Category Archives: Holy Trinity Greenwich Peninsula

Thy Kingdom Come

Posted on by
Reply

P2P_Facebook_Profile-1Today is Ascension Day where, in the church, we remember Jesus leaving the disciples and ascending into heaven in front of them, still carrying the scars of the crucifixion.

We are being encouraged, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, through Thy Kingdom Come, to join in a global wave of prayer between today and Pentecost which is in 10 days time.

At Holy Trinity Greenwich Peninsula we regularly pray for the community and for the next 10 days we are particularly highlighting prayer by receiving prayer requests from residents which we pray for on our Friday morning Prayer and pastry meeting at 8.00am in The Prayer Space.

Across the East Greenwich Parish there are other opportunities to pray as well. So … have a prayer request for you or w=your family … then please get in touch as it will be a privilege to pray for or with you.

 

that first early morning …

Posted on by
Reply

We had a great morning celebrating the risen Christ on the short of the Thames this morning. A few of us gathered, said some words, sang a song, threw our confessions, via a pebble, into the river, discussed and wondered what it was like that first resurrection morning, shared bread and wine before concluding with barbecued bacon rolls and bubbly to mark the end and start of our resurrection celebration.

i always love this service, not just because it is different and people really enjoy the experience … but because it brings a number of different people together who then share thought and ideas and questions as the sun rises on a cold morning. There were some amazing discussions this morning which I felt it a privilege to be able to play some small part in.

Today we touched a little on how it may have felt for those first disciples and tried to out ourselves in their shows … and in some way that brought Christ risen in our lives afresh.

Thank you people for joining us.

wash out? ….

Posted on by
Reply

So the Great Hot Cross Bun giveaway was a bit of  wash out this morning.
It wasn’t a disaster … there are never really disasters when offering something to the community … and we had some great conversations. It helped raise the profile of HTGP a little …. but much more importantly it brought a smile to many faces on a pretty crappy wet cold day.

IMG_0343

 

But wet weather … meaning less people out … meant we still had around half of our 100 hot cross buns left … after giving some away I wondered what else I could do … bread and butter pudding anyone ….

 

 

Good Friday Hot Cross Bun Giveaway

Posted on by
Reply

hot cross 2018Another Easter tradition for Holy Trinity Greenwich Peninsula.
We believe the reason we are here, as church, is to be good news to people, to bless people, to add flavour to the community ….. so most of the HT people are fairly heavily involved in community events, the residents association, the local schools and so on.

We regularly ask ‘how can we bless this community?’ and one way, on Good Friday, is that we give away Hot Cross buns to people that are around in the GMV.

We will be in the village square tomorrow from 11.30 for an hour if you’d like a Hot Cross Bun …. maybe see you there!

Broken Disturb

Posted on by
Reply

BrokenTonight we watched the last of the Lent series on Broken at Agapai. This has been one of the grittiest, real, challenging, anger inducing, tear rolling, deep discussion promoting Lent series I have ever been involved in.

A lot of this comes down to the power of the program, the skills of Paula Gooder as the writer; but the majority reason for why this has been a positive Lent course is down to the commitment of each member of the group in finding the time in incredibly busy lives  to watch the episode for an hour and then be willing to make themselves vulnerable in contributing and/or answering questions.

Tonight we chatted about how we had found the series … gritty, challenging, anger inducing … are all words that came to us as we sat around the table and shared food. I believe it has driven home to each of us, more as a reminder than a lesson, that as people of faith we can;’t help but be involved in our lives, in our communities and in our worlds. We also acknowledged that sometimes a ‘Christian response’ was not unique or obvious … as we considered hard hitting questions of how we would react, or the lengths we might go to, try and combat the effects of extreme poverty in our lives.

I have really valued getting together with this group of great, and not always agreeing, people …. we’ve had great discussions and ourselves. The series notes ended with this prayer attributed ti Francis Drake. It resonated with every one of us.

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

Amen to that!

 

nothing is different but everything changes

Posted on by
Reply

sunrise 2018 jpgWe have developed a kind of tradition at Holy Trinity Greenwich Peninsula for Easter morning. For the last three years a few of us (sometimes 5, sometimes 20) have gathered just before sunrise around a BBQ on the shore of the Thames on the peninsula.

As we have experienced the sunrise, showing itself through the blurry faces coming into focus, through the welcoming warmth of the sun on our faces, through unfamiliar surroundings becoming familiar again … we have tried to enter into the confusion and awe that made up that first Easter morning.

We chat together after hearing Mary’s account of the empty tomb … we wonder how they felt, we wonder what they thought might be happening … and as we wonder we re-remember how amazing the truth of Easter Day actually is.

We share communion, Eucharist, bread and wine (take your pick!) and again wonder IMG_1645what it may have been like for those disciples sharing this simple ceremony together. As we share, we talk and recognise that in these ordinary everyday items of bread and wine that we hold before us that something different is happening. Nothing is obviously different, but everything has changed.

We end the service with BBQ and bubbly … it’s a celebration after all … and we go home … changed … as we have encountered God once again in the simplicity of life.

So if you are in the area and wish to celebrate the risen Christ in a unique way …. why not consider joining us.

imagine what is was like for Mary …

Posted on by
2

mary-icon-1461514928In HTGP we are looking at Advent in an even more contemplative way than we do normally.

Rather than listen to homilies as we normally do, this season we have decided to replace the homily with a short guided meditation which is attempting to help us put ourselves in the story, though a variety of characters, and ask ourselves some relevant questions.

