Winter 2020 Newsletter
Dear Friends
It will be no surprise to you that Michaelmas 2020 has been a term like no other we’ve experienced. As a result, our Postgraduate Student Welcome (PSW) events were like none we’ve ever hosted. Nonetheless, good connections were made and two small groups of six were created for those exploring or wanting to go deeper in the Christian faith - ‘Postgrads on Purpose’. We continue to enjoy the privilege of supporting researchers at the cutting-edge of their disciplines. In this newsletter, you can watch a short interview with Dr Julia Marshall (Christians in Academia 2019-20) about her involvement with the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine development. As a team, we’ve been reading and discussing Rowan Williams’s, The Way of St Benedict. And, should you wish to gather a few friends to do the same, Associate Chaplain, Bethan Willis, has produced a discussion guide. Finally, we can offer you an immensely quick and painless way of expressing your support for the Pastorate, Ecclesiastical Insurance are running their 12 Days of Giving campaign again this year and we’d love you to nominate us for one of their £1,000 gifts.
We remain immensely grateful for all your encouragement and support. We have been delighted by the response to the ‘Friends of the Oxford Pastorate’ initiative we launched in the summer. It has already raised nearly £12,000 towards the core work of the Pastorate but you can still donate this Christmas by visiting our Supporters page. We’d also invite your prayers for us as we think creatively about how best to serve postgraduates amidst the restrictions of the pandemic. In particular, we need wisdom as we try to facilitate community for new students and those who are marooned in Oxford over the Christmas vacation.
This Advent season:
May Christ the Sun of Righteousness shine upon you,
scatter the darkness from before your path,
and make you ready to meet him when he comes in glory.
God bless
Jonathan