Category Archives: Holy Trinity Greenwich Peninsula

gpcu pt2: pop up buns,chocs & clothes

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Another way we, HTGP, have attempted to engage with the people here is through various pop up activities in the precinct or village square.

During Advent and on Good Friday we set up our gazebo where we offered various things like dekhomai prayer cords and psalm blessings (which you can read more about here). On these two days we also gave away 60 Real Advent calendars and 120 Hot Cross Buns.

On another Sunday afternoon we organised a clothes collection for Syrian Refugees which resulted in over a car load of clothes being donated to be taken to GRACE to then be taken to Syria.

 

Throughout these three events we have spoken to a couple of hundred people. Most of them were not aware that there was a Church of England church meeting on the Peninsula. Interestingly even those that had lived here for 5 or 6 years were not aware that HTGP existed …. which throws up interesting questions as my predecessor used to organise the delivering of Christmas cards to all residents from HTGP and I have continued that ‘tradition’ … but it seems the cards do not ‘register’ with people in a meaningful way.

In some of the conversations people have taken away postcards … a couple came to a Christingle service after the Advent Calendar giveaway. Mostly in the conversations people have shared parts of their lives with us. Some of these conversations have amazed me as more than a few people shared some quite deep and confidential stuff and it has been a massive privilege to listen. Its seems that although people do not come to the church … they still see ‘church’ as a place they could trust with their story.

In some way … sometimes small, maybe other times quite significantly, we have engaged effectively with a good number of people who live on the peninsula. I am convinced we have made quite an impact on the lives of the people who have shared with us … sometimes by answering a question, sometimes by posing a question, and other times just by challenging stereotypes by being ‘out there’ for no other reason than to bless our neighbours with friendship and connection.

Isn’t that pretty exciting …. !?

Greenwich Peninsula catch up (gpcu) pt. 1: Resurrection

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The blog has been quiet for farrrrrr too long.
And the result of my quietness is that you, my good friends and colleagues that have walked with me over the last decade or even more have been deprived of the exciting and challenging stuff that makes up life and ministry here with Holy Trinity on the Greenwich Peninsula.

So …. readers new and old … I thought it about time I start to write again to bring you up to speed. As ever I would welcome your prayer as we grapple with the challenge of building and growing church in a new location that changes daily and has not yet found it’s own identity as to what sort of community it is. That may seem a strange thing to say … but from my window I can see 17 new apartment block buildings that were not built when I moved here back in September 2015. Most of those are being inhabited. There are nearly as many new other buildings on other parts of the peninsula that I walk past regularly and can’t see from my apartment. Each week people are moving into these new homes. It is ‘never ending’.

This place changes a lot and our response as church needs  to reflect the community  to remain relevant. One example …. as little as four months ago if I observed the bus stop outside my apartment in the morning I saw lots of, mainly young, adults waiting for a bus to take them to work. Now, a few month later, the bus stops are dominated by children and young people in school uniform. So … in just 4/5 months the demographic here has changed significantly …. and it will continue to change as more and more people move into their new homes. AND … we are still a building site as more new buildings are being started! Community starts to develop, the demographic massively changes, so community building re-starts with new ‘rules’ and then the demographic changes again … it’s like choosing ‘repeat song’ in iTunes!

But … that is background … so what have we been trying to do, how have we connected with the fledgling community here, what do we do next …. and what am I going to share now?

IMG_1645Resurrection …..
The first of these updates is a report from experiencing the resurrection on IMG_1641Easter Sunday on the Peninsula. For our Easter Day service this year we at HTGP decided to share Eucharist on the ‘beach’ next to the river as we watched the sun rise.

At 4.45am on Easter Sunday I got up and crawled to the river, a 200m trek from my apartment, and lit a couple of disposable bbq’s and I waited.

That time of the morning its incredibly quiet and it was not long before I could make out exciting anticipatory noises as the congregation of around 20 came and joined with me around the BBQ fire.

