Resources for Lent and Holy Week

This year the Ministry Team in the Wickford and Runwell Team Ministry have once again written our own Lent Course, a five week course looking at journeys in the Bible.

The Bible is full of journeys made by people guided by God. Some are shorter and some are longer. All are transformational. Life is often thought of as a journey. There are high points and low points, paths where we travel swiftly and paths where we feel bogged down, there are some times when we feel like we have come to a dead end and some times when the future ahead looks far away. In this course we look at five particular biblical journeys and think about how the people involved might have felt, and what responses they evoke in us when we hear them. Do they remind us of our own journeys with God? Week 1: Abraham’s wanderings Week 2: The Exodus Week 3: Ruth and Naomi Week 4: Jesus journey to Jerusalem (based on St Luke’s gospel) Week 5: Paul’s missionary journeys (based on Acts) 

These sessions will be offered on Tuesday evening and Thursday afternoon and evening, depending on numbers, starting the week of 10th March. 

Mark of the Cross and The Passion are collections of images, meditations and prayers by Henry Shelton and myself on The Stations of the Cross. They provide helpful reflections and resources for Lent and Holy Week. These collections can both be found as downloads from theworshipcloud.

Mark of the Cross is a book of 20 poetic meditations on Christ’s journey to the cross and reactions to his resurrection and ascension. The meditations are complemented by a set of semi-abstract watercolours of the Stations of the Cross and the Resurrection created by Henry Shelton.

The Passion: Reflections and Prayers features minimal images with haiku-like poems and prayers that enable us to follow Jesus on his journey to the cross reflecting both on the significance and the pain of that journey as we do so. Henry and I have aimed in these reflections to pare down the images and words to their emotional and theological core. The mark making and imagery is minimal but, we hope, in a way that makes maximum impact.

Jesus dies on the cross

The sun is eclipsed, early nightfall,
darkness covers the surface of the deep,
the Spirit grieves over the waters.
On the formless, empty earth, God is dead.

Through the death of all we hold most dear, may we find life. Amen.

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Julie Miller - How Could You Say No.

 

Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and Lent

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Party, St Catherine’s Hall, Tuesday 4th March

Drop in between 2.30pm and 4pm or stay all afternoon and help raise funds for St Catherine’s restoration. £5 to include 2 pancakes and tea or coffee. There will also be a raffle. Sign-up sheet at the back of the church. Gluten free available on request. Names before 2nd March please.

Ash Wednesday: Our Eucharists with the imposition of ashes will be at 10.30 am in St Andrew's Wickford and 8.00 pm in St Mary's Runwell. All are welcome.

LENT 2025 - ON A JOURNEY

A five week course looking at journeys in the Bible. We are offering this course the week commencing 10th March. If you are interested in attending please let us know your preferences in order (1,2,3) and you will be allocated to a group. The options are Tuesdays at 7.30 pm, Thursdays at 2.00 pm, and Thursdays at 7.30 pm. If you are prepared to host a group please also let us know. Do you have any special requirements that need to be considered? Please let a member of the ministry team know.

The Bible is full of journeys made by people guided by God. Some are shorter and some are longer. All are transformational. Life is often thought of as a journey. There are high points and low points, paths where we travel swiftly and paths where we feel bogged down, there are some times when we feel like we have come to a dead end and some times when the future ahead looks far away. In this course we look at five particular biblical journeys and think about how the people involved might have felt, and what responses they evoke in us when we hear them. Do they remind us of our own journeys with God? 

• Week 1: Abraham’s wanderings 
• Week 2: The Exodus 
• Week 3: Ruth and Naomi 
• Week 4: Jesus journey to Jerusalem (based on St Luke’s gospel) 
• Week 5: Paul’s missionary journeys (based on Acts)

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Water Into Wine Band - Hill Climbing For Beginners.

The Mark of the Cross

Here's my reflection from today's Eucharist at St Andrew's Wickford:

In Luke’s Gospel we read that Jesus, when the days drew near for him to be taken up, set his face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9.51-62). In Isaiah 50, we read of God’s servant setting his face like flint and not turning backwards although he gives his back to those who struck him, and his cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; so, he did not hide his face from insult and spitting (Isaiah 50.4-11). That is an accurate description of what Jesus did and endured in Jerusalem on the way to the cross:

Your face, set like flint,
set towards Jerusalem,
bears the mark of the cross.
You carry the cross
in the resolution
written on
your features.
Death is the choice,
the decision,
the destiny,
revealed
in the blood,
sweat and tears
secreted from
your face
in prayerful questions,
prophetic grief,
pain-full acceptance,
then
imprinted on
Veronica’s veil.

Jesus bore the mark of the cross on his face as he was so determined to go to Jerusalem and to the cross. In Luke’s Gospel we read that he entered a village of the Samaritans but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. The flint-like determination on his face was such that the Samaritan villagers could see what he was determined to do.

What does this determination, this decision, say to us about Jesus and his death? In our Lent Course on the Stations of the Cross, we asked ourselves what was it that held Jesus to the cross? Was it the nails, or Pilate’s judgement and decree, or the presence of the soldiers, or the size of the crowd? If Jesus was God, then legions of angels could have freed him so, if that was the case, what actually held him there?

We then reflected on these two poems:

What holds you here?
The cruel nails
driven into wrists and feet?
Armed guards
ringing the base of your cross?
The crowd
mocking your purpose and pain?
The exhaustion
of a battered and beaten victim?
A willed commitment
to a loving, reconciling purpose?

***

Blow after hammer blow holds your body
to the cross. Yet, if you had willed so,
you could have walked away. You did not so will,
your will held you crucified and dying.

As God, Jesus had the power to walk away from the Cross or be rescued from it by legions of angels. He chose not to do so. Ultimately, it was not the nails or soldiers or the crowd, or those who condemned him that held him to the cross. He was there because he chose to be. It was his will and his determination and his love that held him there. We first see that will and determination in the flint-like setting of his face to go to Jerusalem. The steely determination that can be seen in his face is the mark of the cross on his face and a sign of his love for each one of us. This Holy Week may we see that love afresh as we look on his face that is set like flint.

