Courses

Canon Dr. Rod Garner is the Diocesan Theological Consultant.
Each Spring, Summer and Autumn he organises short study events, which are open to all. The courses are designed to stimulate, encourage, inform and educate with an emphasis on encouragement.
We live in a complex world where Christianity faces serious moral and intellectual challenges. It is hoped that these occasions will renew our confidence as we explore the riches of our religion and culture in the conviction that both constitute God's world.

This Spring (2012) offers a wide range of opportunities in the areas of theology, spirituality, mission, literature and the visual arts.
No qualifications are necessary to enrol except enthusiasm, the willingness to learn alongside others and a readiness to be changed by new ideas.
Some excellent speakers have been recruited so do think about enrolling and make this a Lent to remember!
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For Booking Forms please telephone Life Long Learning on 0151 705 2120
or email: lifelonglearning@liverpool.anglican.org
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SEEING SALVATION - ART AND SPIRITUALITY

What is it about great pictures and the visual arts? We look at them and sometimes find ourselves changed, challenged or deeply moved. Art does not simply entertain or please, it opens up to us the possibilities of rapture, transformation and joy. In front of a picture, with our imagination and attention engaged, we can find ourselves connected to the beautiful and true, to the realm of the spiritual and the real. Art is an invitation to see the world differently and to discover that a painting can become a resting place and shield.
This seminar will introduce us to a range of paintings that enlarge the spirit and further our humanity. I'm delighted that the Rev'd Charles Pickstone, Anglican priest and art critic has accepted my invitation to lead this Day. He is Vicar of St. Laurence Church in London and a regular contributor to books and magazines on art and spirituality. He lectures in this country and overseas and is affiliated to the International Association of Art Critics. His recent publications include an article on Chris Ofili for the American journal Image and a chapter on Miro for a book on Art and Theology.
The seminar will appeal to anyone with an interest in or passion for the visual arts or simply wanting to learn more about great paintings and their transformative power.

Course Information (please note this is a full day Seminar)
Led by: Rev'd Charles Pickstone
Date and Time: Saturday 18th February 2012, 9.30am - 4.00pm
Fee: £12 (£10 concessions) including papers and refreshments
Location: Liverpool Hope University, Room 114 (Grace Room), The Creative Campus, 17 Shaw Street, Liverpool L6 1HP

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WORDS IN SEASON: A series of Wednesdays evenings exploring some basic themes of Christian faith

Over five weeks in Lent, Holy Trinity, Southport will hold a service at 7.15pm led by Men's Voices in the Choir. Each service will include an address from an invited Speaker on a basic topic concerning Christian faith and practice.
After the service at approximately 8pm, refreshments will be served before we sit down again to question the Speaker on the issues raised by their presentation. The aim of the series is to deepen our understanding of what we believe and to renew our sense of discipleship.

Date: Wednesday, 29th February, 2012
Topic: The Greatest Prayer: Rediscovering the Our Father
Speaker: Fr. Neil Kelley, Vicar of St. Faith Great Crosby and St. Mary Waterloo and Diocesan Advisor on Liturgy and Worship

Date: Wednesday, 7th March, 2012
Topic: Mary, Mother of Jesus: An Icon for All Christians?
Speaker: Fr. Peter Kelly, Priest Archdiocese of Liverpool and Affiliate of the Marian Movement

Date: Wednesday, 14th March, 2012
Topic: John Betjeman: Poet of Doubt and Faith
Speaker: Canon Dr. Rod Garner, Diocesan Theological Consultant

Date: Wednesday 21st March 2012
Topic: We Love the Place O God: Sacred Space and Worship
Speaker: Rev'd Dr. Tim Stratford, Rector of Kirkby

Date: Wednesday, 28th March, 2012
Topic: Meeting Jesus in Mark's Gospel
Speaker: The Ven. Peter Bradley, Archdeacon of Warrington

Location: Holy Trinity Church, Hoghton Street, Southport, PR9 0TE

Time: 7.15pm

Fees: There is no enrolment fee for this course. A retiring collection will be taken at the end of each evening to cover expenses

Directions: Holy Trinity is a 5 minute walk from Southport Railway Station. Travelling by car, take the roundabout signposted Holy Trinity at the end of Lord Street. The church stands at the 1st set of lights on the corner of Hoghton Street and Manchester Road and opposite the YMCA.

The Swiss Catholic theologian Hans Kung remains one of the most important, thoughtful and imaginative religious thinkers of our time.

Through his major works on Christianity, the existence of God, Judaism and Islam, he has demonstrated that religion can still matter to intelligent, questioning people. His loyalty to the Catholic Church has endured decades of controversy and for the past twenty years his Global Ethic Project has attracted the attention of the world's religious traditions and leading politicians. Now 82, he has written What I Believe - a review of the spiritual elements which have matured over his life that now define his basic convictions.

