into the depths of the sea,’ the fear be lifted from all our hearts and that we may develop the daring, viscerally moved, shepherdly heart of love along with the creative projects such a heart will enflame as we follow our Lord outside the camp. James Allison, On Being Liked (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 2003), p. 130. PAGE 4
PRAYERS Daughter of Jerusalem, sing and shout for joy, for the Lord has risen. Alleluia. Anglican Communion The Nippon Sei Ko Kai Australia The Diocese of Willochra: Bishop John Stead, Clergy and Laity. Diocese Diocese of Perth: Archbishop Kay Goldsworthy, Bishop Jeremy James and Bishop Kate Wilmot; Esperance Anglican Community School: Jason Bartell, Executive Principal, staff and students; Fiona Stanley Hospital: chaplains staff and patients; Parish of Floreat: Rev’d David Prescott (Locum Tenens) and people. Province: Bluff point, clergy and people; Augusta/Margaret River, clergy and people. Partner Diocese, Eldoret: Kaptebee Secondary School, clergy and people. Parishes Seeking Appointment of Clergy Bassendean, Dianella, Floreat, Morley-Noranda, Scarborough, West Perth. Partner Parish of St Luke’s Kaptubei, Eldoret Vicar Rev’d Jonah Tabut and the Parish as they celebrate Easter. Please Pray for Alison, Barbara, Val, Maxine, Kim, the enduring COVID-19 pandemic, the sick, lonely, homeless, refugees and asylum seekers. Prayer of the Week O God, whose son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: help us when we hear his voice to know him who calls us each by name, and to follow where he leads; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.. Amen. Work makes time worthwhile. Time is all we have to make our lives bright-coloured, warm, and rich…Good work that leaves the world softer and fuller and better than even before is the stuff of which human satisfaction and spiritual value are made. Joan Chittister OSB PAGE 5
PARISH NOTICES ANZAC Day with the Chapel Choir of St George’s College Join the Chapel Choir of St George’s College this evening at 7:30pm as they present their first Fauré Requiem at the Chapel of St George’s College, cost $30. With Stewart Smith at the organ, the Choir will commemorate ANZAC Day through the beauty of Fauré’s most famous work. Resting in God: Christian Meditation Christian Meditation allows you to connect with the divine and nurture your soul. Thursday evenings 6:00-7:00pm at St David’s, 54 Simpson Street, Ardross; free. No experience is required. Contact Peregrin Campbell-Osgood via email at peregrin@applecross.perth.anglican.org. Doing Theology Together Thursday 29 April 8:30am-3:30pm Wollaston Manuscripts are the earliest surviving artefacts of the Christian religion, but what is their significance for today? Led by Dr Robert Myles (Lecturer New Testament, Murdoch University) and The Rev’d Dr Ric Barrett-Lennard (Locum Warden, Wollaston), this workshop will explore the theological implications of biblical manuscripts and the Egyptian papyri for interpreting the Bible and tradition. Participants will explore the textual criticism of the New Testament and its theological consequences, as well as be introduced to insights from the Egyptian papyri for Christian life and practice. To be held at Wollaston Conference Centre, cost $55 (includes Morning Tea and Lunch). More information Lee-Ann Bok 9425 7272. RIP The Reverend Max Pengelley Friday 30 April 2:00pm, St Anselm’s Kingsley The Reverend Max Pengelley died on 14 April 2021. Please keep Ruth, John, Gabriel and their family in your prayers. A Requiem Mass will be held on Friday 30 April 2021 at 2.00pm at St Anselm’s Anglican Church, Kingsley (19 Forest Hill Drive). ✠ Rest eternal grant to your servant, O Lord And may light perpetual shine upon him. Amen. Anglicare WA Wills Day Friday 7 May 10:00am-3:20pm, St Matthew’s Guildford With stress and anxiety prevailing over the last year, Anglicare WA is supporting our community to plan and create some certainty. Talking about your Will and connected topics is one that is often avoided. But planning and creating certainty through conversation and writing a legal Will is one of the best things you can do. Join Anglicare WA to write a legal Will with their pro-bono lawyers. Cost $70-140. More information from Romm Niblett 9263 2076. St Hilda’s OSA Bazaar and Open Day Saturday 8 May 10am—3pm The Girls High School and St Hilda’s Old Scholars Association Bazaar and Open Day will be held at the Bay View Terrace Campus on Saturday 8 May from 10:00am until 3:00pm. Enjoy the market stalls, ghost tours, and fun activities around the whole School. More details on 9285 4100 and at https://www.sthildas.wa.edu.au/community/125th-celebrations/. PAGE 6
