Those who attended July’s celebration weekend at Mirfield – and, indeed, those who have read the new Church of the Resurrection book – will be aware that the one major commission outstanding for the Community Church is a new High Altar. The process of identifying the stone and the craftsman to work it has been protracted, as we wanted to ensure the design and materials are ‘right’, and there were a number of hiccups along the way.

We have agreed that the altar should be made of Mandale fossil limestone, quarried in the Peak District, and James Elliott – whose recent commissions include the tomb of Richard III in Leicester Cathedral – has been appointed to undertake the work.

The stone is medium grey, perhaps leaning towards light brown, in colour, and the ivory coloured fossils it contains were laid down in the sedimentary bedrock during the carboniferous period – around 365 million years ago. The fossils are mainly crinoids, brachiopods, corals and even occasionally shark’s teeth! In tune with the whole artistic scheme of the church, and the Stations of Salvation, we wanted an altar that would speak to people of the immensity of the ages, and that ‘a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday’.

There is, inevitably, a cost to finishing and installing the Altar in time for the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the completion of the Community Church in July 2018. We have already received generous support, meaning that we need to find another £10,000 to pay for works in full. If you would be interested in supporting this work, and making a lasting contribution to a focal point of the worship of the Community and our guests, please do be in touch.

George CR

The Community are recruiting for a Part Time Cook/Chef

This is a unique opportunity to be involved in the kitchen at the heart of our well-established site.  You will be expected to look after the smooth running of the kitchen, in charge of a team of catering assistants, cooking food for the brethren, college students, retreatants and other external customers. You will also be expected to ensure that the refectories are professionally presented, clean and tidy.

The hours are annualised including day, evening and weekend shifts, with a working pattern:

Term Time:

Minimum of 30 hours per week for 39 weeks (5 days over 7).
Shifts are usually 7am to 2.30pm or 2pm to 8pm.

Non Term Time:

Minimum of 21 hours per week for 13 weeks (3 or 4 days over 7).
Shifts are usually 7am to 2.30pm or 3pm to 8pm.

The post holder is entitled to 4 weeks holiday per year pro rata, plus bank holidays.

For further information and an application pack, please e-mail Ben Simmons.
Closing date for applications: Thursday 8th of June 2017

On Sunday afternoon, 22^nd January, the Community of the Resurrection hosted the Churches Together in Mirfield and District and their annual Unity Service.  This year’s liturgy was written by the churches of Germany, and its theme entitled “Crossing Barriers” reflected their experiences of life in a country that was divided by the Iron Curtain during the Cold War.

Nearly fifty people gathered in the Community Church for a service that involved participation from members who are Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, Moravian, Roman Catholic and Salvation Army.  During the course of the liturgy a wall of stones was erected, representing the barriers that humanity creates to separate ourselves one from another.  Later within the service that wall was torn down and rebuilt in the shape of a cross.

It was an inspiring occasion of ecumenical cooperation and the hospitality of CR continued after the service with refreshments in the New Refectory.

January 14th 2017 saw the launch of St Hild College, formed by the merger of St Barnabas Theological Centre and the Yorkshire Ministry Course, which has been based at Mirfield since 2007. St Hild will train Anglican ordinands, Baptist ministers in training and independent students through teaching centres in Mirfield, Sheffield and York. The partnership with Mirfield will continue, with the St Hild College office continuing to be based at the site.

In the coming years, the new college will continue to develop full time contextual ordination training. This route combines residential, academic and contextual formation. Ordinands are based at a local parish for 2-3 years where they live and serve in context. Academic tuition is delivered via undergraduate and postgraduate teaching at at Sheffield, Mirfield or York. Six times each year they gather with other St Hild ordinands for residential weekends on the Mirfield site following the pattern established by YMC.

Fr George, delivering the address during the Service of Commissioning at Dewsbury Minster, spoke of the need for this new initiative to connect with divine energy. ‘This energy came from the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and that never dries up’. He concluded, ‘we pray for the prospering of St Hild College in all its diversity, bringing together people from many traditions, many localities, churchmanships, denominations and backgrounds…because there is a message to be proclaimed and a light to be shone’.

For more details, see sthild.org

The community was glad to welcome a group of novices for a conference on the theme of ‘Office and Eucharist,’ expertly led by Fr. George CR. The gathering was part of a two-year rolling programme organised and facilitated jointly by the novice guardians of our various Anglican religious communities. It was extremely good that we were able to host this session, and to share something of CR’s life.

We enjoyed a varied programme, with a good balance of teaching, learning and recreation. Mornings involved a daily singing practice to get to grips with the plainchant, before a lecture-style session on a particular aspect of our topic. This enabled insightful discussion on life in our respective communities. We also enjoyed a walk, a social evening (not entirely teetotal!), and a wonderful excursion to Dewsbury Minster at the end of the week where we saw the beautiful chapel of St. Paulinus and were photographed in front of the fine wooden reredos in the narthex.

A good time of fellowship and learning had by all – we are now looking forward to being together for the next conference!

The community has been fortunate of late to enjoy visits from other communities. The latest of these has been by the Archbishop’s Community of St. Anselm based at Lambeth Palace. Last week we hosted Miranda and Michael, Methodist North American citizens from Florida and Mississippi.

The Community was set up in September 2015, when the Archbishop  invited Christians aged twenty to thirty-five to join a religious order dedicated to prayer and service of the poor. The community follows a regular Benedictine rhythm of prayer, work and study which shapes its charism. Altogether, there are thirty-six members of St. Anselm comprising resident and non-resident members Applications are invited from across the world, giving an international feel to the group as a whole. The setup of this community speaks strongly of Archbishop Justin’s belief that the religious life continues to speak resoundingly to the church in our day.

The Prior was able to put together a varied programme for our visitors, who took part in everything from a site tour (with yours truly,) to gardening with the noviciate and church cleaning! We also heard their contributions to discussions on ‘The Life’ and ‘Following Christ today.’ At the end of the week, the novices were able to host a social for Miranda and Michael, during which we participated in a fun game of heads-up! (Don’t ask.)

This second visit of St. Anselm’s members was again mutually fruitful in terms both of our learning about the look of 21^st century monastic life and sharing fellowship. It is my second experience of these visits, and I think it’s definitely something we brothers of CR are coming to value.

The Mirfield Centre hosted a fully-booked residential conference on Anglican Social Theology from 20th to 21st January. Participants came from across the country including Truro, London, Gloucester and Durham. The speakers told the story of this movement from its Nineteenth century roots in the thought and action of F.D Maurice and the Christian Socialists, through Brooke Foss Westcott and Mirfield’s own Charles Gore, to William Temple and his successors.

Jeremy Morris, Alison Milbank, Paul Avis, Fr Thomas Sevile and Stephen Spencer told this story and responded to each other’s papers, building up a sense of ongoing conversation through the conference. Malcolm Brown, Susan Lucas and Matthew Bullimore brought us into the present, paying attention to our neo-liberal context and drawing out the contribution of the movement’s ‘coalition communitarianism’ (Brown) to our increasingly atomistic society at local as well as national level.

Four of the lectures comprised the Scott Holland lectures, a triannual set of lectures going back to 1922 and founded in memory of Henry Scott Holland. Bill Jacob, the chair of the Scott Holland Trust, described how the lectures had been thoroughly engaging and fascinating. Stephen Spencer, vice principal of St Hild College based at Mirfield and conference convenor, will be turning the papers into a book to be published by SCM Press in the autumn.