14T H F EB R UA RY 2016
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SKATE Vicar’s Blog
After the soft-play noise and chaos of Little Stars on Monday and Tuesday next week, Malmesbury Abbey Skate 2016 rolls into town. It’s our eighth glorious year this year. Yes, eighth. It’s seems to have become a tradition. And we do like a nice bit of tradition in the Church of England, don’t we. (Sorry, I came over all cassocks and canticles.) Year One of MAS was greeted with a communal jaw-drop. One set of jaws hit the floor saying that the vicar was being sacrilegious and an ancient place of worship was simply being desecrated. Another set of jaws hit the floor declaring that this was absolutely the best thing ever, EVER!, and it’s about time that the church reconnected with people under 25. The Daily Telegraph helpfully published a leader column lambasting Abbey Skate, which meant that virtually every other
media outlet in the country wanted to say something positive about us. At one point I was interviewed live on Radio 4’s PM programme, directly after Barack Obama and Gordon Brown. Up until that point I had been the singing vicar, overnight I became, with a huge dollop of irony, the skating vicar - a man with size 13 feet who falls over just at the sight of a skateboard. Seriously? Year Eight is really rather different. Malmesbury Abbey Skate is the front page of The Church Times (Est.1863). Yes, you did read that correctly. We are not on the front page, we are it. The entire front page, one colossal photo of a skater flying through Malmesbury Abbey. Their leading article this week is about how to do Christian outreach with imagination, and MAS is the iconic image they have chosen to illustrate this.
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A B B E Y D I A RY THIS SUNDAY: February 14th 9am BCP Communion 10.30am Holy Communion 4pm Informal Worship 5.30pm Skate-park set up
We roll up our sleeves, shift hay bales, screw down floors, build ramps, serve on the check-in, or in the café, or on the media or first aid teams, and we welcome hundreds of families and young people into the Abbey. It is an outrageous act of imaginative hospitality that changes people’s perceptions of church, and potentially of God. And each year the Spirit of God seems to be at work, using the noise, the flying scooters and boards, and the many, many conversations. But there is a far bigger thing going on here. The bold pioneering of MAS has created space behind us for other churches, in this area and way beyond, to step out and partner with the Spirit in the new thing He is doing in their local church or cathedral. Malmesbury Abbey has become an encouragement to others, and for that I am profoundly grateful.
THIS WEEK EACH DAY 9am Morning Prayer in Eilmer House th MON 15 10.30am Little Stars TUES 16th 10.30am Little Stars WED 17th MAS 2016 10.30am Communion in Eilmer House th THUR 18 MAS 2016 FRI 19th MAS 2016 SAT 20th 10am The Meeting Place
NEXT SUNDAY: February 21st 9am BCP Communion 10.30am Holy Communion 4pm Informal Worship & Junior Church HOLY WEEK ADVANCE DATES Mar 18th Mark Palmer Comedy Mar 19th Ben Holder Quartet & Rosie Archer st Mar 21 Anthony Hammond: Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde nd Mar 22 Riding Lights: Crosslight (Passion Play)
LU K E 4 : 1 - 1 3 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.’ 4 Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone.” 5
The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, ‘I will give you all their authority and splendour; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.’ 8 Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”’ 9
The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: ‘“He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”’ 12 Jesus answered, ‘It is said: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”’ 13
When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
Additional Reading: Romans 10:8b-13
DISCIPLESHIP 1. In Luke 1 we meet Jesus’ mother. In Luke 2, his birth and childhood are narrated. Luke 3 reveals his lineage. Following on from this, what are the dimensions of Christ’s humanity that Luke highlights in Luke 4:1-13 and then in Luke 4:14-19. How does this then affect our understanding of church and our own ministry? 2. ‘The Luke 4:1-13 passage describes a profoundly difficult inner dialogue in Jesus’ mind and imagination, not a conversation with a real diabolical creature actually standing next to Jesus and taking him places.’ Discuss this view together at some length. If you all happen to agree or disagree take time to construct a coherent biblical argument that seeks to disprove your position. 3. How might the three temptations of Christ be manifest today for a Christian in Baghdad, Houston or Wiltshire? 4. What is the significance of verse 13?
D A I LY R E A D I N G S Monday Psalm 11 Genesis 41:25-45 Galatians 3:23-4:7 Tuesday Psalm 44 Genesis 41:46-42:5 Galatians 4:8-20 Wednesday Psalm 6 Genesis 42:6-17 Galatians 4:21-5:1 Thursday Psalm 42 Genesis 42:18-28 Galatians 5:2-15 Friday Psalm 22 Genesis 42:29-end Galatians 5:16-end
REGULAR GIVING If you would like to give regularly to the mission and ministry of the Abbey as part of your discipleship, please e-mail alan@malmesburyabbey.com. m
BACK ROWS
JOHN MONAGHAN
As Easter gets closer we are starting to see an increase in visitors at our 10.30am and 4pm services, and this is set to grow in the spring and summer tourist season. (The Abbey gets over 50,000 visitors each year.) Could we ask regular members of our congregations to leave the back three or four rows empty so that people arriving during a service can sit down easily and stay for our worship and teaching. Many thanks.
Although there will be occasional sightings, Revd John Monaghan, will be spending most of Lent, Holy Week and Easter Day itself on placement at Dorcan Parish in Swindon, ministering alongside the Revd Trudie Wigley. This is an important part of training for all third year curates, and it means that, with the major exception of MAS 2016, John will be away from ministry here at the abbey until April 11th.
C O N G R AT U L AT I O N S
E A S T E R D AY
Our sincere congratulations to Geoff Canning and Ruth Kan who were married last Monday morning, February 8th. Geoff and Ruth would like to extend an invitation to all to attend their Wedding Blessing at the Abbey on June 18th at 2.30pm. This will be a joyous occasion when Ruth’s family will be joining us from Hong Kong.
Advance notice that our services on Easter Day this year, March 27th, will be as follows: 9am 10.30am 4pm 6.30pm
BCP Holy Communion Holy Communion Easter Celebration & HC Choral Evensong
Unfortunately it has not proved possible to staff our normal 6am Dawn Service this year. Our sincere apologies. BBC Wiltshire’s Easter at the Abbey is on March 26th at 7pm.
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NOTICEBOARD ROOF APPEAL 2017 Many thanks to all who have pledged, and continue to pledge, towards our 2017 Roof Appeal. Currently we have an amazing £48,290 pledged from our congregations, £25,000 pledged from the Friends of Malmesbury Abbey, and £200 from the Malmesbury Civic Trust. The application for a large Government grant will be submitted by Diana Crowe and our architect, Izaak Hudson, next week.
L I T T L E S TA R S Little Stars is the Abbey’s new baby and toddler group which will be meeting in the Abbey on Mondays from 10am-11.30am. There will be free-play, craft activities, refreshments, story time and action songs. The group will start on Monday 22nd February (£2 per family).
LENT TEACHING Our teaching series throughout Lent and Holy Week help us as a community reflect together on the life, ministry and death of Jesus Christ. Please use these texts as the focus of your small group study together: February 14th February 21st February 28th March 6th March 13th March 20th Good Friday Easter Day
The Temptation of Christ (Luke 4:1-13) Jerusalem (Luke 13:31-end) The Fig Tree (Luke 13:1-9) The Mother of Christ (John 19:25b-27) The Anointing of the Christ (John 12:1-8) The Palms (Luke 19:28-40) The Cross of Christ (John 19:1-20) The Empty Tomb (Luke 24:1-12)
CONTAC T
ABBEY OFFICE
ABBEY KITCHEN
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