tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91687383856278193942024-02-07T05:13:03.051+00:00St Stephen's House, Oxford"Video caelos apertos" (Acts 7:56)St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comBlogger200125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-29384989809959799432011-06-03T09:12:00.003+01:002011-06-03T11:14:08.699+01:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjheb69YGaOIqPkEC_2sjfOc981UobCP1t9fwUwI12N-q18cCAs7T00z0IbMs66efMHYGPiQWEBOoHJBRa2bDpNgnPnzDAvtQlOu5RIDDI1sGQePawihYmIyCc4qp_S2pzXG3C-_cgmme8/s1600/IA.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 263px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjheb69YGaOIqPkEC_2sjfOc981UobCP1t9fwUwI12N-q18cCAs7T00z0IbMs66efMHYGPiQWEBOoHJBRa2bDpNgnPnzDAvtQlOu5RIDDI1sGQePawihYmIyCc4qp_S2pzXG3C-_cgmme8/s400/IA.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613903620624160258" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style=" font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Imaginative Apologetics</span></span><br /><span style=" font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Theology, Philosophy and the Catholic Tradition</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >By Andrew Davision (Ed; former tutor in Doctrine at St. Stephen's House, Oxford.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >The book collects papers from three years of successful apologetics summer schools at St. Stephen's House, Oxford.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >Imaginative Apologetics draws on much that is most vibrant in contemporary theology to develop Christian apologetics for the present day. The contributors are leaders in their fields. They</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >represent a confident approach to theology, grounded in a deep respect for the theological tradition of the Church. They display a perceptive interest in philosophy, and unlike many works of</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >apologetics, their interest is in the philosophy of the present day, not only that of previous centuries. Drawing on the theology of the imagination they show the centrality of the imagination to</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >apologetics; from the significance of virtue in Christian ethics they show that Christian ethics is part of the Good News; from developments in the theology of knowledge they show that apologetics must be communal and must learn to tell stories. Dealing with history, the arts and the nature of atheism, with the natural sciences and social theory, Imaginative Apologetics presents a theological account of apologetics for the twenty-first century.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Andrew Davison</span> is Tutor in Doctrine at Westcott House, Cambridge.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >***</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >‘This is a stunning book. In simple and vibrant prose, the authors explain our failing attempts to</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >communicate God through colourless, proof style arguments that are all but emptied of mystery and the</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >language of desire. They call, instead, for a healthy tension between clarity and estrangement, logic and</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >wonder. They invite us towards socially and culturally sensitive presentations of the Gospel, rooted in</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >Church tradition and embodied in our own lives. Imaginative Apologetics delivers a prophetic and uplifting</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >message for all Christians.’</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Alan Ramsey, St Aldates, Oxford</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >‘Rowan Williams memorably said, as he took up office, that the Church needed to “recapture the</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >imagination of the nation”. Many theologians have responded to the challenge: we continue to see in the</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >Church of England a confident and intelligent engagement with contemporary culture and a firm critique of</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >the ways in which secular humanism and New Atheism diminish what it means to be a human person. This</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >book is a tremendous collection of essays that explore how the Christian faith is both reasonable and</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >imaginative: it should be read by all who wonder what culture loses when Christianity is eclipsed.’</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Frances Ward, Dean of St Edmundsbury Cathedral</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >‘This attractive volume of essays encourages us to invite others into Christ’s way of seeing the world and to</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >step into the life of a community where his new way of living and loving can be found. It is an original and</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >inspiring contribution to the apologetic task of the Church.’</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Christopher Cocksworth, Bishop of Coventry</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" >***</span><br /></div><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;" ><br /><br /></span>St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-29226472530255864232011-05-26T13:53:00.003+01:002011-05-26T14:00:33.854+01:00Easter 5 - Fr. Damian Feeney<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ceEDMZgBMtEkT-DwV7bUoKEsmayM413Jb7KX463UX1t8TADHLe7NSIWlg9c0mKy6eoYW-nQG3oDOCxp8w5eXm6QwV7r5Ix_LJ5NnneJ6I0bAAJdr7OsKHhJQJWuSTEY-SO4ZNFMqpI4/s1600/john14.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 295px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ceEDMZgBMtEkT-DwV7bUoKEsmayM413Jb7KX463UX1t8TADHLe7NSIWlg9c0mKy6eoYW-nQG3oDOCxp8w5eXm6QwV7r5Ix_LJ5NnneJ6I0bAAJdr7OsKHhJQJWuSTEY-SO4ZNFMqpI4/s400/john14.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5611007868871902546" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">image from google</span><br /></span></div><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Homily given by Fr Damian Feeney, vice principal of St Stephen's House, on Easter V, 22nd May 2011. (Readings: Acts vii.55-60, 1 Peter ii.2-10, John xiv.1-14)</span><br /><br />**<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2.5)</span><br /><br />Strictly Come Dancing isn’t what it was. For those who are of less than a certain age, it is based on a late night BBC programme which ran in the 1970’s called ‘Come Dancing’ which was a regional ballroom dancing competition. It ran from 1949 to 1998. In the realm of Latin Dancing, there was simply no-one to rival Home Counties South, who were invariably represented by the Penge Latin Formation Team, coached by the legendary Frank and Peggy Spencer; quite simply, they carried all before them, to the presumable chagrin of the other regions. So well drilled were they, so rehearsed to the inch, that they achieved astonishing success.<br /><br />One of the most important things about the experience of residential training is that we are formed, as it were, in formation. In our case this doesn’t mean that we all act, or move, or speak, or even dress the same way – we aren’t being trained to be clones. It does mean that our formation has several dimensions, from the forming of personal and individual habits and virtues which prefigure the grace of ordination to the important understanding that our journeys to ordination and beyond do not take place in isolation. We cannot be solitary living stones, and our journeying is connected by a complex network of relationships which extend beyond our year group, beyond this House, and even beyond the boundaries of living and dying. Living in formation is part of what it means to belong to the church catholic, as our experiences of God in Christ are mediated to us through the church local and universal. Such a way of life implies that what affects one affects all: whilst your eyes are necessarily fixed on the day when you will join another community – that of the parishes to which you are called, and where another type of living in formation is on the cards – there is no denying that the social habits of our life here will stay with us, and form the way in which we undertake our patterns of living in other places.<br /><br />One of you said to me the other day that he believed the House to be the kind of place which you grew to dislike while you were here, but demonstrated a huge depth of loyalty and love to thereafter. All of us know by now that as ordinands, no theological college is a place in which to tarry. Many of our anecdotes after ordination will doubtless consist in the things that happened while we were here, and – please be gentle with us – the staff who taught us. But to live, to pray and to learn in community is vital, for by so doing we are seeking the very heart and example of the Holy Trinity, a community of love and mutual concern that models a different way of being to a church which sees training in such a way as too expensive, and to the world around us which struggles to define and live out what it means to be community at all.<br /><br />The challenge, then, is to live as those who, as the church, mediate Christ to one another. By living in formation here we undertake a responsibility not only for our own training and shaping, but for that of each other. Our actions, words and examples, for good or ill, shape the thinking and attitudes of individual members of this whole community. And how important that is, in a college where not everyone we meet has a ‘church’ background, or understands our ways of speaking and doing things.<br /><br />If I may stretch the analogy, living stones depend on one another to stay in position. In a dry stone wall, the dislodging of one stone brings about a collapse of the stones around it, because each relies on the mass, inertia and shape of the others to keep the wall stable. Each of us is called to occupy a different place within the edifice of the church, and for different reasons, and we do so by responding as faithfully as we can to God’s call which, we pray, locates us where we are needed. And, if we are Living Stones, then we must let ourselves be shaped by God into the kind of structure he wants, rather than building large personal edifices of our own called ‘careers’.<br /><br />There will inevitably be times when we are called to question this – whether we are in the right place, doing the right thing – and there will be times when we do not understand why it is we have been placed where we have until much later on (if at all). If we become angry or frustrated in our situations, and on reflection recognize that those feelings are but a reflection of the community in which we serve, then that should act as an incentive to us; not to justify a superficial desire to ‘bale out’ when the going gets tough, but rather to seek the grace of perseverance and endurance, in our prayer life, our abandonment to the will of God, and to tasks which being in that situation implies. Seek the help, seek the support, of your parishes, your families, your networks, the groups to which you belong. But remind yourself of the consequences of pulling the stone out of the wall, as far greater damage may ensue.<br /><br />More than this, we need to learn to trust processes, and that God’s grace makes up whatever is lacking in the church through human frailty. All of you who have accepted title parishes and incumbents up and down the country will be aware of a certain sense of risk. It is necessarily a process in which you, the parish and the diocese are called into decision with a relative lack of knowledge. If nothing else, we have to believe that the process that has led us to this place, the point in our lives, has been a grace-filled one, and that through the processes of the church we are being located to a place where we are called to be. There is also a sense in which the very act of trusting, of risking, places us in a situation where we have to rely on God’s resources rather than our own. And his grace is sufficient. ‘Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ’.St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-62051102488317311092011-05-20T13:48:00.003+01:002011-05-20T13:50:49.251+01:00Monday Reflection - Simon Maddison<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGNyUn-ITlGmicyxKtCG3AGiyjVR1EKgHM5pIJTarLVwtw7OwssIv8Pey8syFz0PifLkVtRn78L-ilcuExYCZ3id5pGhD0wgvuV2EginYRy_4MIkPDW7LkDCvjPOjmCY6eblgz9ClFlb4/s1600/simon.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 235px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGNyUn-ITlGmicyxKtCG3AGiyjVR1EKgHM5pIJTarLVwtw7OwssIv8Pey8syFz0PifLkVtRn78L-ilcuExYCZ3id5pGhD0wgvuV2EginYRy_4MIkPDW7LkDCvjPOjmCY6eblgz9ClFlb4/s400/simon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5608779454931240370" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">image from google</span></span><br /></div><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This homily was given by Simon Maddison, a first year ordinand, at Evening Prayer on Monday 16th May 2011;</span><br /><br />I have based my homily on the readings we have just had (Exodus 32:1-14 & Luke 2:41-end), so I’m going to start with a brief recap...<br /><br />From Genesis we heard, how when Moses had left the Israelites to go up Mount Sinai, they lost their way somewhat! Having being left to their own devices they forced Aaron in to making a golden calf that they could then worship, and subsequently, but for the intervention of Moses on their behalf, would have been destroyed by God.<br /><br />In Luke’s Gospel we heard how Mary and Joseph “lost” Jesus while on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Presumably they would have been preoccupied with packing things away for their return trip, making sure they had got everything before they set off, and had just assumed that Jesus was with friends travelling with them.<br /><br />I am sure we can all sympathise; I usually remember what it is I have forgotten just as I drive on to the main road, forcing me to go all the way to the next roundabout just to go back and get it...<br /><br />Similarly they are a day into the journey when they realise that Jesus is not with them, and are forced to go back to look for him, eventually finding him teaching in the temple.<br /><br />Now these two stories are quite different in their content, but I think there is a common theme about the nature of faith, and our relationship with God.<br /><br />In both cases the people involved lose their focus, whether it’s because they feel abandoned, or because they just have too many other things going on. However their responses are quite different.<br /><br />When Moses is away longer than expected, the Israelites just give up on him and more importantly the God that he represents, seeking to replace him with something of their own making, and very nearly bringing about their own destruction in the process.<br /><br />So unlike Mary and Joseph, who on discovering Jesus missing, instantly begin searching for him, going back to Jerusalem and not giving up until they find him three days later.<br /><br />The situations may be different but I am sure we have all had similar experiences to these, when God can seem quite distant, or the concerns of our day to day life drown out everything else; after all we have, books to read and essays to write...<br /><br />But I think what these stories show us is that it is not God that moves or changes, it’s us and our circumstances, and no matter how busy or disconnected we may feel from time to time, we can’t replace God with something else, we need to go back looking for him, remembering he is only ever a prayer away.<br /><br />And so let us pray...<br /><br />Let nothing disturb you,<br />Nothing affright you;<br />All things are passing,<br />God never changes.<br />Patient endurance<br />Attains unto all things;<br />Who God possesses<br />In nothing is wanting:<br />Alone God suffices.<br /><br />St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582).St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-32896366947755682082011-05-17T17:12:00.006+01:002011-05-18T15:27:23.811+01:00Oxford Artsweek at St. Stephen's House<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6a94yPJvb36jcUXcXLfAK_5GuUh-0HpQYsatY_O47tF8aXJEA9d0YkMFv3mtwqNE1rKjEyQR-w2kU7ATc4ahxz6ZtSxa2dg6a3cHqU7bSFeI_JdPVvWFwD6Mz5sZGe07pJJmjhl1hJDk/s1600/AW.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 270px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6a94yPJvb36jcUXcXLfAK_5GuUh-0HpQYsatY_O47tF8aXJEA9d0YkMFv3mtwqNE1rKjEyQR-w2kU7ATc4ahxz6ZtSxa2dg6a3cHqU7bSFeI_JdPVvWFwD6Mz5sZGe07pJJmjhl1hJDk/s400/AW.