Hexham Abbey News. Volunteers Congregation Staff. Hexham Abbey Needs More Welcomers! The Presentation of Christ in the Temple Candlemas

Transcription

1 Hexham Abbey Needs More Welcomers! A few visitor comments: Volunteers Congregation Staff Hexham Abbey News 28th January 2018 If you read some of the comments in our visitor book and on review sites like TripAdvisor, it soon becomes very apparent how important it is for people to receive a warm welcome when they enter the Abbey. So many of our visitors are impressed by the welcome they receive here and, in the summer months with visitors being drawn here from around the world, it can become too busy for one person to manage alone. My aim is ideally to have two stewards on duty at one time, especially at busy times. If we could have a volunteer on the welcome desk throughout the day, welcoming visitors as they enter, inviting them to purchase a guidebook or use an audio guide, as well directing them to the Big Story Exhibition, the Refectory Café and to events, this would enable the other steward to be available to look after the crypt and to share their knowledge of the Abbey s history. So, if you are already a steward, I wonder if you know of anyone who might like to volunteer to be at the welcome point? Could you work as a partnership? This would be an opportunity to help them build on their knowledge too. All enquiries go to me, Jane Abrams, Volunteer Manager. Please be aware my role is part time so it may take a few days for a reply. Contact Jane via halo@hexhamabbey.org.uk or direct line It was lovely being in Hexham Abbey, endless respect for the volunteering guide there! Had a small really informative chat with him Don't miss this one! This is a lovely building to visit... A pleasant guide came to give us amusing and relevant information, please say thank you. Lovely visit, very pleasant area, great little shop to buy gifts, and lovely ladies serving us, nice town to look around. The Presentation of Christ in the Temple Candlemas This Sunday, 28th January, marks the last day the Crib is on show in the Abbey. We celebrate the occasion of Mary and Joseph bringing the infant Jesus into the Temple and meeting old Simeon. At the end of the service, candles are all extinguished and it is for us to carry with us the light of the Christchild. The 10am service ends with the following Responses: Father, here we bring to an end our celebration of the Saviour's birth. Help us, in whom he has been born, to live his life that has no end. Here we have offered the Church's sacrifice of praise. Help us, who have received the bread of life, to be thankful for your gift. Here we have rejoiced with faithful Simeon and Anna. Help us, who have found the Lord in his temple, to trust in your eternal promises. Here we have greeted the Light of the world. Help us, who now extinguish these candles, never to forsake the light of Christ. All now extinguish their candles. Here we now stand near the place of baptism. Help us, who are marked with the cross, to share the Lord's death and resurrection. Here we turn from Christ's birth to his passion. Help us, for whom Lent is near, to enter deeply into the Easter mystery. Here we bless one another in your name. Help us, who now go in peace, to shine with your light in the world. Thanks be to God! Amen.

2 What is Christian Meditation? Christian meditation is both a way of prayer, and a way of being, that is part of the great tradition of contemplative prayer down the centuries. In Christian meditation one intentionally opens oneself to the deep silence of pure reality that lies underneath all the busyness of our outer lives. In that deep silence, God is. ( There is nothing so much like God as silence, said the medieval German mystic Meister Eckhart). While it is relatively easy to sit down in a place of silence and quieten our bodies, it is not at all easy to do the same with our busy minds. In order to bring that ever-moving compass needle of our minds to a place of quiet and stillness, to access the deep silence that lies below the plethora of stuff that inhabits our days and our thoughts, we need the discipline and practice of meditation. Meditation could therefore perhaps be seen as an invitation to begin, or to give ourselves the opportunity, to live from a deeper place, to live from our own centre. It is an invitation that is perpetually on offer: ( Come away to a quiet place (Mark 6), Go into your inner room (Matt 6)). Yet it is one we often fail to recognise or to respond to (life is so very busy and so very complex!) yet it is important, in these times we live in. Contemplation, writes Rowan Williams in his recent book Holy Living, is the only ultimate answer to the unreal and insane worlds that our chaotic and unexamined emotions encourage us to inhabit. The group that meets in the Abbey on a Monday evening uses the silence in different ways. But for everyone there, whatever way they choose to use it, it is an opportunity to sit with others in the silence, alongside the ambience of the quiet stones of the Abbey, a place where prayer has been valid for a very long time. Sitting with others in that very beautiful silence is in itself an act of trust in the Holy Spirit, who prays within us with groans too deep for words. Any thoughts or questions, or if anyone would like more information about meditation or the World Community for Christian Meditation - do please ask! Meditation in the Abbey will continue on Monday evenings, and everyone is very welcome. Bridget Hewitt You can get in touch with Bridget via E:bridget.hewitt@btopenworld.com or T: Congregation News Not the Sunday Lunch 2018 For the last few years we have offered an alternative to Sunday Lunch with the provision of a simple meal in the Priory Buildings on each Sunday in Lent. This comprises homemade soup, a slice of tray-bake and a hot brew. This year we are looking for additional support from a more people to see us through Lent Sundays from 18th February to 25th March inclusive. If you could make a "mess of potage", a tray-bake, or if you would be available from 11.30am-1.15pm to help serve the meal for one or more Sundays in that period your help would be hugely helpful and greatly appreciated. Please speak to David Ratcliff ( ) or Sue Snow ( ) if you can lend a hand. Parking Permit Renewal 2018 Please could anyone with a NCC Parking Permit come in to the Parish Office to pay for January to August Please make any cheques payable to Hexham Abbey PCC. The fees for January to August 2018 are: Volunteer on duty & private use: VAT = Non-volunteer passes for private use: VAT = Volunteers: Continue to use a temporary permit while on duty

