A hearing loop is installed. Please set your aid

to the “T” position and adjust volume to suit.

Parish Priest: Fr Andrew Eaton Ph: 0249559544 Email: revandreweaton@icloud.com Ordinand: Mr Phil Morris Children’s & Families Ministry: Matthew Couch Secretary: Sandra Morris Wardens: Ian Morante, Gail Woodcock, Lorraine Elbourne

Address: Cnr Metcalf & Brown Street Postal: 11 Brown Street Wallsend NSW 2287 Website: www.stlukeswallsend.church Facebook: @St.LukesWallsend

Looking Ahead

November

Thur 16 9.30am Advent Study begins Sat 25 Bishop’s Election Synod

December

Sun 3 Advent 1

Sun 10 Advent 2 5pm Carols on Lawn Sun 24 Advent 4 9am Mass Christmas Eve 5pm All-Ages Christmas Service

with Carols & Nativity 11.00pm Carols 11.30pm Midnight Mass Christmas Day

9.00 am Christmas Day Mass

Eva & William Ralph Thomas James Rae Nowlan Kevin Arthur Jnr David J Scott Craig Chrystie Gladys Tredinnick Carol Caban Arthur Booth Leanne Walker Sarah Burnett Robert Herd Andrew Ryan Nellie Davis Edwin Woolfrey

13 Mon Charles Simeon

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14 Tues Samuel Seabury 10am Jesmond Grove 12pm Deanery (Fr A) 3.30pm Hunter Interfaith Network

(Fr A)

5pm Evening prayer

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15 Wed 9am Mass 10am Sunbeams Playgroup 10am Dorcas Craft Group 5pm Evening prayer

————————————–———————————————————-——————— 16 Thur Margaret of Scotland 9.30am Advent Book Group 2.00pm Koombahla 5pm Evening prayer

—————————————–———————————————————-——————— 17 Fri Hugh of Lincoln

Rector’s Day Off

—————————————–———————————————————-———–——— 18 Sat Elizabeth of Hungary

—————————————–———————————————————-——————— 19 Sun 33rd Sunday of OT 7.30am Sung Mass 9.30am Family Mass with S.School

THE DIARY - THIS WEEK YEAR’S MIND

PARISH DIRECTORY

Prayer for Synod

Almighty and everliving God, give wisdom and understanding to the members of the Synod of this Diocese. Teach us in all things to seek first your honour and glory. May we perceive what is right, have courage to pursue it and grace to ac-complish it; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

12th November 2017

Saint Luke’s Wallsend Est. 1867

32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Hymns Opening Gradual Offertory Final

7.30 TiS 153 TiS 430 TiS 499 TiS 609 9.30 All on the screen

From the Irish Dominicans at www.goodnews.ie

There is a church in Cork that has carvings of the wise and foolish bridesmaids

at the entrance - the wise at one side and the foolish at the other. I'm afraid

the foolish ones look much more interesting that the others! They look more

individual, more alive, more human. In the Gospel story too the wise brides-

maids are far less likeable characters than the foolish! If you were really stuck,

you would be more likely to get help from one of those foolish bridesmaids

than from any of the wise ones. Nobody loves a little ‘Miss Perfect’ (unless it

be her mother!). And these Miss Perfects refused help when they were asked

for it. Was Jesus having a bad day when he composed this story?

We have to remember that a parable is not an allegory. An allegory is a story

that has many points of reference to human experience - many punch-lines,

so to speak - but a parable has only one. The development of the story itself

has only one purpose in a parable: to add strength to the one point. For that

reason, the refusal of the wise to help the foolish is not being held up as model

behaviour for us. Jesus himself had a partiality for “the weak, the sick, the

wounded, the strayed, the lost” (See Ezech 34, as the model for his ‘lost sheep’

parable). The one point of this parable of the bridesmaids is readiness. Jesus

was continuously telling people to wake up and stay awake.

But to come back to those ten bridesmaids.... Why do the wise ones seem so

boring? And the foolish ones so much more interesting? Maybe the reason

is this: while our foolishness is our own, our wisdom is usually borrowed; our

wisdom is all too often a pretence, an imitation, and it doesn’t fit us as well as

our foolishness! We care little for goodness and wisdom; in truth we are bored

by them, and it shows in our face!

Can wisdom be mine, really mine? Are the best things really for me?

Or can I only look on and imitate, like a football supporter wearing the colours

of ‘my’ team? Goodness was obligatory at home and in school, and so from

earliest childhood we may have seen it as ‘what other people want’.

Evil then became identified with what we wanted ourselves! We may never

really have interiorised goodness. We may then feel that it must be the same

with everyone else: that goodness is always false. That would be the final

caricature of Christian education. We must face the fact that many children

now grow to adulthood with nothing more than this. Wisdom is to the soul

what health is to the body. It is of no use unless it is yours. Information can

be anybody’s: you can just google it. But wisdom has to be your own. ‘Sapor’,

a Latin word that means ‘taste’, was used to describe the gift of wisdom:

wisdom is ‘sapida scientia’, tasted knowledge. Not knowledge in a book or in

someone else’s head, but in me: in my mouth, so to speak, in my heart, living

through me. I heard someone say, “English is only our second language.

What we are is our first language!”

GOSPEL REFLECTION

Please pass on to Fr Andrew the names of those known to us who are in need of prayers, a home or hospital visit, or other pastoral care.

End -of -Year Notice to all groups

As November will usually be your last meeting for the year, please remember that all Reports and any Financial reports need to be handed in before the end of the year to the Parish Secretary. thanks

HAVE YOUR SAY

Our Property Development Sub-Committee needs

your help.

Please list everything you think we might need in a new church hall/office space/garden, should we

decide to develop our land. Nothing is too small or inconsequential

to note !

Wine & Dinner Evening for families on Sat 25th Nov from 5.30 pm

A Social Evening

for Families & their Children

Bring a dish to share

Children will be supervised, so you can relax and enjoy the night.

See Matthew Couch 0415 173 868

Combined Parish End-of-Year Christmas Dinner

Monday 27th November 2017 @ Wallsend Diggers

D-Bar & Grill

6pm for a 6.30pm start

Everyone is welcome to come along and enjoy fun & fellowship together in

one celebration.

Place your names and number of people attending on the clipboard at rear of the

church by 19/11/17. For more info phone Elizabeth Fratus

49558189 or Shirley Melvelle 49568609

Noticeboard

PARISH QUARTERLY MAGAZINE

Starting with a Christmas

issue in December St Luke’s

will put out a quarterly magazine.

Articles will cover topics on theology,

liturgy, spirituality, and prayer.

We will have book reviews, profiles of

parishioners, poetry, art, and up to date

news and activities in the parish.

If you would like to contribute to the

magazine, assist with the editing,

printing or production, please email or

speak with Fr Andrew. We will also be

happy to receive suggestions for the

name of the magazine, so be creative

and email those in to Fr Andrew as well

to:

revandreweaton@icloud.com

Mission to Seafarers This year Missions to Seafarers are

aiming to prepare 1000 Christmas

Care packs. Donations will need to

be delivered to the Mission by 6 Dec

see insert for some suggestions

~ Memorial ~

A thank-offering has been received in loving memory of Eva & William Ralph, (obit 15th & 4th November)

a gift of Lola Deith, for her mum & dad