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5607718949446838626" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Oxford Artsweek at St. Stephen's House</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />Paul Vanstone Sculptures<br />Nick Maitland Paintings<br /><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Private view by invitation</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />Sunday 22 May 2011<br />5.00pm to 7.00pm<br />(R.S.V.P. to assistantbursar@ssho.ox.ac.uk / 01865 613 504)<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Public view</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />Monday 23 May 2011 - Monday 30 May 2011<br />**<br />Monday & Tuesday 2-5pm<br />Wednesdays 12-4pm<br />and<br />Thursday-Friday 2-5pm<br />**<br /><br /><br /><br />St. Stephen's House<br />16 Marston Street<br />Oxford OX4 1JX</span><br /></span></div>St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-4907325422913414902011-05-11T14:42:00.002+01:002011-05-11T14:43:21.644+01:00Monday Reflection - Joanna Moffett-Levy<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcK8kBb4yA94_fmwGEIbyj0q5ZZXg-wsiNTqHPK2mgWinUc0aegb1dx5qNj9xwJgG1E19zFZyssfdyOLqtnFVhLWZR1qXvgLvXwRnNi2dr3fK4K4S_nk-2eZ9Hn59aH9jxh9jdgDy1ebY/s1600/jo.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 337px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcK8kBb4yA94_fmwGEIbyj0q5ZZXg-wsiNTqHPK2mgWinUc0aegb1dx5qNj9xwJgG1E19zFZyssfdyOLqtnFVhLWZR1qXvgLvXwRnNi2dr3fK4K4S_nk-2eZ9Hn59aH9jxh9jdgDy1ebY/s400/jo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5605453546763000594" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">image from google.</span><br /></span></div><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This homily was given by Joanna Moffett-Levy , a final year ordinand, at Evening Prayer on Monday 9th May 2011;</span><br /><br />There is a theme in today's readings and that theme is awe, awe at God's overwhelming greatness. First, in Psalm 29 'the voice of God is over the waters, the God of Glory thunders.' God's voice shatters the greatest of the trees and makes the wilderness shake.<br /><br />In the reading from Exodus, God prepared Moses and the people of Israel for the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. The people needed to be pure to receive God's words and the mountain was so holy that no creature might touch it. Thunder and lightning, thick cloud and smoke were all around when the people met at the foot of the mountain. God's presence was like the loud blast of a trumpet, like an earthquake, like a violent storm. In the next chapter we will hear that they asked Moses to speak to God for them – they were afraid that if God spoke directly to them they would die. <br /><br />And lastly, we heard Luke's account of the message given by the angel to Zechariah, husband of Elizabeth and father of John the Baptist, a message that came to him as he served God in the sanctuary. Imagine the shock when he looked up to see the angel standing by the altar of incense. Gabriel was there bringing the message from the place where he stands in the presence of God. Zechariah questioned the message, mildly, and as a result was rendered silent; his silence lasted until the circumcision of John in the Temple.<br /><br />We are shown in these readings that God's power is overwhelming, like a terrifying natural phenomenon; we human beings cannot look at God, cannot survive in God's presence – we need a go-between like Moses or the angel Gabriel. Our response, our right response, is awe and fear.<br /><br />The contrast for us this week is between this God who thunders and the God in Christ of the road to Emmaus. The Lord is present with the two disciples and walks along the road with them and is with them at the table as they eat. They may not recognise him at first, but they see him face to face.<br /><br />Can we keep these things in balance? I think that we do need both but it is not easy. We may find the intimacy easier than the awe. We don't get a lot of practice at awe, I think, here in a city, away from whirlwinds and floods and earthquakes. But our fellow Christians in New Zealand certainly have. The theologian in residence at Christ Church Cathedral, New Zealand, Revd. Lynda Patterson, struggling with where to look for God in the destruction, wrote this recently.<br /><br />"the earthquake was not an act of God. It was just the earth doing what it does. Under our feet there are two unimaginably vast slabs of rock floating in the tides of a ball of liquid iron. They grind on slowly, as they have done for millions of years, and where they rub together the earth is pushed up at the seams into mountains, or swallowed up in vast trenches. Sometimes the slabs move, stick and then move again as they did for us. Into all this impermanence, we are born and set up camp for the briefest of periods. But that's not the end of the story. Behind this globe of molten rock, there is a God who designed it all and put it in place. There is a God who knows just how breakable we are and how much it hurts, because that God has been here and walked about, laughed and wept and died and rose to life again here among us."<br /><br />So this week I am going to keep trying to get a glimpse of the God who we know in the breaking of bread and who fills the dark spaces between the stars.St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-41533524576679137002011-05-09T09:58:00.002+01:002011-05-09T10:03:42.569+01:00House Lecture - Dr Colin Podmore<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCmbSr0Mlzeb3Nof-H4hLjLhfxqI-sYDcoTPTGzsgZY_WJHmbfKG3MGN3HNPb_UWZkCYnlk01yDXLwQmW48Gv-YT6WyZFj_Fk27YBi48JhRzmTu1lZs-6dunaJ0XR6mVzsYlH3g-zLx5w/s1600/DCP.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 354px; height: 336px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCmbSr0Mlzeb3Nof-H4hLjLhfxqI-sYDcoTPTGzsgZY_WJHmbfKG3MGN3HNPb_UWZkCYnlk01yDXLwQmW48Gv-YT6WyZFj_Fk27YBi48JhRzmTu1lZs-6dunaJ0XR6mVzsYlH3g-zLx5w/s400/DCP.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604638366345383842" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >image from google</span><br /><br />***<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">All are warmly invited to<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The House Lecture</span><br /><br />presented by<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dr Colin Podmore</span></span><br />Clerk to the Synod Central Secretariat<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Communion and Consultation:<br />The Anglican Communion and its "Instruments of Unity"</span><br /><br />Thursday 12th May 4.30pm<br />The Curatin Room<br />St. Stephen's House, Oxford<br />16 Marston Street, Oxford, OX4 1JX<br />01865 613500<br />enquiries@ssho.ox.ac.uk<br />[<a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=ox4+1jx&aq=&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=18.77642,39.506836&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Oxford+OX4+1JX,+United+Kingdom&z=16">map</a>]<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />***<br /></div>St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-48470668721999511872011-05-04T16:24:00.004+01:002011-05-04T16:29:27.529+01:00St. George's Day - Fr. Damian Feeney<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWtwkkPWqJYLqas4zn7b7_zBCK7XjTI5TIcsdS8tuImMLNxFZ-V1O21Jh2qwlNONibSVoJaEhQiEFJfOhlcooRnguLzwCVHif9ctZ_A7B0hwwvfA4BUMaRvTgSyxpAz1C8je0afZ_HXjk/s1600/stg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 201px; height: 251px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWtwkkPWqJYLqas4zn7b7_zBCK7XjTI5TIcsdS8tuImMLNxFZ-V1O21Jh2qwlNONibSVoJaEhQiEFJfOhlcooRnguLzwCVHif9ctZ_A7B0hwwvfA4BUMaRvTgSyxpAz1C8je0afZ_HXjk/s400/stg.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602882509401293826" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >St. George, image from google.</span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Homily given by Fr Damian Feeney, vice principal of St Stephen's House, on St. George's Day, 2 May 2011. (Readings: Rev xii.7-12 2 Tim ii: 3-13: John xv.18-21.)</span><br /><br /><br />As a small and rather pious boy, I recall a conversation with my mother which she has doubtless forgotten, (and will therefore deny!) but which set a train of thought going that continues to this day. In a quest for rather premature careers advice, I asked her, after the manner of Doris Day, what I should become. Rather splendidly, she advised me that I should become a saint. She painted an attractive picture of sainthood, and heaven, which has never quite left me; nor has her parting shot, which betrayed the all-too human struggle beneath her lofty sentiments. ‘Be a saint, but don’t be a martyr’ she said. Martyrs had a hard time of it, because they had to die to win the crown, and that was perhaps not calculated to be an appealing job description for a six-year old child. I think with the passing of the years, both of us would see the flaws in that statement. But it was good enough for a precocious boy. Of course, the call of the Christian life for us all is a call to holiness, to virtue, to self-renunciation, and to the rule of love. Saints don’t theorise about sanctity, but rather live it, expound upon it, proclaim it. Often the sacrifices saints are called to make are as a result of doing these things well – of shaping virtuous lives and souls in a less than perfect world. Those who have undergone martyrdom have in some sense experienced the same consequence of God-centred living that Jesus did – words, thoughts and actions considered too dangerous, too subversive, for the places and times in which they occurred.<br /><br />There are three words which haunt the preacher who turns to hagiography for inspiration. They are the words ‘little is known’. This opening to a sentence, or paragraph, about a saint may make us groan; it is certainly the case for St. George, venerated as a martyr and swathed in popular legend. Importantly, George’s tradition and cult has been remarkable, both in the history of the church and in his position as Patron of this land. Indeed, it may well be that his lack of local association led to an easing of his passage towards being our Patron Saint. Not merely in this country, but throughout Western Europe and indeed in the writings of Islam, George is revered as an heroic figure who was faithful, courageous, and who endured to death.<br /><br />A Martyr, of course, is a supreme witness to the truth of the faith, even to death. He or she endures death through fortitude, offering their very being into God’s hands to dispose as He will. It is the ultimate recognition that our life is ‘not I, but Christ in me’ and that all we are and have is given to us through the Grace and generosity of God. It is an act of profound love and trust, intimately related to our crucified saviour, as the need to witness to the truth of the faith supercedes and transcends our earthly being.<br /><br />We live in an age when martyrdom is misunderstood. A 12 year old walks in to a regimental barracks in Mardan, Pakistan, and detonates the bomb which brings to an end not only his own life, but that of 31 others; all on the promise of glorious martyrdom. That isn’t martyrdom – it’s murderous suicide. However we may feel about it, there will be those who will see Osama Bin Laden’s death earlier today as a martyrdom. This casts a pall over the very notion of martyrdom in the world, for there can be nothing that is holy about willing and bringing about the murder of thousands of people. None of this can be of a piece with seeking and witnessing to the truth; it is rather a gross perversion of it.<br /><br />Alongside all this – and given that patron saints give us cause to examine our country – we are forced to examine the ‘witness to truth’ as it is represented in our own day. In many ways, this is not an easy time to be ordained: and being ordained places us, ontologically and visibly, as those who will be the focus for questioning, scrutiny and even attack within a wider society which is being taught to mistrust the church. Bearing witness to the truth of Christ in such a context is a challenge requiring of us great patience, charity and virtue. There may even be times when such witness, combined with our own human frailty, may break us – but God’s grace is sufficient, and we heal, and grow, and orient ourselves once again to the pursuit of grace-filled, truthful living which is God’s desire for us, and such moments of crisis can act as a catalyst for a more grounded and loving response in pastoral ministry. I delighted in Pope Benedict’s description yesterday of the final days of his predecessor, Blessed John Paul the Second. He said,<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Then too, there was his witness in suffering: the Lord gradually stripped him of everything, yet he remained ever a "rock", as Christ desired. His profound humility, grounded in close union with Christ, enabled him to continue to lead the Church and to give to the world a message which became all the more eloquent as his physical strength declined. In this way he lived out in an extraordinary way the vocation of every priest and bishop to become completely one with Jesus, whom he daily receives and offers in the Church .</span>**<br /><br />Whether called to Martyrdom or not, the call to witness to the truth of Jesus Christ is the flame which burns at the very centre of His call in our lives. To love our country – to be patriotic - does not merely mean being an unconditional supporter of every aspect of our national life. Rather, it means being prepared to express that love in labour for that peace, justice, and right ordering of society’s affairs which are expressions of the Kingdom of God. May the prayers of St. George assist all our labours of love with his fervent prayers, and may we in our turn seek to witness to the truth of Jesus Christ, wherever that truth may lead us.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >** http://www.romereports.com/palio/Pope-Benedicts-homily-at-John-Paul-IIs-beatification-english-4033.html<br /></span><br />DAMIAN FEENEY<br />Vice Principal, St. Stephen’s HouseSt Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-10072573625766172972011-05-03T21:21:00.005+01:002011-05-03T21:42:01.872+01:00Book Launch<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguo2gAqTi-Zh_VvDp8pPq8JpFG-Iql4thCB6-fH3T_LhUBUg11gDzQL_wbUp51RpxW1N6fMWyA4RW8lEiuNRBNCecsDqFYLzM4lW9YXrZUo2lZbe2kNGAzqQ_PnZxdeadFgPzqz9dZw1M/s1600/book+launch.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 307px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguo2gAqTi-Zh_VvDp8pPq8JpFG-Iql4thCB6-fH3T_LhUBUg11gDzQL_wbUp51RpxW1N6fMWyA4RW8lEiuNRBNCecsDqFYLzM4lW9YXrZUo2lZbe2kNGAzqQ_PnZxdeadFgPzqz9dZw1M/s400/book+launch.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602592871113135154" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">***<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">On Christian Priesthood</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">(Continuum) by Robin Ward</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Divine Illumination</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">(Wiley-Blackwell) by Lydia Schumacher</span><br /><br />Wednesday 11th May 2011<br />from 5pm to 7pm at<br />St. Stephen's House<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">RSVP</span><br />enquiries@ssho.ox.ac.uk 01865 613 500<br /><br /><br /><br /></div>St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-8625366845474120752011-03-16T13:32:00.002+00:002011-03-16T13:36:08.182+00:00Monday Reflection - Taemin Oh<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaKw6ONswadmVDKl79zqAmSiuXIdxGqUZk08JbbSq6pmf-_nvO5sJd9PXwjD2Rq9HE2DdReQZr40Xuw4l9Q_7WmbjLRqJ9KMmqqtwkA1U0xzwmM42s1mGakl1w4r100cpMWYD-k4bSZqc/s1600/20101030_SSHO+OPEN+DAY+058.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaKw6ONswadmVDKl79zqAmSiuXIdxGqUZk08JbbSq6pmf-_nvO5sJd9PXwjD2Rq9HE2DdReQZr40Xuw4l9Q_7WmbjLRqJ9KMmqqtwkA1U0xzwmM42s1mGakl1w4r100cpMWYD-k4bSZqc/s400/20101030_SSHO+OPEN+DAY+058.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584670321781123490" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >The House Chapel, St .Stephen's House Oxford</span><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </div><p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><br />This homily was given by Taemin Oh, a final year ordinand, at Evening Prayer on Monday 14th March 2011;</i></p><p class="MsoNormal">--<br /><br />‘Remember that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return.’<br /><br />Last Wednesday, we all received the sign of cross - the symbol of humanity, our sins, our life, and our death. We, as God’s creatures, should be aware of the fact that the last thing we will encounter is death. Regardless of who you are or what you have, all human beings are subject to death and shall return to dust.