3 Upcoming Events Christian Meditation Every Monday, until Holy Week (except 22nd Jan and 12th Feb). No experience needed. Teaching sessions on 5th Feb and 5th March. Contact Bridget for more info E:bridget.hewitt@btopenworld.com or T: Free Event, everyone welcome. THIS SATURDAY! Hexham Abbey Unveiled Each Saturday afternoon until 3rd 3:30pm in the North Transept. Our popular 10-minute talks are back in 2018! Three experts on the Abbey's historic secrets will give a short ten-minute talk and answer questions, with the full session lasting about an hour. Free event - donations welcome. Subjects & Speakers, 27th Jan: Searching the Triforium - Chris Tolan-Smith The Dance of Death Fifth Panel Investigation - Charis Theodorakopoulos The 2017 Medieval Panel Paintings Survey - Tom Kelsey Candlemas at St John Lee On Friday 2 February at 7.30pm there will be a Candlemas service at St John Lee. Congregational hymns plus the music of Tallis, Josquin, Goudimel and Roper sung by Antiphon. Preacher: Chris Simmons. Mulled wine and mince pies afterwards to close the Christmas season. All welcome. Coming Soon! Lunchtime Live Lunchtime Live is back in 2018! The February series includes a variety of music all performed in the atmospheric setting of Hexham Abbey. See below for February's line up! Tues 6th Feb Tues 13th Feb Tues 20th Feb Sat 24th Feb Tues 27th Feb Martha Hayward & Matthew Lazenby - Soprano and piano Michael Ronan & John Green - Solo Baritone and Chamber Organ Michael Haynes & Robin Beaumont - Duets at the Phelps Organ Young piano students - Pupils of Sarah Robinson Rock Choir! Fundraising Concert: Il Caro Sassone On Saturday 17th February 2018 there will be a concert Il Caro Sassone (Handel was known as the dear Saxon, during the first part of his career in Italy, ) taking place in the Great Hall to raise funds for the Hexham Abbey Roof Appeal. A recent survey revealed that the Abbey roof is in need of major refurbishment. The estimated overall cost of the work is set to be over 1million pounds, phased over a number of years. Music by Handel, Corelli, Geminiani and Greene will be performed by Rowan Pierce - Soprano, Magdalena Loth-Hill - Baroque Violin, Deborah Thorne - Baroque Cello, John Green - Harpsichord. Tickets cost 15 (including refreshments) and are now available from the Hexham Abbey Gift Shop. All proceeds to the Hexham Abbey Roof Appeal. If you would like to discuss supporting the heritage of Hexham Abbey or the Roof Appeal in particular, or you would like to discuss private or corporate sponsorship opportunities, please contact Sally McRobie, Development Manager: E: sally.mcrobie@hexhamabbey.org.uk T: Magdalena Loth-Hill & Rowan Pierce

4 Sunday 28th January The Presentation of Christ 8.30am Holy Communion President & Preacher Dagmar Winter 10.00am Parish Eucharist Readings Hebrews 2:14-end; Luke 2:22-40 President Janet Jackson Preacher Dagmar Winter Reader Jill Dexter Intercessor Shelagh Carter Setting Mozart Coronation Mass Organ Bach Trio in C minor (iii) BWV 526 Motet Eccard When to the temple Hymns Choral Evensong Readings Haggai 2:1-9; John 2:18-22 Officiant & Preacher Matthew Hunter Reader Jonathan Hewitt Responses Smith Organ Bruhns Preludium in E minor Canticles Stanford in C Psalm 122 Anthem Stanford Beati Quorum Via Hymns 157(ii) 88 Abbey Services for the week beginning Monday 29th January 9.00am Morning Prayer and 5.00pm Evening Prayer Tuesday 30th Jan 12.00pm Holy Communion Chris Simmons Wednesday 31st Jan Thursday 1st Feb 10.15am Holy Communion Dagmar Winter & Andy Morsman Tots Praise Choral Evensong Matthew Hunter Holy Communion Frank Dexter Prayer Group (Elizabeth Fish tel ) Choral Evensong Dagmar Winter Saturday 3rd Feb 1.00pm Marriage of Abigail Rawdon-Mackie & Daniele Drotini Sunday 4th February 2nd Sunday before Lent 8.30am Holy Communion President & Preacher Dagmar Winter Colossians 1:15-20; John 1: am Abbey Praise Led by the Stage Team 12.00pm Holy Communion BCP Officiant Dagmar Winter Choral Evensong Officiant & Preacher Frank Dexter Genesis 2:4b-end; Luke 8:22-35 Reader Keith Lombard For Your Prayers We pray for those who are unwell or who have asked for our prayers: Edna O Neil, Sheila Jackson, Yvonne Roberts, Doreen Beniams, Peter Barclay, Christopher Brown, Mary Miller. We pray for those who have died and all those who mourn: Mollie Oliver, Robert Heawood. Contact the Parish Office: /admin@hexhamabbey.org.uk

5 LUNCHTIME LIVE FEBRUARY 2018 Short and varied concerts at Hexham Abbey. All concerts begin at 1pm and last about 45mins. Tues 6th Feb Martha Hayward & Matthew Lazenby Soprano and piano Tues13th Feb Michael Ronan & John Green Solo Baritone and Chamber Organ Tues 20th Feb Michael Haynes & Robin Beaumont Duets at the Phelps Organ Sat 24th Feb Young piano students Pupils of Sarah Robinson Tues 27th Feb Rock Choir Free Entry Retiring Collection