Go Fourth!

Summer 1997

• Diocesan Spiritual Director's Letter
• From The Diocesan Lay Director
• Try A New Way?
• Walk To Emmaus
• Chester #21: In A Creative Mood
• 2000 And All That...
• Prayer Vigil
• Screwi Lay Rector's Report - 3rd March 1997
• Read Any Good Books Recently?
• Twinned Ultreyas

DIOCESAN SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR'S LETTER

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Dear Friends,

Ultreya! Ultreya!

I want to say to you Ultreya! and to urge you to persevere in promoting Cursillo. It is not always easy to keep up our enthusiasm when perhaps we only see what is happening or not happening in our own small corner. But we live in exciting times for Chester Anglican Cursillo. There are signs of new growth in all sorts of ways, and I can sense God's hands upon us. For example, when I went to see Bishop Peter recently he expressed great interest in what Cursillo stood for and what we were doing in the diocese and has booked for a weekend in 1998. Bishop Peter has also said he would like to officiate at our tenth birthday celebrations. 'Happening' is coming to the diocese, and numbers continue to attend weekends.

You can help this work by telling people about the Cursillo and inviting them to attend a weekend. Don't be down hearted by lack of response but pray for those you are thinking of asking that God will prepare the way for you. If they say no, so be---it keep them in your prayers and ask them again later, but don't give up talking to people about Cursillo. Next year is our tenth birthday and I hope that you will come to the service in the Cathedral on May the 9th 1998. I also hope you will bring a non Cursillo friend with you.

It might be that at one time you were very involved in Cursillo but have for all sorts of reasons become disillusioned and separated from cell groups or ultreyas. I do urge you to recapture your 'first love' for Cursillo, to regain the dream you had and the experience you felt on your weekend. Your friends in Cursillo need you now.

The cry Ultreya! comes to us, as it did for the many pilgrims on the way to the shrine, at the steepest part of the climb. For them it came in the heat of the day long before they could see before them the shrine of St James. For us it comes at the beginning of new growth before we see and share the glory. But believe me God is with us! He will bring the growth! and he wants to bless us! all he asks is that we remain faithful and continue to work for the coming of the kingdom.

So my brothers and sisters the cry I give you at this time is Ultreya! Ultreya because we are pilgrims on the way and Cursillo can be means of great blessing to many who will only hear if we tell them.

Every blessing, Stephen

FROM THE DIOCESAN LAY DIRECTOR

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Since becoming Lay Director last November I am slowly but surely working my way to visit each of our Ultreyas. It is good to meet with friends in Christ around the diocese. Sylvia and I have been warmly welcomed by you all and I am grateful for your support---it means a lot to me.

We are all here to give encouragement to one another in order to be strong for the challenges that lie ahead for us in proclaiming the Good News as we approach the new millennium.

One of the most profound readings I heard during one of the talks given on a Cursillo weekend was from Romans 10:14-15:

How then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?
And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?
And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
And how can they preach unless they are sent?
As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

In the last issue of BACC Pages I proclaimed that it was the vision of Chester Cursillo to hold four weekends a year by the year 2000.

If we are to reach our goal, it is up to each one of us to proclaim the Good News of Christ working in us through Cursillo---You can do it!

Yours in Christ,

Keith Craddock

TRY A NEW WAY?

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Having tried for some time to encourage others in our church to experience a Cursillo weekend--- but with no success; we tried to think of new ways to interest people in Cursillo.

We had all given it a mention at some time or other during the Family Services; the leaflets were always in church, and the Cursillo display boards had been used; but all to no avail. This was very frustrating for us, after all we know we have something really wonderful to share! So we got our heads together and came up with the following 'action' plan:

1.

Identify those in our church fellowship who we thought may respond to the Cursillo method.

2.

Send an invitation to each one in the form of a letter asking them to spend an evening at one of our homes to hear about Cursillo and share a meal.

3.

Each of us to play a particular part in the presentation by giving each one of the five talks---'The History of Cursillo', 'Cursillo in the World', 'Cursillo in Chester Diocese', 'The Weekend' and 'The Fourth Day'. Two witness accounts to be given of the effects of a weekend.

4.

All of us to pray about it.

About half the number invited came along, there were ten altogether including folk from two other local churches; also with us were our Spiritual Director, Father Stephen and Carolyn Waters. Between the third and fourth talk a simple soup and buffet supper was served. A deliberate decision was taken not to use any of the 'foreign' words during the evening, such as Ultreya, De Colores, Rollos, etc; and no attempt was made to pressurise anyone to go on a weekend.