<br /><br />Yet, for us, dust does <i style="">not</i> just mean the end of our life. Rather, dust gives us hope; hope for resurrection, hope for our salvation, and most of all, hope for the world to come, through Jesus Christ. Therefore, Ash Wednesday was not just the day of reminding us of our sins, but the day of desiring the grace of God and reunion with Him. <br /><br />As our life is always full of ‘comings and goings’ or ‘ups and downs’, my life also has many days to be remembered. As a final year student, part of such rich memories are about to fade away into history. In the next term, all leavers, including me, will be sent out to the world, to serve not to be served, to witness God’s love and to proclaim the Gospel. And soon, God willing, we will be swamped by the huge amount of parish work, and eventually, we will be forgotten from each other’s memories. <br /><br />However, it may be that we will see each other again soon, and some of us may meet often.<span style=""> </span>We may come back to the House for a Staggers’ reunion, or any other special occasion. However, I am not sure whether we, as a whole, can be in the one place again as we are in this chapel today.<br /><br /><br />Gerald Charles Perkins.<br />Edward Stuart Churchill Lennard.<br />Cyril George Woolley.<br />William George Herbert Gater.<br />…<br /><br />Do you recall anything on hearing these names? Is any one of these names familiar to you?<br /><br />These names are actually to be found on the walls of this chapel - just right in front of you – all 144 names are carved in the wall.<span style=""> </span>Once, all these people spent some time together here, and once, all became dust.<br /><br />Yet, I do believe all are now in the full communion with God, and also believe that it will be <i style="">our</i> true reunion when <i style="">our</i> names are carved in the wall, in this chapel, side-by-side.<br /><br /><span style=""> </span><br />‘Life is short; death is certain; and the world to come is everlasting’ says John Henry Newman.<br /><br />We are still young (-ish) and still we have many things to do before we become dust. However, as Newman says in one of his Advent sermons, ‘Christ’s coming is ever nearer than it was. O that, as he comes nearer earth, we may approach nearer heaven!’<br /><br />Day passes after day, silently and we are approaching the end of Hilary term. Therefore, this Lenten period should be the time for us to pray for each other, and ask God’s pardon and mercy be upon ourselves and others, so that we all partake in the glory of heavenly reunion.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br />Let us pray…<br /><br />May the God of all love,<br />who is the source of our affection<br />for each other formed here,<br />take our friendships into his keeping,<br />that they may continue and increase<br />throughout life and beyond it,<br />in Jesus Christ our Lord.<br />Amen.<br /><br />O God, Who art everywhere present,<br />look down with thy mercy upon those who are absent from among us.<br />Give thy holy angels charge over them,<br />and grant that they may be kept safe in body, soul and spirit,<br />and presented faultless before the presence of thy glory with exceeding joy;<br />Through Jesus Christ our Lord.<br />Amen.</p>St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-33608481703543162132011-03-12T22:57:00.003+00:002011-03-12T23:05:44.739+00:00Monday Reflection - Mark Lyon<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhhvfqzodWt3L1o__F2EjnOG1DuchthBcpO4-f1PcpWxutBxDbYNkJkjxoIezlXjHZt3Onk4DuGCpmshzV5fs82OpcxIJLotiC6wL_y6QZKZFSzH6S0JEWTeTzC2xswItsgr6CnAcJKtk/s1600/Golgotha800wH.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhhvfqzodWt3L1o__F2EjnOG1DuchthBcpO4-f1PcpWxutBxDbYNkJkjxoIezlXjHZt3Onk4DuGCpmshzV5fs82OpcxIJLotiC6wL_y6QZKZFSzH6S0JEWTeTzC2xswItsgr6CnAcJKtk/s320/Golgotha800wH.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583331630157055618" border="0" /></a><span 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mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;} </style> <![endif]--> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><i><span lang="EN-GB">This homily was given by M</span></i><i><span style="" lang="EN-GB">ark Lyon</span><span lang="EN-GB">, a fi</span></i><i><span style="" lang="EN-GB">nal</span><span lang="EN-GB"> year ordinand, at Evening Prayer on Monday </span></i><i><span style="" lang="EN-GB">7th March</span><span lang="EN-GB"> 2011;</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;">--<br /><i><span lang="EN-GB"></span></i><i><span style="" lang="EN-GB"></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-family:";font-size:9.5pt;" lang="EN-GB" >A church service is basically aerobics in slow motion. You have to get up, get down, come forward and turn around, all to background music with a kind of Mr Motivator figure out in front. You even get your own mini-aerobics mat hanging on the chair in front.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-family:";font-size:9.5pt;" lang="EN-GB" >While these words are quite comical they nevertheless have an element of truth about them.<span style=""> </span>Within the Catholic Church, the liturgy is designed so that there is air of constant movement and direction; different postures, whether we are on our knees, standing or sitting prepares us for the different parts of our worship. <span style=""> </span>One of my favourite icons – Rublevs Trinity – shows us the importance of movement, while the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are seated somewhat stationary there nevertheless is a movement of activity – the activity of Creation and Redemption. <span style=""> </span>What we do physically thus prepares us for what we must do spiritually.<span style=""> </span>Mind, Body and Soul, while different are nevertheless one.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-family:";font-size:9.5pt;" lang="EN-GB" >On Wednesday of this week we enter the very important penitential season of Lent.<span style=""> </span>All of us I’m sure have either decided or thinking about what we are to give up, however, it is important to remember Lent is not a time to deny ourselves as a form of punishment. It is a time when we realign our lives back into the loving relationship with God that he has ordained us to have.<span style=""> </span>The things we give up, therefore, should always have this focus.<span style=""> </span>If we give up something the time or money we save should be put to good purpose.<span style=""> </span>Whether that is time for extra devotion or money to a charity the essential part to this penitential season is to deepen the relationship we have with our Heavenly Father.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-family:";font-size:9.5pt;" lang="EN-GB" >Lent is a time when the movement in the Liturgy, must affect and shape the movement of our life.<span style=""> </span>Guy Browning talks of the physical movement in Church services being aerobics in slow motion – Lent is the time for our spiritual aerobics.<span style=""> </span>A time when we exercise our relationship with God to strengthen ourselves so that whatever life throws at us – we have a sure foundation of the Hope, Love and Charity that has been given to us on the Cross.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-family:";font-size:9.5pt;" lang="EN-GB" >On Wednesday we begin our journey to Golgotta – we carry our Crosses, in order that they can be transformed by Christ’s forgiving and redemptive love.<span style=""> </span>It is the same love that not only redeems but brings us to the point of redemption.<span style=""> </span>Jesus does not leave us to carry our own Crosses but he carry’s them alongside us.<span style=""> </span>It is his work in, with and through us that enables us to say on our Good Friday his final words – <i style="">In to your hands I commend my spirit</i>.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-family:";font-size:9.5pt;" lang="EN-GB" >The giving up or taking on something for Lent is a painful task but it is a task that we must undertake if we are to experience the joy of the resurrection.<span style=""> </span>By ensuring that we engergise our spiritual lives in this way will enable us to witness to the world, of God’s redeeming and transforming love.<span style=""> </span>In so doing we can just perhaps with true humility utter the finals words of S. Paul from our second reading tonight <i style="">“And they glorified God because of me.”</i></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-family:";font-size:9.5pt;" lang="EN-GB" > </span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-family:";font-size:9.5pt;" lang="EN-GB" >Heavenly Father, Alone with none but thee,</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-family:";font-size:9.5pt;" lang="EN-GB" >I journey on our way;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-family:";font-size:9.5pt;" lang="EN-GB" >What need I fear, when thou art near</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-family:";font-size:9.5pt;" lang="EN-GB" >O King of night and day.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-family:";font-size:9.5pt;" lang="EN-GB" >My life I yield to thy decree</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-family:";font-size:9.5pt;" lang="EN-GB" >And bow to thy control.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-family:";font-size:9.5pt;" lang="EN-GB" >Thou art our trust, O King of kings</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-family:";font-size:9.5pt;" lang="EN-GB" >We make this prayer through Our Lord Jesus Christ who liveth and reigneth with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen</span></span></p>St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-76667412673616784582011-03-12T20:13:00.003+00:002011-03-12T20:17:05.528+00:00Edward King - The Rt Revd Geoffrey Rowell<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2iwEPT_z079wreblMJQl1SGw0QpORJ0AjRkZCYS_gP9GRW6YXz6JW6h4IVY13Ktbo9-OYScdc7TEfyGGqsnv65dUKMK8-cNRlTnSmik4pd3_spQJ2PWz7wEUA9dU1grBFh0j0y2xpfTI/s1600/eking.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 256px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2iwEPT_z079wreblMJQl1SGw0QpORJ0AjRkZCYS_gP9GRW6YXz6JW6h4IVY13Ktbo9-OYScdc7TEfyGGqsnv65dUKMK8-cNRlTnSmik4pd3_spQJ2PWz7wEUA9dU1grBFh0j0y2xpfTI/s400/eking.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583289335911194018" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Edward King (image from google)</span><br /></div><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal">This homily was given by <span style="">The Right Reverend Geoffrey Rowell, the Bishop in Europe on the Feast of Edward King on 8<sup>th</sup> March 2011.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> --</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Tomorrow morning, as is the way of the Bishop in Europe, I leave for Ljbljana in Slovenia to celebrate Ash Wednesday with our congregation there. I shall then be visiting the Roman Catholic Archbishop and the Lutheran Bishop and will be taking as gifts Professor Grace Davie’s book on religion in Europe amazingly translated into Slovenian! Then it is on to Trieste for another Lenten service and Venice and a meeting with Cardinal Scola, and the First Sunday in Lent with the congregation of St George’s in the morning, and with the Nigerian Congregation of St Anthony Abbott in Padua in the afternoon, before Milan overnight, and then another Lenten service and parish visit in Corfu before getting back here a week later. Knowing that Venice celebrates Cardinal with masks and processions and a whole retinue of pre-Lent customs I had hoped I could have been there today rather than on the first weekend in Lent – but then I should not have been here to celebrate this annual commemoration of Edward King. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">It is rare indeed that Edward King’s day coincides, as it does this year, with Shrove Tuesday. Only when Easter is as late as it is – the very latest it can be – is there a chance of these two days coming together; but this year they do.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">In the says and places when Lent was more fully observed than it is today, Shrove Tuesday was the time for feasting, for using up the foods which not be permitted during Lenten abstinence. Eggs and fat and dairy produce were made up into rich dishes such as pancakes. The French call today <i style="">Mardi Gras </i>– ‘fat Tuesday’ – for this very reason. One should note that in the Orthodox world it is possible to have a very good banquet of fasting food, as I once did in the Monastery of Miloseva in Serbia where the table groaned under no less than 22 different dishes of fasting food! But our name for today is Shrove Tuesday, which comes from an old English word <i style="">schriven </i>or <i style="">shrive</i>, which in turn may come from the Latin <i style="">scribere </i>‘to write’, but which means to make confession. As an old Anglo-Saxon church order puts it: ‘in the week immediately before Lent, everyone should go to his confession and confess his deeds, and his confessor shall so shrive him.’</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">One of the treasures of Catholic spiritual life and discipline recovered by the Oxford Movement was personal confession of one’s sins to a priest and personal absolution. It was there in the Book of Common Prayer in the order for the Visitation of the Sick, and is mentioned in one of the exhortations before Communion. It never entirely died out in the Church of England, but its use was rare and <i style="">in extremis</i>, and practice could certainly vary, as an account of a deathbed confession in a celebrated series of Death-bad Scenes from the early nineteenth century, portrays the dying man noiselessly confessing his sins to God, and the absolution being given when it seemed he had ceased. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">The revival of auricular confession was a neuralgic point for Protestant controversialists, for whom it smacked of the worst features of priestcraft and Popery, and in particular there was objection to the violation of family life by the priest hearing the confessions of wives. Protestant polemicists caricatured those who resorted to the confessional, as in the verses published in a <i style="">Paper-lantern for Puseyites</i> in the 1840s: <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">For a first endeavour</p><p class="MsoNormal">By a pre-concerted plan,</p><p class="MsoNormal">Some half-a-dozen ladies,</p><p class="MsoNormal">And an invalid young man,</p><p class="MsoNormal">And that fussy, vulgar ‘server’,</p><p class="MsoNormal">In his hideous monkish dress,</p><p class="MsoNormal">Assembled in the vestry,</p><p class="MsoNormal">‘Tis stated, to “confess!”</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Salacious anti-catholic tales portrayed the horrors of the confessional, often given an extra twist by being linked with capers in the convent. Dr Pusey translated and published the <i style="">Mannual for Confessors </i>by the Abbe Gaume, and there were even parliamentary denunciations by Lord Shaftesbury after Convocation had been petitioned in 1873 to provide training for confessors – ‘this pollution of the red one of Babylon’, of by Lord Redesdale following that early SSC publication, <i style="">The Priest in Absolution</i>. Part of the cultural backdrop to contemporary reactions to the scandals of sexual abuse in the church – absolutely and rightly condemned – is nonetheless this long anti-Catholic history, with the sense that confession is somehow un-English and un-Manly – something that that very English parish priest, John Keble, sought after as a confessor by Dr Pusey, and no less by his Hursley villagers, was always concerned to rebut. I was interested to find recently in an anonymous book of 1847 – <i style="">From Oxford to Rome and how it fared with some who lately made the journey</i> – that one of the points that is made is that ‘Confession as now made in the English Church is the more perfect, the more aiding to the penitent.’ The author’s experience was that in the Roman Church confession was ‘as like a matter of worldly barter as can well be conceived: a certain amount of affliction for a certain amount of sin, arranged as immuntably as the value of the exchange in currencies’. What was needed was more of St John and less of the obtrusive questions and legalism the author had found. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Part of Edward King’s ministry – and close to the heart of it – was his pastoral gift as a confessor. It has not originally been part of his own spiritual life, but when as Vice-Principal and then Principal of Cuddesdon he found himself increasingly used as a spiritual counsellor and director, he came to the point where he knew that he had to make his own confession, which he did in April 1862 to Dr Pusey. He later told a friend how after he had made his confession and been given Psalm 103 as his penance, Pusey had knelt beside him, pouring out his heart in prayer for him. Thereafter he made his confession three or four times a year. