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• Cathedral Choir seeks members
May I seek the help of you and your readers in contacting the many budding Cathedral Choristers that there must be in Port Elizabeth - boys and men - so that we can convey to them the joys and benefits of membership of a cathedral choir. Now almost the only remaining church or cathedral choir of men and boys in South Africa, and still going strong since it was formed in 1876, the choir continues to sing great church music every Sunday with our 12 or so boys and 9 regular men. If we are to be true to one of the principal purposes of a Cathedral, it is vital that we are able to continue to offer the highest possible standards of worship to our Lord and Saviour.
But boys’ voices break and we have lost, through retirement and
career moves, a number of our excellent Altos, Tenors and Basses
recently. So we have some vacancies in all vocal parts. Boys should
be aged between 8 and 12 and need not have sung before – we will
find and train their voices! The great English church music composer William Byrd wrote in 1588: “The exercise of singing is delightful to Nature and good to preserve the health of man &ldots; There is not any Music of Instruments whatsoever comparable where the voices are good and the same well sorted and ordered &ldots; Since singing is so good a thing, I wish all men would learn to sing”. I look forward to a rush of applicants keen to follow Byrd’s advice! I can be contacted on :041 581 3141 or 084 505 5931. Picture: All the King's men - Bishop Bethlehem, Barry Sendall, the Provost, the churchwardens and choir of the cathedral.
“It will upset my dad too much. Please don’t let my mother’s coffin come into Church!” This is a plea heard more and more nowadays, as family ask for a memorial service in place of a funeral. However, with good reason, our Prayer Book makes it clear that a memorial service may be held in conjunction with a funeral service, but never instead of it. (See ‘An Anglican Prayer Book 1989’ page 553 # 63). This proviso is made for a situation in which, for example, a person from Port Elizabeth dies in Cape Town, where a funeral service is held, followed by a memorial service in Port Elizabeth for those who were not at the funeral in Cape Town. The only exception is when the body cannot be recovered, such as being lost at sea, or disappearing without trace in a fire or explosion. The Church insists on a funeral service for various good reasons: First of all, as Christians we treat the human body with the utmost dignity and respect – both in life and in death. After all, the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and when, in death, the body is of no use to us, we inter it, or have it cremated, with the Church’s involvement and help. The reverent disposal of a human body is part of the Church’s continual celebration of the incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord. Thus in the Christian funeral service, there is an aspect of joy, because of what Jesus has done for us, and His triumph over sin and death. But while there is joy, there is also a certain solemnity about a funeral. And that leads to the second reason for having a funeral service instead of a memorial service. There is a natural sadness when a loved one dies. The shortest verse in the Bible tells us of the sadness our Lord experienced when he heard of the death of His friend, Lazarus, as we read “Jesus wept!” (John 11: 35). Thus there needs to be a tangible service of saying “Good bye”, and even though people may be upset at the presence of the coffin in Church, it nonetheless helps us to bring about closure. I know of many cases when a memorial service was held instead of a funeral service, which resulted in the remaining spouse’s inability to come to terms with the death. A modern trend for cremation is for the entire service, including the committal, to take place at one service – this is followed by a ‘Private Cremation’, which means no-one goes to the crematorium with the funeral directors. Some families prefer to escort the body to the crematorium, but this is a rare exception. Contrary to the stories one hears, the body is cremated in the same coffin as was used in Church, and after the cremation, what is left is placed in a bag with the name of the deceased person, which is then placed in a container for interment. This is accompanied by the cremation certificate, which verifies the name and date of cremation. This means you can be assured that if Aunt Aggie was cremated, it is Aunt Aggie’s ashes you will receive! Just a note of interest. When a body is taken into Church, it is taken in feet first, and will remain in that position for the duration of the service, and on being taken out, will go out feet first as well. However when a priest is being buried, his/her coffin comes in head first, to signify the office which he/she held, facing the people. It is also customary on a priest’s coffin to place a chalice and paten, a Bible and a stole signifying the office held. After the service, the coffin is lead out head first again. The death of a loved one can be a real tragedy - even if someone dies after a long illness, and death is expected, when it comes. Thus the Church understands the sadness and tears, but is able to assure us that Jesus is ultimately in control, and that our joy is in Him, the resurrection and the life.
What is Spiritual Direction? Spiritual Direction is help given by a “Director” to enable a “Directee” to be more attentive and open to God’s desire for a deepening and personal communication and relationship with those He loves. This achieves greater intimacy with God and helps the Directee to live out more positively the consequences of that precious relationship. What does a Spiritual Director do? The focus of direction is the spiritual experience in every aspect of the Directee’s life particularly resulting from prayer, meditation, reading of the Bible and all ongoing life. The Spiritual Director applies listening skills and a deep sensitivity to detect and understand the inner life and gifts of the Directee, and so to lead that person into a deepening and appreciative prayerful relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, and an awareness of his action in their life. What is Spiritual Companionship? “Companioning” is when a person “walks” alongside another in a listening and caring capacity, encouraging them on their spiritual journey and praying with and for them. This process of sharing and praying for both their burdens and problems as well as joys, helps to bring the Lord into every aspect of a person’s life.
Anyone who is interested to hear more about this please contact: This falls under the umbrella of the Diocesan Centre of Christian Spirituality.
She said, “We hope this appeal will awake a response from past students of St Mark’s School. Many have come to bless the Sisters for the start they gave them in their youth. We extend a warm welcome to them to contact us if they are willing to assist us in any way to carry on this valuable work. We also hope that many of the parishes would once again add this outreach service to their list when allocating grants. The enormous drain on funds from Community Chest and School’s Trust has meant that both funds are unable to maintain the generous support which was so valuable in the past.” The retiring chairman, Dennis Burkinshaw, has warned that with the present balance there are only enough funds to provide food parcels until the end of the year. Elroy Damon, rector of St Francis Xavier, is taking over the chair and will be supported by retired priest Theo Thomas and all the dedicated members of the present committee. This feeding scheme has a long history, having been initiated by the Community of the Resurrection sisters many years ago. After the Community could no longer provide staff to manage the scheme the St Mark’s Trust Fund was formed to continue to provide food and support for people in great need. Members of St Mary Magdalene provided the essential work of purchasing and packing the food parcels under the careful supervision of Val Pillay and Winnie Frieselaar, and with the help of others. A meticulous record is kept of all the beneficiaries, with a careful check on identity documents and home circumstances to ensure the fair distribution of the parcels, and local shopkeepers have been very generous in assisting with keeping prices down. For information about the fund, or to offer help, please contact Beth Denton - tel: 041 581 1444 or Elroy Damon 041 360 7937.
The Mercy Ships hospital-ship Anastasis will be visiting South Africa again this year, and will be docked in East London during July and August for some major technical repairs. We are urgently looking for volunteers to come and help in East London any time from two days to the whole two months in July and August. We are specifically looking for qualified welders, plumbers, pipefitters, electricians, carpentry or any similar technical skills. We will provide free accommodation and 3 meals per day if volunteers are willing to make their own way to East London. After the visit to East London the ship will visit Cape Town en route to a major outreach in the West African war torn nation of Liberia. Any person interested in volunteering during this time, can contact Andre Cronje at the national office of Mercy Ships in Cape Town at: 021 715 4944 to ask for an application form, or the application can be downloaded from our website: www.mercyships.org.za
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However
we are looking for men singers with some experience, able to read
music (even if not to “sight-read”), to blend well and to
hold their part in the ensemble. Some knowledge of the “English
Cathedral” repertoire would be an asset.