August/September 2011

St Peter’s Church
Belsize Square
London NW3 4HJ
http://www.spbp.org.uk
[email protected]
Priest-in-charge: Revd Paul Nicholson
Tel: 020 7586 6522 / Mobile: 07971 223764
Email: [email protected]
Pastoral Assistant: Lucinda O’Donovan
Churchwarden: Stefanie Cetin
Pastoral Network Officer: Alfonso Vonscheidt
[email protected]
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Sunday Services:
details
Weekday Services:
Monday-Friday :
Thursday:
11.15am Parish Eucharist and Sunday School
[Children start in church, returning at
Communion to receive a blessing]
6.30pm Evening Prayer - see diary page for
Contents
Diary for August and September
Father Paul writes
Sermon
Belsize Community Choir
Church calls for BBC to go back to the future
Walk out
Untimely answered prayer
To set the record straight
Maximilian Kolbe
When I say I am a Christian
Heritage Open Days
Piano - D H Lawrence
Churches and the Big Society
BCP online
Don’t chop down your ivy
Sincerely yours
How your driveway could earn you money
Children’s Page
* from Parish Pump
5.00pm Evening Prayer
10.30am Holy Communion
Baptisms, Weddings, Funerals by arrangement with Father Paul.
The Gallery Choir sings at the 11.15am service and rehearses on
Thursdays at 8pm at St Saviour’s, Eton Road. Details from Father Paul.
Magazine material to be sent to [email protected] or given to
Father Paul, please
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DIARY FOR AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER
Tuesday 24 th St Bartholomew
Sunday 1 st – Trinity 9
11.15am
Parish Eucharist and Baptism of Bing Guan
No Evening Service
Thursday 26 th
10.30am
11.15am
Holy Communion
Coffee and Croissants
Thursday 5 th
10.30am
11.15am
Saturday 28 th
2.00pm
The Marriage of Artem Lamanov and Nimet Göçmen
Holy Communion
Coffee and Croissants
Friday 6 th Transfiguration of our Lord / Hiroshima Day
Sunday 29 th – Trinity 13
11.15am
Parish Eucharist
No Evening service
Sunday 8 th – Trinity 10
11.15am
Parish Eucharist - Celebrant and Preacher the Revd
Dennis Bury
No Evening Service
SEPTEMBER
* No Daily Evening Prayer from August 9 th to 20 th *
Thursday 12 th
No midweek Communion or coffee
Sunday 15 th – The Blessed Virgin Mary
11.15am
Parish Eucharist - Celebrant and Preacher The Revd Claire
Wilson
No Evening Service
Thursday 19 th
No midweek Communion or Coffee
Sunday 22 nd – Trinity 12
11.15am
Parish Eucharist - Celebrant and Preacher The Revd
Mark Speeks
No Evening Service
Thursday 2 nd
10.30am
11.15am
Holy Communion
Coffee and Croissants
Sunday 5 th – Trinity 14
11.15am
Parish Eucharist
No Evening Service
Tuesday 7 th
7.30pm
St Peter and St Gabriel - joint Council Meeting [Studios]
Thursday 9 th
10.30am
11.15am
Holy Communion
Coffee and Croissants
Friday 10 th
9.00am
The Hall School Start of Year Service
* Daily Evening Prayer resumes Monday 23 rd *
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Sunday 12 th – Trinity 15
11.15am
Parish Eucharist
* 6 - 7pm
PrayerSpace * First of a new weekly provision
Tuesday 14 th Holy Cross Day
Thursday 16 th
10.30am
11.15am
* 6.45pm
Holy Communion
Coffee and Croissants
Belsize Community Choir - First Rehearsal *
Sunday 19 th – Trinity 16
11.15am
Parish Eucharist
6 - 7pm
PrayerSpace
Thursday 23 rd
10.30am
11.15am
6.45pm
Holy Communion
Coffee and Croissants
Belsize Community Choir rehearsal
Sunday 26 th – Trinity 17
11.15am
Parish Eucharist - Celebrant and Preacher The Revd Mark
Speeks
6 - 7pm
PrayerSpace
Wednesday 29 th St Michael and All Angels
Thursday 30 th
10.30am
11.15am
6.45pm
Holy Communion
Coffee and Croissants
Belsize Community Choir
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Father Paul writes
Reading through St Peter’s Calendar for these two months you find that
August has perhaps something of a sleepy feel. This is partly because for
two weeks of the month I will be on holiday with my family, and we tend
to have fewer activities in August anyway. But I’m also conscious, this
summer, of deliberately allowing a pause to clear-the-decks, and
possibly ‘cleanse the palate’ as well, before the launch of two new
ventures here. If you read the Calendar through from August, you see
the pace quickening as usual, but with some things no longer featuring,
and new activities replacing them.
