I was a bit sorry not to get to church this weekend. We had a flying visit to see my Aunt in Sevenoaks who is over 90. She does very well, but doing a few jobs for her meant that there was not time to get along to St Nicholas - the church where I came to faith getting on for 35 years ago!
However, I get get down to St Chad's the Sunday before and attended their Family Service. The theme was Father's Day and I was very impressed with the way Matthew drew out the joys and difficulties of being a Dad from the congregation and I was very touched to receive some chocolate towards the end of the service!
The thing that struck me most was how little we sang. We had a children's song, sung to a CD (which worked well), quite a few minutes into the service, then two songs after the talk and a hymn at the end. I wondered if this was a deliberate policy as visitors are far less used to singing these days. The two songs and hymn were led by a small band consisting of keyboard, rhythm guitar (played by a Scouter in uniform) and drums (played by a Scout) - they made a good sound and drove the songs with energy. I would have liked to have sung more!
The talk was quite long, but felt interactive as Matthew drew the answers out from us and the key points all came up on the screen from the video projector. It was based around four points about the way children should love their fathers and four points about the way fathers should love their children, both spelling the word LOVE. The fathers and children who were there together were encourage to tell each other that they loved each other (too much for one teenager near me, but her dad did rise to the challenge!). Children were also able to nominate people for the Dad of the year award which was duly presented at the end of the service.
In the notices we heard about St Chad's wonderful campaign to brighten up Woodseats by growing Sunflowers. Now that the plants were growing a bit, canes were being issued with brightly coloured balls to go on the top - these can be seen outside the church house on Abbey Lane.
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Holy Trinity service and lunch!
1 View from the restaurant - horrid isn't it!!
2 Conversations over lunch.
3 The end of the service at Holy Trinity Cannes (Peter in the top left corner).
Monday, 16 June 2008
Sunday 8th June - Holy Trinity Cannes
Finally getting round to writing this up! It was great to be back in a service led by Peter Anderson who was my training vicar and a great inspiration to me in many ways.
First you are struck by how many people there are! They normally have around 160 to Sunday services, 30 of these are visitors, staying in the area and the rest more regular, though many go back home to where ever they come from at times through the year. And it has not always been like this. There are some who remember when the congregation had dwindled to about 30, the previous chaplain revived the fortunes and Peter has seen continued growth.
As you would imagine the average age is rather senior - with so many coming to live in the area in retirement, but there are also a good number of younger families with children and they have recently attracted a number who are in their early twenties.
So what is the secret of their success? It is a complex interrelation of a warm caring fellowship, the desire of English speakers to get together, tremendous energy love and care injected by Peter and the workings of God in their midst. Even in his sixties Peter works at a tremendous pace, every week he produces in effect a little magazine which is part notice sheet, part introduction to the service, part collection to wise sayings and jokes. It is called the Opener, the Cannes Opener (as the French don't pronounce the last letter of the word, this is very much a 'Peter' a joke in its self!). He preaches with vigor and passion and has an encyclopedic memory of all various people's needs and spends a lot of time chatting to people on the phone.
People commute some distances to come to church, quite a few will live about an hour's drive away, some further - up in the tranquil hills above Cannes where the property prices are more realistic! There are four home groups, one in Cannes and three out nearer to where people live. On Wednesdays the church is open for a painting club, a pretty large library of English books, as well as newspapers and lunch. Everything in France revolves around food! The home groups all meet to eat first, and on Sunday nearly thirty of us went down to a beach side restaurant for lunch after the service - and great fun it was too.
The service was Communion, following more or less the pattern we are used to in Common Worship, though the liturgy was more sparingly (and appropriately) used. We had just one bible reading - which was the one peter preached about, and, as in Dubai, a children's talk before they went out to their classes. Our singing was led by grand piano and flute by very competent musicians and their was a good volume from the congregation's singing!
Afterward the service there was coffee, cold drinks or wine to drink (well it is France!), then some of us went down to The Rado, a beach side restaurant where tables were pushed together for getting on for thirty people to have lunch. It was lovely getting to know people in this relaxed atmosphere with wonderful views across the sea to the mountains the other side of the bay. What a difference from the grey clouds I can see from my window back home today!!
First you are struck by how many people there are! They normally have around 160 to Sunday services, 30 of these are visitors, staying in the area and the rest more regular, though many go back home to where ever they come from at times through the year. And it has not always been like this. There are some who remember when the congregation had dwindled to about 30, the previous chaplain revived the fortunes and Peter has seen continued growth.
