This Week, words from Jon the Verger and Reverend Irene:

Revd. Irene and our Verger Jon were fortunate enough to be invited to the RSPCA’s 200th anniversary gala dinner on Friday night. The night was fabulous and raised much needed funds for the charity, which, if you didn’t know has part of its roots in Hull. William Wilberforce, along with Revd. Broome and Richard Martin MP were the co-founders who were very concerned for the animal welfare of the working animals such as the pit ponies etc. That era also still had animal ‘sports’ such as bear baiting and cock fighting. Hull should be incredibly proud of the legacy of William Wilberforce.

The tickets were given to us for hosting the animal blessing service in October. During the evening we were shown snippets of animals and events that had taken place throughout the last year including a great picture of Revd. Rob blessing one of the RSPCA dogs at the service mentioned earlier. Unfortunately Revd. Rob was unable to make the dinner.

Our first animal blessing service was a great success, and we have already pencilled in a date for next October. Our challenge is to widen the species and include other animals as well as our canine friends.

Psalm 148:10-13: All creatures, including wild animals, cattle, creeping things, and birds of the air, should praise the Lord.

THOUGHTS FROM JON MAJOR

As a veteran Remembrance Sunday means everything to me. Along with the Falkland Islands Liberation Day (14th June), it is amongst the highlight of my Christian calendar. I love escorting our incumbent and our Bishop at the Cenotaph. The pinnacle of Remembrance Sunday at Hull Minster is the reading of the names from the ‘Golden Book’. This was started ten years ago to mark the centenary of the start of World War I and is a marathon of names which takes about 2.5-3 hours to read. It is a custom I think is very important to carry on. In recent years I have got the Lord Mayor involved to read some names to represent our great city. With it taking so long to complete no one is expected to stay the duration, anyone can come and go as they please either to read a few pages or just to listen. From the beginning this has always been supported by the same four or five ladies (of a certain age), who stay and read throughout. I can’t thank them enough. If you can put just a half hour of your time to support these ladies next year it would mean the world not only to me but to our wonderful ladies and of course our city’s fallen. We Will Remember Them. Jon

FLOWERS IN THE MINSTER

If you would like to sponsor a week’s flower arrangement in memory of a loved one or simply as a present for a special birthday or anniversary’ please contact our wonderful ‘flower lady’ Fiona.

A notice will be displayed by each arrangement and by the welcomers’ desk saying who they are for and who donated.

For these wonderful arrangements a recommended donation will be between £25-£30 or, if you didn’t want an arrangement, you could simply donate to the flower fund to keep the church looking wonderful.

Fiona can be emailed on: flowers@hullminster.org or you could ask our Verger Jon jmajor@hullminster.org to put your name forward.

Minster Shop

There is a lovely selection of calendars, countdowns and candles to celebrate Advent which is only just over a month away. We are very grateful to Julia Allum for designing this year‘s Christmas card. There is an excellent selection of Charity Christmas cards which are new to the Shop this year. The Shop is open Tuesday to Saturday 10-4.

WANTED - FOR PUB CAROLS Any singers and musicians (who can play a portable instrument) for ‘Pub Carols’, we haven’t done this for a couple of years but now feel it should be resurrected as a fund raiser. As you’d appreciate our wonderful choir is extremely busy over this period so it would be unfair to rely on them alone.

We will start at Sailmakers on High Street at 5pm, then onto the following, the gardens outside Lion & Key and Fretwells, Ye olde White Harte, George Hotel, Calla on Whitefriargate, (possibly Savile Street Freedom Quarter), Furley & Co., Kingston and finishing at Head of Steam.

These may change depending on how busy the pubs are.

This is a bit of fun and a great chance to socialise, who knows there may even be a chance of a mulled wine.

If you can help, please see Jon Major.

MINSTER CRAFTERS

A little information regarding Minster Crafters. This group is made up solely of Glenis and me (Becky D), we make everything and run the stall. We are part of the Minster, and all funds go to the church (not just profits). We are currently raising money for new defibrillator pads, (the crafters purchased the defibrillator a couple of years ago). Glenis and I would really appreciate your support with this group as neither of us is getting any younger! We are looking for one or two people to join the group on a permanent basis to help with ideas, making items and running the stall. We currently do not meet up for meetings as there are only the two of us, but used to when there were more of us and we would like to renew this, however if we can’t increase our numbers we may well have to close.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING EVENTS

Saturday 23rd November: 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Minster Crafters Pre-Christmas Sale

Excellent value for money, no price increases!

Raising money for defibrillator pads.

Minster Crafters Christmas Stall

Saturday 7th to 21st December 10.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. two weeks.

List of days open will be on the stall on 7th December

There will be a few new items for Christmas plus our normal handmade Christmas items together with hats, gloves and many other gift ideas.

Teaching on the Curates Weekend

Ann and Heather had the privilege of joining all the curates in York Diocese as they spent the weekend at Wydale Hall, exploring the theme of disability and inclusion in the church. Ann spoke from her personal experience of being autistic, explaining how people with autism experience the world in a different way, and how within our churches we can grow in understanding. Ann also shared her knowledge and experience of working with people with different learning abilities. This is an area of ministry growing at Hull Minster, through the Welcome café, work experience placements for young people from Northcott school and Bishop Burton college, and the emerging work with CASE training.

LUXMURALIS - SCIENCE

Following sell-out shows in 2024, Luxmuralis is back with Science; an immersive show which is designed to enable people to explore and contemplate the contributions of science and human understanding of the physical world around us.

The installation will see the Minster transformed into a fully immersive artwork exploring Chemistry and Biology and interprets artistically the scale of molecules cells and DNA as well as exploring the history of science, the contributions of science to humanity, and offers a reflection upon famous scientists’ past and present.

Science by Luxmuralis will run from Wednesday 22nd January, with several performances per evening. Booking is essential and tickets are now on sale!

Time slots are available from 5pm to 9pm in fifteen-minute increments.

COLLECT FOR THE SUNDAY NEXT BEFORE ADVENT

God the Father, help us to hear the call of Christ the King and to follow in his service, whose kingdom has no end;

for he reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, one glory.

AMEN

READINGS FOR THE SUNDAY NEXT BEFORE ADVENT

Psalm 93

Revelation 1:4b-8

John 18:33-37

PRAYERS FOR THE SUNDAY NEXT BEFORE ADVENT

For the people in our country that they will be able to access sufficient food to feed their families.

Help us who have plenty to give generously.

We pray for the many areas of conflict in our world. Give wisdom to those who have the power to bring about change. Particularly we pray for the Middle East.