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December 1967-January 1968

BISHOP'S LETTER

GODCHILDREN

Christmas greetings can be a bind, recovering lost addresses, catching the last mail, and so forth. But they can be a wholesome exercise too when you recall what old friends have meant to you and thank God for the new friends you've been given. So it seemed to me this year as I posted greetings, among others, to my fifteen godchildren and remembered my three godparents. I should be a heel to forget any of them.

What is the point of the Church's rule of three godparents for every infant baptised? A security in case you die when your child is young? A means of showing friendship by sharing the care of your child with another? Surely. Every child needs love to grow up whole and happy. All those 'one in every eleven' babies in New Zealand born out of wedlock need parents to care for them. The Lord be praised for foster-parents who carry out Society's responsibility to the children.

And the Church is no less responsible to the babies baptised. For baptism, is only Christian if it is followed up by making the child Christ's disciple within the fellowship of his Church. That is why we baptise babies in public, in the worshipping congregation, and why we require godparents to represent the Church in caring for the child's upbringing, and why we expect parents and godparents to learn what Christian upbringing means.

So we should choose as Godparents for our children those who want to share with them the gift of the Love of God in the friendship of Jesus. Often men and women are glad to be pledged to this public and sacred duty, and are grateful for help in carrying it out. But there are many cases, it must be admitted, where parents are not keen to find or are not able to find godparents who will accept the responsibility of lovingly sharing with their children as they grow up what God gives them in baptism. Where that happens I find most helpful and right some words of Bishop McKenzie's paper on this subject, - 'Let every Vicar form a guild of sponsors, and then the children will not only be baptized, but they will really be brought up in the Christian faith. And if, when they come to 'years of discretion', they do not personally embrace that faith, that will be a matter of their choice and not of the Church's neglect.'

Christmas greetings to you. I pray you will daily increase, through 1968, in the spirit of Christ, into whom you were born at your baptism. HENRY WELLINGTON.

COUNTRY PARISHIONERS.

THE ATTENTION OF ALL OUR COUNTRY PARISHIONERS IS DRAWN TO THIS MONTH'S CALENDAR AND IN PARTICULAR TO THE ARRANGEMENTS MADE FOR SPECIAL CELEBRATIONS OF THE HOLY COMMU NION FOR THE CHRISTMAS SEASON.

THERE ARE TWO VIEWS OF CHRISTMAS.

My dear Parishioners,

There are two views of Christmas. 

I suppose it would be true to say that everyone has seen the first, the close-up view. Here our attention is focused sharply upon the Manger Scene as presented on greeting cards and Christmas stamps, and in joyful carols:

"A child this day is born,
A child of high renown,
Most worthy of a sceptre,
A sceptre and a crown."

This view is presented to us vividly in a few brief chapters in the Gospels, and well may it lead us to sing with gladness: 

"Nowell, Nowell, Nowell,
Nowell, sing all we may,
Because the King of all kings,
Was born this blessed day."

But we cannot really understand Christmas unless we see also the other view, which is continually unfolded before us in the Bible, a long sweeping panoramic view, in which the Nativity is set in a timeless setting, with the events of the rolling years before and beyond it.

In this view we see the revelation of God to man, the prophets heralding the coming of the Messiah, the Church and its life and witness down through the centuries to our own time: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." See this view and we understand more truly the glory of our faith and know the inner peace and power that comes to us through the presence of the living Christ in our own lives; see this view and Christmas has intense reality now as we hold out our hands to receive the Holy Sacrament.

Here is a timely prayer which comes to us from the mission field:

"O Christ, we remember with joy and thanksgiving
the glorious act of the Incarnation from Bethlehem to Calvary, and beyond.
May we comprehend the true meaning of Thy coming,
beyond and within the symbolism that surrounds it,
and welcome Thee as the true Word of God,
and listen to that Word all our lives long."

May Christmas be to us all a time of spiritual blessing and renewal, and may we carry its message and inspiration with us into the New Year.

Your friend and Vicar,

V C VENIMORE

EVENSONG AT ST. MATTHEW'S.
ANNUAL NATIVITY PLAY.

(Sunday, December 3rd).

The Nativity Play presented by St. Matthew's College has become a delightful tradition in this parish. There is always as might be expected, a packed Church, including parents and children. There is a long history behind the performance of Nativity Plays, which attained a prominent place as a teaching medium in the Middle Ages and were presented in the framework of worship was called the "Office of the Shepherds." Nativity Plays help to convey the gladness and joy of what Christmas signifies. 

