Deanery Confirmation Services

Deanery Confirmation Services at St Andrew's Basildon with The Rt Revd Adam Atkinson, Bishop of Bradwell, on Sunday 4 May at 2.00 pm and 4.30 pm. All are welcome.

The confirmation Service will be webcast - https://www.facebook.com/standrewholycross/videos. It will be live on Facebook and also loaded to the St Andrew's and Holy Cross webpage after the service for those who want to watch it at a later time.

See the Deanery News page for: Deanery Confirmation Services; upcoming Deanery Synod meetings; monthly Prayer Gatherings; HeartEdge Mission events; Re-dedication of St Margaret's Bowers Gifford following vandalism; and a range of new cultural events.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

McIntosh Ross - Jesus Nailed My Sins Upon The Tree.

A weekend of music, art, poetry and a Confirmation Service

On Friday, at St Andrew's Wickford, Suffolk-Essex musician, Rev Simpkins, presented an evening of acoustic music of great imagination and charm, inspired by the history and geography of East Anglia.

The Rev performed songs from his acclaimed folk albums Big Sea and Saltings, before his band Pissabed Prophet, formed with Dingus Khan’s Ben Brown and Nick Daldry, took to the stage to play their first ever acoustic set.

The Rev’s sweeping melodies, rich harmonies, and fascinating lyrics have won him both a cult following and national acclaim. This was a rare chance to experience the breadth of the Rev’s work in one evening.

Read my interview for Seen&Unseen with Rev Simpkins (in which we discuss how music is an expression of humanity and his faith) and my review of Pissabed Prophet for International Times.

Yesterday, I attended Everywhere is Heaven: Malcolm Guite, Christopher Southgate, Roger Wagner, a poetry reading to open Everywhere is Heaven: Stanley Spencer/Roger Wagner, an exhibition at the Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham. The poetry reading took place in Holy Trinity Cookham, the setting of Spencer's Cookham Resurrection.

The exhibition is the Gallery’s first collaboration with a living artist. Roger Wagner has been deeply inspired by Stanley Spencer’s paintings, and both artists have been described as ‘visionary geniuses’, each seeking to evoke the mystical in everyday experience. Just as Spencer found Cookham to be ‘heaven on earth’, so Roger evokes biblical happenings in contemporary settings.

Born in 1957, Roger Wagner read English at Oxford University before studying at the Royal Academy School of Art. He has been represented in London since 1985 by Anthony Mould Ltd exhibiting there many times. Other one man shows include retrospectives at the Ashmolean Museum in 1994 and 2010. He has produced several books of illustrated poems and translations: Fire Sonnets (1984), In a Strange Land (1988), A Silent Voice (1997), Out of the Whirlwind (1997). The Book of Praises – a translation of the psalms Book One(1994), Book Two (2008), Book Three (2013).

Malcolm Guite is the former Chaplain of Girton College, Cambridge and author of various books on contemporary spirituality. In addition to this he is a poet and singer-songwriter and fronts the Cambridge-based band Mystery Train. In 2023 he was awarded the Lanfranc Award for Education and Scholarship, for his outstanding multifaceted promotion of the Gospels through poetry, public speaking and scholarship.

Christopher Southgate works at the University of Exeter as a Professor in Theology. He has been publishing his poetry since 1985. He is the author of nine collections of poetry, including a verse biography of T.S. Eliot – A Love and its Sounding (Salzburg, 1997). He has won a number of awards for poetry. He was also commended in the 2009 National Poetry Competition, and shortlisted for the 2022 Bridport Prize.

Today, we have had a Basildon Deanery Confirmation Service at St Gabriel's Pitsea led by The Rt Revd Adam Atkinson, the new Bishop of Bradwell who spoke about encouraging one another as we go forward on our faith journeys. There were 18 candidates from three parishes, including two from Wickford and Runwell.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pissabed Prophet - Waspdrunk.

