Churches can survive and thrive in changing and challenging times

The Evens Evening at St John's Seven Kings, which was my farewell event in the parish, was a very special evening for us as a family. I gave a presentation of the recent East London Three Faiths Forum Tour of the Holy Land, there was a delicious bring and share supper, and there were words of thanks and presentations to Christine and I.

Here is the speech I gave at the end of the evening:

St John’s is a diverse and busy church in a diverse and changing area. This makes it an interesting and dynamic place to be. When that is combined with committed, caring and creative people in the congregation and community, the parish provides opportunities for ministry which is engaged and engaging, innovative and traditional, memorable and mundane.

Over the past eight years together we have: celebrated anniversaries (Contact Centre, Mothers’ Union, 110 years of the Church); been inspired by the examples of those no longer with us such as Dorothy Hart, Doreen Gullett, John Toll and Barbara Trump among others; maintained our work with children and young people; drawn new people into ministry in services and leadership; welcomed new people into the congregation as a result of our community engagement, the occasional offices of baptisms, funerals and weddings, and through people moving into the area; contributed to successful community campaigns for much needed local facilities; organised art exhibitions, bazaars, community information events, concerts, light opera performances, literary panels, a Praise Party, a wide range of social & fundraising events, table-top sales and a talent show; supported the setting up the Sophia Hub social enterprise support service; worked closely and well with our friends in the Seven Kings Fellowship of Churches and the local cluster of Anglican churches; and expanded the range of community groups using the Parish Centre.

As a result of this shared missional activity, St John’s is well known in the borough as a well used and well loved community hub; a church that is open, welcoming, engaged and engaging. We have achieved this together in a challenging context for the borough’s churches which results from the changing demographics in the area. The multi-faith nature of this parish means that Christianity is becoming numerically a minority faith in the area bringing significant challenges for maintaining church buildings and congregations as a result. While understandably, but unhelpfully, this can result in a defensive attitude developing among Christians, overall at St John’s we have been open to engagement and dialogue with our neighbours of other faiths through our support of Faith Forum and Three Faiths Forum events and the work of the Sophia Hub and Scriptural Reasoning group. In addition, although there has been resistance, we have faced up to the changes needed to address the financial issues which arise from the challenge provided by changing demographics and have worked our way together to a place of renewed financial viability. We are, therefore, an example of how churches can survive and thrive in changing and challenging times and locations.

None of this has been achieved without debate and stress, conflict and challenge both for you and for me. All of this – continuity, change and challenge – has contributed to the ministry we have done and the foundation for the future which has been laid.

St John’s will be a hugely interesting and attractive parish in which someone new can minister. It has been a privilege for me to be your minister for the past eight years, to get to know and grow in friendship with you all, to face the challenges and take on the opportunities of this area, and most of all to do ministry together; to share in activities which benefit the local community, bring diverse groups together, develop understanding and community cohesion, bring people to Christian faith and to a deepening of their faith.

Thank you for the opportunity to have been part of all this together with you. Thank you for all that each one of you contributes to the ongoing mission and ministry of St John’s. Thank you because of the impact that that ministry has individually and overall. Thank you for all that I have learnt and for all the ways that I have developed and grown through being here. Thank you to all those who have shared ministry and leadership with me here and thank you to all those who given me particular support, help and encouragement in the time that I have been here. I pray for God’s continued rich and deep blessing on you as individuals, congregation, church, parish and community.   

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Bernadette Farrell - Christ Be Our Light.

MU meeting: Canon Edward Carter

Edward Carter, Canon Theologian at Chelmsford Cathedral was the speaker at the branch meeting of St John's Mothers' Union this evening. A very engaging speaker, Edward gave an interesting and amusing talk about his time as Dean's Vicar at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. He gave a vivid picture of life within the Castle, as well as telling us about his experience of special services held at the Chapel.

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Hubert Parry - I Was Glad. 

National Marriage Week display

Here is this year's National Marriage Week display at St John's Seven Kings as created by our Mothers' Union branch. This year's display focuses on the things which sustain a marriage and feature Wedding photos of two couples from our congregation celebrating 60th anniversaries this year, one couple celebrating their 50th anniversary plus one of two couples from our congregation who were married at the turn of this year.

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CeCe Winans - I Promise (Wedding Song). 