It would be really marvellous to be able to say that all our guests were immediately anxious to sign up, but two or three hope to do so next year, and the others have said many times since that they enjoyed the Christian Fellowship and that they are pleased they now know what Cursillo is, and what it does, and we feel that we are not now seen as a mysterious little group in church.

The presence of the Holy Spirit was felt strongly during the evening, and we pray that with the Lord's help, and in His good time, strong shoots will come from the seeds planted.

Keith, Sylvia, Joan, June and Gerry. St.Stephen's, Congleton.

WALK TO EMMAUS

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The Walk to Emmaus #6 was held 20^th-23^rd February at St Josephs College, Up Holland, near Wigan. Walk to Emmaus is the Methodist equivalent of Cursillo, and before the weekend they made two requests of Chester Cursillo. The first was to provide a Music gofor, which Steve Clapham from Offerton kindly agreed to do. The second was to join their fourth day community on the Saturday evening and at the closing service on the Sunday.

A group of us joined the community on the Saturday evening for their Eucharist service where we prayed for each participant and staff member by name. At the end of the service we greeted the participants with a candle-lit procession then we left them to continue with their own candle-lit service.

A further group joined the community for the closing service on Sunday afternoon.

St Josephs college was built in the eighteen hundreds as a seminary and is now partly a conference centre. In this magnificent holy building on this particular weekend was not only a Walk to Emmaus weekend, but a Roman Catholic Cursillo training day as well, as St Josephs is the home of Roman Catholic Cursillo in the UK.

At the Eucharist we shared with Methodist, Roman Catholics, and Anglicans who had all experienced the joy of a Cursillo weekend. We were all able to join together as one body in the name of Christ. Denomination didn't matter. It was a most moving experience, one we look forward to repeating in the future. We are all pilgrims together walking the way of the Lord.

Sylvia Craddock

CHESTER #21: IN A CREATIVE MOOD

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The 21^st Cursillo weekend, held at Savio House proved to be quite creative in many respects: two of the tables felt led into 'performing' the following, erm, well... these.

The table of Hugh of Lincoln produced a slightly modified version of Psalm 121 (and they sung it beautifully with a proper Anglican chant):

1

I will lift up my eyes ^| unto the ^| hills:
But that's about as ^| far as ^| it ^| went.

2

We came here ^| expecting a ^| rest:
But shall return home utt^|erly ^| cream^|crackered.

3

The timetable hath been an interesting ^| work of ^| fiction:
Day and night became ^| one ^| in the eyes ^| of our Rector.

4

We arrived burdened ^| with heavy ^| hearts:
But 'Ultreyaed' with ^| joy and ^| heavy ^| tums.

5

Copious lectures assa^|ulted our ^| ears:
and multiple art works were ^| forméd by ^| our ^| fingers.

6

But the Lord laughed with us and ^| warmed us with ^| his love:
He will protect our going out and our coming in from ^| this time forth ^| for ever^|more.

The table of David of Wales came up with a song, sung to the tune of 'The Cambridge Boat Song' (or is it the 'Eaton Boating Song'? The one that goes: "Lovely boating weather...") and sung with four parts (numbers in square brackets indicate whose part):

1

^[1,2,3]We are three young ladies
All of us most devout.
We all enjoy religion,
Without a shadow of doubt.
There's only one church in the village
So to the same church we all go,
Although our views are different
^[3]Medium, ^[1]High ^[2]and Low.

2

^[1]I'm Anglocatholica:
I like my churches high.
With clouds and clouds of incense,
Ascending to the sky.
I call my vicar 'Father,'
And love to genuflect.
And watch the ceremonial:
To see that it's all correct.

3

^[2]I am evangelica:
I never smoke or drink.
I always read my bible,
It tells me what to think.
I don't have to worry,
'cos every word is true.
I know I'm saved---Alleluia!
But think friend, what about you?

4

^[3]I am mediocre:
I know what I like.
I'm no fundamentalist
And I'm certainly not a spike!
I always go to Matins,
and sometimes to Evensong.
And I like a rousing sermon:
Provided its not too long.

5

^[1,2,3]We're going to have a new vicar:
We hope that he will be
^[1]Catholic--- ^[2]Evangelical--- ^[3]Ordinary ^[1,2,3]just like me.
We hope he will be Handsome,
O wouldn't it just be nice---
Rewarding---a vocation:
To be a vicar's wife.

