Urgent appeal to help our clergy friends in Uganda
Ugandan clergy are reliant on the Sunday offerings for their stipends, but the doors of their churches were closed between March and October. Their congregations also struggle financially due to a loss of jobs and income. As a result, many of our clergy friends are finding it hard to provide for their own families. It is distressing to hear of clergy families eating only one meal a day. Please use the link below to donate directly to the Bishop’s Appeal for Uganda.
Through this appeal, money will go to the Archbishop’s Emergency Fund. Archbishop Stephen will ensure that much-needed supplies are distributed fairly across the dioceses of Uganda.
The appeal will run until Sunday 29 November and offerings should be made as soon as possible so that we can send it to Uganda in good time for Christmas.
Even a small gift of 10 pounds can provide maize meal and beans for a family to survive on for a week; £20 would mean that basic essentials such as salt, sugar, soap and cooking oil could be provided along with the food. £50 would allow a family to meet a simple medical emergency. £200 could provide food for ten families.
To donate please click this link: https://bit.ly/2Twl8jL
Thank you
Help us spread the Word
Do you love communicating through film? We would like to film and share more of our worship and ministry, but we need more volunteers behind the camera and people to edit.
If we can, we would also like to purchase equipment enabling us to live stream services in Christ Church for those who cannot join us in church. The cost of this will be around £4,200. If you can help us with a donation or would like to know more about volunteering, please contact Simon Stevenette, tel 529166 or Stephen Grosvenor tel, 341034. (stephen@christchurchswindon.co.uk)
Simon
Donate to our Mission Partners
WaterAid
With our local partners, we work with communities to build low-cost, sustainable solutions that
meet their needs. We also work with local and national government in the countries where we
operate, developing solutions to help them provide water, toilets and hygiene to everyone. And
we work on an even bigger scale, too. WaterAid campaigns worldwide, showing governments
and key decision-makers that investing in these basic services will have incredible positive
impacts.
Online donations can be made here: https://www.wateraid.org/uk/donate
or WaterAid Current Account
Barclays Bank PLC
Sort code: 20-65-82
Account number: 20422746
Other ways to give/support:
If you’re sending in a cheque, please make it payable to WaterAid and send it to:
WaterAid, 6th floor, 20 Canada Square, London, E14 5NN
Swindon Mind
We provide a range of services across Swindon and Gloucestershire to support
those experiencing a mental health concern to improve their overall wellbeing. We strive to
raise awareness, reduce stigma and ensure anyone experiencing a mental health concern has
somewhere to turn.
Donations via: https://www.justgiving.com/swindon-gloucestershiremind
The Black Cosmic Christ
Sue Mansfield, November 2020
In my original description, I focussed on the wildlife and the individual images in the icon. With this shorter description, I am just focussing on the whole icon and the ecologically challenging questions it was asking me.
This icon is based on the original icon Pantocrator in St Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai Egypt. In this later version, I have changed the face to a Black Cosmic Christ which I found actually more powerful. I chose to intentionally not adhere to the geometry of the Byzantine tradition of the face in order to honour the variety of face shape.
I have removed the usual ‘icon’ Bible, but in its place the first ‘Bible’ – Creation in all its glory. The first Bible was creation. Jesus is cloaked in creation. The Saints – more or less – seemed to find spiritual experiences outside, rarely in our buildings.
Cosmic Christ
As I was writing the detail above him, I could feel his eyes boring into me, what would it be like to be this close to the Cosmic Christ?
Who are you? (I know and yet don’t know)
Who were you?
Who will you be?
Neutrons, protons electrons live in community. So do we. Connectedness with creation, perhaps a more gracious way to be in the world we are given is to allow nature to speak to us rather than dominate it, really realising that it isn’t there for my / our consumption / money-making / intelligence. St Claire says that nature is a mirror and mirrors back to us.
Black History month
Please join us in praying for change and transformation in our country and especially in our own hearts and minds as we confront the reality of the past, the challenges of the present and work towards God’s vision of racial harmony with hope for the future. We thank God for the gift of sisters and brothers from around the world who bring so much to us at Christ Church. May God help us to become more fully the rainbow people of God. Do pass your ideas on about how this might become more fully a reality.
Thank you gratefully
Simon
We are publishing a series of pen pictures each day celebrating the lives of people of colour on our Facebook pages. To follow them, why not subscribe to our page
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Season of Creation
As we develop together as Eco congregations across our Old Town Partnership, Harvest Thanksgiving and Creation tide have an increasing significance. These days, from 1st September into October have been designated the International Season of Creation. This year the global reach of Covid 19 has revealed anew our shared human nature and the interconnectedness of our lives, economies, healthcare systems, food chains, energy and transportation systems. The pandemic has also demonstrated that this complex web is rooted in the earth and limited by the earth’s capacity to sustain our economic and ecological needs. The unjust effects of climate change are a consequence of our inability to find a sustainable balance of this web.
Good News for Swindon Prayer night Tuesday 12 May at 8 pm – 9 pm.
The event will be hosted using zoom. Contact Simon or one of the staff team for details if you would like to join in
The plan for the evening is as follows:
1. Welcome by Tom Price – 8 pm
2. Focus on the government and our frontline care workers – introduction (3 minutes) by John Edmonds – Freshbrook Church, followed by 12 minutes of prayer in our zoom groups
3. Focus on renewal, revival, and outreach– introduction (3 minutes) by Colin Thornton – Gateway Church, followed by 12 minutes of prayer in our zoom groups.
4. Focus on Young people – introduction (3 minutes) by Dave Clarke SYFC – followed by 12 minutes of worship in our zoom groups.
5. Focus on our families/church – introduction (3 minutes) by Tom Price – Discovery Church, followed by 12 minutes of prayer in our zoom groups.
6. Finish at 9.05 pm with a closing prayer
The way it will work is that you’ll be added to the entire group as you sign in and see lots of people. Once the introduction has been covered for each area, you’ll be assigned to a group of up to 4 others, and we want to encourage you to say a quick hello to one another and then spend the 12 minutes we’ve allocated praying together for the needs highlighted. You’ll then be brought back to the main screen for another 3-minute intro etc.
Please feel free to invite any Christians you know in Swindon and the surrounding area to join us that evening. We want to make it a time of real earnest prayer for our town and our nation as well as our own lives. If you would like to participate, please contact Simon or one of the staff team (staffteam@christchurchswindon.co.uk)
This virtual gathering is a meaningful way for us to join in these difficult times and encourage one another in prayer. We can accommodate up to 500 users, so feel free to join as a couple, an individual or as a family.