This year's play will be at St. Matthew's Church at Evensong on Sunday, December 3rd.

ROSES AND CHURCH GOING.

(Sunday, December 10th).

"My early recollections of church-going are associated with roses. We went every Sunday morning to an old Queen Anne church. In the neighbouring pew there was a gentleman who appeared every Sunday with a rose in his buttonhole; I admired that rose.' (J. Pemberton). We cannot claim that roses can be seen as often at that at St. Matthew's, but the Wairarapa Rose Society will be attending Evensong at St. Matthew's on December 10th, so we may expect to see such picturesqueness on that occasion!

PRE-CHRISTMAS WORSHIP.

(Sundays, December 17th and 24th). 

The special carols included within the congregational worship at the Service of Carols and Lessons on Sunday, December 17th, 7 p.m., will be the Christ mas gift of St. Matthew's Choir to the parish. The lessons will be read by representative parishioners. School will be over. Please come as a family!

The next Sunday (December 24th) brings us to Christmas Eve. for which Service a special sheet of carols will be provided.

CHRISTMAS BOWL.

According to the custom which generally obtains throughout New Zealand there will be a Christmas Bowl at the back of the Church in which contributions to the National Council of Churches Inter-Church Aid may be placed.

PRIVATE COMMUNIONS AT CHRISTMAS.

The Vicar has a list of parishioners who because of sickness or infirmity cannot attend the normal Services in Church, and receive private Communion. This includes the hospitals. However, there may be others not on the regular list. Please let the Vicar know if this is the case, and it will be his pleasure to bring the Sacrament to them.

AROUND THE PARISH.

Contributions from Parish Organisations are invited for this feature.

St. Matthew's Cubs.

The Youth Hall is proving a splendid meeting place for our activities, and the Cubs are full of enthusiasm.. Boys who wish to join the Cubs are expected to be members of one of our Sunday Schools, and to have attained the minimum age of seven. Cubs meet on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. and parents interested in their boys joining up with this excellent movement, with its aim of developing good citizenship and a sense of initiative and personal responsibility, should get in touch with Mrs. W. G. Mitchell, Akela of the Cub Pack. 

Why not come along to the Youth Hall and have a look for yourself and see what the Cub movement is all about?

St. Matthew's Bible Classes and Youth Club.

We think we have set a good standard of attendance this year at Bible Class and have covered a good deal of ground in our studies. The Youth Club activities have been really "with it",  and we are aiming to develop a strong club spirit before we reach the next stage in membership expansion.

The Hallowe'en Dance was super, with a good crowd and a high standard. Special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Ross. Mr. Ross was M.C. and Mrs. Ross and a group of club members were responsible for perpetrating the spooky-looking decorations. Thanks also to Mr. and Mrs. J. Dear and to Mrs. A. Earl who gave us valiant assistance during the evening.

Upward and forward is our motto!

--Roving Reporter.

Servers at St. Matthew's.

Excellent work is being done by our guild of servers and the Vicar is most grateful to them for the keen way in which they go about their duties. The new cassocks are much appreciated, and are in various sizes including provision for six footers!

St. Matthew's Choir.

Choir members recently gathered after Evensong for a function organized by Miss A. Edge at short notice to convey thanks and good wishes to Mr. F. Sewell, who has been a most able choirmaster, and is shortly taking up new duties away from Masterton. Mr. T. L. Bulloch spoke appreciatively on behalf of the choir of the splendid work done by Mr. Sewell and, on behalf of members, presented him with a silver tray. The Vicar also expressed his gratitude to Mr. Sewell, who had done such a fine job. The whole Sewell family would be a great loss to the parish.  We take this opportunity to convey to Mrs Sewell our thanks for the magnificent contribution to parish life as leader of St. Matthew's Lansdowne Young Wives, and superintendent of St Matthew's Lansdowne Sunday School. The Vicar announced that Mr T. L. Bulloch would take over the position of Choirmaster, an appointment which was received with acclaim. We welcome Mrs Eccles as a new choir member.

THE BUSY-NESS OF CHRISTMAS.

A Great Rush and Bustle:

Christmas always comes upon us with a rush; there is always so much extra to be done. The school examinations, the prize-givings, the preparations for the holidays, the buying and sending of Christmas gifts, and the preparations for our own family celebrations.

These are the things that keep us so busy that Christmas seems to come with a rush. We have a faint memory of the years when we were young and less occupied with adult cares and could slip away quietly with a cricket team or on a camping expedition and leave all this bother to others. That was the natural privilege of adolescence when we had cast off the ties of childhood and not yet been harnessed with the responsibilities of manhood.

