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From the Dean.... |
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Dear Friends
The Church has, since early centuries, referred to this particular Sunday, mid Lent Sunday, as Mothering Sunday, focusing on our dependence on the life of the church in the formation and nourishment of our Christian faith. |
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| In Victorian Times the
concept of ‘Mothering’ changed as young people who had left home to
work ‘in service’ at the homes of the landed gentry and the high and
mighty returned home to the bosom of the family to enjoy a time of
refreshment in the middle of the Lenten ‘fast’ with Mum. Since then,
as in so many other contexts, the secular world has stolen the
clothes of the church and turned the occasion into a commercial
opportunity popularly called ‘Mother’s Day.’ For the church the question is, do we continue to use and stress the original idea or do we give in to the modern distortion or do we embrace both? In Matthew 10:16 Jesus says “…be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” I interpret that to mean that we can use any legitimate means at our disposal to further the Kingdom of God. In this case it means taking back our clothes since they are obviously so meaningful to this present generation and reasserting their original force…to build up the church and extend the Kingdom of God! I am proposing that we use that particular weekend to build up our congregations by inviting our friends and neighbours who don’t normally attend church to come with us. I am continually astounded at the number of people who do not know St Christopher’s Cathedral exists (some of those people have lived in Bahrain a long time). I am also surprised by the number of people who say they go to church ‘back home’ but have never darkened our doors. I also hear the comments ‘Manama is too far from Saar or Budaiya’, or ‘I won’t drive into Manama. The traffic is too terrible.’ Well we have the answer to that! I aim to begin an Anglican service at St Christopher’s Junior School in Saar around that time. Day and time to be announced! So, watch this space. In the first half of Lent we shall be issuing invitations for you to distribute to people who do not normally attend Church here in Bahrain and might well respond to a personal invitation to come on their own or with you to one of our existing services. Our new venture in Saar is an attempt to reach out into the community on the west side of the Island on an occasion which is accessible to most people as we focus on our mothers. Our invitations will serve as a promotional venture which depends on all who regularly attend our services to make an extra effort and do their bit to promote the church during this holy season of Lent. I wish you all a holy Lent worthy of a good preparation for Easter... Alan Hayday |
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