August is always a strange month for a parish church. So many people are away that the congregation often feels untypical. We've got newcomers who are just visiting, whilst the regulars are in Cornwall/ Florida/ France etc.
(As for me, I've been to a wet St Andrews in Scotland.)
And yet whilst the regulars will return in September, there are some who won't, in that it has been August when they have died.
Sue Simmonds and Gladys Byron are two of these.
To describe Sue as a pillar of the church would be true but also somehow not quite right. Sue was much too fun a person to be described as a pillar, and yet what she has done is remarkable. For many, many years, she led our cub pack; literally hundreds of children were guided by her over the years, and and she had an impact on other people in many, many ways. With good humour and great wisdom, she's been on the side of the angels for many years, looking out for people. As I looked out on the congregation last Sunday, I really felt her loss.
She's been away quite often anyway, because of her cancer, but there is something numbing about knowing that someone won't return.
Gladys too will be missed, making her entrance into church, accompanied by George. Unable to express herself because of her multiple strokes, she still carried something in her eyes that was very special.
Both their funerals will happen in the coming weeks: Sue's on 8th September at 2pm: Gladys' is yet to have a date.
And of course life will go on. The school term will start and there will be a bundle of activities, as there should be in a healthy community: Sue would have been the first to say that.
And yet, and yet... however great one's faith, death is hard to deal with.
We will miss them both greatly, even as we pray for them and their families.
Fr Robert.
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Monday, 11 August 2008
Return from Taize... pilgrimages and events in the future
The small party of us (see right) who went to Taize are now returned after a fabulous week.
For those who don't know, Taize is a tiny village in Burgundy, France, where in the 1940s, a young Swiss man, Roger Schutz, set up home intending to start a small community of brothers, with a vision for greater unity among Christians and a life of simplicity and prayer.
Somehow his vision caught light and not only did the number of brothers eager to join him grow, but they also had increasing numbers of visitors.
By the 1960s, they had to build a new church to accommodate them all. (the stained glass, above left, is from the church: it was designed by Brother Eric.)
Today, though Brother Roger is now dead, there are around 100 brothers and they cater to tens of thousands of visitors each year: last week, as well as the four of us from Forest Hill, were 5,000 other young people from 61 different countries, all there to spend a week together.
To find out more, go to www.taize.fr.
For me, I'd been there before: it was the place where I first sensed a calling to be a priest, and it was magical to return, to somewhere both familiar and strange. Naomi and Claire had also been in previous years, though not for some time: for Trudi, it was her first visit.
I think we all found it both profound and incredibly enjoyable. Hopefully, others will come from Forest Hill again in the future. It's a simply incredible place, and one particularly worth capturing when in your younger days (i.e. under 30). There is an extraordinary combination of simplicity and depth in the way the community leads you to encounter God that is rarely found elsewhere.
If you can't wait for another summer to go round (or if you're feeling your age might be somewhat beyond thirtysomething), then why not consider another pilgrimage: to Walsingham, in November 2008. There's a party of us going for a weekend then, and it's one of the other incredible places of pilgrimage open to people who live in London. Instead of being 10 hours South of London, it's 2 and a half hours northeast: but a special place all the same. Or then, there's the trip to Oberammergau in 2010...
Closer to home, there have been weddings already at church this month and there are more to come, and looking ahead, there's an exciting ecumenical "Here Our Prayer" event on the weekend of Sept 12-14th (just over a month away).
See www.hereourprayer.webeden.co.uk for the main web page giving information.
You can also see the rather extraordinary thread on this subject at the web forum, se23.com.
Clearly, not everyone is sympathetic to Christians getting together to pray, but it already shows a lot of interest. All publicity is good publicity, someone once said.
And - of course - our Church remains open for the perhaps more mundane things, the weekly breaking of bread at the eucharist: for most, that's on Sundays, but we also have services on Tuesday mornings and Thursday evenings.
Beyond that, there's the future new church building (see Father John's post below).
Loads of people have already stated their preference for the name: come to Church on Sunday and you'll be able to have your two pennies worth. It'll be up and running soon enough.
Father Robert
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