ST MICHAEL’S , AND ALL SAINTS, HIGHGATE

July/August 2013

PARISH MAGAZINE

From the vicar and priest-in-charge

Our guest columnist is Bryce Wandrey, Associate Vicar of St Michael’s and Assistant Curate of All Saints’

W e are lucky. Both St Michael’s and All Saints’ are lucky: we are blessed to be able to look around and see unfa-miliar faces worshipping with us on almost, if not, every Sunday of the year. I can tell you from experience that I would have given almost anything when I was a Lutheran pastor in the United States to see even one

unfamiliar face on a Sunday morning on a regular basis. It just didn’t happen very often. So, we are lucky. And, we should be thankful. Every time someone visits us on a Sunday morning we have the opportunity to show and share with them the presence of God that we have come to know and enjoy. But we are not only lucky and, hopefully, thankful. We are also challenged. We are challenged to do our best to share what we know, what we have experienced, of God’s presence and love. With this challenge in mind, it seems that the autumn is a good time to annually present something like an introduction to the Christian faith. Not only will this provide an opportunity for people new to our parish churches to better understand what we are all about, and what it means to follow Jesus of Nazareth in faith, but it will also give all of us an opportunity to go back to the “basics” of living our lives with faith in God. With this in mind, beginning on Sunday 15 September, we will begin exploring the Christian faith through the lens of the Apostle’s Creed. The series will be entitled “I Believe…” This will be accomplished through sermons on Sunday mornings (at our 9.45, 10 and 11.15am services) focusing on an aspect of the Creed and then through related study evenings on Tuesdays led by Jonathan and Bryce. Along with this sermon and study focus we will also be offering a ten week Alpha course led by James and Howard. (All details for these opportunities can be found in the table below.) We hope that this will give all of us an opportunity to explore and deepen our faith, no matter which stage we are at on the journey. Indeed, there is something on offer for you, depending on where you currently find yourself: the Alpha course for those just entering (or re-engaging) with a life of faith and the Tuesday studies for those who want to plumb the depths of faith a bit further. No matter what, we hope that everyone will take advantage of these opportunities as we trav-el together with Jesus of Nazareth.

Bryce Wandrey

Sunday Sermon Series

“I Believe…”

Tuesday Evening Groups

7.30pm at St Michael’s

Vicarage (Meal provided with each

session)

Alpha Course

8pm in St Michael’s Church Upper Hall

(Meal provided with each session)

September 15th, 22nd, October 6th, 13th, 20th

and 27th

September 17th, 24th, October 8th, 15th, 22nd and

29th

September 18th, 25th, October 9th, 16th, 23rd,

November 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th

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JULY 2013

SUNDAY 7th TRINITY 6 8.00am Holy Communion Galatians 6.1-

16; Luke 10.1-11,16-20 9.45am Holy Communion Galatians 6.1-

16; Luke 10.1-11,16-20 11.15am Morning Worship Galatians 6.1-

16; Luke 10.1-11,16-20 6.30pm Choral Eucharist (BCP) Genesis

29.1-20; Mark 6.7-29 SUNDAY 14th TRINITY 7 8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) 9.45am Morning Prayer Colossians 1.1-14;

Luke 10.25-37 11.15am Holy Communion Colossians 1.1-

14; Luke 10.25-37 6.30pm Service of the Word (Taizé) at All

Saints SUNDAY 21st TRINITY 8 8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) 9.45am Holy Communion Colossians 1.15- 28; Luke 10.38-42 11.15am Morning Worship Colossians 1.15- 28; Luke 10.38-42 6.30pm Choral Evensong (BCP) Genesis 41.1-16,25-37; 1 Corinthians 4.8-13 SUNDAY 28th TRINITY 9 8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) 10.30am Parish Communion and Baptism

Colossians 2.6-15; Luke 11.1- 13

6.30pm Evening Prayer (BCP) Genesis 42.1- 25; 1 Corinthians 10.1-24

SERVICES AT ST MICHAEL’S Services are modern language (Common Worship) except where indicated

as BCP (Book of Common Prayer).

AUGUST 2013 SUNDAY 4th TRINITY 10 8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) 10.30am Parish Communion Colossians 3.1-11; Luke

12.13-21 6.30pm Evening Prayer (BCP) Genesis 50.4-26; 1

Corinthians 14.1-19 SUNDAY 11th TRINITY 11 8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) 9.45am Parish Communion Hebrews 11.1-3,8-16;

Luke 12.32-40 6.30pm Evening Prayer (BCP) Isaiah 11.10 - 12.6; 2 Corinthians 1.1-22 SUNDAY 18th TRINITY 12 8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) 10.30am Parish Communion Hebrews 11.29 - 12.2; Luke 12.49-56 6.30pm Evening Prayer (BCP) Isaiah 28.9-22; 2 Corinthians 8.1-9 SUNDAY 25th TRINITY 13 8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) 10.30am Parish Communion and Baptism Hebrews 12.18-29; Luke 13.10-17 6.30pm Evening Prayer (BCP) Isaiah 30.8-21; 2 Corinthians 9

SEPTEMBER 2013 SUNDAY 1st TRINITY 14 8.00am Holy Communion Hebrews 13.1-8,15,16;

Luke 14.1,7-14 9.45am Holy Communion Hebrews 13.1-8,15,16;

Luke 14.1,7-14 11.15am Morning Worship Hebrews 13.1-8,15,16;

Luke 14.1,7-14 6.30pm Choral Eucharist (BCP) Isaiah 33.13-22;

John 3.22-36

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SERVICES AT ALL SAINTS

WEEKLY SERVICES AT ALL SAINTS

Sundays

10.00 am Parish Communion

Wednesdays

7.30 pm Holy Communion

SERVICES AT MARY FEILDING GUILD

1st Thursday of the Month

11.00 am Holy Communion

Sundays

(except the Sunday following the first

Thursday)

11.15 am Extended Communion

Brownies meet on Thursday evenings Guides meet on Monday evenings

ALL SAINTS

PARISH MAGAZINE READERS

Please e-mail to All Saints editor at

agile@authors.co.uk submissions and correc-

tions to Events, Services and Parish Register

listings, for inclusion in future magazine edi-

tions. Many thanks.

