[Ely Announce] Two Useful News Releases from the Church of England

[Sarah King]

Bishop David has discovered these two useful news releases from the Church of England and would like to share them with Ely Announce

PR03.09 

12/01/09 

Amazing Grace named as the favourite wedding hymn - Church of England's new online ceremony planner reveals brides' top picks 

Amazing Grace is the number one hymn chosen by the 400 couples a month planning their wedding through the Church of England's new online ceremony planner at www.yourchurchwedding.org.

More than 1300 couples have registered with the 'listen and choose' online innovation, which launched in October 2008 when a new law, initiated by the Church of England, made a church wedding more possible for more people.

 
The ceremony planner at www.yourchurchwedding/planner gives 25 choices for special hymns for weddings and 12 readings from the Bible. Choices are captured in a draft printout which merges the names of the bride and groom into the marriage service. Couples can then use this draft as a discussion starter when they first meet their vicar.

John Newton's Amazing Grace is the most popular wedding hymn choice, closely followed by Make Me a Channel of Your Peace based on the prayer of St Francis of Assisi. Number three is the schooldays favourite All Things Bright and Beautiful.

The most wanted Bible reading is 1 Corinthians 13, famous for weddings, which ends at verse 13: "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."  Readings from Song of Solomon take second and third place.

Helen White, who will marry Mike Ball at St Mary Magdalene Church in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire in April, came across the ceremony planner after it was featured on ethicalweddings.com. Helen said:

"We thought the ceremony planner was really good and pretty easy to use. What we liked best about it was how it places your own names into the words of the service and that makes it so real. As a starting point for hymns we chose Amazing Grace and Great Is Thy Faithfulness and for our readings we chose Song of Solomon. We might add more when we come to speak to the vicar about it."

Revd Peter Moger, the Church of England's Worship Development adviser, is part of the creative team that built the planner, which offers new twists on well-known tunes, as well as time-honoured traditional favourites. Peter said: 

"The tradition of the church wedding is alive and well, and recent changes will make it possible for even more couples to marry in church. The Church of England Marriage Service is a powerful mixture of words, actions and music which speaks deeply and beautifully of God's love and human commitment. The ceremony planner at www.yourchurchwedding.org is a wonderful resource which helps couples discover these riches and make choices as they plan a service which is personal to them."

The selection of hymns was first trialled with a live choir at the Church of England stand at the National Wedding Show in Birmingham in 2007.

 

NEWS from the Church of England 

PR04.09 

12.01.09 

 

Church launches spiritual survival training for Lent - and life 

 

The Church of England is offering worshippers insights into the Christian faith's own set of 'travel essentials' for use during life's tougher times with the launch of a new 'spiritual survival course'.

 
Lentwise - spiritual essentials for real life focuses firmly on the Biblical basics needed to survive life's storms over five sessions, aimed at small study groups who will meet during the forthcoming season of Lent.

The course was written for Church House Publishing - the Church of England's official publisher - by Dr Paula Gooder, a writer and lecturer on Biblical Studies who is also a Reader within the Church of England and a member of its General Synod. As part of preparing the course, Dr Gooder returned to the Greek text and re-translated extracts of the Gospel of John, to offer fresh insights into the Biblical text.

Dr Gooder comments: "Real life in its unpredictability and dependence on factors beyond our control has much more in common with an expedition than with a trip to a comfortable cottage or hotel room. This course applies some of the more down to earth images used in the Gospels to describe what Jesus offers, to appeal to those who are turned off by the more flowery language that the Church can sometimes use. It challenges Christians to ask whether they are trained on how to use this backpack of spiritual essentials to help them face life's storms with courage and hope."

Lentwise has won the backing of leading theologian Jane Williams, who praises the course's honest confrontation with some of the realities of modern life: "User-friendly, undaunting and profound. The author is an experienced and trustworthy guide on our journey through Lent. With her help, Lent will be a journey of delighted discovery and not a miserable, dutiful trudge."

The course itemises five 'spiritual essentials' over separate 90-minute sessions: 

    a.. Compass - focusing on God as our ultimate direction and Jesus as our guide; 
    b.. Food - looking at how we can source the long-lasting nourishment Jesus provides for everyday life; 
    c.. Light - exploring how Jesus floodlights our lives, and considering the role played by others who act as lanterns on the way; 
    d.. Shelter - discussing the security offered by Jesus and what these promises really mean in an unsafe world; 
    e.. Water - examining the 'living waters' of faith necessary to quench the thirst created by the everyday grind. 
Each session includes guidelines and full background notes for leaders, based on a passage from John's Gospel. Inspiring quotations, prayer exercises, discussion pointers and ideas for using multimedia resources in the group are all provided.

Lentwise - spiritual essentials for real life, priced £4.99 (ISBN 978-07151-4165-6), is available from Christian bookshops, or by mail order via the web at www.chpublishing.co.uk/spiritualessentials.

 

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