Patronal Festival

St John's Seven Kings celebrated its 110th Anniversary over its Patronal Festival weekend on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th October. Our celebrations included Choral Evensong (Saturday 4th October, 6.00pm) followed by refreshments, Patronal Festival Service (Sunday 5th October, 10.00am) followed by a Bring & Share Lunch, plus photographic displays and the celebration of special anniversaries/birthdays for congregation members.

Choir members from several local churches supported the St John's Choir in leading worship for our Choral Evensong. The service included the anthem 'A Clare Benediction' by John Rutter.

Many former members of St John's returned for the weekend including:

• Revs. John & Rosemary Enever, who preached at the Patronal Festival Service. Rosemary is a former curate at St John's who became Vicar of St Andrews Great Ilford and Area Dean of Redbridge; and
• Judy Acheson, our former Church Mission Society Link Worker in the Democratic Republic of the Congo . Judy was celebrating 50 years as a Christian. As a result of her ministry in the Congo , St John's continues to support youth work in that country.

Returning and current members gave testimonies in our Patronal Festival Service to the work of God in their lives through St John's. We heard from Michael Blackstaff, Margaret Willmott, Dr. Winston Solomon, Chris & Veronica Watts, Charity Anyika, Julia Beaman, Lester & Margaret Amann, and Judy Acheson. 

Michael Blackstaff, a former server at St John's , had written a reminiscence in which he said, ' St John’s was, and is, a very special place. I was a bit short on blood relations (though very rich in adoptive ones) and came to regard it and its many good people as part of my family. I shall always feel greatly privileged to have been welcomed into its loving embrace.'

There have been more that 15 different significant anniversaries/birthdays which are being celebrated within our congregation this year and all these people were congratulated as part of the Patronal Festival Service. They included two 60th wedding anniversaries, one 50th wedding anniversary, and two 90th birthdays, among others. We prayed for these folk using the following prayer: 

Lord Jesus, we thank you for the special milestones which these people have reached in the course of this year. Such moments provide a reason for stopping and remembering all that we have experienced up to that point in our lives; times of great joy and great challenge. In all, as we look back, we see your presence alongside us supporting and equipping us for life. Enabling us to enjoy and share those times of intense joy and pleasure, to bear and share those times of deep anxiety and pain, and to live fully the times in between – those times of ordinary, everyday life in families, church, community, and at work. Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do in the lives of these people and may they know a special joy and blessing from you in the celebration of these particular milestones. Amen.

We also presented a gift to our former curate, Rev. Santou Beurklian-Carter. Following the service, we enjoyed a delicious and varied Bring & Share lunch and viewed photographic displays from the extensive Church archive.

Former Vicar Rev. Gordon Tarry sent a message saying, 'St Johns will always be a very special place and people for Julia and I, and our family. We hope you have a great week-end, with much joy and laughter.'

The weekend was a great encouragement and inspiration through the many testimonies to God's work in many lives through St John's.

At our 8.00am service I preached the following sermon:

The traditional image for our Patron Saint, St John the Evangelist, is the eagle and that is, of course, why images of eagles can be seen in different parts of our church. This image for John and the writings we traditionally attribute to him wasn’t chosen at random but was selected because it expresses something of what John’s writing do for us.

Richard Burridge, in his important book Four Gospels, One Jesus? tells us that the eagle was used to represent the Evangelist because he gives us the high-flying, far-seeing perspective of the eagle when he writes about Jesus. These writings give us the big picture about Jesus and his significance.

We can see this in our Bible readings. In 1 John 1, we read that Jesus, the Word of life, has existed from the very beginning and in John’s Gospel we read of Jesus speaking of his coming again at the end of time. This is the big picture into which John sets the stories and theology that he gives us about Jesus. When John writes about Jesus, he is not simply saying that these are interesting stories about a great human being. Instead he is saying that this is God himself, the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, walking, talking and acting in the flesh.

In 1 John 1 there are two key features of God that John wants us to grasp in our to understand the significance of the big picture. The first is that God is someone that we can see and the second that God is someone who enables us to see.