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">King was always alert to the misuse of the confessional – the dangers of formalism, and rote. I suspect he would have been a little cautious about the lists of sins published in such books as Fr Stanton’s <i style="">Catholic Prayers for Church of England People</i> – a book given to me when I was confirmed at 13. (I can remember puzzling over what were ‘dangerous dances’ and what was the sin of ‘making innuendoes’ – were they some kind of idol?) King brought to the confessional a unique sensitivity and sympathy, aware of the uniqueness of each one to whom he ministered, but it was an intelligent sympathy which in Charles Wesley’s words ‘breaks the power of cancelled sin’ and ‘sets the prisoner free’. It was close to the Orthodox understanding of confession which links it with healing, the medicine of the soul, rather than with rules broken and regulations transgressed. He believed it to be important, telling his clergy in the Diocese of Lincoln in 1898 that they had a duty to explain to their people ‘what the teaching of the Church of England with regard to Private Confession really is, making clear to them both the reality of the blessing and what she is commissioned to give, and the perfect liberty of her children.’ <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">During the time I was working here in Oxford I can remember a Catholic psychiatrist at the Warneford Hospital saying to me that if only the Church would do what only the Church can do, absolve the sinful in the name of God my consulting room would be far less crowded, and my diary less pressured. Jesus gave to his Church the power, grace and life of the Holy Spirit, to set men and women free from the destructive and damaging captivity to what Paul call ‘the law of sin and death.’ In the Ordinal of the Book of Common Prayer the form of Ordination of a priest is a prayer for the gift of the Holy Spirit by the laying hands with the authority of the Lord himself who breathed that same Spirit on his disciples on the evening of the first Easter Day giving them authority to bind and loose, to forgive sins in his name. The ministry of priesthood is therefore an Easter ministry, a continual setting free from destructive captivities and addictions, a realising into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Every Lent is a springtime, a recalling of us to that discipleship of love which is the way of the Cross and no less the living out of Easter life. In confessing our sins we come before God as we are – not for the ‘set mask of rectitude’ or the facebook we present to the world – yet we come before God always for what by his grace we may become, and God looking upon us loves us, and draws us into the feast of his love. Edward King knew that deeply, and taught it by his life and ministry, and I can do no better than to leave you with his own words. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">“But there is yet a third gift which I would desire that you should seek to perfect and make great, and that is the kindness of heart, the gift of love. This is the mark which the Saviour Himself chose by which His disciples should be known. ‘By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.; Friendliness, sincerity in friendship, true-heartedness, a tenderness of felling for one another in your joys and sorrows; to weep with those that weep and rejoice with those that rejoice. Let this be your aim. Be ready to forgive if anyone should do you wrong, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Put away all unkind words and uncharitable judgement one of another….try to ‘bear one another’s burdens.’” (<i style="">The Love and Wisdom of God</i>, pp.282-3)<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";">“By God’s great goodness we Christians can look up higher than our own nature, for we have seen His nature descend, not to destroy, but to take up humanity into the Godhead….To our love now new spheres are open, and all men are found to be not too much for our capacity when incorporated in the Body of Christ. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";" lang="EL">Φιλια</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";" lang="EL"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";">will have </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";" lang="EL">κοινωνια</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";">, and we find the true end of love in communion with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and with mankind in Him in whom God and man are one.” (<i style="">The Love and Wisdom of God</i>, p.138)</span><br /></p>St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-6754894159173625982011-03-09T10:41:00.002+00:002011-03-09T10:44:22.740+00:00Sunday before Lent - The Rt Revd Martyn Jarrett<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV170JFvU2gKQR05VJsFetKoCEeagWC55v1GN8rwAvWlbTfwCTv-SiT2XWMP2X-7gan72QDwjuokrAA5W261CYV6yZWX1VBWAgvNRI0baB4jdMJ6yX8lT2ACRdrVDQiAN9zweXZoUYNgM/s1600/John_Henry_Newman_%2528by_Sir_John_Everett_Millais%252C_1st_Bt%2529.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 249px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV170JFvU2gKQR05VJsFetKoCEeagWC55v1GN8rwAvWlbTfwCTv-SiT2XWMP2X-7gan72QDwjuokrAA5W261CYV6yZWX1VBWAgvNRI0baB4jdMJ6yX8lT2ACRdrVDQiAN9zweXZoUYNgM/s320/John_Henry_Newman_%2528by_Sir_John_Everett_Millais%252C_1st_Bt%2529.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582028710993524370" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: times new roman;">This homily was given by the Rt Revd Martyn Jarrett, the Bishop of Beverly, on 6 March 2011 (Sunday before Lent).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">--</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; font-family: times new roman;">I am sure it is my duty, as long as I am in this tent, to keep stirring you up with reminders. 2 Peter 1 v13</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">John Rouse Bloxham is hardly a name that immediately comes to mind when most Anglicans recall the great days of the Catholic revival in the nineteenth century. That is, perhaps, a pity for Bloxham was one of Blessed John Henry Newman’s closest friends. Bloxham who had gradually been drawn into Newman’s ever increasing circle of admirers and friends, was to serve for a while as one of Newman’s curates, with special responsibility for Littlemore. Bloxham, though, was never to follow his great friend into the Church of Rome. Newman may once have preached a famous sermon in which he referred to the parting of friends. That sermon, however, was not about the breaking of friendships. Both Newman and Bloxham were to live to a great age and, through all that time, to maintain in their close friendship. We are fortunate that their frequent and warm letters to each other are still available to be read. Bloxham was a frequent visitor to the Birmingham Oratory. In later years, when Bloxham was the incumbent of Beeding Priory in Sussex, a portrait of Newman hung in what was eventually to become known as ‘The Cardinal’s Room’. In 1879, after travelling to Rome to receive his cardinal’s hat, Newman returned to England, landing at Folkestone. Even then, when the great and the good, not least among the Roman Catholic community must have been eager to entertain Newman, within two days he found time to make the journey to the rectory at Beeding and to enjoy lunch with his old friend. As far as we can tell from their correspondence, neither ever rebuked the other for the stance he had taken or tried to argue him out of it. Theirs was a profound Christian friendship that went far deeper than all the controversies of the time. Newman and Bloxham never lost their vision of being reconciled in Christ even as they lived through the painful controversies of the nineteenth century.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">Not everyone is as successful as were Newman and Bloxham in remaining loyal to that vision of true reconciliation in Christ. One commonly experienced feature of the Christian life is that of folk falling by the wayside as soon as the practice of the Christian life becomes tough and demanding. God who brought much reassuring consolation in the early days of faith now seems to be the God who uncaringly stands aside, even in the experience of heart-rending bereavement or of ghastly, painful illness. All too many would be disciples seek a faith built on warm and reassuring religious sentiment. Not so for Saint Matthew’s Gospel, read to us this morning. The certainty of the passion has already been spelt out in no uncertain terms to Jesus’ would-be followers. The Lord famously tells Simon Peter, when he suggests that the passion and cross could never be allowed to happen to Jesus, Get behind me Satan. S Matthew’s Gospel is as much concerned with keeping the would-be disciples’ eyes on the glory that is to come as it is with trying to prepare them for the puzzlement, stress and utter pain that are to be inevitable ingredients of the future. In similar vein, when the author of the Second Letter of Peter reminds his readers of what he claims to have seen on the Mount of Transfiguration, he says that his purpose is to encourage them not to fall away, rather </span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">to keep stirring you up with reminders.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">The story of the Transfiguration is set out for us today as you and I stand on the verge of entering into our Lenten discipline. There are all kinds of issues deep within us, both to be addressed and to be remedied. There is something about the dentist’s waiting room in these days just prior to Lent. We are beginning to reflect on what we are once again about to let ourselves in for. And, there, in contrast to our feelings, stands the figure of the Transfigured Jesus. Jesus may be about to journey up to Holy Week and the passion in Jerusalem but, already, He is encouraging us with a vision of the grand finale. The Transfiguration is a vision of Jesus as the conquering and unifying Lord. He is the fulfilment of Moses’ law and Elijah’s prophesy. But, it is something more than that. Those writers of Our New Testament knew that they, too, were in Christ, made part of His body through baptism. Everything that is Christ’s could and should be theirs. You and I are joined with Christ across time, some two thousand years later. And, the promise is the same; you and I are open to transformation; indeed, the whole Church of God is open to transformation.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">At the heart of the meaning of the Mass we celebrate this morning, as at every Mass, is our re-presenting of the mystery of Calvary. As Saint Paul puts it, we are showing the Lord’s death until He comes again. The Father sees His Son hanging on the cross, still totally obedient to His Father’s will. No matter what is done to Jesus, He never gives up on loving. We human beings throw at Him all that we can and still Jesus loves us. Not even death is able defeat the power of divine love. So it is that every Sunday, the Day of Resurrection, you and I gather to show the Lord’s death until he comes again, knowing that, even in that awesome death, there is the promise of resurrection. Divine love will always have the last word. Every celebration of the Mass is potentially our encounter with the Mount of Transfiguration. The Mass demonstrates the transfiguring work of Christ and invites us, in our term, to be transfigured both by Him and with Him.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">There will only ever be one test as to how far you and I are transfigured. You and I will be judged by that degree to which we reflect the love shown on Calvary. Any Lenten piety that fails in producing that fruit is worthless. Left to ourselves, of course, showing such love of others, especially when we have perceived them to have hurt us beyond measure, is impossible. You and I know, though, that we are capable of being transformed by Christ, that is, if we want to be open to His power to change our lives around. Our whole understanding of what it means to be members of His Catholic Church rests on an understanding that we are all bound into Christ’s Body by Baptism. And, because we are bound into Jesus, His life can ceaselessly enter ours and ours His, not least as we share regularly and faithfully in those life changing experiences of confession making and of receiving Holy Communion.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">It can hardly be the best kept secret that you and I are, once again, faced with a church in which many are, once again, being faced with hard decisions to make as to where they believe God is calling them to serve Him in the future. Such hard decisions cannot to be ducked just because they are hard decisions. For Newman, as we know, it meant the parting of friends, from some for a while, from others for what was left of their time, this side of eternity. For Blessed John Henry and his friend, John Bloxham, it was even to mean that they would never again together receive Holy Communion. That is never a decision to be lightly made or from motives of frustration, or of anger, or of spite. Newman and Bloxham understood this and so their parting of friends was never allowed to become the ending of an increasingly closer development of their friendship.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">God, in His time, calls each of us to make many choices. Yes, some among us may, near continually as it were, have to decide just where we align ourselves in the great issues confronting our Church. For many of us that will probably be a costly decision, one ultimately relating to where we think there is to be had the most authentic experience of Christian truth. For others of us, it might well be the call to decide where God’s justice might better be discerned, be it to the right of politics, to the left, or to somewhere in the middle. God, though, calls us today, as He will continue to do every day, to make another kind of choice, one on quite a different scale of values. Will we, or will we not, whatever might be the cost, embrace the opportunity to be transfigured, as Jesus offers us in this morning’s Gospel? Can we, or can we not, so raise ourselves by God’s grace to demonstrate the forbearing love, that for all their differences, Newman and Bloxham managed to achieve? Can our Lenten exercises so conform us more to Christ that we might arrive at Eastertide as people who more radiate his love, even within the unresolved conflicts of life with which you and I have to deal daily? I have more than a suspicion that, come the day of judgement, our God will be more interested in how we have answered that challenge then how you and I, for all their importance, answered any of the others.</span>St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-752927676794010622011-03-02T09:08:00.001+00:002011-03-02T09:12:10.616+00:00On Christian Priesthood - Canon Robin Ward<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQfaCwOGWEOvicQqHta013rpRjvsVaTnoeqI-0BZh4oAHfR59zdtW7nfNhWrnLhGiMPTnbsiceXrC1nB0csmxb5LOAfO1GK6tQsR6i14wqHo0ZVNINmkhrnly-NIMHmHanSekUspSvYwg/s1600/On+Christian+Priesthood.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 256px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQfaCwOGWEOvicQqHta013rpRjvsVaTnoeqI-0BZh4oAHfR59zdtW7nfNhWrnLhGiMPTnbsiceXrC1nB0csmxb5LOAfO1GK6tQsR6i14wqHo0ZVNINmkhrnly-NIMHmHanSekUspSvYwg/s400/On+Christian+Priesthood.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579407271368001010" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">On Christian Priesthood</span> Robin Ward, published by Continuum on 10th March 2011.</span><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: times new roman;">What is Christian priesthood? Contemporary pastoral theology is absorbed by the theory and practice of Christian ministry, but rarely sees it in terms of the exercise of ministerial priesthood. Contemporary liturgical practice emphasises participation and growth in discipleship, but not the offering of sacrifice or the anticipation of heaven. Contemporary spirituality encourages the pursuit of human flourishing, but not the need for sacramental reconciliation. This book seeks to restore the centrality of priesthood to the understanding of Christian ministry by setting it within the context of fundamental moral theology. Beginning with the importance of religion as a Christian virtue, it sets out the way in which the moral life is given a cultic setting by our participation in the sacraments. Priesthood and sacrifice are taken out of the setting of Reformation controversies and re-pristinated as key theological tools for understanding what ordination is for and how priesthood is a foundational characteristic of the Church. This has important and far-ranging consequences for ministerial formation, liturgical reform and ecumenical dialogue.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;"></span><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><br />Canon Robin Ward is Principal of St Stephen’s House, Oxford, where priests have been trained for the Anglican Communion since 1876.