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| | The E-pistle News from the University Church |
| At Family Services I always play the piano. And Taizé services too. What I can’t do is get up to the Old Library each week during the Eucharist to accompany the kids for a hymn or song. But I do think that regular singing in Sunday School would be a massive bonus. It only need take 5 or 6 minutes. I wonder if there’s anyone who could help.
Last week I got a lot of flak for choosing hymns that no one seemed to know, although ‘Jerusalem the Golden’ must be an old favourite. This week is the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, so there’ll be a couple of hymns we rarely sing. The trouble is, when you’ve been going to church every day for as long as I have you tend to know them all. I suppose I could depend on a bank of fifty all-time hits, but like to burst out of my bubble from time to time.
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| Bampton Lectures 2015 Prof David Ford, the Regius Professor of Divinity, University of Cambridge
He is speaking on the Gospel of John: "Daring Spirit: John’s Gospel Now"
Tonight, 5.00pm "The Literary John – Above all Dramatic" |
| | Taize Service for Candlemas
There will be a short, meditative, candlelit service of music and silence in the style of the Taizé community to reflect on the Presentation of Christ at the temple. All welcome. |
| This week for Students and 20-somethings
Meeting in the Dark
Due to popular demand Dr Mary Marshall is coming back for three discussion this term.
The subject is the intriguing and mysterious character Nicodemus. The first session is on the 29th January, 7.30-9pm in the Vaults with cheese and wine. Check the website for full details.
29th Jan: 'Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus...'
Nicodemus first appears by night- a teacher of Israel who receives instruction. But does he come into the light or is he still in the dark? The first session will explore Nicodemus' first appearance in John 3.
Bible Study
In the Vaults, Tuesdays, 8-9pm. This week we're beginning a short series about the Creeds- we say one every Sunday but what do we think they mean? Why we use them? And do we need them? Newcomers welcome at any point in term. |
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This Week
Tuesdays & Thursdays 12.15pm Lunchtime Eucharist
Sunday 1st February Presentation of Christ (Candlemas) 10.30am Choral Eucharist Preacher: The Revd Alan Ramsey
Monday 2nd February 7.30pm:Taize Service for Candlemas A short, reflective, candlelit service in the chancel. Everyone is welcome- please join us.
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Forthcoming Events
Wednesday 28th 5pm: Bampton Lecture 7pm: Poetry Workshop, Old Library: Illuminators
Thursday 29th 7.30pm: Student Series: Meeting in the Dark
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Forthcoming Concerts
Hertford College Music Society, Friday, 13th February
Carson Becke Piano Recital: Sunday 22nd February |
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Poetry Corner
What lovely things
Thy hand hath made:
The smooth-plumed bird
In its emerald shade,
The seed of the grass,
The speck of the stone
Which the wayfaring ant
Stirs – and hastes on!
Walter de la Mare (1873-1956)
Catte Street, just to the east of St Mary’s, represents the heart of medieval Oxford’s manuscript production. Recorded as Kattestreete in the early 13th century, and as Mousecatchers’ Lane (Vicus Murilegorum) by 1442, originally the street stretched further, stopping at New College Lane and the city wall. Catte Street is also where the illuminator William de Brailes owned property and, probably, worked. His Book of Hours – hitherto only known as an addition to the end of a Psalter, but in de Brailes’ case rendered as a separate volume for the first time – was produced between c. 1230 and 1260. De Brailes’ art seems simultaneously innocent (his self-portrait, above, is touchingly signed “W de Brailes who painted me”) and complex, the crazed geometry of Anglo-Saxon influence still occasionally taking hold of his backgrounds and beasts.
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| Poetry Workshops: Rewriting History
Beginning this week the Education Officer, Penny Boxall, will lead a series of poetry workshops based on the history of the University Church and its surroundings. In each session we will discuss poems by established writers- both historic and contemporary- and look at the mechanism at work within them. Using images and objects as stimuli, we will write poems on topics connected to that week's theme. Whether you are a fan of history or poetry, write regularly or are relatively new to poetry, come along and see where this historical journey will take you. Wednesdays, 7-8.30pm in the Old Library.
28th January - "Illuminators" Before the creation of Radcliffe Square, Catte Street housed those involved with book production in medieval Oxford, including the scribes and illuminators. We will look at how poetry can conjure rich images with words. |
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