July 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 July 5th: Odyssey: After the recession Preacher Revd Dr Malcolm Brown Malcolm Brown is Director of Mission and Public Affairs for the Church of England, and has written books on the Church and economics. In this Odyssey talk, he will focus on what kind of world we want to build after the recession, and what kind of leadership Christians can offer in the present economic circumstances. July 12th: Arts Service: Mary Magdelene Preacher Revd Dr Malcolm Guite Mary Magdalene has captured the modern magination more than any other character in the gospels. In this service Malcolm Guite will explore her character in collaboration with Alex Drysdale, an artist in our congregation whose work has recently focused on Mary Magdalene. July 19th: Eucharist: St Francis today Preacher Canon Alan Cole St Francis has won more admiration than any saint of the Middle Ages and become an icon of the Christian life. Alan Cole will explore how St Francis lives on today in the lives of those inspired by his example. July 26th: Spirituality (i) Personal renewal Preacher Canon Fraser Watts Fraser will begin an occasional series of summer sermons on spirituality and its implications for modern life. This sermon exploring why people turn to spirituality in search of personal renewal, how the spiritual life can meet that need, and what form it should best take.

Meditative Eucharist - Sunday at Five July 5th: Soul-scapes (ii) The river and the sea Preacher Revd Dr Malcolm Guite This will be the second of Malcolm’s series on soul-scapes, looking at how different aspects of landscape resonate with, and contribute to, human spirituality. July 12th: Franciscan spirituality: Bonaventure Preacher Canon Alan Cole The feast day of St Bonaventura, a great Franciscan leader and teacher of the 13th century, falls this week. He wrote the life of St. Francis, and has been a guide and inspiration for many in the Franciscan tradition. July 19th: Soul-scapes (iii) The valley and the mountain Preacher Revd Dr Malcolm Guite The last in Malcolm's series on soul-scapes, looking at the spiritual significance of valleys and mountains. June 26th: Healing service: God's humanity Preacher Steve Mastin Steve will preach on the text in Hosea 11, 'When Israel was a child I loved him...', a text that speaks of God's humanity. This will also be a healing service, with laying on of hands.

Ordinands: St Edward's is remarkably blessed in the number of people offering themselves for ordination or the religious life. Some of them took part in the vocations service in June. Please support them, and remember them in your prayers. They are: Charlie Moloney, to be ordained on July 5th, to serve in Retford in Nottinghamshire; Jon Oliver, part-way through training at Ridley Hall for pioneer ministry; Tom James, currently away at St Albans, and who will start at Westcott House in the autumn; Berkeley Zych, hoping to go to a selection conference later this year, and to start training next year; Rachel Blanchflower, offering herself for non-stipendiary ministry and also hoping to start training next year; Chris Boden, exploring religious life with the Franciscans and hoping to join them next year; Megan Hunter and Dani Redhead, going through the Diocesan selection process, but not going forward for training immediately; Martin Mellusco, starting a distance-learning course in theology and vocation at St John's, Nottingham; Matthew Owen, who has just completed a theology degree and hopes to offer himself for ordination in due course. If there are other members of the congregation considering ordination, please let Fraser know.

Healing: There will be laying on of hands at the 5.00 pm Eucharist on Sunday July 26th.

Holistic Spirituality Group: The final meeting before the summer break will be at 3.30 pm on July 12th.

Housegroup: The housegroup will now start in the autumn. If you might be interested and would like to know more, please contact Stephen Davies on (01223) 242636 (E-mail)

Participation: If there members of the congregation who would like to do things in church (reading, serving, leading prayers, serving refreshments, ringing bells, being sidesmen, arranging flowers, singing anthems etc), and who are not already doing so, please let Fraser know.

Finance: The present financial circumstances are affecting the churches in come from investments. Though there is no immediate crisis, we are always very grateful for people who Gift Aid contributions to the church, (often in conjunction with the envelope scheme). If you are paying tax, and not already gift aiding your giving, we would be very grateful if you could do so. It considerably increases the value of your giving to the church. We are all so grateful if members of the congregation who are drawing up wills would consider including St Edward's.

Sunday 8.00 am Holy Communion: The Epistles and Gospels, from the Book of Common Prayer, will be: July 5th: Trinity 4; July 12th: Trinity 5; July 19th: Trinity 6; July 26th: Trinity 7

Readers at 11.00 am: 5th C Martin and R Lynden-Bell; 12th TBA; 19th D Hirst; 26th M Lee and W Caan

Chaplain's Letter: Taking in the Good (Malcolm Guite)

You are what you eat is a well worn phrase with more than a grain of truth, (and for some people that will be an organically grown whole-grain of truth.) We have learned, at the physical level, to be much more aware of what we put into our bodies, more aware of its effects on health and growth and outlook, more concerned about toxins in tiny residues. The happily names L.O.A.F. movement which asks that food should be Local, Organic, Animal-friendly and Fairly traded has done a lot to heal our relationships with the environment as well as improving our bodily health.

But if we care about what we eat because it becomes part of who we are, what about our other daily intake? What about the images, the sights and sounds that daily flood our minds? Should we be concerned about how far we are also what we see? Should we become more aware of how the images with which we fill our minds enable us to think and imagine freely or prevent us from doing so? All our deepest thoughts are expressed and clothed in images drawn from the world around us. Take trees for example. Because we have seen the living miracle of a tree with its deep-hidden roots, its dividing and spreading branches, its leaves and fruits, its long patient growth written down in rings of grain, we find we have a whole new language for understanding ourselves. We can speak of ourselves as having roots, we can examine our own branching thoughts, or our place in the branching tree of evolution. Even more we can speak of patient growth and fruitfulness in our inner lives - and all because we have seen a tree.

As many of us leave for holidays or travel this summer and fill our minds with many new sights and images perhaps we can consciously hope and pray that God will give us, in the outer world, just those pictures and images which will most helpfully express and transform our inner lives. Finally in a culture that wants to fill the body with junk food and the mind with junk images, we can travel with St. Paul's lovely counsel: Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things'.

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