Most significant of these comes with the arrival, in September, of a
volunteer Music Director – Dwayne Engh. As well as taking a lead in the
music of our Sunday Worship, Dwayne – who has had considerable
experience of choir-training in his native Canada – is going to launch a
Community Choir to serve people who seek singing experience in our
area. This will address itself to sacred and secular music alike, in weekly
rehearsals and, eventually, concerts as well. Its rehearsal venue will be St
Peter’s Church, and the Church Choir Practices I have run up to now, at
St Saviour’s, will cease. There will be no expectation that those who join
this choir will sing at church, except for our annual Carol Service, and
possibly other special events. Hopefully most of our existing church
choristers will join the Community Choir, and benefit from the
encouragement of joining with other voices. Mostly, the hope is that this
activity will bring benefit and enjoyment to all who participate, and
simply widen our circle of acquaintances and friends. I am personally
very excited at the prospect of opening our boundaries outwards in this
way. Its first rehearsal is on 16 th September (see Calendar)
The other change of routine is in the provision for worship on Sunday
Evenings. Sunday Evening churchgoing, even among regular church
members – has dwindled since my youth, when it was considered quite
normal. I’ve reached the conclusion that the church should remain open
on Sunday evenings simply to give visitors, or enquirers, SPACE to sit,
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walk around, listen to music, read and inform themselves, pray in their
own way, or simply absorb the atmosphere of our fine building. We’re
calling it PrayerSpace – the name is not new (we had free-prayer
sessions under this name formerly), but it seems to fit best to what we
are offering!
I remain committed to providing other occasional offices, such as
Prayers for Healing, with Laying on of Hands and anointing with Oils, for
instance. These will take place, by arrangement, in the side chapel,
without affecting the freedom to explore PrayerSpace in the main
Church building. PrayerSpace will be timed from 6.00-7.00pm and begins
12 th September.
Why change anything, particularly when some of us like things just as
they are? Change can seem like a big ‘faff’, and can involve discom fort
as we negotiate the unfamiliar. However, I’m convinced that we owe it
to our parish to connect in more effective and relevant ways. A running
theme of the Psalms is to ‘sing a new song’ to the Lord. I believe that’s
what we’re about to do!
Paul Nicholson
Sermon preached for Trinity 6
‘The word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you
to observe’
The parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’ is one of several instances in the
Gospels where Jesus challenges complacency in the religious folk of his
own day, and holds up as examples those (like the Samaritans) thought
to be outside the household of God’s own people, showing that these
people could often be closer to the kingdom of God than they were –
offering compassion and hospitality to those in need. There’s another
occasion – in Matthew and Mark – where Jesus as-good-as says that he
actually comes to us in the outcast, the homeless, the hungry and the
naked, challenging us to notice him, to act, to engage and to respond to
him.
But if we’re honest, this is so often not what has characterised church
life in the past. We’ve heard Jesus’ parables many times and thought
we’ve understood them, but haven’t allowed them to change us. All too
easily the impression left by the church has been a closed door, the
feeling almost of a secret society, a lack of welcome, no real concern for
the surrounding community.
As St Paul writes to the newly formed Colossian church in what was our
2 nd reading this morning, as well as praying that they may lead ‘lives
worthy of the Lord’ and ‘fully pleasing to him’, at the same time he prays
that they should ‘bear fruit in every good work’. He’s already heard of
their faith and of the love they have for ‘all the saints’. Word of the
Colossians was getting around, and they were clearly not skulking behind
closed doors! Paul’s writing is full of thankfulness and hope, and as well
as the Colossian church ‘bearing fruit’, he sees signs of the gospel itself
‘bearing fruit and growing in the whole world’.
