More of David's photographs can be seen by clicking here.
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The Velvet Underground - Beginning To See The Light.
Saturday, 10 October 2015
'Gift' exhibition photographs
Update: Sophia Hub Redbridge
Ros Southern writes:
'Hi there - welcome to new people in this mailing who I met at Redbridge hub opening on Wednesday :)
News for this week:
We have a fabulous speaker at enterprise club on Tuesday 13th October - Prodeepta who gave up teaching to become a photojournalist and among other things makes children's books with Benjamin Zephaniah. Read about it here.
It's Social Saturday tomorrow - celebrating social enterprise - so if you don't know how to celebrate it, try buying a recycled bike in Ilford 10-2pm! Click here for info on Ilford Recycles.
Also Saturday/Sunday the launch of Cranbrook Centre in Valentines Park takes place - a creative collaboration with two charities and East London radio to reduce business costs. Read about it here.
To read about the fantastic launch of Redbridge hub and the 24/7 access to COBRA business database click here for info. And advance notice we are running a training on Tuesday lunchtime 27th October.
To see our Timebank SWAP OF THE WEEK, with start-ups helping each other's business, click here :)
To see the bonaza list of start-up and business events in Redbridge in October, click here
Thanks so much to Nnenna Anyanwu for being speaker at our enterprise club last week - to see her business MOT tips click here
No guest start-up blog this week folks - please do send in your news and I will promote you!!!
We are updating our Help & Support page on website - please take a look and see what's missing.
Have a good weekend,
Ros Southern
Coordinator, Sophia Hubs Redbridge
E: ros.southern@sophiahubs.com M 07707 460309 / 0208 590 2568 (answer phone)
T: @sophiahubs7k F: Sophia Hubs Seven Kings (please follow us and Like us!)'
'Hi there - welcome to new people in this mailing who I met at Redbridge hub opening on Wednesday :)
News for this week:
We have a fabulous speaker at enterprise club on Tuesday 13th October - Prodeepta who gave up teaching to become a photojournalist and among other things makes children's books with Benjamin Zephaniah. Read about it here.
It's Social Saturday tomorrow - celebrating social enterprise - so if you don't know how to celebrate it, try buying a recycled bike in Ilford 10-2pm! Click here for info on Ilford Recycles.
Also Saturday/Sunday the launch of Cranbrook Centre in Valentines Park takes place - a creative collaboration with two charities and East London radio to reduce business costs. Read about it here.
To read about the fantastic launch of Redbridge hub and the 24/7 access to COBRA business database click here for info. And advance notice we are running a training on Tuesday lunchtime 27th October.
To see our Timebank SWAP OF THE WEEK, with start-ups helping each other's business, click here :)
To see the bonaza list of start-up and business events in Redbridge in October, click here
Thanks so much to Nnenna Anyanwu for being speaker at our enterprise club last week - to see her business MOT tips click here
No guest start-up blog this week folks - please do send in your news and I will promote you!!!
We are updating our Help & Support page on website - please take a look and see what's missing.
Have a good weekend,
Ros Southern
Coordinator, Sophia Hubs Redbridge
E: ros.southern@sophiahubs.com M 07707 460309 / 0208 590 2568 (answer phone)
T: @sophiahubs7k F: Sophia Hubs Seven Kings (please follow us and Like us!)'
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Bee Gees - My World.
Friday, 9 October 2015
Philanthropy in the City
In an age of austerity and growing inequality, the time is ripe to encourage more philanthropy, particularly in the City of London and to communicate widely the extent and breadth of giving in the Square Mile and Canary Wharf. The City has a proud tradition of philanthropy dating back to the Middle Ages, led by Livery Companies and the Mayorality, as is brilliantly illustrated in the exhibition Philanthropy - The City Story.
At St Stephen Walbrook we have organized a programme of events, exhibitions and services aims to share some of that story and also publicise opportunities for philanthropic contributions today. All are welcome at these events.