As you would imagine the average age is rather senior - with so many coming to live in the area in retirement, but there are also a good number of younger families with children and they have recently attracted a number who are in their early twenties.
So what is the secret of their success? It is a complex interrelation of a warm caring fellowship, the desire of English speakers to get together, tremendous energy love and care injected by Peter and the workings of God in their midst. Even in his sixties Peter works at a tremendous pace, every week he produces in effect a little magazine which is part notice sheet, part introduction to the service, part collection to wise sayings and jokes. It is called the Opener, the Cannes Opener (as the French don't pronounce the last letter of the word, this is very much a 'Peter' a joke in its self!). He preaches with vigor and passion and has an encyclopedic memory of all various people's needs and spends a lot of time chatting to people on the phone.
People commute some distances to come to church, quite a few will live about an hour's drive away, some further - up in the tranquil hills above Cannes where the property prices are more realistic! There are four home groups, one in Cannes and three out nearer to where people live. On Wednesdays the church is open for a painting club, a pretty large library of English books, as well as newspapers and lunch. Everything in France revolves around food! The home groups all meet to eat first, and on Sunday nearly thirty of us went down to a beach side restaurant for lunch after the service - and great fun it was too.
The service was Communion, following more or less the pattern we are used to in Common Worship, though the liturgy was more sparingly (and appropriately) used. We had just one bible reading - which was the one peter preached about, and, as in Dubai, a children's talk before they went out to their classes. Our singing was led by grand piano and flute by very competent musicians and their was a good volume from the congregation's singing!
Afterward the service there was coffee, cold drinks or wine to drink (well it is France!), then some of us went down to The Rado, a beach side restaurant where tables were pushed together for getting on for thirty people to have lunch. It was lovely getting to know people in this relaxed atmosphere with wonderful views across the sea to the mountains the other side of the bay. What a difference from the grey clouds I can see from my window back home today!!
Thursday, 12 June 2008
The Retreat
This morning I arrived back in Cannes after leading a three day retreat on the Island of Lerin, also called St Honorat. The boat trip takes under half an hour, but you are transported to a tranquil oasis of calm!
In the fourth century Honoratus was on his way to join a desert monastery when he landed on Lerin, and because of other things he stayed and started his own monastery on the island. Having experienced desert conditions recently, I think he made a wise choice! Indeed he became so wise that he was later made a bishop, and lends his name to the island. It is said that St Patrick did some of his training in the first monastery there.
The Island is dominated by a Cistertian Monastery, built in the middle of the nineteenth century, which is home to about twenty monks. They keep the monastic offices in the Abbey and work on the farm land, mainly tending vines to make very expensive wine (over thirty pounds a bottle!). The remainder of the island is a wooded nature reserve with some unusual wildlife. I was most aware of the pheasants which were plentyfull, even coming into the grounds of the monastery where mother pheasant walk protectively with her growing offspring. (Males seemed less interested in their families but were good at strutting about looking important!)
On the island there are Scopes Owls - what ever they are! All I know is that they make sharp tooting noises which ware a little disturbing on the first night! Brian one of the organisers encouraged my to get my snorkel and mask out and come and see the fish - it was fantastic! The sea was clear and there was so much too see. As another person said 'the fish are very tame!' And that just about summed it up, you could swim to within arms length of some of the fish (but by the time you moved your hand out to them they had shot away). Quite a few were only inches long, but some were getting on for a foot, though everything appears magnified under water.
The monastic day begin at 4.00 am with the rising bell (the first morning I saw the sun rise at six, but otherwise I went back to sleep after this!). The first service, vigiles, is at 5.30 (can't comment on that one!) Laudes is around 8.00, which is a slightly longer service than some, a bit like our morning prayer. The monks work for a few hours before the focus of the day which was Mass around 11.30, which had much the same shape as our communion services, but a much longer communion prayer. This service was usually packed with visitors to the island who treat it as a sort of pilgrimage. They fit in another two shorter services before and after lunch (sexte and none) vespers at 6.00 and compline after the evening meal at 8.00. The focus of each service is the chanting of psalms - in French of course - they get through three or four per service which enables them to go through all 150 ever week! There are usually some other bible reading, though these are short, one or two hymns, chanted prayers and a hymn to Mary at the end. They follow the rule of Benedict, though most strictly than the Benedictines, and wear white robes.
