The Stations Of The Cross

During Holy Week we have the opportunity to make a spiritual pilgrimage through the main scenes of Christ's passion, his suffering and death. As we pass from one station to the next, we recall the story of Christ condemned, his journey through the streets of Jerusalem to Golgotha and his crucifixion and death on the cross. As we meditate on the images and reflect on words of devotion, we may come to identify with his suffering and be drawn into a deeper understanding of God's love for us and our love for him.

What happened 2000 years ago in Jerusalem is currently been mirrored in many parts of the middle east, especially in Syria. Christ has shared in this suffering; he loved us so much he shared our humanity to the point of death. Through this darkness we can hopefully glimpse the transforming love of God. A God who became incarnate and dwelt amongst us, who shared our humanity so we might share his divinity.

Please join us as we journey towards Good Friday, at one or all of the following:

Monday        7.30pm  Stations of the Cross and Evening Office (St Chad’s)
Tuesday       7.30pm  Stations of the Cross and Evening Office (St Alkmund’s)
Wednesday  7.30pm  Stations of the Cross and Evening Office (St Alkmund’s)

Friday           12noon  The Way of the Cross in music, readings and images (St Chad's)

Learning To Read Again

Last Thursday we met to discuss the section of learning to Dream Again called Choosing Life... and Living With Choices. Sam Wells uses the issue of abortion to discuss how the Church deals with difficult moral questions and how its members respond to human dilemmas and difficulties. A wide range of viewpoints emerged and many questions were formulated, some of which took Wells' questions rather further than he does. Introduced by Gareth Ingham, this proved a very worthwhile discussion. 

On Thursday 17 April, at Alun Lines' request, we shall be looking at the whole chapter Learning to Read Again. Once more, Wells raises some important issues and states them in his inimitably provocative way. I'm sure we shall enjoy ourselves and widen our understanding.

This will be the final meeting of the group. We have talked more about ideas than action, but since there is no meeting in Holy week, we hope participants will use time then to recall and reflect on our debates and draw one point from them to take to heart and act upon.

Please note the range of services available in Holy Week and do set time apart then for contemplating both Our Lord'd death and his resurrection. The renewal of our faith which Wells looks towards passionately is bound to start there, because those events most truly reveal the Heart of God.

Fr Alan

Fairtrade

Week 4 of the US study course brought about some fruitful and thought-provoking discussion on the topic of modern slavery, bonded labour and human trafficking. The course material helped us define what, in our view, modern slavery and bonded labour is, who it affects, and how it relates to the issues on migration we have studied in the past three weeks. One member of the group shared some research they had done on current legislation relating to migrant labour. 

We returned to the central idea we have been reflecting upon during the course: the importance of seeing migrants as individuals and understanding their situations and stories with empathy and compassion. There was discussion on how St Chad's might get involved in addressing issues of trafficking both globally and locally. We recognised the importance of supporting organisations that help people who are trapped in slavery, and reflected on how our choices as consumers can have consequences on the exploitation of migrants. 

This resulted in a discussion about Fairtrade, and how we could go about raising the profile of Fairtrade in St Chad's. 

The Tradecraft shop on St John's Hill is closing on 24th March. It is hoped that a permanent replacement can be found, hopefully in the indoor market. In the interim you will be able to purchase fair trade products at the following; Shrewsbury Abbey, Oxfam on High Street, Snapdragon in the indoor market and soon at St Mary's Church.

Visit the Fairtrade website here.

The Real Easter Egg company can be found here.

Choosing Life.......Living With Choices.

The Book Group will meet on Thursday in St.Alkmund's Church Room at 11.15 a.m. We shall be looking at Choosing Life.... and Living with Choices, from the third section of Learning to Dream Again. 

How do we support people in times of crisis and uncertainty? What role might Christian Faith play in preparing people to offer this support? Please read this part of the book in preparation.

Please do come this week and make sure by your presence that we have a fully-participating discussion.

For details on the course click here.

See you Thursday.

Against Our Will.

The United Society Lent course continues this week, discussing forms of modern slavery, including bonded labour and human trafficking. There are 1.2 million children trafficked every year and an estimated 20.9 million people are victims of forced labour worldwide.

For times click here.

Carrie Myers, the Volunteering Manager at Us came to preach at St Chad's on the 1st Sunday of Lent. Carrie's sermon can be found here.

United Society prayer for the Fourth Sunday of Lent
God of all comfort, for those who have lost hope
let us be your channel of light;
to those who doubt they can be loved
let us be your warm arms of welcome.
Make us into reservoirs of your grace,
willing to be obedient to your plan.    

For further information on the course or the United Society see the Lent Course page.

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.