All Saints 2nd Annual

Saturday September 14th, 12 noon

Three-course roast lunch provided by

The Red Lion and Sun

Locally-brewed cask ales from The Bull

Music, Bouncy Castle, Bingo and much more!

Tickets on sale now

£10 for adults, £7 concessions

Go to http://allsaintshighgate.com

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Report of St Michael’s PCC held on 23rd May 2013

T he main items discussed at the meeting were: Membership of PCC: It was noted that at the APCM, Nandita Ghose was elected to the Dean-

ery Synod and that two vacancies for the PCC were not filled. Anyone interested in filling one of the va-cancies should contact Jonathan Trigg or Mary Embleton. The Membership of the PCC for 2013/14 is: The Clergy Churchwardens: Mark Dailey and Alan West Deanery Synod: John Taylor, Mary Embleton, Nandita Ghose, Nicholas Sanderson, Patrice Ware-White

and Gilly Wesley Elected Members: Jonathan Bates, Jo Iwasaki, Anne Macgeorge, Malcolm McGregor, Dexter Moren,

Lauren Patman, Jean Reed, Julia Rigby, Ginny West and Robert Callaghan

Election of officers: Members were elected to the following posts of responsibility: Lay Vice Chairman: Mark Dailey PCC Secretary: Mary Embleton Deputy: Lauren Patman Treasurer: Jonathan indicated that Jo Iwasaki has moved and may not be able to continue. Deputy: Mary Holtby Deputy Churchwarden: Julia Rigby Electoral Roll Officer: Jonathan Bates Membership of Committees: Membership of the subcommittees of the PCC, the Standing Commit-tee, Finance Committee, Stewardship and Fund-raising Committee and Fabric Committee were agreed. Communications: Hannah Knight who had been commissioned by the PCC to carry out a review of communications presented her findings and recommendations. It was felt that following the renovation of the building and implementation of the new pattern of services the next step was to improve communica-tions and clarity of presentation. It was felt that Hannah should co-ordinate the work drawing in from the St Michael’s community. The Mission Committee was given a mandate to proceed with phases 1 and 3 covering consistency of communication, templates and development of printed communications and to come back to the PCC with thoughts about the other two phases covering the website and external. Reports from Sub - Committees Fabric: Jonathan reported that that the work, which is mostly to comply with the enforcement notice, would be starting the following Tuesday. The majority of work will be in the crypt, but towards the end there will be work on the electrics throughout the building to install emergency lighting, smoke detectors and exit lights. Mission looked at the Church’s presence at Fair in the Square and intends to have an area in the Lady Chapel for quiet reflection and prayer and leaflets about various Church activities available. Legacy Policy: It was agreed that the PCC needed a policy related to legacies given to the church and a working group was set up to draft this.

Dates of meetings for the year were agreed: Thursday 11th July 2013 Thursday 12th September Thursday 14th November

Thursday 16th January 2014 Thursday 20th March

Mary Embleton

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L eaving Alexandria: A Memoir of Faith and Doubt is the autobiography of Richard Holloway, who retired in 2000 after serving for fourteen years as Bishop of Edinburgh. When I add that the book concludes with his

doubt apparently overwhelming his faith, you may wonder why I am com-mending it to you. The story of a clergyman who has ended up an agnostic is unlikely to be a fertile source of encouragement for those of us who want to grow stronger in our faith in Jesus Christ. Nevertheless I do commend it to you. For a start, it is beautifully written. Richard Holloway tells the story of the way he left his parental home in Alexan-dria (a town on the River Leven between Loch Lomond and the Clyde) to study at Kelham College, an Anglican monastic foundation near Newark—already destined for the priesthood at age fourteen. From the ups and downs of the intense life of the community he expe-rienced there, onwards through a stint as PA to a Bishop in Ghana, to his ordination and curacy in Glasgow, and his ministry in parishes in Edinburgh, Boston (USA), and Oxford, the account Holloway gives is candid and self-critical to a fault. He threw himself enthusiastically into new projects and various radical experiments; in Edinburgh these included setting up a mini commune with virtual open house at the Vicarage and twenty people around the kitchen table every night, sharing a common purse and holding all things in common, and offering hospitality to countless strangers. He conceals neither the exhaustion this led to, nor his sense of relief when the project was abandoned after six months. It was after he became Bishop that his inner tensions came to a head. His convictions were pointing in one direc-tion, in particular towards the unrestricted inclusion of women in ministry, and towards the loving acceptance of people regardless of their sexuality. This was at a time when some Christians saw the AIDS epidemic as the judge-ment of God. He found the centres of resistance within the church to his own direction of thought hard to stom-ach, and in time he began to seethe against what he saw as totalitarian assertions of authority—whether uncompro-mising biblical fundamentalism on the one hand or unquestioning adherence to papal diktat on the other. His resig-nation in 2000 was the eventual result. I would be interested to know the views of others who have read the book. For what it is worth, my first question is how far those who encouraged Holloway’s sense of vocation in his teenage years shaped the years that followed. Second: Holloway tends to think aloud in his writing, and one gets the impression that he now wishes he hadn’t written so many books so quickly. Will he ever regret having written this one? But my last reflection is a sad one: he seems to have thrown out the baby of faith along with the bathwater of narrow fundamentalism. Did he come to the conclusion that the gospel of Jesus Christ, so far from liberating us, requires us to abandon our critical faculties, or our right (and sometimes our duty) to question authority? For myself, I don’t believe it does.