TODAY’S REFLECTIONS THE SHEPHERD’S AGAPÉ Mid-Easter marks a change, in that the narrative of the resurrection breaks off — to be resumed in Ascensiontide and Pentecost — and we hear instead reflections on the whole meaning of the paschal event. So traditionally Easter 4 in the West has been ‘Good Shepherd’ Sunday, and we hear one part or another of John 10:1-30, where Jesus, laying down his life for us, is likened to the shepherd who lies down at the entrance to the sheepfold so that any wolf preying on the flock will have first to tackle him. It is a great parable of the kind of love called agapé, which forgets self in concern for the other. The shepherd theme is also taken up in the blessing that can be used for the whole Easter season [The God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep…, based on Heb 13:20-21]. Famously, the Swedish theologian Anders Nygren contrasted agapé and eros to the detriment of the latter. The entire structure of…eros is egocentric…All that matters from first to last is the soul that is aflame with eros. The aim of [such] love is to gain possession of an object which is regarded as valuable… Agapé and Eros (London: SPCK, 1953), pp. 179-180. C. S. Lewis writes that he started his work along similar lines, expecting to extol ‘gift love’ at the expense of ‘need love,’ but found the truth to be more complex. To regard eros as inherently ‘selfish’ and agapé as always altruistic is rather naïve. In some mysterious but quite indisputable fashion the lover desires the Beloved herself, not the pleasure she can give. No lover in the world ever sought the embraces of the woman he loved as the result of a calculation, however unconscious, that they would be more pleasurable than those of any other woman. The Four Loves (London: Fount, 2002), p. 88. This is one aspect of eros that, one hopes, is true of our love of God: that we love God not for his superlative ‘cuddles’ so much as for who he is. Meanwhile agapé can be selfish, offering generosity at a price, or gaining ego-strength from the dependence of the other, and so wanting to keep them in their dependent state. The contrast between these two loves is therefore not between the selfish and the unselfish, but between a love that feels passionately self-emptied through need of the glory of the other, and a love that feels com-passionately self-emptied in desire to offer what it has for a needy other. Both tend toward loss of self, but the one because of what it senses the other has to give, and the other because of what it senses the other needs to receive. PAGE 7
The one loves a person for their spiritual and physical beauty, whereas the other is capable of loving those who suffer from sickness, deformity and even wickedness. But both can paradoxically become selfish, the one if it desires to possess the other and guard her jealousy because of its sense of need, and the other if it gives not really for the sake of the other, but because of a ‘need to be needed,’ in other words, to enlarge its sense of self through the other’s dependency. Because of the great inequality between the infinity of God and our finite and dependent selves, our love for God will generally be eros more than agapé. It could even be said that God is the primordial object of eros, since only God is overwhelmingly adorable and beautiful in the way that eros requires. To feel eros for another human being is to see the image of God in them, to see them as sharing something of the awesome sublimity of God. Conversely, we can hardly feel agapé for God. Some spiritual traditions do encourage us to feel compassion for the suffering Jesus, it is true, but if we remember Christ’s divinity, our compassion for him as man will tend to be displaced by feelings of awe and amazement that God should be suffering in this human way. God’s love for us, on the other hand will always include agapé, but God’s pity for us can readily combine with eros, God’s marvelling at God’s own creature, which takes God out of God in [pseudo-Dionysious] Denys’ ‘ecstasy.’ The good shepherd of the parable (Luke 15:4-7) does seem to seek the sheep not just because of pity but also because he delights in the sheep. It takes him out of the ‘selfish,’ pragmatic option to protect the 99 remaining sheep, and leads him to rejoice (v. 6) when the stray is found. The good shepherd is the origin of the image of the pastor and pastoral care, reminding us that those who lead God’s people must be motivated by a spirit of humble, self-sacrificing service. But W. B Yeats noted that prolonged sacrifice may ‘make a stone of the heart’ (‘Easter 1916’). If the pastor or other carer is to remain gentle and open, she will need to delight in those she serves, and find a kind of beauty even in those who are physically or spiritually ugly on the surface. Ross Thompson, Spirituality in Season: Growing through the Christian Year (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2008), pp. 137-38. THE GOOD SHEPHERD ‘I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me.’ In these words it is as if our Lord were saying: ‘Those who love me, obey me.’ Certainly, those who do not love the truth cannot yet know it. My dear brothers and sisters, let us reflect upon how these words of our Lord imply a test of our own. Ask yourselves first if you are indeed sheep of Jesus; and secondly, if you know him and recognise the light of truth. We recognise truth not simply by faith but by love. You recognise truth not by the assent of the intellect, but by the love you express in your deeds. As the apostle John says: ‘Those who say that they love God, but disobey his commandments, are liars.’ Jesus goes on to add the following words: ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I will give them eternal life.’ A little earlier he said also: ‘If any enter by me, they will PAGE 8