National Marriage Week: The BIG Promise

Marriage vows are the most long-term promises we ever make – to love and care for someone else for the rest of our lives! They are a commitment to put someone else’s interests as equal to our own, and they involve setting aside our own short-term ‘wants’ for long-term stability and satisfaction.
They are life changing – and have a huge impact on the way our lives work out. For those that make them they are ‘the BIG Promise’.

Every year more than a quarter of a million couples across the UK signify their commitment to each other by getting married – they make, explicitly or implicitly, promises to each other that form the bedrock on which successful marriages are built.

And every year Marriage Week (7th – 14th February) celebrates all those promises down the years, and seeks to encourage and support couples in their marriages.

The Mothers’ Union vision is of a world where God’s love is shown through loving, respectful and flourishing relationships. This is not a vague hope, but a goal which is actively pursued by working with people of all faiths and none in 83 countries to promote stable marriage, family life and the protection of children through praying, enabling and campaigning.

There is a natural fit between the aims of the Mothers’ Union and those of National Marriage Week which is why our MU branch at St John's Seven Kings regularly organises a display in the St John’s Centre for Marriage Week. This is in addition to its ongoing work of running our Contact Centre and Pram Club plus fundraising for MU projects and a regular programme of branch meetings. This year our display focuses on those in our congregation with significant Wedding Anniversaries during 2014.

Marriage Week celebrates healthy marriages as this social institution, which has been enshrined in the history of civilization, provides vital inter-generational links and stability bringing benefits to all of society. So, it is a Week, not just for those who are married, but for everyone who loves healthy marriage. Similarly, the members of the Mothers’ Union are not all mothers, or even all women. They are single, married, parents, grandparents, or young adults just beginning to express their social conscience; anyone who wishes to promote stable marriage, family life and the protection of children through praying, enabling and campaigning.

Does that describe you? Why not find out more about the work of Mothers’ Union during Marriage Week?

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The Dixie Cups - Chapel of Love.

Bye Buy Childhood

Yesterday, along with other clergy in the Diocese of Chelmsford, whose parishes have Mothers' Union branches, I enjoyed the hospitality of the Diocesan MU team as they served a 'thank you' lunch for us in the Cathedral Chapter House.

After lunch we heard from Reg Bailey CBE, MU Chief Executive, about the work of the MU nationally and internationally including, in particular, the Bye Buy Childhood campaign.

MU believes that children should be valued as children, not consumers. Yet marketers target children's natural inexperience in order to reach the household purse. Giving children the message that they are what they own, rather than valuing them for who they are, can negatively affect their wellbeing.

The Bye Buy Childhood campaign was launched in August 2010 to challenge the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood. So far, MU has:

• Gained support from Parliamentarians, across the parties
• Presented a 19,000 signature petition to the Prime Minister
• Participated in Parliamentary enquiries and discussions
• Launched postcard campaigns in Ireland and Wales to enable people to send any complaints to Ofcom and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland
• Published Labelled for Life, an advice booklet for families
• Highlighted the issue on television and radio, and through newspapers and the internet
• Engaged local communities and faith groups through local Mothers' Union members' activities
• Engaged with regulatory bodies, advertising and media organisations and other charities concerned about the issue.

Reg Bailey was also commissioned by the Government, in 2010, to carry out an independent review into the issue. The recommendations in his report, Letting Children be Children, were accepted and have been widely implemented. Click here for a progress report on the implementation of this report.

To get involved in the Bye Buy Childhood campaign click here.

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The Banana Splits - The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana).

The dishonest manager

Often working people (usually rightly) say that work barely gets a mention in Church yet when you look at the stories Jesus told large numbers of them are to do with work.

Luke 16. 1 - 13 is one of those stories and it may well be the one that it is most difficult to understand. The story and the teaching based on it seem contradictory and it doesn’t seem to fit with other things that Jesus said and taught.

A manager is wasting his employer’s money. He is found out and fired. The beginning of the story makes sense to us. It’s what happens next that causes a problem. The manager then reduces the debts that various people owe to his employer in order to get on good terms with them before he leaves his master’s employment. Although he is again wasting his master’s money, this time the master praises what he has done.

Jesus goes on to say that we should use our money to make friends and that this will help us to be welcomed into eternity. That seems almost the reverse of his saying store up treasures in heaven rather than treasures on earth. Then to compound all the complications he commends faithfulness after having told a story in which the dishonest manager is praised for his dishonesty.

How can we find a way in to a set of teaching that seems contradictory and confused? It may be that the key is Jesus’ statement that we should make friends for ourselves. Although the dishonest manager remains dishonest there is a change that occurs in the story. And we can see that change most clearly if we think about the manager’s work-life balance.

