News from Christ Church

Autumn Sermon Series

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**A look ahead to our Autumn programme of services 2020**

In various ways, we will explore in our worship, preaching, children’s material and Home Groups, what it means to be an eco-congregation and an inter-generational Christian learning community.

We will do this:

Through a sermon series on key Bible stories
Through welcome and learning in our Home Groups
By providing opportunities for our congregations to grow in Christian confidence
By encouraging us to read the Bible in a year, through a very helpful resource www.bibleinoneyear.org

The Programme

6^th Sept Love the Lord your God with all your heart, Soul, strength, and mind
13^th Sept Love your neighbour
20^th Sept Love yourself
27^th Sept Mission Gift Day: Send a Cow Charity

October/November/December Themes – Being an Eco Congregation. How then shall we live? – an exploration of our theology of Eco-church

4^th Oct Harvest Festival God and progress: The problem of blind ignorance
11^th Oct God and Nature: The problem of separation
18^th Oct God and Heaven: The Problem of after- life is left for after life. Old Town Partnership Pulpit Exchange – Robert Jordan preaching.
Friday 23^rd Oct Martin Palmer Friends of Christ Church lecture ‘Learning from Celebration Earth’
25^th Oct God and Us: The problem of Greed
1^st Nov All Saints Day – God and Salvation: The Salvation of Humankind. All Souls Bereavement Care gathering
8^th Nov Remembrance Sunday – in the light of Covid-19. How can our remembering lead us to transformation?
15^th Nov God and Conscience: The Salvation of Society
22^nd Nov Mission Gift Day Water Aid: Stream of Living Water
29^th Nov Advent Sunday: God in Me, what can I do?
6th Dec God in the Community: What can we do?
7th Dec Holy Innocents: we are all key workers.
13th Dec Preparing for Christmas in the midst of a world pandemic. Theme: Comfort
20th Dec Preparing for Christmas in the midst of a world pandemic. Theme: Joy
25th Dec Friday, Christmas Day Theme: New insights for 2020 as Jesus is born.

Autumn Sermon Serieschurchadmin2020-10-17T20:04:35+01:00

Take a look at our Children’s resources page

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Each week, Children can join in with our services listening to bible stories and using fun resources on our Children’s corner pages.

We are posting a variety of materials to help our younger parishioners and friends enjoy and understand our Bible stories.

https://www.christchurchswindon.co.uk/blog/children/

Take a look at our Children’s resources pagechurchadmin2020-09-24T13:04:24+01:00

This icon is based on the Pantocrator icon in St Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai, Egypt. The first bible is creation, so here i have removed the usual ‘icon’ of the Bible, and put in its place the first ‘bible’ – Creation in all its glory. The saints more or less seem to find spiritual experiences outside, rarely in our buildings. I have also removed the traditional red surround of the Byzantine icons because creation is borderless, instead the red ribbon that links all beings together.

As I begin to understand that the Cosmic Christ is in everything it changes my perspective that everything has value, a soul and a voice. This changes my interaction with them, everything is an equal rather than an object. Therefore, I start to treat everything with subjectivity rather than objectivity. The planet as the body of Christ.

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The first bible is creationchurchadmin2020-08-30T17:08:19+01:00

The Bells are ringing

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To mark the end of the Second World War, the bells rang out at Christ Church.Here’s an extract of the goose-bump ringing that took place on 15th August at 11am after 2 minutes of silence. A big thank you to ringers Gordon, Shirley, Alan, Peter and Ruth. Socially distanced ringing meant they rang call changes and some plain hunting.

The Bells are ringingchurchadmin2020-09-24T13:03:42+01:00

Missing the choir?

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Listen to us singing – Angel Voices ever singing – F Potts

Over the years our faithful choir has supported services, sometimes with friends joining us, sometimes just the few. Sadly some no longer with us. In these unprecended times, we can’t be there but you can still hear us. Click the image above to listen.

Missing the choir?churchadmin2020-08-27T21:09:20+01:00

Time to reflect?

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‘Time’ to look up again! Our clock mechanism is back and keeping perfect time.

The clock was originally installed in Holy Rood Church, on the Lawn, in 1843 and has been in the Christ Church clock tower since 1851. Its repair was made possible by legacies left to the charity Friends of Christ Church. We thank the Friends for all that they do. To find out more about the Friends of Christ Church, go to: https://www.christchurchswindon.co.uk/friends.php

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Time to reflect?churchadmin2020-08-29T14:04:25+01:00

Black Lives Matter

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A personal perspective

The events that have unfolded since George Floyd’s very public killing has caused me to catch my breath, pause — pause, and exhale.

As a writer I often find myself penning a poem to process my thoughts and feelings in response to confronting issues. The rawness of my poetry at this time reflects the place of pause I find myself in as I catch my breath.

But in writing these poems, I realise that not a thousand words nor a single word can fully articulate my strength of emotion. Like a wound that is constantly scabbed in my day-to-day lived experiences, the reality of life as a black woman is magnified again and again when public events like the George Floyd case occur.

As a person of colour, I’ve experienced a range of emotions in the last few weeks: tired, crushed, angry, frustrated, bewildered. My parents lived with racial injustice. I live with racial injustice. And, if things don’t change, my daughter’s generation will live with racial injustice.

It’s incredible that, in 2020, we still witness persecution and aggression against people of colour. Black and brown skinned people have endured decades of injustices. In recent history we note: the deaths of Stephen Lawrence and Mark Duggan (among countless others), the Grenfell Tower disaster, the Windrush scandal, an increase in knife crimes among black youths, and the higher impact of Covid-19 deaths on key workers from BAME backgrounds. How many more black and brown lives have to be lost before we work together – black, brown, and white – to see a real change in society?

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Black Lives Matterchurchadmin2020-08-29T14:57:36+01:00

Not back to normal – planning for a better future

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Martin explored the theological, environmental and community challenges which the pandemic is raising in our own country and across the world. He stresses the importance of joining together as faiths to practically respond to the social and economic challenges, within an anxious and ever-changing environment.

Watch the recording

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Not back to normal – planning for a better futurechurchadmin2020-06-06T16:03:12+01:00

Watch Martin Palmer’s Talk Not back to normal – planning for a better future

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Watch Martin Palmer’s Talk Not back to normal – planning for a better futurechurchadmin2020-05-29T14:54:45+01:00

We will meet

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Listen to this new song by John Bell from the Iona Community which sums up all our hopes for the future.
Click to play: We will meet

We will meetchurchadmin2020-08-27T19:56:34+01:00

I Can’t breath

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Rage rises

tongues of flame

sear bones, sinew and muscle

wrapped in brown skin

limbs writhe against batons

lips swell with beatings

eyes bleed, jaw cracks

wrapped in brown skin

shackled. starved. raped.

gouged. hunted. choked.

lynched. poked. injected.

stripped. drowned. expelled.

trampled. airbrushed. kneed.

medicated. gassed. gunned

down

years of white knuckles and heels

kick up dust clouds

in cotton fields, ghettos, tower blocks

brown skin burns,

turns flesh to dust dust dust

fills nostrils, clogs windpipes

Until

I can’t breathe

By: Revd Dr Catherine Okoronkwo

I Can’t breathchurchadmin2020-08-27T19:51:26+01:00

Good News for Swindon Prayer night Tuesday 12 May at 8 pm – 9 pm.

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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.

Good News for Swindon Prayer night Tuesday 12 May at 8 pm – 9 pm.churchadmin2020-05-16T13:41:55+01:00