Skip to main content

St Arnold’s


St Arnold is known as the patron saint of brewers and hop pickers. Often depicted holding a mashing rake, many of the miracles attributed to St Arnold involved him encouraging people to drink beer, due to its ‘gift of health’. Certainly during his time as The Abbot of St Peter’s monastery in Oudenburg, beer would have been far safer to drink than water, due to the boiling of the water during the beer-making process. It seemed natural then, that a Mission and chaplaincy project working primarily in breweries, public houses and licensed premises should bear the name of that revered Abbot.
Over the next year, we are expecting the work of the St Arnold’s project to continue to grow in our city. We already partner with several businesses based around the North Parade area of the city, to run a number of events such as ‘Beer and Hymns’ and ‘Film and Faith’. There are also regular chaplaincy sessions on Monday evenings and Friday mornings amongst the bars on North Parade, where bar staff and customers can find a listening ear and ask any questions they might have about life, faith or the Church.

From 28 January, we will also be starting a new Sunday morning service held in The Peacock Bar. Under the name One@11, this service will seek to offer a style of worship which is accessible to those who may find traditional church doesn’t always connect with their culture. We will also be seeking a new city centre home, in one of the buildings on North Parade, which will act as a base, as we seek to expand the things which St Arnold’s can offer. These could include bible studies, meditation sessions and increasing our chaplaincy team.

Social media plays a huge role in St Arnold’s and you can find out more about our events on Twitter @StArnolds or on Facebook @SaintArnolds. We also have our own website www.saintarnolds.weebly.com

It would be wonderful to see you at one of our upcoming events, but if they aren’t the kind of thing that you’re attracted to, we do understand. So please pray for us. The work of St Arnold’s is constantly providing new opportunities for conversation about faith and the place of God in peoples lives. Your prayers will help support that work. Thank you.

Rev Graeme D

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Christmas Day Worship 2021

Today is the day - Christmas! The central candle is lit. The waiting is over. The child is born. As we celebrate the Feast and Holy-Day of Christmas, with the Psalmist (Ps. 98:4-6) we proclaim: Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn – shout for joy before the LORD, the King. Prayer Let us pray: Generous God, even as we praise you for the good news of today, and seek to shout for joy at the coming of the Christ-child, we acknowledge Mary’s mix of pain and joy, both today and in the days to come. As we do so, we face our own emotions on this difficult and delightful day, and ask your help to live it well. Amen. Carol You might like to sing, or reflect on the words of Geoffrey Ainger’s hymn at StF 193/H&P 95, Born in the night, Mary’s child, a long way from your home; coming in need, Mary’s child, born in a borro...

Pastoral Letter - 9 December 2021

Dear friends We have been through a lot together over this last 18 months since the pandemic first started, as households, as communities and as the people of the church. At times we have struggled, but we have also recognised the support we can offer one another in times of adversity. When things have been far from normal, we have adapted in new ways to continue the life and mission of the church. In the face of great hurt and great need, we have found the value of faith and hope. Since the summer we have seen signs of hope in the re-opening of buildings and the re-starting of some of our church and community groups. However, recent news of a new variant of the virus has once again raised the level of concern. Clearly, the pandemic is not yet over. Consequently, as I am sure you are already aware, the government has decided that there is a need for greater restrictions to be in place once again - see detailed guidance  dated 8th December. In the light of this, the Methodist Church...

Prayer Column - January 2022

The turn of the year As a new year approaches we tend to wonder what lies ahead, hoping always to shake off the past’s bad record and for something better to come, as if hoping could make it so. We wonder about next year because of course we don’t know what lies around the corner (however great the store of human knowledge, and however thorough our Googling). Search as we may, and it’s a royal honour to do so (Prov 25:2), some things are known only to God: times and seasons fixed by his authority are not for us to know (Acts 1:7), for the future is his. This is a time to remind ourselves of God’s omniscience: he does know (Rom 11:33). He knows the plans he has for us – plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future (Jer 29:11). And it’s time to remember also that God is not far-off and aloof, but a loving, heavenly Father who wants a close living relationship with each of us, day by day and breath by breath – he sent Jesus to bring us back to him. So ...