TO PROMOTE A FREE AND INQUIRING RELIGION THROUGH THE WORSHIP
OF GOD,
THE CELEBRATION OF LIFE, THE SERVICE OF HUMANITY
RESPECT FOR ALL CREATION AND THE UPHOLDING
OF THE FREE CHRISTIAN TRADITION.
Services
Each Sunday at 10.30 am.
Services for August 2008
| |
Speaker |
Theme |
Flowers |
| 3rd August |
Rev Phil Silk |
|
Mrs M Rossell |
| 10th August |
Circle Meeting led by Mrs Joan
Hughes |
|
Mrs Bronwen Taylor |
| 17th August |
Mr Sandy Ellis |
|
Ms Dorothy Haughton |
| 24th
August |
Rev Ann
Latham |
|
Mrs
Margaret Johnston |
| 31st August |
Mrs Bronwen Taylor |
|
Mrs Joan Hughes |
Previous Month
Worship at Shrewsbury takes many forms, in the belief that
variety exists at the centre of a rich spiritual life. We
experience prayer, meditation, poetry, discussion, music and
sometimes silence at our meetings. We come together to foster a
greater understanding of ourselves and others and are unified
by the belief that worship is a journey, not a private
process.
We have a monthly Newsletter. If you wish to receive this,
please let me know.
Marguerite Rossell, Secretary.
Activities
Activities for Children and the younger ones
The following is by one of our younger members, Jonathan
Kewley.
'Why I choose to worship at Shrewsbury.
For me, the Unitarian Church at Shrewsbury is a very special
place. It allows me to freely explore my spiritual identity
without feeling pressure to conform to preconceived concepts of
Christianity.
It is a warm, welcoming community where intellectual rigour is
combined with a genuine desire for spiritual
growth.'
Our history
As a result of the Great Ejection of 1662 two of
Shrewsbury's Anglican clergy, Francis Tallents and John Bryan,
came together to found a dissenting church. Because of the
persecution at that time meetings were held in private homes,
until a small building was made available for them in the
garden of a timber merchant's house in the High Street, then
known as Bakers Row. This was later enlarged as the house was
removed, but in 1715 the Jacobite risings were at their height
and the building was razed. Dissenters were not welcomed!
However, the building was speedily replaced, at a cost of
£429.16 and a half pence paid for by the government, and handed
over to the congregation.
It was substantially renovated in 1839/40 and repairs were
again necessary in 1884/5. The old front was considered too
dark and sombre and replaced by "a light and handsome front
entirely built of local stone". The old pews were replaced in
1904 and later the royal charter granted by George I was hung
above the pulpit, and the organ re-placed and re-sited.
In 2002 further repairs were needed, the entire roof was
replaced, windows repaired and the electrical system renewed,
and the whole building redecorated. On completion we held a
celebratory service of thanksgiving and renewal, both for the
church building and our spiritual lives, and we know that we
have a weatherproof and beautiful church to hand on to future
worshippers.
Charles Darwin worshipped at this church with his mother and
sisters, and attended the minister's school until he went on to
Shrewsbury School; and because Dissenters were not given places
at Universities he attended St Chads. While in Cambridge, and
on The Beagle, his religious leanings slipped away, and
although he married Emma Wedgwood, from a devout Unitarian
family, he lost all his belief in a Deity.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge applied for a living at this church and
was commissioned to give three services. He stayed at the home
of the Hazlitts in Wem, where Mr Hazlitt senior was Unitarian
minister. Mr Hazlitt junior walked with Coleridge from Wem to
Shrewsbury, listened to the service, which he said was the best
he'd heard, and they walked back together. However during the
next week Thomas and Josiah Wedgwood wrote offering him £150
p.a. to devote his time to writing and philosophy. Coleridge
immediately accepted and failed to complete his contract with
our church. Instead he and Wordsworth took a holiday in
France!
Ministry
We have no minister but are very well served by visiting
ministers and lay leaders, interspersed with regular "Circle
Meetings" where we adopt a theme and celebrate it either with
poetry, readings and music, or use it as a basis for
discussion.
Contact us
Church Charity No. 234242
Chairman - Mrs Joan Hughes - telephone 01743 460333
Secretary - Mrs M Rossell - email rmrossell@aol.com
Unitarian Links
COMMUNITY MEANS STRENGTH THAT JOINS OUR STRENGTH TO DO THE
WORK
THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE.
ARMS TO HOLD US WHEN WE FALTER.
A CIRCLE OF HEALING
A CIRCLE OF FRIEMDS.
SOME PLACE WHERE WE CAN BE FREE.
WRITTEN BY STARHAWK BUT THE ETHOS OF EVERY
UNITARIAN CHURCH.
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