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| | | Recently I gave lunch to a group of undergraduates to plan the Founders' Day Service at St Hilda’s and our Christmas Carol event. It soon became clear that the JCR contingent had no time for religion. They were happy to be part of a jolly corporate occasion and even to read something ‘so long as it wasn’t from the Bible’.
‘But,’ I protested, ‘the problem is Christmas is in the Bible.’ They were unmoved. When I extolled the virtues of the Good Book as literature and an important primary source for Shakespeare, Milton, Bunyan, Conrad, Jane Austen and most other great names in the canon, not so much as an easing of the eyebrows. ‘Even Richard Dawkins has offered to read at my Carol Service! (So long as we use the Authorised Version).’ Surely this would trump them. No, they remained steadfast.
To be honest I was taken aback by such antagonism towards religion and their fear that it could be contaminating. I see a bit more clearly what the Church is up against.
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| | | Services this Week
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Tuesdays & Thursdays
12.15 pm Lunchtime Eucharist
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Sunday 15th November 2015
First Sunday before Advent
10.30 am Choral Eucharist
The Revd Bruce Kinsey, Chaplain of Balliol
Children's Church and a discussion group for teenagers will meet on Sunday during the service. All Welcome. |
| | The Moot - 7.45pm, Oriel College Small SCR - Monday 23rd November
The Moot is University Church's wide-ranging discussion group. Our next meeting will be on Monday 23rd November at 7.45pm in Oriel College Small SCR. We will be joined by Timothy Walker, former head of the University of Oxford Botanic Garden and presenter of the BBC documentary 'Botany: A Blooming History'. His title is: Is Biology without a price tag worthless or priceless?
He writes: 'At a conservation tutorial last term, an undergraduate stated that the only species worth conserving are those with a monetary value. The other three students in the tutorial attacked him vociferously and he later wrote to apologise for his views. For this meeting of The Moot I would like to examine whether the monetary value of biology is the only value it has.'
All are welcome and refreshments will be provided. Email tim.middleton@worc.ox.ac.uk if you have any queries.
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| | Servers Rota
We are looking to recruit some new members to our serving team in the coming year. It's a great way to get involved in church services and is suitable for anyone from around the age of 10 up. If you would be interested in finding out more about what serving involves or would like to volunteer please talk to our head server Ellie Williams after the service or email her on 'eleanorpolly.smith@gmail.com'.
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| | Forthcoming Events
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Tuesdays 8pm, Vaults & Garden: Bible Study
The Bible Study for students meets in the Vaults cafe every Tuesday evening in term time.
— Monday, 23rd November, Oriel SCR
The Moot, details as above.
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| | On Death Series TONIGHT
Why do we want to talk about death? Does facing our mortality help us live better? And how do we want to be remembered?
University Church presents a series on the theme of death. Each
evening will include a talk, Q&A, and discussion over cheese and
wine.
Thursday 19th November - What will you make of me? Dr Jim Harris
Gravestones, tombs and memorial sculptures have always been an important part of remembering the dead. But why do we need these objects or places? And should we be involved in their planning before our death? Dr Jim Harris will discuss the various material ways people have been remembered
throughout history. He will also explore new trends in death ritual, such as roadside altars and ‘white bikes,’ forming our visual landscape today.
Dr Jim Harris is an art historian specialising in late-medieval
and Renaissance sculpture and a Teaching Curator at the
Ashmolean Museum, working with colleagues from the
English, Modern Languages, Medical Sciences, Theology
and History faculties at Oxford University. In a previous life
he was an actor and in his current life he is a Reader at St
Olave Church, Hart Street in London and a contributor to
‘Pause for Thought’ on Radio 2.
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| | Fireside Tales series
A six-part series combining creative workshops, talks and performances, looking at the tradition of storytelling throughout the timespan of University Church. From the earliest Christian verse, relayed by Old English bards; by way of the familiar essay, unlocking complexities of thought on religion and philosophy; to the early modern puppetry designed for an illiterate congregation – this series gets to the very heart of storytelling.
24th November, 7pm, Old Library
Dr Liv Robinson, lecturer in Medieval English
Literature and a member of Early Drama at
Oxford, will discuss ‘Everyman’, a morality
play in Middle English. Sections of the play
will be dramatized during her talk.
Full details here.
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| | Forthcoming Concerts
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Monday 30th 7.30pm
Hertford Music Society - Michaelmas Term Concert
Saturday 12th December 7.30pm City of Oxford Choir - Time of Snow
Saturday 19th December 7.30pm Instruments of Time & Truth - Handel's Messiah
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| | Poetry Corner
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from ‘The Fourth Elegy’
“…When I feel
like waiting in front of the puppet theatre, no,
rather gazing at it, so intently, that at last,
to balance my gaze, an Angel must come
and take part, dragging the puppets on high.
Angel and Doll: then there’s a play at last.
Then what we endlessly separate,
merely by being, comes together. Then at last
from our seasons here, the orbit
of all change emerges…”
- Rainer Maria Rilke
On Wednesday, Professor Tiffany Stern gave a special lecture (as part of ‘Fireside Tales’) on the history of puppetry. The church has a longstanding tradition of using puppets. The word ‘marionette’ comes from the Italian – ‘little Mary’ – and puppet shows were used to illustrate Bible stories or sermons, operated by monks and priests. This was a wonderful illustrated talk; and was preceded (5.30-6.30) by a drama-writing workshop on satire, in which we looked at Gilray’s political cartoons.
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