John uses the image of the Word made visible to tell us that God is someone that we can see. The heart of the Christian faith, he is saying, is the incarnation; the reality that God, in Jesus, became a human being and lived in a particular culture and time. John was able to say of this Word; “we have heard it, and we have seen it with our eyes; yes, we have seen it and our hands have touched it.” God is no longer detached from us and unknowable to us, instead he has chosen to come close to us, to move into our neighbourhood, to become one of us.

The incarnation is at the heart of Christianity because it is a sign of the love that God has for us. God loves us so much that he is prepared to become one of us, even though this means huge constraints and ultimately leads to his death. As a result, he understands us and understands human life. Now whatever we go through, God has been there before because he has experienced life in all its wonder and heartache.

However, God is not simply someone who can be seen by us. He is also the one by whom we can see. John gives us the image of God as light to help us grasp this facet of God’s being. Light is not something we can see directly but something that enables us to see ourselves and our world. This is what Jesus does for us through the incarnation; he shows what humanity was originally intended to become. For the very first time in the history of the world a human being lives a fully human life.

As a result when we see ourselves and our world in the light of the life of Jesus, what we see is our failure and inability to be the people that we were created to become. In the light of the way that Jesus lived his life, we see our lack of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. As this letter says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us. But when we live in the light, seeing ourselves as we really are, then we become honest with ourselves and with God. By coming into that honesty we confess our sins and are purified of them.

Both these understandings of Jesus are necessary for us to become fully human. If God was just light that exposed our failures then we would be condemned by God. If God was just alongside us as the Word made flesh then there would be no prospect of change for us. But because God, in Jesus, is both the light revealing our failings and the Word made flesh understanding our failings, we can receive forgiveness and change to become more fully human.

John gives us many paradoxes and parallels in his writings. Jesus is both this and that; both Word and flesh; both flesh and light; both message and image; both human and divine. As a result, his writings can seem difficult and dense; yet it is only because Jesus is both/and that we can know what real humanity looks like and have some real prospect of moving towards that reality in our lives. To repeat, it is only because God, in Jesus, is both the light revealing our failings and the Word made flesh understanding our failings that we can receive forgiveness and change to become more fully human. So this Patronal Festival, let us be thankful for the big picture that John paints for us and thank God for the salvation that comes to us because he is Word and flesh; flesh and light; message and image; human and divine.

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John Rutter - A Clare Benediction.

Patronal Festival and Confirmation Service

Just like buses coming together, we have two visits by Bishops at the beginning of October.

Stephen Cottrell, the Bishop of Chelmsford, will make his first visit to St John’s Seven Kings for our Patronal Festival Service at 10.00am on Sunday 6^th October. Bishop Stephen has said that he has been “so moved” as he has “travelled round the diocese and worshipped in so many different churches in so many different places and in so many different ways.” We hope he has same experience in visiting us here at St John’s.

He has also described his biggest fear for our Church of England: “It is that people see our faith in Christ as a leisure activity. You know, some people do watercolours, and some people do car mechanics for beginners, and some people do conversational French, and we do Church. We love it. It is our hobby. We are very committed to it. But it doesn’t seem to have any impact on the lives we lead Monday to Saturday. Yes, we go to church a lot; and, yes, some of us seem interested in persuading others to come along as well. But when it comes to observing whether being a Christian and attending church makes any discernible difference to life, the answer seems to be ‘not much’. It is this that has to change. Of course it will mean a greater waiting upon God … It will certainly overflow into greater witness and a more effective and fruitful evangelisation. It might also mean that we will worry less about these things and lose some of our gruesome earnestness. But most of all it will be apparent in the lives we lead each day. It will start shaping the decisions we make and the choices we make, so that, slowly, our lives will reflect more evidently, the life of Christ.”

On Sunday 13^th October, 6.30pm, at St Peter’s Aldborough Hatch, the Bishop of Barking will lead the Confirmation Service for our cluster of churches. Our candidates have been prepared by Santou Beurklian-Carter and want to make the commitment to Christ about which Bishop Stephen has spoken. Let us pray for them as they prepare for this special moment in their journey of faith and support on the night as they are confirmed.