"Rejoice O young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, but..." But we do not really envy the freedom of youth at Christmas time for after all, it is the work and busyness which prepare us to receive into our hearts the real spirit of Christmas, and the message of the Incarnation. There was a great rush and bustle in the Inn of Bethlehem on that first Christmas night. The innkeeper and his wife and all the household were distracted trying to find room for the crowd of guests, and when late in the afternoon the young carpenter from Nazareth arrived with his young wife, so much in need of care and hospitality, there was no room for them at the inn and he had to make do for them in a stable.

Let Us Not Be Ruffled or Grumpy:

I remind you of all this to suggest that we do not allow the rush of Christmas to ruffle us unduly, or to get our tempers on edge and spoil it all. Let us be considerate one for another, for the tired girls in the shops, and the harassed tradesmen trying to fulfil all the orders and satisfy every body, and especially for the tired mothers and housewives trying to cope with Christmas shopping. Let us not be grumpy but enter into it all in the right spirit with glad hearts and cheerful faces, for you know I am sure, that this old world still cannot afford to lose Christmas. I know that many of us have become very superior and sophisticated and pretend to be bored with the whole thing as an old tradition which has lost its meaning. You know, it just may be true that Christmas is the celebration of the greatest event in human history, the one grand miracle of the entering into human life of God Himself to save and redeem it. And that means your life and mine and your little children and every one of us.

So all this busy-ness may be made a preparation for our Christmas Communion. We may be a bit tired on Christmas morning with all our visitors and all the other works, but we have remembered all our old friends and not spared ourselves in preparing for our own family celebrations; the hands we lift to God to receive the Blessed Sacrament may be worn and tired hands, but our hearts will be clean hearts fit to offer our Eucharist for the Saviour Child of Bethlehem.

-H. W. Monaghan.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

St. Matthew's Herald: Miss L. Kielberg $1, Mesdames Knowles $1, Moffit $1, C. A. Whiteman $1, E. Morris 50c, Donald James $2, D. Burnett $2.05, S. Jenkins $1, P. Donald $1, Bucknell $1, G. P. Norris $1, Mr. Reg Lee $1.

PARISH CALENDAR.

(Abbreviations: H.C., Holy Com munion; L. Liturgy (new Ser vice for Holy Communion); M., Matins; E., Evensong; F.S., Family Service).

Dec 3: Advent Sunday. (Violet)
St Matthew's: 7.15 am, H.C.;
8 am., H.C.,
10 am L. (Special end of school year Celebration).
7 pm Nativity Play.

Epiphany: FESTIVAL. Special Notices.

St Alban's: 8 am., H.C., 

Kopuaranga: 2 p.m, F.S. and Prize-Giving

Wainuioru: 2.30 p.m. F.S. and Prize-Giving

Dec. 10: Advent II. (Violet).
St. Matthew's: 7.15 a.m., L.;
8 a.m. and 10 a.m., H.C.;
7 p.m., E. Church Parade, Wairarapa Rose Society.

Epiphany: 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., L.;
10 a.m., F.S. and Prize-Giving;
7 p.m., E

Bideford: 2.30 p.m., F.S. & Prize-Giving.

St Matthew's West: 2 p.m. F.S. (Children's function following).

Dec 17: Advent III (Violet).
St Matthew's: 7.15 a.m., H.C.
8 a.m. L.
10 a.m. F.S. (Children's function following H.C.;
7 p.m. Service of Carols and Lessons.

Epiphany: 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. H.C.;
10 a.m. F.S., H.C. following;
7 p.m., E.

Upper Plain: 11.15 a.m., H.C.

St Alban's: 2 p.m., F.S. and Prize-Giving

Bideford: 9.30 a.m., H.C.

Mt Bruce: 8 a.m. H.C.

Dec 24: Advent IV (Violet)
St Matthew's: 7.15 a.m., and 8 a.m. H.C.;
10 a.m., L.
7 p.m. E. Christmas Eve.

Epiphany: 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. L.;
7 p.m. E.

Rangitumau: 10 a.m. H.C.

Kopuraranga: 10.45 a.m., H.C.

St Alban's 8 a.m., H.C..

Wainuioru: 11.15 a.m., H.C.

Dec 25: Christmas Day. (White)
St Matthew's: 6.15 a.m, 7 a.m.,  8 a.m. H.C.
9 a.m. L., 10 a.m. F.S.; 10.45 a.m. H.C.

