Overly competitive?

Without doubt, one of the most recurring questions we've faced over the last two and a half years we've been in Stratford is why we're here - and specifically 'why have [you] moved to Stratford?' Inevitably the enquiry is laced with disbelief!

Given the result of a recent 'survey' and the fact that most people who can, move out, their incredulity would seem justified. According to the poll, Newham (the borough in which Stratford is located) is the 'third worst place to live in Britain'! Apparently we [Newham] 'have to face lots of challenges. Health, unemployment, crime and teenage pregnancy levels are alarming. It has many of the downsides of living in London and few of the benefits – except the kind you get off the social.' Nice!

I guess I haven't completely died to my competitive streak becasue I wanted to know who'd 'beaten us'?!

What's more, Chelmsford (our former home) was judged to be the 8th best place to live(!) - that's some 'downward' spiral! However well versed our answer is to the question 'why Stratford?' the real answer will come down to what God does through us in a place we call 'home'.

[Things could be worse - we could live in Middlesborough - apparently the worst place to live in Britain?!] Maybe Newham will 'win' next year.

William Booth : the dog-shooting Hammer! (a.k.a 'The Founder')

Over the years much has been written about William Booth, the humble pawnbroker who began The Salvation Army. The sycophants have attempted to embelish and beatify while others have endeavoured to strip away the myths from the man. Either way, 'you pays your money and you gets what you gets!'

[I'd recommend Roy Hattersleys effort - a chunky read, but it's worth the effort.]

Actually one of the things that has stuck in my mind since reading Hattersley's account a few years back is the story of the ill-fated Booth family dog! It had been shot on William's orders after it had snapped at a servant (a 'SERVANT' is how it would appear on the vidi-printer!) who scolded it for leaping at bed linen which she was hanging out to dry. The dog was shot in haste and William Booth apparently regretted his decision when he realised that his children were heartbroken (strange that!). Eve a man of action, he decided, in an attemot to ease their pain, to retrieve the carcass and have the pelt made into a rug! Yet when they reacted with hysteria rather than thanks, he was 'bewildered by their lack of gratitude'!!! (clearly a gifted children's worker!)

Anyway, as far as I'm aware despite the blood and sweat of many a scholarly work few have shared the 'dog-shooting-story(!) and none have shed sufficient light on the really big issue that many of us want answered....

....which football team did he support? There's no denying that this is the nut we all want to crack?!

Hailing originally from Nottingham you might think it would be a straight choice between County or Forest, but apparently not!

It turns out that the man who made his name reaching the poverty-stricken masses in London's East End actually shared their footballing passion, because as this recently taken photo confirms, he was a Hammer!

It helps to have 'friends in high places' when your local team is fielding ineligible players!

Really?!

According to the IOC president Jacque Rogge it's "a truly innovative brand logo that graphically captures the essence of the London 2012 Olympic Games - namely to inspire young people around the world through sport and the Olympic values."

Seriously?

While Tony Blair reckons "when people see the new brand, we want them to be inspired to make a positive change in their life."

Really? And this is going to do that? This is going to 'inspire' the masses?

Reportedly costing £400,000 to 'develop' one London 2012 spokeswomen claimed "it has a movement to it and it will evolve and change" - so hopefully if may yet 'evolve and change (completely?) into something else!

Mind you perhaps the logo accurately represents Stratford at the moment - a place of evolution and change (glorified building site would work just as well!). Work is well underway, but you still need a furtive imagination to envision the Olympic stadium rising from where this elegant electricity pillon currently resides!

A thing of beauty?

We haven’t had house group tonight – which generally means that I won’t have to record The Apprentice, Desperate Housewives or Grand Designs (The only 3 programs in a week that I follow in any real sense and there’ll all on the same night. And that night happens to be house group! How’s your luck!). Anyway one way or another Wednesdays are always good nights, particularly when we do get together, share some cake and talk about life and the Creator whose idea it was in the first place.

A couple of weeks ago we each shared and spoke about a song/piece of music that had impacted us as we thought about the various ways we have experienced God through music.