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Adrian Snell - Golgotha.

Stations of the Cross

 

This year the Ministry Team in the Wickford and Runwell Team Ministry have once again written our own Lent Course, which looks more deeply into the Stations of the Cross which we use during Holy Week, including images, readings, reflection and prayer.

These sessions will be offered on Tuesday evening and Thursday afternoon and evening, depending on numbers, starting the week of 19th February. We also have the opportunity to share these sessions with Christ Church, giving additional days and times (Tuesday mornings and Wednesday evenings).

Mark of the Cross and The Passion are collections of images, meditations and prayers by Henry Shelton and myself on The Stations of the Cross. They provide helpful reflections and resources for Lent and Holy Week. These collections can both be found as downloads from theworshipcloud.

Mark of the Cross is a book of 20 poetic meditations on Christ’s journey to the cross and reactions to his resurrection and ascension. The meditations are complemented by a set of semi-abstract watercolours of the Stations of the Cross and the Resurrection created by Henry Shelton.

The Passion: Reflections and Prayers features minimal images with haiku-like poems and prayers that enable us to follow Jesus on his journey to the cross reflecting both on the significance and the pain of that journey as we do so. Henry and I have aimed in these reflections to pare down the images and words to their emotional and theological core. The mark making and imagery is minimal but, we hope, in a way that makes maximum impact.

Jesus dies on the cross

The sun is eclipsed, early nightfall,
darkness covers the surface of the deep,
the Spirit grieves over the waters.
On the formless, empty earth, God is dead.

Through the death of all we hold most dear, may we find life. Amen.

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U2 - Windows In The Skies.

Lent Course 2024: Exploring the Stations of the Cross

This year the Ministry Team in the Wickford and Runwell Team Ministry have once again written our own Lent Course, which looks more deeply into the Stations of the Cross which we use during Holy Week, including images, readings, reflection and prayer. 

These sessions will be offered on Tuesday evening and Thursday afternoon and evening, depending on numbers, starting the week of 19th February. We also have the opportunity to share these sessions with Christ Church, giving additional days and times (Tuesday mornings and Wednesday evenings). 

Please think about whether you would like to join or even host a group. The sign up sheet below is available at all our churches now. All are most welcome to join a Lent group.

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Ewan McColl - Ballad of the Carpenter.

Events in the Wickford & Runwell Team Ministry

Who Tells Your Story? Who Tells Your Future?
An exhibition of paintings by Maciej Hoffman
23 January – 29 March 2024
St Andrew’s Church, 11 London Road, Wickford SS12 0AN

‘I choose themes that pervade everyday life, our constant battle with problems which we inevitably face. But also issues which haunt us for years, shaping our perspective on the world and building us as humans. I try to capture the moments of tension, the climax, and the spark before ignition.’
Holocaust Memorial Day reflection – 27 January, 3.00 pm.
Hear Maciej speak about his work at ‘Unveiled’ – the arts & performance evening in St Andrew’s Wickford - Friday 9 February, 7.00 pm.St Andrew’s is usually open: Sat 9am-12.30pm; Sun 9.30am-12 noon; Mon 2-3.45pm; Tue 1-4.30pm; Wed 10am-12 noon; Fri 10am-1pm. https://wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/whats-on.html

Maciej Hoffman was born in Wrocław, Poland in 1964, the son of artist parents, growing up under Poland's communist regime; after studying philosophy at the School of Theology in Wrocław, he graduated in Painting and Sculpture from the Academy of Fine Art in 1992. Becoming fascinated with web art and new graphic technologies, he then worked for 15 years in one of Poland's largest advertising agencies until a watershed moment in 2003, when he returned fulltime to the studio and to oil painting. He moved to England in 2012, in search of new artistic and life opportunities, and continues to paint, teach and exhibit in the UK and abroad.

Here he became involved in leading art workshops for school students, encouraging self-expression through art therapy for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, or coping with mental health issues and trauma. He also contributed artworks to exhibitions dealing with conflict and resolution, including two marking Holocaust Memorial Days in 2012 and 2018 respectively. Maciej Hoffman's work has been exhibited in the UK on numerous occasions, including at Chelmsford Cathedral; Barry Gallery Central; Polish Social and Cultural Association (POSK) Gallery and Willesden Gallery (both London), and at the Warwick Art Centre.

‘Painting begins with a spark, an idea, an impulse. Sometimes it seems as though the painting creates itself, intuition guides me during the process … In trivialities as well as in big events I seek contrasts between imagination and reality. Our expectations and our anticipations are never what we finally meet in real life. This constant collision fascinates me. It’s irrelevant whether it’s beauty and ugliness, order or chaos - the point is, how it’s reflected in the mirror of my interpretation … I am moved by people’s stories with all their misfortunes and moments of happiness. It seems like one is always part of the other.’

https://www.maciej-hoffman.com/ https://www.buru.org.uk/record.php?id=1443

Unveiled – a wide range of artist and performers from Essex and wider, including Open Mic nights (come and have a go!).

Unveiled – view our hidden painting by acclaimed artist David Folley, plus a range of other exhibitions.