Exhibition: Philanthropy – The City Story (Monday 9th – Friday 20th November, Weekdays 10.00am – 4.00pm)
Philanthropy is one of London's hidden stories. The roles of business and government as channels for entrepreneurial effort are well known. But this exhibition explores philanthropy as an alternative catalyst of growth and change. It documents how philanthropy has developed over 800 years and how it has contributed to the Square Mile and society. The City, including almshouses, hospitals, open spaces, orphanages, the first public flushing loos, the Royal Exchange and even London Bridge, owes much to the great philanthropists of the Square Mile.
Exhibition: Society of Catholic Artists (Monday 9th – Friday 27th November, Weekdays, 10.00am – 4.00pm. Private View – Friday 13th November)
The Society of Catholic Artists is for those engaged as professional or amateurs in the various disciplines of the visual arts, and for all those who recognise the value of the artist as an evangelist assisting in the pastoral work of the Church. The society was formed in 1929 as the Guild of Catholic Artists and Craftsmen and after WW2 was instrumental in the building of new and restoration of churches using skilled architects, sculptors, painters, silversmiths, stained glass artists, etc. Today, they are becoming international due to their uniqueness in the world. They aim still to provide not only the highest of skills for commissions but also serve to unite Catholic artists in the artist’s reflection of God’s own creativity. In this year of Pope Francis’ encyclical, ‘Care of Creation’ and respecting the spirituality of the venue, for this exhibition they are using the Pope’s message as a theme. They hope you find inspiration from something in the exhibition (http://www.catholicartists.co.uk/).
Event: Volunteers from the City (Tuesday 10th November, 6.30pm)
Jin Chin (Chair, Samaritans London Central), David Barclay (Church Credit Champions Network) and Revd Bertrand Oliver (All Hallows by the Tower) will share opportunities for volunteering with Samaritans, Home for Good and as a Church Credit Champion.
Service: Thanksgiving for the Lord Mayor of London’s year in office (Wednesday 11th November, 6.00pm)
A service to review and give thanks to God for the year in office of Alderman Alan Yarrow, Lord Mayor of London including the Lord Mayor’s Appeal (Scope and Mencap) and overseas business visits. The service will reflect the theme of the Lord Mayor’s year in office: Creating Wealth, Giving Time, Supporting People.
Services: Discover & explore – Faith, Hope & Charity (1.10 – 1.50pm) Charity – Monday 9th November; Hope – Monday 16th November; Faith – Monday 23rd November
A series of services exploring themes of Faith, Hope & Charity through liturgy, music, readings and reflections with the Choral Scholars of St Martin-in-the-Fields.
Event: Launch of the Sophia Hubs network (Tuesday 17th November, 6.30pm)
Sophia Hubs help local and faith based communities use their resources – webs of relationship, location, buildings – to assist people in their localities develop new start-up businesses and social enterprises through creating an enterprise hub. This puts potential entrepreneurs in touch with the different kinds of support they need e.g. business mentoring, incubation space, becoming part of a business community, start-up capital. Sophia Hubs help faith and community groups become catalysts to make the communities they serve become more truly sustainable. They work creatively with Timebanks, which build relationships and offer a way to exchange value without using money, and work holistically and innovatively to create ways of keeping value and money circulating in the local community, identify key products and services which make a real difference in particular contexts, and encourage more entrepreneurial thinking and acting. Sophia Hubs - sustaining communities through social enterprise (http://sophiahubs.com/).
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The Killers - Human.
Thursday, 8 October 2015
Law & Love: The Greatest Commandment
Here is my sermon from today's Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook (this sermon will shortly be available to listen to on the London Internet Church site):
“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets,” says Jesus (Matthew 22. 34 - end). What does he mean? What do laws about shaving, tattoos, clothing, work, food and drink, farming, money, and much more have to do with loving God, loving ourselves and loving our neighbour?
Jesus frequently attracted criticism, particularly from the Pharisees, for seemingly setting aside laws which they thought important but also said that “until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished” (Matthew 15. 8). So how did Jesus understand and relate to the Mosaic Law?