From Rufus Wainwright to The Divine Comedy, from Johnny Cash to Nine Inch Nails, there was even room for the Staff Songsters! (I'm not saying who brought the 'Staff' into it, but it wasn't me!!) As eclectic as the group itself, there was little doubt that we each experienced God through music in very different, yet no less powerful, ways. But for lots of reasons I was really taken by the following track…

For those like me who are new to the song, it’s ‘Hurt’ - written by Nine Inch Nails (a new one to me?!) but performed here by Johnny Cash.

I was immediately struck by how powerfully the song (and video) communicated even before we learnt that the song was written by a guy named Trent Reznor (from this Nine Inch lot!) who struggled with depression fuelled by drug and alcohol addiction. Yet this undeniably self-destructive and dark testimony seemed to be redeemed and transformed as Country-legend and committed Christian Johnny Cash covered the track.

Indeed Trent Reznor, who had initially opposed Cash’s keeness to cover the song, on watching the video commented ‘the video he made of that song was overwhelming. When I saw it the power and the beauty of music struck me in a really profound way. I was at a point in my life when I was really unsure if I was any good or if I had anything to say. The song came out of a really ugly corner of my mind and turned into something with a frail beauty. And then several years later an icon from a completely differenr world takes the song and juxtaposes himself into it in a way that seems more powerful to me than my own version. I was flattered as an artist and as a human being they could do that with my song. And it came at a very insecure time in my life and it felt like a nudge and boost and a hug from God. It said ‘everything’s OK and the world is bigger than what’s just in my head.’

A powerful, powerful reminder that beauty can emerge from even the darkest of places. Like I said, Wednesdays are always good.

Somebody's got a new hobby

For the third time in as many weeks we had someone 'experimenting' with the medium of fire at the side of our building! Thankfully eagle-eared Lisa (I'm not sure eagles are renowned for their hearing but nevermind!) heard them shuffling around outside as they splashed the petrol about! Not for the first time we were impressed and appreciative in equal measure for the prompt arrival of our fire-fighting friends.

NB: The first fire was a daytime affair lit by some bored schoolboys on their lunch-break. It's fair to say that I was glad my Dad (a Fire Officer most of his life) didn't witness my ham-fisted attempt to douse the blaze! Unfortunately a crowd from the neighbouring school did!

How very dare we!

It would seem we owe the people of Startford and in particular the churches of Stratford, an apology! Quite unknowingly we are guilty of ‘rude planting’! For which we say ‘sorry’.

At the recent Crucible weekend Stuart Murray explained that wherever possible ‘rude church planting’ should be avoided. How or what is rude church planting? Simply put, it is planting that takes place without properly consulting the churches and other agencies that already exist and work in a given community. It’s planting that in effect barges in and plonks itself down. It’s planting that inadvertently fails to respect the work of those who are already investing locally. It’s planting that at best is a little naive and at worst smacks of arrogance – and it’s downright rude!!

So while we would be reluctant to shoulder the full responsibility for the rudeness of our inherited planting ‘strategy’ we apologise nonetheless!

It’s church Jim, but not as we know it?!

Sunday saw the beginning of an experiment, a journey into the unknown.

Since arriving in Stratford we’ve been very aware that in many ways the last thing the borough needs is another church(!). Actually that’s not quite true. The last thing the borough needs is another congregational, building-based, programme-driven church! You only have to walk 200 yards to pass the ‘Redeemed Calvary Congregation’ the ‘Very Redeemed Calvary Temple for the Nations’ or the ‘Truly Redeemed Calvary Tabernacle to Infinite and Beyond’! You get the point, there’s no shortage of ‘churches’.

But we’re convinced that there’s plenty of room for different types, different expressions of church, of Christian community. Since we’ve always felt that we have been sent to Stratford to meet and engage with those who haven’t already connected with church it would seem rather foolish to come in and just ‘do’ what everyone else is already doing! Foolish, but not unheard of!

Thankfully, in a confirming kind of way, we’ve met one or two new friends locally with similar convictions and so together we’re beginning an experiment to discover what church, Christian community, family might look like within the hectic and messy reality of modern urban life.

We don’t know what will happen, or where it will all end up, but we recognise that for many, particularly those with young children (word of testimony here!), the orthodox way of doing (or being?) church is not always helpful and so we’re looking to use gathered family meals as a base for sharing – sharing that’s meaningful and engaging however young or old we are. As we meet, eat and share we hope that Jesus-talk will permeate our time together be that for Sunday lunch, Saturday breakfast or a picnic in the park.

