Church

• Shaftesbury Quakers

(Society of Friends). We meet for one hour each Sunday from 10.30am at the Quaker Meeting House, Abbey Walk, Shaftesbury SP7 8BB. All are welcome.

• West Camel Independent

Methodists. We meet at All Saints Church on the first Sunday of the month at 4pm followed by tea. Other Sundays, evening worship is at 6pm. Contact 01935 850838 or Geoff.mead@ yahoo.com.

• Blandford Methodist

Church. You are warmly invited to our Sunday Services starting at 10.45am. The over 60s are also invited to our lunch club on Tuesdays and Fridays at £4 per person. Please request your reservation by phone. Everyone is welcome to our coffee morning on Thursday, 10am until noon. We are anxious to offer help to those in need. Please leave your message on the phone and we will return your call within 24 hours.

• Anglican High Mass at

Wimborne St Giles. The monthly High Mass is the first Sunday of each month at 10am. BH21 5LZ.

• Coffee, Cake and Company at St Gregory’s

Church, Marnhull. Every Thursday morning from 10am to 11am. Everyone welcome.

• Sherborne Abbey

Monday to Saturday, 8.30am Morning Prayer; The Sepulchre Chapel. Mondays, 9am CW Holy Communion; The Lady Chapel. Tuesdays, 12 noon CW Holy Communion; The Lady Chapel. Wednesdays, 10.30am Holy Communion with Homily;

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The Lady Chapel (alternates CW and BCP). Thursdays, 12 noon BCP Holy Communion; The Lady Chapel. Fridays, 9am Ecumenical Holy Communion; The Lady Chapel. 1st Friday of the month, 9am Requiem Holy Communion; The Sepulchre Chapel. 3rd Friday of the month, 11am Remembering the Fallen. Saturdays, 9am CW Holy Communion; The Sepulchre Chapel.

• St Peter’s, Hinton St Mary

1st, 2nd and 3rd Sundays, 9.30am Morning Prayer. 4th Sunday, 9.30am Holy Communion.

• St Thomas’ Lydlinch

2nd and 4th Sunday, 11am Holy Communion. 3rd Sunday, 6pm Evensong.

• St Mary’s, Stalbridge

Sunday 1 May, 10am Holy Communion. Sunday 8 May, 4pm Evensong. www.facebook.com/ StalbridgeChurch

• St Mary’s, Sturminster Newton

1st and 3rd Sundays, 11am Holy Communion; 6pm BCP Evensong. 2nd and 4th Sundays, 9.30am Morning Prayer; 6pm BCP Evensong. 5th Sunday, 11am Benefice Holy Communion. Wednesdays, 10am BCP Holy Communion.

• Kingston Lacy

2nd Sunday of the month, 9.15am Holy Communion. 4th Sunday of the month, 9.15am Family Service.

• Shapwick

3rd Sunday of the month, 9.15am Holy Communion.

• Horton Church

1st Sunday of the month, 10.30am Holy Communion

• Hinton Martell

2nd Sunday of the month, 10.30am Holy Communion

• Horton and Chalbury Village Hall

3rd Sunday of the month, 9am Breakfast Church

• Witchampton Church

3rd Sunday of the month, 10.30am Holy Communion

• Chalbury Church

4th Sunday of the month, 10.30am Holy Communion

• St Mary’s, Blandford St Mary

Sunday 8 May, 9.30am Communion

• St Mary The Virgin, Charlton Marshall

Sunday 15 May, 9.30am Family Service Sunday 22 May, 9.30am Communion Sunday 29 May, 9.30am Said Communion

• St John the Baptist, Spetisbury

Sunday 1 May, 10.45am Communion Sunday 15 May, 9.30am Communion Sunday 22 May, 9.30am Morning Worship

• All Saints, Langton Long

Sunday 8 May, 11am Communion Sunday 15 May, 11am Morning Worship Sunday 22 May, 11am Communion

• Tarrant Keyneston

Sunday 8 May, 11am Family Service

• Tarrant Rushton

Sunday 15 May, 11am Communion

• Tarrant Crawford

Sunday 22 May, 11am Communion

• Clive Tory Farm

Sunday 29 May, 10.45am Outdoor Worship

• Charlton Marshall village hall

Sunday 29 May, 4.30pm Tea and Worship.

by Canon Eric Woods

With the beautiful weather we recently enjoyed over Eastertide, I found myself remembering some happy days spent a few years ago on Caldey Island, off the south coast of Wales. The purpose of my visit was to conduct a retreat at the monastery there for a group of undergraduate and postgraduate students from my old Oxford college, Magdalen. They were a lively bunch who, nevertheless, soon adapted to spending several days in complete silence.

Caldey Island belongs to the Roman Catholic monastic order, the Cistercians of the Strict Observance, often known as Trappists. Theirs is an austere life: much of it spent in silence. It was a privilege to share it for a few days. I discovered what the American Trappist, Thomas Merton, meant when he compared his monastery in Kentucky with the State Penitentiary not far away. Conditions in the two institutions are equally hard, wrote Merton: the inmates of both wear uniforms of rough cloth, live in cells, spend long periods in solitude and need permission to leave the compound. Yet the spirit of one is the spirit of hellish captivity, while the spirit of the other is that of heavenly peace and liberty. This is because the monks, unlike the prisoners, have discovered their true freedom: the glorious liberty of the children of God.

On our journey, we shared the boat to Caldey with a group of townsfolk from Tenby going to the funeral of one of the oldest members of the Community. Later I visited his grave in the monks’ part of the island cemetery, surrounded by the resting place of many brothers who had lived, prayed, and died at the monastery over the last century or so. It was a place of peace, serenity, and reflection. It reminded me that, at the Anglican monastery of the Community of the Resurrection in Yorkshire, the monks sit in chapel in order of seniority. The stalls occupied by the oldest members are known as ‘Cemetery Row’. When one of them dies, the next in line moves up. “I see you’re now in Cemetery Row,” his brother monks will tease.

Given all our modern anxieties, that gentle teasing speaks volumes about the difference faith in the resurrection, and in eternal life, makes to life in the here and now. All Christians are aware, or should be, of standing at ‘the intersection of the timeless with time’ (to quote T.S. Eliot). We know that heaven is what we were made for. It is where the road goes. A journey without a destination is pointless, and heaven is what gives point and purpose to our journey, to our pilgrimage. We know this because of the Cross and the Empty Tomb – because of Good Friday and Easter.

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