These resources from Churches Together in England are designed to help you prepare for your own celebration on or around Education Sunday, or on any other day during the year, such as the start or end of the academic year. You can use these resources in your church, in local schools, colleges and universities and in other places of learning.

Education Sunday 2012

Sermon or Homily Notes

Primary Collective Worship

Songs and Hymns

Secondary Collective Worship

Ideas for All Age Worship

New!

New PowerPoint for 2012 Primary collective worship – click here

You could also check out http://www.prayforschools.org/.

Next year Education Sunday will be on 27 January, 2013.

April 2012

978-0-521-86006-2
c.£140.00

 

LICC carried this review of the film version of War Horse, by Jason Gardner, which I found really interesting:

The Steven Spielberg film version of Michael Morpurgo’s renowned children’s book, War Horse – about the relationship between the titular animal and a faithful two-legged friend during the First World War – has had its own battle with the critics.

Some have applauded Spielberg, seeing echoes of grander days of Hollywood, drawing comparisons with westerns where the landscape played as great a part as the actors; and yes, there is schmaltz and melodrama aplenty, but it still manages to tug at the heart strings. Others have lambasted it for its idealised portrayal of rural England, cardboard acting, and the veteran director manipulating us to reach for the hankies during the horse’s plight. Even hardened film aficionados have been cursing Spielberg through their tears: ‘A horse?Caught in a war? Of course I’m going to cry!’
It’s not just critics reaching for the tissues. After seeing the film my wife found herself with a line of women in the loos having to readjust make-up because of tear damage.
Why do stories like this stir compassion within us? Perhaps because even though horses have been used for centuries to carry men into battle, in this film the horse is an innocent. The juxtaposition of that which is ‘pure’ surrounded by horror screams at us that something is wrong.
The horse isn’t the only innocent in the film. There’s the orphaned French girl and her protective grandfather, and a 14-year-old German soldier – lying about his age, too eager to be a man – and his protective older brother. And then there are the young Devonian men, ripped from the heart of the English countryside and thrown into war. This, in part, is why Spielberg overplays the rural landscape – to provide a stark contrast with the apocalyptic no man’s land of the Somme.
This instinct for outrage when innocence is attacked is arguably a trait inherited from our Father God. Time and again in the gospels when Jesus is faced with that which opposes God’s shalom, his intended wholeness for the world, he acts to help. The leper cries out, ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean’, and Jesus, ‘filled with compassion’, responds ‘I am willing… be clean’.
May the sight, even the very thought, of innocence betrayed continue to upset and disturb us, and may we act with the instinct, immediacy, and heart of Christ in response.
Jason Gardner
Youth Pastor, St Peter’s West Harrow

Damaris Culturewatch carried an article by Sophie Lister on the same film, and has a discussion guide:

When his drunken father (Peter Mullan) brings home a thoroughbred horse, Devonshire farm boy Albert (Jeremy Irvine) falls in love at first sight. Joey, as he names the spirited animal, is completely unsuitable for farm work – but this doesn’t stop Albert from bonding with him, even training him to plough in an act of defiance against the family’s grabbing landlord (David Thewlis).

But bigger forces are about to tear boy and horse apart. The First World War breaks out, and Joey is sold to Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston), a cavalry officer. Their ride into battle is only the beginning of Joey’s journey, and as the war rages on, he passes through many different hands on all sides of the conflict. Surrounded by chaos and death, it seems unlikely that he will survive – but somewhere in the trenches is his beloved Albert, who has come looking for him. [more...]

Sophie Lister

Read the discussion guide on the CultureWatch website

Published since 1911, Benezit is the most comprehensive bibliographic dictionary of its kind, covering artists from a wide rand of disciplines from across the globe. Now available online for the first time Benezit can be updated and accessed alongside the world-renowned Grove Art Online and other Oxford art titles, making it a vital resource for scholars, students, librarians, museum curators, art dealers, and collectors.

In addition to its scope and depth, two features make Benezit unique among art reference works: its superb coverage of obscure artists, and the inclusion of artists’ signatures, monograms, and stamps of sale.

Experience it for yourself:

While Benezit is only accessible to subscribers, OUP are offering access to the site for two weeks to allow you to explore the service, and evaluate its usefulness for your own research and teaching.