We huddled together to say some prayers, those that could stepped down on to the beach by the Thames, those that couldn’t stayed on the slip way.  For our confession time people held a pebble and asked Jesus for forgiveness … I then invited people to throw their pebble into the water as an acknowledgment that Jesus forgives and ‘as far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our sins from us’ (Psalm 103:12)

As the darkness faded we heard the words of the Easter morning stories … Mary finding the empty tomb and the disciples seeing Jesus bbq fish on the beach. We tried to hear the stories as  if it was the first time we had heard them … and we chatted in our groups and asked ‘what on earth is going on’. The discussions and the sense of awe were amazing as the sun continued to rise and the beach, and so us, took on different appearances and views.

As the sun rose we shared bread and wine … and as I looked around I was excited by the diversity of the people sharing together, marking resurrection here in the HT bit of the parish. We sang ‘Thine be the Glory’ as the sun appeared over the river before concluding the service and continuing the worship with Bucks Fizz and bacon rolls (which is obviously what Jesus served on that resurrection bbq!)

This was a great celebration … and a great witness to other residents on the Peninsula.
People hung around and we chatted more on the beach as the sun rose more in the sky. One of the more senior ladies grabbed my hand and thanked me … she told me she had never worshipped that early before, she had never worshipped next to the river before, and she had never experienced the resurrection of Jesus in that deep way before …. the morning was incredible anyway … but that last comment … well that was the icing on the cake of an already amazing experience!

Contrasts

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contrast-zebraLast Tuesday was a difficult frustrating day.
The kind of  day when you ask whether you even know what you are doing as nothing seems to work.

Last Tuesday after months of planning I went somewhere to start a project and myself and my colleague were not expected. So the project never got started. (It will in a  few weeks!)

I then led a meditation class later that day and no one came!
These two events are lynchpins in the hypothesis we are testing here to engage with people, so the very fact they stumbled felt quite major.

This Tuesday was completely different!

Today I attended a great meeting with others at Ravensbourne College where people were gathered together to see how we might work together to make a difference. I guess the roots of this meeting came form a regional RSA meeting where I take about how we build community in places of new builds such as Greenwich Peninsula.

Today we gathered as architects, research staff, innovators, entrepreneurs, developers and a vicar! WE chatted fir two hours united in our desire to name a difference, to help people, and to spark community development. It was a great meeting and one where people shared ideas and displayed a  willingness to come together and try things together.

Following that I led this weeks meditation session in the NOW Gallery. We had 6 people which was a surprise after last week.  At each session I ask people to record how stressed they feel on a scale of 1 – 10before we start. We then have a simple breathing exercise before we silently meditate for 20 minutes. Each person felt their stress level dropped by at least 3 points and one person even wrote a thank you on their record!

At the end of the meditation I received lots of messages about Agapai tomorrow and it looks like we will have 6 people …. which I think is the largest number ever!

My day ended with having dinner with an amazing friend … so a pretty cool day really!

It’s strange how one day in a week can be so polar opposite to the same day in the next!

Come and see

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Tonight at 18:01 Andrew led us through  guided meditation as a way of engaging with the ‘come and see’ words of Jesus in tonight’s gospel reading.

It worked well for the HTGP group of people and I appreciated the opportunity to be able to be involved in such an experience that I was not responsible for leading.It was a real privilege, and quite exciting, to be part of something profound and holy while the busyness of the peninsula revolved around us. I think opportunities like this help us to keep ourselves grounded.

I was also thankful that a couple of weeks ago that Michael gave me permission to use this really simple but beautiful video called ‘Epiphany’. We used it as a short reflection near the start of the service to get us to think about what Epiphany means to us … I liked the way Michael’s short film presented this to us. Thank’s Michael for your generosity – it worked perfectly.

Epiphany from Michael Martorella on Vimeo.

