Cursillo

Cursillo (pronounced kur-see-yo) is a Spanish word meaning short course. The Cursillo movement was started by a group of young men in Spain after the Spanish Civil War as an attempt to restore the spiritual life of their war-ravaged country. Since then it has spread to many countries around the world and came to the Anglican Church in the UK in 1981. Cursillo is now active in more than 30 diocese in the UK. Cursillo offers an opportunity to grow in faith, a way of experiencing Christian community and help in our spiritual journey and Christian witness. It embraces the insights and good teachings of all traditions of the Anglican Church and gives a method of Christian living.

This is how it works; If you want to use Cursillo to explore your Christian faith, you go on a weekend which lasts from Thursday evening to Sunday evening and which is guided by experienced lay and ordained leaders. Each day begins and ends with an act of worship, usually a Eucharist and in between there are a series of talks and meditations. The whole weekend is an opportunity to relax and enjoy Christian fellowship and through the sharing of worship, prayer, learning, laughter and tears, to become open to receiving God's grace. Many people find that the whole weekend is so wrapped in love and prayer that barriers are broken down and the Holy Spirit is able to work in a transforming way. In fact a lot of participants feel they have gained a glimpse of the Kingdom of God at a Cursillo weekend.

However, the Cursillo weekend is not the end of things. Throughout the weekend there is great emphasis on one's 'fourth day' - that is the rest of one's Christian life. This is a re-commitment to Christian discipleship based on prayer, study and action. People who've been on a Cursillo weekend often join a small group which meets for prayer and fellowship and once every two months Cursillo people from across the Ripon and Leeds Diocese come to together for an act of worship called an Ultreya. (Ultreya is another Spanish work which conveys the meaning 'press on to the end' or 'perseverance' as we encourage each other to keep going on our Christian journeys).

Part of the reason for writing this article is to let you know that there will be an Ultreya service at St Edmund's on Tuesday 18th October at 7.30pm. This will be an enjoyable act of worship including an opportunity to share in small groups, how we are getting on in our Christian lives. (But there's no pressure to join in this bit if you don't want to). I do hope many people at St Edmund's will support this service.

I'll be saying a bit more about Cursillo at the 8am and 10am services on 16th October. If you'd like to know more about Cursillo in the meantime, or have any queries about the service on 18th October, please speak to me in Church.

Geoff Barker

30 September, 2011