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

The Transfiguration


Who, Lord can gaze on Your hiddenness
Which has come to revelation? Yes, your obscurity
Has come to manifestation and notification; your concealed being
Has come out into the open, without limitation.
Your awesome self has come to the hands
Of those who seized you.
All this has happened to You, Lord,
Because You became a human being.
Praises to Him who sent You.
 
Today the church celebrates the Feast of the Transfiguration. This poem or hymn about the Transfiguration comes from St. Ephrem the Syrian. Ephrem was a Christian hymn-writer of the fourth century. He was probably born around the year 306. For most of his life, Ephrem lived in Nisibis (on the border between southeast Turkey and northeast Syria). There he served as a deacon and catechist in the local church. Nisibis was an outpost of the eastern Roman Empire, but in the year 363, after the emperor Julian’s death in battle in Mesopotamia, the town was ceded to the Persians in the ensuing peace treaty. The Christian population of Nisibis was evacuated under the terms of the treaty, and Ephrem eventually ended up as a refugee in Edessa, some hundred miles further west. The one well-documented piece of information about Ephrem during the last ten or so years of his life, come from Edessa, where during a famine, he played a major role in organizing relief for the poor.

Ephrem is revered as a poet and a hymn-writer. In the Western tradition, we tend to think of theology as being above all connected with ‘dogmatic’ definitions and propositions. Theology is written in prose, sometimes rather tedious and long-winded prose. But Ephrem avoids – abhors – definitions. He regards definitions as boundaries which impose limits; his own approach to theology is to proceed by way of paradox and symbol. This does not mean that Ephrem is heterodox in his belief. Far from it. Ephrem was a theologian with a very profound sense of orthodox belief. But his poetic writings perhaps begin to do justice to the theology of the Transfiguration in a way that prose will never be able to accomplish.

Two of the words which recur again and again in Ephrem’s hymns are the words ‘hidden’ and ‘revealed’. Much of his poetry is devoted to exploring the tension between these two words, and the Transfiguration of Jesus is marked by this tension between what is ‘hidden’ and ‘revealed’. Of course, in the gospel story, when Peter is confronted with the Transfiguration, he seeks to hang onto what is revealed, to build a shrine around it, and to capture it. And yet, in the story, Jesus rebukes Peter. We learn about the peril of becoming consumers of ‘religious canned goods’. As Ernst Käsemann put it, the danger is that God ends up being ‘caught and rendered concrete in … inviolable theological formulas and thus becomes a calculable object in pious interchange’. As a result religious people ‘fear no surprises from heaven, and on earth …  defend the status quo’.

Like the poetry of Ephrem, the Transfiguration questions our basic human instinct to preserve the glory, and to go on learning about a God who continues to reveal. God’s hiddenness provokes us to cultivate a capacity for attentiveness and an ability to change – not hanging onto the past, but looking forward with anticipation, expecting God to do new things.


The Revd Dr William Lamb

Vicar, University Church


Online Worship:


Every Sunday, we livestream the 10.30am service on our YouTube channel.


Please subscribe to our social media channels to ensure you see the videos in your newsfeed and you are alerted to all our other online events coming in Hilary term.

Book your visit to the Tower online


The Tower is now 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


Community Emergency Food Bank (CEF)

CEF, based at St Francis Church, Cowley, provides nutritionally balanced food parcels for individuals and families in temporary crisis or hardship. If you would like to help, please put your donations of non-perishable foods into the CEF box which can be found in the Adam de Brome Chapel every Sunday. Currently there is a particular need for tinned vegetables, fruit, meat and fish, longlife milk and juices, and practical toiletries - but all donations welcome.


Gravestone geology on show - Exhibition feat Holywell Cemetery

17 July - 12 September 2021, Weston Library

For geologists – whether amateur, student or professional – almost any urban cemetery provides a valuable opportunity to carry out scientific field work at leisure, right on the doorstep and at no cost. Because gravestones are made from a wide variety of rock types formed in a range of geological settings cemeteries can be geological treasure-troves.

Many gravestones are made of polished stone, so reveal details such as minerals and crystal features that are not easy to see elsewhere. Some demonstrate textures and mineral compositions in igneous rocks. Others reveal sedimentary structures and fossils, and provide clues to Earth movements and environments that existed hundreds of millions of years ago.


The Geology of Oxford Gravestones, a new exhibit in the Blackwell Hall, Weston Library, Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG, highlights the geological features and social history revealed in Oxford graveyards. Curated by geologists Nina Morgan and Philip Powell, honorary associates at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, the exhibit demonstrates the wide variety of rock types and geological features that can be seen in graveyards throughout Britain. The exhibit runs from 17 July to 12 September. It’s free to visit, there is no need to book -- and there is a great café on site!


For further information see: https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/geology-oxford-gravestones or www.gravestonegeology.uk


John Henry Newman: Scholar, Sage, Saint - Online Symposium

20 Sept - 22 Sept 2021

The canonization of John Henry Newman in October 2019 has increased public and academic interest in him. A controversial figure during his own lifetime, Newman’s legacy remains contested by scholars. This conference will explore John Henry Newman as:

A Scholar: Newman influenced the academic landscape during his lifetime through his time at Oriel, his academic foundations, and his published works.

A Sage: Newman gained a reputation for providing reliable and wise advice early in his career—a reputation which he maintained after his reception into the Roman Church in 1845.

A Saint: Newman studied the lives of the saints and recommended them as exemplars of Christian behaviour. Newman’s work and life invite discussion on the relationship between sanctity and saintliness.

More information and how to register here:https://newmanstudies.org/news-and-events/2021-fall-conference#about


Organ Recitals in August

On each Sunday in August, there will be an Organ Recital at 3.30pm. This Sunday, Simon Bell from Tewkesbury Abbey will play a selection of music by Couperin, Bach, Sweelinck and Mendelssohn. Advance booking will not be required. All welcome.


Serving team

From the beginning of September, we hope to be able to field a full serving team. We are very grateful to those who have assisted in the course of the last 18 months, but would like to expand the team so that we can have three servers at each 10.30am service. If you are interested in serving or would like to find out more about what is involved, please have a word with one of the clergy.


Ride and Stride 2021

The annual ‘Ride and Stride’, in aid of the Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust, will take place on Saturday 11 September. Participants either walk or cycle around the Diocese visiting churches. We have some volunteers who have kindly agreed to help but if you would like to help, please let us know. Volunteers welcome Riders and Striders and sign off their sponsorship forms on the day. If you are able to help, please speak to one of the clergy.


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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