1st Agapai of 2017

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img_1413This evening saw the first Agapai of 2017.
Agapai is the HTGP weekly meal together.
The format is simple.
We eat.
We chat about each others weeks looking to see what God has been doing.
We pray for each other.
We share bread and wine.
Tonight we also chatted about developing some bible study/discussion/video teaching  (possibly using Richard Rohr) to use particularly over the weeks of Lent.
Tonight seemed a bit like a new start, a new way forward … exciting!
If you are nearby … and you like the idea of eating with a fledgling contemplative community each week and sharing and hearing stories before praying together … then look us up or book yourself in here.

last night …

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img_1332So last night we had Christingle.
We saw 15 people attend … that may not seem many but it is our highest congregation this year.
8 people attended who had never been to HTGP before …. that has to be seen as encouraging.
Certainly I am a little disappointed that we did not see more. I hoped we would break across the 20 mark … and dreamed of higher.
Connecting people with God is not a numbers game. I get that. But having viable numbers does help. It does make a difference to come into a buzzing room of 20 or 30people rather than into an echoey hall of 6 or 7.

We need to reflect on whether this tells us anything as a church community.
It tells us some families will come to one of events.
It tells us that Christingle is attractive to a variety of age groups, and not just to people with children.
It tells us that some people, like us, are looking for some kind of intentional christian community.
it also tells us we have a lot of work to do here!

HTGP has a little break now until the new year. Our next Sunday service will be on the 8th January and the next Agapai will be on Wednesday 11th January …. get in touch if you are interested.

 

Guest lists and Pilgrims

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At 18:01 this evening we thought about what hospitality is and how we practice that in a  21st century London setting (podcast here11111). I kind of felt that Jesus was suggesting that the guest list is far more important than any menu. During our discussion we wondered if the reading for tonight (Luke 14:7-14) was wider than hospitality and encompassed more of ensuring that people felt accepted and valued in a way that showed that we saw and acknowledged their value. The discussion was a good one and I think we went away inspired to make a bot of a difference in our immediate spheres of influence.

Tonight was even ore special, though, as we prayed for Barbara who temporarily leaves us for three months as she fulfils a lifelong ambition and does a bit of a world travel, visiting 10 countries and only staying in one place for around three days.

You can keep up to date with Barbara’s experiences by visiting her blog here. I’m really looking forward to reading something of her experiences.

As part of our service tonight we gathered around Barbara and prayed a blessing. we used and adapted ‘For the Traveller’ by John O’Donohue which I found in A Book of Blessings – well worth purchasing!

To send Barbara off we used these word tonight:

For the Traveler

Every time you leave home,
Another road takes you
Into a world you were never in.

New strangers on other paths await.
New places that have never seen you
Will startle a little at your entry.
Old places that know you well
Will pretend nothing
Changed since your last visit.

When you travel, you find yourself
Alone in a different way,
More attentive now
To the self you bring along,
Your more subtle eye watching
You abroad; and how what meets you
Touches that part of the heart
That lies low at home:

How you unexpectedly attune
To the timbre in some voice,
Opening in conversation
You want to take in
To where your longing
Has pressed hard enough
Inward, on some unsaid dark,
To create a crystal of insight
You could not have known
You needed
To illuminate
Your way.

When you travel,
A new silence
Goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear
What your heart would
Love to say.

A journey can become a sacred thing:
Make sure, before you go,
To take the time
To bless your going forth,
To free your heart of ballast
So that the compass of your soul
Might direct you toward
The territories of spirit
Where you will discover
More of your hidden life,
And the urgencies
That deserve to claim you.

May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely into your inner ground;
That you may not waste the invitations
Which wait along the way to transform you.

May you travel safely, arrive refreshed,
And live your time away to its fullest;
Return home more enriched, and free
To balance the gift of days which call you.

 

Go well Barbara, we look forward to welcoming you back in December!

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!

 

Food for thought 

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We had our third Agapai last night in its new format. There were 5 of us which has been our largest gathering yet (apart from when the archdeacon visited). A new person joined us who has only lived in the village for a few days and she is looking for community.Agapai felt like a welcoming community last night. There was food, sharing, serious moments, lots of laughter; there was prayer, hope and sharing of bread and wine. There was acknowledgment that God is at the centre of what we do.

All these things were exciting to see. Most of all though, and what I was really excited about, was that there was acceptance. There was real acceptance and the start gas of trust. I can’t be sure but I kind of feel that if any casual observer looked in on Agapai last night that they would never have guessed that we did not know each other very well, or that that particular group of people had never met before. The openness and acceptance showed something of the uniting spirit of God. 

It was a joy to be at …. I’m praying that we continue and grow!