Spring Programme 2024

• 26 January – Open Mic Night organised with John Rogers. Everybody is welcome to come along and play, read, sing or just spectate. See you there for a great evening of live performance!
• 9 February – Who Tells Your Story? Who Tells Your Future? View this exhibition and hear the artist Maciej Hoffman speak about his work. ‘I choose themes that pervade everyday life, our constant battle with problems which we inevitably face. But also issues which haunt us for years, shaping our perspective on the world and building us as humans.’
• 23 February – Tryin’ to throw your arms around the world. Jonathan Evens talks about the spirituality of the rock band U2. This talk sets out the main characteristics of U2’s spirituality, examines their roots, makes links between their spirituality and themes in contemporary theology and, considers three reasons why U2’s spirituality has connected with popular culture.
• 8 March – Dave Crawford in concert. Popular local musician, Dave Crawford writes engaging/melodic songs in Americana/Alt-Rock/Indie-Folk. He has performed at the Leigh Folk Festival, Pin Drop Sessions, and Music for Mind together with Kev Butler. He was recently included on The Open Mic Show Album, Vol. 1 from SoSlam. We have enjoyed Dave’s powerful vocals and guitar here when he has performed previously at our Open Mic Nights.
• 22 March – An evening with the Ladygate Scribblers. Hear poetry and prose from a long-established Wickford-based writers group.

These events do not require tickets (just turn up on the night). There will be a retiring collection to cover artist and church costs. See http://wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/whats-on.html for fuller information.

Parish Study Day: Becoming a HeartEdge Community
Saturday 27 Janurary, 9:30 a.m. - 2.00 p.m., St Andrew's Wickford

Our PCC recently agreed that the Wickford and Runwell Parish would join the HeartEdge network of churches that are creating new ways of being church in a changing world; churches at the heart of their communities, while being with those on the edge. This half day plus lunch aims to help us all understand more about how HeartEdge works, and will be led by Revd Olivia Maxfield-Coote and our own Revd Jonathan. There will be plenty of time for discussion and questions, and a light lunch will be provided. Please sign up to come using the sign-up sheets at our three churches.

Quiz Night!
Saturday 3rd February, 7.00pm
St Andrews Church Hall, SS12 OAN

Back by popular demand, Join us for a fun general knowledge quiz.
Teams of up to 8. £5 per person
Bring your own snacks & drinks
(Tea and Coffee available)

To book a table contact Caroline or Marjorie S
email CarolineWheeler@live.co.uk

Pancake Party
St Catherine’s Hall
Tuesday 13th February

Drop in between 2pm and 4pm or stay all afternoon and help raise funds for St Catherine’s tower restoration.
£4 to include 2 pancakes and unlimited tea or coffee
Gluten free available on request

Sign-up sheet at the back of the church
Names before 11th February please

Lent 2024: Exploring the Stations of the Cross
Tuesday evening and Thursday afternoon and evening, starting the week of 19th February

This year the Ministry Team will once again be writing our own Lent Course, which will be looking more deeply into the Stations of the Cross which we use during Holy Week, including images, readings, reflection and prayer. These will be offered on Tuesday evening and Thursday afternoon and evening, depending on numbers, starting the week of 19th February. We also have the opportunity to share these sessions with Christchurch, giving additional days and times. Please think about whether you would like to join or even host a group. Sign up sheets available now.

Take Note in concert

Saturday 20 April, 3.00 pm

St Andrew’s Church, 11 London Road, Wickford SS12 0AN

Take Note are an all-male a Cappella group of up to 12 singers formed in 2015. They sing many genres of music across many eras in four-part harmony. Their wide-ranging repertoire includes traditional male voice choir numbers, popular songs from the 50s and 60s sung in close harmony doo wop style, comedy items and other a Cappella arrangements that they think will appeal to their audiences.

This concert is a fundraiser for St Andrew’s Church. No tickets required. Donations requested on the day.

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Dave Crawford - The Unwritten Story.

Lent: A course in Christian meditation

Here's the sermon I have shared at St Andrew's Wickford and St Mary's Runwell today as part of our Ash Wednesday Eucharist's with the Imposition of Ashes:

When Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York, was a parish priest in Huddersfield, a friend of his, who was involved in Adult Education, told him that a course on Zen Buddhist meditation could have been filled three times over and asked why the church was not running a course on Christian meditation.

Archbishop Stephen later moved to a role at the Cathedral in Peterborough and when he told this story there, the Head of Adult Education asked him to run a course on Christian meditation as part of the Adult Education programme. He did, and the course filled up with a mix of those who were already Christians and those who would describe themselves are ‘searchers’.

This experience confirmed his belief that, with the right kind of introduction, many people are open to the riches of Christian spirituality. What better time than Lent for exploring some of that tradition? Lent is a time for going deeper with God; for going deeper into our faith and the riches of its tradition, particularly in terms of prayer.

This Lent we are essentially going to run a course on Christian meditation through our Lent Course ‘Ways to Pray’. Our five-week course explores some different ways of praying: Being Still with God, Prayer Through the Day, Using the Imagination, Multi-sensory prayer, Using Art and Images. The course gives some ideas on aspects of the Church’s tradition and practice that we could explore this Lent, as part of going deeper into God through prayer. Our Quiet Day, here at St Mary’s, on 4 March will also do more of the same. Here are some others ideas and resources too …

The Desert Fathers and Mothers were hermits, monks and nuns who lived mainly in the Scetes desert of Egypt beginning around the third century AD. These informal gatherings of hermit monks and nuns became the model for Christian monasticism. Many of the wise words and teachings of these early desert monks and nuns were collected and are still in print as the ‘Sayings of the Desert Fathers.’

One such saying has a significant overlap with today’s Gospel reading: ‘Stay in your cell. Your cell will teach you everything.’ The idea being that being in conversation with God through prayer will teach us everything we need to know. For this reason, when he was once interviewed by Radio 4 and was asked which wilderness would he go to for Lent if he could be taken anywhere in world, Archbishop Stephen replied that he would stay in his own living room. The location for our prayer is not the main point (although quiet and privacy can help); instead, the point is the quality and depth of our prayer.

Having said that, the Celtic Church has given us a model for the precise opposite; integrating prayer into our daily lives. Celtic Christians had a sense of the heavenly being found in the earthly, particularly in the ordinary tasks of home and work, which can blessed if we see God in our tasks and undertake our tasks as an act of worship to God.

