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If you were in two minds as to whether
the Church of England should 'get into the spirit' of the 2012 London
Olympics (27th July to 12th August, Paralympics 29th August to
9th September), take a look at the facts.
A total of 26 sports in 38 disciplines (20 sports and 21
disciplines for Paralympics) will gather millions of people to
three arenas in the Olympic Park in Stratford in East London and
other venues, such as Wimbledon, Wembley Stadium and the O2 - some
9.2 million tickets were made available.
Many millions more will watch the Olympics on television or the
Internet.
Given the Games will have a national impact, every parish has
the chance to engage with this unique event, through the shared
values of faith and sport.
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TORCH RELAY & PRAYER RELAY
On Friday, May 18, the Bishop of
Truro, the Rt Revd Tim Thornton, and Cornwall Methodist Chair the
Revd Steve Wild, lit a beacon and blessed prayer batons that are
being passed on from community to community for 70 days. The
batons are part of More Than Gold's Prayer
Relay, and will be travelling around the nation, tracking the same
dates and route as the official Torch Relay. Two special
prayers were written by the Liturgical Commission to mark the
start of the two relays - and were used publicly by Bishop Tim and
Revd Steve at the short outdoor service of blessing near Land's
End.
Find out how your church can get involved.
Olympic Torch
Relay
At 7.08am on Saturday, May 19, British
Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie set off from Land's End as the
first Torchbearer in the Olympic Torch Relay. The Flame's 70-day journey
will travel to within one hour of 95 per cent of the
nation's population.
Follow the Flame
You can follow the Olympic Flame on
its 70-day journey in a number of ways:
1) Online at www.london2012.com/olympictorchrelay;
2) On Facebook on the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay Facebook page;
or
3) On Twitter by following @London2012
and using the #London2012TorchRelay and #Linethestreets hash
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