</span>St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-24292934500902926052011-03-01T08:32:00.001+00:002011-03-01T08:34:27.774+00:00Monday Reflection - James Leigh<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCqfmC8elt5HomSZu7hEGeL6SwwQK8qvdyX-em17FY634ycFMMI9oUtm_P9-CnbylWhlxYNQU2MiYLi5S5ysNJyQddAVm_ju9W31SeQacoqkP5Yuo7ML7hlrFupugLTA3Eh5LF5Bz712o/s1600/crucifix.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: 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<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><i><span lang="EN-GB">This homily was given b</span></i><i><span style="" lang="EN-GB">y James Leigh</span><span lang="EN-GB">, a fi</span></i><i><span style="" lang="EN-GB">rst</span><span lang="EN-GB"> year ordinand, at OPTET Evening Prayer on Monday 2</span></i><i><span style="" lang="EN-GB">8th</span><span lang="EN-GB"> February 2011;</span></i><b style=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";" lang="EN-GB"></span></b></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><b style=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";" lang="EN-GB">In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen</span></b><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";" lang="EN-GB">Tonight’s second reading from the second letter of Paul to Timothy is a fitting one as we gather here tonight, from across the denominations and traditions, to worship and pray together. As Christians it is often perceived that we are divided by our diversity – Catholic and Protestant, high and low, influenced by differing spiritualities and theologies. But as this gathering represents, and as S. Paul reminds us in this reading, we are united by a ‘sound doctrine’ – that is a fundamental belief in the God who has revealed himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ. The God who became incarnate of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was made man and who, for our sake, was crucified, died, was raised and will return in glory to be our judge so that we might be raised to new life in him. Our aesthetic differences may appear divisive, our theologies may cause conflict, but our proclamation is, and must be, of this same fundamental truth.</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";" lang="EN-GB">As Christians it is our vocation, whether seeking ordination or not, to follow S. Paul’s dictum to Timothy: “proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2). We are all called to be bold witnesses to the truth of Christ crucified, we, the body of Christ – the Church, are the proclaimers of a timeless message, a message of truth which Our Lord has commanded us to share with the whole world. We, like the first disciples, are sent out and commissioned for the task of proclamation. It is the Church who is the guardian of that sound doctrine which Paul talks about in verse 3 of our reading, and, it is we, the Disciples of Christ who are called to proclaim that sound doctrine which the Church embodies in her teachings and witness. At times we will fail, false teachings will prevail but the endurance of the Church is a testimony to the reality of the incarnate truth of Jesus Christ.</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";" lang="EN-GB">As S. Paul teaches us in his letter to the Galatians, by virtue of our baptism we are all one in Christ and it is as one body, the body of Christ – the Church, that we proclaim his message to the world. Gathered here tonight we are one in Christ and one in his truth. It is our duty to ensure that we place God’s kingdom before our own needs and desires and that we work together, setting aside our surface differences, so that God may be glorified and all may come to know the salvation offered by Christ’s sacrifice upon the cross. As Christ prayed for the unity of his Church so may our prayer be joined with his and all the Saints, that Christians everywhere may be united in love for him who is the way, the truth and the life.</span><b style=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";" lang="EN-GB"></span></b></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><b style=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";" lang="EN-GB">Let us pray.</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";" lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";" lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>Heavenly Father, Our Lord Jesus Christ prayed that your church should be one in you as you and he are one and upon the disciple Peter he built the Church, a beacon of light and hope in a world which cries out for truth. May our vocation always be to your truth, the proclamation of your love and a bold witness to your Gospel, and may all Christian people be united by unwavering belief and a deep love for you. We make our prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. <b style=""><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";" lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Amen.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";" lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></p>St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-4770024584411552062011-02-25T14:18:00.002+00:002011-02-25T14:20:53.705+00:00Monday Reflection - Avril Ravenscroft<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8fOln3jj3DbEN-pE7NDN9o5DgXjWn0349trhzB5MEeN5Vff9SSN2aigI9AoRWELAEh32ukuCQtnowHt8LJM-JHgqY1EoMUHQ_aGhz7JBxOc8GIZ220rLnCXYRxGCV81K8NkAyYShyMCQ/s1600/abraham.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8fOln3jj3DbEN-pE7NDN9o5DgXjWn0349trhzB5MEeN5Vff9SSN2aigI9AoRWELAEh32ukuCQtnowHt8LJM-JHgqY1EoMUHQ_aGhz7JBxOc8GIZ220rLnCXYRxGCV81K8NkAyYShyMCQ/s400/abraham.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577631598635801810" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">image from google</span></span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This homily was given by Avril Ravenscroft, a final year ordinand, at Evening Prayer on Monday 21st February 2011;</span><br /><br />An ancient man, whose life has been a journey of obedience to God, sends his servant on the last crucial journey, to secure the proper line of his son, Isaac, the heirs that God has promised. He puts no burden of fulfilment upon the servant, “if she will not come, you are released”. But it’s deadly serious, the oath is sealed by the touching of his genitals, where in circumcision Abraham confirmed his acceptance of God’s covenant. And he is symbolically handing over to his son his own sexual potency, via the promise of the servant.<br /><br />So I wonder just how eager the servant is to shoulder this huge responsibility. Abraham’s trust in God is firm, but the servant seems uneasy, constructing tests for Rebekah that suggest at the least his anxiety to get things right. Yet his is also a journey that will involve trust, for he very clearly holds this mission before God at all times in prayer.<br /><br />As the story unfolds we see that all indeed will be well, and another difficult journey begins as Rebekah takes her decisive step into an unknown destiny. We’re now nearing the end of Hilary. All the parishes that will receive us as deacons are decided, and it’s feeling close. I’d like to think of it as though the bottles of champagne are about to break over our bows, but I fear it feels more akin to the moment the ship hits the water, wavering and heaving into its new element.<br /><br />I’m very aware that I’m returning to the church I left, and that though it will be different, and undoubtedly challenging, I do go back to Keith in a parish that I know. Yet for everyone the journey holds some kind of unexpectedness, probably both joyful and apprehensive. We’ll go into places that think the only good news they need is an upturn in the economy, to places where worship and faith is unexamined and sealed into Sundays, to places where community is limited to the people who are probably not going to beat you up, or to places where church is considered simply irrelevant.<br /><br />We’ll go with a vision that may not be welcomed, to people who may not be anxious to hear.<br /><br />In its way, the task ahead may feel as daunting as the one Abraham’s servant faced. I have a friend, vicar of a hugely complex parish who says that every morning she wakes up and thinks “I can’t do this”, and every day whatever ‘this’ entails gets done – entirely, she says, through the grace of God.<br /><br />Whether we are approaching our last weeks here, or nearer the start of our formation, each of us will have gained richly from our time at this House, but of most crucial importance is that when we leave we’ll take with us the experience that we don’t attempt this ministry alone. All the exploration and study, learning and growth, has been rooted in daily, sometimes demanding, worship, each day framed in conversation with God. We are woven through with prayer.<br /><br />So it is through God’s strength that we dare to start out on these journeys, and on his guidance that we shall rely; on the one who revealed in his incarnation in Christ what is possible, and what is the only life worth striving for.<br /><br />Let us pray:<br /><br />Father, we thank you for the challenge<br />of calling us to your service.<br />Grant us sensitivity to discern your will for us,<br />and wisdom to fulfill it;<br />compassion to walk alongside those in our care,<br />and patience to stick by them;<br />courage to meet the challenges that lie ahead,<br />humility and endurance in the face of opposition;<br />Grant that we may we grow in faith, hope and love.<br />May we always trust in your strength,<br />and never in our own adequacy.<br />We ask these things in the name of your Son,<br />our Saviour, Jesus Christ,<br />who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,<br />one God, now and forever.<br />Amen.St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-49692716531473614182011-02-22T10:58:00.003+00:002011-02-22T11:06:34.512+00:00House Lecture - 2011 Jellicoe Seminar<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxm-01oB6Gq2UUufXaxDSqWel4X3cFJY1H-N9fCJ18qaCOOHRaZdhoW2DEzhyi9j2d9REv_Zp0sl0QBgVUFO5GWpRpHACv2kUJuyMNion8w_MvA9fJsW-LaINccdp1kjBL9RNp2fY2bJ4/s1600/mgr+john.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 184px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxm-01oB6Gq2UUufXaxDSqWel4X3cFJY1H-N9fCJ18qaCOOHRaZdhoW2DEzhyi9j2d9REv_Zp0sl0QBgVUFO5GWpRpHACv2kUJuyMNion8w_MvA9fJsW-LaINccdp1kjBL9RNp2fY2bJ4/s400/mgr+john.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576466761745134370" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >MGR John Armitage[image from google]</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><br />All are warmly invited to the<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >2011 JELLICOE SEMINAR</span><br /><br />presented by<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >MGR JOHN ARMITAGE</span><br />Vicar-General, Roman Catholic Diocese of Brentwood<br />Parish Priest, St. Anne's Church, Custom House London<br />Citizens Leader<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:180%;" >CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING<br />AND THE LIVING WAGE CAMPAIGN</span><br /><br /><br />Wed. 23rd Feb. (6th Week) 15.30~17.00<br />St. Stephen's House, Oxford<br />16 Marston Street, Oxford, OX4 1JX<br />[<a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=ox4+1jx&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Oxford+OX4+1JX,+United+Kingdom&z=16">map</a>]<br /></div>St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-43422049722006390112011-02-08T08:38:00.004+00:002011-02-08T08:47:23.342+00:00Monday Reflection - Roger Butcher<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwO920zpVtYs9WVrUwGflQ-5ezL4eswjseuSLUknmzkFqkBtWLYw0NZFBIWeSQOLVCNZ2VdpMn1311BMF4GHN0wogA0Lm_S3g_qCNMNPIcC6HVR42mHXOSQxBI32I7nRxgHz5kGpmAU9c/s1600/ordination-08-66-300x200.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwO920zpVtYs9WVrUwGflQ-5ezL4eswjseuSLUknmzkFqkBtWLYw0NZFBIWeSQOLVCNZ2VdpMn1311BMF4GHN0wogA0Lm_S3g_qCNMNPIcC6HVR42mHXOSQxBI32I7nRxgHz5kGpmAU9c/s400/ordination-08-66-300x200.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571235512489232050" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">image from google</span></span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This homily was given by Roger Butcher, a first year ordinand, at Evening Prayer on Monday 7th February 2011.</span><br /><br />--<br /><br />Over the next few weeks, the first year Ordinands will be looking at the Diaconate. Today’s text gives us a view of what it is to be a deacon, interpolate that with our earlier lectionary reading and it seems there is a simple analogy to be made; that all we need to be is ‘nice chaps’. But is it really that simple?<br /><br />The Philippians struggled with the problem we also face every day; how to live as disciples of Jesus Christ in a hostile environment in which a large majority of our neighbours do not share out convictions. Paul’s advice was to follow his example as he followed Christ, in living in this world with very different values to guide them. “In the world, but not of it.”<br /><br />In tonight’s epistle, Paul divinely inspired gives honour to Timothy the co-author expressing his own humility. Paul does not pronounce himself as an Apostle, finding authority within his title, but he refers to himself and Timothy as servants of Christ Jesus. The Greek word ‘doulos’ we heard tonight as servants of Christ, a more accurate rendering is slaves of Christ. Not only do they love our Lord whole-heartedly but also they become a slave, a much deeper metaphor than just being ‘nice chaps’. The form of a servant is just a pleasantry for a religious way of talking about it. So, what is to be said about the ‘shape of the slave’?<br /><br />God initiates a human life on earth, which more and more is entirely given over into the hands of others. This is what slaves experience; their lives are given into the hands of others. It is a shocking fact and difficult language when you think of what slaves really are. The form of a servant will make us think of serving supper on Thursday, assisting in Church duties, or helping an old lady across the road, that sort of thing. The image of a slave evokes something much deeper, dare I say even threatening. The slave is a person who belongs to somebody else; they are in their hands. Paul saw Jesus for who he was, everything became about Christ and Christ became everything to Paul. There was no higher purpose for his life than being a slave of Jesus. God’s love is such that he puts himself in somebody else’s hands, there is this motif of setting apart. When Jesus captured Paul’s heart, Paul was changed he was set apart. Is it any wonder when we find ourselves in difficult situations, out of our comfort zone, that we find such abandonment from the environment we find ourselves in? This environment of setting apart is the place where we need to remind ourselves that we are slaves in the service of our Lord in body, mind and spirit. We share this with the Apostles and the Saints.<br /><br />The very word ‘slave’ is a frightening one, but we must take comfort in the fact the form of God becomes a slave in his final embodiment. Becoming this slave to our Lord is to be close to God so that we may be pure of heart. That our humility is not forced, that we are not just simply ‘nice people’; or worse still, those who look over their shoulder to see if their good deed has been noticed. However, we seek this joy of pureness of heart, filled with the fruit of holiness that comes only through being a slave to our Lord Jesus Christ.<br /><br />Let us pray;<br /><br />Almighty Father, who gave your only begotten Son to take upon himself the form of a servant and to be obedient even to death on a cross. Give us the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, that sharing his humility, we may come to be with him in his glory; who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.<br /><br />Amen.St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-58353152653673356892011-02-07T09:49:00.004+00:002011-02-07T09:53:14.249+00:00Epiphany 5 - Fr. Peter Anthony<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi278aJRX50h8R3GxL8h92C8C3owWvRh4QUGxUeIPZDZnR-cmOqFzbT1YVDXfdnOrPD5QZGkpFiAfU9pjsebHst7s74fec9jB64os1xtWrzukOgQ0PXtqro-hlfC8X3dSfKbgJvGd1fiyY/s1600/standard-poodle-0010.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 360px; height: 343px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi278aJRX50h8R3GxL8h92C8C3owWvRh4QUGxUeIPZDZnR-cmOqFzbT1YVDXfdnOrPD5QZGkpFiAfU9pjsebHst7s74fec9jB64os1xtWrzukOgQ0PXtqro-hlfC8X3dSfKbgJvGd1fiyY/s400/standard-poodle-0010.