This tradition was particularly strong in Gaelic countries and in the late 19th century Alexander Carmichael collected a number of the prayers and poems together in a book called the ‘Carmina Gadelica’ which ‘abounds with prayers invoking God’s blessing on such routine daily tasks as lighting the fire, milking the cow and preparing for bed.’ In more recent years, equivalent contemporary prayers have been written covering every aspect of daily life from turning on a computer to attending meetings, driving a car, stopping for a lunchbreak, and so on.

Some of the most visionary and passionate prayer in the history of the Church derived from the renewal of the Carmelite Order undertaken by St Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross. Through quiet prayer, resting in contemplation of God which involved forgetting all earthly things, these attained occasionally prayers of union in which their whole being was absorbed in God.

They frequently described these experiences in terms of the union of lovers in marriage. St John, in particular, described in great poetry the experience of feeling abandoned by God which he described as the dark night of the soul. Their writings can help us understand those times when we feel God is very distant from us as well as those times when we feel an intimate closeness.

St Ignatius of Loyola devised a series of prayer exercises which many have found particularly helpful in the development of their prayer life. The Examen is a daily process for reflecting on the events of the day in order to detect God’s presence and discern his direction for us. The Examen begins with prayer for light then continues through thanksgiving, reviewing our feelings and focus before concluding with future appointments and the Lord’s Prayer.

Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises are a compilation of meditations, prayers and contemplative practices developed to help people deepen their relationship with God. These are divided into four weeks; not seven-day weeks but stages on our spiritual journey. Week 1 involves reflection on our lives in light of God’s boundless love for us. Week 2 involves imagining ourselves as Christ’s disciples as we reflect on the Gospel stories. Week 3 is meditation on the Last Supper, Christ’s passion and death, while Week 4 is meditation on the resurrection.

These are just some of the resources for prayer which can be found in the Christian tradition (some of which we explore in our Lent Course) and which are available to all of us as we seek to go deeper into God this Lent. These resources can be found in books, through retreats, and by using online meditations. It is possible to travel to centres of prayer or to the world’s deserts and wildernesses in order to learn to pray in some of these ways. But we don’t have to! Like Archbishop Stephen, we could take to heart the teachings of the Desert Fathers to stay in our cell and our cell will teach us everything. Our cell can be our own front room. If we use it for committed, regular prayer this Lent then like the saints, monks and mystics about whom we have thought, we can go deeper into God.

Jesus said: ‘… go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you.’

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Iona - Today.

The Meaning in the Miracles: Seeing and Believing

Here's the reflection I shared tonight in Bread for the World at St Martin-in-the-Fields as part of our Lent Course on 'The Meaning in the Miracles' by Jeffrey John. 

At this service we shared a newly commissioned drawing called ‘Blind Jesus (no one belongs here more than you)’ - see below. The drawing has been commissioned by Celia Webster from the artist Alan Stewart with the aim of creating discussion in churches and the wider community including encouraging others to create their own Last Supper images. Both Celia and Alan joined us for the service. Celia is part of the Church of England disabilities steering committee, while Rev Alan Stewart is currently the vicar of two churches in Hertford. He studied Foundation Art at Belfast Art College, then graduated with a degree in Fashion and Textiles from Central St Martins in London and has exhibited in various churches and galleries. This image in charcoal of the Last Supper, to which I refer in the reflection, includes the central character of a visually impaired Jesus, surrounded by twelve people of differing ages, backgrounds and abilities. At the table, an empty chair invites the viewer to find themselves at the table. This Jesus challenges theological and Biblical imagery of blindness as sin or something to be cured. The image is offered as the beginning of a conversation. It asks questions like... What associations do we have with blindness? How does this Jesus ‘see’ me? Why has each figure been chosen? What are their stories? Who else should be at this meal? Is the empty chair for you?:

Tonight, we grapple with two of the more problematic elements of Jesus' miracles. As one whose teenage faith was renewed through the Charismatic movement, with its belief in supernatural healing, while also later becoming father to a daughter who not only has epilepsy but whose character and personality has been shaped through that experience, these are stories with which I grapple personally. In the book, Jeffrey John is crystal clear on one of the issues with which we grapple tonight. In the chapter on ‘The Withered Fig Tree’ he says that the way this story is told in Mark's Gospel 'exemplifies the way the early Church imported into the Gospel an anti-Semitic ideology which had no place in the original teaching of Jesus, and which has spawned a terrible legacy of atrocities perpetrated by Christians on Jews down the ages.’

John says that our response should be to ‘align ourselves consciously with Paul and against the evangelists, in particular, with Paul’s continuing love and respect for the tradition of Israel, his unbreakable conviction that God’s promises stand firm, and his yearning hope that in the end all Israel – the Old and the New – shall be one in God’s salvation.’ Jeffrey John doesn't go as far in regard to disability, but I want to suggest that we should essentially do the same.

The way in which disability is understood and treated within the Gospels and in Jesus' healing miracles is an issue with which we have grappled at St Martin's because of the work of our Disability Advisory Group led by Fiona MacMillan. Much of what I will say tonight is based on my understanding of their work and the issues they have raised, including use of several insightful phrases coined by Fiona.

The issue is highlighted by our title for tonight's session ‘Seeing and Believing’. If seeing is equated with believing then those who do not see, including those who are blind, are excluded from believing. The fact that Jesus heals blind people and speaks about such healing relating to faith seems to reinforce the problem. It is a problem that also applies to deaf people who are viewed in a similar way within these stories. A focus on prayer for supernatural healing also removes agency from disabled people and leads to accusations of a lack of belief on the part of those not healed.

The problem goes deeper still, however, because of an Old Testament belief that the difficulties we encounter in life derive from our sins or those of our ancestors. This is a belief that Jesus explicitly rejects, doing so in relation to the healing of a blind man. Nevertheless, it is an understanding that has found its way into the hymns and liturgy that we commonly use in church, and which alienates and excludes disabled people. As example, think about how you would feel singing these lines from ‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘Just As I Am’, were you to be a blind person yourself:

‘Amazing grace / How sweet the sound / That saved a wretch like me / I once was lost, but now I'm found / Was blind, but now I see’

‘Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind’

While we know that the language of blindness, sight and salvation is intended metaphorically and refers to a sinfulness in which we all share, nevertheless to hear a fundamental aspect of your identity as a blind person equated to wretchedness is deeply galling, disheartening and is ultimately exclusionary.

