Wednesday 16th February Contemporary Theology Group
St Peters Methodist Church at 7.30pm also live streamed. If you would like to access the live stream please email Rosemary Walters at ra.walters@btinternet.com and you will be sent the link.
This year we will be celebrating the life and death of Lady Loretta de Braose with a talk by Dr Cate Gunn on the Ancrene Wisse, a guide to the anchorite life written during the period of Loretta’s enclosure, and other written works relatingto anchorites. The lecture will be followed by midday prayers led by the Canterbury Gregorian Society.
This will take place at St Stephen’s Canterbury, where all are welcome, subject to the Covid guidance then in place. It will also be live streamed on Youtube.
See our Loretta pages on this website for more information.
For Lent 2022 we are planning Deanery wide groups to enable us to come together and explore the resources provided by the national church.
Living in Love and Faith sets out to inspire people to think more deeply both about what it means to be human, and to live in love and faith with one another.
It tackles the tough questions and the divisions among Christians about what it means to be holy in a society in which understandings and practices of gender, sexuality and marriage continue to change.
The material includes encounters with real, contemporary disciples of Christ whose stories raise questions which ask us to discern where God is active in human lives.
There will be five weekly sessions in the weeks beginning March 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th, April 4th .
Please book to join a group, even if you have had some discussion in your own parish, so that we can share together across our Christian families in thinking through the response of faith to these important issues.
email or phone Rosemary Walters who is co-ordinating and organising the groups
ra.walters@btinternet.com or 01227 768891 and include
· Your name and parish
· Your preferred option, live or Zoom
· Your preferred day of the week (Mon-Fri) and am or pm
emails need to be sent by Friday Feb 18th
Acorn Cafe would welcome volunteers to join their team. It would involve setting up and serving coffee to people who come. It could be a duty once a month or even once every six weeks. It is a very relaxed happy time when friends are able to meet up and chat. Do have a word with Libby if you are able to help.
We are very short of intercessors at the present time and consequently people are being asked to do them rather often; it would be good to have some new blood. It is not difficult, you are given the scriptures for the week and the names of those sick to pray for and those whose deaths fall on the particular Sunday. You can make up your own prayers or you can use prayers from the large variety of books available. We can take you through the procedure and give you an opportunity to have a practice to get the feel of doing them. There is always someone available to help you whenever you feel you need support. If you are interested please speak to either Margaret Horwood or the Rector. Thank you.
The Churchyard Working Party will meet regularly on the first Monday in each month, beginning on Monday 6th December.
We shall begin at 9.30am to avoid the school run and finish about lunchtime. Please don’t feel that you must come for the entire morning. We shall be delighted to see you at any stage during the morning. Please wear stout shoes and gloves, and if you could bring some tools, it would be much appreciated.
Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided.
Next Sunday, 21st November, Traidcraft will be back again in the church Hall with their usual beautiful cards and gifts for us to buy as we enjoy our coffee after church. Do come and support them!
During November and December, Evensong will be at 4pm on Sunday afternoon to make it easier for people to come out during the darker inclement evenings. We will review this at Christmas and make a decision for the rest of winter at that point. Do let us know if you have strong feelings one way or the other.
This means that our Advent Carol Service on Sunday 28th November and our Christmas Carol Service on Sunday 19th December will also be at 4pm this year.
We look forward to welcoming you at our services.
The next meeting of St Stephen’s Theology Group will be in the Church starting at 7.30pm on Tuesday 5th October. The speaker will be Cressida Williams and the topic: ‘A History of St Stephen’s Church from the Cathedral Archives’. To help protect others we suggest you kindly wear a face mask at this event.
Next Sunday, 3rd October, is our Harvest Festival. It is our tradition at St Stephen’s to support the work of Catching Lives and the Canterbury Food Bank with the generous donations of members of our congregation. If you are thinking about donating something next weekend, you might find the following suggestions useful:
Catching lives are particularly looking for Bottles or cartons of water, juice or squash; Hand sanitiser, treat items – chocolate, crisps, etc; packs of tissues, baby wipes, cotton buds; totes and batteries, waterproof ponchos, foil blankets; underwear; dog treats; fruit cereal bars; lip balm; hand cream
Canterbury Food Bank is currently very low on the following items, but would also appreciate any non-perishable goods: laundry detergents; cleaning sprays; cereal; long-life milk; fruit juice; instant mash; large nappies (size 5/6); baby wipes
Donations can be made at any of our services next Sunday, and don’t forget that we have yellow bins for the Canterbury Food Bank in the church porch and church hall all year round.