Visit Benezit and get free access for 14 days by entering the following details:
Username: trybenezit
Password: freetrial

A Foundational Tool for the Study of Art History:

•   Over 170,000 entries from the first English edition (2006), the largest edition to date, plus revisions and new biographies exclusively available online
•    More than 11,000 images of artists’ signatures, monograms, and stamps of sale are an excellent resource for provenance research and authentication
•    Detailed museum listings, bibliographies, exhibition information, and auction records support appraisals and acquisitions research
•    Ability to view Benezit results separately or alongside Grove Art and other Oxford art reference works
•    Comprehensive coverage on artists across all media, from painters and sculptors to calligraphers, ceramicists, illustrators, installation artists, and performance artists make this an essential source for research on artists outside the traditional canon

•    Updated three times per year to reflect new scholarship, additions to the bibliographies, and corrections; concurrent with Grove Art updates
Opportunities to Learn More:

Benezit is regularly updated with new articles, tools for navigating content, and improved functionality.
Want to learn more? Take a guided tour of the site, learn the story of Benezit, view an anatomy of an article, or read a letter from the editor.

The Church of England has just released its provisional stats for attendance and affiliation in 2010. Overall the picture is one of a church on the turn, growing again in some areas of the country and some aspects of its life, but not in others, with a headline figure of a very slight decline in Sunday attendance.

But in Ely Diocese the picture is one of growth not decline. Average weekly attendances rose from 19200 in 2009 to 19800 in 2010 with similar increases when other measures are used. Electoral roll aggregate numbers were up from 18900 to 19100, but the really striking growth is among children and young people, where average weekly church attendance is up nearly 10% from 3700 to 4000.

Parishes across the Diocese are also talking about significantly increased congregations at both Remembrance Sunday and Christmas, but the hard figures for these will only appear in a year’s time.

All this is by no means a matter for triumphalism. We obviously hope to see growing numbers coming to church because we do believe that the Christian Gospel is good news for people’s lives, and that what we call “church” can be a real strength in building local community. But we also fully respect people’s right to choose, and good news stops being good news if that is taken away.

Nor is this a moment to sit back and rest on our laurels. There is still a lot of work to do. But it will, I hope, be an encouragement to the hard-working women, men and youngsters who make up the life of our churches and chaplaincies, and another small sign that the tide is beginning to turn.

I will be intrigued to know whether his vision that “religious” activity like ritual and music can nourish humanity can hold true for the long haul. In the end we still confront a real difference between the viewpoint that all we have is human endeavour and choice, and the belief that value and purpose is somehow a given, whatever we make of it, and we not just love but are beloved, even if the whole world rejects us.

I love Bach’s Cello Suites and they are great to chill out to, but the liturgy of the Holy Communion is where Christ comes to meet me, and I find transformation.

Access the table-of-contents by following this link.

The challenge is a great opportunity for parishes to get involved with their local school during Lent, in fact some of the suggestions within the challenge booklet do relate to the local church, so you might well find the schools approaching you for your support!  Remember the challenge is open to all schools – church schools, community schools, academies, special schools, even secondary schools can join in if they wish – so if your local school is not yet on the list of participants you could bring it to their attention and offer to work with them on it – that could be your Lent Challenge!

Dr Shirley Hall

Assistant Diocesan Director of Education

Diocesan Office

Barton Road

Ely

Cambs CB7 4DX

01353 652712

The Cambridge Conversations at Emmanuel College on Saturday 11th February are nearly fully booked now with around 100 participants from movers and shakers to local heroes. Lord Wilson and the Bishop of Ely will top and tail the day with their take on the Big Society. The morning will be spent in rolling discussion groups based on major themes such as education, health, infrastructure and the economy.  Lord Glasman and Dr John Hughes will hold a public conversation about the underlying values, ethics and even theology of society which will lead us into lunch, and then in the afternoon participants will engage with one thematic area in particular to start to forge action alliances to build a better society for us all here in Cambridgeshire. A dedicated website has been commissioned that will keep the conversation going.

Our grand-daughter Charlotte was a whole 1 year old on Monday. This could be the photo that re-appears at her wedding reception!