HeartEdge churches: Holy Trinity, Bradford on Avon

One of my new pleasures when travelling the country is visiting HeartEdge churches. Here's the first, Holy Trinity Bradford on Avon is a thriving and welcoming Grade I listed Parish Church in the inclusive and liberal modern catholic tradition, and has an active membership today of over 150. The parish of Holy Trinity is part of the Benefice of Bradford on Avon Holy Trinity, Westwood and Wingfield. The Revd Canon Joanna Abecassis is the Rector of this relatively new benefice, which was formed in 2013.

Holy Trinity are always seeking to be open to God and to grow in their personal faith and as a church community: so are on a journey! That journey began a very long time ago: the current church building has existed since 1150, but underwent a massive transformation and regeneration in 2016 (when the church was closed for a year). They called this project ‘Opening our Doors’ and so now rejoice in the fact that, not only do they have the most magnificent cathedral-like building, but their doors are open every day of the week welcoming in both members of their community and visitors from afar (like me). And the new glass doors proclaim the message, ‘Be still and know that I am God’. Read more about their reordering here.

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The Brilliance - Open Up.

Clare and Tennyson: A scenario for a novel

This afternoon at OPEN I heard a fascinating account of the links between the Suntrap and the Asylum at High Beach, Epping Forest which included the probable meeting of the poets John Clare and Alfred Tennyson at the asylum.

John Clare was admitted, in 1837, to Dr. Matthew Allen's asylum after years of struggling with alcoholism, neglect and depression. He stayed at the Leopard’s Hill Lodge and was free to work the fields and walk the Forest.

Alfred Tennyson lived at Beech Hill House, High Beach, from 1837 until 1840, where he wrote parts of In Memoriam (1850), on the death of Arthur Hallam, including 'Ring out, wild bells' inspired by hearing the bells of Waltham Abbey.

Suffering from depression, Tennyson stayed for two weeks as a guest of Allen’s asylum and would have encountered Clare at Leopard’s Hill (Lippitts Hill) Lodge or perhaps walking in the Forest. He reported that the mad people were ‘the most agreeable and most reasonable persons’ he had met.

I thought to myself as I heard this story what a great scenario it would provide for a novel and later, after googling John Clare and Tennyson, I found that the novel has already written - The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds, "where Tennyson’s transformation of private grief into public success is nicely contrasted with Clare’s public displays of delusional behaviour."

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Jonathan Dove - Ring Out, Wild Bells.

OPEN again

Photos from last Sunday's OPEN session at St George's Barkingside which included some magical music making by Simon and Edna plus projected meditations. The next session will be in four weeks time - Sunday 10th February, 4.00 - 5.30pm.

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Paul Johnson - Every Kind Of People.

OPEN for music

OPEN is a fresh expression of church in Gants Hill (St George’s Barkingside). Today's OPEN session featured Tom and Simon on lead guitar and bass playing rock and blues, ably supplemented on a couple of tunes by our resident jazz pianist Keith. OPEN sessions regularly feature art, conversation, games, meditations (projected), music, poetry, photography and refreshments. They are generally as interactive as we can make them, although with the fine music Tom and Simon were making this session was more of an extended and intimate jam session.

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Cream - Sunshine Of Your Love.

An attitude of openness

Jesus said that he had come that we may have life, and have it to the full (John 10. 10). Jesus is able to give fullness of life because “God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him” (Colossians 1. 19). It is out of that fullness that we receive grace upon grace” (John 1. 16).

This is why we are told to pray that we might “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge,” so that we may be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3. 18 & 19). We receive this fullness when, out of love, we don’t judge and don’t condemn but do forgive and give to others. As Jesus said in the Sermon of the Mount:

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6. 37 & 38)

In other words, fullness comes from openness. Think for a moment of a cup or a glass or a chalice or any other container or receptacle that can hold a fluid. Each of these are specifically made to be open. They are designed to be open to receive.

If we place a lid on the container – if it is closed rather than open - then it cannot receive the water. The bottle can only be filled when it is open. Jesus’ image of “a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over” is of more than simply being filled. When we forgive and are forgiven, when we give and are given to, then we are receiving a constant flow of love which not only fills us but constantly spills over to others around us. That is what is promised to us, through Jesus, in scripture but it only occurs as we are open.

OPEN is the name of the fresh expression of church that you have begun here on Sunday afternoons. It is about the church being open for all who wish to come and open to a wide range of activities and creativity. The openness that OPEN is supposed to signify, though, is not simply about the practicalities of opening the church doors. Instead, it is much more about an attitude of mind; an attitude of openness to God, to others, to change and difference and newness.

It is an attitude of mind that, as Jesus said, we will not and cannot experience when we are judgemental, when we are condemning, when we are unforgiving or when we are not giving. Openness is demonstrated, Jesus said, through welcome, through acceptance, through forgiveness, and through giving. It is when we are open in these ways that we receive the fullness that God has been pleased to give to Jesus and that fullness spills over from us to those we meet.

We might think about OPEN as something for others – as a way of opening the church to connect with people who haven’t ordinarily come. If we are thinking that way, then we are saying it is not for me. We might even have already tried OPEN and decided that it isn’t for us. If so, we are closed rather than open. OPEN is not just an event or activities or outreach or a fresh expression, more importantly it is an opportunity to be open; to cultivate that attitude of openness through which we are able to receive God’s fullness and share it with others.

OPEN is an opportunity to be open to church looking and feeling different, open to those who don’t come to the usual church services, open to the creativity or conversation of those that we wouldn’t otherwise meet, and by meeting and greeting, welcoming and accepting all this, cultivating that attitude of openness through which we are able to receive God’s fullness and share it with others.

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Eric Bibb - Forgiveness Is Gold.

OPEN meditation

For today's OPEN session I wrote a new meditation and put together a multi-media presentation using photographs I had taken at St George's Barkingside and around Gants Hill. Here are stills of the multi-media meditation:

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Tim Buckley - I Must Have Been Blind.

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.

OPEN (2)

The first OPEN session at St George's Barkingside had spaces for art, conversation, meditation, music, refreshments, snooker and table tennis. After its successful start, OPEN will happen on a fortnightly basis (4.00 - 5.30pm).

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Elbow - One Day Like This.

OPEN

All are welcome to the first OPEN session at St George's Barkingside, from 4pm on Sunday 30 October.

  

OPEN is a fresh expression for Gants Hill and beyond which aims to OPEN the church space, welcoming people into that space to engage with a range of social and creative activities such as art, conversation, dance, games, meditations, music, photography, prayer and refreshments.

In this way, not simply to OPEN the doors of the church to all who come but also to be OPEN and responsive to the interests and abilities of people in what happens within the space. OPEN will be an opportunity to welcome people in Christ’s name and with his free undirecting Spirit, into sacred space but on an OPEN basis without making specific demands or holding specific agendas.

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Elbow - Open Arms.