Presence and Engagement - the Joy of Diversity

 Below is an article that appears on the Presence and Engagement website 

“The joy of diversity”

St John’s Church, Hendon, has an average Sunday attendance of around 50 people, representing around 12 different ethnic communities. Their heart is to work alongside their neighbours – sharing their concerns in the ‘nitty gritty’ of real life. Fr. John Hawkins tells me also of some of their more deliberate efforts at interfaith, cross cultural engagement in this diverse context.

With 15,000 people in the parish, statistics suggest that the area is nearly 50% Christian, with the rest constituting large Muslim and Hindu communities. A multicultural centre, housed next door to St. John’s Church, is reflective of this diversity. The building hosts three organisations of different faiths/cultures under the same roof: The Barnet African Caribbean Association, the Barnet Somali Community Group and the Barnet Asian Old Peoples Association. There is a sense in the area, Fr. John reflects, of ‘settledness’ within difference. He continues, this context is a source of great joy. In diversity, there is more commonality than difference to be found.

To be ‘Present and Engaged’ means having the confidence to be counted among a community; to be present in the building, in the schools, and alongside neighbours. In this particular area, this often means drawing alongside a Muslim community who have at times been subject to negative press, increasingly in the last decade. Community engagement, post 9/11, has emphasised social cohesion and trying to promote faith as one of the ways in which people can be brought together across difference, rather than a problem. ‘Engagement’ means not doing it alone, but working in partnership with people of all faiths. More generally, it means equipping the church community to manage an ever changing demographic in the area. Once a largely Hindu area, this parish is becoming increasingly Muslim.

As a Christian, Fr. John says, it is easy to lose faith as everything changes around you. He is encouraging St john’s church to not retreat, become aggressive, defensive, or make more noise. He sees new faces as a source of rejoicing, rather than despair. He emphasises commonality, rather than difference, and sees the ‘isms’ of life – sexism, racism etc. – to be things that hinder ‘life in abundance’, as promised in John 10:11. He explains that God enriches our life; we don’t have to live it defensively or fearfully in the face of difference.

To show in practice how different people can enrich each other’s lives, the church engages in numerous art-based, intergenerational projects. One example is of a project in which Year 5 children, along with elderly members of the church were encouraged to bring a piece of fabric that told a story about their life. A square of wedding dress, traditional fabric, and icons of faith were sewn together to make a quilt. 

The Regeneration of West Hendon - hopes and fears

The Public enquiry over the Compulsory purchase orders for the first phase of the regeneration of the West Hendon estate has now drawn to a close, we now wait for the outcome of this process. What will change is hard to know, reinforced concrete is known for its rigidity and much has already been poured. Maybe what will have been achieved will in the long run be as long lasting as the reinforced cement concrete frames that are springing up in this green and pleasant borough of Barnet, and that is that the powerless and voiceless have been heard. Justice begins with the human voice crying out, a baby cries for milk and the demand to life, Adam cries out in his aloneness and God gives him a companion, Eve, the oppressed cry out and God answers by sending them an advocate, a prophet a leader to bring about change, Moses.
The people of West hendon, who for too long have not been listened to, whose human worth and value has been weighted in the scales of financial viability and political expedience and found wanting, who feel that promises entered into have not been honoured are demanding to be heard, and are finding a voice that will join with others to demand change and a fairer future for all our citizens.




Today, a resident and I were allowed a peek preview of G block, due to be completed in the Spring and look at the progress on E block and the future power plant that will provide heat for the flats being built on the estate:

From the top of G block one of the "brown roofs " that will compensate for the negative environmental impact of modern urban designs

The communal area for G Block, this will provide some play and recreational space for residents 

The under ground  car park for a very few cars and a cycle space for every resident 

measuring the main bedroom of this two bed flat

The kitchen, with a window

 

The main living space for a two bedroom flat, there is a balcony, this one of the few that will look east.

Block E starting to take form

The large concrete block is the central core of one of the must contested tower blocks

Candlemass – “O Love that wilt not let me go”

Last week the world remembered the Liberation of Auschwitz

and with the opening of those gates of hatred the world was confronted by the full extent of humanities inhumanity that continues to shock, appal  and inspire  us 70 years on.

