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Andrey Mironov, Parable of the Two Sons, 2012
“What do you think?” Which one did the father's will?
Deeply valuable symbolism is thoroughly embedded in two of Jesus’ parables, both of which begin, “A certain man had two sons.” The more famous of these two is commonly called the parable of the prodigal son, and is found in Luke 15. We know it well because of the spectacular sculpture of the prodigal son with his father on our sanctuary wall.
The less often mentioned is the parable of the two sons, or the willing and unwilling sons. This parable is this morning’s Gospel reading from Matthew 21. Even people who have written much and taught profoundly about the parables of Jesus have rarely had much to say about this brief text, which is nevertheless freighted with significantly authoritative cargo. Jesus’ invitation to this parable is: “What do you think?”. Something for you to contemplate after this morning’ video service.
Vale Rennie Coutts
Rennie Coutts was a parishioner of St Andrew’s, from her home, from Mayflower Brighton and most lately at Princeton View Aged Care in Brighton East. She died last week, aged 95.
Born in rural Tasmania, in an area of Kentish, the closest town being Sheffield, her father worked in the family business, H L Jones & Sons Barrington Apiary, which continues today under different ownership and the name Sheffield Honey Farm.
Her parents did their best to ensure that Rennie received a good education, though her early schooling was largely at home due to childhood epilepsy. She was one of the very few girls in the district at that time that was sent to the coastal town of Devonport to board & attend the secondary college. She moved to Melbourne, where she enrolled at the University of Melbourne attaining a Bachelor of Arts followed by professional training and certification in pre-school / kindergarten education at Kew Kindergarten Teachers Training College and as a teacher librarian registered with the Library Association of Victoria.
Highlights of Rennie's professional life included:
· Director of Pre-School Centres in the State of Victoria
· Established Fawkner Park pre-school during WW2 for returning soldiers and families
· Head of Research at the Victorian State Library with a particular interest in library information systems (awarded travel grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York to pursue further library information systems study in Canada and USA)
· introduced a new library and information system at the Commonwealth Bureau of Roads
In 1972, as Rennie Lyne-Browne, she was appointed the Director of the Women’s Bureau within the Commonwealth Department of Labour and national service. The Women’s Bureau was the focus at a national level for research and information relating to women’s employment.
Her famous quote made a newspaper headline “Cut the male claptrap, please, Sir” and featured over an article about women wanting satisfaction in the workplace just as much as men. In this role at the Women’s Bureau, she work tirelessly against discrimination of women in the workforce and to ensure women could have an active role in both family and society.
Rennie was an advocate of women’s place in the workforce and had an enduring passion for the education of girls in maths and science. and has established a scholarship for this purpose. Rennie was married twice but both husbands predeceased her. Sadly she succumbed to COVID-19 which has so devasted some aged care facilities in Brighton and in Melbourne generally. Despite this, and being fond of the food from the Café at Princeton View, she rather wryly arranged for the ten people attending the burial to receive a lamington from the café as a gift. She was interred in the grave with her first husband, Arthur Lyne-Browne at Brighton Cemetery. May she rest in peace, and rise in glory.
Brighton Schoolhouse Cafe
New tenants take over the café on Monday. Mark Chann and Kim Oeung will be assuming ownership of the operation of the Brighton Schoolhouse Café under a new lease. Kim is a chef, and has particular interest in pastries (and I have a particular interest in trying them!). So we must try to support them – they will initially remain open for takeaway until restriction on inside dining change.
StAndrews@home
This week at St Andrew’s:
Sunday
10am - : Mattins : (in English) [join here]
11am – Bi-lingual service [join here]