December 2016-January 2017
NOTICE board
Star-gazing Bishop Stephen tries Walking Backwards to Christmas BISHOP IS BOOKED IN?
AS we reach Advent, which book could the Chelmsford Christian Bookshop Reading Group possibly choose but our single all-time bestselling title – 'Walking Backwards to Christmas' by Bishop Stephen. Although for us it has become the book to read as Christmas draws near and one that we always recommend, it is - believe it or not - only two years since it was first published. So, it is not surprising that several reading group members had not got around to reading it. In December, we are particularly fortunate to welcome Bishop Stephen himself to our meeting to join in our discussion and, of course, to offer a few unique insights. If you haven’t read the book yet we won’t spoil it too much for you, but it does tell the familiar story in a fresh and impactful way; from the events following Jesus’ birth to way back in the Old Testament. We also hear about it from a number of different characters. You may have wondered about some of them before and what they might have to
say about the events: the shepherds, the magi (Casper is featured in the excerpt on this page), Joseph, Elizabeth and my personal favourite – the innkeeper’s wife. The author dedicates the book to “all those who thought they knew the story well.” If you are one of those, we do urge you to try it and to come and join us and Bishop Stephen on Thursday, December 8 for a closer look at the book. We will meet at 1pm in the Library at the Diocesan Office - new members and visitors are always welcome. ● For more details and encouragement, please call Rachel or Sally on 01245 294405 or email us at bookshop@chelmsford. anglican.org ● Walking Backwards To Christmas,ISBN 978 0 281 07147 0, was published in August 2014 by SPCK at £7.99, but it is still available at a 10 per cent discount plus postage and packing from the Chelmsford Christian Bookshop (details above). RACHEL ORFORD Manager, Chelmsford Christian Bookshop
THIS festive season, using the brilliant, deceptively simple device of telling the Christmas story backwards in print for the third successive year, Bishop Stephen (right) will help us encounter it as if for the first time. Though the story is well known, it is almost solely told through school nativity plays and carols. The Bishop of Chelmsford’s literary device of narrating the story backwards, from the perspective of key characters, gives the reader an insight into the horrors and uncertainties that are often left unsaid. On the whole, this familiar version of the Christmas story is more concerned with light than it is with darkness. But in Walking Backwards to Christmas, Bishop Stephen’s approach tilts the narrative on its head, enabling the reader to get under the skin of the complex tale. Bishop Stephen opens up the minds and lives of some of the lesser known characters in the infamous story. Casper, for instance, one of the three magi or wise men, offers the reader an insight into his past as well
as his present. Casper says, in chapter four: “I am a stargazer. I have always had my head in the clouds. "When I was a boy I used to lie on the flat roof of our house and gaze at the stars. I would stretch out my arms and legs as wide as they would go so that I too might be a star, and that they might gaze at me. "My mother called me a dreamer. "She couldn’t understand the patterns of the night sky, did not even know there was anything to be read in their gently changing constellations. "But it is the moon that marks the months and pulls
the tides. It is the stars that direct the traveller. "On a stormy night, when the fierce waves billow and surge, the sailor has nothing else to lean on. "I have come to this conclusion. The darkness is my friend. For in the night the stars come out to shine and guide. "Most people learn to look down. Not me. I would not let my horizon shift. So there are obstacles in the path? "Let them trip me up. Better to keep looking upwards, to chase after dreams and stumble, than only ever see the few steps in front of you and spend a lifetime going round in
circles, getting nowhere fast. That is me: a dreamchaser, a stargazer, a misfit and a seer, a student of the cosmos and the galaxies. But I was also cautious. I liked to look at the stars and interpret their movements. But I did not follow them myself. It was easier to advise others. "And my wisdom was valuable. People would seek me out. My fluency in the stars made me a trusted navigator in the affairs of men. "Admirals, politicians, governors and kings, those who wanted direction turned to me. But I never travelled myself. "I became one who counselled the mighty and directed the strong. "I knew how to get to the ends of the earth. But I stayed in my own chambers and drew the charts that others would follow." ● The Month went to print as Bishop Stephen’s two latest books were awaiting publication - ‘The Things He Did’ a new Lent book by Bishop Stephen and ‘A Good Year’ to which the Bishop has contributed a chapter on ‘A Good Holy Week’. Please contact our Bookshop for further details.
