Opportunities in Lent
Tuesday evenings
Ongoing, 7.30 pm, parish rooms
Silent meditation in the Christian tradition
Wednesday mornings, ‘Daring to see God now’ York course
| 4 Mar–1 April, 10–10.55 am, St Matthew’s | |
| 4 March | Talia Hedstrom, ‘The good news of God’ |
| 11 March | Michael Joseph, ‘The time is now’ |
| 18 March | Mary Copping, ‘God is present’ |
| 25 March | Heather Riley, ‘Change your mind’ |
| 1 April | ‘Live it!’ (leader tbc) |
Wednesday evenings, ‘Who are we praying to?’ York course
| 4 Mar–1 April, 7.30–9 pm, parish rooms, led by Mary Copping and others | |
| 4 March | ‘Praying with perseverance’ |
| 11 March | ‘Praying in the face of unanswered prayer’ |
| 18 March | ‘Praying for the marginalised’ |
| 25 March | ‘Prayer and covenant’ |
| 1 April | Course discussion, response and prayer |
Wednesday evenings, ‘What climate crisis?’ course
| 4 Mar–1 April, 8–9.30 pm, Christ Church Free, but book at ccwinch.churchsuite.co.uk/events/yse6laek |
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| 4 March | Sir Ghillean Prance, ‘Is there a climate crisis? Or should everyone calm down |
| 11 March | Dr James Cretney, ‘Why is there a climate crisis? What happened to God’s good earth?’ |
| 18 March | Canon Brian Wakelin, ‘Should we care that there’s a climate crisis? Surely God stopped caring about planet earth after the Fall?’ |
| 25 March | Jo Crocker, ‘What should we do – in our homes and churches – to care for creation?’ |
| 1 April | Professor Joy Carter, ‘What should we do – in our communities and globally – to care for creation?’ |
#Live Lent
Care for God’s Creation
Booklets with daily readings, reflections and challenges to live in greater harmony with God, neighbour and nature are available at the parish office (£2; children’s booklet £1.50). With weekly themes and prayers shaped around the first Genesis account of creation, they explore the urgent need for humans to value and protect the abundance God has created.
Our Burning World
It was ten years ago that I wrote the lines, ‘The forests of the world are burning now/And you make late repentance for the loss’. Here again is the introduction I wrote to this Ash Wednesday sonnet:
As I set about the traditional task of burning the remnants of last Palm Sunday’s palm crosses in order to make the ash which would bless and sign our repentance on Ash Wednesday, I was suddenly struck by the way both the fire and the ash were signs not only of our personal mortality and our need for repentance and renewal but also signs of the wider destruction our sinfulness inflicts upon God’s world and on our fellow creatures, on the whole web of life into which God has woven us and for which he also cares.
Since then the destruction has increased, and more recently I wrote ‘Our Burning World’, set as an anthem by Rhiannon Randle.
Malcolm Guite, sourced from malcolmguite.wordpress.com