Summer Fayre, Year Six Event, baby Alfie

Roll up, roll up for the great parish summer fayre in SE23.

Old-fashioned fun, throw a sponge at the vicar in the stocks, buy some jam, win a bottle in the tombola, jump on the bouncy castle...

It's a great laugh and also it's vital funds to keep our church alive. Please join us.

The Big Year Six Event. Just got bigger.

This two day event is when children in Year Six (that's the last year of primary school if you aren't familiar with modern school lingo) come from different skills to learn completely new things (like circus skills above) and simulate in a tiny way, what will happen to them when they join a new school next year.

(going to a new place, meeting new people, doing new things...

They also have a chance to share their hopes and fears in a special workshop.

This year, we're doing two events in a row! Four schools on Monday and Tuesday and four more schools on Wednesday and Thursday.

Three hundred children in all.

Fabulous.

And this Sunday, we've Alfie's baptism in the afternoon. He's a lovely baby, but he's not going to sleep early enough right now, his parents told me. His routine got upset by a holiday and now he's enjoying the long summer evenings while he should really be asleep. The joys of parenting...

Father Robert

You are welcome, wherever you come from

This is a photo from our welcome event.

Can you spot the connection here? Ugo, Blessing, George and Eto are all from West Africa. (Nigeria and Ghana).

It's funny, but I doubt they would have appeared in a "welcome event" photo ten years ago: there's been such a massive immigration from West Africa just recently that I think we're only just picking up on it. George and Eto recently got confirmed through our church.

But then, they weren't the only ones there: about seventy people came to the welcome event, including the hosts. Below you can Bud at the front, who's been part of the congregation for 40 years.

I think you can also see Luke and Iwan on the for left, probably chatting about football.

It was a great event - we were lucky with the weather - and we had lots of lovely conversations with people we don't always get a chance to chat with.

Fabulous to see everyone.

We also had some input about what we should do as a church from people: the most popular particular activity was a coach trip to the seaside. Now, to be honest, we haven't got one planned right now, but we'll have that in mind for the future. Look out Broadstairs!

Anyway, that was last week, looking forward, we have not one but two baptisms this Sunday: James at 10am, and Crystal at 2pm.

As for me, actually, I won't be there as I'm representing the church at the 60th annivesary of the rebuilding of their church by our friends at the Bonhoeffer church, the church where Dietrich Bonhoeffer himself was a pastor in the 1930s.

If you want to know about him, find out more here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Bonhoeffer

It's astonishing to think that one of older members of our congregation, Marion, can remember as a child that grown-ups were talking approvingly of this young pastor back when he was actually here.

Bonhoeffer's tale feels like history, but it's not long ago. His courage feels superhuman, yet he also trod these same streets.

It'll be a privilege to be there.

Father Robert

Welcome, this Saturday, 2.30pm

It's not always easy to join a church. What does it mean anyway? When are you part of it? In some places, they have membership lists, and we do too, I guess, in as much as we have an "electoral roll". That's the people who regularly worship with us, sign a form, and therefore have the right to elect our PCC (Parochial Church Council) members. For the record, we currently have 199 people on this.

But I kind of like the idea that things are more porous. People can come in, gradually, as they like to: or they can just test the water and move away again, maybe not to come back for a few years.
Or they can just paddle in the shallow end for quite a while before they want to start swimming in the deep end.
What we do want to do as a church is to welcome people at the level they wish to commit to. That could mean taking a step of faith such as getting confirmed; it could mean joining the week afternoon Bible study group; it could mean joining the flower arranging rota. Any of these things.
And to welcome people, you need to have a bit of time to say hello. Now we love chatting after the service on a Sunday morning, but that's not always enough. So this year, we're holding a proper event of welcome on a Saturday afternoon. This Saturday (13th June) from 2.30pm till 4.30pm.
We'll have activities for children, like a ball pool and a bouncy castle, and we'll have activities for adults, such as thinking about the kinds of things you think we as a church should be getting involved with.
And you can even have tea with the vicar!
It'll be a more leisurely way of exploring what it is to be at church.
If you've ever wanted even just to dip your toe in to the water, or if you're ready to dive right in, do come along, this coming Saturday, at 2.30pm. It'll be lovely to see you.
Father Robert

Upcoming Events, including Healing Service

This coming Sunday (June 7th), the usual 10am service (for Trinity Sunday) will be followed at 2pm by a double baptism for Emily and Joseph and then at 4pm by a Healing Service.
This is a gentle, quiet service of prayer, in particular for healing for us, and a particular part of our lives. These can be lovely, but also powerful. You can come for others or just for yourself.

Just before that, on Saturday 6th, at 5pm, our young people will be taking on St Bart's at Ultimate Frisbee . Should be fun.

Further out, look out for the Welcome afternoon on Saturday 13th, from 2.30pm to 4.30pm. Come just to check us out: we'll have a bouncy castle and a few other entz, but also some presentations about what we do as a Church. All welcome, especially, if you haven't been to us much before.