These verses and this saying are actually key to answering all these questions. By saying, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets,” Jesus is arguing that all 613 commandments in the Torah, however much they may also be about shaving, tattoos, clothing, work, food and drink, farming, money or whatever, are fundamentally about love for God, for ourselves and for our neighbours.
The commandments divide up into 248 positive commandments (Thou shalt's) and 365 negative commandments (Thou shalt not's). In the Ten Commandments the Thou shalt not’s are all to do with limiting the harm we do to others; do not murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness or covet. These are minimum standards of behaviour which enable society to function because respect and toleration exist.
Tom Wright has a helpful illustration for the way in these negative commandments work. He says, “The illustration I sometimes use is that when you learn to drive a car, the idea is that you will quickly come to do most of the things “automatically”, changing gear, using the brakes, etc., and that you will develop the “virtues” of a good driver, looking out for other road users, not allowing yourself to be distracted, etc.; but that the highways agencies construct crash barriers and so on so that even if you don’t drive appropriately damage is limited; and also those “rumble strips”, as we call them in the UK, which make a loud noise on the tire if you even drift to the edge of the roadway.
“Rules” and “the Moral Law” are like those crash barriers and rumble strips. Ideally you won’t need them because you will have learned the character-strengths and will drive down the moral highway appropriately. But the rules are there so that when you start to drift, you are at once alerted and can take appropriate action – particularly figuring out what strengths need more work to stop it happening again.”
The other side of the equation are the positive commandments; the virtues in life which we are intended to quickly learn to do automatically. This is where we begin to engage with love and see that love and law can work together. Parents teach their children the rules of the road. To begin with, when children are very young, the rules of the road are very restrictive i.e. the child must never cross a road without a parent and must always cross at a crossing with the parent and while holding the parents hand. As the child grows, they are taught new rules for crossing the road; for me, that was the Green Cross Code - stop, look and listen. Now, the aim is that the child learns to judge for him or herself when it is safe to cross the road.
Eventually, the rules with which we began – don’t cross on your own, don’t cross unless you are at a crossing – are left behind because the child has learnt how to cross the road safely using their own initiative. Elbert Hubbard has said, “Initiative is doing the right things without being told.” We are able to use initiative because we have not only learnt the rules but have learnt to apply in our lives and situations. At this point, we are no longer restricted just to crossing the road at specific crossing places but can cross wherever we judge it to be safe to do so. So, we have gone beyond the rules by learning and applying the rules. In other words, we have found the true purpose of those rules which our parents enforced when we were young; which is that we learn to cross the road safely by ourselves wherever we are.
Jesus is essentially saying the same thing when he speaks about the Law. The Law starts by keeping us safe – do not murder, do not steal. If we all abide by the Law then we do not harm each other. That is good, but it is not enough. We also need to learn to love one another. That means doing more than the Law requires but to do that is also the fulfilling of the Law. If the Law is about maintaining good relations between us, then love is the fulfilment of the Law’s intent, and that is why Jesus said the heart of the Law is found in these words: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” and, “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
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Victoria Williams - Love.
“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets,” says Jesus (Matthew 22. 34 - end). What does he mean? What do laws about shaving, tattoos, clothing, work, food and drink, farming, money, and much more have to do with loving God, loving ourselves and loving our neighbour?
Jesus frequently attracted criticism, particularly from the Pharisees, for seemingly setting aside laws which they thought important but also said that “until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished” (Matthew 15. 8). So how did Jesus understand and relate to the Mosaic Law?
These verses and this saying are actually key to answering all these questions. By saying, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets,” Jesus is arguing that all 613 commandments in the Torah, however much they may also be about shaving, tattoos, clothing, work, food and drink, farming, money or whatever, are fundamentally about love for God, for ourselves and for our neighbours.
