From father.mansfield at johannite.org Tue Jan 6 05:43:11 2009 From: father.mansfield at johannite.org (Rev Fr Tim Mansfield) Date: Tue Jan 6 05:43:16 2009 Subject: [st u's community] [st uriel's] Stroud Monastery - Retreat Weekend - 6th - 8th February 2009 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <35565cab0901060343kaa2d6a2ld598c5684be2ce00@mail.gmail.com> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announce mailing list announce@saint-uriels.org http://laika.gnusto.com/mailman/listinfo/announce From Terry.Collins at mail.uh.edu Tue Jan 6 15:06:36 2009 From: Terry.Collins at mail.uh.edu (Terry.Collins@mail.uh.edu) Date: Tue Jan 6 15:06:43 2009 Subject: [st u's community] [st uriel's] Christmas In-Reply-To: <35565cab0812291509i20003a36i31626c9da1ae3e4b@mail.gmail.com> References: <35565cab0812291509i20003a36i31626c9da1ae3e4b@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Amen Tim, Terry C. ----- Original Message ----- From: Rev Fr Tim Mansfield Date: Monday, December 29, 2008 5:09 pm Subject: [st u's community] [st uriel's] Christmas To: ?????Parish of St Uriel announcements > Friends, > > I spent Christmas day in Sydney for the first time this year. > This is the > second time in my whole life that I haven't been in Brisbane > with my family > at Christmas time. > > When I was a teenager, living at home, family Christmases saw my > mum, dad > and sister along with Mum's parents and her sister all together > at our > place, eating and opening presents all day (and into Boxing > Day). Dad's > sisters and their families would visit through the day, > neighbours would > drop by. Vast amounts of food and endless gifts. Lots of joy and > love and... > well... bounty. > > Through my late teens and early twenties, dad's sisters got > older and less > inclined to travel. Mum's parents died, then Dad, then her > sister. For the > last ten years, it's been my sister, her daughter, Mum and me > together on > Christmas day. In the last few years, since Mum moved out of our old > neighbourhood and into a house far out of town there's been no > neighbours or > friends dropping around. > > There's still been a lot of food and presents, but the whole > event has had > for me a kind of grim determination to keep having Christmas. > It's still > been a lovely time with my family, but with less of a sense of > joy for me. > To me it's felt a lot of the time as though we're keeping > Christmas largely > for Mum's sake - it's always been her favourite time of year and > since she > lost Dad, it feels like we've all been very focused on "putting > on" a good > Christmas. > > Towards the end of this year, Mum died. My sister and I gave > each other > permission to have our Christmas however we needed to - both > acutely aware > that this was going to be a weird one. > > So, I stayed in Sydney. A friend offered to join Anthony and I > on Christmas > day, so I bought unreasonable amounts of food and spent the day > cooking. And > we feasted and toasted and enjoyed each other's company. I had > my own > Christmas, more or less on my own terms and I found myself > delighting in > many of the things I'd always done. > > Sydney at Christmas time takes on a very focussed character. > Things get more > and more directed toward the day, special shops selling Christmas > decorations open, local groceries give away bbqed sausages, > houses get > decorated in inflatable Christmas-bling. But the streets get > quieter as the > day draws nearer. > > It's usual for clergy to decry the "consumerist" character of modern > Christmas, to bemoan how "pagan" our Christmas customs are, to > mourn the > "loss" of the "true message" of Christmas ? the incarnation of > the Divine in > the human form of the baby Yeshua, who will grow up to show > forth the Word > Incarnate in his actions and his teaching. > > But I kind of don't get all the hair-tearing. From where I'm > sitting, the > true message of Christmas is Divine Grace: the free, unearned, > unmeritedlove of God. "For God so loved the world, that He gave > his only begotten > Son". The story we tell is that we are given someone very > precious - a gift > which nothing in our actions or our words really warrants - a > gift of > healing and reconciliation, a gift of limitless, unconditional Love. > > The story of Christmas is that no matter what, God always shows > up first. > She is always there for us, She is always waiting, ready for > when we want to > come home for dinner. She is overflowing with gifts and with > food. Our time > spent with Her is full of love and joy and bounty. > > When we ignore that inner meaning to Christmas, all our shopping > and our > gifts and our cooking and eating can be debased into meaningless > consumerism. But when we walk in Her Light, those exact same > visible actions > are lit from inside as manifestations of the Grace and Bounty of > the Divine. > > So next Christmas, shop shamelessly. Give shamelessly. Love > shamelessly.Christmas is the one moment in the year where > without any boundaries or > limits we can celebrate the bounty of our material existence and the > spiritual bounty that symbolises. I don't think we should rein > it in, I > think we should challenge ourselves to take it further. Deeper. > Wider. To > family, to friends and beyond. > > May the love and light and bounty of the Infinite Divine Mother-Father > overflow from the cup of your heart to illuminate your soul, > life and world > with boundless joy, grace and peace. My blessings for the coming > year in all > your endeavours. My regards to your families and friends. > > Your servant in the Light, > > Tim+ > > Reverend Father Tim Mansfield > Rector, Parish of Saint Uriel the Archangel uriels.org/>,Sydney, Australia > Apostolic Johannite Church > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://laika.gnusto.com/pipermail/community/attachments/20090106/2e9b5737/attachment.htm From father.mansfield at johannite.org Thu Jan 8 03:24:03 2009 From: father.mansfield at johannite.org (Rev Fr Tim Mansfield) Date: Thu Jan 8 03:24:09 2009 Subject: [st u's community] [st uriel's] Gatherings and Events for Jan-Feb 2009 Message-ID: <35565cab0901080124l72b48af5xe0529e3591f67f18@mail.gmail.com> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announce mailing list announce@saint-uriels.org http://laika.gnusto.com/mailman/listinfo/announce