At the beginning of the story, friendships and responsibility seem low on his list of priorities. He is managing his employer’s property but wasting his employer’s money. It is likely then that his life is focused around work and money. However, when his job comes under threat, he suddenly realises that relationships – friendships – are actually more important than work and money and figures out a quick way of building friendships. At the end of the story, if we return to his work-life balance, work will have decreased in importance to him while friendship and responsibility for his own future will have increased.

The teaching that follows the story makes it clear that Jesus does not condone dishonesty; if this manager is dishonest in small matters then he will also be dishonest in large ones. The manager’s fundamental dishonesty does not change but the priority he places on relationships does. In other teaching Jesus sometimes uses the formula; if someone who is bad can do X then how much more should you or how much more will God do X. He uses it, for example, when he talks about God giving the Holy Spirit: if fathers who are bad, he says, know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more will God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.

What Jesus does in this story is similar. He is saying that if shrewd, worldly people, like the dishonest manager, can come to see the importance of relationships, then how much more should we do the same. Not following the example of the manager in using dishonesty to build relationships but following his example of learning to prioritise relationships in life and in work.

The Relationships Foundation sounds like it is likely to be a dating agency but is actually an organisation founded and run by Christians that believes that a good society is built on good relationships, from family and community to public service and business. They study the effect that culture, business and government have on relationships, create new ideas for strengthening social connections, campaign on issues where relationships are being undermined and train and equip people to think relationally for themselves. They are one example of an organisation that is seeking to prioritise relationships in life and in work as Jesus encouraged us to do. There are, of course, others, with the Mothers’ Union being among them, but the work that the Relationships Foundation attempts to do aims to encourage good relationships throughout society, not just within family life.

Why is this so important? Jesus throws out a hint when he says “make friends for yourself … so that … you will be welcomed in the eternal home.” Jesus seems to be hinting that the relationships we form now in some way continue into eternity. Paul says something similar in 1 Corinthians 13 when he writes that faith, hope and love remain using a word for ‘remain’ which suggests that acts of faith, hope and love continue into eternity. Building relationships Jesus and Paul suggest may not just be good for the here and now but may also have eternal implications. All the more reason then for us to learn from this story and, whether we are at home, at work, or in our community, to prioritise the building of good relationships with those around us.

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The Clash - Card Cheat.

MU Branch meeting: Historic Jewellery Reproduction

Tonight's Mothers' Union branch meeting at St John's Seven Kings featured a fascinating talk by Audrey Shorer about Historic Jewellery Reproduction, a business begun by her late husband Peter Shorer.

Peter was an acclaimed archaeologist and conservator at the British Museum for over 40 years. With his unprecedented experience of many years working with antiquities at the British Museum and countless other museums throughout the world, he was one of the select few antiquarians allowed to handle and take moulds from these rare and priceless artefacts. His amazing reproductions have been acclaimed for many years as stimulating and exciting aids to the world’s history lessons and lectures as well as being a necessary part of historic cinema and televisual productions. His company, Historic Jewellery Reproduction, has become the leading retailer of a specialist range of historic artefacts and stunning gold, silver and precious stone-set jewellery which have the uniqueness of being exact reproductions of the original exquisite pieces. 

Audrey showed us examples ranging from the Winchester Helmet to the Khi Rho brooch I bought to wear on my cassock alb. She also spoke about the excavations with which Peter was involved, including those of the shipwreck sites for the Girona and Concepción.

Peter was a member of commission4mission and took part in c4m's first exhibition as part of the Pentecost Festival in the gallery space at Methodist Central Hall Westminster.

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This Mortal Coil - The Jeweller.

Transfiguration: beyond sensorial reality

I was at Christchurch Wanstead for the Mothers' Union Deanery Festival Service today, so was able to see the paintings there by Janet McKay.

These include a commissioned work which is an optical illusion design by Janet and her collaborator Martin Jones which from one perspective depicts the sorrow and pain of Good Friday and from another perspective the joy and glory of Easter Day. In addition, her images Transfiguration, Hypercube 1 and Transfiguration, Hypercube 2 also hang in the church on a temporary basis.

The inspiration for the Hypercube paintings came from early abstraction, P.D. Ouspensky, E. Abbot, C. Hinton, C Bragdon and non euclidean geometry. The paintings and associated animation explore the idea that our physical selves are a vehicle for a consciousness that goes beyond sensorial reality, beyond time and beyond space.