Having had plenty of experience of Sundays being the most stressful day of the week(?!) I guess we’re looking to see how ‘life-shaped’ our ‘church’ can be. And so our ‘search’ has begun, we’ve embarked on our journey and Sunday was great! Really good. I mean I’ve not met many people who come out of a five hour service saying they loved every minute!

The Language of success?

As people experimenting with new ways of being church and engaging in community ministry we are constantly asking what ‘success’ will or should look like – in effect how do you measure the effectiveness of what we are doing – in Kingdom terms?

As I caught up with a very good friend the other day I was encouraged to be reminded we’re not the only ones.

Jon is a quality guy, a good friend and a great youth worker. But his youth work, like most of our ministry, isn’t building based, it’s out on the streets and in the community. As such some of the ‘old’ measurements of ‘success’ don’t work. But Jon is learning a new ‘language of success’. He’s looking beyond ‘bums on streets’ or ‘bodies through the doors’.



He may not see an influx of Junior or Senior soldiers, he may not have a group to take to the Youth Rally, but as relationships have developed over the last year (thanks to his sports outreach) he celebrates the fact that conversations about sexual promiscuity and drug use flow naturally as they walk home together. And he questions the ‘coincidence’ that last year was the first year he can remember when the hall wasn’t egged at Halloween or attacked with fireworks on Bonfire night.

Actually he doesn’t question it – he knows that however loosely, the guys he’s connecting with consider themselves part of the Salvation Army – they haven’t signed any bits of paper, they probably never will, and they will rarely (if ever) use the building, but why would they attack or vandalise ‘their own’? This new-found sense of ownership flows from a sense of belonging that has been developed through relationships forged over time (these things rarely happen quickly) on their own terms, on their own patch (largely on a football pitch).

It may be hard to measure or account for (how do you measure a sense of ownership? Or belonging? How do determine if a relationship is getting stronger?). It may be hard to tick a box to say that what Jon is up to every Monday and Tuesday evening is working, but the problem of language or methodology should not deter us from recognising ‘success’ when and wherever God is at work.

‘There’s nowt as queer as folk!’

For better or worse, the single best thing about what we’re doing in Stratford, are the people we meet. There’s rarely a day goes past without an intriguing conversation or a chance encounter with people we barely know or those we are getting to know as we journey together. Today was no different.

When Trevor called he introduced himself as an ‘evangelist watchman’ with something to ‘share’. While intrigued I was hosting a local residents meeting at the time so the best I could do was to take down his number and agree to call him once done.

Unfortunately time was short and so I invited Trevor to join Joshua and I as we headed to the park. It turned out that what Trevor wanted to ‘share’ was that we are in the end-times – ‘I mean look how many people are defiling the temple with tattoos and piercing!’ Very keen to reassure me that he was merely telling me what Scripture says (‘its not my opinion, it’s what the Word says!) he went on to argue that women should be covering their heads, most ministers are liars and churches disobediently observe the Sabbath if they do so on a Sunday!

A recurring aspect, and particularly virulent theme, of his ‘message’ was the need for ‘us’ to ‘protect our children from the homosexuals’, I wasn’t entirely sure what he thought they’re going to do, but the NSPCC apparently abuse children as they allow gay people to adopt children (I’m not entirely sure that the NSPCC have anything to do with adoption, but I’m not sure he was too bothered!)

Having walked together for an hour I felt I’d got the ‘message’ (or at least had enough!). Our time ended suitably bizarrely when he cryptically, and not a little ominously, asked ‘do you believe I have the rule over you?’ I wasn’t sure that I did (or that I wanted to!), but what I did know is that I was really glad I had to put a steak pie in the oven!

As we walked together there were two things I kept thinking. The first centred upon something Rob Bell has written in his book Velvet Elvis:

‘…let’s be honest. When you hear people say they are just going to tell you what the Bible means, it is not true. They are telling you what they think it means. They are giving their opinions about the Bible. It sounds nice to say, ‘‘I’m not giving you my opinion; I’m just telling you what it means.’’

The problem is, it not true.’

