More changes on the way

This year's Lent starting so early, we kept Candlemass yesterday rather than the Sunday before Lent, with its Transfiguration readings. I wasn't difficult to talk about both and link the themes, however.

I heard about a school (not one that I'm connected with), where a note sent to parents informed them of the school's forthcoming assembly of the Candlemass theme, explaining that it commemorated "the arrest of Jesus in the Temple".

I wonder which version of the Liturgy or Bible that comes from?

Already in God on Mondays, we're facing Lent, I told the story of the temptations today. Quite a challenge to work with directly for a bunch of children under ten.

This was followed by a Governors' meeting, at which a letter from Glenys the head teacher was read out, announcing her retirement at the end of summer term. Everyone was a bit stunned. She's built a superb teaching team working tightly together in the most difficult, and ever changing circumstances in an area of the city which has been a portal for migrant workers for more than a century. So now for the second time in two years, I'm involved in another Head Teacher's appointment process.

Change at school

Apparently, the news last week of the retirement of Tredegarville School's caretaker, who lives on site, was leaked to the local miscreant factions before its was made known to the world. Her appearance in the Council's Housing application office was duly noted by locals.

The result was that over the weekend several thousand pounds of infant playground equipment was stolen, and staff working late threatened by local gang members turning up to stake a claim, or whatever else they do, before forces of law and order were summoned from form filling to reassert community ownership of school property.

Nothing like this has happened in thirty years of local school life, in contrast to what happens in other poor areas of the city. Worrying indeed.

The Diocesan Director of Education and the Diocesan Secretary came to school this afternoon to review the situtation, and work out with the acting Head Teacher - the Head is on leave - where to go from here.

The next step is a full review of security, bearing in mind that the next caretaker appointed may not want to live in the isolated house on the school site which goes with the job. The house and the school have to be secured to ensure they can remain fully in use. There may be troubled times ahead, and they will be expensive, that's for sure. Thankfully those responsible within the Diocese for managing school affairs are more than capable of making progress on this.

After the meeting I was glad to escape to Kenilworth for 24 hours to spend time with my lovely grand-daughter, nearly four already!

Furniture, and 'God on Mondays'

We re-started 'God on Mondays' this afternoon. The first time since before the summer holidays - mostly due to my need for recovery time after my operation back in September. Eighteen adults and nine children - a cheering start. Kelly once more took charge of leading the worship, and I spoke about heroes and villains, with reference to the stories of Saul and David. I do enjoy being a story-teller!

Yesterday, leaving the Sunday service in school, I noticed lights on in the closed church. It turned out to be a watchman 'embedded' over the past week, due to further break-ins by homeless drug and alcohol abusers who end up sleeping rough because they have refused to keep hostel rules. After one weak spot providing a point of entry to the basement had been fixed a month ago, yet another was penetrated last week, and the watchman had been installed until it could be fixed properly. It's a sad desperate situation, which nobody can feel happy about. Unfortunately buildings taken over by such unfortunates become at risk from being burned down - not intentionally, but because intoxicated people can get careless and do foolish things without thought for safety.

Having chatted to the watchman, it occurred to me to take home from the church two brass war memorial plaques which had been taken down for re-installation in St John's, but the watchman wasn't very happy about this, not having been briefed that this might happen. So I returned home and emailed the man responsible to arrange permission for me to pick them up today instead, which I did after 'God on Mondays' had finished. One plaque, containing the names of World War One Fallen was quite heavy, probably 15 kilos. The Second World War one was much lighter in construction, different in style, and contained fewer names. I wondered about the difference in style and substance between the two of them. I imagined that the relative cost of the former was greater than that of the latter, representing the greater wealth of the St James' church community in the 1920's, than in the late fifties, when the latter was erected. Did the difference also represent a change in attitude towards remembering those who died.

Apart from the big plaque, a chancel screen was erected as a memorial to the Fallen of World War One. A Lady Chapel, designed by prominent local architect and artist George Pace, was erected as a Second World War memorial, along with the plaque. Now the church is finished as a place of worship, the chapel fixtures and fittings will be re-used. Some of them will go with the plaques into St John's War Memorial Chapel, as is fitting. The rest will go, as the Church Font has gone, into the school, to be used appropriately there.

The font was re-located just before half-term, in the school entrance lobby. It fits well, and makes a striking statement about this school being a Church School. One of the school's mums is expecting a baby, and is already lined up to be the first to present a child for baptism in this new setting.

