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shared stories

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img_0503-1Tonight was the first Agapai for a couple of weeks.
We saw 4 people  and we shared what God was doing, prayed together, ate together and finished by sharing bread and wine together with some simple words.

I enjoy meeting, listening and eating.
There is very little planning (other than the menu!) involved
It seems such a natural thing for friends and community to do together.
I mean … we all have to eat right?  … so why not get together with friends and eat and pray together.

We have a core group of around 4 for Agapai.
I hope this grows over this next few months.
I pray that new people, those seeking community, will join us to share their stories and to pray and eat.

Tonight we shared a variety of stories, and fears, and hopes … and we prayed together before sharing bread and wine.
I felt it was a privilege to be involved tonight.
See you next week maybe?

it’s been a year!

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IMG_2293I have now been here a year …. here being  …. Holy Trinity Greenwich Peninsula
I am a third of the way through my contract …. I have no idea if funding will be available at the end of the 3 years  …. the area is a total nightmare to link with people …. sometimes I think people don’t even want us here ….particularly those that have a bad image of (maybe poor) models of church … (horrible unchristian stuff like this masquerading as genuine Christianity does not help!)  but ….. BUT …. it seems that God does want us here .. at least for he moment!

Working in a place like this is hard. People hide behind intercoms and security gates …70% of people are on 6 to 12 month rental contracts so turnover is high …. this may mean some don’t wish to start to put roots or add to community as they see their presence as transitory ….  but all need to know that God is with them. We are not there yet in how we show this, maybe not even close, but there will be a way! I believe there is a real need to crack this! And by crack this … I mean to show that ‘church’ is something that can be helpful, that can help people and community grow, that can bless people in their everyday lives …. I’m not talking about trying to convert or coerce people …. but rather develop a church that can and does make a difference and is seen as a real positive, wanted  and wholesome part of local community.  

I have no idea what is going to happen this year …. but I have returned with some new ideas of ways forward. We will try them and see what happens. I will continue to be a presence, but we will continue, also, to seek ways that we can make a difference both in our local community and maybe further afield.

When I moved here a year ago I said I was looking for people to birth and grow a new way of being church with me. Some of those people have appeared .. but I believe there are others I have not met yet … so if you are reading this and think ‘maybe’ or if you know anyone in the Greenwich area … put us in touch!

 

angry …

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anger_by_liza23q-d7ejepxI have not blogged for a while … and not really said much publicly about Thursdays elections.

It seems argument after argument is still coming on social media. I, along with many others, was indirectly told to stop posting stuff in a generic ‘stop whinging’ type post and grow up … only to then receive in my news feed from the same ‘stop whinging’ people post after post of silly stuff like ‘if England lose the match on Monday night can we play again if we don’t like the result’.

So remainers are not allowed to whinge, but outers can post ridiculing posts. Why draw attention to this … ?
Someone recently, well on the actual morning of the vote result, reminded me that I am a priest and that I needed to be about reconciliation. I also had scripture quoted at me but no response when I gave counter scripture showing ‘anger’ was ok, particularly righteous anger.

I do believe the country needs reconciliation … and I do believe as a priest I should help that in my community … but at the moment I can not.
At the moment I am still angry …. not at those who voted out because we are in a  democracy and we all have a  right to opinion and are free to vote as we choose.
I am angry over how people are being treated.

On Friday I spoke to three dear friends who were crying over the vote. Crying because  this vote has dramatically changed their lives.
I am angry because I know of teachers who have had to comfort children in their classes who have heard that they are no longer welcome here in the UK.
I am angry over how the vote has been an excuse to gang up on individuals who are trying to cause change for the better.
I am angry over the countless stories of violence towards people in this country since the vote outlined here.
I am angry because decent humans who felt this was their home last week now feel homeless, unwanted and scared.
I am angry … and that is ok for the time being!
Please stop telling me to be involved in reconciliation … that will come … but first …something more needs to happen.

Before reconciliation these things, the divisions we have tried to ignore, our opinions …. everything we value about our lives and how we live together as decent human beings needs to be talked about. Things need to be expressed and heard.

I could ramble but my now retired Suffragen Bishop (when I was in Rochester Diocese) , Bishop Brian, writes so much better here …. a great article from an amazing man and one that we should read and take to heart of we really want to move forward.

5000 answer to prayer!

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icon_christ_loaves2We just had a good, no exciting (!) DCC meeting. I never thought I would ever anywhere write that sentence in my life …. but there you go, I have. My DCC are a great bunch of people … they must be because they put up with me!

