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

Jerusalem our Mother


by the Revd Dr Jane Baun


We are now midway through Lent, and this coming Sunday is known in Western Christian liturgical tradition as Laetare Sunday, ‘Refreshment Sunday’. Taking our cue from the entrance antiphon of the Roman rite, beginning ‘Rejoice, O Jerusalem!, we are encouraged to lighten the penitential mood, rejoicing in anticipation of the approaching Paschal feast of our salvation. The longing to return to ‘Jerusalem’ as a source of wholeness and joy is rooted deep in the consciousness of the Abrahamic religions. Whether as an actual motherland, a utopian social vision, or an eternal heavenly home, Jerusalem draws us as the goal of our earthly pilgrimage.


Lent IV this year will also mark a grimmer chronological milestone, in a warped quest for Jerusalem: Day 32 of Vladimir Putin’s apocalyptic and immoral invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv, with its golden domes, Cathedral of Holy Wisdom, and venerable Monastery of the Caves, is a Jerusalem for Slavs, heart of the medieval kingdom of Kievan Rus’. Ukraine is a holy land, sanctified by the River Dnipro/Dnieper—the Slavic River Jordan, in which Prince Volodymyr/Vladimir supervised a mass baptism of his pagan subjects in 988, declaring Rus’ for Christ, following his own baptism in Kherson in the Crimea. Hence, the latter-day Vladimir’s obsession with claiming this land for Russia.


Mothering Sunday on Lent IV originates in the custom of returning this day to our mother church, our personal Jerusalem—the church of our baptism—in preparation for Easter, with its renewal of baptismal vows. But every church, and every prayer, bring us back to our true mother, the loving heart of our Mother God, whose love gave us birth and holds us in life. And in that love, we rejoice.

Livestreamed Services at the University Church

Sunday 27 March

10.30am - Sung Eucharist

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Notices


‘NEXT STEPS’ COMMUNITY MEETING

Sunday 3rd April – 12pm in the Old Library

Following our community discussion evenings, we are bringing together a small group to make plans for community building and 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 and build relationships in our locality going forward. If you can help us with this, come along to share your ideas or email Hannah to find out more: hannah.cartwright@universitychurch.ox.ac.uk


‘Orthodox political theology between national identity and empire’ Public Lecture and Roundtable

Monday 4 April, Nave

Ukrainian scholar and priest Cyril Hovorun explains how Orthodoxy is shaping politics and political theology in Russia and Eastern Europe.

The lecture is followed by a roundtable with Katharina Kunter, Petr Kratochvil, Jenny Leith and Marietta van der Tol. The roundtable will discuss how the use of Orthodoxy in the Russo-Ukrainian war is contested among Christian and other religious communities in Russia and Eastern Europe, how resistance is taking shape within the Russian-Orthodox Church and what local religious communities can do.


ELECTORAL ROLL

If you are baptised and over the age of 16, and are either resident in the parish or have regularly attended worship here for the last 6 months, you are eligible to join the church electoral roll. This enables you to attend and vote at the annual parochial church meeting and to stand as a member of the PCC. We update the electoral roll annually so if you would like to join or to amend your details, please pick up a form from the back of church.


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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