After the infamous attack by the Japanese on the Americans at Pearl Harbour, there was a downed Japanese airplane on one of the islands. A local resident put a bunch of flowers on it as a memorial. When asked by a reporter why she was honouring a deceased enemy, she replied, “Even he had a mother.”

After the Falklands War there was a furore cause by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, who insisted that during the service celebrating the victory for this country, prayers were offered for the enemy, in this case the dead of Argentina as well as the fallen of our own country.

When we are encouraged to regard others as our enemy, In the darkness of death and destruction there are times when our humanity wins through.  Even in the depths of such despair and terror there are stories of love and affection that transcends the individuals themselves or the events that they find themselves part of and give us hope.

There are times when the bond between parent and child, or strangers confronted with violence and death or that of our shared humanity transcend, over come and inspire. So too with God, and the bond that lies between our creator and ourselves, though sore stretched it is never completely broken and because of this bond the story of life continues. The Gospel stories are a reminder of this powerful bond, of this love, a Love that will not let me go…

Today we are celebrating the day when Jesus is brought into the temple by His parents to consecrate Him to the service of His heavenly Father. A day when the bond between God and his people is once again acknowledged, affirm and celebrated. A day when the promise of glory is made by an aging widow and the prophesy of Calvary is given by a priest who has seen too much. It’s a powerful image. The scriptures are unfolding as the Eternal Word - as a human infant - is brought into His Temple.

Candlemass, the feast of the presentation is a Reminder of Christianity’s Jewish roots. Here the parents of Jesus show their obedience to the Law of Moses and present their first born to God at the temple. They do so at  time of deep sadness for the people of God as they are a broken and occupied nation, one where there is a deep and profound hope that God will once again take pity on his children and send them a Messiah, a Saviour to give them life once again as he promised long ago.

As with the feast of Jesus’ circumcision a month ago so now with the feast of the presentation the gospel writers are reminding us that Obedience and faithfulness lies at the root of our understanding of God and form the very bond that binds us with God.

The Christmas Story, which we will now leave for another year, begins with the annunciation, Mary being obedient to the message of an angel. It continues with the Mary and Joseph being Obedient to their visions from God that although the situation they find themselves in is hard to understand and is most unlikely- YET God will work with this and bring his purpose to fruition by their obedience.

But of course it is not blind obedience, nor for that matter blind faith that Mary and Joseph, or Simeon and Anna demonstrate. To walk hand in hand with God requires obedience and faithfulness. The one informs the other and so leads us to God.

When we look at Simeon and Anna we see two people waiting upon the Lord.

Simeon and Anna represent the hopes and expectations of all faithful and obedient Jews, at a time when all around them are signs that God has forsaken them, when all that they see is the might of an empire oppressing them and denying them their freedom, they were looking forward to the restoration of God’s rule in Israel – the re-establishment of that bond between God and his people promised long ago.

What ever trial we face today, what ever the fear that is being named, there is one who will give us life

When the future looks uncertain or worse is only defined by despair and failure let us look with the eyes of old Simeon and Anna, to this child who a light to lighten the nations and the glory of his people.

Let us pray to see Jesus not as a remote or distant figure, far from us but in our very midst. And acknowledge that if we remain obedient and faithful to him

Then Our eyes will see his salvation which has been prepared before the face of all people

And ours will be the light that will enlighten the world and his chosen people.

O Love that wilt not let me go,

I rest my weary soul in thee;

I give thee back the life I owe,

that in thine ocean depths its flow

may richer, fuller be.

O Light that followest all my way,

I yield my flickering torch to thee;

my heart restores its borrowed ray,

that in thy sunshine’s blaze its day

may brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,

I cannot close my heart to thee;

I trace the rainbow through the rain,

and feel the promise is not vain

that morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,

I dare not ask to fly from thee;

I lay in dust life’s glory dead,

and from the ground there blossoms red

life that shall endless be

The kitchen is finally being set up

Today the kitchen is being assembled and installed in the back of church!! 