Jeffrey John is clear that the point of Jesus' miracles is not medical but theological and spiritual. This has the effect of making them about all of us, rather than solely about those who were healed. John also argues that we are all blind or deaf before God opens us to his presence. However, while this universalises the stories, it also reinforces the equation between blindness or deafness and sin.

A different understanding of healing can emerge from these stories if we begin, as Jeffrey John does, with the understanding that the purpose of Jesus' healing ministry was to restore those who had been excluded to worship and to community. That is why the healing miracles often end with those healed going to see the authorities of the day in order to be readmitted to society. John notes that the healing miracles cover most of the excluded groups from Jesus’ time.

Healings were the way – the only way at that time - to return those who had been excluded to worship and community. Today, however, the social model of disability is based on the understanding that society disadvantages disabled people; that society is not set up to support the needs of disabled people and, therefore, it is society, not disabled people, that need to change. If we remove the barriers in society that exclude disabled people we can achieve the end that Jesus intended, which is the Messianic banquet in which everyone is included. That banquet is symbolised for us by the Eucharist.

Believing is not primarily about seeing supernatural healings that prove the existence of God but instead about seeing a vision of communion and community in the Eucharist, a place where all can come and where all are valued, where people can get in and join in.

A key part of that inclusion is that everyone has insight and understanding. Everyone has perceptions of God to share. As a result, physical blindness is not a barrier to knowing God or to sharing aspects of that relationship with others. The writings and experience of John Hull, a theologian who was blind, clearly show this to be true. In his ‘Open Letter from a Blind Disciple to a Sighted Saviour,’ he notes that it is not necessary to the witness of faith, regarding the way our ignorance, sin and disobedience prevent us from responding to the love of God made known in Jesus Christ, that that witness ‘should be cast into the form of the metaphor of blindness.’ That it was is surely, he suggests, ‘a case where the metaphor kills but the spirit gives life.’ He argues that it is necessary that all those who are spoken to by the Bible, including blind people, ‘should have an opportunity to reply, and thus the conversation which is within the Bible can enter into conversation with us today, and through offering a voice and a hearing to everyone, we can create a community of genuine free speech.’ There should be ‘a proliferation of many meanings until everyone's meanings are gathered in.’ ‘This is the way that the Bible becomes truly ecumenical, truly catholic.’

Alan Stewart's marvellous drawing of the Last Supper gives us just such an ecumenical or catholic image through its depiction of a diverse group of disciples surrounding a blind Jesus at the Last Supper. This is an image of many who have experienced barriers to inclusion getting in and joining in with the recognition that experiences of exclusion are central to a faith that sees Jesus become the scapegoat for humanity in order to remove the barriers to encounter with God that we had previously erected. The Jesus who does that bears on his body the marks of his Passion, carrying those signs and experiences into an eternity of unity and communion. His experience of being scapegoated and excluded becomes revelatory and is the route by which all can return to community.

In the same way, the experience of disabled people must become central, as in this image, not through the eradication of disability by means of supernatural healing, but by the eradication of all barriers to communion so that the insights of all can be received for the benefit and building up of the whole people of God. When one is excluded, the body of Christ is not whole and currently many remain excluded. To reverse that situation, we need to see the vision of communion that Jesus institutes through the Eucharist, that he shares in parables of the Messianic banquet, and which will become our experience in eternity in order that we begin to live that future now.

That is the vision that we need to see in order to believe, because belief is not primarily intellectual or propositional, instead it is about practice and demonstration – living God’s future now. It is a vision in which those who are blind or deaf or otherwise disabled have a valued place as those who, like Jesus, have come through exclusion to join in at the table. That is the vision that Alan Stewart sets out so compellingly for us in his Last Supper image. See and believe.

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June Boyce-Tillman - We Shall Go Out.

humbler church Bigger God w/c Sunday 27 February 2022

 

Welcome to our exciting HeartEdge programme for 2022. We hope you will be able to join us, whether at online events or at our in-person events around the world. You can find all our events on our website — and if you're a HeartEdge partner, you can upload your own events through the members' area.

Last year, we launched Living God's Future Now, an online festival of theology and practice. We hosted workshops, webinars, spaces to gather and share ideas, lecture series, and more. This year, we're continuing our programming with a new theme — humbler church, Bigger God.

HeartEdge is fundamentally about a recognition of the activity of the Holy Spirit beyond and outside the church, and about a church that flourishes when it seeks to catch up with what the Spirit is already doing in the world. There was a time when church meant a group that believed it could control access to God – access that only happened in its language on its terms. But God is bigger than that, and the church needs to be humbler than that. Kingdom churches anticipate the way things are with God forever – a culture of creativity, mercy, discovery and grace – and are grateful for the ways God renews the church through those it has despised, rejected, or ignored.

We hope this reflects the lessons we've learnt from the past year: still trying to live God's future now, re-imagining our faith and our calling as a Church in a changing world. Thank you for joining us for the journey — we can't wait to see what the next year brings.

Contemplation as a Gift to the Church: Humbler Church, Bigger God – Monday 28 February, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM GMT. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/contemplation-as-a-gift-to-the-church-humbler-church-bigger-god-tickets-242389342047. It can sometimes feel like the church is preoccupied with methods of church growth, discussing strategy, developing mission action plans, and resourcing leadership. During lockdown it was fascinating to see the resurgence of contemplative prayer and contemplative practices as people sought new ways to deepen their roots in the Christian faith.