Last week we took the character of Mary … the mediation is shared below ….
You can hear the audio version here.

Mary

Can you imagine

for a little while

what it was like for Mary?

A young woman.

A faithful woman.

A person going about her normal everyday business, not harming others, being helpful, being ‘good’ … whatever good looks like!

God called her ‘favoured one.’

Did you realise …

God calls you the same …. does that description fit you?

What description would you use …. tell God that description ….. what is God’s response to you?

Can you imagine that day for Mary?

She was clearing the cellar, singing away to herself when it happened.

An angel … bright as could be was suddenly there

Blinding

Scarey

from nowhere

I wonder how she felt?

How would you have felt?

Would you have stayed …. or run ….

Would you have listened ….. or frozen in fear

And that message

you will be carrying The King of the universe

Awesome ….. or scary?

But of course

Jesus lives in our hearts

so essentially

we are all pregnant with Jesus

What effect does that have on us?

on our normal everyday matter of fact life?

Maybe, like Mary, you feel to unimportant to carry Jesus

Maybe, like Mary, you think you are too young

Maybe, like Mary, you fear no one will believe you

But …. Jesus lives in you … and me … and all of us

Whether we recognise Jesus or not

He is here

As we sit and stare at Jesus

and Jesus at us

listen to what Jesus is saying  ……

(pause)

What does the son of God say to you tonight?

 

gpcu pt 6: prayer & pastry

Posted on by
Reply

prayer and pastryOne of the first things I started after arriving at HTGP was Prayer and Pastry on a Friday morning. I think it is really important that a community has opportunities to come together to pray.

Prayer & Pastry is an opportunity for anyone that wants to to start their day in prayer and grab a sort of breakfast before launching themselves in to the day ahead.

Sometimes we use standard morning prayer from from Common Worship, while other times we replace some of the service of morning prayer with an examen type meditation.

Being able to check in with each other before getting on with the day is always good … particularly while consuming great (not just good … but GREAT Monmouth or Has Bean coffee and a pastry of some description).

So … Friday mornings … 8am …. maybe see you sometime?

 

gpcu pt 4 …. are you HAPPY!?

Posted on by
Reply

One of the most amazing organisations on the Peninsula that have been a real support to me since being in post at HTGP have been Livability. Andy and Corin have been amazing in their regular check ins with me, coffees and just general chats about how we grow ‘church’ on the peninsula.

ravesOne of the great resources Livability has is The Happiness Course.
I Happiness-Course-Logo-750x350have been licensed to run this course and, after a few hiccups,  ran the course with Andy from Livability (who basically wrote it!) for students and staff at Ravensbourne College.

This was an excellent time and a good example of the local church and Livability working together … but also of the local church being a resource, a support … and bringing light into the stress full lives of and serving both the students and staff of the college. Senior staff even sat in on some of the sessions as they were intrigued and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive … so much so that the college have asked me to run another course in the autumn term as they can see the real benefit of having a course like this to be a tool in helping to reduce student, and staff, stress.

If you are looking for something to help you engage with your local community … seriously check out The Happiness Course as a possible resource for your setting.

While serving the college through the happiness Course another departmental staff member got sight of something else we offer and invited me in to the college … but that’s another gpcu for another (maybe tomorrow!) day!

 

 

gpcu pt 3 : building change

Posted on by
Reply

This is more of a recent catch up post … no one said there was going to be any chronology here did they!

I spoke before of the ever changing nature of life on the peninsula. Buildings change, buildings appear, people move in, people move out (in my block there are 15 apartments … I am the 3rd longest resident now as lots of people have moved out!)

As an observer of people … I believe you need to be good at observing the community if church is to remain relevant …. my apartment is in a great spot above the main bus stops for residents. As little as 3/4 months ago the majority of people waiting at the bus stop were young professionals. Now, this morning, as I look out the majority of those waiting for a bus are children in school uniform.

It would seem a lot of the people who have moved onto the peninsula in the last 3/4 months into the new builds have been young families … and this has changed the sound and flavour of GMV … and I would say for the better. The weekends feel a little busier and noise … when a few months ago it was very much like a ghost town  with many going way at the weekend. Most still do … but this is slowly changing.

As a response to this, a few weeks back, we launched a service from 3-4.30pm called making@church. We wanted to advertise it as a ‘well known band of building bricks’ church but apparently they do not like that particular name being used. So we have making@church.

We advertised this church service through the local school, thorough concierge and via our website and social media platforms.

The format was advertised as being simple … some singing, listening to a story, building something out of lego inspired by the bible story, show off creations, pray using lego, eat pizza and go home. The story we told was the parable the wise and foolish builders. Seemed an obvious one to launch with really!

The format was simple, it was fun and on the day 34 people attended … and looking at the service record book … baring two visits from bishops to licence people (one being me) … 34 is by far the biggest congregation HTGP has ever had …. so we are encouraged and we will look to build on this.

We are trying not to get too excited … but we are hopeful that we have stumbled upon something that will connect and engage with people here in a meaningful and relevant and helpful way.

Sometimes a lot of pioneering work involved trying things, observing, changing and trying things again. This can result in a lot of hard work with no fruit … and when the happens those with a ‘pioneering spirit’ keep going believing that God has a plan and that something , in God’s timing, will spark into life …. after 19 months I am hoping this is the spark that we have been waiting for …. but if it is not …. we will keep trying, keep following, and keep waiting for the Spirit to do what the Spirt alone can do!

So … like the idea?
Then come along to the next one
The next event is on Sunday July 16th …..
lego july pic