DIOCESAN CYCLE OF PRAYER — December 2016-January 2017 CYCLE OF PRAYER FOR DAILY USE IN DIOCESE OF CHELMSFORD 'Be still and know that I am God.' Psalm 46:10 1 THURSDAY Charles de Foucauld, Hermit in the Sahara, 1916 ● Today is World Aids Day ● THE DEANERY OF DUNMOW & STANSTED—Area Dean: Cilla Hawkes. Lay Chair: Belle Beszant Reader: Joanna Pratt. ● Pray for the Chaplaincy at London Stansted Airport and all who work there. Chaplain: Robert Burles (London Stansted Airport). ● Diocese of Karamoja (Uganda). 2 FRIDAY ● THE SOUTH RODINGS: Abbess Roding (St Edmund), Beauchamp Roding (St Botolph), White Roding (St Martin), Leaden Roding (St Michael)—Clergy: Clive Duxbury (PIC). ● FELSTED (Holy Cross) and LITTLE DUNMOW (St Mary the Virgin)—Clergy: Colin Taylor (V). Readers: Joanna Pratt, Robert Stone. ● Felsted School: Nigel Little (CHP). ● Diocese of Karimnagar (South India). 3 SATURDAY Francis Xavier, Missionary, Apostle of the Indies, 1552 International Day of Persons with Disabilities ● Francis Xavier, commemorated today, was
STEBBING— Please pray for the clergy and congregation on December 8 an amazing missionary and evangelist in the 16th century. He understood that if Christians were going to preach the Gospel in India and Japan, then they had to wear the clothes of those cultures and speak their languages, both literally and metaphorically. Today, of course, especially as we hear John the Baptist’s preaching in Advent, that is a real challenge to us – how to we, in a post
Christendom culture, preach the Gospel here. ● Diocese of Karnataka Central (S India). 4 THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT ● Pray for all who work with people who have disabilities; for Denis Huntley, Chaplain amongst Deaf and Deafblind People and Adviser on Disability Issues, and his team. ● Diocese of Karnataka North (South India). 5 MONDAY ● BROXTED w CHICKNEY (St Mary Vn) and TILTY (St Mary Vn) and GREAT EASTON (St John & St Giles) and LITTLE EASTON—Clergy: Tim Goodbody (PIC). ● Great Easton School: Claire Jackman (HT). ● GREAT BARDFIELD (St Mary Vn) and LITTLE BARDFIELD (St Katharine)—Clergy: Robert Beaken (PIC). ● Diocese of Karnataka South (South India). 6 TUESDAY Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c.326 ● GREAT DUNMOW (St Mary Vn) w BARNSTON (St Andrew)—Clergy: Ruth Patten (PIC), Lea Williams (A). Reader: Nigel Warren. ● St Mary’s Primary School: Clare Griffiths (HT). ● Dioceses of Kasia and Katanga (Congo). 7 WEDNESDAY Ember Day; Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Teacher of the Faith, 397 ● GREAT CANFIELD (St Mary Vn) w HIGH
RODING (All Saints) and Aythorpe Roding (St Mary Vn), HIGH EASTER (St Mary Vn) and GOOD EASTER (St Andrew) w MARGARET RODING (St Margaret of Antioch)—Clergy: Dub Gannon (PIC). ● Diocese of Katakwa (Kenya). 8 THURSDAY THE CONCEPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY ● STEBBING (St Mary Vn) & LINDSELL (St Mary Vn) w GREAT SALING (St James) and LITTLE (BARDFIELD) SALING (St Peter & St Paul)—Clergy: Tim Goodbody (PIC), Cilla Hawkes (AD, AC), Helen Pelly (AC), Susan Hurley (A). Licensed Lay Minister: Paul Green. ● TAKELEY (Holy Trinity) w LITTLE CANFIELD (All Saints)—Clergy: Rob Burles (PIC). Licensed Lay Minister: Hugh Mascetti. ● Dioceses of Katsina (Kaduna, Nigeria) and Kebbi (Kaduna, Nigeria). 9 FRIDAY Ember Day ● STANSTED MOUNTFITCHET (St John) w BIRCHANGER (St Mary Vn) & FARNHAM (St Mary Vn)—Clergy: Paul Wilkin (R). ● St Mary’s School, Stansted: Christine Tonkins (HT). ● The retired clergy, Readers and lay ministers who live and work in the Deanery of Dunmow and Stansted. ● Diocese of Keewatin (Rupert’s Land, Canada). CONTINUED ON PAGE II