In his Confirmation Service sermons, Bishop David has given us many memorable visual images for the journey of faith – bricklaying, to emphasise Christian foundations; cake making, to illustrate our faith spreading and rising; washing & ironing, speaking of cleansing; leaf blower, the wind of the Spirit.

Our Bishops have great wisdom, inspiration and challenge to share with us, so do make a point of coming to these services and coming with real expectancy regarding all that they will share of God with us.

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The Saint Johns - Your Head and Your Heart.

Sentimental Journey

We enjoyed a sentimental journey this afternoon at St John's Seven Kings with a sing-a-long featuring songs from the 30s and 40s led by pianist Eileen and MC Iris and supplemented by solos from Margaret Streeter and Santou Beurklian Carter. In addition, to joining in with the likes of 'White Cliffs of Dover', 'Roll Out The Barrel' and 'Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner', among many others, we also feasted on cakes and cream teas. This very English of occasions was our latest social and fundraising event, raising funds not only for the church but also for our Christian Aid Partnership Project.

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Vera Lynn - White Cliffs Of Dover.

Transcending tribal identities

On Thursday, at St John's Seven Kings, we hosted a fascinating meeting of the East London Three Faiths Forum looking at the topic of Marriage and the Family. There was a high degree of consensus among the three speakers for what we tend to think of as being the traditional view of marriage and family life i.e. marriage being the lifelong union of one man and one woman for the procreation of children and the family unit as the foundational building block of society. From this perspective, the diversity of forms of relationship which we find today within society is viewed as a sign that society is disintegrating and that we have moved away from God’s pattern for human flourishing.

Yet, as Christians, we claim to follow someone who poses some very significant challenges to our understanding of the place of family (Luke 9. 51 - 62). "The obligation to bury one’s father was regarded by many Jews of Jesus’ time as the most holy and binding duty of a son; but Jesus says that that is secondary to the call to follow him and announce God’s kingdom." This call cuts across family life and our traditional understandings of family. Here, even saying goodbye to your family before you leave seems to be criticised by Jesus!

In Matthew 12, when Jesus was told that his mother and brothers were nearby, we read that he said: "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers? … Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants is my brother, my sister, and my mother." Then in Matthew 10 we read of Jesus saying: "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world. No, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. I came to set sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law; your worst enemies will be the members of your own family."

Tom Wright notes in his commentary on this passage that Jesus is quoting from the prophet Micah (Micah 7.6) who predicts the terrible divisions that will always occur when God does a new thing. "Jesus came to bring and establish the new way of being God’s people, and not surprisingly those who were quite happy with the old one, thank you very much, didn’t like it being disturbed." "He didn’t want to bring division within households for the sake of it," Wright says, but "he knew that, if people followed his way, division was bound to follow."

So what is this new way of being God’s people which challenges our more traditional understandings of family life? I’ve recently read the latest book by Peter Rollins called ‘The Idolatry of God’ which I’ve found very helpful on this question, so I’d like to share with you some of his thinking.

"There are so many divisions in society, divisions between political parties, religious traditions and social groups. This is perfectly natural, of course. From birth, we experience a pre-existing matrix of beliefs and practices that differentiate us from others.

We discover early on that we have been given a mantle, that we are part of a tribe, one with a rich history, deep hopes and a variety of fears. The world is full of ‘us’ and ‘them’. Some of these divisions have deep histories that span multiple generations, while others are very new. Some are serious and others border on the ridiculous. But, at their most extreme, these divisions can result in local and global conflicts."

Rollins argues that to leave these divisions behind we need to transcend our given identities:

"Whether we are Conservative or Labour, rich or poor, male or female, these various bearers of our identification do not fully contain or constrain us and all too often prevent us from truly experiencing our own humanity."
 
He suggests that that is what St Paul teaches when he writes to the Galatians saying, "there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between men and women; you are all one in union with Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3. 28). "Here Paul mentions six distinct tribal identities that were ubiquitous in his time; six identities that can be further subdivided into three, namely the religious (Jew and Gentile), the political (slave and free) and the biological (male and female).