In the meantime, progress on The Chapel on the Hill . We should have a postcode by the end of this week. Would you believe it's taken 9 phone calls since the application to get through to the relevant person, leaving message after message, but I believe we're finally there. Once that's in, we can get on to the refuse collection list and also get the internet connection installed!
It's slow, it's largely tedious, but it's the sort of thing that needs to happen if this building is to be creatively used by the whole community, for the glory of God.
Which is what will surely happen, in time.

Also, the PCC meeting this Thursday (4th) will take place in the Chapel.
Hey, hey!

Father Robert

Pentecost, curried goat, marriage prep, walking on water...

Coming Up:
Pentecost. This Sunday (May 31st), 10am, a fantastic service. It's like the Church's birthday service, marking the fact that the Holy Spirit was for ALL PEOPLES. Something special.

Also coming up: our early summer Marriage Preparation course. The first evening was last night: it continues with a different group tonight and then everyone together on Saturday (may 30th) . Run By Father John and Reverend Sheila.
The next one will be in July.

If you like drama, come on Thursday, Friday or Saturday night to see "Twelve Angry Men (jurors)"
http://www.st-georges-players.org.uk
See their website above for more details. Tickets are around £6, and the stage is being put up in church as I write: staged in the round for the first time ever in a Players production, it promises to be fantastic. I'm really looking forward to seeing it on the Friday night.

The Chapel on the Hill progresses. it looks like our electrics have been commissioned, which is great news.

Jeremiah and Winifred will be getting married this Friday in the afternoon.

As for curried goat, in the title to this blog, that was about Tony's birthday. Tony is our graphics man. If you see our logo on this site, or many other things, then his hand has probably been on them one way or another.
It was his 70th birthday last week and he celebrated with... curried goat after church.
I missed it, I was in the Lake District (see photo, more on which later.) But I thought there was something great about that, that a sensible Englishman would celebrate his birthday with curried goat. He had the idea when Enid came round to our Men's group to show us how to make curry. And that's a bit of Pentecost in a way. Different cultures joining up. And I hope our church is part of that. It's amazing the nationalities represented in our congregation, just as they are in our parish.
Anyway, you can read more about Tony and his latest project on his website.
http://web.me.com/tony.gibbs2/Sterling_T26_/Home.html

Finally, why the photo?
Well, I was just on holiday in the Lake District last weekend and I felt inspired by Jesus on the Sea of Galilee. Impressed?
Father Robert
PS It wasn't really a miracle.

Ascension, Thursday 8pm and new church wardens

There's a major service this Thursday evening (21st May) at 8pm, celebrating the Ascension, the time when Jesus completed his work on earth and returned 'to the right hand of the father'.

It will be a peaceful eucharist (though with good music too).

Do join us. I'll be preaching (but don't let that put you off...)

Here's a photo of the baptism from last Sunday's service, kindly sent by the photographer, John Whitfield (www.johnwhitfieldphotography.com).

It was a double baptism: there's Kyan, who's 2, in the suit, who's just been baptised seconds before, watching his little sister, Nyah, get baptised. Parents Chi and Odili look on. I love the look on Kyan's face: so interested. You can just seem him questioning what's happening in his eyes.

And the guy on my right, assisting, is Martin.

He and Ian C were sworn in as churchwardens for the year at Southwark Cathedral on Monday. It was a good service and it was really interesting to hear their formal responsibilities. Things like keeping the churchyard in decent order and ensuring dignity and lack of disruption at times of holy worship. The words sounded old: I suspect they've been the same for centuries.

It's a really significant job, being a warden. On the surface, it's often about fabric and functional things, but really they keep an eye on the wellbeing of the church as a whole. We're very lucky to have them. (And Graham did a great job before, too.) In the title, I say "new churchwardens": that's not exactly right as they've both been wardens before, but it is their new term of office.

Father Robert

Easter garden, last chance to see...

Every year, our baptistry is turned into an Easter garden.

You can see it on the left: John is at the side. It's just before Morning Prayer last week.

Praying in front of it is wonderful. The flowers team with life and everywhere there's new symbolism. The empty tomb most obviously, but the olive trees, the nails from the cross, the flowers still bursting into life. We'll keep it there till the end of the Easter season, but that's only a couple of weeks away, so it'll end then.

Come and see it before it finishes.

In the middle is the font, where this Sunday there will be three more baptisms: Kyan and Nyah in the morning, and Eva in the afternoon. A beautiful place for a new Christian life to begin.

Meantime, a salute to the cubs and cub leaders who had a tremendously successful camp last week. (I will hope to post on that more, when I get hold of the pictures for you to see.)

And look out for our parish quiz night, this coming Saturday night: 7 for 7.30pm start. Food will be provided. Bring £4 and test your wits. Should be great fun.

Also, it's Christian Aid week. We had a great sermon on this from Michael on Sunday, so if you're inspired to give and haven't had the chance yet, there will be more envelopes next Sunday.

Father Robert