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22 N D M AY 2 0 1 6

RULE OF LIFE Vicar’s Blog

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So Neill, will you be joining the Community of St Aldhelm and why? Yes. Broadly, I am inclined to do anything that Catherine Price tells me, she’s way smarter than me. But, I am interested to see how something, that echoes in a small way the ancient monastic pattern of our Abbey, can help me function better as a disciple of Christ. For me, that’s the bottom line. Can anybody join in? Absolutely, and it looks like we will even have a few members from other churches, denominations and countries. The Community of St Aldhelm will be led by Catherine Price, as Lay Prior, and Revd James Pettit will be our Visitor, somebody who keeps us accountable and offers external advice. James is smarter than me too. What will your Rule of Life look like? Well the Lay Prior needs to sign off on mine next week, but it looks like a

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clearer more ordered version of my life, with a few challenges and tweaks; rather than a whole bunch of undoable New Year’s resolutions that will leave me feeling defeated. Tell us more, oh Vicar. For me Rule 1 (see back page for our rules) with be 9am Morning Prayer in St Aldhelm’s Chapel or my study. Rule 2 will either be Dawn or Midday Prayer. (I am hopeless at Evening or Night Prayer as my energy levels plummet.) You will all see me doing Rule 3, it’s my job, and Rule 4 will be either weekly soup and prayers with the Abbey Leadership or with my Small Group. Rule 5. Hmmm. Holy. Look, we all give that a half decent shot I think. I am helped by meeting fortnightly with a prayer partner that roughs me up a bit, and every other month with a leadership mentor that asks

    A B B E Y D I A RY

NEXT SUNDAY: Sunday May 29th 9am BCP Communion 10.30am Holy Communion &

Baptisms 4pm All-age Communion &

Thanksgiving

THIS WEEK EACH DAY 9am Morning Prayer MON 23rd 10am Little Stars WED 25th 10.30am Communion 7.30pm Community of St Aldhelm Service THUR 26th 10.30am Time for Chat 7pm Choir Practice FRI 27th 10.30am Creative Response SAT 28th 6.30pm In Ecclesia Choral Evensong – all welcome

TRINITY SUNDAY: May 22nd 9am BCP Communion 10.30am Holy Communion 4pm Informal Worship &

Junior Church 6.30pm BCP Choral Evensong

(Saint Aldhelm)

ADVANCE DIARY 22nd June Music for Autism 24th June African Children’s Choir 27th June Lifepath begins

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good questions about the work of the Spirit in my life. Again, Rule 6 is my job. I find the words ‘holy imagination’ to be the most exciting words in the rule. Rule 7 will challenge me to get 24 consecutive hours of Sabbath. Yikes. I am going to have to really fight off interruptions to this. Rule 8 will be growing my discipline of solitude, which is now there, but can go deeper. Rule 9 will be the discipline of physical exercise, shifting from exercising twice a week, to three times. Yikes, again. And Rule 10 will be song. I am a better human being when I don’t neglect singing. You can see that I deliberately took a holistic approach to the back end of the rules. Is it too late for others to get involved? Nope. If you can, let Catherine Price ([email protected]) know that you intend to come along to the service this Wednesday at 7.30pm, St Aldhelm’s Day, or just turn up, and then you can develop a Rule of Life with her in the coming weeks. In 12 months time you can then decide whether this has worked for you and whether you want to do it for another 12 months. We’ll learn a lot along the way together. Neill Archer was in conversation with Neill Archer.

R OMA N S 5 : 1 -5

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Additional Reading: John 16:12-15 12 ‘I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.’

DISCIPLESHIP

D A I LY R E A D I N G S

Monday Psalm 1 Joshua 7:1-15 Luke 10:25-37

Tuesday Psalm 5 Joshua 7:16-end Luke 10:38-end

Wednesday – St Aldhelm Ps 119:161-176 Exodus 35:30-36:7 Colossians 3:12-17

Thursday Psalm 15 Joshua 8:30-end Luke 11:14-28

Friday Psalm 19 Joshua 9:3-26 Luke 11:29-36

If you would like to give regularly to the mission and ministry of the Abbey as part of your discipleship, please e-mail [email protected]

R E G U L A R G I V I N G

1. Read the Romans passage aloud. Spend some time unpacking together what verse 1 means. You may want to use a concordance to look up ’justification’ and ‘grace’. 2. This week the church celebrates Trinity Sunday. Read the passage again, but this time silently, noting and then sharing references to each person of the Trinity. Can you articulate the role that each person of the Trinity plays in this passage? 3. ‘God was lonely and needed to create humankind so he could be loved. ’ Discuss why you think this is true or not. (Google the word ‘Perichoresis’ for brownie points!) 4. In what way is ‘peace with God’ different to worldly peace? 5. Read verses 3-5 again silently, then spend some time in silence thinking about how these verses have been true in your own life. If you can, encourage each other by sharing an example.