Jonathan Trigg Leaving Alexandria: A Memoir of Faith and Doubt, Richard Holloway, 2012. Paperback £8.99; Kindle £5.66.

Book Review

Leaving Alexandria: A Memoir of Faith and Doubt

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Bomb damage is instantaneous, but repairs can take a long time, particularly in the very difficult circumstances of post-war Britain.

A pril 1945 – VICAR’S LETTER …. The Church repairs at long last, after eight months of well-tested patience, are

getting under way. But the dust is incredible, and has made one person at least quite voiceless. Will the Church ever be clean again?

If seven maids with seven mops swept it for half a year, Do you suppose, the Walrus said, that they could get it clear? I doubt it said the Carpenter, and shed a bitter tear.

But I imagine that vacuums do wonders, and that one day the Church will be rid of its accumulation of dust. The taking down of ceilings is always, I am told on all sides, a dreadfully dust-drenching affair, and ours, of course, was a very large plaster ceiling. I hope we shall be able to have a matchboard or three-ply ceiling after the war, for plaster is never very satisfactory, even in times when there are no shakes and shocks, bombs and bumps, alarums and excursions. Now we learn that the ceiling had been so damaged that it had to be taken down; this was probably a combination of blast from land mine and flying bomb. From now on there is no ceiling; the congregation would look up and see the roof trusses and slates. Though not yet mentioned in the maga-zine, the doodlebug blast also destroyed the east window. February 1946 – VICAR’S LETTER …. Writing of this subject, I am reminded that we have decided to apply for a license to felt the ceiling of the Church to prevent some of the draughts. Whether we shall get the license remains to be seen, but we keep hoping.

They did get a license to felt the slates but it was to be years before a license was gained to replace the ceiling and do other necessary work. It might not be appreciated by readers not alive at that time but the four or five years after the War were a period of great deprivation in Britain. The rationing be-came more severe than during the War and, as this extract illustrates, building materials were subject to license and, save for work of national priority, unobtainable. In 1946 Guy Howard was succeeded as vicar by Harry Ed-wards. The following passages are from his Magazine editori-als. June 1947 …… It is a great pleasure to see most of our church windows back again. Too long have we worshipped in an ecclesiastical twilight and endured powerful and malicious draughts. The congregation henceforth can sit in comfort, but the ministers (choir, servers and clergy) are not so fortunate. The Government will not at this moment put the east window back again. The cost of coloured windows is unreasonably high. Also the east window is in worse case than appears. When it is renovated the mullions and the tracery will have to be taken down and it will be a very big job indeed. In the meantime we can rejoice to have clear windows all about the church and thank God for the sunshine they let in. … February 1950 Sooner or later we must, of necessity, put back the ceiling of our Church. At the moment the bare rafters have felt boarding laid upon them; a good temporary measure, but only temporary. We could not leave it like that, as many of you seem to wish. I agree it looks better as it is than a white plaster ceiling, but thee is nothing permanent about it, and you must admit it lets in a plague of draughts. I’m afraid it must be a plaster-board ceiling again. A wooden ceiling would cost what we are quite unable to pay. While this work is being

We continue our series of extracts from past issues of St Michael’s parish magazine, brought to us by the author ‘Bygone.’

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done, it is obvious we must redecorate the church, and the architect says the two jobs combined will take three months to complete. For three months the church will be full of scaffolding, and we shall be confined on Sundays to the south aisle (which will be sheeted in) and the Chapel. …. The only disturbing factor is that I do not know when the work will begin. We have the necessary licence for it, but the Architect is waiting for a final letter from the Ministry. He hopes a start will be made before the end of January. July 1950 ….Dove Bros. are holding to their estimate that they will make available the whole centre of the Church by the end of July. You have all been very patient, but we really shall be out of the comfortless trouble of the south aisle in August. The ceiling of the nave, and the walls, are completed. The north aisle above the gallery is also finished. For five years the congregation has worshipped without a ceiling to the church, looking up at the roof trusses. Even now the wartime repairs are not concluded. The top section of the spire is yet to be rebuilt, and the east window is a story all of its own – as will be told in a future edition.

A s many parishioners will know, we began opening St Michael’s Church in the autumn of 2011 as part of the project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund which had given us a grant for the restoration of the east wall. During June of this year we welcomed our 1,000th visitor. There was no fanfare, just a member of our con-

gregation with a welcoming smile on their face. The people who visit come for many reasons. Some already know about the church, that it is a beautiful and historic building, so they make a special trip; some know the building from the outside and see the big red door open, so they decide to have look; many others see the big red door open and come in to pray or reflect quietly; some want to know about the church services, weddings or music; others are pass-ing by, passing through, or lost and with a little encouragement they enjoy a few peaceful minutes. We need more volunteer guides. You don’t need any special qualifications, just to be willing to welcome people to our church and to talk to them. We will give you a training session and ongoing support. We have very good print-ed resources to draw on. Most visitors are happy to have a few key features of the building and its history pointed out to them and then to wander round. Occasionally, someone with real expertise will visit and you are likely to learn a great deal, but remember, they probably wouldn’t have been able to see the church without a volunteer guide being there! The times of the current opening sessions are Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning and lunchtime. We particu-larly need more people who can commit to an hour and a half session every couple of months on Saturdays, but Thursday volunteers are welcome too! If you are interested, please email me and I will be happy to give you more details of what is involved.