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5570882718932120546" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >image from google<br /></span></div><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Homily given by Fr Peter Anthony, the Junior Dean of the House on Epiphany 5, 6th February 2011. (Readings: Isa 58.1-9; 1 Cor 2.1-12; Mt 5.13-20)</span><br /><br />--<br /><br />I thought the wikileaks scandal was over, but no this week there has been a further release of American diplomatic telegrams, which I have to confess I have found compulsive reading. There was, for example, one from the American ambassador in Bangkok about the habits of the Crown Prince of Thailand. Principal amongst them is an extraordinary fondness for his pet poodle called Foo Foo. So great is the Prince’s affection for Foo Foo that he has decreed the dog be officially accorded the rank of Air Chief Marshal. And indeed the ambassador reported seeing Foo Foo, dressed in a full poodle sized uniform of an Air Chief Marshal. This all took place at a party which the Prince threw for the dog’s birthday. Foo Foo was allowed to jump on to the dining table and to lap from the water glass of several of the guests, who were unable to do anything about it, as there was nobody present with sufficient military rank to be able to order the dog off the table.<br /><br />What a crazy parallel universe some people live in. Completely disconnected from reality...entirely out of touch with ordinary people. And yet: isn’t that precisely the same accusation that many make against the Church? The Church is plugged into a way of seeing the world that nobody believes in any longer. The Church is out of touch with most people’s aspirations. And sometimes, when one sees its disputes and schisms reported on the TV, it does seem the Church is not all that far being like Foo Foo the poodle. In the Church, we give each other grandiose titles, do we not, that go with splendid outfits, just like Foo Foo. We, too, have curious ritualized meals together. We too are a hierarchy where bishops, just like Foo Foo the poodle, sometimes can’t be contradicted.<br /><br />But if that ever were the case, the words Jesus addresses to us in today’s gospel go right to the heart of what we need to do about that. “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled underfoot.” What does Jesus mean by describing us as salt? Whatever analogy he is drawing – he is surely saying that the presence of his disciples in the world, like salt, is crucial. The world cannot survive without salt. Salt is what gives taste and savour. It’s what gives food its bite, its reality. We need salt in our bodies for a whole range of chemical processes. Life without salt is impossible.<br /><br />And so should Jesus’ disciples be to the world. They will be a sign of a crucial essence without which the world would not be the world – the love of God. The Church will be the sacrament of salvation making Christ present, and drawing others to him.<br /><br />But Jesus makes it plain that it will be possible for us to prevent his presence being seen in the Church. Through our failings, our neglect, or lack of zeal, we can make the Church seem as useless or as ridiculous as Foo Foo the poodle. And the heart of what Jesus tells us in today’s gospel is that when that happens, we can so compromise the Church’s mission in the sight of the world that we become as worthless as salt which has lost its saltiness: “No longer good for anything...thrown out...trampled under foot.”<br /><br />What can we do about that? I think the Lord is calling us to remember one very simple thing this morning. It is this: for the Christian community genuinely to be the Church we must somehow make a difference. The Christian vocation is not a heroic Palagian struggle to be perfect or respectable; it’s about others seeing Christ alive in us. Wherever we are, whatever the Christian community is that we’re a part of, those around us must see that Christ present in us makes a difference to the world. Be that through running a soup kitchen and thrift shop for the homeless...or hearing the confessions of grand ladies in pearls and fur. It doesn’t matter what it is. <span style="font-weight: bold;">To be authentically the Church, we have somehow to make God’s love present in the context where he has placed us</span>. Christian communities that go wrong, shrink, or become dysfunctional, have nine times out of ten, lost sight of that calling: they become self-serving, introspective and ultimately die – but usually not before they have given Christian faith a bad name.<br /><br />Why should the Church make a difference in the world? Simply because God wants to make a difference in the world. That’s why he sent his Son to die and rise for us. And until he comes again, we are the ones who are privileged enough, through his Spirit, to be his Body in the world; to be nothing less than the face of Jesus to those around us.St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-8244869295258606342011-02-01T21:18:00.002+00:002011-02-01T21:21:56.825+00:00Monday Reflection - Peter Garvie<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlapbdV4kKTZwPQwxF8_tX4WeyUp0wrM80x5Cq6MlHtMuzmd1I6DQWpUd9zBuRv6BDrO5KitP09l-yIKL2M_29HEc-KF45YUB2I85wlJu0qp_BCVg9l2ItBVmIJnHAd8HAfQSMp9VWcwo/s1600/donboscoboys.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 262px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlapbdV4kKTZwPQwxF8_tX4WeyUp0wrM80x5Cq6MlHtMuzmd1I6DQWpUd9zBuRv6BDrO5KitP09l-yIKL2M_29HEc-KF45YUB2I85wlJu0qp_BCVg9l2ItBVmIJnHAd8HAfQSMp9VWcwo/s400/donboscoboys.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568834050342979826" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">St. John Bosco (image from google)</span></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />This homily was given by Peter Garvie, a final year ordinand, at Evening Prayer on Monday 31st January 2011.</span><br /><br />---<br /><br />The Church and sanity have often been confused in the past, and there are few instances where this is more true than in the figure of Saintt John Bosco…<br /><br />It was said by many, and probably thought by more, that John Bosco must have been insane, and an attempt was made at one stage to even put him into an asylum.<br /><br />But what on earth could provoke such a reaction, to a man who’s legacy is still educating thousands of disadvantaged children and who is responsible for founding the third largest religious order in the Catholic Church?<br /><br />It was when visiting prisons as a seminarian that John Bosco found it difficult to take lightly his calling to live out his vocation in dedication to abandoned young people. He was moved to find a way of providing spiritual and educational nourishment for these people through the threefold method of education: reason, religion, and loving kindness. This method combined with his charismatic charm and deep devotion inevitably produced remarkably positive results. He gained the attention of many and soon had the political movers at the time sitting uneasily as he was seen to be not just a nuisance but also politically dangerous. Time and time again obstacles were deliberately put in his way to stop his work and under overwhelming adversity he persevered with all the odds stacked against him.<br /><br />But look a little deeper and we can begin to see that he brought to bare the gospel in a way which is just as relevant today as it always has been.<br /><br />We ought to be perplexed when the world is not challenged by the gospel. Look around us and it is quite easy to see that if the church were to take its vocation as seriously as John Bosco did his, many would suspect that we too are insane and what an astonishing compliment that might be.<br /><br />Like John did, we too are discerning how to live out our vocation. We find ourselves at this time in the reassuring confines of a seminary, located in a former monastery no less, with the privilege of praying together with other Christians every single day. But lets not be under any allusions of the subtle suspicions that are awaiting us.<br /><br />By agreeing to serve the church in such a public way we set ourselves up to have stones thrown at us, and that is foolish. John Bosco could quite easily be described as the clown for Christ (he was even known to juggle and dance around to engage the young people with his teachings).<br /><br />Today we ask for the intercession of John Bosco, and all the saints, that we too may find what living out our vocation might look like, as we discern what God might be telling us in each of our various placements wherever they might be. What is it that might characterise the way in which we are to work with our fellow members of Christ's body, in searching out the poor and weak, the sick and lonely and those who are oppressed and powerless, to bring them to the foot of the cross and to reveal the process of the resurrection life, the love of God made visible.<br /><br />And above all, we ask for the sort of perseverance that characterised John Bosco, and in doing so we can turn to our Lord for our guidance, whom this evening we have had recounted the events that led to his being delivered to be crucified. This, the greatest of all obstacles, death itself, which he overcame. May we share in that vocation, may we share in him.<br /><br />Let us pray;<br /><br />We praise you, Lord<br />for calling Saint John Bosco<br />to be a loving father and prudent guide of the young.<br />Give us his fervent zeal for souls<br />and enable us to live for you alone.<br />We make our prayer through our Lord.<br />Amen.St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-34465224891716162722011-01-31T12:16:00.003+00:002011-01-31T12:45:58.896+00:00Epiphany 4 - Ian Boxall<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBbjQ34FdpX6ZaG3Wnjti_jb6zY0QOASSNUhH0V6fKabEUiSun_8aU-522GFOYq3XauQywAuKAnw31roQubMEDwlRFVX2lMFpCplBcXTf4OCuP4dR-q66SRv4KP4cGS1-kBSbkhBr9nW0/s1600/asdf.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 295px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBbjQ34FdpX6ZaG3Wnjti_jb6zY0QOASSNUhH0V6fKabEUiSun_8aU-522GFOYq3XauQywAuKAnw31roQubMEDwlRFVX2lMFpCplBcXTf4OCuP4dR-q66SRv4KP4cGS1-kBSbkhBr9nW0/s400/asdf.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568323107058229378" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Senior Tutor, Ian Boxall, preached at the Mass on 30th January 2011, Epiphany 4.</span><br /><br />--<br /><br />It is an awful lot of wine. Two or three measures per water jar, is what St John tells us about the wine produced by the Lord at the wedding at Cana. Which doesn’t sound a great deal, until one calculates that one measure was approximately 40 litres, or 9 gallons; meaning that each water jar could contain 18 to 27 gallons, or 80 to 120 litres; leaving us with a supply of wine of between 108 and 162 gallons, or between 480 and 720 litres, or up to one thousand and twenty-eight bottles of wine. That would go some way towards clearing the shelves in Tesco’s. So the sign of Cana seems to be pointing beyond the unbelievable amount of wine to the sheer liberality of God’s gift, a sign of what was promised at the end of John’s Prologue: ‘From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace’ (Jn 1:16). This sheer abundance of grace is accentuated by the fact that the servants of the feast, at Jesus’ behest, fill the water jars right up to the brim, in danger of flowing over and being wasted. When one considers how precious water is in such a dry climate, this becomes a foolishly extravagant action.<br /><br />But it is not only the lavish amount which John emphasizes. It is also the quality of the wine. Now this is not perhaps something that modern pilgrims to the Holy Land appreciate. If you visit the traditional site of Cana of Galilee, then after visiting one of the two ‘wedding churches’, your tour guide will invariably take you to one of Cana’s souvenir shops, in order for you to stock up on bottles of ‘genuine Cana wine’. Yes, it’s still freely available. But the thick, sickly sweet liquid on sale has more of the consistency of Sanatogen, or Buckfast tonic wine, than the Château Lafite, or Petit Chablis, of the Cana miracle. The wine of Cana is truly excellent wine, the very best which has been kept until last. So perhaps the heart of the sign is the quality, the sheer goodness of the gift Christ offers. The disciples not only see the water flowing over the brim of these vast water jars. They taste the excellence of the resulting wine, see Christ’s glory revealed, and believe in him.<br /><br />Except that John never tells us either that the disciples saw the servants filling the water jars, or that they knew what had happened to the water. The servants who had drawn the water knew. Perhaps (although not even this is stated) his mother knew. The steward tasted the final product, but not even he knew where it had come from. The bridegroom was blissfully unaware of anything that had happened. The transformation of the water into wine happens off stage, in the background, without Jesus leaving the table. Indeed, it is only because the evangelist tells us that the steward tasted the ‘having-become-wine-water’, that we the readers are let into the secret of what had happened.<br /><br />So when John tells us that Jesus revealed his glory, and that his disciples believed in him, we still might ask: how exactly did he reveal his glory? What did the disciples see or know? Did they slip backstage after overhearing Mary’s words, and catch a glimpse of the water being poured? Did they taste the excellent wine and then rely on the waiters’ gossip to fill in the gaps? Whatever they saw or knew, it seems to be their abiding with Jesus, the days they had now spent in his company, which enabled them to glimpse what not even the wine waiters seem able to have glimpsed: that in these ambiguous, partly off-stage events, the glory of God was being revealed.<br /><br />The miracle at Cana, John tells us, is a sign. But it is not an unambiguous sign. It is not something that one can straightforwardly point to as unambiguous evidence. As St Paul tells the Corinthians in our second reading, ‘Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God’ (1 Cor. 1:22-24). For John, as for Paul, if we are looking for unambiguous signs, if we are looking for spectacular signs and wonders, then we will always be disappointed. Even in this great Epiphany at Cana in Galilee, Christ’s glory is not visible to all who see him, even those closest to the action. It can only be seen by the eye of faith.<br /><br />It we are honest, we would probably prefer it to be otherwise. We would prefer the dazzling clarity of unambiguous glory, lighting our way as we follow him, and especially those among us who have committed not only their lives but their livelihoods to following him in the ordained ministry. Yet Christ’s glory is revealed at Cana only for those with eyes to see, for those who have spent time with him, abiding with him, praying with him. It is this which will enable us, with John, to see Christ’s glory revealed in a dying man lifted up on the Cross, a stumbling-block to those who seek signs and foolishness to those who desire wisdom. To spend time with him, so as see the glory, and to follow where he calls, requires a certain kind of God-given foolishness, like the foolishness of servants filling water jars to overflowing with precious water, at the risk of losing that which is precious; like the foolishness of the Cross, which is wiser than human wisdom.<br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></span><br /></p>St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-37539457111012176122011-01-26T18:35:00.003+00:002011-01-26T18:37:13.667+00:00Monday Reflection – Dominic Keech<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3IEPhUXjoYfEn5ytegGtudsmmcpL1N2q2tdrgxERj1hqQVO9qEEZTswW71erxNe9d0c_0Cm317IP3L7QDGW8K8n2kZEH0dtnJiD5cl3klMQLn6G1p8an9oe00DnUEe6KnRAsjYdhXzWE/s1600/abraham.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 381px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3IEPhUXjoYfEn5ytegGtudsmmcpL1N2q2tdrgxERj1hqQVO9qEEZTswW71erxNe9d0c_0Cm317IP3L7QDGW8K8n2kZEH0dtnJiD5cl3klMQLn6G1p8an9oe00DnUEe6KnRAsjYdhXzWE/s400/abraham.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566565181647942354" border="0" /></a><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-US">This homily was given by Dominic Keech, a first year ordinand, at Evening Prayer on Monday 24th January 2011.<br /><br />--<br /><br />When God called Abram to leave Ur, he wrapped the call in a lofty promise: Abram’s line would carry the power to bless generations to come. Abram did not reply with eloquent thanks, but simplicity of obedience. He went, as the Lord had told him. When God appeared to him again, promising the land of Canaan to his descendants, he built an altar and called God by name. He then carried on toward the desert. God had given the sign, but perhaps at first it seemed of limited significance, hardly worth commenting on; best first to act and later understand.<br /><br />On the other side of the desert, Mary of Magdala anointed the head of Jesus with sweet perfume: a commonplace act done out of anxious attention. But the doubtful rebuke of the disciples brought her an assurance of worth: she had embalmed for his grave the one who still sat at table. Christ drew out the purpose from her ignorance, and made her confusion into devotion. Wherever he would be remembered, she would too, something Mary could only fully understand in front of the empty tomb.