Music and Liturgy for Lent - Mon, 28 February 2022 18:00 – 19:15 GMT Sacred Trinity Church, Chapel Street, Salford, M3 5DW. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/music-and-liturgy-for-lent-tickets-230380122147. Andy Salmon (North West Co-ordinator of HeartEdge and Rector of Sacred Trinity Church) will give tips about creative liturgical resources for Lent whilst Andrew Earis (Director of Music at St Martin-in-the-Fields) and the Manchester HeartEdge Choral Scholars will share musical resources to help freshen up your lenten experience. We will be broadcasting on Zoom but people are also welcome to come in person. On 19 March we will run a sister event on Music and Liturgy for Easter.

Church History course - Monday 28 February, 19:45–21:00 GMT, Zoom. Click here to register. This course provides an introduction to and an overview of church history. If we are to see a humbler Church and a bigger God, we need to deal with the history of the Church to understand where we are now, and why? Ruth Gouldbourne has been a Baptist minister for more than 30 years. Week 3 - Creeds, Councils and Controversies.

Sermon Preparation with Sally Hitchiner and Sam Wells: Tuesday 1st March, 16:30 – 17:30pm GMT live-streamed at https://www.facebook.com/theHeartEdge. Join us for our weekly discussion of the lectionary readings for the coming Sunday with Sam Wells and Sally Hitchiner.

Community of Practitioners workshop: Wednesday 2nd March, 16:00-17.00 (GMT), Zoom. Email jonathan.evens@smitf.org to register. This is a space for practitioners, lay and ordained, to reflect on theology and practice. Each week, we alternate between 'Wonderings' and discussion of a theology book. This week we will be discussing ‘Improvisation’ by Sam Wells.

Faith in the time of the ‘new normal’ - Thursday 3rd March, 7:15pm. Register at https://form.jotform.com/212773252401043. A series of Lenten conversations hosted by The Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education. This series aims to help congregations and house groups reflect on how Christians may understand the changes we’ve been through as a society, and the new ‘place’ we may be entering. Where are we now? This session will explore where we are culturally in the wake of the pandemic, drawing on the Psalms to consider change, struggle and growth as an anchor for reflection.

Shut in Shut Out Shut Up: Disability & Church: Intersectionality- Friday 4th March 4.30pm- 6pm Zoom. Register at Shut In Shut Out Shut Up Tickets, Multiple Dates | Eventbrite. Exploring experience of disability and neurodiversity, gender, mental health, sexuality, race and poverty, with Fiona MacMillan and guests including: Molly Boot, Alex Clare-Young, Lamar Hardwick, Ann Memmott, Rachel Noel, Alexis Padilla.

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Aretha Franklin - Climbing Higher Mountains.

humbler church Bigger God - March 2022

HeartEdge is fundamentally about a recognition of the activity of the Holy Spirit beyond and outside the church, and about a church that flourishes when it seeks to catch up with what the Spirit is already doing in the world. There was a time when church meant a group that believed it could control access to God – access that only happened in its language on its terms. But God is bigger than that, and the church needs to be humbler than that. Kingdom churches anticipate the way things are with God forever – a culture of creativity, mercy, discovery and grace – and are grateful for the ways God renews the church through those it has despised, rejected, or ignored.

‘humbler church Bigger God’ is the new title for our ongoing online festival of theology, ideas and practice. We’ve developed this in response to our changing world. The church is changing too, and - as we improvise and experiment - we can learn and support each other. This is ‘humbler church Bigger God’’ - talks, workshops and discussion - hosted by HeartEdge. Created to equip, encourage and energise churches - from leaders to volunteers and enquirers - at the heart and on the edge.

The online programme includes:

Regular workshops: Church History (Fortnightly on Mondays), Sermon Preparation (Weekly on Tuesdays) and Community of Practitioners (Weekly on Wednesdays)
One-off workshops and series on topics relevant to renewal of the broad church including Contemplation as a Gift to the Church and Reconciling Mission: Being Better Neighbours.

February's humbler church Bigger God programme includes:

Church History course:

A new course providing an introduction to and an overview of church history. If we are to see a humbler Church and a bigger God, we need to deal with the history of the Church to understand where we are now, and why. The course starts on Monday 24 January and runs twice a month at 7.45 pm on Mondays until 25 July (see below for dates and topics). It will be led by Rev Ruth Gouldbourne who has been a Baptist minister for more than 30 years, ministering in churches in Bedford, London and Cheadle Hulme, as well as being a tutor at Bristol Baptist College. An Associate Fellow of Spurgeon's College, she is also Senior Research Fellow of IBTSC Amsterdam, and a Research Fellow of Bristol Baptist College.

The schedule is as follows: Week 4 - Augustine towers over us all March 14; Week 5 - Christendom; love it or hate it, you need to deal with it March 28; Week 6 - A thousand years when nothing happened April 11; Week 7 - Middle ages; Light April 25; Week 8 - Middle Ages; Dark May 9; Week 9 - Middle Ages; Shadow May 23; Week 10 - Reform of all shapes and sizes June 6; Week 11 - Reason and romanticism June 27; Week 12 - Expansion and disintegration July 11; Week 13 - Reconfiguration – and nothing new under the sun. July 25.

Register for the Zoom link at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/church-history-course-tickets-280175220627.

Sermon Preparation with Sally Hitchiner and Sam Wells

Tuesdays, 16:30-17:30 GMT live-streamed at https://www.facebook.com/theHeartEdge. Join us for our weekly discussion of the lectionary readings for the coming Sunday with Sam Wells and Sally Hitchiner.

Community of Practitioners workshop:

Wednesdays at 16:00 (GMT), Zoom meeting. Email jonathan.evens@smitf.org to register. This is a space for practitioners, lay and ordained, to reflect on theology and practice. Each week, we alternate between 'Wonderings' and discussion of a work of theology. The book to be read is ‘Improvisation’ by Sam Wells. 'Wonderings' help us to reflect and pray on what has stood out for each of us in the last week. Newcomers are very welcome.

