Prayer and Worship Resources
This page collects links to resources that you might find helpful
whilst our regular services in church are put on hold. Many of the pages
are
updated frequently, so please check for the latest information.
Service booklets
The Order of Mass
This is the "normal" order of Mass for Thursdays in the Epiphany to Candlemas season.
- Short text suitable for printing or downloading to a mobile device.
Resources accessible by telephone
-
For those unable to access a church service online, please use the Church of England's
Daily Hope freephone number, dial 0800 804 8044, for daily hymns, reflections and prayers
On-line resources
Learning resources
- Week of Prayer for Christian Unity from 18 to 25
January.
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland have produced a range of
resources for this year's Week of Prayer, prepared by Christians in the
Middle East on the theme 'We Saw His Star in the East'.
The resources are freely available to download.
- Some of the commemorations in the calendar from 23 to 29 January are:
- Francis de Sales Monday 24 January, bishop, teacher of the faith, 1622.
His best known writing is probably the Introduction to the Devout Life.
A number of religious communities hae grown up around his spirituality.
- Thomas Aquinas, Friday 28 January, priest, philosopher, teacher of the faith, 1274
- For a guide to editions and translations of the Summa Theologiae see
Oxford Handbooks on-line
- There is a volume on
Thomas Aquinas
in the Oxford University Press Very Short Introductions series by Fergus Kerr, which focuses on the Summa.
- The five hymns written by Thomas Aquinas are discussed in a paper by Martin Shea, OP, in the 1926 issue of the the
Dominican Journal,
Dominicana
- The Aquinas Institute at Blackfriars in Oxford, the
Oxford home of a community of Dominican Friars
- The Jesuit scholar, Fr Roberto Busa, made a major contribution to the field now known as Digital Humanities through the use of computers to process scholarly texts, starting with a sample concordance of the poetry of Thomas Aquinas in 1951.
Roberto Busa, S.J., and the Invention of the Machine-Generated Concordance
- The continuation of the work started by Fr Busa, the
Index Thomisticus project
- Oxford Diocese
- New Spring Courses from the Diocese
A range of courses (online and in-person) for Licensed Lay Ministers and
others to help you grow in your faith, discipleship and understanding
and to become further equipped to serve God in everyday life at work, at
home and through church.
- New podcast series
Episode 1: Exiles
We will only navigate the challenges of the coming years if we learn to
be a deeper church again. This new series of podcasts explores what God
is saying to us as a Church through the first letter of Peter.
Join the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Revd Dr Steven Croft, and some of his
fellow bishops from around the world as they rediscover that the
medicine Peter offers is good for today's church.
Links to the podcasts can be found in
Bishop Steven's blog.
- Diocesan Synod met on Saturday 13 November. The agenda and papers for the meeting are available
here.
-
Presentations from the induction event for new Synod Members, 27 September 2021
- Bishop Steven in the House of Lords, our bishop's
contributions to debates during the
week ending 10 September
-
Summary, papers and recording of the Synod meeting held on 19 June
- Annual Review, May 2021
-
Come and See
is an invitation from our Bishops to local communities to take the
first steps in exploring faith. Many people are asking deep questions of
faith. Did you know 1 in 5 people watching church online during the
pandemic didn't regularly attend before the crisis? Come and See
is a free online experience to help you find out more about the
Christian faith. It all started on Sunday 24 January and the first
series ended on 3 April. There will be opportunity to join another Come
and See journey in the future.
Some of the resources from the first journey are available on the
web site.
- COP 26
- Reflections on COP 26
by Claire Spooner UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) lead for Stakeholder Engagement at COP26
- A Candle in the Window (Parish Magazine)
The December issue contains a series of articles reflecting on the outcome of COP 26.
- United Nations Climate Change the UN web site
containing links to the conference documents
- Resources from some scientific societies:
-
Bishop Olivia at COP26
Bishop Olivia, Bishop of Reading, is attending the conference and joining a range of events.
Recordings of interviews she has given to local radio stations can be found on the
Diocese of Oxford Soundcloud site.
- From the Anglican Communion - Anglican Consultative Council:
-
Facing up to the spiritual challenge of the environmental crisis,
23 November.
The Kellogg College
annual Vincent Strudwick lecture on Religion in Public Life will be
given by the Rt Revd Olivia Graham, Bishop of Reading, at 5.30pm. This
lecture will be online. To receive the link to the event, please book
thorough
Eventbrite.