<br /><br />We, each one of us, have been called, and our daily work is one of attempted response. We will build our altars at the stopping-places, praise the name of the Lord, and find that we still have to journey on. The true lengths of our travelling are, however, known only to God. We will have to wait for the falling of our own grave clothes to see that we, too, poured out fine perfume on the head of Christ. That, when it comes, will surprise and delight us. <br /><br />St Francis de Sales worked to bring Christians in the Chablais to a Catholic faith, by the end of the sixteenth century the stronghold of Genevan Calvinism. His work, in its time, was for the unity of the Church. When he died, Protestantism remained in eastern France, but we remember his obedience today. With catholic apologetics he combined a supreme gift of counsel. To a young woman he wrote, ‘I would have you remember that sometimes we amuse ourselves in playing at being good angels, till we forget to be good men and women. Our imperfection must cleave to us till we rest in our grave: we cannot walk without touching the ground… It will be a precious imperfection if it makes us acknowledge our weakness, strengthens our humility, self-depreciation, patience and diligence. Through it all God looks upon “the preparation of the heart”’<br /><br />This is why our work and prayer for the union of all Christians must continue, no matter how small, frustrating or seemingly fruitless it is. Ours is a life of hope, trusting that we shall see our labour, and ourselves, for what they truly are, when Christ shall be all in all.<br /><br />Let us pray.<br /><br />O God, who hast made divers nations to be one in the confession of Thy Name: Grant us the will and power to perform thy commandments; that those who have been called to eternal life, may be one in the soundness of their faith and in the piety of their actions; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.<br /></span><br /></p>St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-80086039467309710142011-01-25T21:51:00.002+00:002011-01-25T21:54:54.156+00:00Epiphany III - Mrs Lucy Gardner<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ3iMbdLtgMd69RTKWEEe_49eqdwHXPMnyVSlB7x-n19MjehmDxjWwii5dJULa6hniHBMNzneyPwEqmej98j_0taXMk6xuMQJYKRNHQuoZkywsjv1uN3iMUXawQIGUQxVP9dq0SrfRnyg/s1600/asd.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 198px; height: 255px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ3iMbdLtgMd69RTKWEEe_49eqdwHXPMnyVSlB7x-n19MjehmDxjWwii5dJULa6hniHBMNzneyPwEqmej98j_0taXMk6xuMQJYKRNHQuoZkywsjv1uN3iMUXawQIGUQxVP9dq0SrfRnyg/s400/asd.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566244768506113666" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">Homily given by Mrs Lucy Gardner on Epiphany III, 23 January 2011. (Readings:</span></i><i style=""><span style="font-family: Arial;">Isaiah 9:1-4; Psalm 27:1, 4-12; I Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23)</span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">---</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">For all that it is wonderfully made</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">and contains much that can point us to its Maker,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">our world is undoubtedly a murky place.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">Distorted love – our own and others’ – </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">obscures what should be a breathtaking view.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">As we allow all manner of good things to take God’s place in our lives,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">those things block our view of God;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">they themselves become only distorted shadows and silhouettes</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">which in turn cast shadows everywhere we try to look.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">And because we see shades and shadows in every direction</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">we cast our neighbours as our enemies</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">and fail to see them as our brothers and sisters.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">Insofar as we fail to love and worship God </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">as the source and goal of our lives,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">insofar as we fail to love our neighbours as ourselves,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">we are people who walk in darkness.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">Insofar as we sin, </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">and we all do,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">we do indeed dwell in the shadow of death.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 108pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">* * * * * * * * * * * * * </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">Or you could say that we are fish,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">who live in what should be a beautiful, crystal blue sea</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">which has been turned foul by the oily, cloying, grit-filled pollution of sin.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">And yet, into these murky waters, the light of Christ has shone;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">we have seen a great light;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">and this shaft of light, as it hovers and swirls before us,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">appears as a powerful stream </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">promising to carry us up out of the murk and shadows</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">into a cleaner, lighter, more vivid and more joyful place.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">For some the promise is too fearful and we turn away, </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">preferring the well-known shadows </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">in which what we fear we have become</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">might lurk and hide, alongside very present, </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">but in some sense comfortingly well-known, </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">dangers and troubles,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">to the startling, frightening, unknown, untried new light of life.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">Many of us need more than a little persuading.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">The bright light catches our attention,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">but we fail to trust ourselves to the uplift of its current.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">We need to be pushed and pulled and dragged into our own salvation.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">To the fish struggling in poisoned waters,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">to the fish already perishing,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">the hook or the net does indeed appear as folly – </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">you might say</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">not so much “out of the frying pan into the fire”,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">as “out of the boiling pot onto the plate”.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"><span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">But for the fish being carried to cleaner, safer waters,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">to the fish being saved,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">the hook or the net is truly the power of life.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 108pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">* * * * * * * * * * * * * </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">Christ goes fishing for souls;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">and often the Church has been understood as his fishing boat,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">the ark.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">But if the Church is the community of those being redeemed,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">it might be more helpful to see ourselves </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">as the fish who have been caught in the drag nets,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">we are still being dragged through murky waters.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">We do not always come quietly,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">and we are not always grateful.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">Often we are squirming and jumping,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">bickering and quarrelling, </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">with ourselves, with each other and with God.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">Which is a shame,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">because as we jump around,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">some of us will fall out the nets;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">some of will be knocked out.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">Moreover,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">those of us who have been caught and drawn in </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">are commanded to go fishing in our turn;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">we are instructed to bring others in.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">But while we are quarrelling,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"><span style=""> </span>we cannot get on with the task </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">which will contribute to our salvation;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">while we are jumping around,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">not only will some of us fall out, </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">others will not be brought in.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">And this is why Paul warns the Corinthians about </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">quarrelling and bickering over claims to be the true Church</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">in opposition to each other.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">At a time when the Anglican Communion</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">seems to be straining against itself,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">when parts of the Church of England </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">seem to be seething with argument and discontent,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">when Churches and parts of Churches seem to be in competition with each other, </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">and when people are facing tricky and painful choices</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">about staying within or leaving the net of a particular church,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">Paul’s warning is as pertinent as it is uncomfortable;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">we are in an uncomfortable, sometimes murky place.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">We should not be surprised, for</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">we cannot go fishing from the safety of the boat;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">we are sent out, </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">and, like Christ himself, must plunge ourselves into the murky waters</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">and pursue our work there, carrying His light with us.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">Since the Church is indeed divided </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">and does indeed descend into quarrelsomeness,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">she often seems just as murky as </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">the polluted waters around her,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">if not more so,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">for where the light shines,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">the shadows show up more clearly.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">But we must not let the Church herself,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">neither as a whole nor in her various parts,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">take Christ’s place in our lives </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">and so blot out His light</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">that we fall into casting our fellow Christians as our enemies</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">and fail to see them as our brothers and sisters.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">We need to get on with fishing,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">with preaching the Gospel and serving the world,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">learning to share Christ’s mind,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">allowing him to draw us ever deeper into his light,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">ever deeper into his love, </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">ever deeper into his mission and service,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">just as we get on with drawing others in.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">And we shall only be able to draw others in</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">if they can see that this light is indeed the power of life in us,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">if we allow the power of Christ’s love to show in our lives,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">and refuse to let it be shut out and obscured</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">by self-interest, rivalry and jealousy.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">It is only <b style=""><u>this</u></b> unity of purpose,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">this sharing in Christ’s work and the love of Christ – </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">our love of Him but even moreso His love of us –</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">which will make us one in Him,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">and <b style=""><u>never</u></b> our efforts or intentions,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">or beliefs or practices.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">So, perhaps we should see the many churches</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">the many parts of Christ’s Church</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"><span style=""> </span>as Christ’s many nets and fishing devices;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">they might be thrown by Peter or Paul, by Apollos or Chloe,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">or by any other of Christ’s followers,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">but the nets are all Christ’s, thrown for Christ and in his work.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">And so, when it comes to the rather tricky business </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">of choosing Churches,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">and the more painful business </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">of choosing to stay in or depart from a Church,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">or the equally painful business of watching others do so,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">we should perhaps think not so much of heroes crossing rivers,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">nor of traitors jumping ship,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">but of so many fish jumping about in and between so many nets,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">and of so many fishermen switching between so many different tools of the trade;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">if all are following Christ, </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">then all are travelling in the same direction, </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">working in different ways on the same task.