Four Talks: May - June 2023

'He is the image of the unseen God, the first-born of all creation, for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth' (Colossians 1, 15-16)

We live in a vast universe - images from the James Webb Space Telescope show us galaxies as they were around 13.4 billion years ago, whose light has only just reached our galactic neighbourhood - and on a planet shared with millions of other species of life. In four sessions on Wednesday evenings across May and June we will explore together questions around how God, as revealed in the person of Jesus, at the centre of our Christian faith, might be seen to bring meaning, purpose and hope to the whole of the created world.

1. Wednesday 17th May 7.30 pm-9.00 pm at St Werburgh's - "Christ the Centre." Exploring voices from scripture and Christian tradition, we will consider how Christ has been associated with the work of creation and understood as being at the "centre" of the created world.

2. Wednesday 24th May, 7.30 pm-9.00 pm at St Werburgh's - "Incarnation and Infinity." How can a person be both human and divine? We will explore how the understanding of the person of Christ developed in the early centuries of the Christian church and came to be expressed in the creeds. We'll go on to think about how the incarnation of an eternal, omnipresent God in the person of Jesus can be seen to "fit" within the time and space of our world.

3. Wednesday 14th June, 7.30 pm-9.00pm, Chester Cathedral Cloister Room - "The Cross and Other Creatures." How might we offer solidarity both with fellow humans and with the ecosystems in which we all live, under threat from climate change - and how might insight from Christian tradition help with this? We'll explore how the story of the suffering and crucifixion of Christ may be seen to relate to the created world as a . whole.

4. Wednesday 21st June, 7.30 pm-9.00 pm, Chester Cathedral Cloister Room - "Creation and Christian Hope." We'll look at voices from the Eastern Orthodox and Franciscan traditions, amongst others, in considering how the Christian message of salvation and hope might speak into the whole of creation.

About this course

One of the requests you made in the first phase of the Renewal Programme last autumn was for more talks about the faith and different aspects of our Catholic Theology. We are delighted now to be able to advertise our first response to your request, four sessions led by Dr Claire Egan on Christ and Creation. Claire read Theology at university, and then went on to do her Doctorate on the Book of Job. She now teaches Theology full time. This course looks at the startling but ancient truth that Jesus Christ as the Second Person of the Trinity has co-existed with the Father and the Holy Spirit from the beginning of time and has a central role in the work of Creation. The four talks are on Wednesday evenings at 7.30 pm, starting 17th May, the first two here and the second two at the Cathedral. This is a course not to be missed for all of us who want to deepen our faith and understand more about the Mystery of the Lord Jesus Christ, God Made Man.