O come all ye faithful....to the Blue

The first of our three open air carol events took place today at the Blue.

The sun was shining, we had a great crowd of singers, and lots of people stopped to pick up a leaflet or to capture the scene on their phones.

Next up: Carol singing at Bermondsey Tube Station on Monday 11th December and outside St James on Wednesday 12th December. Both events start at 6pm.

Sam at the Men's Brekkie

Sam Adofo, Director of the Salmon Youth Centre, was the guest speaker at today's Men's Breakfast at St James.

Sam and his wife have experienced great troubles in recent years and he didn't want to pretend that if you are a Christian everything would go swimmingly in your life.

Sam knew that wasn't true, but he did know something else was true and that was what he had discovered in a new way in the midst of their troubles.

That was the truth of Romans 8.35-40:

 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? .... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


What Sam found was that nothing can separate us from the love of God when we belong to him through Jesus Christ.

And that is a message for all of us.

Light shining in the darkness

Hundreds of people poured into St James's Churchyard tonight as part of the Illuminate Bermondsey and Illuminate Rotherhithe project in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower sailing with the Pilgrim Fathers to the new world.

The Mayflower famously started its journey at Rotherthithe with a local man, Christopher Jones,  as its captain for the voyage that changed the history of the world for ever.

Twin processions - one from St Mary's, Rotherhithe and one from the Blue in Bermondsey, full of people holding beautiful lanterns and other illuminated displays, converged at St James, where everyone had refreshments of pizza,  hot chocolate and soup.

It's a poignant thought that as this happy community event took place with its procession of light wending its way through our streets, an event of great darkness had taken place on London Bridge, just down the road from us. Lives had been lost, and others had been traumatised and injured.

On the eve of Advent we are reminded again of the words of St John:

'The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it'

John 1.5

And we pray for everyone affected by today's events in our capital.

I see you

To Westminster Abbey to see the exhibition mounted by Open Doors, the Christian agency which seeks to highlight the plight of persecuted Christians throughout the world.

Included within it was a series of paintings of Nigerian women who had suffered appalling assaults and sufferings.

An artist working for Open Doors had produced these beautiful and sensitive portraits. Alongside these paintings, are self-portraits that the women themselves have made in trauma care workshop run by Open Doors. These form an exbition within the main exhibition entitled 'Tears of Gold.'

The major part of the exhibition is taken up with a handmade petition in aid of the women of the persecuted church made with contributions of by more than 1600 Open Doors supporters:

The whole exhibition proclaimed a powerful message about support for the suffering church throughout the world. It was great to see it displayed in Westminster Abbey. It would be great to see it displayed in other places, too - up and down the country.

Christmas is coming

Christmas is coming - I know it's not quite Advent yet, but Christmas plans are in full swing here in Bermondsey and across the country.

The Christmas tree is up in St James's Churchyard, full details of our Christmas services are available here, and we're getting ready to welcome students of St Augustine's College of Theology for their mission project on Monday afternoon in the churchyard, all centred on the tree.

Meanwhile, St Anne's was getting into the Christmas mood with its ever-popular Christmas fair today:

The Quay Players offer a festive welcome to the fair

Joy in the churchyard

Pictured left: Fergus Carr, architect of our new joyslide for the 21st century, and great great grandson of Arthur Carr, of Peek Freans biscuit factory in Bermondsey, who had the idea of creating a slide in the churchyard for local children, when he saw them sliding down by the very steps leading up to the portico on which Fergus was photographed today, after our latest meeting of the Friends of St James's Churchyard.

Now that planning permission and faculty permission are in place and with just over half of the funds secured, the Friends are hopeful that, with further donations and grants coming in,  the work on constructing the new slide can begin in 2020, just in time for the centenary of the first slide in 2021.

Here is Fergus's great great grandad viewing the scene that gave him his initial inspiration:

And here is the latest leaflet about the Joyslide project. To read the leaflet, find out more, and to discover how you can contribute please visit our joyslide website here:

Farewell to Delorine

It was a fond farewell to Delorine (pictured with St James churchwardens Marian and Pat) on Sunday.

Delorine, is training for the ordained ministry with St Augustine's College, and has been on placement with us at St James for eight weeks.

During that time she has thrown herself into a wide range of parish activities and has well and truly endeared herself to our congregation.

Yesterday she preached for the first time at St James, having previously led a Family Service. 

We shall all miss her, but wish her God's richest blessing in this, her third and final year, of ministerial training.

And finally, thank you Delorine, for that wonderful cake that you bought for us to share after church on Sunday.

Armistice in Bermondsey

Armistice Day began in Bermondsey with the St James School Armistice service in church, with all the children standing in respectful silence for the two minutes silence.

Next up was the service at the War Memorial in West Lane (left), attended by the Mayor, the Leader of the Council, councillors, prospective parliamentary candidates for Labour and the Liberal Democrats, the Pearly King and Queen, alongside representatives of the emergency services, tenants association, community organisations, political parties, London Southbank University, schools, local businesses and many members of the public, for the two minutes silence at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

We sang, we prayed, we remembered.

 Photos from Gary Glover and SE16 community Twitter feeds.

Bermondsey remembers

Our Remembrance Day events in Bermondsey began  with an Act of Remembrance in brilliant sunshine at the war memorial in Old Jamaica Rd (left), with the Army Cadets, the Veterans, councillors from both political parties, former MP, Sir Simon Hughes, and members of the public.

Meanwhile, back in St James's we were getting ready for our main Remembrance Sunday service, at which, Delorine (left), our placement student from St Augustine's College was the guest preacher.

After the service we all moved to the Narthex where Pat laid a wreath at the Boer War Memorial and David laid a wreath at the memorial to the ten young men of the St James Bermondsey Bible Class who gave their lives in the First World War.

It is good to take this annual moment to pause, to remember, to give thanks, and to pray for peace in our troubled world.

Through all the changing scenes

Changing views of St James, first from 1905 (thanks Pat)

Then from BermondseyBeat, three pictures - first of a 1950s shot of the young Tommy Steele signing autographs outside his Frean St house, with St James in the background

Then of the church before it was restored and before recent redevelopments with prefabs in the foreground

 

And the scene today:

Congratulations

Congratulations to Torbjorn Holt, Rector of the Norwegian Church in Rotherhithe, on being invested with the Lancelot Andrewes Medal for Godly Service and Zeal of the Gospel by Bishop Christopher.

Torbjorn will shortly be leaving London after 14 years service to the Norwegian community in the UK and 14 years as a valued member of our Bermondsey Deanery Chapter.

We wish Torbjorn God's richest blessings for the future.

Bermondsey brew

Bermondsey Brew, St James community cafe which runs from 2.30pm to 4.30pm on Monday afternoon, continues to draw in a wide range of people, of all ages, from the community for delucious homemade cakes, tea, coffee, squash for the kids, and the chance to chat, make friends,  play a board game or cards, or if you are of a certain age, run around a bit and let off steam after a day at school.

A recent addition to the Bermondsey Brew menu is story time for the kids at 4pm, which gives the children, hot foot from school, and having filled up on some cakes and bread, the chance to settle down at the front of church and hear a Bible story told by Jacob.

Today the youngsters were hearing about 'Jonah and the very Big Fish.'

Do join us any Monday at St James from 2.30pm to 4.30pm for Bermondsey Brew. (PS whilst donations are welcome, everything is free at Bermondsey Brew).