Julia Rigby stmichaelsn6guide@btinternet.com

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“ Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, re-turned to Galilee…and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ‘The Spirit of

the Lord is upon me…’” As often happens, I was asked the following interesting and complex question by a parishioner: What do you think people mean when they say that they are spiritual but not religious? My answer to that question boils down to two responses: 1) I think they probably mean that they want, or have, some kind of relationship with God but want it outside of the defined boundaries of a religion. There is something unappealing to them about religion, and it doesn’t seem like it would take us long to make a short or long list of what those undesirable things might be. Ultimately, it is a desire to cultivate a relationship with “the other” but not within the Church, the Syna-gogue, the mosque, etc. My second answer to the question is a question: 2) What do you or they mean by spirituality? And I am not trying to be flippant in asking this a question. If I was pressed to say what I think it means it would sound very much like what I think being religious is: praying, reading holy books, doing good things, loving your neighbour, etc. And I am not alone in finding the boundaries blurred be-tween being religious and being spiritual. I quote here from an article given to me this past week on this subject, “Religion and spirituality were regarded as one and the same thing until recent times.” Unsurprisingly, I am still stuck in the past because I struggle to define what it means to be spiritual when compared to being religious. The article handed to me, which I just quoted, is entitled “Conceptualising spirituality for medical research and health service provision.” The article was published in 2009 and begins with the reason why the authors have decided such an issue is important: “A consideration of patients’ spirituality is now regarded as an important component in compassionate service delivery in a num-ber of medical specialities in the United Kingdom.” They go on to say, “However, research into the role of spiritu-ality and health has been hampered by poorly designed studies and lack of agreement on definitions.” Hence, for these authors, a definition of spirituality is important for the medical field to compassionately care for their patients. But there is also the issue of religion “losing” people to spirituality. According to a BBC report issued at the beginning of this year, “Many now call them-

selves ‘spiritual’ but not religious. About a fifth of people in the UK fit into this category, according to Prof Michael King from University College London.” In an effort to understand this divide I would like to, first, layout what studies are saying it means to be spiritual, most specifically what differentiates it from being religious. Then, secondly, I would simply like to explain my understanding of how the Christian Church views spirituality. In other words, how do we cultivate a Christian spirituality (if there is such a thing)? The beginning of the split between religion and spirituality is typically marked with the advent of the 20th century which saw a gradual distinction with being “religious” more and more defined, or experienced, as a set of practices and beliefs about the sacred or divine. Spirituality was more closely linked with emotional experience. In the West, at least, religion and reli-gious practice were increasingly criticized as rigid, moralistic and unnecessary. The word “spiritual” came to stand in oppo-sition to the rigidity. Hence, being spiritual was defined “against what it is not.” Michael King and Harold Koenig conclude with a four-fold meaning of spirituality today. It is structured around: Belief; Practice; Awareness; and Experience. The first two seem the most pertinent for us: belief and practice. The basic belief of a spiritual person is an assent or conviction about a domain or existence that goes beyond the material world. The basic prac-tice of a spiritual person occurs without conscious awareness of or relationship to the spiritual realm itself. In other words, while the practice involves contemplation, prayer, reading or reflection, the self is not moved by any direct experience of relationship with or connection to “the other” (god). That final understanding of being spiritual—the self not being moved by any direct experience of relationship with or con-nection to the other—seems a good place to begin an under-standing of a Christian spirituality. Right or wrong, Christian faith and practice is the opposite: in other words, it is all about having a relationship with or connection to God, “the other.” This is borne out in the narrative understanding of God so apparent throughout the holy books compiled in what we know as the Bible. We need not delve too deep to see this on display: Abraham’s covenantal relationship with God, David’s tumultuous relationship with God, Jesus’ intimate and reveal-ing relationship with his Father, Paul’s life changing encounter and relationship with God. The God of Christianity is a God who desires to be intimately involved in human life. He is a God of relationship. Christian faith and prac-tice, Christian spirituality, is all about coming into and culti-vating an intimate relationship with God.

‘I’m spiritual but not religious’

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How is this achieved? Well, Christianity is robust and di-verse enough to affirm different ways by which such a rela-tionship is begun and continued. The Biblical record is itself quite diverse. One could quite easily list, maybe from their own experiences, such things as prayer, contempla-tion, reading, and personal encounter with other believers. And of course we shouldn’t exclude, even though rare, personal encounters with the divine which change one and initiate or substantiate a relationship with “the other.” None of these experiences exclude the other. But within this diversity Christianity also offers those so-called “rigid practices” (as they would be critically labelled), things like sacraments. What is interesting is that these rigid practic-es, things governed by rules and regulations, are actually (on one level) the most comforting things that Christianity has to offer. Sacraments are not practiced to the exclusion of other ways of experiencing the other. We shouldn’t go down the even more rigid path of limiting God’s action in our lives to the sacramental (or to the institutional). And we should-n’t allow practice and sacraments to close down searching and contemplation (probably too often that happens). But, instead, more and more I view sacraments in a different light. Not to go too old school on us but it seems that the “ancient” understanding is still a very good understanding. The 25th Article of Religion seems to strike the right chord: “Sacraments ordained of Christ are not only badges or tokens of Christian men’s profession, but rather they are certain sure witnesses, and effectual signs of grace, of God’s good will towards us, by which he works invisibly in us, and not only quickens but also strengthens and con-firms our Faith in him.” A Christian spirituality is about having a relationship with the other. And we have these things called sacraments which mark the beginning of that relationship but also ac-company us along the way. They are not there to exclude other ways of meeting and living with God. But instead they are there as sure and certain witnesses, effectual signs of God’s grace. They are, in other words, places where we go and have confidence where God is to be found. We can look elsewhere, we can be spiritual alongside them, but we can’t be Christianly spiritual without them. They are, in a sense, the basic elements of a Christian spirituality. They are, metaphorically, the wise old person who we come back to for wisdom and guidance even though most of the time we would rather look for those things elsewhere. But a Christian spirituality would be sorely incomplete without stressing something else: community. Indeed, if we stay with the bare essentials of sacraments, one of them (baptism) is all about including one in relationship with God and with the community; the other (the Eucharist) is all about sustaining and building up those two relation-ships. Christian spirituality is about the individual being in relationship to God and cultivating that relationship in the

