Reimagining music in church post Covid-19

In the opening event of the HeartEdge 'Reimagining music in church post COVID-19 ' series, Andrew Earis (Director of Music at St Martin’s), Gabriella Noble (Choral Conducting Fellow at St Martin’s) and Michael Haslam (Director of Music at St James’ Church, Piccadilly) explore the challenges of building congregational and community music-making in worship, as churches begin to reopen and explore what the ‘new normal’ might mean.

The series features interviews with composers and musicians on:

1. Congregational focus - Tuesday 8 September

2. Composer focus - Tuesday 15 September

3. Voluntary Choir focus - Tuesday 22 September

4. Educational Choir focus - Tuesday 29 September

All at 18:30 - 19:30 BST. Register for a zoom invitation at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/reimagining-music-in-church-post-covid-19-tickets-117674233801.

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St Martin's Voices - What Sweeter Music.

Livestreaming & Advent Services

 

The great team who organised our livestreaming today

Via ChurchLive and periscope, 3,000 people watched two Advent Sunday services at St Martin-in-the-Fields today, as well as the launch of the BBC Radio 4 Christmas Appeal with St Martin-in-the-Fields exhibition. It was a very special opportunity for us to share key moments in the life of our community with an audience around the world and also those who don’t normally go to church.

At our 10.00am Eucharist, the first Advent Candle was lit and our preacher was Revd Dr Sam Wells. At our 5.00pm Advent Carol Service we explored in words and music our theme for Advent, Experiments in Hope, with the Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields. The preacher was Revd Rosemary Lain-Priestley. Both services can be viewed by clicking here and here. The Christmas Appeal exhibition launch can be viewed by clicking here.

The Advent Carol Service at St Stephen Walbrook takes place tomorrow at 1.00pm and is a shared service for the Bank Churches Group. The service will be led by Revd Sally Muggeridge and the Choir of St Stephen Walbrook. I will share reflections using Advent sonnets by Malcolm Guite. All are welcome.

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Hills of the North, Rejoice.

Advent Sunday weekend

This year our Christmas Bazaar at St John's Seven Kings is being held on Saturday 30th November from 10.30am to 3.00pm. This is always a busy and enjoyable community event with plenty to involve and interest all ages. As well as a wide variety of stalls there will also be food, drink, cakes, raffle and games. Each year our bazaar features a wonderful grotto in which children can visit Father Christmas. Families come year in, year out because this Santa's grotto is so special.

The following day, Advent Sunday, will feature our Advent Reflections Service at 10.00am with readings, poems, prayers and visuals for Advent, while the Evening Service at 6.30pm will see more of the same together with music from the combined choirs of St John's and St Peter's Aldborough Hatch in an Advent Service organised by the Seven Kings Fellowship of Churches.

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Christ Church Choir - Advent Responsory.

Advent update

Advent to date at St John's Seven Kings has included Advent Reflections, Tamil Carols, Brownies Got Talent, Christingle Service and Nine Lessons and Carols by Candlelight. Today added the Christmas Party for the Downshall Pre-School Playgroup plus Carol Singing around the Parish. Later in the week Downshall Primary School will come for their Christmas Assemblies. We have raised funds for The Children's Society through our Christingle Service and for Haven House Hospice through our Carol Singing. 

The choirs of St John's and St Peter's Aldborough Hatch have led our worship in the Advent Service for the Seven Kings Fellowship of Churches and also at our Service of Nine Lessons and Carols by Candlelight. The two choirs will join forces again this Sunday evening for a Service of Nine Lessons and Carols at St Peters.

The latest creation of our banner group - a cover for our organ with a text from Psalm 57 - was dedicated during our Christingle Service. The dedication prayer we used was:  We dedicate this organ cover to the glory of God in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We thank you for the gift of music, the abilities of musicians and singers and of those who make and maintain the instruments we use in worship. May this organ cover be both a protection to our organ and a reminder to all of the contribution which music and musicians make to our worship. Amen.

Our church website is currently part way through a significant upgrade. The new format is in place and the next stage is to update the content. We are very grateful to Doug Feather who has maintained our website over a number of years and helped transition to the new format. Also to Senthur Balaji and colleagues for their work in redesigning the look of the site. 