Shut In Shut Out Shut Up: Disability and Church: Intersectionality – Fridays, 4, 11, 18 March, 16:30 GMT. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shut-in-shut-out-shut-up-tickets-275653155007. Intersectionality is a way of describing how social categories (eg disability, race) combine to create overlapping systems of discrimination or disadvantage. In this 4th series of Shut In, Shut Out, Shut Up we explore the intersectional experience of disability and neurodiversity, gender, mental health, sexuality, race and poverty. What are the key issues in the context of faith? What are our calls to the church? Since 2012 the Living Edge conference has held space for disabled and neurodivergent people to gather, to resource each other and the church. These HeartEdge events share some of this experience, providing new space to ask challenging questions. Join us for more honest conversations.

Speakers: hosted by Fiona MacMillan with guests including: Molly Boot, Alex Clare-Young, Lamar Hardwick, Kate Harford, Ann Memmott, Rachel Noel, Alexis Padilla.

Topics
4 March - Disability & Neurodiversity
11 March - Gender
18 March - Mental Health
10 June - Sexuality
17 June - Race
24 June - Poverty

Access information
Image description: Church building behind iron gates; gates are shut and locked with a padlock and metal chain.
90 minutes on Zoom in meeting mode. Each session combines input from speakers with time in small groups and plenary discussion.
BSL and automatic captions are available.
Sessions will be recorded and posted on the HeartEdge YouTube channel.
Previous series of Shut In Shut Out Shut Up can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO43Y1gJDjYT5iOQlxc3vpRbo8EfFWU80

Speakers

Fiona MacMillan (she/her) is a disability advocate, practitioner, speaker and writer. She chairs the Disability Advisory Group at St Martin in the Fields and is a trustee of Inclusive Church. Fiona leads the planning team for the annual Living Edge disability conference, now in its 11th year.
https://www.plough.com/en/topics/justice/politics/human-rights/calling-from-the-edge
Calling from the Edge (2017) & Something Worth Sharing (2019) (editor). Calls, ideas & practical resources for creating change - https://www.inclusive-church.org/disability
Fiona is on twitter @jpuddlegoose

Alex Clare-Young (they/them/Alex) is a pioneer minister in the United Reformed Church with a particular call towards working alongside those marginalised in church and society for social justice and equity for all. Alex’s lived experiences as a transmasculine non-binary person who is multiply neurodivergent and disabled inspires this call.
https://alexclareyoung.co.uk/ - Alex’s website
https://www.ionabooks.com/product/transgender-christian-human/ - Alex’s book
Alex is on twitter @alex_clareyoung and on Instagram @alex.clareyoung

Ann Memmott (she/they) is the author of the Church of England autism guidelines, and a member of the St Martin in the Fields/Inclusive Church disability conference planning team. Ann is autistic & disabled, and is a carer. Ann works nationally as an adviser on neurodivergent inclusion, working with a variety of organisations, and has been a regular contributor to Radio 4's Prayer for the Day.
https://d3hgrlq6yacptf.cloudfront.net/61f2fd86f0ee5/content/pages/documents/20211006-doc-mission-ministry-welcoming-autism-church-guidelines-v01.pdf
Ann's autism blog https://annsautism.blogspot.com/
Ann is on twitter @AnnMemmott

Rachel Noël (she/her), known locally as the Pink Vicar, is Priest in Charge of St Mark’s Church, Pennington, a HeartEdge church in the Diocese of Winchester. Creative, colourful, enthusiastic, autistic, ADHD, bipolar, and vulnerable to covid, she is passionate about diversity and inclusion. Rachel is a member of the Community of Hopeweavers.
Rachel's blog: thepinkvicar.com
Rachel is on twitter: @ThePinkVicar

Faith in the time of the ‘new normal’: Session one - Where are we now?: 3rd March 7:15pm. Register at https://form.jotform.com/212773252401043. A series of Lenten conversations hosted by The Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education. This series aims to help congregations and house groups reflect on how Christians may understand the changes we’ve been through as a society, and the new ‘place’ we may be entering. It will draw on and introduce participants to resources from the tradition and offer them some tools for reflection to carry forward towards Easter. Sessions will take place on Thursday evenings during Lent and will be streamed live from the Queen's chapel to groups gathered online. Resources will be provided for the weeks where there are no hosted sessions. Thursday 3rd March: Where are we now? This session will explore where we are culturally in the wake of the pandemic, drawing on the Psalms to consider change, struggle and growth as an anchor for reflection.

Faith in the time of the ‘new normal’: Session two - Living in the tension: 17th March 7:15pm. Register at https://form.jotform.com/212773252401043. A series of Lenten conversations hosted by The Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education. This series aims to help congregations and house groups reflect on how Christians may understand the changes we’ve been through as a society, and the new ‘place’ we may be entering. It will draw on and introduce participants to resources from the tradition and offer them some tools for reflection to carry forward towards Easter. Sessions will take place on Thursday evenings during Lent and will be streamed live from the Queen's chapel to groups gathered online. Resources will be provided for the weeks where there are no hosted sessions.

Music and Liturgy for Easter: Saturday 19 March, 11:00 – 12:00 GMT, Sacred Trinity Church, Chapel Street, Salford M3 5DW.

Theology Group: Sunday, 20 March, 19:00 – 20:00 BST, zoom - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/theology-group-tickets-248745844517. The St Martin-in-the-Fields and HeartEdge Theology Group provides a monthly opportunity to reflect theologically on issues of today and questions of forever with Sam Wells. Each month Sam responds to questions from a member of the congregation of St Martin-in-the-Fields who also chairs the session and encourages your comments and questions. In March the chair will be Jonathan Evens, who will be exploring with Sam the extent to which we can be co-creators with God.