Our accommodation was in a pleasant L shaped cloister all around a garden and very close the the abbey bell tower! Rooms were simple but perfectly adequate, though I can't complain as I had the Bishop's room, with en suite shower! Meals were served in the guest refectory and were much enjoyed, even though eating was in silence - we were supposed to keep silent in the cloister and certainly in the abbey. I led most of my sessions in the large walled meadow, a large area of rough grass with a few trees and bushes. Others who were staying seemed to see monks for spiritual direction out here too, finding, as we did, whatever patched of shade there might be!
It was very hot and on the first few days we were threated to clear blue skies. It clouded over a little on the last day, but the rumbles of thunder later on did not amount to anything, so we enjoyed a simple open air communion followed by candle lit worship in one of the small chaples which are dotted around the island.
My sessions seemed well received. 27 is a large group, so I did my half hour presentations, gave them prayer exercises to do and encouraged people to share their experiences in small groups. The group was a bit more high powered than I had expected! A few retired computer engineers, a retired GP and her husband who was an eye surgeon, a retired Colonel from the US Airborne Rangers and a ex Church of Ireland minister who is now chaplain to the band U2! Not to mention my old boss Peter Anderson, with whom I had quite a bit of friendly banter as I shared some of my struggles and learning about prayer (we know each other too well!) Having said that, they were all absolutely delightful, and great fun to be with, a tremendously warm fellowship of friends, many from Holy Trinity Cannes, who meet up each year for this retreat. I think that many had not come across much about finding God in silence and contemplative prayer before, but everyone seemed to have warmed to my themes by the end of our time together.
In the fourth century Honoratus was on his way to join a desert monastery when he landed on Lerin, and because of other things he stayed and started his own monastery on the island. Having experienced desert conditions recently, I think he made a wise choice! Indeed he became so wise that he was later made a bishop, and lends his name to the island. It is said that St Patrick did some of his training in the first monastery there.
The Island is dominated by a Cistertian Monastery, built in the middle of the nineteenth century, which is home to about twenty monks. They keep the monastic offices in the Abbey and work on the farm land, mainly tending vines to make very expensive wine (over thirty pounds a bottle!). The remainder of the island is a wooded nature reserve with some unusual wildlife. I was most aware of the pheasants which were plentyfull, even coming into the grounds of the monastery where mother pheasant walk protectively with her growing offspring. (Males seemed less interested in their families but were good at strutting about looking important!)
On the island there are Scopes Owls - what ever they are! All I know is that they make sharp tooting noises which ware a little disturbing on the first night! Brian one of the organisers encouraged my to get my snorkel and mask out and come and see the fish - it was fantastic! The sea was clear and there was so much too see. As another person said 'the fish are very tame!' And that just about summed it up, you could swim to within arms length of some of the fish (but by the time you moved your hand out to them they had shot away). Quite a few were only inches long, but some were getting on for a foot, though everything appears magnified under water.
The monastic day begin at 4.00 am with the rising bell (the first morning I saw the sun rise at six, but otherwise I went back to sleep after this!). The first service, vigiles, is at 5.30 (can't comment on that one!) Laudes is around 8.00, which is a slightly longer service than some, a bit like our morning prayer. The monks work for a few hours before the focus of the day which was Mass around 11.30, which had much the same shape as our communion services, but a much longer communion prayer. This service was usually packed with visitors to the island who treat it as a sort of pilgrimage. They fit in another two shorter services before and after lunch (sexte and none) vespers at 6.00 and compline after the evening meal at 8.00. The focus of each service is the chanting of psalms - in French of course - they get through three or four per service which enables them to go through all 150 ever week! There are usually some other bible reading, though these are short, one or two hymns, chanted prayers and a hymn to Mary at the end. They follow the rule of Benedict, though most strictly than the Benedictines, and wear white robes.
Our accommodation was in a pleasant L shaped cloister all around a garden and very close the the abbey bell tower! Rooms were simple but perfectly adequate, though I can't complain as I had the Bishop's room, with en suite shower! Meals were served in the guest refectory and were much enjoyed, even though eating was in silence - we were supposed to keep silent in the cloister and certainly in the abbey. I led most of my sessions in the large walled meadow, a large area of rough grass with a few trees and bushes. Others who were staying seemed to see monks for spiritual direction out here too, finding, as we did, whatever patched of shade there might be!
