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At the beginning of this month I was ever so impressed as departing Vice Chancellor, Andy Hamilton, flew off to New York and immediately Louise Richardson flew down from Scotland to take up the reins. It’s how business works. It’s how colleges work in appointing heads of house. But the C of E is different, as we know from the case of the non-appointment of the Bishop of Oxford.
Now it’s my turn. Or, to be more precise, your turn. You must have a voice in who becomes the next Vicar of SMV. Technically the appointment is in the hands of the Patron, Oriel College, the Bishop of Dorchester, the PCC and churchwardens. Some will tell you there’s no hurry. A community needs time to adjust. But the Sunday morning worshipping community is only part, say 25%, of what this institution represents. There are concerts, shops, visitors, university, special occasions, extra-curricular ministry in term time, networking, conferences and special events in the summer and vacations. It’s a massively diverse 24/7 organisation and needs continuity of leadership.
There’s plenty of speculation and gossip around the place about who that person might be, from people who rarely, if ever, have worshipped in SMV or know how it works or what its priorities are. But you know how much the clergy love politicking. You may hear churchy talk of ‘seeing what God wants’ and ‘discerning the will of the Spirit’ - said with clasped hands and pious eyes. This is the kind of cliché I’ve always avoided and thought theologically unsound because it displays such naiveté about how, and if, God intervenes in the world and is usually a passive aggressive tool in the armoury of those who want their own way.
You are the people who know SMV and share a vision of inclusivity, open-mindedness, genuine theological questioning, ethical liberality guided by the sovereignty of love; you are those who value reverence, awe, and beauty and want to serve the community. Many of you have come here struggling with faith, not wanting to be labelled, looking for a church that identifies with the world and not one that glories in being counter-cultural, lost in its own history and mired in its own esoteric vocabulary. We have rallied for freedom against what TS Eliot called the ‘sapient sutlers of the Lord’.
So I’d say, there’s no need to be passive in the months ahead. Tell the churchwardens what you think and what you want. E-mail them, write to them, talk to them and don’t be shy.
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| | Services
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Tuesdays & Thursdays
12.15 pm Lunchtime Eucharist
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Sunday 31st January 2016
10.30am- Choral Eucharist, Candlemas Preacher: Revd Alan Ramsey
Music: Orlande de Lassus, Missa Octavi toni Herbert Howells, Nunc dimittis (Collegium Regale) Edvard Grieg, Ave Maris Stella |
| | Plain Song Series
3 February – Composition and context in fifteenth-century motets: The “transformation” of a genre?
Among the genres of sung polyphonic music in the fifteenth century, the motet holds the central position: longer and more ambitious than vernacular songs, but shorter and with less “variety” than the new cyclic mass settings. Scholars have long considered this to have been a transitional period for the genre, once a “monument of medieval rationalism” now transformed by the “golden dawn of Humanism”. To a greater extent than is often thought, however, textual construction and compositional techniques developed in continuity with the history of the genre. This lecture will examine a few individual examples of motets from throughout the century, looking in particular at the verbal text, musical composition, and notational image. These examples demonstrate the great diversity of motets composed during the century, but they also point to long-established similarities underneath the musical surface.
The lecture will be followed by a short tie-in recital by the Newman Consort at 7.30pm. Tickets are available on the door for £5 (cash only).
Paul Kolb is currently a post-doc researcher at the University of Salzburg. In 2014 he completed his DPhil in music at the Queen’s College, Oxford, working on fifteenth-century motets. While in Oxford he directed the Newman Consort, a small vocal ensemble dedicated to early music. |
| | Work, Sex & Self Series
28th January – WORK7.30pm Vaults Cafe
Most of us spend the greatest proportion of our time at work but how do we make this a truly meaningful and rewarding experience? This session explores work from a number of perspectives including personal fulfilment,
ethics, future trends and relationships.
A three-part course for students and everyone
Often the Church seeks to answer questions that no one is asking. This short course aims to tackle three fundamental subjects that most people care deeply about. Over three evenings, Revd Canon Brian Mountford will address contemporary attitudes to work, sex and personal identity. He will explore how these attitudes have changed and what role theology might play in shaping and enriching them for the future. Each evening will include a talk, Q&A, and discussion over cheese and wine. 7.30pm–9.00pm in the Vaults Café at University Church. 28th January, 11th February and 25th February.
Revd Canon Brian Mountford MBE has been the vicar of University Church for thirty years. Before that he was vicar of Southgate in North London. Brian is also a Fellow of St Hilda’s College and an honorary Canon of Christ Church Cathedral.
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| | Other forthcoming Events
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| | Forthcoming Concerts—
Saturday 30th January 1.15pm
Oxford University Sinfonietta: Free Lunchtime Chamber Concert (in the chancel) Mozart & Stravinsky —
Saturday 20th February 1-2pm Treasures of the Piano- Free Concert Kapsetaki Twins Recital Works by Chopin, Liszt, Dvorak & Piazzolla —
Saturday 27th February 7.30pm
Queen's College Choir: Brahms Requiem
Tallis Spem in alium
Motets by Howells & Bruckner
£20/£12; £18/£10 (concessions); £5 (students)
www.ticketsoxford.com, 01865 305 305, Playhouse box office
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| | | Poetry corner — Christmas Hath Made an End
1. Christmas hath made an end, Well-a-day! well-a-day! Which was my dearest friend, More is the pity! For with an heavy heart Must I from thee depart, To follow plow and cart All the year after. 2. Lent is fast coming on, Well-a-day! well-a-day! That loves not anyone, More is the pity! For I doubt both my cheeks Will look thin from eating leeks; Wise is he then that seeks For a friend in a corner. 3. And our good cheer is gone, Well-a-day! well-a-day! And turned to a bone, More is the pity! In my good master's house I shall eat no more souse, Then give me one carouse, Gentle kind butler! 4. It grieves me to the heart, Well-a-day! well-a-day! From my friend to depart, More is the pity! Christmas, I fear 'tis thee That thus forsaketh me: Yet till one hour I see, Will I be merry.
Anon. (17th century)
This poem is an unusual sort of carol – one for the seeing out of Christmastide. The words are probably 17th-century; it outlines the work (following ‘plow and cart’) and leanness of diet (as the thin-cheeked leek-eater bemoans) to be expected from Candlemas and Lent. (‘Souse’ is pickled pig-head terrine, traditionally eaten at Christmas.) However, the picture isn’t all gloom: the speaker is determined still to be ‘merry’ and enjoy the pleasures with which he is presented.
Image: The Presentation of Christ in the Temple from the St Alban’s Psalter, 12th century. |
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