Another week of these historic but difficult and isolating times passes, and although the signs of the nationwide suppression of the virus appear good, the financial implications of this shutdown will no doubt be felt for years to come. That is certainly the case here at St Andrew’s where the loss of the receipt of envelope giving has further devastated our income. You are encouraged to use the facilities of direct deposit or credit card, if possible, to ensure the regularity of our income.
We are especially mindful of those who have lost their jobs because of the corona virus pandemic and those who have had their work days reduced at this time. This includes our clergy and musicians. We have had to suspend the contracts of some of our wonderful musicians due to our lack of funds. I, too, will be part-time from next week so our on-going clergy availability will be limited to:
Ian (0421 321 321) – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
Michelle (0403 642 178) – Monday, Friday, Sunday.
Angela is on extended leave, and the Parish Office phone and email are diverted to me.
Wednesday is our regular ‘catch-up Zoom meeting’ and everyone is encouraged to connect in by internet or phone. There are now direct links on our website front page so you can easily connect with us all for a chat @ 10.30am every Wednesday.
Work is starting next week on the upgrade of Church Street outside St Andrew’s and on the replacement of the roundabout on the corner with St Andrew’s Street. This will reduce available parking whilst the work is carried out but, fortunately, that is not a significant issue at this time.
Our Communion Packs will be ready this week, so don’t forget to let Ian know if you would like one dropped in so you can partake of communion while watching our services.
Brighton Grammar’s ANZAC Service in the Lady Chapel is linked here.
Easter and ANZAC
The story of Easter always fits well with any form of serious business. It has space for personal and domestic grief and death, and offers promise of life beyond grief. It expands to meet the large seasons of the human heart, the stages of life's journey and the vulnerability of the natural world in which we live. It also offers hope that we and our world might one day be transformed.
The Easter story is serious and far reaching enough to embrace reflection on large catastrophes bushfires and coronavirus.
So Easter fits well with Anzac Day. Or perhaps we should say that Anzac Day fits well with Easter. Anzac Day recalls matters of life and death, tragic events. So many young men and women have died in conflicts among and within nations – in wars and in supposed peacetime.
Much of what was said by generals and politicians, and what was written on gravestones for the consolation of relatives and the reassurance of the people, has been taken from the Easter story. 'They died that others might live.' 'They made the supreme sacrifice.' 'Their death was not in vain.'
Grief needed to be housed in the Easter story. But Easter also tests the meanings we find in great loss and disaster. It challenges any easy consolations we may find or offer to others, especially our temptation to describe people's deaths as useful to others and to minimise the suffering and lasting harm caused by natural catastrophes and wars.
In the Easter story the connections that link death, in its various forms of loss, ageing, catastrophe and grief, with life and meaning are much more mysterious and complex.
Despite the chocolate eggs, Easter does not sweeten the death of Jesus. It remains a brutal, degrading, dismembering, dirty affair. The presence of a crucifix with the tortured corpus of Christ hanging on it, is the only starting point for thinking about what rising to life might mean. There are no shortcuts.
To ignore the casual brutality, pain, death and diminishment of war by depicting it as an adventure for young soldiers, is judged as cheap nonsense when set alongside Easter. Anzac Day is first of all the remembrance of painful death and of the loss of so many people and of so much promise.
Nor does Easter canonise good intentions. Jesus' acceptance of death for the benefit of others was important, but by itself it did not give meaning to his life and death.
Choice and good intentions are never sufficient to give meaning to any one's life. Ultimately meaning and life are given, not chosen. The heart of the Easter story is that God raised Jesus from the dead. That was a gift.
So too in the Anzac story, it may be comforting to say that young soldiers died that others may live, but that comfort is too easy. They may have died with this hope, but no straight line ran between their intention and the outcome.
To give of ourselves is a good and encouraging thing to do, but our gift has its meaning when it is reciprocated by an unexpected and greater gift. In Christian faith any confidence that the path we have chosen will lead to life comes from the conviction that God has given us life.
Both Easter and Anzac Day make a claim on us. We should never give up on life, our own or the life of any human being, no matter how hopeless it seems to be. Both these days encourage us to acknowledge the reality of our world, including the full extent of the grief and loss we suffer, of human malice, of the horrors of war.
We deny or downplay these things because we are afraid of them. But if we appreciate life as a gift to be gratefully received and lived fully, we do not need to be afraid. We can then respond generously to the needs of our world.
