Giving God the Glory

We could hardly have had better weather.

The sun blazed down on us for today's united open air service and rededication of the churchyard.

Here is the scene from the church portico looking into the churchyard just before the congregation arrived.

The newly remodelled churchyard, with its York stone square in front of the church, provides the ideal space for a service in the open-air, so I hope today's outdoor service will be the first of many.

It was also an opportunity to thank Southwark Council for the improvements that they have made to the churchyard and for their week by week stewardship of this precious piece of open space in our ever more densely populated parish.

Disappointingly a Google search for 'rededication of a churchyard' came up with nothing, so I had to compose our very own liturgy for the occasion thanking God for the beauty of the churchyard, for those who look after it, for those who travel through it, for those who rest or play there, and for those who lie there awaiting the Resurrection, ending with this prayer:

Almighty God who created all things and declared them to be 'very good;'
set apart this remodelled and renewed churchyard as a place of rest and refreshment for the people of Bermondsey;
bless the work of St James's Church that the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ may shine out in this community, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

 It was good to be out in the open air. It was good to have with us Jane, our Archdeacon; Anood, our councillor; Simon, our Member of Parliament; Stewart, my predecesor as vicar of St James, and his wife Rosemary, and it was especially good to have members of the Rhema Church, with whom we share the building, with us (in fact they made the whole event possible by their generous loan of their superb sound system).

And it was good at the end of communion to all join in singing: 'To God be the glory, great things he has done.'

Next up was the 'Great Salmon Choir Sing-Off' at the Salmon Youth Centre.

Three choirs featured in this fundraising profile-raising event: the Bermondsey and Rotherhithe Choral Society; a children's gospel choir (superb); and the wonderful choir of Jesus College Cambridge, recalling the origins of the Salmon Youth Centre as the Cambridge University Mission. Their first item, There is a balm in Gilead, was stunning.

Just in case you're wondering - the Cambridge choir dressed down quite a bit in view of the sweltering weather so we didn't actually see them in those rather splendid scarlet cassocks (picture).

It was an excellent afternoon of contrasting musical styles, all performed in the aid of a very good cause.