Greetings from Emmanuel Road, 18th September 2021, a note about the resumption of in-person services on Sunday 3rd October, and the next series of Wednesday Evening Zoom Conversations, starting on Wednesday 22nd September
Greetings,
There is some important information in this email so please read it carefully if you want to know what’s going on over the next three weeks!
The resumption of in-person (and simultaneously live-streamed) morning services will happen on Sunday 3rd October at 10.30am. Please see attached pdf for details of the order of this new service which, as you will see, is a slightly expanded version of the Service of Mindful Meditation that has replaced our old “hymn-sandwich-with-sermon” format.
As your committee we request that, for the time being, people continue to wear masks in the church, not least of all because we are heading into winter when the temperature and ventilation of the building is less optimal than that which we can maintain during summer. Let’s all please remember, the pandemic is not over yet. In connection with this we are continuing to limit the in-person attendance to 30. Exactly how post coffee/tea and conversation will happen is something that, to some extent, we’ll have to improvise as we go along. Whether attending online or in-person please bear with us as we figure things out.
This Sunday, as part of our continuing preparation for new ways of doing things, Stephen Lawrence will sing a chant specially written for the new service by him and Beverley Carpenter. I attach a pdf of that to this email so you can practice it beforehand if you wish. Until Sunday 3rd October the Mindful Meditation will continue to begin promptly at 10am. Please note that the Sunday service will only be online on the 26th September.
The new series of bi-weekly Wednesday Evening Zoom Conversations will start on Wednesday 22nd September, 7.15pm for 7.30pm to finish at 9.30pm. Since the last conversation a few pieces have gone up on my blog/podcast (see the usual links below my signature) relating to Paul Wienpahl, Spinoza, the IPCC climate change report, the twentieth anniversary of September 11th 2001, ineffability and Wallace Stevens’ poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”. I trust there’ll be something in all this which can serve to set off a good conversation. I look forward to seeing some of you then. Here’s the link:
Topic: Cambridge Unitarian Church Wednesday Evening ConversationTime: Sep 22, 2021 19:30 London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81698331630?pwd=eWdna0gybktCR2JraW5XRTZTelIxQT09
Meeting ID: 816 9833 1630
Passcode: 090568
It is hoped that on many Sundays, at the end of the service, members of the congregation will wish to contribute a five-minute “thought for the day”. To help facilitate that there is a new thread on the church SLACK site called “the-five-minute- thought-for-the-day-thread”. To find out more about the SLACK site please be in touch with me.
And, lastly, as always, if on reading this you decide you would like to join us for the Sunday morning service of mindful meditation and time of conversation following and do not have the necessary Zoom link then please either reply to me or contact our Church Secretary, Brendan Boyle, via the contact page of our website. Just look through the dropdown tabs to find “Secretary”:
Please log in between 9.45am and 10am. The meditation starts at 10am sharp, and finishes at about 10.50am. There will then be a short break to allow you to stretch your legs, compose your thoughts, or put the kettle on. The ‘Time for Conversation’ will start at about 11am, and if you aren’t taking part in the meditation, feel free to sign in during the break for the conversation.
To get the most from the meditation, you will find it helpful to either print out the order of service, or display it in a second window. Here is the link:
Order of Service for the Mindful Meditation:
https://www.cambridgeunitarian.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Evening-Service.pdf
You might also wish to have a small candle or tea-light to hand to light at a certain point during the meditation.
A representative recorded version of the service is available for download via my podcast site here:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1378024/7314817
A homespun video introduction to the service can be found on YouTube at this link:
With love and best wishes as always,
Andrew
Andrew James Brown
Minister
Cambridge Unitarian Church
Emmanuel Road
Cambridge
CB1 1JW
07305 089 951 (Church Office)
07477 462 110 (Mobile)
http://www.cambridgeunitarian.org/
____________________________
Other stuff . . .
http://andrewjbrown.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
https://footprints.buzzsprout.com (Making Footprints Not Blueprints Podcast)
https://twitter.com/caute (Twitter)