It was not that these different groupings were totally isolated from each other, but the way that each of these groups related to the others was clearly defined and carefully regulated.

These distinctions were justified by the authorities either in terms of a natural law or a divine plan; thus the difference in roles and responsibilities were non-negotiable and were required to maintain social stability."

In Jesus’ ministry though "we find a multitude of references to one who challenged the divisions that were seen as sacred, divisions between Jew and Gentile, male and female, and slave and free. Jesus spoke to tax collectors, engaged with Samaritans and treated women as equals in a world where these were outrageous acts." In our Gospel reading today we see Jesus refusing to perpetuate the divisions between Jews and Samaritans when his own disciples want to see revenge enacted on a Samaritan village for rejecting them.

More than this, though, in the incarnation we are presented with a picture of God coming down to earth as Jesus and being progressively stripped of all his prior identity as God’s Son. In Philippians 2 we read that he "made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!" (2.6-8).

Rollins writes that, "This is called kenosis and describes the act of self-emptying. This is most vividly expressed in the crucifixion, where we see Christ occupying the place of the complete outsider, embracing the life of one who is excluded from the political system, the religious community, and the cultural network."

To do this is to cut through the divisions which exist in society because of our different tribal identities. This is what Jesus means when he says he brings a sword into the world. He cuts into "the very heart of all tribal allegiances, bringing unity to what was previously divided":

"There is no change biologically (male or female), religiously (Jew or Greek) or politically (slave or free). Yet nothing remains the same, for these identities are now drained of their operative power and no longer hold us in the way that they once did. These identities no longer need to separate us from each other."

Our "concrete identity continues to exist, but it is now held differently and does not dictate the scope and limitations of one’s being. Paul expresses this powerfully when he writes:

What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away. (1 Corinthians 7.29-31)

What we witness here are concrete references to three different categories: (1) relationships, (2) the things that happen to us, and (3) the things we own. For Paul, these continue to exist, but we are to hold them differently from the way we previously did. We are no longer to act as though we are defined by the things we own, the things that happen to us, or the relationships we have. While these continue to be important, we must hold them in a way that ensures they do not have an inescapable grasp upon us.

Paul understands this radical cut as emanating directly from one’s identity with Christ, for Paul understands participation in the life of Christ as involving the loss of power that our various tribal identities once held for us."  

Last weekend our curate, Rev. Santou Beurklian-Carter, took on a new identity, that of a priest. But she does not do so in order that she can then define herself over against the rest of us. Her role as priest is not that of ‘Father’ or ‘Mother’ knows best. Instead, her role as priest is to lead us into our commemoration of the act in which Jesus let go of every identity by which he was known, becoming nothing, in order that we might come into a new life within the family or kingdom of God where all are one and where there is no Jew or Greek, no slave or free, no male or female.

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Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Two Tribes.

Ordination: Rev. Santou Beurklian-Carter

The ordination as priest of Rev. Santou Beurklian-Carter, curate at St John's Seven Kings, took place this morning at St Mary's Chigwell. Santou was ordained along with Rev. Sharon Guest (Chigwell and Chigwell Team Ministry) and Rev. Young Lee (Walthamstow Team Ministry). Our prayers are with them and all those being ordained in the Chelmsford Diocese today as they enter this new phase of their ministries.

Here are some thoughts on what their ordination means from Nicholas Anderson, Chair of the House of Clergy in Liverpool Diocese:

“Through your ordination into the presbyterate [you] commit yourselves as members of that group of men and women whom we call the ordained ministers of our Church. You will declare before all your willingness to do your best to rise to the great challenges which this way of life will put before you, and through the laying on of hands and the prayer of consecration, the Holy Spirit will take hold of you just as the same Holy Spirit once took hold of the prophets and saints of old enabling you to rise to the challenges which your unique vocation places before you.