It was very hot and on the first few days we were threated to clear blue skies. It clouded over a little on the last day, but the rumbles of thunder later on did not amount to anything, so we enjoyed a simple open air communion followed by candle lit worship in one of the small chaples which are dotted around the island.
My sessions seemed well received. 27 is a large group, so I did my half hour presentations, gave them prayer exercises to do and encouraged people to share their experiences in small groups. The group was a bit more high powered than I had expected! A few retired computer engineers, a retired GP and her husband who was an eye surgeon, a retired Colonel from the US Airborne Rangers and a ex Church of Ireland minister who is now chaplain to the band U2! Not to mention my old boss Peter Anderson, with whom I had quite a bit of friendly banter as I shared some of my struggles and learning about prayer (we know each other too well!) Having said that, they were all absolutely delightful, and great fun to be with, a tremendously warm fellowship of friends, many from Holy Trinity Cannes, who meet up each year for this retreat. I think that many had not come across much about finding God in silence and contemplative prayer before, but everyone seemed to have warmed to my themes by the end of our time together.
Thursday, 5 June 2008
Not sure what these will look like on your screen, but they are:
1 Looking back along the Croisette towards the centre of Cannes. The building with small domes at either end is the Carlton Hotel, which is at the end of the road down from the church.
2 From the Croisette looking across the bay to the mountains beyond with that day's cruise liner anchored out to sea. in the foreground is the Seaside Restaurant - one of many! plus a small pier which belongs to one of the hotels. (Today it is over cast and these mountains have their heads in the clouds and this afternoon it has rained! So I have discovered that in can rain in Cannes!!)
3 Holy Trinity Cannes with flats attached. Behind the church is Peter and Helen's flat, my little flat is around the other side of the building.
Sunday 1st June
Last Sunday I was not very well and so did not get to church - my usual problems of the guts! However, a visit to the consultant that week did reveal (at last) a possible cause for much of my troubles. They need to do some more tests though before we they can be sure which treatment might be best for me.
But on Sunday 1st June I was better and went to All Saints Totley where my friend David Rhodes is vicar. Their main Sunday morning service this week was a Family Communion with a children in the service rather than attending their classes as it was part of the school holidays. There were a lot of children there, quite a few young ones and some older.
Our singing was lead by David's wife Sally who plays their fine sounding electric piano and she was accompanied by two girls who used microphones, the more traditional hymn Sally played on the organ.
It's all very high tech at Totley! The hymns and songs were projected onto screens, as were the few parts of the communions service we used, which I think was only the communion prayer. The rest of the service was a mix of songs, a bible reading, a talk from Sue Hope and prayers led by a member of the congregation. (They do have a more formal service in the afternoon).
The service had a relaxed and friendly feel, though I found myself designing a few simple alterations in my mind that could really make a great difference. The considering reordering and I feel it would make a great difference. The chairs they have are not very comfortable and are held in rows by wooden slats. There were a lot of people squashed together one side of the chancel screen and no-one the other side!
People at St Paul's may remember Sue from the day she led for us in the autumn of 2006. As ever she had powerful things to say! She was speaking as part of their series of sermons about the Lord's Prayer and her title was 'Give us today our daily bread'. Sue encouraged us to ask God for what we need, but to be careful that we actually need it! The subtitle she was given was 'need versus greed'. What struck me most powerfully was they was she encouraged us to find God's 'enough' and to rejoice in and celebrate that 'enough'. We live in a world which is always seeking more and consequently is never satisfied. As followers of Jesus we can learn to glory in the good things we do have.
Sue was not speaking from a position of wealth. By a strange turn of events she finds herself currently unemployed (she had move on from her post as Diocesan Missioner in between). She is now living on job seekers allowance, so there were many things she said she would like but could not have, yet still she is learning to delight in God's 'enough'.
But on Sunday 1st June I was better and went to All Saints Totley where my friend David Rhodes is vicar. Their main Sunday morning service this week was a Family Communion with a children in the service rather than attending their classes as it was part of the school holidays. There were a lot of children there, quite a few young ones and some older.
Our singing was lead by David's wife Sally who plays their fine sounding electric piano and she was accompanied by two girls who used microphones, the more traditional hymn Sally played on the organ.
It's all very high tech at Totley! The hymns and songs were projected onto screens, as were the few parts of the communions service we used, which I think was only the communion prayer. The rest of the service was a mix of songs, a bible reading, a talk from Sue Hope and prayers led by a member of the congregation. (They do have a more formal service in the afternoon).
