Dean’s Blog – February 2016
Charity Shop Clear-out: Monday 8th February 2016
The Women’s study group who have been reflecting on the challenges of the letter of James of putting faith into action on Monday instead of meeting for study tackled the clearing out of the ECC Thrift Centre with a view to managing it rather differently and hopefully both getting more income which will be shared with the ECC and serving the needs of the poor more effectively. In the long term a new thrift centre will be built in to a new two storey building where the portacabin is currently. Clothes have been put out on tables this week and several people have been rummaging through the piles and hopefully the free offerings will reach those who need them.
Ash Wednesday: 11th February 2016
About forty attended the Ash Wednesday evening service, but without the Tamil-speaking congregation we would have been very thin
on the ground. To introduce my sermon, I used the illustration from my morning walk around the cemetery behind the cathedral, which was in complete shade when I arrived but, having completed the circuit, was bathed in sunlight. It seemed in some way a picture of Lent, especially as the first person I met coming out of the cemetery was a Filipina with a cross marked in ash on her forehead, having attended the early morning mass at Sacred Heart Church. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the forty day journey towards the cross and beyond to Easter, from the shade to the glorious light of Easter and we are called to make that journey too.
Exploring Faith
Having completed Module 1 of the Exploring faith course on the New Testament, the next challenge has been to sort out dates and a programme for the next module which uses a book by Susan Jones Listening to God’s Call. I know the group struggled with the breadth of the subject matter in the New Testament module as well as the variety of methods of study of the New Testament ; the next looks more focussed and therefore more accessible. A programme features elsewhere on the website.