Prayer Group
The prayer group meets once a month, normally on the second Wednesday, except during Lent when there is usually a Lent Group meeting each Wednesday. The normal meeting place is a beautiful little chapel in the monastery of Saint-Joseph de Mont-Rouge at Puimisson. New members and visitors are always welcome.
Meditative prayer is at the heart of our meetings. This may seem daunting at first but many find silent prayer in a group to be very helpful. After the silence we usually sing a hymn or a song and finish with the Lord’s prayer and a closing prayer.
There is a leader for each session, a volunteer from the group: not everybody feels moved to take on this role and that's fine. The leader prepares the material for the session around a theme of their choice. Typically, we
start by sharing our concerns for the world situation, the sick and the troubled. Then the leader says prayers which include what they want to say and also whatever has just been talked about. There is a Bible reading and a short presentation on the theme, usually something that they have found in a book or on-line. We then move on to a time of silent contemplative prayer, for up to half an hour.
Prayer group members keep in touch with each other by e-mail and share any needs for prayer. We undertake to include these in our own daily prayers and invite anybody to let us know of needs. Please do this by contacting All Saints by e-mail ([email protected]), by contacting Jenny Morgan (Prayer Group organiser) on [email protected], or by contacting any prayer group member.
Lent Groups
We meet on the five Wednesdays following Ash Wednesday, in various houses belonging to church members, to study our faith. Our studies have usually been based on a film, recent ones being 'West Side Story' (2021 version) and 'Casablanca'. At each session we watch clips from the film to help us to explore a theological theme, using a published course book to help us. The sessions start with coffee and end with a light lunch. Attendees are invited to make a donation for the lunch, which is given to a charity or charities chosen by the group.
Restos du Cœur and Restos Petite Enfance
Year by year our chaplaincy supports the local branch of Restos with gifts of food and other basics and of money. Two of our members are volunteers at the distribution centre. One of them chooses, buys and wraps Christmas presents for up to 90 children, using money given by chaplaincy members.
Languedoc Solidarity with Refugees
Since this local charity was founded in 2015 our chaplaincy has made regular donations. One of our members collects gifts of food and other basics at our services.
Madagascar
We are twinned with the parish of Fenoarivo in the Diocese of Toliara in Madascar. This is a link which offers reciprocal spiritual support, gives insights into two very different ways of life, and an opportunity for our chaplaincy to give some financial support to this very poor, young, rapidly growing parish.
Bobbie's Bookstall
At each service we bring to and buy books from a bookstall run by Bobbie. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the money raised has been given to La Croix Rouge for their work there.
Music Team
As the chapel has no organ, we use recorded backing tracks. Alison, Carol and Sue choose hymns which complement the readings for the day. They welcome suggestions from the congregation. Ian and Nigel choose incidental music and make and play sound files at our services. We find that 'karaoke' works surprising well. From time to time we do have musicians who offer live music.
Filing cabinet for useful chaplaincy documents
You may find some of these documents quite interesting and some boring: the link is provided mainly for the use of existing members of the congregation.