Over two linked evenings, Canon Dr Rod Garner will introduce Kung as a thinker whose ideas remain influential before exploring the main themes of the book. These include faith and trust, the nature of God, suffering and evil, the cultural dilemmas of our day and the prospects for religion.

There will be ample time for discussion and summary notes will be provided. Come and join the conversation and bring your questions.

Course Information

Led by: Canon Dr. Rod Garner, Diocesan Theological Consultant

Dates:
Thursday 1st March
Thursday 8th March
Time: 8.00pm

Fee: There is no enrolment fee for these meetings. A retiring collection will be taken to cover expenses.

Location: St Ann's Millenium Centre, The Tomlinson Room, View Road, Rainhill

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ECUMENICAL LENT COURSE - CHRISTIAN MISSION IN CHANGING TIMES

The times are changing but no one is sure what they consist of. What is ending, what's around the corner, what should we be doing as local churches? Sometime it feels we are exiles in a strange land (Ps. 137.4) and on other days it seems there is still fertile soil in which to earth the gospel. Either way, the unique task of sharing the grace and truth of Jesus Christ with others (John 12.21) remains our duty and joy.

This short series of Lent meetings, hosted by the Wigan deanery but open to all, will explore these and related questions from a number of angles. It will encourage new ways of thinking about whatever lies before us in order that we may pray, serve and witness with renewed hope and understanding. And it will also challenge us to reflect on what it actually means to believe that the Church is the body of Christ. The meetings will be of particular interest to all those who have a concern or responsibility for local mission and evangelism and a passion for the lives beyond our immediate membership.

Course Information

Led by: Canon Dr. Rod Garner, Diocesan Theological Consultant

Dates:
Tuesday 13th March - The State We're In
Tuesday 20th March - The Church We're In
Tuesday 27th March - The Kingdom We're Seeking

Time: All meetings start at 7.30pm with refreshments served from 7.00pm

Fee: As a deanery based event there is no enrolment fee for this series but a retiring collection will be taken at the end of each meeting to cover expenses. We anticipate a high response to this Course so early enrolment is recommended.

Location: St. Peter's Pavilion, Hurst Street, Hindley, Wigan WN2 3DN

Directions: The Pavilion is situated off the main A577 Wigan to Manchester Road.
Coming from Wigan follow signs for A577 Atherton on Manchester Road, go past turn for Morrisons. Through set of pedestrian lights and past Hockery Brook Pub. Turn left into Hurst Street and the Pavilion is in front of you. There is plenty of parking.
If travelling by Bus from Wigan, there are many from the bus station that go past the Pavilion.
If travelling by train there is a station in Hindley. Walk down Ladies' Lane into Market Street, then Cross Street and up to Hurst Street (about a 20 minute walk.)

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ELIOT DAY COURSE - THOMAS STEARNS ELIOT: PILGRIM, POET, PROPHET

T. S. Eliot was the twentieth century's most famous poet. As a world figure he received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1948 and, in the same year, the Order of Merit, Britain's most distinguished honour.
He was a man of many parts - writer, philosopher, critic, lecturer, bank employee, husband of a mad wife and an American who in 1927 became a naturalised British citizen and a member of the Church of England.
His religious outlook, his desire 'to live with all intensity' and his eye for the fake in human emotions permeate much of his work. But it is primarily his poetry that concerns us here.

This morning seminar will introduce Eliot and explore the poems - in particular The Waste Land written when he was thirty four and The Four Quartets, his last poetic work which takes as its subject time and the mystical experience. His poetry is about 'depth' in religion and life and therefore retains its strength and appeal in our own age which favours immediacy and the superficial.
On hand to guide our deliberations will be theologian and writer Canon Dr. Rod Garner and Cathedral Organist and Chorus Master of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society, Professor Dr. Ian Tracey.
Both speakers share a love of Eliot's work and hope to communicate their enthusiasm!
The seminar will appeal to lovers of poetry and literature and to anyone wanting to learn more about Eliot and his relevance for culture and Christianity today.

Course Information
Led by: Canon Dr. Rod Garner and Professor Ian Tracey
Date and Time: Saturday 28th April 2012, 9.30am - 1.00pm
Fee: £10 (£8 concessions) including papers and refreshments
Location: Liverpool Hope University, Room 114 (Grace Room), The Creative Campus, 17 Shaw Street, Liverpool L6 1HP

SUNDAYS
8.30am Holy Communion
10.15am Parish Communion (First Sundays in month are usually a Family Communion with children taking part)
10.15am Sunday School
(For 3 year olds upwards - on all except first Sundays and school holidays)
6.30pm Evening Prayer

WEEKDAYS
11.30am Tuesdays
Holy Communion
7.15pm Wednesdays
Choral Evensong
7.15pm 1st Friday in month
Book of Common Prayer Communion

Practising members of other Christian denominations are invited to receive Holy Communion.
If you are not confirmed but would like to receive a blessing please come forward with other communicants and place your hands below the altar rail.

We hope you will join us for refreshments in the Parish Centre after the Service