St Edward King and Martyr
Peas Hill Cambridge CB2 3PP

May 2006

Services

7th Easter 3 21st Rogation Sunday
8.00 am Holy Communion 8.00 am Holy Communion
11.00am Mattins & Sermon 11.00 am Holy Communion
Preacher: Revd Marcus RamshawPreacher Revd Marcus Ramshaw
5.00pm Meditative Eucharist 5.00 pm Meditative Eucharist
Preacher: Revd Dr Fraser WattsPreacher: Revd Dr Fraser Watts
14th Easter 4 28th Ascension 1
8.00am Holy Communion 8.00 am Holy Communion
11.00am Mattins & Sermon 11.00 am Mattins & Sermon
Preacher: Canon Alan Cole Preacher: Revd Dr Fraser Watts
5.00 pm Meditative Eucharist5.00 pm Meditative Eucharist
Preacher: Revd Dr Fraser Watts Preacher: Revd Marcus Ramshaw
Fridays: 10.30 pm Holy Communion 5.30 pm Meditation

11.00 am READINGS May - June

Theme Old Testament/
Epistle
New Testament/
Gospel
7 Good Shepherd A Finn
Ezekiel 34. 7-16
J Dent
John 10. 1-16
14 Redemption E Edwards
Isaiah 62. 1-5
A Hammond
Revelation 3. 14-end.
21 Rogation L Adenrele
James 1. 22-27
Chaplain
John 16. 23b-33
28 Ascension A Hammond
2 Kings 2. 1-15
P Marshall
Acts 1. 1-11
4th June S Mastin Chaplain
11th June G Barnes C Martin
18th June D Hirst Chaplain
25th June C Walker J Billett

Churchwardens & Elections

At the Annual Parochial Church Meeting on 22nd April, Mr Peter Marshall stood down as Chaplain’s Warden, having filled that role temporally following Phyllis Osbourn’s hospitalization. The Chaplain nominated Mr Jesse Billett as the new Chaplain’s Warden, and the meeting confirmed his appointment. The following were elected to serve on the Chapter: Mr Geoffrey Barnes, Mr James Dent, Professor Roger Griffin, Miss Elizabeth Gulliford, Mr Michael Lee, Professor Ruth Lynden-Bell, Mr Steven Mastin, Mrs Phyllis Osbourn, Miss Carolyn Robson and Mr Christopher Walker. The following were elected to the Deanery Synod and will also serve ex-officio on the Chapter: Dr Elizabeth Edwards and Dr David Gillingham. The Clergy, Reader and Churchwardens also serve ex-officio. The Chapter will meet at 6.00 pm on Tuesday 2nd May in Queens’ College.

Faith and Coping: On Sunday evenings, starting on April 30th, Fraser will preach a series of sermons on faith and coping.
April 30th: Coping with death
May 14th: Coping with low self-esteem
May 7th: Coping with uncertainty
May 21st: Coping with illness

Faith by Feeling: Discovering God in Literature: The house group will resume on Thursday April 27th, at 7.45 pm at 19 Grantchester Road. (Refreshments from 7.15pm). Marcus will lead a course on Discovering God in Literature. All are welcome.
April 27th Medieval English Poetry and Popular Religion
May 4th The Canterbury Tales; dreams and visions in the Nun's Priest Tale
May 11th William Shakespeare; a crypto-catholic?
May 18th Christina Rossetti; Nineteenth Century Faith and Doubt
June 1st T.S. Elliot; Twentieth Century Modernism and faith.
There will be no meeting on May 25th, when there will be an Ascension Day service in Church.

Holistic Spirituality Group: The next meeting will be at 3.30 pm on Sunday 7th May when Joyce Whale will lead a discussion on the shadow side of personality.

Meditation. The Friday meditation group (5.30 pm) will be led by Nick Buxton on from April 21st to May 5th, by Aileen Taylor on May 12th, and then by Fraser Watts from May 19th.

Goth Eucharist: The Goth Eucharist on April 25th will be filmed for a DVD to accompany an album of the best hits of the famous rock group, Depeche Mode. The theme will be anger. There will be further Goth Eucharists on May 9th & 23rd.

Healing: There will be laying on of hands for healing at the 5.00 pm Eucharist on Rogation Sunday, 21st May, when Fraser will preach on coping with illness.

Ascension Day: Ascension falls this year on Thursday 25th May, and there will be a Eucharist at 7.30 pm.

Joint Communion: Please note that there will be joint Parish Communion for both morning and evening congregations at 11.00 am on WhitSunday, June 4th. There will be no evening service on that day. It is hoped to organize a parish lunch after this service.

Noel Burdett: There will be a memorial service for Noel Burdett at 3.00 pm on Saturday June 24th.

Aileen Taylor: Aileen’s last Sunday in Cambridge will be 14th May, after which she will be moving to Wantage. She will be much missed at St Edward’s, and we wish her well in her new life. She will lead the meditation on Friday 12th May

Chaplain’s Letter

The first joint Parish Communion for morning and evening congregations, on Passion Sunday, went very well. There was a large congregation, the atmosphere was good, and people seemed to enjoy being together. Our Church community is more substantial than it sometimes seems, when we are divided between morning and evening services. It was also encouraging that we were able to find a form of liturgy that everyone seemed happy with. We will have another joint Parish Communion on Whit Sunday, June 4th, which I hope will be a similarly uplifting occasion. The service was appreciated even by some who had voted against introducing non-BCL services. It is good that we have been able to restore the friendliness of our Church so quickly after the difficult discussions of the winter.

I believe that we are now in good shape to move ahead and to reach out to an increasing number of people. It is not easy for any Church to make the transition from simply keeping things ticking over to being a mission-oriented Church. However, I believe we have now have positioned ourselves well to be of spiritual service to a broad constituency of people. That will pay dividends in terms of our becoming a flourishing Church. Within the next week or two, I hope to be able to announce the appointment of a new Associate Chaplain who will help to carry us forward into the next phase of our growth and development. I also look forward to working with Jesse Billett, the new Chaplain’s Warden.

The most publicized development of recent months has been the Goth Eucharist. I share the view of the Bishop of Huntingdon, reported in the Daily Telegraph,

An imaginative initiative like this, to reach out to people who would not normally come to Church, is to be applauded.

Any church ought to be proud to have such a successful youth service, and I hope it will continue for some long time. However, we don’t want to become over-identified with any single initiative, however worthwhile. As we develop an increasing range of initiatives I hope that no one thing that we undertake will loom particularly large. There is much else to be done, and I look forward to the period of growth and development now before us.

Fraser Watts

Vicar-Chaplain: Revd. Dr. Fraser Watts (19, Grantchester Road, CB3 9ED; 359223); Associate: Revd. Marcus Ramshaw (07886 318039) Assistant: Canon Alan Cole (892286) People’s Warden & Chapter Sec: Dr. Elizabeth Edwards (313570); Chaplain’s Warden: Mr Jesse Billett (476751) Reader Mr. Peter Marshall (564471); Treasurer: Mr Geoffrey Barnes; Church phone: 362004

Details of forthcoming meetings, rotas, news, events can be found at www.st-edwards-cam.org.uk.