he liturgical year designates the first Sunday in October as Dedication Sunday in, as far as I know, a fairly arbitrary way to accommodate churches who don’t know when their dedication was, so it’s fortunate for us that it comes around the date of our actual dedication and this year very nearly coincides, our building having been consecrated on 8th October 1747.
Readings for the day this year include Jacob’s dream (Genesis 28.11-18) ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’ How awesome is our place? Indeed, does it seem awesome at all? Or are we so accustomed to it that it has become as familiar as our own home? And is that a good or a bad thing? Visitors often come into the building surprised that its rather unpretentious exterior conceals so much beauty and that’s gratifying. It’s lovely to hear their surprise and pleasure and we do work hard to keep it nice – to improve and change and to make it ever more accessible. But perhaps it is that very work which reduces the sense of awe. How awesome is a place that you spend so much time cleaning and tidying, even if you do it for the glory of God: ‘Who sweeps a room as for thy laws, makes that and the action fine.’ (George Herbert) How do you find a balance between familiarity and awe?
Recently some of us were discussing our experience of coming to the church knowing nothing about the liturgy, being presented with a Book of Common Prayer and having to find our way through it – try it sometime and you’ll see what I mean! When I first came to St John’s it was still the practice to kneel in the Creed at the words ‘Born of the Virgin Mary’ which completely bewildered us – by the time we’d gathered ourselves and knelt everyone was back on their feet again. But we learnt and oh! the satisfaction of finally getting it right, of finding the right page, of turning to the psalm and then back to the right place, knowing what was used and what left out! Our orders of service today are much more user-friendly but no one will ever experience that feeling of belonging that came with mastering the prayer book and then sharing that knowledge with someone less au fait with the service – the final triumph. We had arrived!
It was a while though before I realised that in committing myself to a church I was taking on a whole way of life that had as much to do with what I had to give as to what I hoped to receive.
Dedication Sunday sets off a month concentrating on Giving – our response to the needs of our church, whether it be in more money or more time, more working, more praying, more being present to the joys and challenges of belonging.
In her sermon on 16th Sept (on the website and in the folder on the table at the back of church) Mother Emma talked about the unifying factor in the disparate books of the bible being the writers’ ‘passion for God’. I’d like to think that it’s something like that that unifies us as a congregation – we’re here because we share a passion for God that needs to find expression. ‘We dedicate ourselves’ we will say on Dedication Sunday – ‘to God the Creator, to Christ the Redeemer, to the Holy Spirit, Giver of Gifts’ – a joyful response to the act of faith that brought us here in the first place.
Being accessible and keeping the church open are subjects that occupy not a little of our time at HPC. We have several staff working from the building now and occasional ‘sitters’ who help when the office is empty, and we have a few daytime activities – Bible study, Holy Hamsters, hassock mending, lunchtime concerts and literary hours. All these are listed in the diary and are worth dipping into. The lunchtime events are particularly deserving of bigger audiences than they are drawing in at the moment. This month we have our director of music, James Sherlock, accompanying Martha McLorinan, mezzo, on 3rd , members of the Hampstead Players performing ‘An Antidote to a year of Shakespeare’ on 17th . Both these events are free, though a retiring collection is invited, and all are followed by tea and coffee and a chance to chat.
If anyone can think of any other activity they’d like to see, or to start, do let us know.
Also this month: On the 12th we have the Sidwell Memorial Recital with Aidan Coburn, a regular member of the choir and James Sherlock accompanying him. The next day there’s a pilgrimage to Westminster Abbey, starting with breakfast in the parish rooms at 7.30am. Emma has the details if you’re interested in joining for all or part of the walk, or making your own way to the Abbey.
The month is rounded off with ‘War on Weeds’ a frankly desperate bid to make up for the loss of the Camden volunteers and defeat at least some of the worst of nature’s assaults. Have you seen the weeds round the crypt area? The elder shooting up everywhere? Please come and help. We start at 10am and Father Stephen has promised to lay on refreshments mid morning. I’m anticipating stopping at about 1pm but if anyone is eager enough to carry on I’m happy to stay longer.
October
Judy East