The service had a relaxed and friendly feel, though I found myself designing a few simple alterations in my mind that could really make a great difference. The considering reordering and I feel it would make a great difference. The chairs they have are not very comfortable and are held in rows by wooden slats. There were a lot of people squashed together one side of the chancel screen and no-one the other side!
People at St Paul's may remember Sue from the day she led for us in the autumn of 2006. As ever she had powerful things to say! She was speaking as part of their series of sermons about the Lord's Prayer and her title was 'Give us today our daily bread'. Sue encouraged us to ask God for what we need, but to be careful that we actually need it! The subtitle she was given was 'need versus greed'. What struck me most powerfully was they was she encouraged us to find God's 'enough' and to rejoice in and celebrate that 'enough'. We live in a world which is always seeking more and consequently is never satisfied. As followers of Jesus we can learn to glory in the good things we do have.
Sue was not speaking from a position of wealth. By a strange turn of events she finds herself currently unemployed (she had move on from her post as Diocesan Missioner in between). She is now living on job seekers allowance, so there were many things she said she would like but could not have, yet still she is learning to delight in God's 'enough'.
Cannes
As before it takes time to get computers linked up, but here I am in Cannes! Despite a bit of fog at Luton airport the flight was great with good views as we came down over the sea into Nice airport. It had rained hard the morning of my arrival but by the time I landed it was warm and sunny.
Wendy, who arranges the retreats, met me at the airport with two friends and her dog! She drove us back along the coast road which was lovely and stageringly beautiful in part. As we passed through the walls of the old town of Antebes we were suddenly in a square with a cafe surrounded by narrow streets and the mellow dilapidation so characturistic of the old Riviera. Greame Green (the novelist, however his Graham is splet) used to stay up that street and drink at this cafe!
My little flat is on the first floor and has a north facing balcony. I am a couple of minutes from the Croisette - the promenade road. So I go down to wander along or sit on the public beach further along. Wandering on the Croisette is clearly the thing to do. You join the galmourous, the would be glamourous and a few of us who are far more tatty! Though there are many who have retired here, there are also younger people and families with toddlers. The Croisette is not only used my walkers, you have to watch out for cylists and rollerbladers who whistle past with little warning.
Much of the beach is taken over by resturants, some of which are part of the grand hotels across the road along the Croisette. Often these are taken over for very grand 'dos' - wedding receptions and parties it seems. People arrive, all dressed up in their finery, and can dine and dance with a live band with amazing views across the bay to the mountains beyond.
It is a very beautiful place and I am finding the beauty conducive to more of a retreat time for myself - which I hope will continue over on the island when beauty will be
added to by silence in the monastry and our joining in the monastic times of prayer. It is strange leading a retreat in a place I have not visited but I am getting a good picture from my conversations with people here.
I don't have my camera with me as I type, but I will post some pitures next time, now I have a computer which is talking to the outsideworld!
Wendy, who arranges the retreats, met me at the airport with two friends and her dog! She drove us back along the coast road which was lovely and stageringly beautiful in part. As we passed through the walls of the old town of Antebes we were suddenly in a square with a cafe surrounded by narrow streets and the mellow dilapidation so characturistic of the old Riviera. Greame Green (the novelist, however his Graham is splet) used to stay up that street and drink at this cafe!
My little flat is on the first floor and has a north facing balcony. I am a couple of minutes from the Croisette - the promenade road. So I go down to wander along or sit on the public beach further along. Wandering on the Croisette is clearly the thing to do. You join the galmourous, the would be glamourous and a few of us who are far more tatty! Though there are many who have retired here, there are also younger people and families with toddlers. The Croisette is not only used my walkers, you have to watch out for cylists and rollerbladers who whistle past with little warning.
Much of the beach is taken over by resturants, some of which are part of the grand hotels across the road along the Croisette. Often these are taken over for very grand 'dos' - wedding receptions and parties it seems. People arrive, all dressed up in their finery, and can dine and dance with a live band with amazing views across the bay to the mountains beyond.
It is a very beautiful place and I am finding the beauty conducive to more of a retreat time for myself - which I hope will continue over on the island when beauty will be
added to by silence in the monastry and our joining in the monastic times of prayer. It is strange leading a retreat in a place I have not visited but I am getting a good picture from my conversations with people here.
I don't have my camera with me as I type, but I will post some pitures next time, now I have a computer which is talking to the outsideworld!
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