Start:Stop - Mountain-top experiences

Bible reading

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen. (Luke 9. 28 – 36)

Meditation

As they looked back on their experiences with Jesus the disciples were able to see that the sight of Jesus transfigured had been an important assurance for them that Jesus was God’s Son and that the path he followed, even though it led to his death, was the path that God had mapped out for him. At his Transfiguration Jesus was seen in glory speaking with both the great patriarch and the great prophet of the Israelites, Moses and Elijah, and then God himself spoke to confirm Jesus as his Son. Everything about this experience spoke of Jesus as God. Moses and Elijah spoke to Jesus about his plan to fulfil God’s purpose by dying in Jerusalem and God confirmed that everything Jesus said came directly from him. This experience should have been a confirmation for the disciples of everything that Jesus is and was about to do but, at the time, it seemed to be too much for them to comprehend. They were afraid, confused and kept the experience to themselves. It was only later, looking back, that they could see the confirmation that this experience provided.

I wonder if we have had experiences of events and plans coming together in ways that confirmed to us that we were on the right path. It may be that we need that kind of confirmation in our lives now and could be asking God for his confirmation about our direction in life. What God wants to do for us, as he did for the disciples, is to give us a greater vision of Jesus as he really is. That will not answer all of our questions but can strengthen our ability to trust and follow him through our questions and uncertainties.

Like the disciples, we, too, will have mountain-top experiences in our lives; times of great blessing and revelation when all seems well with the world and when we know without any uncertainty that we are God’s children. What, I wonder, have your mountain-top experiences been? Whatever they were and however wonderful they were, we inevitably, as did Jesus, came down from the mountain-top to experience some suffering or failure as part of our life experience. We cannot live on the mountain-tops but those experiences sustain us when we are in the valleys. Such experiences are one of the means God uses to go with us through the valleys, even the valley of the shadow of death.

The disciples only recognised the full significance of their mountain-top experience as they looked back. At the time, they felt afraid and confused. Are you able to look back on events that may not have been clear at the time but which have been significant, sustaining experiences for you in your life? Have there been times of joy, wonder or blessing which you have now lost sight of in your life and need to rekindle and relive? The disciples relived their experiences by telling them to others and by having them written down so that their stories could be passed on to others including us. It may be that you also need to relive your experiences of refreshment, blessing and revelation by telling others about them or by writing them down to share with others.

Prayer

Lord God, give us your guidance over the direction of our life through the experience of events and plans coming together in ways that confirm to us that we are on the right path. Give us a greater vision of Jesus as he really is and, through that greater vision, strengthen our ability to trust and follow Jesus through our questions and uncertainties. Take us to the mountain-top and sustain us in the valleys.

Lord God, give us mountain-top experiences; times of great blessing and revelation when all seems well with the world and when we know without any uncertainty that we are God’s children. We know that we cannot live on the mountain-tops but those experiences sustain us when we are in the valleys. Go with us through the valleys, even the valley of the shadow of death, and sustain us in part through the legacy of our mountain-top experiences. Take us to the mountain-top and sustain us in the valleys.

Often we only recognise the full significance of our experience as we look back. Encourage us to look back on events that may not have been clear to us at the time but which can become significant, sustaining experiences for us in our lives. Remind us of times of joy, wonder or blessing which we have now lost sight of and need to rekindle and relive. Enable us to relive our experiences of refreshment, blessing and revelation by telling others about them or by writing them down to share with others. Take us to the mountain-top and sustain us in the valleys.

Blessing

Mountain-top experiences, times of great blessing and revelation, recognising the full significance of our experiences, confirmation that we are on the right path, and a greater vision of Jesus; may those blessings of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, rest upon you and remain with you always. Amen.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Delirious? - Louder Than The Radio.

Confirmation Service

Ian Benjamin and Sheila Permal were confirmed tonight at Christ Church Wanstead by The Rt. Revd. Dr. Trevor Mwamba, Assistant Bishop of Chelmsford, Rector of Barking and Vicar of St Margaret's. They were part of 31 candidates from seven churches who were confirmed. +Trevor spoke about possessing an attitude of gratitude and thankfulness.

Ian and Sheila were part of the Lyfe Course that we ran earlier in the autumn and they really took the sessions to heart identifying ways of putting what they were learning into practice in their everyday lives. I had the privilege of baptising Sheila at St John's Seven Kings last Sunday. Thankfulness was again part of the mix as I reflected on the way in which Jesus' baptism answers the questions 'Who am I?' and 'Why am I here?':

'Who are we? We are the beloved sons and daughters of our Father God. Why are we here? To use our God-given abilities to do work for God that only we can do. Take a moment to truly take it in and then say thank you to God your Father for who you are and why you are here.'