Tonight I changed the agenda around a bit … we spent the first part of the meeting looking in our bibles and searching for a story that we felt we could identify with as a church now, and why we felt that story was important to us. The idea came from Holy Conversations which I am currently reading.

A number of stories ‘appeared’ which we spoke about. There was Esther, the Exodus, The woman at the well, Daniel, the road to Emmaus, Ezekial, Love your neighbour …. but none of these seemed to resonate with everyone. Until, that is, someone suggested the feeding of the 5000.

When this story was shared I saw the DCC members change … body language changed, there was enthusiasm, people talked of how it seemed to link with us … the disciples had very limited resources but thousands to feed …. just like us trying to reach the thousands of people here when there is only 12 of us. The disciples brought what they had on that day and Jesus took it and multiplied it so they had more than enough …. this is our prayer on the peninsula; that through our little gifts and ability God will do amazing things. Other questions and parallels came…. so it seems we have a story which we can relate to at the moment, at this point in time.

Over the next few weeks we are going to look into this story, study it, think or dwell on it when we can and talk about it lots when we gather. It is my prayer that through this story we will learn more about us as church and our purpose.

Lights of prayer

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IMG_0651I had the pleasure of catching up with old friend Jonathan Oloyede last night as he visited the east Greenwich parish to teach about prayer. He was an inspiring speaker, as ever, and people seemed both really encouraged and enthused by what he had to say.

As well as teaching and talking of expectancy he shared this video of dominoes. He used it as a metaphor for prayer … that as we do our bit …. well watch the video and you will get the drift!

A ‘little bit’ he suggested to everyone was to set your phone alarm to mid-day and then take time out to speak the Lord’s Prayer. I have suggested to the Holy Trinity community that we could do this.

At the ned of the evening we gathered around the map of our patch. If you click on the pic you can probably get a bigger image … although HT is in the wrong (it’s old) place … to gain an idea of where we are working. While looking at the map we prayed for light to appear and for lights to come on … that resonated with me quite powerfully … as I pray for Christians and those interested in faith around the peninsula to be visible and to join with others to get involved in this community.

This weekend we saw new people. Tonight a new person is coming to Agapai. I pray this is the start of something new. Amen!

 

at-one-ment

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IMG_0648On Sunday night we had what I thought was a really good 18:01. It was also the largest attended one so far (13 people!) … and although numbers are not what it is about, it is true that a greater number of people really helps when we get to our discussion time.

The theme on Sunday night was unity taken from John 17 where Jesus talks about being at one with God …. I termed it ‘at-one-ment’ and suggested that this unity consist of us being at one with God, at one with the wider church and at one with the rest of creation.

To try and illustrate this I got people to roll together 3 different colours of play doh. We started with 3 separate colours that became one uniform colour after being rolled together for just a little while. The picture shows the three stages.

I suggested this is what ‘at-one-ment’ looked like.

The discussion time brought out lots of points and developed our thinking further. Someone pointed out that the play doh with the marble effect of three different colours was prettier than the one uniformed colour.

Someone else then suggested that the pretty marbled effect might be prettier but was a safe option as far as unified lives were concerned. The one uniform colour maybe illustrating a scarier reality …. for to allow ourselves to integrate in true ‘at-one’ment’ with God, church and world was quite a step of risk and challenge. 

I felt something special occurred with us as a group on Sunday evening …. maybe something else new is being birthed here too!

If the idea of stuff like this grabs you …. come join us as we attempt to develop church here in a  new way.

birthing … something!

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Wednesday ev5e046d53-f183-4819-88c2-21e3e639efb1 copyening saw the second of our ‘new’ community meals of Holy Trinity.
A few of us gathered, we ate together a pretty tasty meal (#blowmyowntrumpet). We shared our stories of the week, in other words what had been happening and what, if anything, we felt God may have been doing in our weeks.
We asked what we needed prayer for and prayed for each other.
On some nights we might find someone has something to share as a thought or question which we would then chat about around the table.
We then shared bread and wine together using a very simple liturgy referring to how long bread and wine has been shared. I think it is also important that as we try and develop something ‘new’ we remain aware of how deeply rooted in history and tradition this practice is and how central it is for intentional Christian community to grow

The time ‘felt’ good and right.
It felt like a time of encouragement and building up.
It felt like a time of connection with the wider church and faith.
I am fairly committed to thinking that if ‘church’ is going to be birthed and grow in this place then it needs to be through community that wants to spend time together, a group of people that as it meets and grows learns to trust and share and live life together. That then, in my mind, becomes intentional community.

