Visitors to the church could be forgiven for thinking we are dedicated to some obscure local saint – St John-at-Hampstead. I hasten to say that this is not, as far as I know, the case. It is, however, true to say that we don’t know which St John the trustees intended when they chose the dedication in the 18th century. The former building was dedicated to Blessed Virgin Mary so some people assume (I’m not sure how exactly) that it must be John the Evangelist and the Bishop of London in 1912 ratified this, for no better reason, I suspect, than that he wanted to stop the debate. One of our former vicars decided it was John the Baptist – this was convenient because it meant we could have a dedication festival at the end of June. The truth is we simply don’t know. The original document, now lodged at the London Metropolitan Archive, left a space “St John……….” obviously expecting someone to fill in the important other bit – but they never did. We compromise with both the major St Johns depicted in the windows over the altar. And we further compromise by celebrating the actual date of dedication of the current building on 7th October 1747 rather than a (possible) patronal festival on 27th December.
The words we use at the 10.30 Eucharist are a profound statement of our rededication of ourselves to our faith and its mission:
You are the temple of the living God and the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Will you dedicate yourselves to lives turned away from self-centredness and exploitation toward the One who has created heaven and earth as a supreme gift of love?
We dedicate ourselves to the love of God the Creator
Will you dedicate yourselves to following the One who is the way, the truth and the life, through whom all things were made and who for our salvation became human among us? Will you love and serve others in the pattern of Christ until he comes in glory to establish his eternal Kingdom?
We dedicate ourselves to the service of Christ the Redeemer
Will you dedicate yourselves to life in the Holy Spirit who gives life in all its fullness? Will you take your place in the Church the Spirit generates and play your part in its mission to the world of bringing unity, holiness, dialogue and transformation?
We dedicate ourselves to life in the Spirit, the Giver of Gifts
The temple of God is holy and you are that Temple. God grant you strength and grace to be the living stones of God=s Church.
This is particularly apposite this year when some of our volunteering is approaching crisis – people needing to give up but not finding anyone to take over. The Vicar and churchwardens have already written in this issue about the position the parish is in and how we will be addressing this in the weeks to come and those of you on the electoral roll/parish list will have received (should have, you never know with computers) a link to our new action plan for the next 5 years. If you didn’t receive it hard copies will be available.
Music in October
A positive feast this month with the Sidwell Memorial Recital on 11th, this year featuring James Sherlock, not on the organ but the piano. Then on the 15th we have the Brodsky Quartet as part of the Hampstead Arts Festival and on 19th the Hampstead Chamber Choir. Details of all these, as well as advance notice of the Verdi Requiem on 9th November, can be found between pages 18 and 23. And of course there’s the regular monthly lunchtime recital on Wednesday 2nd , this month with Jelena Markarova.
For those more literary than musical we have a Book Market on 5th October between 11am and 2.30pm; come and buy (and bring, of course, but please get books to us by Friday. We won’t have time to sort and price on the day.) Rehearsals for the Hampstead Players production of The Cherry Orchard are under way but for those of you who can’t wait for your dose of Chekhov there’s also ‘Cheerful Chekhov’ on Wednesday 16th at 1pm – dramatised readings of ‘The Bear’ and ‘The Proposal’ – see Bill’s article further on in this issue.
Two chances to buy Traidcraft this month over the Dedication weekend – at the book sale on 5th and after the 10.30am Eucharist on Sunday 6th.
Clocks go back on the night of 26/27 so Choral Evensong moves to its winter time of 4.30pm on 27th which is the Last Sunday after Trinity – after that we start counting down to Advent.
Which leads me very nicely into a mention of the Christmas Market on 16th November. We always welcome home made cakes, bread, puddings, mincemeat, cakes to sell for the Church Fabric Fund; there are charity stalls, Traidcraft gifts and goodies, children’s activities, and the Friends of the Music run a coffee and light lunch stall. Put it in your diary now. Saturday 16th between 11am and 2pm.
But if all this talk of Christmas is too gloomy a reminder that winter is on its way Churches Together in Hampstead are already looking forward to a summer outing in 2014. Read about it on page 16 and send them your suggestions.
October
Judy East