context of a believing community. We see this once again in the written record we have of God’s involvement in human history. Just one example: God initiates a covenant with Abraham not to simply or solely have a relationship with Abraham, but instead to begin a relationship with all of hu-mankind, the creation as a whole. As I have quoted more than once, Rowan Williams writes, “The slogan of the Church’s life is ‘not without the other’; no I without a you, no I without a we.” Once again, this is easily seen in the life of that person whom we endeavour to follow: Jesus of Nazareth. As far as we can tell, Jesus did not cultivate a spirituality of the individual. Instead, when Jesus began his ministry, he almost immediately gathered people intentionally to create a primitive community of believers. Then, at the end of his life, he sent them on a mission to gather more people by spreading a message, one of good news. And he most definitely felt and cultivated a personal relationship with the other, with God, someone he called Father (how much more personally-relational can it get?). And this brings us, possibly a bit belatedly, to a final distinc-tive of a Christian spirituality. We have been dancing in and around this aspect throughout: the fundamental aspect of the person Jesus of Nazareth. Christianity is firmly rooted upon the life of another human being. And it is, in a sense, all about living in relation to a human being who was God and who, having died, rose from the dead. There is a lot to be unpacked in that sentence; something I won’t do now other than to reiterate that a Christian spirituality isn’t all about doing: praying, contemplating, doing good works. A Chris-tian spirituality is very much about being in a state of recep-tivity: losing or denying or surrendering oneself in order to be found and remade by God. And of course, you are only remade within the community of people who have already been found and remade. It is only such a community that can sing together: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.” “I am spiritual but not religious.” Okay. Fair enough. I hope I have been able to express this morning a claim that a Chris-tian can make: “I am spiritual and religious.” And, while some aspects of the religious can be downright disheartening, practiced in a loving community the same practices can be comforting and anchors of our faith. Ultimately, it seems that Christianity isn’t un-spiritual. Instead, we are a commu-nity with a relatively long and chequered past (a past which makes us easy targets for ridicule and disregarding). A past that we, at times, have to make up for but also a past that provides us with a rich and beautiful tapestry of God’s loving relationship with us. We can only endeavour to receive that same love, be in that same relationship and contribute more patches, more threads and less tearing to the tapestry. Amen.

Bryce Wandrey

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FAIR IN THE SQUARE

T he ‘Fair in the Square’ event on 15

June was a huge success and St

Michael’s took £1100 for the teas and

tower tours. The events on the forecourt

(especially The Sheep Show) drew many visi-

tors who then came into the church—not only

to escape the rain and have a cup of tea but

also to see the church, hear the choir, and in-

spect the view from the tower.

Many thanks are due to the army of volunteers

who helped with all aspects of the day, from

the beautiful flower arrangements and bunting

to planning, serving and clearing up after-

wards.

Photos by Keith Horne-Roberts and James Yeates.

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12

St Michael’s Church summer barbecue

EVERYONE WELCOME, ALL AGES

Sunday 7th July 12.15 (after 9.45/11.15 services)

St Michael’s School lower playing fields (North Road)

Bring a picnic

Barbecue available if you would like to bring food to cook

Treasure Hunt — Rounders — Football

Sunshine expected; if it rains the event will be cancelled

Queries? Contact Karen Rogers (020 8340 3739) or Veronica Sanderson

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St Michael’s Fellowship

Autumn 2013 to Winter 2014

The Reformations: When, Where, What and

Where to Now?

Autumn 2013

1. Tuesday 5 November – “The State of the Church

before the Reformations” by Dr Clive Burgess

2. Tuesday 12 November – “The German Refor-

mations” by The Revd Dr Jonathan Trigg

3. Tuesday 19 November – “The Swiss Reformations”

by The Revd Julian Templeton

4. Tuesday 26 November– “The English Refor-mations” by Dr David Crankshaw A lunch (£5) will be available after this meeting from 12.15pm. If you wish to join in the meal, please contact Mrs Veronica Sanderson at 020 8883 6031 or nsander-son@blueyonder.co.uk by 19 November. 5. Monday 2 December– Quiet Day at 130 Highgate Hill, 10am – 4pm. Cost: £15, including lunch. Our lead-er is TBD.

Winter 2014 1. Tuesday 11 February – “The Counter Reformation” by The Revd Patrick Henderson 2. Tuesday 18 February – “Who are the heirs of the Reformations?” by Dr Gareth Atkins 3. Tuesday 25 February – “The Ecumenical Situation” by The Revd Dr Dominic Robinson SJ 4. Ash Wednesday 5 March: 11 am Holy Commun-ion with Imposition of Ashes in church; Charity Speaker: 12 noon in the Upper Hall; 1pm Lunch and Charity Col-lection. All meetings will be held at 10.45am for 11.00am in St Michael’s Church, South Grove, N6. Everyone is most welcome at any or all of these events. Please contact me if you need transport. Those needing to leave early are free to do so.

Bryce Wandrey

020 8351 6083

St Michael’s Church Reg. Charity No 113091

Theological Explorers: Exploring Theology Together

Autumn and Winter 2013 and Spring 2014

A "novel" approach to theology

1. Tuesday 10 September we discuss James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain

2. Tuesday 5 November we discuss Her-mann Hesse's Glass Bead Game

3. Tuesday 10 December we discuss Franz Kafka's The Trial

4. Tuesday 21 January 2014 we discuss John Milton's Paradise Lost

5. Tuesday 25 February 2014 we discuss Albert Camus' The Plague

6. Tuesday 1 April 2014 we discuss Shu-saku Endo's Silence

7. Tuesday 13 May 2014 we discuss Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Idiot

8. Tuesday 10 June 2014 we discuss Na-thaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

9. Tuesday 15 July 2014 we discuss Gra-ham Greene's The Power and the Glory All meetings are for 8pm at All Saints Vicarage. Please contact Bryce (8351 6083) if you have any questions. Please feel free to join us for as many of the meetings as you can. There is no obligation to attend all of them.