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anton Bruckner - Locus Iste.

Cluster Confirmation Service

Our Cluster Confirmation Service took place tonight at St Peter's Aldborough Hatch. There were six candidates from St John's Seven Kings and 11 candidates in total. Our congratulations go to them all for making this public confirmation of their faith. Bishop David, the Bishop of Barking, spoke about inadequate images of God which contribute to the agnosticism of many people in the UK today. Literally carrying a garden fence around the Church, he challenged us to get off the fence and choose belief in God or atheism. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Steve Mason - Oh My Lord.

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.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Saint Johns - Your Head and Your Heart.

Coming down from the mountain-top

I find it very encouraging that the Gospels are so honest about the disciples. They are just like us; falling asleep when they should be praying and misunderstanding what God is doing and why he is doing it. Don’t you often find yourself doing those sorts of things? I do. But Jesus still loved and persevered with his disciples despite their shortcomings and he does the same with us. We are not expected to be perfect followers of Jesus just to keep trying and learning.

As they looked back on their experiences with Jesus the disciples were able to see that the sight of Jesus transfigured had been an important assurance for them that Jesus was God’s Son and that the path he followed, even though it led to his death, was the path that God had mapped out for him. Earlier in Luke 9 there had been much discussion about who Jesus was and what Jesus was here to do. In verse 7 we read about Herod’s confusion as he thinks Jesus is John the Baptist come back to life. In verse 18 Jesus asks the disciples to tell him who the crowds think he is. The disciples say that some think he is John the Baptist and others Elijah. Jesus asks Peter to say who he thinks him to be and Peter answers, “You are God’s Messiah.” Then Jesus tells them about his plan to go to Jerusalem where he will be arrested and killed and we know from the other Gospels that the disciples were greatly disturbed about this plan.

In the midst of this confusion and disturbance they have this experience which, in hindsight, they can see answers both questions. Jesus is seen in glory speaking with the great patriarch and the great prophet of the Israelites, Moses and Elijah, and then God speaks to confirm Jesus as his Son. Everything about this experience speaks of Jesus as God. Moses and Elijah speak to Jesus about his plan to fulfil God’s purpose by dying in Jerusalem and God confirms to them that everything Jesus says comes directly from God himself. This experience should, then, be a confirmation of everything that Jesus is and was about to do. But for the disciples, at the time, it seems to be too much for them to comprehend. They are afraid, confused and keep the experience to themselves. It is only later, looking back, that they can see the confirmation that this experience provided.

I wonder if we have had experiences of events and plans coming together in ways that confirmed to us that we were on the right path. It may be that we are needing that kind of confirmation at this point in our lives and should be asking God for his confirmation about our direction in life. What God wants to do for us, as he did for the disciples, is to give us a greater vision of Jesus as he really is. That will not answer all of our questions but can strengthen our ability to trust and follow him through our questions and uncertainties.

More than anything else though, the Transfiguration was preparing Jesus to walk the path that led to the cross. God had confirmed that Jesus was his Son at Jesus’ baptism which led to his temptation and then into his public ministry. Here at the point that Jesus resolves to walk the path of suffering which leads to redemption, God again confirms his Sonship to Jesus in the same way as at his baptism. Jesus came down from this mountain knowing that he was God’s Son walking in God’s way and that sustained through all the trials that endured.

We too will have mountain-top experiences in our lives. Times of great blessing and revelation when all seems well with the world and when we know without any uncertainty that we are God’s children. Our mountain-top experience might be a great worship service, an experience of healing, answered prayer or the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it might be a sense of overwhelming joy or of union with every other living thing in the whole created order. Whatever it is and however wonderful it is, we will inevitably, as Jesus, did come down from the mountain-top to experience suffering or in our case failure. We cannot live on the mountain-tops but those experience sustain us when we are in the valleys. Such experiences are one of the means God uses to go with us through the valleys, even the valley of the shadow of death.

