St Chad's Day - 2nd March 2016

Almighty God,

from the first fruits of the English nation who turned to Christ,

you called your servant Chad

to be an evangelist and bishop of his own people:

give us grace so to follow his peaceable nature,

humble spirit and prayerful life,

that we may truly commend to others

the faith which we ourselves profess;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

Saint Chad is our Patron Saint who died on 2nd March 672. We will be remembering him on Wednesday at the 10.30 am Eucharist.

To get a little background on his life and times click here.

The Book Group - Art and Creativity

Nine of us met on Thursday at St. Alkmund's to discuss the section 'There Are Two Ways We Can Do This' from our Lenten Study Book 'Learning To Dream Again'.

Sam Wells lays before us the contrasting concepts of contract and covenant. Much contemporary life is shaped by the first, whilst the Christian aspiration is strongly drawn towards the second.

We discussed at length how these two modes of thinking and acting play out in our own lives and in the life of the Church.

We meet at 11.15 a.m. next week, when Val Jones will begin a discussion on art and creativity against the background of what Sam Wells offers on the subject.

You are very welcome to join us.

Fr.Alan

Lent Group - The Struggle To Survive

The United Society Lent Course continues on Tuesday evening at 7pm and again on Wednesday morning at 11.15am. 

This week we are considering the struggle to survive. Whoever we are and wherever we live we are all endeavouring to support ourselves.

The group on Wednesday will meet after the 10.30am Eucharist service. The Lent Lunch follows the discussion at 12.30pm. You are warmly invited to join us.

For more information about the course click here.

Contract or Covenant

Nine of us met today at St.Alkmund's to discuss the section 'There Are Two Ways We Can Do This' from our Lenten Study Book 'Learning To Dream Again'.

Sam Wells lays before us the contrasting concepts of contract and covenant. Much contemporary life is shaped by the first, whilst the Christian aspiration is strongly drawn towards the second.

We discussed at length how these two modes of thinking and acting play out in our own lives and in the life of the Church.

We meet at 11.15 a.m. next week, when Val Jones will begin a discussion on art and creativity against the background of what Sam Wells offers on the subject.

You are very welcome to join us.

Fr.Alan

Book Group - Week 2

Claire commented, in connection with our chosen book, that Sam Wells seemed to be saying something of considerable significance in the first section of the segment Learning To Live Again, which is entitled There Are Two Ways We Can Do This. I believe she is correct.

 

The chapter introduces Contract and Covenant as two contrasting and in some ways complementary approaches to conceiving of and describing relationships. He gives us a good deal to reflect on in that short section, and discussion about the arguments set out on these pages (39 - 44) should prove worthwhile.
 

We hope you will be coming on Thursday; please read these pages and in preparation gather your thoughts about his approach. I am offering no fixed questions this week; the questions will be yours.
 

In case we should finish our discussion on the above section early, would you before Thursday kindly look at the other four sections of the segment Learning To Live Again and be ready to introduce perceptions or questions you consider worth pursuing in any of them.

Best wishes,

Fr.Alan 

 

For details on the Book Group click here.

Lent Group Reflections

Here are some reflections and notes from last week’s United Society lent study.

Sir I will follow you but first let me bury my father.....follow me and leave the dead to bury the dead (Matthew 8 v 21 and 22).

We all make excuses when following Jesus becomes difficult. Are there limits to my following Jesus? How far do I have to go to welcome the stranger, the refugee?

 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me ( Matthew 25 the Judgement of the nations).

The statistics about migration eg 1.2 million children are trafficked every year ( UNICEF); and in 2013, 252 million people migrated. Then look at the numbers coming to Greece, it's no wonder Greece/Europe is challenged. See latest UNHCR figures here.

“it helps when you see them as persons and not statistics” someone said. “Thank goodness there are people who want to help”.
 
We looked at a Filipino Domestic Worker story where in the UK under present law they can’t move from an employer without losing their visa status, making them vulnerable to employers’ abuse. In London the church is helping them. Now there is a report to the Home office suggesting changes in the law; December 2015! How will the Home office respond? To see the report on the House of Commons website click here.

How will Shropshire welcome Syrian refugees? Is Britain’s renegotiation in Europe really about nationalism, fear of the stranger, perhaps a sense of impotence? Is there a Christian response?

Martin

What is Lent? - Prayer.