As you stand there on Sunday, I would like to invite all to think of you carefully with the eyes of faith.
Through your ordination to the presbyterate, as well as being our friends, our brothers and sisters in faith, you become something more. In the mystery of God’s love, you become a living sign of the presence of Jesus among us in a whole new way. From now on as we look at you with the eyes of faith, we will see something more of the mystery of the Lord’s love for us unfolding in front of our eyes …

What then of you our new priests? To what are you called as witnesses in committing yourselves on Sunday? Of what are you now called to be a living sign? We will hear the answer to all of this in the questions posed to you in The Declarations. We will hear about willing and generous service. We will hear about the faithful proclamation of the faith. We will hear about a ministry of prayer on behalf of the Church and the whole world. We will hear about respect and obedience. We will hear about sincere love, concern for the poor, unassuming authority, self-discipline and holiness. And at the end of The Declarations, we who are there will be asked: “Brothers and sisters, you have heard how great is the charge that these ordinands are ready to undertake, and you have heard their declarations. Is it now your will that they should be ordained?” Our response is a simple, “It is.”

There it is. It is this which your whole life must now be about. This is what you take on this Sunday, this is what God is calling you and empowering you to be and to do – that in every pastoral encounter, people now encounter, in a new and deeper way than was already the case, a living image, a living icon of Jesus the servant.”

This is the charge that St Alcuin made to his monks. It is also of relevance to those being ordained and may be something we could pray for Santou:

“Be an honour to the church, follow Christ’s word, clear in thy task and careful in thy speech. Be thine an open hand, a merry heart, Christ in thy mouth, life that all may know a lover of righteousness and compassion. Let none come to thee and go sad away. Hope of the poor, and solace to the sad, go thou before God’s people to God’s realm, that those who follow thee may come to the stars. Sow living seeds, words that are quick with life, that faith may be the harvest in their hearts. In word and in example let thy light shine in the black dark like the morning star.

Let not the wealth of the world nor its dominion flatter thee into silence as to truth, nor king, nor judge, yea, nor thy dearest friend muzzle thy lips from righteousness.”

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John Rutter - The Lord Bless You And Keep You.

Quiet Day: Abbotswick House of Prayer

Today we have had an excellent Cluster Quiet Day organised by our curate at St John's Seven Kings, Santou Beurklian-Carter, and led by George Kovoor, Principal of Trinity College Bristol, at Abbotswick House of Prayer.

George spoke with animation, humour and simplicity about the nature of Church and the ministry of encouragement (citing the example of Barnabas). His primary illustration was that of a stamp on a letter. The stamp is an identifier and representative of a country. It has stickability and bears a message bigger than itself. Finally, the price of the stamp has been paid. Similarly, we are to be identified as Christians and representatives of Jesus. We need perseverance and steadfastness in our ministry as we too share a message bigger than ourselves; that the price has been paid and God's love is freely available to all.

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Al Green - The Letter.

Easter coverage and services

This was our Easter coverage in the Ilford Recorder which provided a good opportunity to share something of what Easter means to Christians.

In common with many other churches, the Holy week and Easter Day activities and services at St John's Seven Kings were particularly well attended this year. 30 children enjoyed Easter crafts, stories and songs provided by our excellent team of helpers. 70 people attended our Good Friday Devotional Service, a considerable increase on the previous year.

On Easter Day our three services were attended by 194 people, again a significant increase on the previous year. Our curate, Santou Beurklian-Carter gave an excellent sermon at our 10.00am service using broken, hollow and full Easter Eggs for her visual aids while our choir led the worship with a well performed anthem and a new communion hymn by Lester Amann.

While posting about media coverage, Peter Banks and I have also been encouraged by the piece about The Secret Chord in the current edition of Notice Board which comes with The Month. Click here to see the article.  

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After The Fire - Starflight.

Ordination of Renny Feather

This afternoon Renny Feather, a member of St John's Seven Kings, was ordained as a minister with International Christian Ambassadors of God. Renny has developed an effective ministry among the Indonesian community within London and her ordination today supports and affirms the value of that ministry. A group of us from St John's were thrilled to be able to share this important and significant moment with Renny. In our 10.00am service tomorrow, we now have the opportunity to pray for this new stage in Renny's ministry as well as the new ministry to be exercised in our parish by our new curate Santou Beurklian-Carter.

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I, The Lord Of Sea And Sky.