Epiphany 3 - On the third day

The Gospel of John stands alone when put alongside the three synoptic gospels of Mark Matthew and Luke. The purpose of the three synoptic, called such as they share a high proportion of stories covering the same events and follow a similar sequence, is clear and best conveyed in the introduction of Luke’s gospel. Chapter 1 verse 1

“Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.”

But what of John’s gospel? For many years scholars have referred to St John’s gospel as the “book of signs”.

The dangers of trying to discover secret meaning in the words of scripture are of course nothing new. Dan Brown may well have been very clever in catching the imagination and quenching the thirst of those who believe in conspiracy theories when it comes to the church and the figure of Jesus Christ but he is not alone. There are of course many who dedicate their lives trying to look deeper in to the meaning of words and search out secret rhythms and codes from what is actually written.

But with that said, and if you like having noted the danger of such a reading of scripture, there seems to be more justification in doing so with the gospel of John than with the other gospel writers who do indeed have a deeper theology to convey in the way in which they arrange the details that they find, or indeed have seen with their own eyes, concerning life of Jesus.

On the third Sunday of Epiphany, a season that explores and celebrate the revelation to the world that is Jesus Christ we read:

 “On the third day, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.”  Jn 2.1

We are not told who was getting married, a detail that would certainly attract a great deal more comment from todays journalist, but we are told that Jesus and all his disciples were there as well.  And while they are there disaster strikes.  It seems the host has run out of wine.  Now how this unfolds is important.  Jesus’ mother informs him and he doesn’t seem too pleased.  In fact, he says somewhat cryptically, “My hour has not yet come.”  But she persists in telling the servants to do as he commands.  He then spies six stone jars, six jars that were used for the Jewish rite of purification; big jars, each one holding twenty to thirty gallons. 

He has them filled to the brim and then has them draw some water and take it to the master of the feast.  When it gets there it had become wine, and not just any wine, good wine!  Everyone is shocked, they know that the usual way things work is you serve the good wine first and when everyone is a bit tipsy then you bring out the cheaper stuff and no one is the wiser. 

But here the wine Jesus supplies is the best, the very best.  And there at Cana in Galilee his glory is manifested in this miracle.

Everything that happens in our text is said to have happened on the third day and to be the first sign that Jesus performs.   On the third day we are introduced in John’s gospel for the first time to the mother of our Lord.  Remember John’s Christmas story doesn’t begin with Mary and Joseph and the angel Gabriel but with the cosmic story of the creative Word of God becoming flesh.  And it is here at Cana that we first hear of his mother. 

She isn’t even named but she plays an important role.  She is the one who directs all eyes to Jesus on the third day and then we don’t hear about her again until she appears at the foot of the cross at the end of the Gospel.  Here he tells her that his hour is not yet come but later he will say that, “the hour has come to glorify the Father.”  And the hour he speaks of is his gruesome death on the cross – where we find Mary.

We are told that the wedding feast in Cana happens on the third day, and it is the third day after his crucifixion that our Lord finds his disciples gathered in the upper room, locked away in fear. 

On the Third day he who turns water into wine, he who has given new life to his church he himself comes into their midst.  He says, “Peace be with you!”  And that is exactly what he gives. 

We gather on the third day, on the day of our Lord’s glorious manifestation, we gather as he comes in water and wine, as he comes in Word and Sacrament to give you peace.  “Peace” he says, “for you are forgiven.  Peace, for you have been washed and fed and embraced by God.  Peace for it is finished, my hour has come, you are mine.”

Later in the gospel John tells us that Jesus’s speaks of his own mission in these wonderful words “ I came that you may have life and have life abundantly”  John 10.10

In this the first sign of Jesus, and in on the third day after his crucifixion Jesus shows us what that abundant life looks like. The water of our everyday life is transformed by his love and presence into the wine of the Kingdom and through his death and resurrection that promise of abundant life means that there is no limit, no best before, no sell by date that we are so familiar with in our daily lives. For Jesus on the Third day at the wedding at Cana and on the third day after his crucifixion reveals to us the truth of his gift and promise that will stand for eternity – life, life in abundance.

Compulsory purchase order public enquiry

The long awaited Public inquiry on the west hendon regeneration has begun

"Let justice roll on like a river and righteousness like a never failing stream"

Amos 5.24