The season of Lent lasts for 44 days, from Ash Wednesday to Maundy (Holy) Thursday. Sundays are not included in the 'fast', so the remaining 40 days correspond to Christ's fasting and prayer in the wilderness. 

Over the centuries the Lenten period has been treated as a time for self examination, reflection, and prayer. Advent was also a time of prayer and waiting but unlike Advent, Lent is far less busy and at least 2 weeks longer! This should hopefully provide plenty of opportunity to spend time in prayer, to pay attention to God and his calling on our lives. 

St Chad's is open every day for quiet prayer, either in St Aidan's Chapel or the main Church. Call in, light a prayer candle or just sit in peace.




Here are some links that you might find helpful:

Daily Prayer - Church of England

Sacred Space - Daily Prayer

Who are you?

Eleven of us met last Thursday to begin our exploration of Sam Wells' book 'Learning to Dream Again'. This is quite a long book, chosen by the Diocese of Lichfield for this year's Lent study. 

We took one short section,' Who are You?', which uses John 1, verses 19 to 37, as its foundation. Wells has a liking for the dramatic and the emotional and his account of John's response to the priests and levites, for effect, parts company with the scriptural text considerably. 

In this process of dramatisation, John is described as a devotee of Jesus rather than one steadfastly obedient to the will of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 

Wells carries this theme of personal devotion into further drama by relating the story of the film "A Very Long Engagement', in which Manech becomes so filled with thoughts of his beloved Mathilde that he carves his initial with hers on many trees. This is presented as a model, presumably, for our own spiritual behaviour.

Whist readily acknowledging that many kinds of holiness bring us closer to God in Christ and a genuine spirituality enables us to be much more honest about ourselves, the group did not seem to be inclined towards emulating Manech.

It seemed, in the end, that St.John spoke more profoundly than Sam Wells. Surely, we should find that not disappointing but powerfully reassuring.

We gather next Thursday at 11.15 a.m. in St.Alkmund's meeting room to consider one of the chapters from the section, 'Learning to live Again'. You are welcome to join us there.

A further blog post in the next day or two will give details and questions for that meeting.

Fr Alan Fell

Refugees as 'guests'.

Max McClellan, Us co-ordinator in Greece, writes an in-depth report on how church groups and charities are supporting refugees following their arrival on the Greek islands.

 

To go to the United Society website and read the article click  here.

Lent Course Update

The United Society Lent Course begins this evening at 7pm at St Chad's. The session will be repeated on Wednesday at 11.15am The course is divided into five sections and looks at the issue of migration and the movement of people. We will begin our journey with a focus on Jesus: his person and his teaching. We will then reflect on the lives of Filipino migrants in London.

Study 1: Nowhere to lay his head

Please come along and join us in learning about the issues that are effecting so many people in both the UK and across the globe. 

Prayer 

God, our rock and our redeemer, We pray for those forced to leave to support families; We pray for lives torn apart by absence and loss; We pray for people missing loved ones and home; We pray for chaplains, pastors and advocates in this context. May we be willing to share our selves with the stranger in our midst.

Please see the Lent Course page here for further information.

Book Group - Update

The Lent Book Group will be meeting at St Alkmund's on Thursday 18th at 11.15am. If you would like to attend the morning Eucharist beforehand, the service starts at 10.30am.

To make the most of the session it would be a good idea to get hold of a copy of the book and to read the Introduction and 'Who Are You? (pp. 31 to 37). Some copies are available from Fr Mark, otherwise try the Illuminate bookshop in town or order online.

Please also read St John's Gospel, Chapter 1. v 19 - 37. Do you read that passage in the same way that Sam Wells does?

This promises to be a very interesting and worthwhile course of study and everyone is warmly invited to attend. If you can't make the group, we hope to have information from the sessions posted on this blog with links to further resources.

Hope to see you on Thursday.

What is Lent?

 In the Holy Eucharist we are reminded that Lent is a time of preparation for the feast of Easter and that we can look forward to that feast with ‘joyful hearts and minds’. Lent does not have to be seen as a forty day endurance test, or a bleak and restricted time.

It can be a season of rediscovery, perhaps a golden opportunity to open ourselves more fully to the beauty and power of the dying and rising to new life in Jesus. Time spent pondering the reality of His death and resurrection will allow it to soak into the depths of our lives.

Lent can be a time for renewal, new life and hope. There will have to be periods of self-examination and space for reflection on one’s need for God and each other. So let us approach Lent and it's challenges with 'joyful hearts and minds'.

 

What's on during Lent