We are still in very early days, we are still pretty much learning as we go along. It is early days but we have birthed something ‘new’ on the Peninsula.

If this sounds interesting to you … and live near enough to join us … then please do!

Happiness course

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happy-course-logo-100hI recently joined a training day with Livability and have now been trained and am licensed as a Happiness Course leader.

When I went to the day I am happy (yeah yeah great pun!) to admit that I was a little sceptical about the title … it raised a few eyebrows in some of my circles … but the material is really excellent and I am looking forward to delivering our first Happiness Course here on the peninsula. I am fairly convinced The Happiness Course could be of real benefit to local communities and to churches seeking to engage with and support community.

I am excited about this course as I believe this is a course that could be really helpful to a broad spectrum of people. This is not a faith based course, but it is a course that churches can become licensed and offer for the benefit of their communities. The course looks at what happiness is and what makes us happy, it asks whether happiness levels can change or whether it is genetic … it is a very interactive course, with a mixture of teaching, video, interaction, problem solving etc. The course consists of four 2 hour sessions.

On the Peninsula I am not only asking when we could run this course … but also where. One of my frustrations with being here is the lack of public or community space to do things. I do have a few ideas though and so I’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

If you are on or near the Peninsula and think you would be interested in the Happiness Course (check out thee weblink) then get in touch ….

mind body spirit at Olympia

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IMG_0009Over the last few days I have been part of the Dekhomai team once again at this years MBS festival held at Kensington Olympia. Here I have been involved in Ruach Cards, the Jesus Deck, praying for the healing of people and generally being a listening ear.

It was great to be part of such a great team of like minded and creative, caring people once again and a real privilege to spend time with the people visiting the mbs fair. I have, once again, as I am every year, overwhelmed by the things that people are carrying and desperately want to share. Over these last few days I have been moved to tears by stuff that people have openly and courageously shared with me. I could share here anonymously, but that in some way feels like I would be betraying their trust.

This years event was again a great mix of spiritualities, mindfulness and lifestyle practices.

Some observations I noticed from this year:
There seemed to be more men around who were genuinely searching. In the past there have been men who were ‘tagging along’ with partners. That seemed less this year.
People seem to be searching more for meaning and have a deep seated need to be listened to. The issues people were sharing were incredibly deep painful stuff … in the past we have had this but this year I noticed a massive increase.

I want to post here a thank you … to the team who welcomed each other in once again … and for the people who invited me into their lives for a little while … for both I will continue to pray.

Thank you.

 

homes .. not halls

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the-word-homeI have been struck in the news recently by a lot of discussion around how we support refugees and others that are homeless and need support. There has been a good response from churches who have been talking about making use of empty church buildings or empty church houses or even halls and stuff like that. While that is a positive response I am not sure it is the correct or best response.

I will try to explain my thinking with a hypothetical situation. Take, say a family from a war torn country arriving here in need of shelter. We are aware of an empty house in one of our towns and we house them there. They know no one. They are in a new land. They are trumatised. They are in a new country with new customs, new rules, a new language. I wonder if this approach results in a continuation of a feeling of isolation. It is definitely a step in the right direction … but is there more we can do … is there more that God might require of us?

I believe people seeking shelter need more than just a building …. all of us need connection with the rest of humanity, all need to know they are accepted, loved, cared for … wanted even to add to the community we find themselves in . Living alone, where you know no one, can simply generate isolation and feelings of rejection, no matter how best the intentions.

Maybe, instead of our halls, we need to be offering our homes?
Maybe, instead of placing people into our empty sanitised buildings, we need to invite people into our messy cultural rich loving homes.
Maybe we need to open our family life and invite others into it.
Maybe ‘finding somewhere’ is easier than ‘inviting in.’
Finding empty buildings for people may be an easier option … inviting a family to live with you, and learn about culture and community with you, to eat together and learn together is a much harder thing to do.
Inviting people in, though,  gives a more solid footing to growing in community … it is just that for many of us it is so hard to do.
I include myself in that …. but it does not stop the niggling feeling that we should be doing more.

What does this mean for me? I don’t know!
What about for our church HT on the Peninsula … again I don’t know!
What do you think … any comments on this … am I way off the wall in this thinking?
Homes or halls?