Services This Week
Dear All,
Services this week are taking place in person or via livestream through our YouTube Channel. Please find gathering times and service sheet links below. As we near the main events weekend commemorating the 500th anniversary of Robert Barnes’ 1525 Christmas Eve sermon and the fanning into flame of the Protestant Reformation in England – St Edward’s significant role in English church history is well summarised by our own Geoffrey Barnes in this short video clip for Unseen Cambridge.
Friday 5 December
10.30am - BCP Holy Communion (Revd Dr Matthias Grebe)
Sunday 7 December / Second Sunday of Advent
11am - Holy Communion
Guest Preacher: Prof. Alec Ryrie, FBA
Service Sheet: Here
4pm - Advent Carol Service
Other notices:
Catechesis Classes: Over five consecutive Wednesday evenings, we will be running a discussion-based teaching series on the Church of England’s ‘Five Marks of Mission’. These hour-long ‘catechesis’ sessions will conclude tonight (Wednesday 3 December) at 7.30pm with the topic of ‘Care for Creation’. Tea/coffee will be provided and all are welcome! If you wish to join virtually, via Zoom, please find the link here.
Barnes 500 Events:
StED Talk: Our next event in commemoration of Robert Barnes’ 1525 sermon will be a StED Talk with Prof. Richard Rex (unfortunately Jeremy Morris is no longer able to attend) on the topic of the long aftermath of the English Reformation. This will be held in St Edward’s church at 4pm on Friday 5 December. A Q&A and wine reception will follow and all are welcome. Please book your free tickets through Eventbrite here!
Trinity Hall Day Conference: Trinity Hall are hosting three acclaimed academics to speak to the theme of ‘Christianity and Social Change: 500 years of the Reformation in Britain’. The event will take place in Trinity Hall from 2pm on Saturday 6 December. Tickets can be booked via Eventbrite here.
‘Spark of the Reformation’ Lecture: St Edward’s Church and Trinity Hall are co-hosting Prof. Alec Ryrie (Durham University), who will speak about Robert Barnes’ 1525 sermon and its impact on the Reformation in England. This will take place in St Edward’s Church at 7.30pm on Saturday 6 December, followed by a mulled wine reception. Bookings can be made here.
Guest Preacher: Prof. Alec Ryrie will be joining us again as the guest preacher for our 11am Holy Communion service on Sunday 7 December.
Advent Carol Service: Our annual advent carol service will take place in the church at 4pm on Sunday 7 December and we warmly encourage you to invite friends and family to this festive occasion!
Giving: We are grateful for all of your gifts! Offerings may be made via BACS (Sort: 20-17-19 / Acc. No.: 30851477 / Acc. Name: St Edwards Church), for standing orders, or the SumUp machine on the table by the door, for contactless giving. There is also a wall-mounted deposit box by the door for cash and/or cheques.
Exciting Holiness (Thursday 4 December):
St John Damascene was born in Damascus in about the year 657. Although the city by this date was Muslim, John’s father, a Christian, was Chief of the Revenue, and the principal representative of the Christians in the city. In 716, John, well-educated in science and theology, became a monk at the monastic settlement at Mar Saba near to Jerusalem and later was ordained priest there. He became a prolific writer of theological works and of hymns. His summary of the teachings of the Greek Fathers, called De Fide Orthodoxa, proved an immense influence in the Church in the following centuries, in both east and west. He died on this day in about the year 749.
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and to put on the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility; that on the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