Epiphany: 7 a.m., H.C., 9 a.m. L.

Dec 31: Christmas 1. (White)
St Matthew's: 7.15 a.m., H.C.; 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. L.
7 p.m., E.

Epiphany: 7. a.m. and 9 a.m., H.C.
7 p.m. E.

Jan 6: Epiphany of our Lord (White)
St Matthew's: 7 a.m., H.C.

Jan 7: Epiphany I (White)
St Matthew's: 7.15 a.m., H.C.; 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. L.
7 p.m., E.

Epiphany: 7. a.m. and 9 a.m., H.C.
7 p.m. E.

Jan 14: Epiphany II. (White)
St Matthew's: 7.15 a.m., H.C.; 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. L.
7 p.m., E.

Epiphany: 7. a.m. and 9 a.m., H.C.
7 p.m. E.

Jan. 25: Conversion of St Paul (Red).
St Matthew's: 7 a.m. H.C.

Jan. 28: Epiphany IV. (White)
St Matthew's: 7.15 a.m., H.C.; 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. L.
7 p.m., E.

Epiphany: 7. a.m. and 9 a.m., H.C.
7 p.m. E.

The Parish Register

HOLY BAPTISM.

 "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism."

September 3:
Arles Oliver
William Isaac Blake, 

September 17:
Peter Derek Finegan. 

October 8:
Darren John Hargreaves.
Kathryn Thelma Anderson. 

October 15:
Allan Murray Hale. 

October 22:
Wendy Jane Hopper.
Lissa Claire Oldfield.
Pauline Beth Mooney.
Maria Elizabeth Shaw. 

October 28:
Alan Samuel Oliver Gawith. 

October 29:
Andrew Robert McKenzie.
Shelley Anne Land.
Karaan Laurence Tucker.

HOLY MATRIMONY. 

"Heirs together in the Grace of Life."

October 21:
Michael Burnell Wilson and Janice Ann Stinear.
Richard Charles Mercer and Caryl Jan Pedersen.
Peter Wright Thomson and Sheryn Moira Whiteman.
Garry William Jackson and Wickie Arapera Hing.
Trevor Vernon Lewis and Gloria Florence Pearce. 

October 28: William John Hollings and Heather Jilline Carter. 

November 4:
Alan Stuart McEwen and Diane Lesley McLachlan.
Zakie Terence Saba and Sonia Ann Bubb.
Michael Ronald Smith and Ruther Vivienne Barber.
Warwick Maltock Howe and Yvonne Nancy Fenemor. 

November 11:
Bruce Malcolm Oldcorn and Jillian Alice Burn.

IN MEMORIAM.

"I am the Resurrection and the Life."

October 19:
Gertrude Alexandra Angove. 

October 26:
Florence Mildred Gawith. 

October 30:
William Isaac Nation. 

November 10:
Melville Edward Leslie Oliver.

NEWS FROM THE EPIPHANY SUB-DISTRICT.

Epiphany Roundup.

Once again we approach Christmas. Every year I am amazed how quickly this season approaches. I hope it will be for you a very happy one. Remember that it is Christ's birthday. Remember too that in Jesus we see what God is like. He who hath seen Me hath seen the Father."

Please note carefully the following events: 

DECEMBER 3rd: Festival Sunday. Information about the Services on this day has already been circulated.

DECEMBER 10th:
New Liturgy, 7 a.m. and 9 a.m.
Sunday School Prize-Giving at 10 a.m. This is a special FAMILY SERVICE.
Evensong 7 p.m.

DECEMBER 17th:
Holy Communion 7 a.m., 9 a.m. and following Family Service.
The 10 a.m. Family Service will consist of children in song and action portraying the Christmas Story.
Evensong LESSONS AND CAROLS 7 p.m.

DECEMBER 24th:
New Liturgy 7 a.m. and 9 a.m.
Evensong 7 p.m.

DECEMBER 25th:
Holy Communion 7 a.m. New Liturgy 9 a.m.

SERVICES DURING JANUARY:

1st and 3rd Sundays:
Holy Communion 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. 

2nd and 4th Sundays: New Liturgy 7 a.m. and 9 a.m.

Evensong 7 p.m. each Sunday.

There will be NO celebration of Holy Communion on Wednesdays during January. 

My wife and family join me in saying...

May God richly bless you this Christmas and give you a happy and prosperous New Year.

GEO. SIMPSON.

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