Newsletter November
2018
Dear Friends,
Since our last newsletter, we have held our AGM for
2018 and elected the Secretariat. We will continue to send information from
Bristol Cursillo unless you request that you no longer wish to receive
newsletters as we are very keen to keep in touch with all 4th day
community. Those of us who have continued to attend Group Reunions continue to
find them very helpful and we would encourage you to think of trying to attend.
If you currently do not participate in a group reunion and would like to do so
please let Angela know so that we can arrange to make contact with others for
you.
This newsletter includes:
• The results of elections at the AGM
• Reminder of planned Ultreyas
• Introduction to Hazel Tomkins, our new BACC Representative
• The Cost of Prayer from our Spiritual Director
• Lay Director report
• Advance notice of garden party
Annual General Meeting
We
held our Annual General Meeting on 20th October 2018. The elections resulted
in the following appointments:
Lay
Director – Angela Smith
Treasurer
– Tony Gardener
Secretary
– Hilary Greene
Communications
Officer – Hilary Greene
Palanca
Rep – Hilary Greene
BACC
representative – Hazel Tomkins
Co-opted
member s– Jean Beech
We
are delighted to welcome Hazel to the Secretariat and that Tony is willing to
take on the role of Treasurer. Rev Alastair Davies remains as our Spiritual
Director.
Ultreyas
·
Wednesday 21st November 7.30pm at the
home of Janet Browning, 4 Haweswater, Twenty Acres Road, Westbury, Bristol,
BS10 6PU
·
Friday 22nd February 2019 7.00pm at St
Mary’s, Hullavington – with National Council. Starting with a meal.
BACC
Representative
Hello
everyone. I would like to introduce
myself as the new BACC rep for Bristol Diocese. My husband Chris and I moved to
Dursley four years ago to be near family having spent most of our fifty years
of married life in the north of England around north Lancashire and the south
Lakes. We made our Cursillo in 2003 on Blackburn 38 and were active in that
diocese until our move. I hope I can fulfil the role entrusted to me and
together we can continue God’s work wherever we are.
Many
Blessings
Hazel Tomkins
The Cost of Prayer
We
know that ‘Prayer, Study and Action’ form the basis of Cursillo; for us who
follow in the way of Christ, this discipline is particularly important in our
daily prayers and when we meet together in small groups or attend an Ultreya.
It
is significant that prayer comes first, because it forms the gateway towards a
vision of God for which we were created. When we pray we are united with Jesus
in God’s work of reconciliation. As St Paul says, “God shows his love for
us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Our
prayer and daily life are indivisible. When we pray, we do so just ‘as we
are’, learning to accept ourselves and preparing to invite God into every
part of our life.
Prayer
is both a journey and a reaching-out towards the heart of God; essentially
an inner longing, a love affair with God. He comes in search of us.
Our hearts are restless, until they find their rest in him. When we discover
his great love for us in our lives, so we come to acknowledge that through
sin we have often marred his image in us; inevitably we are
challenged to make a true conversion of life. We should not see
prayer as hoping to ‘get something ‘for ourselves, or others; perhaps security,
or happiness or fulfilment. At the heart of our prayer must be the
surrendering of ourselves to God, so that by grace, he can work in us what he
wills. Prayer incites in us a costly giving in love.
‘Each
person must decide whether they are willing to pay the cost of entering into a
continually renewed and continually deepening relationship with God in prayer.
This requires positive detachment for those giving themselves seriously
to the work of prayer. If prayer is learning to unite our wills with the will
of God, then the cost must be the cost of Calvary’.
[Encountering
the Depths. Mother Mary Clare SLG]
Ultreya!
Rev
Alastair Davies
Spiritual
Director
From our Lay Director
As
I write this I am preparing to visit Norwich for the BACC Standing Committee
Meeting on Friday afternoon (16th November) and the Full BACC Council meeting
on Saturday, 17th November. I am
delighted that Hazel, the new Bristol Cursillo BACC Rep, will be travelling to
Norwich with me. At the start of the
Standing Committee meeting a short group reunion is held with attendees sharing
one thing under either prayer, study or action.
On the Friday evening an Ultreya will be held with the Norwich Cursillo
community. On Saturday morning, prior to
the full BACC meeting there is a worship including the floating group
reunion. Norwich is a long way but the
benefits of networking with other Cursillistas from around the country, and the
support offered by them and other members of the Standing Committee make the
travelling worthwhile for me personally and Bristol Diocese as a whole.
In
the Bristol Diocese group reunions occur regularly – usually on a monthly
basis. Other Cursillistas are keen to
attend group reunions but diary and other commitments have prevented these
happening on a regular basis. I feel
saddened by this and continually pray that issues can be resolved so that more
regular group reunions occur. Together
with following a rule of life, the group reunion is the bedrock of
Cursillo. Quoting from the Group Reunion
booklet from the Resource Manual (available to download free of charge from the
BACC website):
WHY
HAVE GROUP REUNION?
At
the heart of Group Reunion is a living experience of life in grace shared with
others who seek to live by the same ideal, a realisation of what St Paul
(Patron Saint of the Cursillo Movement) meant when he wrote, “Now you are the
body of Christ and individually members of it.” (1 Cor. 12.77) As is often said in Cursillo, ‘An isolated
Christian is a paralysed Christian.’ Group Reunion can provide the mutual
enrichment, support and encouragement we need if we are to persevere in our
Christian discipleship in response to God’s call to us to be saints and
apostles. By facilitating the sharing of personal experience of seeking to live
a Christian life of piety, study and action, it can become a well-spring of
transformation for group members and, through them, for the world God loves. In
Group Reunion, the Body of Christ is made real to its members as they open
their inner selves to one another and grow in mutual, Christ-centred love.
By meeting with other Cursillistas on a frequent and regular basis,
relationships grow enabling trust, openness and honesty allowing those
attending the group to support and encourage each other (this is a two way
process of both giving and receiving support and encouragement) on our
Christian Journeys for the benefit of Christ.
Bristol
Diocese has several Cursillistas who travel long distances to participate in
group reunions and continually pray for a local group. Until we have an
appointed 4th day co-ordinator I am trying to co-ordinate Cursillistas who wish
to become part of a regular group reunion.
If you are not attending a regular group reunion please give this action
prayerful consideration.
The
Cursillo Movement now encourages non-Cursillistas who are interested in the
Cursillo movement to participate in group reunions prior to attending a
weekend. If you know of anyone who is a
committed member of the Church who you think would be interested in the Cursillo
method please do hold them in prayer and invite them to attend a group reunion
with you. In time, if they are
interested in attending the weekend this can be arranged through the
Secretariat, with the approval of their local priest, at a neighbouring Diocese
which holds regular weekends.
CHRIST
IS COUNTING ON US – AND WE ON HIM!
ULTREYA!
Angela
Smith
Lay
Director
Garden Party
Unfortunately
we had to cancel our 2018 garden party but the 2017 party was such a success,
we are planning another one for 2019. This will be held in Tony Gardener’s
beautiful garden in Sutton Benger and the provisional date is 13th
July.
BACC Pages
The National
Newsletter for Autumn 2018 has been published on the BACC
website. http://www.anglicancursillo.co.uk/bacc-pages.php
Contact
details:–
Hilary
Greene, Secretary and Communications Officer
3
Rectory Close
Stanton
St Quintin
Chippenham
Wiltshire
SN14
6DT
01666
837850
Angela
Smith, Lay Director
2
Stantone
Malmesbury
Road,
Lower
Stanton St Quintin
Chippenham
Wiltshire
SN14
6BS
01666
837478