Mountain-top experiences are often not looked for but are gifts to us to appreciate and enjoy. The disciples only recognised the full significance of their mountain-top experience as they looked back. At the time, they felt afraid and confused. Are you able to look back on events that may not have been clear at the time but which have been significant, sustaining experiences for you in your life? Have there been times of joy, wonder or blessing which you have now lost sight of in your life and need to rekindle and relive?

The disciples relived their experiences by telling them to others and by having them written down so that their stories could be passed on to others including us. It may be that you need to relive your experiences of refreshment, blessing and revelation by telling others about them or by writing them down to share with others.

Jesus was changed as he went up the mountain; his faced changed its appearance and his clothes became dazzling white. But it was not just Jesus that was changed by this experience as the disciples too were changed – not instantly but over time as they looked back and thought about the significance of what they had seen and heard. Their responses at the time were confused but time and reflection brought the understanding and assurance that enabled them to stand for Jesus in their lives and follow him on the path where he had led.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

U2 - I Will Follow.

Upcoming events and services

The All-Age Harvest Festival at St John's Seven Kings is this coming Sunday 16th September at 10.00am. We are collecting Harvest goods to donate to the Redbridge Food Bank. After the service we will have a bring & share Harvest lunch. In the service we will be thinking about the third of the Transforming Presence priorities - serving with accountability.

  

We have our 50/50 Auction on Saturday 22nd September. All items are included in the auction on the basis that 50% of the sale price is kept by the seller and 50% goes to the Church. Viewing begins at 10.00am on 22nd and the auction starts at 12 noon. Refreshments will be available. This is always a popular local event and a good fundraiser for the church.

  

We will then be celebrating our Patronal Festival on the weekend of 6th and 7th October. We have a Barn Dance on Saturday 6th from 7.30pm. Tickets are £8 for adults, £6 for under 12s. All are welcome. Our Patronal Festival service will be at 10.00am on Sunday 7th and the preacher will be Rev. Chris Wragg, Vicar of All Saints Squirrels Heath, who is a past member of the congregation at St John's. In the evening, at 6.30pm, we will host a Confirmation Service at which 8 candidates (from St Johns, St Paul's Goodmayes, All Saints Goodmayes and St Peter's Aldborough Hatch) will be confirmed by the Rt. Revd. David Hawkins, Bishop of Barking.

  

I am also involved, with other churches in the Redbridge deanery, in organising a series of arts events that will be part of this year's Woodford Festival (6th - 14th October). These include: art exhibition, Big Draw event, classical & choral concerts, Jazzathon, Poetry event, Street Pastors patrol, Woodford Proms, Youth Festival and various special services (including Jazz, Pets, and visual arts). 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

Neil Young - Harvest Moon.

Building on firm foundations

This morning at St John's Seven Kings, our young people did a sponsored car wash during the main morning service to raise funds for the Agape Youth work which we support in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They washed 11 cars in under an hour and raised £120.00.

This evening we joined with All Saints Goodmayes for a Confirmation Service at which 14 were confirmed, including three candidates from St John's. The Bishop of Barking spoke about the candidates having made Jesus the foundation for their lives and then discussed the kinds of materials we should use in building on that foundation. He gave a real-time demonstration of the flammability of straw and then asked the grandfather of one of our candidates to demonstrate bricklaying. He concluded that we need to be built together as a community of God's people all standing firm in our faith as we build on the foundation of Christ.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sixpence None the Richer - The Melody of You.

Confirmation Service 2010

Another memorable confirmation service tonight, this year at St Paul's Goodmayes. Bishop David and his assistant chef for the evening, Chris Peck, baked a chocolate cake in the sermon as an illustration of Jesus' story in which the kingdom of God is compared to yeast (or other raising agents such as baking powder). In this story, a little has a significant transformative effect. Bishop David called for the confirmation candidates, and all present, to allow the Holy Spirit to transform us so that we can in turn be transformative agents in society. We had four candidates in a service that was shared with St Paul's Goodmayes and St Nicholas Elm Park. Confirmation preparation was shared with young people from St Paul's and the whole group also went on the Diocesan confirmation weekend. All of which means that it is possible that they will continuing meeting together as a group as they seek to grow in their faith.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Switchfoot - New Way To Be Human.