November 2007
SERVICES
| 4th Trinity 22 | 18th Trinity 24 |
|---|---|
| 8.00 am Holy Communion | 8.00 am Holy Communion |
| 11.00 am Odyssey | 11.00 am Holy Communion |
| Preacher: Revd Angela Tilby | Preacher: Revd Dr Malcolm Guite |
| 5.00 pm Meditative Eucharist | 5.00 pm Meditative Eucharist |
| Preacher Revd Dr Fraser Watts | Preacher: Revd Dr Fraser Watts |
| 11th Trinity 23 | 21st Sunday Before Advent/Christ the King |
| 8.00 am Holy Communion | 8.00 am Holy Communion |
| 11.00 am Remembrance Service | 11.00 am Mattins & Sermon |
| Preacher: Canon Donald Gray | Preacher Revd Dr Malcolm Guite |
| 5.00 pm Meditative Eucharist | 5.00 pm Meditative Eucharist |
| Preacher: Revd Dr Fraser Watts | Preacher: Revd Dr Fraser Watts |
| Fridays: | |
| 10.30 am Holy Communion | |
| 5.30 pm Meditation | |
11.00 am READINGS
| Theme | Old Testament/Epistle | New Testament/Gospel |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Sin | M Morris tba | W Caan tba |
| 11 Remembrance | G Barnes Micah 4. 1-7 | C Walker Matthew 5. 1-12 |
| 18 Trinity 24 | R Adams Colossians 1. 3-12 | Chaplain Matthew 9. 18-26 |
| 25 Christ the King | M Lee 1 Samuel 8. 4-20 | R Lynden-Bell Matthew 25. 31-46 |
| Readers for December |
Odyssey: The preacher at Odyssey this month (November 4th,
11.00 am) will be the Reverend Angela Tilby, Vicar of St Benet’s and
a well known broadcaster. Her subject will be ‘what is sin?’
| Children of Abraham | ||
| Wednesdays at 5.30 pm. The series will conclude with: | ||
| October 24th | What do Muslims Believe? | Zia Sardar |
| October 31st | Living with these three faiths in Britain today | Panel Discussion |
| Earthing Spirituality | ||
| As the current ecological crisis rises at last up the political agenda, driven by the direct threats posed by Global warming, we need to ask what is our response as Christians? It may be that only a change of heart, even a change of consciousness on the part of all humanity will save the planet. Can we be part of that change, or are we just part of the problem? Over three Wednesdays (at 7.30 pm) we will explore how we might listen to the spirit, in the world and in our hearts, listen to what science is telling us, and discern together what we can and should be thinking and doing to change things. | ||
| Wed Nov 7th 7.30 pm | Straws in the wind - listening to the spirit. Malcolm Guite | |
| Wed Nov14th 7.30 pm | Listening to Science. Priest and biologist, Nigel Cooper will help us
to listen to the facts amidst the hype and mythology. |
|
| Wed Nov 21st 7.30pm | What can we do? We will explore together the resources and material
already available from the diocese, from Christian ecology link and from environmental groups, to help individuals and congregations make a difference. |
|
Sunday Evening Sermons: Fraser will conclude his series of sermons at the 5.00 pm Eucharist:
| Nov 4th A New Church |
| Nov 11th A New Morality |
| Nov 18th Personal Renewal |
| Nov 25th Christ And Spirituality |
All Souls: A growing number of people have a strong sense of connectedness to the departed, which makes the commemoration at All Souls Day (Friday November 2nd), an increasingly important occasion. There will be a Prayer Book Communion at 10.30 am at which Alan Cole will be the celebrant, and a list of the departed will be read out. There will also be an All Souls theme at the 5.30 pm meditation that day, led by Fraser. Then at 8.00 pm there will be a new service, a Requiem Eucharist and Commemoration of the Departed, with candle-light, incense, plainsong and much silence. We hope it will be an atmospheric and evocative occasion.
