Adrian Greenwood takes up the story: Archbishop Justin Welby was given the urban
name J.Welbs by rap artist Guvna B as he spoke about his life and faith to a
packed audience at the Lighthouse Theatre Camberwell on Monday 5th
September.
The event had been organised by the
ecumenical group, Southwark for Jesus, and was hosted by James Nickols and the
Christian radio presenter, Selene Jordan. The evening also a featured the
performance of a powerful poem by Lena Norman and of a range of songs by
members of the Lewisham Hospital NHS Choir.
The evening opened with a lively group of rap
songs by Guvna B, one of the leading Christian rap artists in the country, during which he had the audience dancing in
the aisles. In an interview which followed with him, the Archbishop and Dr Fran , a childrens doctor at Lewisham Hospital and member of the Choir, Guvan B
spoke of his upbringing on a Council estate in Canning Town. Here he had
experienced the competing pressures of family life and membership of his local
church with gang culture on the estate.
Eventually he chose to give his life to
Christ and entered the music business, writing his own lyric using the words
and medium that relate best to young people from similar backgrounds.
It was
during this interview that he suggested the rap name for the Archbishop and
even presented him with his cap. Archbishop Justin took the suggestion in good
humour but said that he would stick with his day job – if he started to sing or
dance the NHS choir would be working on emergency cases rather than singing
tonight.
Fran also spoke of her faith in Christ and
how it helps her in some of her most difficult moments with very sick and dying
children. The comradeship that she and all her colleagues had found in the
Choir was also a great help to them, and, indeed, all the hospital staff as
they coped with their very stressful roles.
Archbishop Justin chose to speak about the
passage in the Bible where Jesus calmed the storm on the See of Galilee (Mark
ch. 4 v 35 - 41). He spoke about the ‘storms of life, which affect every
person, whether from the circumstances of life or self inflicted.
He mentioned
several from his own personal life including the death of his baby daughter in
a car accident in France and the bewilderment of mental illness suffered by
another family member. He explained that his faith in Jesus, the man who ‘even
the winds and waves obeyed’, had brought him to a place of peace; of great
calm.
The safest place was to be ‘in the boat with Jesus’, even if this was at
the heart of the storm, rather than on the shore relying on one’s own strength
to escape. He ended by asking people in the audience the same question, which
the disciples asked at the time – the most important question that everyone
must face – ‘who is this man?’
Hear the NHS choir here
Her Archbishop Justin speaking here
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