Thank a teacher

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This morning I joined with Fr. Roy Doxsey my neighbouring colleague in leading Tredegarville School's Eucharist for school leavers; i.e. children in class six who will be going to secondary school in September. Several dozen parents turned out, and the school leavers gave a presentation instead of the usual homily, in which they shared in remembering their best times in school and offering a litany of thanksgiving lifting up every aspect of school life to God in appreciation. At one moment they broke into a well coordinated 'street dance' and sang to a funky rhythm track, and few few adventurous souls made little solo excursions into break-dancing.

It was inspiring to watch, as there was over thirty of them crammed into the confined space between the altar and the first row of infants sitting on the floor. Nobody pushed or jostled. Nobody got trod on. It showed just how much of a group they'd become, with all their varying abilities, cultural, social and religious backgrounds. Most of the staff and half a dozen parents made their communion, and at the end, each leaver was given a small olive wood cross, made in Bethlehem, apart from the one Muslim girl in the class who received something special in a large envelope instead.

Finally, year five children made an arch of raised arms leading to the door of the assembly hall, through which all the leavers marched, while the school sang 'Farewell Class six' to the tune of Shalom Haverim'. They leave for the Great Unknown of High School knowing that they are loved and appreciated.

I came away feeling very proud to be associated with a church school with a history of being at the community front-line in welcoming newcomers to the city, going back nearly a century. Teachers in secondary schools around the city sometimes remark that they can recognise a church school educated child by observing their attitude and general behaviour. They are used to being co-operative, helpful, polite and easy to get on with, despite the fact that some of them have had tough experiences through their first stage of childhood, with family instability, parental unemployment, accidents, illness, loss of loved ones. I like the advertisement which says 'If you can read this, thank a teacher.' You could do a similar ad. saying; 'If you have self-respect, confidence, ability to get on with others and work hard, thank a teacher.' These days many parents who want to instil those values in their kids find they rely greatly on the support teachers give them in a social climate which seems on times far from sympathetic to these aims.

Meetings that matter - God on Mondays

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Having run 'God on Mondays' successfully for the past eighteen months in partnership with a clerical colleague, I honestly wondered how I might continue to sustain something worth attending, now that I am working on my own. When we started, Jenny organised others from St James' to provide refreshments. This looked as if it might stop when we moved pastoral operations into the school, but it didn't. Julie, one of the school mums, a regular participant since the beginning, baptized at the 'God on Mondays' service this time last year, offered to help organise refreshments, and has ended up taking charge of it. She enjoys doing it and that just gives me so much pleasure.

But, how to continue without the worship becoming literally a one man band? For me one of the best things about 'God on Mondays' was working with a female colleague. The complementary partnership of a man and a woman offering worship and teaching is just a great way of breaking the institutionalised mould of expectations - and it goes down well with people.

I put my problem to the teaching staff by posing the question of sustainability. If far too much depended on me, then it might fail if I got sick. Could anybody help? The answer wasn't long in coming. Kelly, one of the class teachers, responsible for Computers in the school curriculum, and thus someone I'd already got to know as Governor interested in these matters, offered her help. She's an evangelical Christian, actively involved in her own church community, and therefore not a newcomer to leading worship.

After an initial conversation and a planning session for the term, we re-started 'God on Mondays' this afternoon, with Kelly leading worship and me telling the story of the Road to Emmaus, and playing the guitar, as usual. It all went very well, and quite surprisingly to me, Kelly admitted her nervousness afterwards, despite her being a confident class teacher, at home with the kids. Well, I guess that was quite a new role for her. Such courage to be prepared to have a go at it.

It was a most encouraging new beginning, and not only for this reason.

Among those attending 'God on Mondays' today was the familiar face of a woman I had seen before, and mentioned in a previous posting, standing beneath the underpass by City Hall, quietly simply proclaiming the essential Gospel message to passers by. In recent weeks, she's also come into St John's to pray, after her sessions in the subway. Last Monday she was in school, collecting a grandchild. This week she and the grandchild joined us for 'God on Mondays' It was delightful, seeing her piece together the fact that I was the guy riding through the underpass on the bike who smiled at her; the same who was there in St John's dressed up and going through these rituals that 'Church' people do; The same man behind a guitar in the school with the kids. Small world.

Across all the different 'cultural' paths we devise for ourselves, meetings happen between people who treasure the same essential things in life, things which unite us, no matter how different our origins, our interests, our struggle to make life meaningful. At the end of the day these are meetings that matter, to thank God for at the end of the day.