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Sufjan Stevens - O come, O come Emmanuel.

Patronal Festival

At St John's Seven Kings we have just enjoyed a very special Patronal Festival which included a well attended and very enjoyable Barn Dance, an excellent sermon on telling your story from Rev. Chris Wragg (a former member of St John's, who is now Vicar at All Saint's Squirrels Heath), a presentation to our Reader Jean Richards on her 70th birthday, a Confirmation Service for our cluster of Anglican churches led in inimitable style, with Olympic and Paralympic imagery, by the Bishop of Barking, a combined choir from the four cluster churches, and original songs written by our own Lester Amann. Our congratulations to all those, from the four churches, who were confirmed tonight by Bishop David.

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Curtis Mayfield - Back To Living Again.

Photographs: St Peter's and OPEN

Today I've been at St Peter's Aldborough Hatch for their morning service (see sermon) and have been back this evening for their Service of Nine Lessons and Carols with the joint choirs of St John's and St Peter's. In between I've also been to the fourth session of OPEN.

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This Picture - The Great Tree.

Patronal Festival (2)

On display at St John's Seven Kings this Sunday were the winning entries in our Images of Hope Art Competition for the Year of the Bible 2011. Bishop David, the Bishop of Barking, presented the Art Competition prizes - bibles given by the Bible Society - during our Patronal Festival service to the winners; Nancy Palumbo, Katrina Rugundu and Hannah Sayers. This competition, based on materials from the Bible Society, invited children and young people to illustrate a Bible story of hope and brings communities together as they think about hope and its meaning. Katrina illustrated Noah and the Ark, while Nancy and Hannah both illustrated Moses parting the Red Sea.

The Patronal Festival Service also included a prayer of dedication for our congregation, bringing our Stewardship month to a conclusion, Dr Winston Solomon was licensed as an Authorised Local Preacher, and we sang the St John's Centenary hymn, which was composed by church member, Lester Amann. Bishop David said that each person who follows Christ can be a preacher of the Gospel sharing the message that Jesus is the light of the world.

At the end of the Patronal Festival service, Bishop David dedicated newly commissioned mosaics which have been installed at St John's Seven Kings this week and which complete the work we have done, with the support and funding of the Area 5 and 7 committees, London over the Border, and Living Street's Fitter for Walking project, to create a community garden at the church. The mosaics will feature in both the local Church art trail

and the art trail for the Barking Episcopal Area. Both mosaics were created by artists from commission4mission.

Graffiti Love, installed on the east wall of the church, has been created by Viki Isherwood-Metzler, who learnt the art of mosaic in Ravenna, Italy and worked until 2001 as a mosaic maker in Zurich, Switzerland from where she comes. Since 2002 she has lived and worked in London and undertakes all kinds of commissioned mosaic work in marble, glass, ceramics, terracotta and pebble stones. Graffiti Love is made with smalti glass and the image comes from a series of mosaics utilising words with graffiti stylings.

The Trinity sculpture, in the remembrance area of the community garden, was designed by the community garden planning group and incorporates a mosaic by Sergiy Shkanov. Shkanov is a professional artist working in the fields of stained glass, murals, mosaics, painting, graphic arts, and book illustration. He is a tutor of Fine Arts, has participated in group shows across Europe since 1987, and holds numerous personal exhibitions in the United Kingdom. He undertakes art commissions for private and corporate clients. The Trinity sculpture includes three granite shapes representing the three persons of the Trinity set within the circles and triangles of Shkanov's mosaic which represents lines of exchange and connection within and between the godhead.

In the evening choir members from more than eight local churches joined with the St John's choir for a special choral celebration of anthems, hymns and readings entitled Sing Glory! The programme for the evening included Stanford's settings of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis among other anthems together with a selection of rousing hymns.

We have been blessed throughout our Patronal Festival by the artistic and musical gifts that God gives to his people. Bishop David encouraged each of us to be someone who shares the light of Christ with others and we have seen that happening in practice during our Patronal Festival through the Art Competition paintings, our new mosaics, the choir members who sang so well, Lester Amann's Centenary hymn, Bishop David's preaching and prayers together with his affirmation of the preaching ministry of Dr Winston Solomon.

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Sir Charles Villiers Stanford - The Magnificat in B flat.