6

^[4]I am the new vicar,
My husband's in the car:
With all our 15 children,
Goldfish and budgerigar.
How pleased I am to meet you
I'm sure you're all most devout,
And I'd like to start tomorrow:
By cleaning the churchyard out!

7

^[1,2,3]Oooooh! What a catastrophe!
Whatever shall we do?
We really think it's our duty
To go somewhere else, don't you?
^[1]It's only a tuppenny busride
I think I'll go off to Rome.
^[2]I'll join the Salvation Army.
^[3]And I'll just stay at home.

2000 AND ALL THAT...

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There's a lot of talk these days about 'the year 2000' (or, as a lot of magazines are starting to call it, Y2K). It seems, according to the press, that on the 1st January, 2000 all the world's computers are going to stop working (believe me, it doesn't take anything as trivial as the millennium to stop my computer working) and the whole of society is going to be thrown into complete disarray. Personally, I don't believe a word of it: yes, some computer programs will stop working, and some actual computers will think that it's 1900, but I cannot see it being the calamity that is being predicted.

When the press can finally get their minds off crashing computers (it has just occurred to me: I wonder how many journalists have checked their own computers?), and the debate as to whether the millennium starts in 2000 or 2001: they do get around to mentioning the various celebrations which will be accompanying the new millennium.

Not to be outdone, I shall get on to the celebrations which the British Anglican Cursillo Council have in store.

Geoff Riley

There is to be a 'Millennium UK Ultreya' which is planned to be held in Canterbury Cathedral, it is hoped that the Archbishop of Canterbury will be present. Arrangements will be announced closer to the time (it is still 2½ years off).

PRAYER VIGIL

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Many of us will always remember that feeling of warmth and utter astonishment when we received our first palanca on the Friday afternoon of our Cursillo weekend and read our individual messages of love and encouragement from fellow Christians we had never met from all over the world. People who had been praying for us for weeks, who knew us by name and would always be our sisters and brothers in Christ. Many people find it difficult to accept this outpouring of love and need time to accept it, but for many this is the moment when they finally accept God's unfailing love and receive His gift of His Holy Spirit. These outward messages of love and support are very important, but not as important as the gift of prayer.

Prayer is the underpinning of every Cursillo weekend wherever it is held world wide. It supports and upholds the weekend from beginning to end and into the Fourth Day.

In Chester, as in all diocese where Cursillo is operating, we have a prayer vigil for every weekend which starts at 6pm on the Thursday evening and ends at 3:30pm on the Sunday afternoon when the Clausura begins. It is divided into 30 minute slots and each cursillista is asked to fill in a time slot when he or she can pray. In the past each Ultreya has been allocated a block time slot, but many people find this restrictive and difficult to fit in with. For the October weekend the prayer vigil will be left open for everyone to choose their own time in the hope that more people will feel able to participate in this most important part of the weekend. Many people outside our diocese pray for the staff and participants of our weekends, so it is most important that we at the heart of Chester Cursillo pray for them too. These new cursillistas will become our brothers and sisters in Christ and as others prayed for us, so we must repay that gift of prayer and pray for others.

Sylvia Craddock

Palanca Secretary

SCREWI LAY RECTOR'S REPORT - 3rd MARCH 1997

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SCREWI is still meeting at approximately six-weekly intervals on a Saturday morning followed by breakfast. Numbers attending vary between eight and fifteen.

Cell-groups are meeting in Sandbach/Winsford, Nantwich, Elworth and Church Lawton; one of our members meets in a Cell group of another Ultreya.

Pat remains Lay Rector because it was felt that some continuity was needed as a result of Fr Simon Hamill-Stewart becoming our SD. It is hoped that, at some time in the future, a new Lay Rector will come forward. We are prepared for a probable growth in the Nantwich area which most definitely will result in a natural division into two.

Pat Riley

READ ANY GOOD BOOKS RECENTLY?

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I look along my book shelves (and at the piles of books which have no shelf space available) and wonder where I got a lot of them. There are books on many different topics, but mainly they fall into two topics: computers and religion. Whilst I was the Observing Lay Rector on the last weekend, it came to my notice that the book list given out on a weekend is now woefully out of date, and a new one needs to be compiled. The Secretariat would, therefore, like to know your opinion.

If there are any books which you feel should have a place on the weekend book list, please let any member of the Secretariat know.

Remember that, ideally, the books should still be in print. One of the problems with the current list is that a number of the books are no longer available.

Geoff Riley

TWINNED ULTREYAS

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