At Home @ St Andrew's
Find out what's on - click here
的线上服务
来自主任牧师的消息
我们又度过了在历史上非常困难的封闭的一周。尽管在全国范围内抑制新冠病毒的迹象似乎很好，但毫无疑问，这种隔离所带来的对财务的将会影响未来的好几年。圣安德烈（St Andrew's）就是这种情况，奉献信封的减少进一步损害了我们的收入。我们鼓励您使用直接存款或信用卡的方式，以确保我们收入的稳定性。
我们特别谨记那些由于新冠病毒大流行而失业的人，以及此时工作时间减少的人。这包括我们的神职人员和音乐家。由于缺乏资金，我们不得不中止一些出色音乐家的合同。我也将从下周起兼职，因此我们神职人员的时间将限于:
Ian (0421 321 321) – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
Michelle (0403 642 178) – Monday, Friday, Sunday.
Angela is on extended leave, and the Parish Office phone and email are diverted to me. Angela 延长了休假，教会办公室的电话和电子邮件的处理由我负责。
星期三是我们的常规“Zoom碰面会议”，我们鼓励所有人通过互联网或电话进行连接。现在，我们网站的首页上有直接链接，因此您可以轻松地在每个星期三上午10:30与我们联系以进行聊天。
Easter and ANZAC
复活节 和 澳纽军团日
复活节的故事与任何形式的严肃话题都相关。它为个人和家庭带来悲伤和死亡提供了空间，并为人们带来了超越悲伤的生活希望。它可以扩展到满足人类心意的大季节、生命历程的各个阶段以及我们所生活的自然世界的脆弱性。这也给我们来了希望：我们和我们所处的世界有一天会被改变。
复活节的故事很严肃，影响深远，足以引起人们对林区大火和冠状病毒这种大灾难的反思。
因此，复活节与澳纽军团日很契合。也许我们应该说澳纽军团日非常契合复活节。澳纽军团日让我们回想起生死攸关的悲剧事件，如此之多的年轻人死于国与国、国家内部的冲突中-在战争和所谓的和平时期。
将军和政治家所说的大部分内容，以及为抚慰亲人和使民众安心而写在墓碑上的内容，都取自复活节的故事。“他们死是为了别人活着。”“他们做出了最大的牺牲。”“他们的死没有白费。”
悲伤的情绪需要在复活节故事中解决。但是复活节也检验了我们在巨大的损失和灾难中所发现的意义。它挑战了我们可能找到或提供给他人的任何轻松的安慰，尤其是我们倾向于将人们的死亡描述为对他人有用，并最大程度地减少自然灾害和战争造成的痛苦和持久伤害。
在复活节的故事中，将死亡、各种损失、衰老、灾难和悲伤与生命的意义联系起来，更加神秘和复杂。
尽管有巧克力蛋，复活节并不能使耶稣的死更加甜蜜。它仍然是残酷、有辱人格、轻视、肮脏的事情。十字架上挂着的、遭受折磨的基督，是思考重生的意义的唯一起点。没有捷径。
通过将战争描述为年轻士兵的冒险而忽略了战争的野蛮、痛苦、死亡和人口减少，被认为是与复活节并列的廉价废话。首先，澳纽军团纪念日是对痛苦的死亡以及如此之多的人的牺牲和如此多的希望的丧失的纪念。
复活节也不能促进良好的愿望。耶稣为他人的利益接受死亡，这很重要，但就其本身而言，这并不是他的生存和死亡的意义。
选择和善意永远不足以使任何人的生活有意义。最终，意义和生命被赋予，而不是被选择。复活节故事的核心是上帝从死里复活了耶稣。那是一份礼物。
在澳纽军团日的故事中也是如此，令人欣慰的是，年轻的士兵死，换来其他人可能活着，但这种安慰太容易了。他们可能怀着这种希望而死了，但是他们的意图和结果之间并没有直接的联系。
奉献自己是一件令人鼓舞的美事，但是当我们奉献的礼物得到意想不到的更大礼物的回报时，我们的礼物就具有了意义。在基督信仰中，任何我们选择的通向生命的道路都来自于上帝赋予了我们生命的信念。
我们否认或轻描淡写这些事情是因为我们害怕。
但是，如果我们将生活视为一种礼物，我们可以充满感恩地接受和充实地生活，我们就不必害怕。然后，我们可以慷慨地回应世界的需求。