Would like to contribute to the services week by week by becoming an intercessor?
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.
Evensong during Winter
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.
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.
On Monday 11th January at 7.00pm, Rev. Kevin Maddy was Instituted and Inducted as Rector of St Stephen’s, after several years as our Priest in Charge. The service is still available to watch online.
28th February – 6th March 2020 St Stephen’s Church, Hales Drive, Canterbury, CT2 7AB
Friday 28th February, 7.30pm
Opening Service of Prayer for Christians Together in Canterbury
Three Canterbury People of Prayer:
Lady Loretta de Braose
Thomas Clark
Teilhard de Chardin
An opportunity to experience the very different approaches to prayer of three great Christians with links to Canterbury.
Other events during the week:
Sunday 1st March
6.00pm–7.00pm
Choral Evensong with Meditation on St David
Monday 2nd March
11.00am–12.30pm
Sacred Dance workshop by Dorothy Jerrome
Tuesday 3rd March
7.30pm–9.00pm
Paying attention to God’s Creation by Rev. Kevin Maddy (first of 5 weekly Lenten sessions on ‘Caring for Creation’)
Wednesday 4th March
7.30pm–9.30pm
Talk on the Langton brothers and Loretta by Mr Ken Moffat, Executive Headteacher of Simon Langton Grammar Schools, followed by Compline, sung by Canterbury Gregorian Society
Thursday 5th March
7.30pm
Sensory meditation using clay led by Sally Musker
Friday 6th March
4.30pm–6.00pm
Teas, sharing of experiences and closing prayer (labyrinth walk if weather permits)
Monday 2nd – Friday 6th March
St Stephen’s Church will be open daily from 10am to 4pm for anyone to pray however they wish.
Morning Prayer
10.00am daily
Meditation with music
3.30pm Monday to Thursday
Evening Prayer
4.00pm Monday to Thursday
Resources will be available in church for different ways to pray:
Churchyard Prayer Walk
Leaflets in the porch
Praying with the Body
Leaflets in the porch
Stations of the Cross
Leaflets in the porch
Prayer Pool
Crossing – South Side
Praying with Creation
Manwood Chapel
Visitation Window Meditation
Manwood Chapel
Creative Prayer
North Transept
Prayer Cafe
North Transept
Lady Loretta’s Life of Prayer
Chancel
Praying for the World
Chancel
All welcome – come through the week as a Lenten retreat at home, or just drop in once and try something new
You are warmly invited to our service in St Stephen’s Church, to come together with other members of our community to remember loved ones who are no longer with us.
During the service you will be welcome to light a candle and the names of loved ones will be read out. There will be times of quiet contemplation and some beautiful music sung by our choir.
Our services are always open to everyone, but if you are unable to attend in person, you can still have loved ones remembered by name.
You can ask for your loved ones to be remembered by adding their name to the list in church.
Join us for our traditional Harvest Festival at 10.30am on Sunday 6th October 2019. A service to give thanks for the harvest with worship, prayer, and music, lasting about an hour.
During the service, donations of food and toiletries will be offered for those who are less fortunate than us.
Presented by the University of Kent, and returning to St Stephen’s after nearly 500 hundred years, John Bale’s inflammatory play about notorious King John is as controversial as ever. Join the Cultures of Performance research group as we workshop extracts from the play, bringing it back to life, along with some of the atmosphere of Reformation St Stephen’s. Featuring music, architectural projections, and some familiar faces from the community, the performance will explore how the play engages with the parish, Canterbury and Kent as they were in the 1540s and how they are today.
To coincide with this performance, the following Sunday, worship will be according to the Book of Common Prayer which has its roots in the sixteenth century, and accompanied by music by John Merbecke who published the Book of Common Prayer Noted in 1550, and by Thomas Tallis who’s compositions straddled the Reformation.
