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| | e-Pistle News from the University Church |
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Prof Philip Davis has given us a title for his sermon next Sunday, ‘Monosyllables of Need’, and he has also chosen a poem for one of the readings, which I print below because it might be helpful to have seen it in advance. Philip is the Professor of Literature in the Psychological Sciences department at the University of Liverpool and was an undergraduate in Cambridge at Sidney Sussex College when I was Chaplain. He is a non-practising Jew and wonderfully provocative.
Chorus Sacerdotum
By Fulke Greville from Mustapha (1609)
O wearisome condition of humanity!
Born under one law, to another bound;
Vainly begot and yet forbidden vanity;
Created sick, commanded to be sound.
What meaneth nature by these diverse laws?
Passion and reason, self-division cause.
Is it the mark or majesty of power
To make offenses that it may forgive?
Nature herself doth her own self deflower
To hate those errors she herself doth give.
For how should man think that he may not do,
If nature did not fail and punish, too?
Tyrant to others, to herself unjust,
Only commands things difficult and hard,
Forbids us all things which it knows is lust,
Makes easy pains, unpossible reward.
If nature did not take delight in blood,
She would have made more easy ways to good.
We that are bound by vows and by promotion,
With pomp of holy sacrifice and rites,
To teach belief in good and still devotion,
To preach of heaven’s wonders and delights;
Yet when each of us in his own heart looks
He finds the God there, far unlike his books.
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| | Services this Week
Tuesdays & Thursdays
12.15pm Lunchtime Eucharist
Sunday 17th May Easter 7
10.30am Choral Eucharist
Preacher: Prof Philip Davis, Professor of Literature, Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool
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Forthcoming Events Student Bible Study - 8pm Tuesday 19th, Vaults and Garden- for more information contact Claire, layassistant.smv@gmail.com
Silent Prayer, 8pm
Tuesday 19 May- for more information contact Rosemary, rib@rjburton.plus.com
On Anger - 7.30pm 21st May - All the Rage 4th June- Tough Times
In Numbers Poetry Series - 7pm 20th May: Poetry Workshop "Outcome"
Moot, 7.45pm 28th May: Revd Peter Groves on Gerard Manley Hopkins |
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Forthcoming Concerts Yale Schola Cantorum
Daniel Kellogg Shout Joy!
Roderick Williams O Brother Man
Haydn Symphony no. 94, ‘Surprise’
Beethoven Mass in C 24th May, 7.30pm, Tickets £20/£15/£10 from http://www.musicatoxford.com/Concerts/Events1415/Yale.html
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'On Anger'
What is anger for? When is it justified? When is it counterproductive? Dr Amia Srinvasan, Dr Kate Saunders, and Bernard O'Donoghue will lead discussions from the perspective of philsophy, psychiatry and poetry. A three-part series exploring Anger continues Thursday 19th May, 7.30pm in the Vaults. Everyone welcome. |
| | Taize Service for Pentecost: Monday 25th May, 8pm
We will be holding a Taize service for Pentecost on Monday 25th May at 8pm in the chancel. The service will include music from the Taize community, readings, and silence, offering a chance for reflection and contemplation. Everybody is most welcome. |
| | DEC Nepal Earthquake Appeal collection The retiring collection after church on Sunday, 3 May, raised £466 (just over £500 when gift aid is included) for the DEC Nepal Earthquake Appeal. Very many thanks to all who contributed.
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‘Gloriana’ – a Tudor extravaganza at the University Church
On Saturday 23rd May, the University Church will host a re-enactment of Elizabeth I’s 1566 visit – or ‘progress’ – to Oxford. Starting at 10.45am in the Church, we will gather for a procession (accompanied by the Oxford Waits), followed by Tudor dancing, music and singing in Radcliffe Square. At 1, we’ll move into the Church, where we’ll hear a Tudor sermon, disputations of the time, Elizabeth’s Latin oration, poetry, and a new play offering a comic slant on the events in 1566. All are very welcome.
Elizabeth’s royal progresses took place in the summer, when court was moved to one of Elizabeth’s 14 palaces, courtier’s home (who must bear the expense of entertaining the entire entourage), or, in the case of Oxford, a university college. It cost nearly £150 to host Elizabeth and her court – though thankfully, for the University, the court paid. Indeed, the University was keen to host the Queen to try to secure her patronage.
In 1566 it fell to Thomas Neale, the Professor of Hebrew, to show Elizabeth the sights of Oxford, along with her favourite Robert Dudley, who was then the Chancellor of the University. Arriving from Woodstock Palace (where, in earlier years, she had been held prisoner), she was met at Wolvercote and officially welcomed to Oxford by the party; they processed down what is now Woodstock Road and St Giles, and were treated to florid Greek verses at Quatervois (Carfax) before taking up residence at Christ Church.
The University Church, in 1566, hosted not only Elizabeth’s Latin address, but also disputations on matters of the day. Do join us on 23rd May to recreate the Elizabethan splendour. ________________
‘In Numbers’ Wednesday 20th May, 7-8.30pm, Old Library Following the panel discussion on the relationship between maths and history, Penny Boxall will be running a poetry workshop on the topic of ‘Outcome’.
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