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CARIS Haringey

O ne of the charities we support at St Michael’s is CARIS (Christian Action and Response in Socie-ty) – for mostly homeless families who are in the

Borough of Haringey. CARIS leases space in the church hall of St Ann’s in Avenue Road, Tottenham where five part-time staff are employed. They give help and advice to people, most of whom speak very little English and do not understand local authority legislation. Problems range from school entry, accommo-dation, disputes with landlords, domestic abuse, to help for many, who have no entitlement to recourse from any public funds. Emergency food parcels, toiletries and children’s clothes are provided; some of this comes from our collec-tion in church at Harvest festivals. A minibus is rented from St Ann’s twice a month and the Toy Library is driven to various addresses where families live in temporary accommodation. Most of the toys and books are loaned to pre-school children. This is a very im-portant outreach for child development as most of the chil-dren have no books or toys; it also provides an opportunity to assess family circumstances e.g. safety in the home. There is a “drop-in” morning once a week where small chil-dren and their mothers/fathers can meet other families – again most important for those who live in social isolation. Many of these parents, especially the women, hardly ever go out of their accommodation. English classes and workshops on health and nutrition are held regularly. During school holidays, subsidised trips are organised to play parks, the seaside and museums. Daily play schemes are held for three weeks in the summer and Christmas parties also take place. None of the children would otherwise have the opportunity of such experiences, which for the UK majority are the norm. All this of course costs money: CARIS has some funding from Haringey Council (subject to recent cuts), from a few small charities and some North London churches. Occasional or regular volunteers are much needed for help with all this – one of St Michael’s congregation sometimes goes on the Toy Library run with a member of the CARIS staff (there must be two adults on the minibus). Another St Michael’s member helps with servicing and cleaning the toys, sorting and distributing food and providing help where needed in what are inevitably situations that can change mi-nute by minute – however much prior planning is done. Please, if you are able to spare a few hours during the week, or could give a donation towards the cost of any of this work, or indeed would like more information, do contact:

Mary Holtby mary.holtby@blueyonder.co.uk 020 8245 5490

St Paul’s Cathedral Filled to Capacity For Launch of Capital Vision 2020

O n Thursday June 6, the wardens from All Saints and St Michael’s were sworn-in at St Paul’s Ca-thedral at a service that launched the Capital

Vision 2020 initiative. This is the effort to build a church in London that is increasingly Confident, Compassionate and Creative – the three predominant messages that have been identified after thousands of conversations with Christians across London. Capital Vision 2020 also in-cludes the goal of equipping and commissioning 100,000 ambassadors for Christ to drive mission and ministry across diverse fronts and in a markedly more muscular way.

As a service to launch this initiative, the even-ing was a glittering suc-cess. Nine hundred wardens from across London attended as did many more hundreds of family, friends and sup-porters. It was stunning to see the procession of bishops and young peo-ple from across the city; the magnificence of St Paul’s with the early e v e n i n g s u n s h i ne streaming through the

stained glass and the sheer diversity of music on display – everything from gospel choirs, to cathedral consorts, tradi-tional hymns and steel bands. And the central message was bold and heartening: That the church, far being a declining force across the capital is a church on the march:

· Electoral roll membership up 60% in the past 20 years

· Giving up by 50% in the past decade · 53,000 children in church schools –

up by more than 5,000 in 5 years · 1,000 projects serving local commu-

nities · The re-opening of 5 churches and the

planning for the first new church in 40 years

This was particularly brought to life in a series of one-on-one “conversations,” imaginatively staged as part of the service and each warmly applauded, between clergy and youth workers focusing on varying methods of outreach in Jesus’ name. Judging by the buzz and the general senti-

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ment the evening was a huge success and left a powerful impression on people. And yet despite all the undoubted good news and verve, I personally was left curiously flat and somewhat disappoint-ed by the whole thing. Leaving aside some peccadilloes, which I am sure are signs of natural conservatism and even grumpy old man syndrome (e.g., not recognising the set-ting for, ‘Be Thou My Vision’; distaste at confetti falling from the whispering gallery) – I challenged myself to try and define why I was left feeling discordant. In the end, as good as the evening had been, I felt it hadn’t been a particu-larly religious service, which seems very odd to say. That the focus had been slightly out of alignment in a way that I believe should give us pause to think. To me the evening:

· Seemed more about us and less about God

· Favoured the muscularity of the Mes-sage without the compensatory grace and gentleness

· Was all about action and rather less about reflection.

I think my point for what it is worth is this: that of course we are called to put our faith into practice and that being more confident, compassionate and creative is absolutely

the right way to go. But we must always be mindful of the essential balance at the heart of Jesus’ message. Yes he came, “not to bring peace b u t t o b r i n g a s wo r d, ” (Ma tthe w 10:34) but it’s all based on His unreserved, unconditional love that is available through grace alone. To me this musculari-ty/love balance has run

through the heart of the historical compromise that is An-glicanism and the story of the Church of England since the Reformation. But it is also illustrative of the two major routes through which people come to Jesus. For some the muscular message strikes a chord and transformation hap-pens in a powerful way. For others it is the slow and steady drip-feed of love and grace that melts our hearts. In the end both are needed. It’s just that for me this splen-did evening had been more about the former than the latter- due perhaps to a loss of intimacy compared with previous local church settings of Warden swearings in? And do we need to be mindful that, precisely because London is as diverse as it is, the full frontal approach will invariably need the quiet and steady follow-up to be fully effective? If so,

