Tikhtak

Clapham Common Fayre

Today was Holy Trinity Churches annual Clapham Common Fayre. It is held in the grounds of the church and is the only time throughout the year where people from the common flood onto the premises of the church. There are, as always, all kinds of side stalls from white elephant to arts and crafts as well as ye old faithful bouncy castle. This year we had a visible local police presence with two bobbies on horses, as well as an ambulance, which took the fire engines place. It really is a typically English event and is almost Trumptonesque, with the local trades all represented. Two things that stuck out this year perhaps reflects what happens when the church reaches out to the community in this way. First of all there was the video stall. It shows a church innocence which can cause great amusement to a streetwise world. On one hand it is 'Vicar of Dibley' and endearing, but on the other hand reflects the challenge the church has to be relevant. Having said that my highlight of this years fayre had to be a sing song inside the church, which our 'Church band' orchestrated at certain times throughout the day. It was a new experiment and although the PA was not working properly and some songs were under rehearsed, there was an informality and inclusiveness about the 'Worship' which I seldom feel on a Sunday. So another year of the Common fayre has gone by, If only we could find ways to utilise this ingenuity and passion with one another and the community in other ways throughout the year. I suppose we still have 6 months more!

Uses for a Church building, Any ideas?

At the moment I suspect this is a big question for many churches. We have a service on Sunday then for the rest of the week we have an empty building? Perhaps some churches rent out rooms and halls to other groups ( at no small cost.) but essentially the main church building is derelict for 6 days.

Well the Church of England, with the help of the government, have today published guidelines for churches to help them access funding to open their buildings for community use. It seems that even the secular world sees the potential of these historic buildings and the unique way they are run. It is a bit ironic that while Christians are desperately looking for ways to get out of the building to reach out to the community, It seems the community have had enough of waiting and have decided to come on in.

This has extra resonance at present as my church at holy Trinity Clapham, has been undergoing a long consultation process with the church congregation to see how the building might be used, in the light of a major building project. I am not sure of the outcome but I know that there has been a distinct shortage of ideas.

Check out Dave Walker's cartoon take on this and how the Telegraph and George pitcher consider bringing health surgeries and post offices into the church... It seems if the church doesn't have any ideas the local high street will. Then again  I am always in need of a stamp on Sunday!

All I Need by Radio Head

Recently we spent time in the Philippines making a Dvd on Child Rights. We followed the lives of 6 boys and 4 girls in Manila, which we hope to show to children throughout next years tour of World To Rights in schools and Cathedrals. Thanks to Jonny Baker I stumbled across this video/song by Radio Head, All I Need, which powerfully shows the inequalities of children's rights in the world. I hope that our Dvd can in some small measure do the same.

Culture shock back home in Blighty

Since arriving back from Manila last week I have had more than a few moments of  reverse culture shock. The first was receiving yet another Lambeth parking ticket for no apparent reason. AAaaaahg! However they have not all been negative. I attended the funeral of my Auntie Edna in Doncaster, which was really a celebration of her life and her faith. Also a good chance to meet and see family I hadn't met or seen for a long time. Over the weekend Holy Trinity Church in Clapham had a kind of Harvest Weekend  away (except we stayed in Clapham) The highlights of this was a good old barn dance in the evening, where Irfana took to the "up to the middle with a Cowboy yell" like a duck to water. (see pic top left) And on Sunday morning a number of young people performed an extract from our Greenbelt CMS 3D performance in the service. With two girls in particular Witt and Patricia stealing the show dressed as plastic bags. Check out more pics on Flickr. I definitely feel I am now back home.

Home groups weekend away

This weekend several home groups from Holy Trinity Clapham went to West Haddon near Northampton for a weekend away. We studied the themes of Faith, Hope and Love and in between played Wii, Karate and Crockett. On Saturday we visited Coventry Cathedral and you can see that the doors were opened for Zara. In the evening we got a taste of Flamenco dance and Bollywood. It all finished after a good Sunday lunch thanks to June before departing again for London. Check out the Flickr pics to see more.