Janet's interests include science, psychology/illusion and ideas of consciousness. She often works with oppositional paired themes such as perception and illusion, human and spiritual, conscious and subconscious, science and religion. Zest for life even through adversity, the humour, and the tears of the human condition is key. Her work uses a mix of media and experimentation with materials is a strong theme throughout.

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Janet McKay and Martin Jones - Hypercube painting and animation.

Service of Rejoicing and Thanksgiving for the life of Dorothy Hart

On Saturday 20th April (11.00am) St John's Seven Kings will hold a Service of Rejoicing and Thanksgiving for the life of Dorothy Hart. Dorothy, who had recently celebrated her 90th birthday, died on 8th April 2013.

In her late 40s, while she was herself recovering from cancer, she met the Rev. Peter Hudson and became involved with the creation of Redbridge Community Care, now known as Redbridge Voluntary Care.

Redbridge Voluntary Care was established 40 years ago to provide a ‘good neighbour’ service helping residents when they have no one else to turn to. A broad range of help is available through Redbridge Voluntary Care including transport to hospital, clinics, etc, emergency shopping, light help in the home and visiting those who are housebound. Volunteers are on duty 24 hours a day, every day of the year, to make sure there is always someone on the phone who can help if necessary. This can also include collecting prescriptions, shopping, visiting lonely residents and providing transport. Once a year, they also take 100 elderly house-bound residents on a drive through the Essex countryside.

In 2011 the organisation was presented with the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service in recognition of outstanding voluntary contributions judged to be of the highest standard. Dorothy, as Vice President of Redbridge Voluntary Care, attended Award ceremonies at Buckingham Palace and James Hawkey Hall. When she accepted the Award on behalf of the organisation Dorothy said, “We are very touched to receive this award. Over the years we’ve worked with some unbelievably kind volunteers who go to great lengths to help people in their time of need. If more people came along to volunteer as result of this it would be wonderful.”

Dorothy was also a long-term member of St John's Seven Kings. She became a Sunday School teacher at the age of 17 and was a member of the Mothers' Union branch, volunteering in the Contact Centre which the branch has run for more that 20 years. She taught in the borough and her two children were involved in Redbridge Music School and Youth Orchestra, going on to become, respectively, a professional composer and musician  and a music therapist pioneering music therapy in France.

Music will feature significantly in the service, as Dorothy's home was always filled with music while her children were growing up. The Service will include performances by Dorothy's children and grandchildren of: Etoile Radieuse du Matin; Berceuse from The Dolly Suite by Gabriel Fauré; Roses Are Blooming In Picardy; Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy; and Sweet Georgia Brown. 

In sharing the eulogy prepared by the family, I will say, "As anyone who knew Dorothy can testify, she offered up her love to every person with whom she crossed paths, somehow managing to make each and every one of them feel special. She was the archetype of a good neighbour. No matter what their creed, colour, age or background, she made a point of letting others know she was there if they needed her. Her example, in turn, inspired goodness in others. If everyone in the world could take just one leaf out of her book, the world would truly be a better place."

During the service I will also be saying that the "most fitting tribute to her memory is to be inspired to follow in her footsteps by living Christ-like lives ourselves whether by volunteering with Redbridge Voluntary Care – and she particularly wanted this service to encourage new recruits – or in some other way of our own choosing."

Anyone interested in volunteering for Redbridge Voluntary Care Service or wanting to request their help, can call 020 8514 0980.

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Paul Hart - Cartoon.

National Marriage Week display

Here is this year's National Marriage Week display in the lounge at St John's Seven Kings. Designed and made by members of our Mothers' Union branch, this year's display focusses on the 40th Wedding Anniversary of a MU member.

Our All-Age Service next Sunday will take love as its theme, in recognition of National Marriage Week and Valentines Day, and will feature in the liturgy lines from a number of popular love songs. Why not come and see if you can spot them all! 

Anne Atkins recently noted in a Guardian interview that: "Most people get married, most marriages last for live, and most children are raised within a marriage. That's a thing to remember." 

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Bette Midler and Wynonna Judd - The Rose.