How to Thrive Post-Covid: New Frameworks of Discovery - Thursday 24 March, 19:00 – 20:00, Zoom. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-to-thrive-post-covid-new-frameworks-of-discovery-tickets-260228770257. The three steps of design thinking are discovery, ideas, and trying. The process can also be used on existing ideas to see if they’re still working. This workshop will focus on several frameworks that can be useful in discerning what to keep and what to let go of post-Covid. Rather than simply relying on a “gut feeling,” we can use clear frameworks to penetrate the surface of an issue to identify what really matters at its core. This course is taught by the Rev. Lorenzo Lebrija, the founding director of the TryTank Experimental Lab, a joint venture for innovation in the church from Virginia Theological Seminary and General Theological Seminary. He is also the author of the “How to Try” book which came out July 20, 2021 from Church Publishing.

TryTank meet and greet - Thursday 24 March, 20:00 – 21:00, Zoom. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/trytank-meet-and-greet-tickets-262572029007. TryTank is the experimental lab for church innovation. Our work is to look ahead 10 years to where the church might be headed and use that foresight to inform our actions today. If you want to learn more about our work and perhaps partner on an experiment, join a conversation with the Rev. Lorenzo Lebrija, the director of TryTank.

Faith in the time of the ‘new normal’: Session three - Same boat or same storm?: 31st March 7:15pm. Register at https://form.jotform.com/212773252401043. A series of Lenten conversations hosted by The Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education. This series aims to help congregations and house groups reflect on how Christians may understand the changes we’ve been through as a society, and the new ‘place’ we may be entering. It will draw on and introduce participants to resources from the tradition and offer them some tools for reflection to carry forward towards Easter. Sessions will take place on Thursday evenings during Lent and will be streamed live from the Queen's chapel to groups gathered online. Resources will be provided for the weeks where there are no hosted sessions.

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Al Green - Chariots Of Fire.

humbler church Bigger God - w/c 30 January 2022

Welcome our exciting HeartEdge programme for 2022. We hope you will be able to join us, whether at online events or at our in-person events around the world. You can find all our events on our website — and if you're a HeartEdge partner, you can upload your own events through the members' area.

Last year, we launched Living God's Future Now, an online festival of theology and practice. We hosted workshops, webinars, spaces to gather and share ideas, lecture series, and more. This year, we're continuing our programming with a new theme — humbler church, Bigger God.

HeartEdge is fundamentally about a recognition of the activity of the Holy Spirit beyond and outside the church, and about a church that flourishes when it seeks to catch up with what the Spirit is already doing in the world. There was a time when church meant a group that believed it could control access to God – access that only happened in its language on its terms. But God is bigger than that, and the church needs to be humbler than that. Kingdom churches anticipate the way things are with God forever – a culture of creativity, mercy, discovery and grace – and are grateful for the ways God renews the church through those it has despised, rejected, or ignored.

We hope this reflects the lessons we've learnt from the past year: still trying to live God's future now, re-imagining our faith and our calling as a Church in a changing world. Thank you for joining us for the journey — we can't wait to see what the next year brings.

Sunday

Theology Reading Group
30 January 2022, 19:00-20:00, Online. Click here to register.

Join Revd Dr Sam Wells for our termly theology reading group, hosted by HeartEdge in collaboration with St Martin-in-the-Fields. Sam will lead the discussion and ask participants to share their thoughts and reflections on the book.

This term, we've selected Herbert McCabe's God Matters, essays and sermons covering themes from the problem of evil to the incarnation, Eucharistic theology to class struggle and hunger strikes.


Monday

Sermon Preparation with Sally Hitchiner and Sam Wells

Join us for our weekly discussion of the lectionary readings for the coming Sunday with Sam Wells and Sally Hitchiner.

Monday 31 January 16:30 - 17:30 GMT (normally Tuesdays - please note the change for this week and next) live-streamed here.


Ableism and the Church: Disabled People and Marginalization

Monday 31 January, 15:00 ET /20:00 GMT, Zoom. Click here to register.

Ableism is discrimination and social prejudice which favours non-disabled people. In this conversation disabled ministers, academics and practitioners explore ableism and the church.

With: Rev. Tim Goode, Rector of St Margaret’s Lee and Disability Advisor to the Southwark Diocese; Fiona MacMillan, Chair of St Martin-in-the-Fields' Disability Advisory Group, Inclusive Church Trustee; Miriam Spies, University of Toronto; Sharon Becher, Independent Scholar; Lamar Hardwick, Tri-Cities Church and ‘Autism Pastor'; and Rev. Twila Smith, Partnership Canon for Mission Program, The Dioceses of WNY and NWPA.


Wednesday

Community of Practitioners workshop

Wednesday 2 February, 16:00-17.00 (GMT), Zoom. Email jonathan.evens@smitf.org to register.

This is a space for practitioners, lay and ordained, to reflect on theology and practice. Each week, we alternate between 'Wonderings' and discussion of a theology book. This week we will be using 'Wonderings' to reflect on the past week.


Thursday

Pioneer Practice with Jonny Baker and guests

Thursday 3 February, 20:00-21:00 (GMT), Zoom. Register here.

In our four-part webinar series, Jonny Baker will be joined each week in conversation with guests to explore on-the-ground practicalities of pioneer ministry. Come along if you’re thinking of starting a new congregation or initiative, want to brainstorm practical solutions to problems in pioneer ministry, or just want to learn more about pioneering.


Coming soon

Faith in the time of the 'new normal'

A series of Lenten conversations hosted by The Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education

This series aims to help congregations and house groups reflect on how Christians may understand the changes we’ve been through as a society, and the new ‘place’ we may be entering. It will draw on and introduce participants to resources from the tradition and offer them some tools for reflection to carry forward towards Easter.

During Lent, four sessions will take place at the Queen's chapel and will also be streamed live to groups gathered in person or online. Resources will be provided for the weeks where there are no hosted sessions.

Each live session will run 7-8:45pm and will include a 30-minute talk plus 50 minutes for reflection in groups.

Register here.

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Bill Fay - Salt Of The Earth.