Ely Advent Talks are Back with Donkeys and Hobbits

Donkeys, camels, St Matthew’s Gospel and The Lord of the Rings will feature in this year’s series of Advent talks at the Shrine and Parish of St Etheldreda in Ely.

On 3 December, Sr Gemma Simmonds of the Margaret Beaufort Institute will be presenting her new book, Donkey Roads and Camel Treks: A Pilgrim’s Guide for Advent, which The Tablet has called “wonderful”. She will take us through the often uncomfortable, always unpredictable and challenging Advent scriptures as a way of entering wholeheartedly but accessibly into the Advent season. Sr Gemma, a writer and lecturer in Christian spirituality, encourages us to reconnect with Advent as a way of being ‘exercised by desire’, a desire which gives us the capacity to welcome Jesus into our hearts and lives at Christmas.

Deacon Paul Raynes will be providing an introduction to St Matthew’s Gospel, which we will be reading throughout the new Church year which starts this Advent. His talk on 10 December will examine the way St Matthew depicts Jesus as lawgiver, prophet and judge, rejected by his own people and sending his disciples out to teach the whole world.

And on 17 December, Ely resident Church historian Dr George Herring will explore the Catholic vision of J. R. R. Tolkien. He will discuss Tolkien’s alternative methodology to C. S. Lewis’s allegory. Among the themes covered will be Creation, Good and Evil, the figures of Prophet, Priest and King, Light and Darkness, Sacramentalism, Sacrifice, Providence and Free Will. A discussion of both the strengths and weaknesses of Tolkien’s world as Catholic fiction will be included.

All the talks will be at 7 pm in the parish rooms at St Etheldreda’s, Egremont Street, Ely, and will be accompanied by refreshments.

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