Spiritual Life - Creativity

This is my latest Spiritual Life column for the Ilford Recorder:

“Begin, begin,

let something be.

Make a blot,

a dash, a stroke.

Make your mark.”

I read this poem last Saturday at the Private View for an exhibition I have organized throughout December at the Tokarska Gallery in Walthamstow. It suggests that we understand ourselves and the world as we make things or make things happen; in other words as we use our God-given ability to create. The art we have included in this exhibition offers us that kind of understanding through their expression of creativity.

Earlier in that same week I had been at the 15^th Anniversary Assembly of TELCO, The East London Communities Organisation, where the phase ‘mark your mark’ was also being used. TELCO has made its mark with successful campaigns for a London Living Wage. Last Wednesday, they celebrated jobs gained by local people through their London 2012 Jobs initiative.

A 61 year old lady who had experienced periods of homelessness and who had thought she would never work again was among those who had gained jobs. Our creativity has been given to us by God to make that kind of mark on our communities and on the lives of others; as well as also being for the marks we make when we paint or write.

The key thing is to make a start in some way, to begin to use our latent God-given creativity. In Church recently, many of us have been reading Jesus’ story of the talents in which he makes the same point; don’t sit on your gifts and talents, instead make a start to make your mark!

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Radiohead - No Surprises.

TELCO 15th Anniversary Assembly

I was at the Troxy tonight for the 15th Anniversary Assembly of The East London Communities Organisation (TELCO) which saw 2,200 TELCO citizens gather again in Tower Hamlets to celebrate a landmark 15 year relationship of organised communities working together to transform their neighbourhoods. Through bringing communities together and training leaders in the art of public action, TELCO has changed the way local communities make politics happen in east London.

TELCO is the founding chapter of London Citizens, the UK’S largest independent community alliance. Fifteen years on, in 2011, TELCO is now 65 community institutions strong, working in five major east London boroughs and has pioneered Community Organising in the UK as part of London Citizens with over 200 communities in membership.

The Assembly saw the first 50 TELCO members who have successfully applied for jobs at the 2012 Olympics receive certificates from Lord Coe together with reports of local action by TELCO institutions and updates on broader campaigns such as CitySafe and the Living Wage. It was very inspiring to see young and old, churches, mosques, schools and unions working together for the benefit of local communities by prioritising relationships and affirming the contribution and voice of all. Great too to see those, like Bishop Roger Sainsbury, who were involved at the very beginning of TELCO, and therefore CITIZENS UK too, present and their contribution also affirmed.

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Jackson Browne - Lives In The Balance.