The commandments divide up into 248 positive commandments (Thou shalt's) and 365 negative commandments (Thou shalt not's). In the Ten Commandments the Thou shalt not’s are all to do with limiting the harm we do to others; do not murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness or covet. These are minimum standards of behaviour which enable society to function because respect and toleration exist.
Tom Wright has a helpful illustration for the way in these negative commandments work. He says, “The illustration I sometimes use is that when you learn to drive a car, the idea is that you will quickly come to do most of the things “automatically”, changing gear, using the brakes, etc., and that you will develop the “virtues” of a good driver, looking out for other road users, not allowing yourself to be distracted, etc.; but that the highways agencies construct crash barriers and so on so that even if you don’t drive appropriately damage is limited; and also those “rumble strips”, as we call them in the UK, which make a loud noise on the tire if you even drift to the edge of the roadway.
“Rules” and “the Moral Law” are like those crash barriers and rumble strips. Ideally you won’t need them because you will have learned the character-strengths and will drive down the moral highway appropriately. But the rules are there so that when you start to drift, you are at once alerted and can take appropriate action – particularly figuring out what strengths need more work to stop it happening again.”
The other side of the equation are the positive commandments; the virtues in life which we are intended to quickly learn to do automatically. This is where we begin to engage with love and see that love and law can work together. Parents teach their children the rules of the road. To begin with, when children are very young, the rules of the road are very restrictive i.e. the child must never cross a road without a parent and must always cross at a crossing with the parent and while holding the parents hand. As the child grows, they are taught new rules for crossing the road; for me, that was the Green Cross Code - stop, look and listen. Now, the aim is that the child learns to judge for him or herself when it is safe to cross the road.
Eventually, the rules with which we began – don’t cross on your own, don’t cross unless you are at a crossing – are left behind because the child has learnt how to cross the road safely using their own initiative. Elbert Hubbard has said, “Initiative is doing the right things without being told.” We are able to use initiative because we have not only learnt the rules but have learnt to apply in our lives and situations. At this point, we are no longer restricted just to crossing the road at specific crossing places but can cross wherever we judge it to be safe to do so. So, we have gone beyond the rules by learning and applying the rules. In other words, we have found the true purpose of those rules which our parents enforced when we were young; which is that we learn to cross the road safely by ourselves wherever we are.
Jesus is essentially saying the same thing when he speaks about the Law. The Law starts by keeping us safe – do not murder, do not steal. If we all abide by the Law then we do not harm each other. That is good, but it is not enough. We also need to learn to love one another. That means doing more than the Law requires but to do that is also the fulfilling of the Law. If the Law is about maintaining good relations between us, then love is the fulfilment of the Law’s intent, and that is why Jesus said the heart of the Law is found in these words: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” and, “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
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Victoria Williams - Love.
Living on the Edge
How do we respond when we find ourselves excluded? A day at St Martin-in-the-Fields exploring how disabled people are finding new ways to use their experience of exclusion to improve understanding and address barriers to belonging. Through talks and workshops, using the art space, silent space and marketplace, this is an opportunity organised by and for disabled people, supporters and people with an interest in the issues to gather and resource each other and the church.
Speakers include: Ann Memmott – national autism advisor; Eva McIntyre – Mental Health Matters; the Disability Advisory Group, St Martin’s; WAVE; Disability & Jesus; and Sam Wells.
This event will take place in St Martin’s Hall.
Register online at http://www.inclusive-church.org/disability-conference-2015 or by post to: Living on the Edge, 4 Ferney, Dursley, Gloucestershire GL11 5AB
Cost: £20 | £10 concessions
Phone: 020 7766 1100
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Iona - Edge Of The World.
Discover & explore: New service series
Discover & explore was a service series at St Stephen Walbrook in June and July 2015 of musical discovery exploring themes of beauty, faith, home, imagination, leisure, love and work with the Choral Scholars of St Martin-in-the-Fields.
Feedback for this series was overwhelmingly positive and included the following:
- Perfect service of peace in our busy lives.