The last time I preached on this morning’s texts was three years ago,
when I was invited to attend a church in Orpington, Kent, at the end of a
special Festival it had held. On that occasion I commended All Saints,
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Orpington for reflecting that same optimism, expressed by Paul, in the
hospitality it had given to others in a variety of different events, catering
to different tastes, and through some of the most naturally communitybuilding ingredients you can possibly have: Fun, Food, Drink and not
least, Music. A parallel to it might be the series of events that St Peter’s
Church put on for its 150 th Anniversary last year. Those who like to make
a big separation between the ‘sacred’ and the ‘secular’ som etimes find
such occasions difficult to understand. They either feel uncomfortable at
coming to enjoy themselves in a church, in case someone comes along
and spoils it all by trying to ‘convert them’, or outraged that the church
should be doing anything but standing on a soap-box and calling people
to their knees in repentance. Jesus, however, didn’t make this
separation, and it’s not for nothing that John’s Gospel has his first
miracle of water turned to wine, set in a lavish wedding feast. Feasting
was one of his images for the kingdom of God, which even this
Sacrament of the Eucharist echoes, as it commemorates the last supper
and looks forward to the celestial banquet of heaven. As a musician
myself, since becoming a full-time priest I’ve done a lot of reflection
these last years in the connections between the performing arts and the
spiritual life. I’m very conscious, for instance, of comparisons between
the concentration involved in the act of making music with others, and
with praying and worshipping with others; of connections between what
occasionally makes a musical performance somehow ‘take-off’, and the
things that makes a service of prayer and praise seem really special and
blessed. Of course the two are not identical, but they both share in the
divine creativity of inspiration. The same Spirit of God, which we believe
moved over the face of the waters at the Creation, is still alive today, not
just in our personal journeys of faith as we grow in the likeness of Christ,
but in all creative acts which draw people to experience beauty and
unite them in awe and attentiveness.
Making these connections are vital to the church, because they can
make us, the worshipping community, more appreciative of God at work
in the world, and because they can give others a chance to see Fun,
Food, Drink and Music not just as the consumer goods they can
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otherwise be, but as gifts from God, shared in generosity. Hospitality is
such a theme throughout the Gospels that I believe that ‘one-off’ events
and Festivals in the life of the church need to become more woven into
our whole way of day-to-day being. That’s why I’m delighted that St
Saviour’s has its weekly lunch following the Wednesday Communion,
and St Peter’s, its ‘Coffee & Croissants’ after the Thursday morning one –
both of which regularly give welcome to visitors. It’s also the reason I
thank God for leading us to appoint a Musical Director for both of our
parishes, who will now work to form, not merely a ‘church’ but a
Community choir – offering an opportunity for many in and outside the
church to ‘find their voices’ with no strings attached!
We need to take ‘sacred’ and ‘secular’ out of their separate boxes, and
to remember those words of Moses to the Israelites we heard earlier,
when, promising them prosperity and fruitfulness if they obeyed God’s
commandments, said: surely, this commandment…is not too hard for
you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven…neither is it beyond the
sea. No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your
heart to observe.
Father Paul
Belsize Community Choir
Interested in singing? Passionate about choral music performed well?
Want to make some new friends in the community? Come join the
newly formed non-auditioned Belsize Community Choir! We are an
inclusive, fun, and engaging community that values the playful and
relaxed pursuit of choral excellence. Rehearsals Thursday evenings 6:458:45pm @St. Peter’s Church, Belsize Square NW3 4HJ. (First rehearsal
Thursday 16 Septem ber).
M ore info: 079 1933 5218 or
belsizecommunitychoir.org.uk.
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Church calls for BBC to go back to the future in its public
service mission
The BBC's proposed return to its core public service mission is a welcome
'homecoming' that should herald output appealing to the broadest
possible range of audiences, according to the Church of England.
The Director-General's proposals for the future strategy of the
corporation have met with Church approval. Noting that the term
"public service" had increasingly been replaced in the BBC's corporate
language by the "rather more nebulous and management-speak version
'public value," the Church's response welcomes the fact that the current
proposals "keep that traditional (but nevertheless evolving) concept of
public service mission firmly in mind".
The response is issued by the Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch, Bishop of
Manchester and the Church of England's lead spokesm an on
communications. It echoes the tone of 'critical friendship' towards
mainstream broadcasters set by the General Synod's debate on the
subject of religious broadcasting in February this year.
The Synod expressed “deep concern about the overall reduction in
religious broadcasting across British television in recent years”, and
called upon mainstream broadcasters to “nurture and develop the
expertise to create and commission high quality religious content across
the full range of their output, particularly material that imaginatively
marks major festivals and portrays acts of worship".
The Church's full submission to the BBC Trust strategic review can be
found on the Church of England website at:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/info/papers/bbctruststrategicrev.rtf
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Walk out
After church, the woman at the door was embarrassed before the
minister. "I hope you didn't take it personally when my husband
walked out during your sermon."
"I did find it rather disconcerting," the preacher admitted.
"It's not a reflection on you at all,” she assured him. "Ralph has
been walking in his sleep ever since he was a child."