put the muscularity, the love and the grace into practice together, and Capital Vision 2020 will be seen as a re-sounding success, is the conclusion I offer. All Saints Churchwarden, Anna Cotton-Smith, reinforces this upbeat conclusion: ‘I agree with most of what Mark says, however, my impression of the service was overwhelmingly posi-tive. This is my first time of being sworn in as a church warden, and to be invited to St Paul's Cathedral for the ceremony was a huge privilege. I thought the Bishop of London made what could have been an intimidating event for a newbie like me, warm and accessible. I had no idea what to expect and I found the one-to-one interviews inspiring, the readings thoughtful and the hymns uplifting. My overall feelings at the end were of huge pride in my new role and although the service may not have been very quiet or contemplative, to me it didn’t matter too much. For me the ser-vice’s purpose was to encourage enthusiasm and passion for the new Capital Vision 20/20 initiative by demonstrating through the interviews what can be done by individuals working in God's name and, with the readings, getting each to think about what we can do and about the enormous potential for growing the church in eventful times.

Mark Dailey St Michael’s Churchwarden

Photos: thanks to Jane Havergal (top) and Anna Cotton-Smith

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S t Michael’s has been asked to again help Pastor Albert Chatindo to continue his work among desperately poor people in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland, which is centred around the second city of Bulawayo. The Ndebeles, as the people there are known, have suffered under the Mugabe regime. An estimated 20,000 were slaughtered by the army in the

1980s in what is called the Gukurahundi (‘the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains’). It has been declared a genocide. The Matabeleland economy collapsed completely with the seizure of commercial farms from about 2000 onwards which caused a sharp decline in local business and industrial enterprises and large-scale unemployment. The situation was worsened in 2005 by the operation known as Murambatsvina (‘clear out the trash’) when the homes and busi-nesses of some 700,000 urban people were destroyed in Mugabe’s attempt to destroy the opposition. Eleven years ago St Michael’s paid for a secondhand truck for Pastor Albert to help him serve his flock, now widely scattered by Murambatsvina. The truck expired and a new appeal was made at St Michael’s in 2006 which was again generously sup-ported and enabled him to buy another vehicle to continue his work. This is how Albert responded to our gift of this truck: ‘Oh praise the Lord - it's a miracle . . . . I am touched - this is so unexpected but we have been praying . . . please convey my deepest heartfelt gratitude . . . Thank you – I'll have a good sleep tonight.’ Now the Reverend Graham Shaw, minister at Swanage Meth-odist Church, who used to be a pastor in Bulawayo, has sent us the following appeal written by Jon Spalding who has just returned from a 6 month visit to Matabeleland. ‘Pastor Albert or Bishop Albert Chatindo as his people call him oversees a network of around 120 Pentecostal churches (named simply Christian Faith Fellowship), scattered across a wide area including Vic Falls, Binga, Beitbridge, Masvingo, Gweru, with an estimated membership of 5000 people. They are served by 33 Pastors taking responsibility for several churches each. This group of churches are still actively plant-ing churches, finding communities with no gospel witness and planting churches there (five recently in the Beitbridge area). What impresses me with Pastor Albert is his dedication to serving these people over many years. He is clearly loved and respected by these flocks....He does get some small measure of regular financial assistance from The Zimbabwe Victim Support Fund run by Graham Shaw in the UK. He has help some-times from Christian groups in Australia such as Cosmos, a Christian medical charity who purchased tarpaulin sheets to make waterproof roofs. In spite of this assistance there is never enough to meet all the needs and Albert is often dealing with des-perate calls for help from those running short or with relatives needing medical treatment... One particularly pressing need for Albert at the moment is to do with his car. For many years he has struggled to stay mo-bile with an Isuzu 4 wheel drive vehicle that has proved unreliable and hard to get parts for. This car now has nearly 400 000 km on the clock and is now off the road again with broken ball joints, leaking water pump and broken torsion bar. Due to previous attempts at repairing a major breakdown with transmission it is now only a 2 wheel drive! Pastor Albert’s work often means long journeys, sometimes miles from anywhere deep in the bush, overseeing scattered rural congregations. He takes out regular food aid to poorer communities and sometimes takes people to get medical help. Unfortunately second hand cars are approximately double the price of one bought in the UK due to heavy import taxes. The only slight advantage that gives is that his car if it can be at least made to run it should still have a value of around US $4000. What he needs is a Toyota crew cab which would cost a minimum of US $20 000. If he is able to sell the old one for $4000 that leaves a minimum of $16 000 to find (around £11 000).’ Zimbabwe, populated by a graceful and artistic people, used to be the bread basket of Southern Africa but it has been re-duced to a basket case by the rapacious Mugabe regime.

Rose Benton

Keeping Albert on the Road

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All Saints Licensing Ceremony

T he Reverend Prebendary Dr Jonathan Trigg (left) presides at an All Saints Highgate

end-of-service ceremony on Sunday May 26th licensing Marie Edwards (2nd left) as

Sacristan, Pamela Lighthill, John Havergal, Michael Hurst, Valery McMillan and

David Bulgin, as Servers of Holy Communion (3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th & 8th from left) and Jessica

Hurst (3rd from right) as Acolyte.

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We were there for you!

