The Shepherd, November 2006
BROOKWOOD NEWS
BUILDING PROGRESS
IN THE PAST MONTH, despite a number of hitches along the way, our contractors, H. W. Fisher & Son of Aldershot, have made substantial progress in erecting the new monastic house. The block work of the external and interior walls is now at ground floor ceiling height, the joists for the first floor have been put in, and scaffolding has been erected so they can reach new heights. Pictures are being taken every week that they can be posted on our website <www.saintedwardbrotherhood. org> so that those of you who have access to the internet can follow developments. Webmaster: David Jepson Esq - djepson@tasis.com
TRIP TO AUSTRALIA
HAVING PREACHED to others, Fr Alexis is, as usual, ignoring his own good advice and will be travelling in a fast period! He has been invited by His Grace, Archbishop Hilarion of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand, to speak at the 42nd Russian Orthodox Youth Conference to be held in Adelaide at the end of December. This means that he will be away from 13th December until the 3rd January 2007 n.s. During that period, Fr Peter Baulk and Fr Stephen Fretwell will conduct the Sunday services here and at the Convent, and there will be a Liturgy at Brookwood for St Nicolas day, and at the Convent for St Herman’s day. Most other weekday services (which will continue) will be reader services, chanted by the Brotherhood. Fathers Peter and Stephen should also be contacted in case anyone has need of priestly services at that time - their contact details and on the inside front cover of the magazine. Also we anticipate that the next issue of “The Shepherd” will be a double issue to cover both December and January, because unfortunately there will simply not be the time to prepare and despatch two issues. We apologise for any inconvenience this might cause, but ask your forbearance and your prayers.
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PRACTICAL TIP
PERHAPS BY NOW you have armed yourself with diaries for 2007. Then make a point of marking in them the chief days of church observance (feasts, fasts, namedays of loved ones, etc). In this way you will be able to place, as the Psalmist says, Jerusalem as at the head of your joy (see Ps 136). Often we permit everything else in our lives to crowd out our efforts to love God. People will use an excuse, actually an excuse in sin (Ps 140:4), the fact that they had too much work to do on Sunday to attend church, forgetting that this is no excuse because Sunday is set aside for the Lord and is a day on which we are not free to work . Others arrange holidays at times and to places which mean that they miss important feasts of the Church, or are travelling and unable to keep the fasts, either with regard to food or in setting aside time to deepen their spiritual lives. Thus spiritually our lives turn into a complete mess. We distinguish ourselves from the materialists among whom we live only by the keeping of a few token religious observances, but this does not nourish us spiritually, and our religion becomes a kind of superstitious practice rather than a struggle for grace. Somewhere we have to make a start to put all this right, and marking out our diaries for the coming year is a good place to start. One might not achieve what one hopes for, but you will have a much better chance of getting nearer the goal than if you simply allow life (actually death) to take its course.
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