At this time last year I was a way on a very enjoyable leave of absence involving quite a lot of travelling on 4 continents, thereby acquiring a large carbon footprint. One fruit of my absence was that Brandy invited her husband Rob and their close friend Stephen Golden to support her ministry at St Thomas'. They are still with us, enriching our worship every week. Brandy, however, has now moved on, after 4 years with us. More crucially she's moved into the stipendiary ministry, a testament to the experience she gained here. We miss the additional things that her presence and gifts made possible. Yet above all Brandy gave us a concrete experience of the priestly ministry of women that will inform any future decision about a new incumbent in a positive way. She is unlikely to be replaced in the foreseeable future. That's' not necessarily a bad thing, because another benign consequence of my absence is that you managed so well without me! We now even take it in turns to chair the meetings of the PCC. For some time I have been 'banned' from any involvement with our finances, apart from pointing out whom you should speak to, so when we decided we really must have a stewardship campaign in the autumn, a group of you, led by Rob Cheek, did all the work. We're still assessing the results. Another form of 'stewardship', the giving of time, energy and gifts to our common life, has shown a definite improvement. The pink forms I give to people soon after they begin worshipping with us regularly, now contain a large section inviting people to become involved with specific aspects of St Thomas', such as the children's activities, gardening and contributing to worship. Many more of you are now participating in this way. This is a healthy sign as a church is not a place where people come to consume from others who provide, but one where we serve and are served. Even so you remain a full member if your other responsibilities make it an achievement to be here to worship regularly. Our worship is the centre of our life. Some people have become more involved in ministry. Sandra Hall continues as our commissioned Parish Pastoral Assistant. Currently she organises the servers at the altar, is hall bookings secretary and works with Nikki Anderson and Staffan Dawkins to provide activities for our younger members (11 - 16 year olds), very much a challenging work in progress. The PCC was delighted that Leslie Nyarko-Bonsu, who was one of the 11 adults confirmed by Bishop Stephen last July, has been given a place on the current Parish Pastoral Assistants training course. Bishop Stephen will have confirmed 8 more adults at Easter, when he is with us for 3 of the holiest days. Karen Mitchell has begun full-time training for the priesthood at Westcott House, Cambridge. She and Tony had to move quite suddenly in September when a place became available and we're still noticing the gap left by them after so many years at the heart of our life here. We were able to thank them properly during our Epiphany Party. Jane Hodges is now in the second year of her training at the South East Institute for Theological Education. This is 'part time' so Jane continues to worship with us most weeks. She has also enhanced our life by preaching and providing a couple of extra opportunities to worship. Jane's husband Bob Gilbert co-ordinated a group within the congregation to run a very successful environment month leading up to the Dedication Festival in October, when Chris Hewer from St Ethelburga's enlightened us about the Muslim tradition and the environment, encouraging us to see that this could be a way for mutual encouragement. Some of the activities during this month involved parishioners as well as churchgoers. The presence of Islington Ecology Centre within the parish should encourage us to work more with others for the long-term common good. In recent years we have done less as a church about outreach to serve our parish. Individuals may be involved in a variety of things, but it's an important witness to act together visibly. Providing refreshments for the Gillespie Festival and holding the May Day Street Party are good things to be doing, but only take us so far. I am hoping, as are Dorothy Newton, Andrew Silverman and Staffan Dawkins who initiated it, that the Lent Course 'Just People?', building on the challenge of the prophet Micah to 'act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God', will inspire more of us to have the courage to work more urgently for the coming of the kingdom of God on earth. These Lent groups too have been run entirely by members of the congregation. Worship is at the centre of our mission and inspires us to take the love of God with us wherever we go outside the church building. Once the next phase of the roof renovation is complete the building itself will be in a very good state of repair. Those looking from the outside can see we care about our life together in this way as they can from the garden, which is kept in very good shape by Malcolm Marjoram and his able helpers. The next challenge is to explore how best to convert the rest of our building so that it is useful to the parish. To do that we must listen to our neighbours. One consequence of the grants from English Heritage has galvanised us to think how we can open the church building more often as we are now required to do. We are planning to convert the porch opposite the main door into a small office so that I (and perhaps others) can be in the church at regular times during the week. More people are taking turns at delivering the parish circular 4 times every year. This helps people to know in which parish they live. The small group that has been meeting to prepare for the influx of new residents has produced a card and letter that has already been delivered to the new homes around the new stadium. From that group James Petty, Leslie Nyarko-Bonsu and Nick Wooldridge have completely redesigned our website, with fascinating input from Rowan Howard. Have you looked at www.stthomaschurch.info recently? It's perhaps odd to realise that the funerals that take place at St Thomas' are some of the most powerful statements of mission that we make! Sadly this year 3 members of the congregation have died. Sam Konibire and Lydia St Clair were 2 of our older and most faithful members, never drawing attention to themselves. Sharon Foster could only worship with us occasionally because of the chronic sickle cell anaemia with which she suffered that finally wore her down. Our younger members are thriving. Julia Burrows stepped down from organising the Sunday School for a well-deserved rest, or at least change! We are very grateful to Michelle Wooldridge for taking over this ministry, while Catriona Coulter continues as the co-ordinator and advocate. The number of children increases steadily. It feels as if every week another person in the congregation is pregnant, which is certainly a commitment to the future and means we should be working conscientiously to ensure that our heirs will enjoy a decent quality of life. Other people have also stepped back from positions of responsibility. Joe Harper has decided to take it easier after years beyond measure as hall keeper. Edward Smith has taken over and is gradually getting used to what is involved. Fortunately he lives a bit closer as Joe had been commuting from Tottenham. At this annual meeting Jenni McMillan comes to the end of her 5 years as churchwarden. She has worked very hard and faced quite a few challenges as she had to learn quickly in the first few years. Stav Stavrou has also decided to give up as treasurer while ready to continue as book-keeper. We are very grateful to them both for all that they have given. It's also time for our deanery synod representatives to give way to others and for several members of the PCC. Have you thought about stepping forward to take your turn? Every office is time-limited so that no one is either burdened for years, or gets power crazy, a not unknown phenomenon in the Church. Apart from developing our service to the parish
through our reaching out and building plans, I have something else
I would like to see grow, though I've yet to find out how. I prepare
people for confirmation and the children for first communion, but
we provide very little else in the way of continuing to nurture
your faith outside our worship. We had an autumn course discussing
Rowan Williams' 'Tokens of Trust' to which about 6 people came regularly
for 6 weeks. The conversations were good and perhaps involving more
people is not possible. I'm aware that many of you have considerable
responsibilities at work and home. I will continue to try to offer
such opportunities occasionally, but please suggest other ways in
which this might be possible. |