Untimely answered prayer
During the minister's prayer one Sunday, there was a loud whistle
from one of the back pews. Tommy's mother was horrified. She
pinched him into silence and, after church, asked, "Tommy,
whatever made you do such a thing?"
Tommy answered soberly, "I’ve been asking God to teach me to
whistle, and suddenly, he did!"
To set the record straight
this turned out to be a shot from
the new BBC serial ‘Rev’.
Apologies to all traffic wardens
everywhere.
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Maximilian Kolbe - Christian witness amidst 20th
century suffering
Some people’s lives seem to epitomise the suffering of millions, but also
to shine with a Christian response to it. One such person was Maximilian
Kolbe, 1894 - 1941, a Franciscan priest of Poland, and publisher
extraordinary.
Maximilian was born at Zdunska Wola, near Lodz, where his parents,
devout Christians, worked in a cottage weaving industry. Like thousands
of others at the time, the family and their village was ground into
poverty by Russian exploitation. In 1910 Maximilian entered the
Franciscan Order, and studied at Rome. After his ordination in 1919,
Maximilian returned to Poland, where he was sent to teach church
history in a seminary. But a new factor had entered his life: he diagnosed
with tuberculosis.
Living in post-war Poland was difficult enough, but with tuberculosis as
well - most people would have quietly withered away. Not Maximilian
Kolbe. Instead, the tuberculosis gave Maximilian a sense of urgency - a
sense of the brief transitoriness of this life. He knew his time was
slipping away.
Instead of teaching history, he determined to do something to help the
Christians living in Poland now, in the tatters of Europe after the First
World War. And so he founded a magazine for Christian readers in
Cracow, who badly needed effective apologetics to help them hold to
their faith in a chaotic world.
Soon, the obsolete printing presses (which were operated by
Maximilian’s fellow priests and lay brothers) were working overtime the magazine’s circulation had leapt to 45,000. Then the printing presses
were moved to a town near Warsaw, Niepokalanow, where Maximilian
now founded a Franciscan community which combined prayer with
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cheerfulness and poverty with modern technology: daily as well as
weekly newspapers were soon produced. The community grew and
grew, until by the late 1930s it numbered 762 friars.
Then in 1939 the Germans invaded Poland. Maximilian sent most of his
friars home, to protect them from what was to com e. He turned the
monastery into a refugee camp for 3,000 Poles and 1,500 Jews. And the
presses continued: taking a patriotic, independent line, critical of the
Third Reich.
Kolbe was arrested by the Gestapo along with four friars. They were
taken to Auschwitz in May 1941. Their names were exchanged for
tattooed numbers; and they were sent to brutal forced labour.
But M aximilian Kolbe continued his priestly ministry. He heard
confessions in unlikely places, and smuggled in bread and wine for the
Eucharist. His sympathy and compassion for those even more
unfortunate than himself was outstanding.
Then came the final scene in his hard life. At the end of July, 1941,
several men escaped from his bunker at the camp. The Gestapo, in
revenge, came to select several more men from the same bunker who
were to be starved to death. A man, Francis Gajowniczek, was chosen.
As he cried in despair, Kolbe stepped forward.
“I am a Catholic priest. I wish to die for that man. I am old; he has a wife
and children.”
The officer in charge shrugged his shoulders - and obliged.
So Maximilian went to the death chamber of Cell 18, and set about
preparing the others to die with dignity by prayers, psalms, and the
example of Christ’s Passion. Two weeks later only four were left alive:
Maximilian alone was fully conscious. He was injected with phenol and
died on 14 August, aged 47.
He was beatified by Paul VI in 1971. In 1982 he was canonised by Pope
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John Paul II, formerly Archbishop of Cracow, the diocese which contains
Auschwitz. Present at the ceremony that day was Francis Gajowniczek,
the man whose life Maximilian Kolbe had saved
When I Say I Am A Christian
When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not shouting, "I am saved!"
I'm whispering, "I get lost; that is why I chose this way."
When I say, "I am a Christian," I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble and need Someone to be my
Guide.
When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not bragging I am strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak, and pray for strength to carry on.
When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed and cannot ever pay the debt.
When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not claiming to be perfect.
My flaws are all too visible, but God believes I'm worth it.
When I say, "I am a Christian," I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches, which is why I cry his name.
When I say, "I am a Christian," I do not wish to judge.
I have no authority; I only know I'm loved.
Heritage Open Days
Here is something to plan for September: make time to take advantage
of a Heritage Open Day. On these four days each September a range of
properties across the country are open for viewing – free of charge – to
the public. The ‘open’ buildings range from castles to factories, town
halls to tithe barns, parish churches to Buddhist temples.