All Saints: The Feast of All Saints will be kept at the 5.00 pm Eucharist on Sunday, November 4th.
Remembrance Sunday: At 11.00 am on November 11th there will be a Remembrance Service, at which the preacher will be Canon Donald Gray, former Canon of Westminster Abbey, Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, and Chaplain to HM the Queen. The service will begin at c 10.58 am, so that there can be silence at 11.00 am exactly.
Holistic Spirituality Group: This discussion group, led by Malcolm, will meet on Nov. 11th & 25th at 3.30 pm.
Goth Eucharists: The will be Goth Eucharists at 8.45 pm on Nov 6th and 23rd. There will be an All Souls/Halloween theme on Nov 6th, at which Fraser will preach on ‘Living with the Dead’.
Advent Carols: The Advent Carol Service will be at 5.00 pm on Advent Sunday, December 2nd. The choir this year will be the chapel choir of Peterhouse, directed by Oliver Lomberg. There will be no evening Eucharist that Sunday, but there will probably be a contemplative Vigil Eucharist on the Saturday evening (to be confirmed).
Meditation: At 5.30 pm each Friday there is a time of corporate silence. The usual pattern is a short introduction from Fraser, c 25 minutes of silence, c 10 minutes in which people can share anything they wish to speak about, and a concluding prayer. It ends at c 6.15 pm. Many people value silence, but find it difficult to be disciplined about it on their own. For those who come regularly, this time of silence together is powerful and important. For those beginning to explore meditation, doing it with other people is a good way in.
Chaplain's Letter:The Darkness of God
We come to the dark time of year and it will draw different responses from
all of us. For children, and the child within us, there will be the excitement,
and fear of going out and coming home in the dark, the thrill of night-skies
lit up by fireworks, the half-ritualised fear of Halloween bogies. For some
of us as adults there will be a sense of new warmth and community as we come
closer together, do more indoors, gather in pubs round roaring fires or spend
longer evenings at home with one another. For others there will be inward,
as well as outward gloom a sense that the dark evenings, bleak days, the sun
lost or formless behind hostile clouds, is more than just outer weather but
an expression, perhaps a cause, of emotional and spiritual darkness too.
What does our faith make of all this? Has the tradition and mystery of which
St. Edwards is a steward and witness, anything to offer? The answer is yes,
a great deal. The Christian Mystics, whom we so much value at St. Edward’s,
all had deep encounters with darkness, outward and inner and have rich and
helpful things to say about it. There is something fearful about all darkness,
but in the mystic tradition darkness is both fearful and fruitful.
I said to my soul be still and let the dark come upon you, which shall be
the darkness of God…
so writes Eliot in the Four Quartets, echoing St. John of the cross in The
Dark Night of the Soul. We should not be afraid to go into the dark, for we
all came out of the dark, out of the womb itself, and before that out of the
great womb of non-being into the world we know. We were not hidden from our
loving creator when we were woven in the secret places nor shall we be hidden
in darkness when he calls us home, however dark the road may seem to us.
I hope that the life and liturgy of St. Edwards, a life and liturgy which
is not afraid of the dark, will be a living guide for us all as a community,
as we feel our way forward into the future; into a darkness which is always
the darkness of God.
Malcolm Guite
Clergy: Revd. Dr. Fraser Watts (19, Grantchester Road, CB3 9ED; 359223, fnw1001@cam.ac.uk); Revd Dr Malcolm Guite (694249, mg320@cam.ac.uk); Canon Alan Cole (892286, alan73@waitrose.com). Churchwardens: Dr. Elizabeth Edwards (313570, elizedwards@waitrose.com); Mr Steven Mastin (361041, stephenjamesmastin@yahoo.com).Treasurer: Mr Geoffrey Barnes; (717757, Geoff.Barnes@cambridgeshire.gov.uk). Reader: Mr. Peter Marshall (564471). Church phone: 362004.