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.

St John's in the Ilford Recorder

There are three pieces in the Ilford Recorder this week that relate to St John's Seven Kings. I have written the Spiritual Life column which focuses on National Marriage Week and which mentions the Mothers' Union display that will be in the lounge of the St John's Centre during Marriage Week. 

St John's was one of the three churches that commissioned a painting from Henry Shelton, through commission4mission, as a retirement gift for Fr. Benjamin Rutt-Field in thanks for his ministry at St Paul's Goodmayes and within our cluster of churches. This painting was also featured in the Church Times.

Finally, the Recorder has a piece about the Sophia Course which began at St John's last night as part of the Sophia Hubs social enterprise project which is based in the building. we had an excellent session with an enthusiastic and inspiring group of people all wanting to utilise their skills and ideas for the benefit of the local community.

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Water into Wine Band - Stranger In This World. 

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.

National Marriage Week display

This week is National Marriage Week and our Mothers' Union Branch have created their annual display in the St John's Centre. This year the centrepoint of the display is one of my wedding photos as this year Christine and I are celebrating our 25th Wedding Anniversary.

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The Style Council - You're The Best Thing.

Celebrating 100 years of the St John's MU

Current St John's MU members with Bishop & Mugisa Isingoma

This month we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Mothers’ Union at St John’s Seven Kings.

Our celebrations will include a display of Flowers, a Mothers’ Union exhibition, a display of the St John's Mothers' Union archive, a National Marriage Week display, a Celebration Service, and an afternoon tea. We have invited many past members and friends of the MU and church to our celebrations on Saturday 14th February, where we will also be joined by representatives from Mothers’ Union in the Chelmsford Diocese. The displays and exhibitions can be viewed from 10.00am while the Celebration Service begins at 2.00pm and will be followed by Afternoon Tea.

Mothers' Union is a Christian organisation with more than 3.6 million members in 79 countries worldwide. The Mothers’ Union seeks to: promote and support married life; encourage parents in their role to develop the faith of their children; maintain a worldwide fellowship of Christians united in prayer, worship and service; promote conditions in society favourable to stable family life and the protection of children; and help those whose family life has met with adversity.

The backbone of Mothers' Union is its worldwide network of grassroots volunteers. Whatever their individual backgrounds, members are united in their commitment to supporting marriage and family life. They give their time to generously help others, whether by running local projects, supporting international campaigns, or fundraising.

That has certainly been the case here at St John’s with the Playgroup, Pram Club and Contact Centre all owing their origins to the Mothers’ Union and, in the case of the latter two, continuing to be run through the commitment of members. Other events such as the summer Tea Afternoons and the Book Stall have consistently raised significant funds for Mothers’ Union projects in the UK and overseas. We have also sustained a long-term partnership with the Mothers’ Union branch in Warradale, Australia which at one time involved a pan-continental pancake race. People will be able to find out much more about these and many other Mothers’ Union activities at St John’s by visiting the exhibition on 14th February.

Mothers’ Union has a wonderful vision of a world where God's love is shown through loving, respectful, and flourishing relationships. Its aim is to demonstrate the Christian faith in action by the transformation of communities worldwide through the nurture of the family in its many forms. This Anniversary is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate all that the Mothers' Union is and does both here at St John's and throughout the world.

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Mavis Staples - Hard Times Come Again No More.