be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.’ That is to say, they will go in by faith, and go out from faith to vision, from belief to contemplation, and will find pasture in the eternal banquet God has prepared. The Lord’s sheep will find the Lord’s pastures. Those who follow Christ with an undivided heart will be nourished in pastures that are forever green. And what are such pastures if not the most profound joy of feeding in the everlasting fields of paradise? For the pasture of the saints is to see God face to face. When the vision of God never fades, the soul is filled with an abundance of food for eternal life. And so dear friends, let us seek these pastures and join the throng of the citizens of heaven. Let their happiness and celebration be an invitation for us. Let our hearts grow warm; let our faith be rekindled; let our desire for the things of heaven increase; for to love in this way is indeed to be on the way. We should allow no misfortune to distract us from this happiness and deep joy; for if you are determined to reach the destination of your spiritual journey the roughness of the road will not deter you. Nor should the delights of material prosperity in this life ever entice you astray; only the foolish traveller, spotting a pleasant field on the way, forgets that he is en route to a greater destination. A Reading from a homily of Gregory the Great (540-604), in Robert Atwell, comp. Celebrating the Seasons: Daily Spiritual Readings for the Christian Year (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2009), pp. 253-54. CHANGED LIVES Let’s be clear about this. There is no gospel to which the resurrection is then added. That’s not even how the first disciples experienced it. For them the gospel without the resurrection was not merely a gospel without a final chapter: it was no gospel at all. The resurrection is the event with which the Christian faith begins. Certainly Jesus had been a great teacher. He had preached love and forgiveness. He had healed the sick, spoken memorably of God; but he had left them with paradox, perplexity and darkness — and in great disarray. And there they would have stayed, with lots of lovely memories and a bad ending, had God not raised Jesus from the dead. It was the resurrection that made sense of his whole life: it threw its light backwards and made sense of the paradoxes, the suffering and the dying. Now it all came together. Now the story was complete. Here was God at work refashioning his world and bringing to birth a new creation. ‘If Christ has not been raised,’ writes St Paul, ‘then neither our preaching nor our faith has any meaning.’ It would be empty: just words; just stale air. But if he is raised, if the Christ we have to deal with is a living reality, a power within us and among us — if death is seen to be both an end and a beginning, if in the risen Christ we are faced with the creative power of God — then in the light of Easter everything looks different. Everything I believe about the meaning of life and death is illuminated and changed. PAGE 9
‘Christ is in our midst’ is the greeting on Easter Day in the great Orthodox Church of Russia and Eastern Europe. And the reply is: ‘He is and always will be.’ That is the faith that has enabled the Church to endure years of persecution and oppression in Russia, Romania and Albania and triumphantly survive. And it is the evidence of changed lives that is the ultimate proof of the truth of Easter. So is the resurrection a ‘then’ event or a ‘now’ event? Clearly it’s both. Unless it happened once in history we can’t explain Christian worship, Christian preaching or Christian belief. But it is no more just a ‘then’ event than your birth, your baptism and — if you are married — your marriage is just a ‘then’ event. All these, like Easter, make us daily what we are, and are to be entered into and celebrated in the day that is called today. We gather on Easter Day as Easter people, to share in the Eucharist that we can only celebrate because of Easter. From the earliest centuries the great central prayer, in which the bread is taken, blessed and broken in order to be shared, has taken a very similar form. In it Christians assert that it is right to thank God at all times and in all places for the events in the past that have made us what we are now. For the life, death and resurrection of Jesus have lost nothing of their power. And so we say: Thank you, God, for my creation, the day of my birth into this amazing world. Thank you, God, for revealing yourself in Jesus Christ, for his life, death and rising. Thank you for your guiding and sustaining Spirit. And thank you for bringing me into the Easter experience — and so into the Church — at my baptism so that I am for ever part of your new creation. And thank you for my share in the Eucharist at which I receive the living bread so that I may one day know myself and everyone else for what we truly are: the loved and valued children of God. Michael Mayne, Alleluia is Our Song: Reflections on Easter and Pentecost, (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2018), pp. 19-20. GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY Good Shepherd Sunday is the Fourth Sunday of Easter in the liturgical calendar; that is, the Sunday three weeks after Easter Sunday. The name derives from the Gospel readings on this day, which are taken from the 10th chapter of John. In this reading Christ is described as the Good Shepherd who, by dying on the Cross, lays down his life for his sheep. In Jesus we are gathered to be one flock, one sheepfold; he lives for his sheep and lays down his life for them; he knows us, and wants us to grow in knowing him. A reflection on Good Shepherd Sunday by Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274), Priest, Teacher of the Faith: I am the Good Shepherd. Surely it is fitting that Christ should be a shepherd, for just as a flock is guided and fed by a shepherd so the faithful are fed by Christ with spiritual food and with his own body and blood. The apostle said: You were once like sheep without a shepherd, but now you have returned to the guardian and ruler of your souls. The prophet has said: As a shepherd he pastures his flock. PAGE 10
Christ said that the shepherd enters through the gate and that he is himself the gate as well as the shepherd. Then it is necessary that he enter through himself. By so doing, he reveals himself, and through himself he knows the Father. But we enter through him because through him we find happiness. Take heed: no one else is the gate but Christ. Others reflect his light, but no one else is the true light. John the Baptist was not the light, but he bore witness to the light. It is said of Christ, however, he was the true light that enlightens every man. For this reason no one says that he is the gate; this title is Christ's own. However, he has made others shepherds and given that office to his members; for Peter was a shepherd, and so were the other apostles and all good bishops after them. Scripture says: I shall give you shepherds according to my own heart. Although the bishops of the Church, who are her sons, are all shepherds, nevertheless Christ refers only to one person in saying: I am the Good Shepherd, because he wants to emphasise the virtue of charity. Thus, no one can be a good shepherd unless he is one with Christ in charity. Through this we become members of the true shepherd. The duty of a good shepherd is charity; therefore Christ said: The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep. Know the difference between a good and a bad shepherd: the good shepherd cares for the welfare of his flock, but the bad shepherd cares only for his own welfare. The Good Shepherd does not demand that shepherds lay down their lives for a real flock of sheep. But every spiritual shepherd must endure the loss of his bodily life for the salvation of the flock, since the spiritual good of the flock is more important than the bodily life of the shepherd, when danger threatens the salvation of the flock. This is why the Lord says: The good shepherd lays down his life, that is, his physical life, for his sheep; this he does because of his authority and love. Both, in fact, are required: that they should be ruled by him, and that he should love them. The first without the second is not enough. Christ stands out for us as the example of this teaching: if Christ laid down his life for us, so we also ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. In William Temple’s translation and commentary on John’s Gospel he points out that the particular meaning of ‘good’ in this context is ‘beautiful,’ so he writes John 10:11 as ‘I am the shepherd, the beautiful one.’ In the time of Jesus, shepherds would bring in their sheep to the fold for the night, and in the morning each shepherd would call out his own sheep by name and lead them to pasture. The good shepherd, the beautiful one, was the one who knew his sheep intimately, by name. He knows their particular needs, he knows their strengths and weaknesses. He knows when they are present and when they are missing. PAGE 11
THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH Monday 26 April Anzac Day Public Holiday Wednesday 28 April Mark, Evangelist and Martyr 10:00am Eucharist 2:00pm Riversea Communion Service 5:00pm Evening Prayer Thursday 29 April Catherine of Siena, spiritual teacher (d. 1380) 7:30am St Hilda’s Finance Committee 9:00am Morning Prayer 5:00pm Evening Prayer Friday 30 April 9:00am Morning Prayer 3:00pm Parish Retreat departs St Luke’s Saturday 1 May Parish Retreat, New Norcia Sunday 2 May 7:30am Said Eucharist 9.30am Sung Eucharist 5:00pm Parish Retreat returns to St Luke’s 20 Monument Street, Mosman Park WA 6012 | +61 8 9384 0108 stlukemosmanpark@gmail.com | www.stlukemosmanpark.perth.anglican.org Rector Fr Matthew Smedley | 0412 468 522 rectorstlukemosmanpark@gmail.com Parish Office Administrator Amanda Mills-Ghani Tuesday/Friday 9:00am–1:00pm, Wednesday 9:00am–5:00pm Wardens Rod Dale, Bridget Faye AM, Gwen Speirs Synod Representatives James Jegasothy, Andrew Reynolds Parish Council Angela Beeton, Anna Goodes Adrian Momber, Kate Stanford Organists Rosemary Cassidy, Don Cook Op Shop Ruth Hogarth, Coordinator PAGE 12 Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 9:30am–1:00pm
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