August 2009
Services
| Sunday Services | Friday Services |
|---|---|
| 8.00 am Holy Communion (Prayer book) | 10.30 am Holy Communion (Prayer book) |
| 11.00 am Sunday at Eleven | 5.30 pm Meditation |
| 5.00 pm Meditative Eucharist |
|
Sunday at Eleven
August 2nd: Odyssey: 'God is on the surface of things' Preacher Fr Timothy McDermott Timothy McDermott is a distinguished Catholic priest and scholar, with interests that range from medieval theology to contemporary computer science. In this sermon he will explore how we can know God, and how that relates to our knowledge of the everyday world. August 9th: The transfiguration of Christ Preacher Revd Dr Malcolm Guite This Sunday falls in the week when the Church celebrates the transfiguration of Christ, the occasion when Jesus' close disciples saw Him shining with a brilliant light. Christians have long seen this as a powerful symbol of how, in Christ, we can see 'heaven in ordinary'. It is a theme that Malcolm will expound, drawing on the poetry of George Herbert ('Teach me, my God and King, in all things Thee to see.') August 16th: Eucharist: Spirituality, nature and truth Preacher Canon Fraser Watts The second in Fraser's series of summer sermons on the theme of spirituality. See below for details. August 23rd: Spirituality and aging Preacher Revd Dr Malcolm Guite Each stage of life raises its own particular issues, and engenders its own forms of spirituality. In this service, Malcolm will explore the challenges and riches of later life, when there is a wealth of experience to reflect on, more leisure, more physical constraints, and a growing awareness of eventual death. August 30th: Spirituality, morality and politics Preacher Canon Fraser Watts The third in Fraser's series of summer sermons on spirituality. See below for details. |
|
Meditative Eucharist - Sunday at Five
August 2nd: Jesus, Mary and Martha Preacher Canon Fraser Watts There is something of Mary and Martha in each of us, an active side and a more passive, contemplative side. They each have their place in our relationship with Jesus, but spending quiet time with Him is the foundation of everything else. August 9th: Jesus Transfigured: moments of glory Preacher Canon Alan Cole Alan Cole will explore how the transfiguration of Christ points the way to opening our eyes to see moments of glory in our own lives and in those around us. August 16th: The drama of creation: created Preacher Revd Dr Malcolm Guite Malcolm will begin a series of three evening sermons considering how, in the Christian story, we are created, fallen and redeemed, and how these are all linked. It is a theme that applies to all creation, not just to humanity. The other sermons will come in September. August 23rd: Jesus and the woman at the well Preacher Jon Oliver Jon Oliver, attached to St Edward's while training for ministry at Ridley Hall, will reflect on one of the richest stories in the gospels, Jesus' encounter with the woman at the well in Chapter 4 of St John's gospel. It is a story about giving water to drink, but who is giving water to whom, and what kind of water? August 30th: Jesus and Zacchaeus Preacher Canon Fraser Watts Another of Jesus' life-changing encounters. It is a story of seeking and finding, but who is seeking whom, and in what way? These are stories with characters with whom we can all identify. |
Summer sermons on spirituality: During the summer, Fraser will preach a series of sermons on spirituality. In the contemporary world, spirituality is the side of Christianity that people respond to best. It begins with our personal spiritual practice, which can be a powerful tool in transforming us for the better, but has broader ramifications.
A spiritual view of life changes everything, including how it affects morality and politics. Our capacity to be good people often depends on the process of spiritual transformation, and an increasing number of key political issues can only be tackled with spiritual values and priorities. Spirituality also gives us a path to wisdom and truth. It gives us a way of relating to nature that helps us to understand it, and complements the more detached, objective approach of contemporary science.
The church increasingly needs to be constituted as a body of people for whom spirituality is fundamental, and the response of outsiders to the church depends increasingly on how serious they think church people are about spirituality. Finally, and most fundamentally of all, a deepening spirituality leads to a growing awareness of how it all flows from Christ, and connects us to Him.
| July 26 | Spirituality and personal renewal |
| August 16 | Spirituality, morality and politics |
| August 30 | Spirituality, nature and truth |
| September 13 | The Church as a spiritual community |
| September 20 | Christ and spirituality |
Sunday 8.00 am Holy Communion: The Epistles and Gospels, from the Book of Common Prayer, will be: August 2nd: Trinity 8; August 9th: Trinity 9; August 16th: Trinity 10; August 23rd: Trinity 11; August 30th: Trinity 12
Readers at 11.00 am: 2nd J Oliver and D Redhead; 9th F Woodhead and C Martin; 16th D Hirst; 23rd E Edwards and C Walker; 30th R and D Lynden-Bell
Chaplain's Letter (Malcolm Guite)
Last August I took my children to the seaside and I wrote a piece fo this news-sheet reflecting on the way the sea always carries for us a sense of mystery, of things beyond our horizons, of the eternal, as Wordsworth says, 'Though inland far we be / Our souls have sight of that immortal sea / Which brought us hither...'
This August we are going to the mountains. We will stay in Switzerland near the shores of Lake Constanz, but also travel, I hope, up into the mountains and let the children get a glimpse of that height and grandeur. And I hope those heights too will enter into their souls and mine. I believe, with Coleridge, that great mountains are not only a geological phenomenon but also an utterance of God. They image or body forth something of His mystery, and also something of His life in us and in our souls. The soul has heights and mountain country too, and perhaps the experience of climbing in the outer world; its efforts, its challenge, its thinner air and sudden views, its danger, excitement, its glimpses of awe and holiness, perhaps these experiences on the outer mountains are a kind of prelude to discovering the inner-ranges, the mountain country of the soul.
But the real ascents, both outer and inner, should be slow, deliberate, made at our own pace and with our own sometimes faltering steps. There were no ski-resort stair-lifts for Moses on Sinai, so maybe we'll avoid them in Switzerland too. Wherever your outer journey takes this August, or if you stay and savour the rich reflections of our own waterland, I hope you have time and space also to explore a little of the vast and varied inner space which is your own immortal soul, and find that your companion on that inner way is the one who said 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life'.
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: Mr Steven Mastin (361041, stevenjamesmastin@yahoo.co.uk); Mrs Judith Tonry (892160, judith@tonry.co.uk). Treasurer: Mr Geoffrey Barnes. Chapter Clerk: Mr Stephen Davies (242636, stephdvs@btinernet.com). Church phone: 362004