HMQE I I J O N AT H A N D O V E

A F R I C A N C H O I R FOMA

1 2 t h C E N T U R Y B E A U T Y 2 1 s t C E N T U R Y C H U R C H

On Sunday 12th June at 10.30am there will be a special service of Holy Communion with Prayers for Her Majesty the Queen, to celebrate Her Majesty’s 90th Birthday. The Town Council and Warden & Freemen are also joining us for a service which will include specially written prayers alongside anthems sung at Her Majesty’s Coronation in June 1953; and of course the National Anthem.

A Malmesbury première this Sunday at our 6.30pm Choral Evensong. After months of practice, the Abbey Choir will be singing the Portsmouth Service of Jonathan Dove. An ecstatic setting of Mary’s song, the Magnificat, and an ethereal setting of Simeon’s song, the Nunc Dimittis; both written for Portsmouth Cathedral in 2013. Join us for this very special act of worship, at which Catherine Price will be preaching.

We would be delighted if you could consider hosting some of the African Children's Choir on Friday 24th June after the concert, until Saturday 25th June late in the morning. Eight homes are needed to host different groups of chaperones and children. If you can help out, please speak to Becky Saunders, or e-mail [email protected].

The Friends of Malmesbury Abbey AGM will be held on Weds 8th June. AGM business starts at 7pm then, after a break for light refreshments, Lyn Carnaby will give a talk on Historic ties between St Mary de Malmesbury, Littleton on Severn, Salmon Fishing and Malmesbury Abbey! St Mary de Malmesbury was a daughter house of our Abbey from Saxon times until the Reformation. For more details please contact Barry Dent.

NOTICEBOARD

We are looking forward to welcoming over 300 children into the Abbey to experience life as monk and to reflect on their own life journey. We have a great team but there are still some spaces left. We need 10 pilgrim guides who will take a small group of children to the different workshops throughout the day and help them to reflect on what they are learning. A teacher from the school will also be with you and we will hopefully have 2 pilgrim guides per group. We also need 12 tailors who can make 5 monks robes each for the volunteers to wear. You will be provided with fabric, cotton and the pattern. Life Path will be happening on Monday 27th and Tuesday 28th June. Please contact [email protected] / 07784333361 if you would like to be involved and make a difference to children from across North Wiltshire.

L I FEPATH

A B B E Y G U I L D

N E W W I N E J U LY 3 1 s t – A U G U S T 6 t h 2 0 1 6

The mission of New Wine as a movement is to see local churches playing their part in changing nations. In a couple of months, around 40 members from the Abbey will head off to the Royal Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet, for another unforgettable week of laughter and friendship, passionate worship and inspiring teaching. It’s not too late to book and come with us. You can camp, caravan or commute, come for the whole week, half a week, or just for a day. To book: www.new-wine.org/events/national-gatherings-2016-week-2 Please contact Revd John Monaghan if you are interested in joining us there.

A RULE OF LIFE

T H E C O M M U N I T Y O F S T A L D H E L M

Each member of the Community of St Aldhelm undertakes to draw up, in consultation with Catherine Price, our Lay Prior, a personal Rule of Life, giving practical application to the ideals set out below, as is appropriate for his or her unique circumstances over the next 12 months. The Common Rule Rule One: We commit to saying Anglican Morning Prayer each day, either in the Abbey at 9am, or at other times with others elsewhere, or alone. Rule Two: We commit to a second period of personal or shared prayer and Bible reading each day. Rule Three: We commit to prioritising Sunday worship, and to receive Communion if it is our custom to do so. Rule Four: We commit to meet regularly with other members of the community to eat together and share fellowship Rule Five: We commit to lives of holiness, kindness and simplicity, and to make ourselves accountable to others. Rule Six: We commit to serving God in mission with holy imagination. Rule Seven: We commit to a day of rest at least once a week, where possible. The Personal Rules Up to three personal rules can be added, and these might relate to spiritual reading, physical exercise, work, family life etc.