ST JOHN the Evangelist e-news, March 2018
Listening, Learning, Transforming
‘God’s love for the world –
vast abundance of mercy flung on resistence.’
(thepoet Denise Levertov, on St John’s Gospel)
Dear Friends
Lent is an important, but often a challenging time of year. I am encouraged that over 40 people are meeting in our Lent Groups, studying St John’s Gospel and especially what its symbolic language tells us. A week ago I had the privilege of attending a study day on St John, with Professor David Ford (who taught me, 26 years ago, when I was an undergraduate!). This was such an inspiration. It is easy, in our busy lives, to overlook the power of Holy Scripture, let alone taking time to read and notice what God is saying to us. David reminded us, meditating on St John, both of the profoundly intimate relationship with God that Christ invites us into, and also the difficult challenge of living with & patiently overcoming the world’s darkness - some of it within ourselves. My prayer, this Lent, is that you & I may find some space to engage at a deeper level, and listen to what God is saying to us.
As always, Holy Week will be an important moment to savour, as we journey towards Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Some of the highlights will be:
- Palm Sunday, 25th March, at 10am. All Age Communion with Palm procession and dramatised Gospel reading, as we mark the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem.
- Maundy Thursday, 29th March, 7.30pm Holy Communion, commemorating the Last Supper, as well as washing feet, stripping the altars and keeping vigil with Jesus in Gethsemane.
- Holy Saturday Vigil, 31st March, 8pm, including the Easter fire, renewal of Baptism vows and retelling the story of our redemption.
- Easter Sunday, 1st April, at 10am. All Age Communion to celebrate the resurrection, with something special for the children.
In addition, there will be daily services during Holy Week, including Monday 7.30pm Stations of the Cross and Wednesday 7.30pm Compline with a short address. The Tuesday liturgy will be a Taize service at St James’ Church, Wulfstan Way, also at 7.30pm.
This Sunday, 11th March, we will be celebrating Mothering Sunday, which is a moment to break the fast in mid-Lent: a day of joy and anticipation of spring. Flowers will be distributed, as usual.
As you know, on Sunday 18th March at 11.30am (after the 10am Parish Communion), it is our Annual Parochial Church Meeting. This will be an important moment to take stock, to celebrate all that has been over the past 12 months, and to look ahead to the future. Nominations are still invited for a number of key volunteer roles, sharing the leadership of our Church, including Churchwarden, PCC member, Deanery Synod representative, sidesperson, and sacristan (to join the existing team). St John’s relies on the participation of many people, with varying amounts of time, to enable our common life, worship and mission to flourish. Please consider whether you could help us!
Recently, on 11th February, two friends of mine from St James’ Parish, Dawn and Stephen Ridley, have a presentation about ‘Cursillo’, and Dawn has written an article about it in this month’s Parish Voice. Cursillo is a short-course designed to help people grow in their Christian faith and witness in everyday secular life. Having done it myself, in Leicestershire, I can thoroughly recommend it; in my last Parish is also generated a remarkable spiritual renewal in our congregation. Many people find the impact of these the days (a long weekend) profound and transformational for their whole life. It is, of course, one of a range of means of growing in faith (alongside Alpha, Emmaus, Pilgrim, Retreats, or association with Religious Orders), but I encourage you to consider if this could be for you. It happens twice a year, at Ely. The next weekend is 5th-8th April 2018. Please let me know if you would like to find out more.
On 24th February, five of us attended an introductory day at Over Community Centre on ‘Partnership for Missional Church’. This is an initiative that St John’s has signed up to, together with our local partners at St James and St Andrew’s, and others in Ely Diocese, support by the Church Mission Society. It was an excellent and inspiring day. This is something that will need to become embedded in our Church life, over the next three years, at all levels. Alongside six of us forming a Steering Group, we will be convening a ‘Listening Team’, who will embark on a research process: listening to our congregation and the wider community, as one part of the foundation for our future mission. Above all we will be listening to God, the Bible, and each other, as we seek to discern God’s ‘preferred future’. Please pray for this exciting project!
On 25th February I made the announcement that Lucy Holden is going to be stepping down as our part-time paid Children’s worker at St John’s, with effect from Good Friday. There will be opportunities after Easter to express our very real gratitude to Lucy for all her amazing hard work, in supporting our work with children. I, personally, have loved working with Lucy over my first nine months in post, and have so much respect for her gifts and what she has achieved. Lucy and her family are very much remaining part of St John’s. I will, inevitably, be consulting widely on the future of our children & families’ work, and I hope that everyone will support us in moving forward, as this is such a vital dimension of ministry and mission today.
Finally, our prayers go out to all those from our congregation who are sick or in hospital or bereaved at this time. May they know God’s healing and peace. I pray for the Ladds’ family, following Leslie’s funeral service at St John’s today. And please also remember our city’s homeless, and those who will be serving them through our winter night shelter - in the Wilkinson Room on 31st March and 2nd April, through the Cambridge Churches Homelessness Project.
May I wish you a life-giving Spring, Holy Week and Easter, with true joy in the resurrection.
With prayers & good wishes,
James
The Revd.James Shakespeare, St John’s Vicarage, 9 Luard Road, Cambridge. CB2 8PJ
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