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">We should bear in mind and pray that</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">choosing between churches</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">should never be a question </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">of where we might feel most comfortable</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">or most at home;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">if churches are nets, </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">then they are simply not meant to be comfort zones;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">the question for each of us to answer </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">is about where we feel called and drawn to be,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">about where we shall be most able and most fully </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">to play our part in Christ’s work</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">of fishing souls out of the murky waters of sin.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">To pray for the unity of the Church, as indeed we must, is to pray just this:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">that each of our Christian brothers and sisters </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">will accept the particular grace that is offered to them</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">and find the place in and from which they can best serve Christ and thus be saved</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">and that we shall thereby all come to share together in Christ’s resurrection life.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></p> </div></div>St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-90028206952820516122011-01-20T09:45:00.005+00:002011-01-20T09:53:48.339+00:00House Lecture - Canon Andrew Shanks<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNchKTVE67fftRRkzvYs_RRyG3qDenDOOsm8YqAlPi12DvsLgpUZZKcHDR-TJCHAM3RS_UN0LjOPbdplzi0YnBzMVoBnfaDvzxzwH4lLrgqdYdNo6FUw0bRPI6akyzc_p7-O_ax9i95yQ/s1600/book3.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNchKTVE67fftRRkzvYs_RRyG3qDenDOOsm8YqAlPi12DvsLgpUZZKcHDR-TJCHAM3RS_UN0LjOPbdplzi0YnBzMVoBnfaDvzxzwH4lLrgqdYdNo6FUw0bRPI6akyzc_p7-O_ax9i95yQ/s400/book3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564202449257930338" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Revd Canon Andrew Shanks will give a House Lecture on<span style="font-style: italic;"> Hegel and religious Faith. </span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Couratin Room, Thursday 3rd February at 4.30pm. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">All Welcome.</span><br /><br />--<br /><br />Andrew Shanks is the Canon Theologian, in charge of the Cathedral’s educational programme. He has been at Manchester Cathedral since 2004. Previously he worked as a parish priest in Leeds, an inner city parish and a housing estate, and in rural North Yorkshire; and as an academic theologian at the universities of Lancaster and Leeds.<br /><br />He has also lived and worked in Ethiopia and in Upper Egypt. His published books include Hegel’s Political Theology (1991), Civil Society, Civil Religion (1995), God and Modernity (2000), “What Is Truth?” Towards a Theological Poetics (2001), Faith in Honesty (2005), The Other Calling (2007), Against Innocence: Gillian Rose’s Reception and Gift of Faith (2008). He is married to Dian Leppington, who is also a priest.<br /><br />The Revd Canon Andrew Shanks: canon.shanks@manchestercathedral.org<br /><a href="http://www.manchestercathedral.org/whos-who/cathedral-chapter">http://www.manchestercathedral.org/whos-who/cathedral-chapter</a><br /><br /><br /></div></div>St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-74851913674609691502011-01-20T09:36:00.005+00:002011-01-20T09:49:35.470+00:00Adey Grummet talks about he book and her experiences<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLPVP57Tn_iClSN1FRPEFlEEK16wwr-VysPo7rsI8SuT77mm1v3XKnP4FfH6ujyOqdMht5awnRKkiZYTfJUlK00I-uSzdWXEuDzV1KEw9zxtk0W-sbtq6EyAbZOjpl8mqsQ47q3Jtd-eE/s1600/book.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 193px; height: 294px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLPVP57Tn_iClSN1FRPEFlEEK16wwr-VysPo7rsI8SuT77mm1v3XKnP4FfH6ujyOqdMht5awnRKkiZYTfJUlK00I-uSzdWXEuDzV1KEw9zxtk0W-sbtq6EyAbZOjpl8mqsQ47q3Jtd-eE/s400/book.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564200167333266834" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjbGeQpc4UGSv5qzBu-Ajc_auyyCWuGyAvS-kdPK83nKrv3ShxBScwOQxigAEzEBrYoqF2SiixmcW9i6E6oDyhtYF3b6YITkyl1Nt6XO2-zhchLo6Zy_P8mRE07dT34AVMkRaYWTHnlcs/s1600/adey_narrow.jpg"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 295px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjbGeQpc4UGSv5qzBu-Ajc_auyyCWuGyAvS-kdPK83nKrv3ShxBScwOQxigAEzEBrYoqF2SiixmcW9i6E6oDyhtYF3b6YITkyl1Nt6XO2-zhchLo6Zy_P8mRE07dT34AVMkRaYWTHnlcs/s400/adey_narrow.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564200225806760242" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:100%;">* Couratin room, 7.30pm on Wednesday 26th January</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />Adey Grummet, author of <span style="font-style: italic;">Suddenly He Thinks He’s a Sunbeam</span>, will be coming to talk about the book and her experiences, throughout her husband’s training at St Stephen’s House </span><span style="font-size:100%;">and the reality of married life to a Church of England vicar:</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />“It is the story of what happened when her husband, ‘a perfectly normal, angst-ridden, atheistic, socialist hippy actor’ underwent</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> a metamorphosis into a Church of England priest. It was initially commissioned as an aid to couples who are now undergoing </span><span style="font-size:100%;">something of the same process but it has become a core text on many theological colleges’ reading lists, was preached upon at </span><span style="font-size:100%;">the opening of Synod by the Bishop of London...”</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />All Welcome.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />And afterwards in the common room when the bar will be open.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.adeygrummet.co.uk"><span style="font-size:100%;">www.adeygrummet.co.uk</span></a><br /><br /><br /></div></div>St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9168738385627819394.post-31115363527750499542011-01-18T21:28:00.005+00:002011-01-18T21:40:26.050+00:00CALL AND RESPONSE - Fr. Damian Feeney<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4rnj8Xie7Fxzx3KKyaBrYSF11kDF00JjM0-rwXCobtcFimDfrfYVH8aAu9DzJO6p4ggN8xtatzFj7AGmIJgF2QvvA0Tkqi2el52FdKNNVGdycaJSVq4lk_uuzRmyCaO01QRuFdTDITIg/s1600/epiphany.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 282px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4rnj8Xie7Fxzx3KKyaBrYSF11kDF00JjM0-rwXCobtcFimDfrfYVH8aAu9DzJO6p4ggN8xtatzFj7AGmIJgF2QvvA0Tkqi2el52FdKNNVGdycaJSVq4lk_uuzRmyCaO01QRuFdTDITIg/s400/epiphany.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563641032282137746" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >image from google</span><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><i style=""><span style=";font-family:";" >Homily given by Fr Damian Feeney, vice principal of St Stephen's House, on Epiphany II,16th January 2011. (Readings</span></i><i style=""><span style=";font-family:";" >: </span></i><i style=""><span style=";font-family:";" lang="EN-US" >Isaiah 45.1-7, 1 Cor 1.1-9, John 1.29-42</span></i><i style=""><span style=";font-family:";" ></span></i>)<i style=""><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" ></span></i><i style=""><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" ></span></i> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">--</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" >At some point we who follow Jesus are called to examine the nature of that call and its origin. The stories of others who have had the courage to follow someone or something beyond themselves in the search for truth are a great encouragement, and so I offer you two people quite outside the structure of the churches who have articulated thoughts about vocation which have struck many chords. Dag Hammarskjold, the former Secretary-General to the United Nations who was killed in a place crash in 1961. He wrote:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" >I don't know Who -or What- put the question, I don't know when it was put. I don't even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone - or Something- and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in self-surrender, had a goal. ... As I continued along the Way, I learned, step by step, word by word, that behind every saying in the Gospels stands one man and one man's experience. Also behind the prayer that the cup might pass from him and his promise to drink it. Also behind each of the words from the Cross<a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=9168738385627819394&postID=3111536352775049954#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" >[1]</span></span></span></span></a>.</span> </p><div style=""><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" >Our sense of vocation, if we are blessed, diligent and careful with it, grows and blossoms throughout our lives. It can also be blighted by the all too human failings of frustration, impatience and envy. We can so easily forget the fundamental truth that our vocation often leads us into places and situations we had not imagined, and if we are not sufficiently grounded we can waste much time and energy in thinking that our response would be so much better if only we were somewhere else. In his book <i style="">Myths, Dreams and Mysteries</i>, the Romanian author Mircea Eliade tells the story of an obscure Jewish Rabbi, Isaac ben Jekel, who several hundred years ago, lived in great poverty in a single-roomed house in Cracow. One night he dreamt vividly of a treasure buried beneath the bridge leading to the royal palace at Prague. Three nights running he dreamt the same dream and, unable to dismiss it from his mind, he determined to make the long journey to Prague on foot in search of the treasure. But when he reached the city he was bitterly disappointed to find the bridge guarded by soldiers and the treasure, if indeed there was a treasure, totally inaccessible. As the Rabbi stood there in dejection, the captain of the guard took pity on him and asked him what his trouble was. So he related his dream. The captain of the guard laughed.<br /><br />'You should not pay any attention to dreams. Why, only the other night I had a dream about treasure. It was buried in the house of a man I had never even heard of, a Rabbi named Isaac ben Jekel, who lived in Cracow. But no sensible man pays any attention to dreams’.<span style=""><br /><br /></span>The Rabbi listened with inward astonishment; he bowed low and thanked the Captain. Then he set off with all haste back to Cracow and when he reached home, he at once began to dig in the corner of his room behind the stove. Eventually he unearthed treasure sufficient to end his poverty.<br /><br />We grow up with our treasure; it is near to us all the time, but so often we do not recognize its value.<br /><br />This has many implications. First of all, whatever our situations, and our feelings about them, one things is sure. God has called each and every one of us, by name, to minister for him to others. It is so tempting to look at the gifts of another, the achievements of another, the situation of another, and pine, if not with envy or jealousy, then maybe with a certain degree of wistfulness, for the things others can do, achieve or enjoy. We waste a good deal of time looking for our treasure in unrealistic places, places where it is not accessible to us. One result of this fruitless journeying is that we become unhappy with who we are, our regard for our own gifts diminish, and we become less and less fruitful for God.</span><br /><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" >Our treasure is within us. It is so often what we grew up with. If God has called me, then I know at least that there is something within me that God can use. George Herbert alludes to this in his poem ‘The Priesthood’<br /><br /></span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" >...only, since God doth often vessels make<br />Of lowly matter for high uses meet,</span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" ><br />I throw me at his feet,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" >There will I lie, until my Maker seek<br />For some mean stuff whereon to show his skill:<br />Then is my time.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" >‘Our time’ – our calling, our life – is now. Our treasure is within ourselves, the gold of the gospel and our gifts - and it has been gathering and collecting every day of our lives.<span style=""> </span>Rowan Williams earths this understanding of the paradoxical nature of God’s call when he writes:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="MsoBlockText"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" >‘God chooses where he wills: there is no set of conditions for his grace. We are to rejoice in the fact that, weak and sinful and silly as we are, God has chosen us for the privilege of loving and serving him.’</span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="MsoBlockText"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" >But with that rejoicing comes a balancing responsibility, a pain, if you like, when our loving and serving becomes unbalanced and we are unable to hold on to the burden and privilege of this calling. Rowan Williams continues:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="MsoBlockText"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" >‘And so our crises occur at those points when we see how unreality, our selfish, self-protecting illusions, our struggles for cheap security, block the way to our answering the call to be’.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="MsoBlockText"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" >The treasure is under our feet, it is within us, and therefore it is the very thing most likely to be taken for granted. I gain tremendous encouragement from that passage in Mark 6, where Jesus returns to Nazareth, to be greeted by those who knew him when he was but a lad – and they decided that no-one who came from their town could possibly be anyone special (‘We knew him when he had nowt’) – ‘and he could work no miracle there….and he was amazed at their unbelief.’ In my native Lancashire, it is said that the reason people go to church is to to stop other people going;<span style=""> </span>some people, without realising it, manage to limit God and limit others at the same time. Perhaps they – and we – have every right to be concerned. Jesus came among us, and through him we discover a very human side to God that we had never suspected, and wonder whether God can really do this thing this way. For those on the way to faith this particularity can be hard to fathom, and how we preach it and proclaim it a most sensitive issue.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="MsoBlockText"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" >But this, after all, is the treasure at our feet, carried in these earthenware vessels. What we have to offer the world is Christ crucified and raised from the dead – the action of a God who will stop at nothing to redeem his people, redeem his creation. That miraculous action continues this morning and every day in the Mass and its outworking in our daily living, as we seek to discover and rediscover the treasure at our feet.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="MsoBlockText"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="right"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" >Damian Feeney</span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" ><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Vice Principal, St. Stephen’s House</span></span></p><br /><p class="MsoBlockText"><br /><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" ></span></p><p class="MsoBlockText"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" ><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" ></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11pt;" ><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> </p><hr size="1" align="left" width="33%"> <div style="" id="ftn1"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=9168738385627819394&postID=3111536352775049954#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:9pt;"><span style=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:9pt;" >[1]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size:9pt;"> http://chippit.tripod.com/markings.html</span></p> </div> </div>St Stephen's Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04086751438165539570noreply@blogger.com