Our joint evening services at 7pm take place at the moment via Zoom. Everyone is welcome – contact Helen to join the mailing list for the links.
During Lent, our evening worship will rely on the Lent course Still Standing by Rachel Mann. The study is based on the film Rocketman which depicts the life of Elton John. A controversial choice some may think. Rachel starts from Matthew 18:3 (“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.) and introduces her book as follows:
“Rocketman, the biopic about rock superstar Elton John, might strike some as, at best, a surprising and, at worst, an outrageous choice as the basis for a Lent course. There are no two ways about it, Sir Elton Hercules John has lived a life full of excess and naughtiness that few, even in the world of rock and roll music, can match. It is worth saying, at the outset, that the film on which this course is based is 15 rated, and contains language of the strongest, earthiest sort, and depicts scenes which some will find challenging. So why select this film for a Lent course, if it is likely to upset many people? We, perhaps, because underneath the drug-taking, the bad language, and the random sexual encounters, Rocketman arguably presents the story of a person seeking not only redemption, but what it means to become a little child.” (p. 7)
We hope that you will take up the challenge of this Lent course. There is no need to buy the book (unless you want to) and we will show relevant film excerpts during the evening worship so it does not matter if you know the movie or not.