The Diocesan Choirs Festival at St. Paul's Cathedral 11th May

A s the pyrotechnics of the organ Voluntary faded into the dome, the sopranos and trebles began to take their places. Joined by the basses and tenors, over 350 voic-es sang the introit, the opening verses of Psalm 81“Sing aloud unto God our

strength…” in a setting by Adrian Batten composing in the early 1600s. In the Bidding prayer, the Canon in Residence, the Right Reverend Michael Colclough, prayed for "all church musicians," and commended to God "the work of the Royal Society of Church Music and all of us involved in the life of the organisation." All Saints has been a member of the RSCM for 50 years and the choir has always enjoyed learning and singing the music chosen by the RSCM for the bi-annual Festival at St Paul's. This year we choir members were in the congregation, rather than with the massed choirs, owing to a combination of illness and business commitments which had prevented us from being as proficient in the music as we would like to have been. The Magnificat and the Nunc Dimittis, by Charles Wood, and the lovely descant to Mi-chael Saward's "Christ Triumphant" were wonderful to listen to, but most striking of all were the two anthems, "Rejoice the Lord is King,” in a setting by Malcolm Archer( organist at St Paul's from 2004 to 2007) and the Vaughan Williams setting of "Let all the world…"—a glorious experience for both voices and organ and also us listeners! The service lasted just over an hour and, as we left, we were still humming the music which we had enjoyed so much.

Faith Davey

Soprano, All Saints choir

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Priest-in-charge The Revd Preb Dr Jonathan Trigg jdtrigg@gmail.com 8347 5124

Assistant Curate The Revd Bryce P Wandrey brycepwandrey@gmail.com 8351 6083

Self-Supporting Minister The Revd Howard Rogers hrogers442@aol.com 7419 0951

Reader Pam Lighthill pam_lighthill@hotmail.co.uk 8444 0387

Churchwardens John Havergal Anna Cotton-Smith

agile@authors.co.uk annaclarecotton@yahoo.co.uk

8341 0442 07779 270 558

PCC Secretary Margaret Preddy m.preddy@live.co.uk 8348 3263

Treasurer David Bulgin david.bulgin@rssb.co.uk 8349 2397

Electoral Roll Jane Havergal jhavergal@blueyonder.co.uk 8374 5543

Church Hall Jean Johnson 8347 8020

Choir Mistress Valerie McMillan 8346 0438

Children’s Advocate Demi Adebanjo demiathome@yahoo.co.uk 8340 2128

Brownies Marie Edwards mefaired@hotmail.co.uk 8340 5726

Guides Elizabeth Bulgin 8349 2397

Bible-study Pam Lighthill pam_lighthill@hotmail.co.uk 8444 0387

Bible Reading Fellowship Marie Edwards mefaired@hotmail.co.uk 8340 5726

Magazine (ASC) John Havergal agile@authors.co.uk 8341 0442

PARISH DIRECTORY — ALL SAINTS http://allsaintshighgate.com

PARISH REGISTER

St Michael’s

Holy Baptism:

Holly Alexandra Frances Brewster Orla Celyn Kerr

Patrick Dexter Kerr Toren Howard Ian William Litton

Annabel Mary Lloyd Matilda Jude Morgan

Gwilym Oliver Jacob Sage Ioan George Herbert Sage

Wedding:

James Charles David Hammersley and Collette Louise Collins

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PARISH DIRECTORY — ST MICHAEL’S

http://stmichaelhighgate.wordpress.com

Vicar The Revd Preb Dr Jonathan Trigg jdtrigg@gmail.com 8347 5124

Associate Vicar The Revd Bryce Wandrey brycepwandrey@gmail.com 8351 6083

Self-Supporting Minister The Revd Howard Rogers hrogers442@aol.com 7419 0951

Pastoral Assistant James Yeates 8144 3056

Youth Worker Andy Spanring spanringandreas@gmail.com

Church Wardens Mark Dailey dailey.maplelaff@virgin.net 7561 0750

Alan West alan.west@db.com 07764 638 722

Readers Robert Pfeiffer rpfeiffer@bryangarnier.com 8348 9140

Nicholas Sanderson nick.sanderson@sghmartineau.com

nsanderson@blueyonder.co.uk

7264 4373

8883 6031

Gill Taylor 8340 8419

John Taylor johntaylorok@aol.com 8340 9019

Patrice Ware-White 8348 3257

Director of Music Paul Dean deanorganist@yahoo.com 07740 282 744

Assistant Organist Toril Briese toril.briese@live.se

Musician Michael Haslam 07730 556 595

Parish Office and Bookings Kay Langley-May office@stmichaelshighgate.org 8340 7279

PCC Secretary Mary Embleton mary.embleton@blueyonder.co.uk 8340 5923

PCC Treasurer Jo Iwasaki 07941 990 969

Safeguarding Officer Veronica Sanderson nsanderson@blueyonder.co.uk 07961 165 029

Bible Reading Fellowship Elaine Wright 7485 7903

Christian Aid Judith Matheson judematheson@hotmail.com 7263 1090

Fairtrade Gilly Wesley gilly.wesley@blueyonder.co.uk 8341 3927

Head Teacher— St Michael’s School

Geraldine Gallagher 8340 7441

Kneelers Projects Charlotte Elworthy 8340 4656

Magazine Susan McFadden n6parishmagazine@hotmail.com 8348 9691

St Michael’s Fellowship The Revd Bryce Wandrey brycepwandrey@gmail.com 8351 6083

St Michael’s Guild Elaine Wright 7485 7903

Stewardship Recorder Roger Sainsbury rnsainsbury88@gmail.com 8883 4927

Volunteer Guide Co-ordinator (Church Visits)

Julia Rigby stmichaelsn6guide@btinternet.com 8340 8300

MISSION PARTNER REPRESENTATIVES

Chair, and Kirima Karen Sennett karen@metafour.com 8340 3739

A Rocha Judith Roberts 07914 799 750

AICMAR Gilly Wesley gilly.wesley@blueyonder.co.uk 8341 3927

Barnabas Fund Peter Hill-King peter.hillking@btinternet.com 07977 535936

Bible Society Sarah Wrightson 8348 3654

CARIS (Haringey) Mary Holtby 8245 5490