Subject: News from the University Church of St Mary the Virgin

Songs of Hope


by Dr Sarah Mortimer


Lent seems to have its own special claim on psalms. From the 6th Century, seven of them were marked out as 'penitential psalms', especially appropriate for Lent. And in the decades after the Reformation, Protestants and Catholics often turned to these psalms for comfort and to voice their own confessions, writing poems and reflections. John Milton, for example, paraphrased Psalm 6 during the English Revolution, as his high hopes for the English Commonwealth began to crumble. In the tense early days of the Catholic Reformation, Orlando Lassus set all seven penitential psalms to music, but Allegri's setting of Psalm 51, Miserere Mei, is perhaps the most famous of all. These poets and musicians, like so many before and after, found in these psalms a way of asking God for mercy and for help, in a world that so often seemed dark and cruel.


For the psalms remind us that we are never alone, that we share in a tradition that stretches through time and space. Each of us will say and hear them differently, yet in the common reciting of them there is solidarity and comfort. In our troubled times the psalms allow us too to lament and to protest against all that is wrong in our world, and they encourage us towards love and reconciliation in our own lives and for those around us. For, as Psalm 130 puts it, 'with the Lord is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem’.

 

Livestreamed Services at the University Church

Sunday 13 March

10.30am - Sung Eucharist

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The Tower is open and you can book a ticket online for your visit at the link below. You can find more information as well as our Terms & Conditions on our website.

Online Bookings

Notices


PASSION AND COMPASSION EXHIBITION & VIRTUAL PILGRIMAGE

Drawing on the ancient spiritual devotion of the Stations of the Cross, we invite you to participate in a journey of reflection and discovery in the city of Oxford.

Using the website or the mobile application, weave your way around our ancient city, where key works of art can be found - in both religious and secular spaces, from churches to museums, and even city rooftops. On this journey, you will be accompanied by leading academics, theologians and artists, contemplating the profound meaning of the Stations of the Cross through some of Oxford’s most impressive works of art.

A linked exhibition of all 14 Stations of the Cross will be up in the Adam De Brome Chapel until Easter week.

https://www.passionandcompassion.org/


GARDENING DAY: HOLYWELL CEMETERY There will be another gardening day at Holywell Cemetery on Saturday 12 March from 10am – 1pm. You do not need to be an experienced gardener. If you have secateurs and other tools, feel free to bring them, but please make sure that you have some suitable clothing. Gloves are also a good idea!


WEEKDAY EUCHARIST

There will be no eucharists in church from 14-25 March while a mobile elevated working platform is operating in church as part of the work towards completion of the nave roof project.


COMMUNITY AUDIT

Following our community discussion evenings, we are bringing together a small group to find out more about the institutions, grass-roots projects and needs in our parish and across the city to help inform how we as a church respond to those needs and build relationships in our locality going forward. If you have a couple of hours to give to help us undertake this research, Hannah would love to hear from you: hannah.cartwright@universitychurch.ox.ac.uk


HOPE4CREATION ECO-WORKSHOP

Friday 18 - Sunday 20 March at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin

Join us as we learn more about God, Creation and Us. Non-residential, including all meals (vegetarian). £20 per person- bursaries available. For more information and to book the workshop: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/265000402337 


POETRY HOUR

Wednesday 16th March, 5.30 pm – 6.30 pm, Old Library.

Join us for the final Poetry Hour of term for an hour of reading, discussing and writing poetry. The theme will be Ash Wednesday and Lent.


CHURCH GOING GONE

Tuesday, 29 March, 10am, Divinity School, Brian Mountford will be interviewed by Angela Tilby on his recent book 'Church Going Gone' at the Oxford Literary Festival. For more information and how to book a ticket,

https://oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-events/2022/march-29/church-going-gone-a-biography-of-religion-doubt-and-faith


NEW TO ST MARY’S? If you are new to St Mary’s and have started coming to services in the last six months or so, we may not have your contact details. If you would like to find out more about what is going on at the University Church, please email admin@universitychurch.ox.ac.uk with your name, address and telephone number and ask for your name to be added to the Parish Directory. This directory is used only by parish staff but it enables us to get in touch with you as the need arises.

St Mary's Church, High Street, OX1 4BJ, Oxford, United Kingdom

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