Drawing on ancient wisdom: re-imagining the Christian community

The cloister, the refectory, the chapel, the cell, these are places in a well ordered monastery. We see their remains when we visit cathedrals and abbeys. But what are their contemporary equivalents now? Can we learn from the life and rhythm of a monastery as we shape our existing worshipping communities for a healthy future? Is this somewhere that faithfulness and re-imagining can come together? Some think it is.

Cloister, refectory, chapel, cell – each place represents a different task or function of a sustainable Christian community.

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Dry Drayton Classroom Crosses

Dry Drayton school and Dry Drayton church are collaborating on a project to put a cross in each of the three classrooms.  We have, together, chosen crosses that have links to three local saints so that the children can learn their stories and prayers as well as exploring local history and geography, and perhaps visits too.  We plan to give the crosses to the school after half term alongside a series of assemblies

Jesus asked: ‘who do you say that I am?’

These reflections were first offered on 27 August 2017 at a communion service in Dry Drayton and a service of Morning Worship in Caldecote in a series on ‘classic gospel stories’ (following the Revised Common Lectionary).  The gospel reading for the day was Matthew 16: 13-20.

Over the last few months and week by week on a Sunday we have been hearing classic stories of Jesus.  Some stories that Jesus himself told; some stories of words of wisdom that he imparted to his disciples and the crowds; some stories of conversations that he had with others around him. 

Mindful of September

This article was written for Dry Drayton News, September 2017.

The summer holidays have ended and new terms are starting. In the villages we hear again the voices of children in the school field. The farm fields are cut to stubble, or even ploughed and seeded, already anticipating a new start. The cornucopia of summer is now focusing down to the last few squashes, darkly purple blackberries and a bumper crop of apples.

She knelt saying, ‘Lord, help me…’

This is one in a series of reflections under the title ‘Classic gospel stories’.  It followed a reading of Matthew 15:21-28 and was first delivered in Hardwick and Dry Drayton churches in their communion services on 20 August 2017.  This particular Sunday followed a week in which neo-Nazi demonstrators clashed violently with others in Charlottesville, Virginia, and a terrorist suicide bomber killed a number of civilians in Spain.

They devoted themselves to prayer

These are reflections I offered at a 9.30 service of Communion in St Peter and St Paul’s in Dry Drayton for Sunday 28 May 2017, the Sunday that fell in the period between Ascension Day and Pentecost and during the Archbishop of Canterbury’s ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ call to pray.  The day’s Bible passage was Acts 1:6-14.

They were all there, Peter, and John, and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas,

Easter ‘Faith at Home’ with the family

Here are two ideas for exploring the Easter story at home this weekend.

Some of you will have seen the animation The Super Cool Story of Jesus at the Easter Fun Morning in Hardwick.  Following on from The Well Good News of Christmas, Dai Woolridge and Emma Randall have teamed up again to bring you this captivating account of how Jesus