Post Olympic and Paralympic events

We enjoyed an excellent Men's Breakfast at St John's Seven Kings this morning hearing from three of our Games Makers about their experiences at the Olympic and Paralympic Games - Senthur Balaji was at the Excel Centre for the Olympics, Doug Feather at the North Greenwich Arena for the Paralympics and Bob Keenan who was a driver at the Paralympics. Our Mothers' Union branch will also be having a presentation shortly from other St Johns' members who were Games Makers and on Wednesday 7th November (7.30pm) we will host a deanery Sports Thanksgiving Service.

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Coldplay - Yellow. 

Contact Centre celebrates 20th Anniversary

The Contact Centre run at St John's Seven Kings by the St John's branch of the Mothers' Union celebrates its 20th anniversary this Saturday.

A Child Contact Centre is a friendly and neutral place where the children of divorced and separated parents can meet, by arrangement, and spend time with their non-resident parent. In general, a Child Contact Centre is used by separated families who want their children to have contact with both parents and maybe other members of the family such a grandparents.

The St John's Contact Centre is part of the National Association of Child Contact Centres (NACCC) which promotes safe child contact through a national framework of Child Contact Centres and is the supporting membership body for around 350 child contact centres and services located throughout England (including the Channel Isles), Wales and Northern Ireland. More information about the St John's Contact Centre can be obtained through the NACCC website - http://www.naccc.org.uk/find-a-contact-centre - or National Infoline (Monday to Friday 9 - 1pm) - tel: 0845 4500 280.

Brynna Kroll has written that "There is no doubt that contact centres are an increasingly essential resource in the area of family support. Without them, the rights of many children to sustain a relationship with a departed parent in a safe place would be either undermined or lost completely."

In 1990 Jean Richards was approached by Diana Bandy, of the Mothers' Union in the Chelmsford Diocese, with the idea of starting a Child Contact Centre at St John's Seven Kings. A first meeting was held in May 1991 to take this proposal forward and in August 1991 the Contact Centre became operational with Jean as the first co-ordinator. She was succeeded by Madge Pettit, who ably followed by Janet Hull.

 

In addition to being the co-ordinator of the centre, Jean was very active in visiting other interested ecumenical groups and Mothers' Union branches to pass on information about setting up Contact Centres. Janet Hull served as both the co-ordinator and team leader of the Centre until 2009. Janet was instrumental in successfully applying for accreditation of the Centre with the National Association of Child Contact Centres (NACCC).

Margaret Skinner is the present co-ordinator of the Centre and Margaret Streeter is her deputy. Jean Richards, Helen Jacob and Michael Streeter help them. Sheila Ramasamy does the clerical work for the Centre.

Initially all referrals to the Centre were from the Court Welfare Service, but after a few years referrals were taken directly from solicitors, CAFCASS and clients. Until 2007, all monitoring and evaluation of the centre was done by the Court Welfare Service. In January 2007, the Centre was accredited by NACCC. In November 2010, the centre was re-accredited by NACCC following a successful evaluation and monitoring process. The centre has until last year been successful in applications for grants from CAFCASS.

Today the centre has 18 volunteers working on a rota basis serving an average of 17 families and 22 children. Contact visits are on Saturdays between 10.00am and 12.00 noon. Families are allotted a maximum of two hours fortnightly. The centre charges a small fee of £2.00 per family per visit.

The Contact Centre 20th Anniversary was attended by present and former volunteers and included: a speech by Diane Bandy (Chelmsford Mothers' Union); cake-cutting by Diane Bandy and Jean Richards; refreshments; awards for long service; and presentations to all volunteers.

The Mothers' Union Mothers' Union is an international Christian charity that seeks to support families worldwide. In 83 countries, it's members share one heartfelt vision - to bring about a world where God's love is shown through loving, respectful and flourishing relationships. This is a goal which is actively pursue through prayer, programmes, policy work and community relationships. By supporting marriage and family life, especially through times of adversity, the Mothers' Union tackle the most urgent needs challenging relationships and communities.

Members of the Mothers' Union are not all mothers, or even all women. The membership includes single, married, parents, grandparents, or young adults just beginning to express their social conscience. For all 4 million members what Mothers' Union provides is a network through which they can serve Christ in their own community - through prayer, financial support and actively working at the grassroots level in programmes that meet local needs.

The Playgroup, Pram Club and Contact Centre at St John's Seven Kings all owe their origins to the Mothers' Union branch which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2009. The Pram Club and Contact Centre continue to run through the commitment of Mothers' Union branch members. The Mothers' Union branch also has a programme of branch meeting and other activities which raise funds for Mothers’ Union projects in the UK and overseas.

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Lloyd Cole and the Commotions - Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?