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A couple of weeks ago, Charlotte wrote an article in the Epistle about the numbers of visitors coming to St Mary’s during the summer months. This has stimulated some discussion among members of our community and also some interest in the local press. The important point to emphasise is that we want to encourage visitors to come to St Mary’s and to ensure that they have the best possible experience. This ministry of hospitality is an important part of our mission as a church as we respond to the invitation of Jesus to welcome the stranger. At the same time, we are also aware that the sheer volume of visitors and tourists sometimes detracts from the peace and tranquillity offered by the University Church.
I have been in discussion with staff about ways in which we can approach this creatively and imaginatively. We have a number of ideas which we hope will enable people to engage more effectively with the space. These include:
• playing sacred music quietly in the background. Research shows that this has a significant effect on the way in which people interact with a sacred space.
• inviting people to join in with prayers at a number of points during the day. There are many places of worship (including Cathedrals) which do this. We know that many visitors appreciate and value such an invitation and we have agreed to begin doing this at fixed points during the day for the next two months.
• reserving the Chancel for private prayer and ensuring that there is appropriate signage inviting people to pray and/or light a candle.
• liaising with tour guides and working with them to ensure that numbers in each tour group are limited appropriately in the light of our health and safety policy.
We need to adopt an approach which is subtle and generous, courteous and hospitable. Over these months, we will be experimenting with each of these approaches in order to improve the experience of visitors and tourists. We will learn much from this and we will need to review these measures very carefully in the autumn as we plan for the future. We want people to feel welcome at St Mary’s and we want to make sure that a visit to this house of prayer is a positive experience for everybody.
Spirit of God,
make us open to others in listening,
generous to others in giving
and sensitive to others in praying;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Revd Dr William Lamb Vicar |
| | Services
—Monday - Friday at 9am Morning Prayer (Chancel)
Tuesdays & Thursdays at 12.15pm
Lunchtime Eucharist (Chancel) —
Sunday 30th July: Trinity 7 10.30am - Sung Eucharist
Preacher: Revd Alan Ramsey
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| | Mystery Plays
Sian Witherden (DPhil English, Balliol) and Penny Boxall (Education Officer, University Church), with the support of TORCH, have orchestrated the updating of 8 key plays from the York Mystery Cycle. The plays have been rewritten by local groups, standing in for the guilds of medieval York.
The plays will be presented in a staged reading on Saturday 29th July, performed by members of the local groups, at the University Church. The new mystery plays include writing by (among others) Bodleian Library Staff, Frideswide Voices, Brookes Creative Writing MA and Thames Valley Police, as well as a group from St Mary's.
The schedule for the performances on Saturday 29th July are as follows:
5pm: ‘Pop-up’ readings of selected extracts in Radcliffe Square
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| BBC Radio Oxford interview
Penny, Sian and a couple of the actors were invited to talk about the Mystery Plays on the BBC Radio Oxford yesterday afternoon. Please click the link below to listen to them. The interview starts at the 1:07:00 mark.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05819b0
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| Community Notices:
Diocesan Festival of Prayer – Saturday, 9th September
Spiritual wisdom says, “We should pray as we can and not as we can’t.” The D.F.P. is a ‘taster day’ of prayer styles. Come and reflect, experience, and discuss prayer. Brochure and booking forms are at the back of the Church.
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