It is a once-a-year chance to discover hidden architectural treasures and
enjoy a wide range of tours that bring local history to life. Visit:
http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk
In London we have an open weekend - 18-19 September this year. They
have a website too - www.londonopenhouse.org . There’s not much on
it at the moment but guides will be available from 9 th August - and one
building definitely to be opened is the BT tower in Warren Street. Long
time since anyone was able to enjoy the view from there.
Piano
Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;
Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see
A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.
In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song
Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong
To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside
And hymns in the cosy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide.
So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour
With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour
Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast
Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past.
D. H. Lawrence
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Churches should ‘get stuck in’ to the Big Society
The Big Society is an immense opportunity for community service that
Christians should not pass up, urges a major church grouping in the UK.
David Cameron in a recent speech called the plans "the biggest, most
dramatic redistribution of power" from the state to individuals, saying
they will enable people to feel both free and powerful enough to help
themselves and their own communities. He added that funds stuck in
dormant bank accounts will be used to enable charities, social
enterprises and voluntary groups to take over the running of public
services.
In response, Steve Clifford, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance,
said that Christians are already at the heart of serving their communities,
and should grasp this opportunity to get further involved. “Churches are
already the life blood of communities and the lifeline for many on the
edge of society.”
“We are delighted that the Prime Minister has recognised the incredible
work community groups are already doing, and want to enthusiastically
encourage churches to accept his invitation to get stuck in.
“Churches and Christian charities can step in by approaching their local
council to ask how they can best respond to the needs of those around
them.”
Mr Clifford also welcom ed
Secretary Eric Pickles’ recent
committed to building on the
have in getting out into the
religion and faith in public life.
Communities and Local Government
comments that the new Government is
huge amount of experience faith groups
community, and to valuing the role of
The Government has set up a “Your Square Mile” website to link people
to local com m un ity groups and social enterprises.
(www.thebigsociety.co.uk/square-mile)
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Mr Clifford said: “We hope the Government also looks at the Evangelical
Alliance’s Square Mile initiative, which encourages Christians to let their
faith impact all of their lives – including caring for those around them.”
(www.eauk.org/squaremile).
The Book of Common Prayer arrives in the 21st century
Here’s good news for anyone who loves the Book of Common Prayer: it
is now online.
The Archbishops’ Council has added the full text of The Book of Common
Prayer to the worship pages of its site at
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/bcp.
The 1662 Book of Common Prayer is a permanent feature of the Church
of England's worship. It is loved by many for the beauty of its language,
and its services are widely used. It is also the foundation of a tradition of
common prayer and a key source of the Church of England's doctrine.
The first official liturgical text in English appeared in 1544 and the first
complete Book of Common Prayer in 1549. The book went through
several revisions until 1662, since when the wording of its services has
remained largely unchanged.
The Book of Common Prayer is in fact one of the three 'historic
formularies' of the Church of England, in which its doctrine is to be found
(the other two - the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion and the Ordinal - are
customarily published in the same volume). It cannot be altered or
abandoned without the approval of Parliament.
Don’t chop down your ivy this autumn!
Ivy is good for walls. It protects them from cold, shields them from heat,
and overall protects them from cracking. So says a study by researchers
at Oxford University, who have been analysing the effect of ivy on walls
for three years.
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Ivy is a great blanket – it warms up your walls by an average of 15 per
cent in cold weather. In hot weather it cools the surface by an average of
36 per cent. It even protects from pollution and salts.
The study, commissioned by English Heritage, has dismissed long-held
beliefs that ivy roots weaken m ortar, and break up walls. Instead, ivy is
praised as providing colourful foliage, weatherproofing and protects
from pollution
Sincerely yours
Don’t smile too fast. A recent study has found that the speed at which
you break into a smile can influence people’s perception of you. If you
smile immediately, they think you are insincere.
Instead, give them a slow grin, which is natural and floods your whole
face. You’ll be well on your way to winning them over. The study was
conducted by The Go Group, which gives advice to businesses.
How your driveway could earn you money
Do you have a driveway? Ever considered renting it out as a parking
space – on a regular ba sis? Th ere is a website called
www.Parkatmyhouse.com which helps you to do just that.
One driveway near Bournemouth Airport has earned its owner £1,700
this past year. Two carpark spaces in Chelsea, near Stamford Bridge
Stadium, have earned more than £3,000 this year. If you live in an area
where parking is scarce and carparks are expensive, you might like to
consider the idea
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