From father.mansfield at johannite.org Thu Mar 12 00:26:37 2009 From: father.mansfield at johannite.org (Rev Fr Tim Mansfield) Date: Thu Mar 12 00:26:40 2009 Subject: [st uriel's] Holy Eucharist Message-ID: <35565cab0903112226h4c17c3cekd53938289880b9b@mail.gmail.com> Sisters and Brothers, As you'll recall, the parish meets this Sunday for our monthly service of Holy Eucharist a service of prayer, thanksgiving and blessing. On this particular Sunday, I have a couple of extra responsibilities to carry out as well as celebrating the service. Roughly a year ago, Trish Nowland offered her vows as a nun in the Order of St Esclaremonde - a lay monastic order of the Apostolic Johannite Church. Every year on or near Montsegur Day, on which we remember the sacrifice of Cathars during the Albigensian Crusades, monks and nuns in the OSE are required to reaffirm their vows. The Cathars were a large community of christians in the Languedoc Region of France who followed a strict moral rule and engaged in deep spiritual practice. They were renowned throughout Europe as holy and compassionate people, but were also rumoured to hold unorthodox beliefs. The movement was violently repressed by military forces sponsored by the Pope of the time. Their last stand was at a mountain fortress called Montsegur, hence "Montsegur Day". Esclaremonde of Foix was one of the most beloved and saintly leaders of the Cathar people and she gives her name to the OSE. If you've attended a Eucharist before, you'll have noticed her name among the list of saints and adepti we give thanks for. The other church who sponsors the OSE is the Gnostic Church of Mary Magdalene. The GCMM and the AJC are sister churches in our approaches, though we take slightly different twists on a few things. They have recently opened a formal formation programme to admit new priests to their church and this seems to have inspired Trish to begin the process of formally investigating a vocation to the priesthood. That journey begins ritually this Sunday. During the Eucharist service, I will invest Trish as a "Lay Server", the first of several Orders in the church and the beginning of her journey toward the priesthood. So, it's a big night. Please come offer Trish your moral support in her ongoing journey of dedication to service and join me in prayer and thanksgiving. We'll offer tea and snacks in the hall after the service. All welcome. Service of Holy Eucharist for Montsegur Day 6pm, Sunday 15 March 2009 Unitarian Centre 15 Francis St, Darlinghurst. Rev Father Tim Mansfield Rector, Parish of St Uriel the Archangel Apostolic Johannite Church Sydney, Australia -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://laika.gnusto.com/pipermail/announce/attachments/20090312/0e4b6552/attachment.htm From timbomb at gmail.com Fri Mar 27 00:12:26 2009 From: timbomb at gmail.com (Tim Mansfield) Date: Fri Mar 27 00:12:41 2009 Subject: [st uriel's] Sophia Cafe on Sunday Message-ID: <663BEF85-7781-404C-A758-6590395CB56A@gmail.com> Hi folks, Our usual Sunday Sophia Cafe meeting is on Sunday at 6pm. The reading for this week is the section of Living Gnosticism about the inner meaning of the festivals of the year. Come along to discover a new way to understand Easter just before we gather to celebrate it. Usual place, usual time. 6pm, Sunday Unitarian Centre 15 Francis St Darlinghurst Father Tim Mansfield Sydney, Australia From father.mansfield at johannite.org Sun Mar 29 20:21:23 2009 From: father.mansfield at johannite.org (Rev Fr Tim Mansfield) Date: Sun Mar 29 20:21:27 2009 Subject: [st uriel's] Format change for Sunday evenings. Message-ID: <35565cab0903291821l86c91f4v1d8d663448a11972@mail.gmail.com> Hi all, We had a discussion last night at the Sophia Cafe study group about our current weekly format. I think we agreed that it was good to get time to talk, study and get to know each other better, but some of us miss the opportunity to pray and worship together as well. We also wondered whether a reading group might be off-putting for casual visitors who may not be keeping up with the assigned reading. So, the assembled group agreed to a little fine tuning of our current format. >From next week on each week will be structured like this: 6:00pm A brief service 7:00pm Sophia cafe The service might be a Sophianic Eucharist or Johannite Vespers or other short services like a Sophia Service. I'll announce the service each week. The service will always be finished by about 7pm, so if you're not into liturgy, arriving at 7pm means you can join in with the discussion at Sophia Cafe. If you're not into study and discussion you only have to commit an hour of a Sunday evening for a shared experience of prayer. Sophia Cafe will shift a little so that it always begins with a short 5-10 minute presentation of the topic for the week by a member of the community followed by discussion. As usual, we'll provide tea and snacks. Some weeks in place of talking about a text, we might try a simple prayer practice or a style of meditation. I'll announce what's on the cards each week along with the style of service. This new format means that no matter what week you have time to drop in, there's always prayer, discussion and informal community. I'm delighted by the chance to give more space for the members of our emerging community to express their gifts and I feel that the congregation is developing a sound way to meet together which helps it cohere but also keeps it open for newcomers. I'd be delighted to see you there, whether it's just for one visit, as an occasional visitor or as a regular member of our congregation. Come just as you are, stay as long or as little as you like. Yours in Love and Light, Tim+