- Diocese of Oxford
COP26 Engagement Opportunities
these include writing to or emailing your MP (for Abingdon this is layla.moran.mp@parliament.uk), or the COP co-president
alok.sharma.mp@parliament.uk or the Prime Minister boris.johnson.mp@parliament.uk.
The COP26 Engagement Opportunities web site has a link to a
document
produced by the Quakers which is a general guide for contacting MPs. It
is important to include your name and address in your email or letter
so that your MP knows you live in their constituency.
-
A moment of opportunity and truth
The powerful and historic joint statement on the environment
issued by Archbishop Justin, Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as part of the preparations for COP 26
was followed on 4 October by a gathering of faith leaders from across the world in the Vatican and the release of
a new joint statement by all the world's religions: Faith and Science: an appeal for COP 26.
The appeal was presented to COP26 President-Designate, the Rt Hon Alok
Sharma, and the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Luigi Di
Maio.
-
Before and during COP26 there was a series of events, both face-to-face and virtual, open to the public.
- The Office for National Statistics Carbon dioxide emissions and woodland coverage where you live (21 October). The levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and woodland coverage vary across the UK.The ONS interactive maps let you see how your area looks, and how it compares with other areas.
- The
text of a letter from the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury,
A Joint Message for the Protection of Creation that was published on 7 September 2021
-
Responding to the Climate Crisis
includes links to recent publications by members of the Anglican Society of St Francis
-
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland
offer a range of resources to support Climate Sunday.
- Olivia, Bishop of Reading, gave a talk on Climate Sunday in St Mary's Church Greenham. A video of her talk is available on
YouTube.
Links are provided below to some of the resources Bishop Olivia mentions in her talk.
- A Christian Guide to Environmental Issues
by Martin Hodson and Margot Hodson, published by BRF
- The
Eco Church scheme
- The Diocese of Oxford's
EcoHub which is organised as a collection of zones:
the Knowledge Zone for facts on climate change, the Action Zone for advice on making practical change and the Reflection Zone offering theological resources.
The specialist Net Zero Zone offers information on the path to net zero.
- Readers might like to read the
transcript
of Canon Ward's sermon,
Service and Sacrifice,
preached in Christ Church Cathedral on Sunday 25 July 2021.
- Mirfield Talks - Festival Day 2021
A series of talks given by brethren of the Community of the
Resurrection for the Festival Day (11 July 2021), which focus on the
environment and our response to it, is now available on
YouTube.
- Mirfield Talks. Fr Nicolas CR is giving a series of talks which are available on YouTube. So far he has recorded:
- The first video in the series is on John Bradburne, who is
currently on his way to being beatified and onwards to saint hood with
the Catholic Church. Please click here to watch the video. From 1969 to being shot in 1979 John was warden at Mutemwa Leprosy Settlement, in Zimbabwe.
See also The John Bradburne Memorial Society
- Praying in a technological world
- Pope Francis And The Poor
- CR Growing in Christ
- The Promise of Eternal Life
- Fr Nicolas in conversation with Claire Gilbert, talking about her recent experience of cancer and her work as Director of the
Westminster Abbey Institute
Her recent publications include
Letters from Lockdown: Sustaining public service values during the Covid-19 pandemic
Fr Charlie, novice CR, has recorded a talk on the
Sayings of the Desert Fathers.
- An
on-line labyrinth.
- Cathedrals have responded to the pandemic in a variety of ways and offer a range of live-streamed worship.
- The History of Stations of the Cross
A very interesting talk by an American Roman Catholic Franciscan brother.
For information about Franciscan brothers and sisters in the Anglican Communion see the
web site.
-
Alone Together Reflections from monks and nuns on isolation and distancing, led by Fr Christopher Jamison, OSB.
-
Thriving in Lockdown
Br Marc CR speaks about his time in lockdown in
this interview with Caleb Ellwood of York Gateway church.
- Some readers may remember The Revd Dr Joe Kennedy, a former curate at St Michael's. He is now vicar of the
Parish of Oxton St Saviour, Wirral. The church's web site includes an on-line worship section.
Archives
- The Diocese of Oxford has a SoundCloud archive
which includes recordings of services as well as talks given on Local Radio stations by the Bishops and clergy
of the diocese.
Service Booklets
Lightly modified versions of the service booklet for the liturgies
that would traditionally be used at St Michael's are available to
download.