- Spiritual food in the middle of the day.
- Each part elided into the next, giving a warm whole.
- The music was wonderful. The service was also thoughtful.
- It was like a little jewel with a number of facets drawing us in and lighting our path.
- Beautifully and intelligently done.
The next services in the Discover & explore series will be:
- Monday 2nd November, 1.10 - 1.50pm – Bereavement (All Souls).
- Monday 9th November, 1.10 - 1.50pm – Charity.
- Monday 16th November, 1.10 - 1.50pm – Hope.
- Monday 23rd November, 1.10 - 1.50pm – Faith.
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St Martin-in-the-Fields - Choral Evensong.
Tuesday, 6 October 2015
Start:Stop - In praise of stop
Bible reading
‘Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work — you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.’ (Exodus 20. 8 - 11)
Meditation
Micah Purnell is a Graphic Designer and Conceptual Artist who is currently showing new work at St James & Emmanuel in Manchester. In Praise Of Stop is an exhibition which reflects on the theme of Sabbath as Resistance by exploring 'the practice of the fourth commandment in a contemporary age.' The series includes thought-provoking aphorisms such as ‘Nothing takes practice’, ‘Switch off to connect’, ‘Thou shalt not prepare for tomorrow’ and ‘Everything comes from nothing’.
In a similar vein is the book written by Stephen Cottrell, the Bishop of Chelmsford, which is entitled ‘Do Nothing to Change Your Life: Discovering What Happens When You Stop.’ In this generous, life-affirming book, full of practical wisdom, Stephen Cottrell invites us to slow down and stop … and breathe. He asks, ‘When was the last time you had a real day off? Ditched the 'to-do' lists? Switched off the phone? Had a lie-in? Sat in the bath until the water went cold?’ Most of us, he suggests, live at break-neck speed. Busy lives - work, family, friends, endless tasks - leave us with little time to sleep, never mind stopping and reflecting. We urgently need to learn to nurture our inner slob. As Isaiah 30:15 says, ‘In return and rest you shall be saved.’
By running Start:Stop once a week we are seeking to suggest that even a little rest or short breaks on a regular basis can be a life-saver in a frantic world where our endless tasks can easily consume us 24-7. As well as stopping for ten minutes of quiet reflection once a week, why not also, once a week, view an art exhibition, listen to a recital or take communion in your lunch break – all opportunities to stop and reflect that we, and other churches, offer regularly? As Micah Purnell says, doing nothing takes practice and, when we slow down, stop and breathe by doing nothing, we are practising the fourth commandment in our contemporary age.
Prayer
Lord God, we ask you to be our Pace Setter, enabling us not to rush. Make us stop and rest for quiet intervals and provide us with images of stillness which restore our serenity. Let us do nothing to change our life and discover what happens when we stop.
Leads us in ways of efficiency, through calmness of mind; for your guidance is peace. Even though we have a great many things to accomplish each day, enable us not to fret for your presence is with us; your timelessness and all-importance will keep us in balance. Let us do nothing to change our life and discover what happens when we stop.
Prepare refreshment and renewal in the midst of our activity, by anointing our heads with your oils of tranquillity. May our cup of joyous energy overflow, as harmony and effectiveness become the fruit of our hours, as we walk in the pace of our Lord and dwell in your house for ever. Let us do nothing to change our life and discover what happens when we stop.
Blessing
The Lord is my Pace Setter, I shall not rush. He makes me stop and rest for quiet intervals. He provides me with images of stillness which restore my serenity. He leads me in ways of efficiency,
through calmness of mind; and his guidance is peace. Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day, I will not fret, for his presence is here. His timelessness, his all-importance will keep me in balance. He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activity, by anointing my head with his oils of tranquility, my cup of joyous energy overflows. Surely harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruit of my hours, for I shall walk in the pace of my Lord, and dwell in his house for ever. May those blessings of God almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, rest upon you and remain with you now and always. Amen.
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The Harbour Lights - Five Senses.
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