The second was that ‘there’s nowt as queer as folk!’ (No ‘abominable’ pun intended!)

Are you sure?

At a recent community leaders breakfast I was asked to 'guide' people to their respective tables. A 'working breakfast' those attending could choose what they wanted to discuss over their eggs and bacon - teenage pregnancy, education, employment and anti-social behaviour - the choice was theirs!

'Morning sir, where are you heading, what would you like to talk about?'

Wide-eyed delegate: 'Me? I don't have anything to say!'

'Well, you can have a chat about teenage pregnancy, anti-social behav...'

Mr Wide-eyes: 'Anti-social behaviour?! Anti-social behaviour?! I've got nothing to say about that!'

'OK...'

'I'm fed up those kids giving us grief all the time. We've had aterrible time of it - they've made our life hell! Wasters and vandals the lot of them. And the Police? The Police? They're not interested. So what happens?! We send them on holidays and bend over backwards to give the lazy B#####DS jobs and training, for what? Standing about on the corner doing nothing! While decent kids can't get jobs for love nor money!!' No, I've got nothing to say about anti-social behaviour.'

Having fixed a unsuspecting Police Constable in his sights he shuffled off still mumbling that he didn't want to talk about it! As I turned to the next guest I couldn't help thinking 'are you sure?!'

A little later, as we tucked into breakfast, and as the fruit juice and conversation flowed, the topic-driven discussions ensued. After which a short time was allocated for feed-back. Now I should say that the points raised, or at least what was fed-back, was generally good stuff. But one suggestion sticks in the memory and I can't say it's becuase of it's insightful and timely wisdom.

The 'problem' being addressed was teenage pregancy and the 'solution' offered... wait for it(!)... was that 'CCTV cameras... should be placed... in toilets...... in schools!'

What d'you reckon - job done? Problem solved?

Thankfully, the spontaneous ripple of laughter that greeted this 'suggestion' reassured me that I wasn't the only one thinking 'are you sure?!'

'Local vicar stabbed on doorstep'...

...read the Newham Recorder headline in my head as a very agitated and tormented man introduced himself. Availability and vulnerability - the double-edged 'advantage' of living above the hall!

Steve was very clearly not a peace, with talk of conspiracy, satanic cults, sexual abuse and institutional intimidation it was hard to grasp where to start, so I thought I'd listen.

Having shared his jumbled and incoherent thoughts it was clear that Steve's daily life was painful and isolated - 'no-one understood, believed or cared about him.' I'm not sure how much 'help' I was or could be, but he seemed pleased to find someone who let him talk and didn't write him off as a babbling nutter - I'm glad he hadn't 'read' the headline in my head.

Typical!

You wait 20 minutes and then 2 come along at once! Then you have to wait another 20 minutes for the next one!

No, I’m not talking about the proverbial London buses, I’m talking about people willing to give money to support the work of the Salvation Army; I’m talking about Red Shield collecting at a very lethargic Canary Wharf; we’re talking slim pickings.

Still, tomorrow’s another day at the crease!

And so is the day after that!

And…

A 'man who can'?

Yesterday, as a family, we did one of my favourite things to do in London - we went for a walk along the South Bank.

On of the many benefits of living in Stratford-on-Thames are the great transport links, which include the Jubliee Line - the only undergroung line that is completely accessible to wheelchair/buggy users (a shocking fact in itself, but we'll take what we can get!).

Anyway, because of the relative ease of getting there we often head into 'town' to meander along the banks of the Thames. With some good book shops, plenty of places to stop off for a coffee (and some banoffee pie etc!) and loads of people (I am a bit of a people watcher!) it's a great way to kill an hour or two.

And yesterday, for me, the vast array of people we shared the walk with served as a reminder of how large, exciting and diverse the world God has created for us to enjoy really is. It got me thinking and prompted me to recognise that there is, and always will be, room for 'my world' to grow.


So as we walked I fashioned a new resolve to 'enlarge my territory'. I don't want to be know for what I don't/can't do.

I don't want to be known as someone who can't cook.

I don't want to be known as someone who can't swim!

I want to be know for what I can do - which means I've got some learning to do!

The swimming will have to wait a while (I mean it's expensive!), but I'm going to learn to cook. Forgetting the basics (I'm not worried about boiled eggs!) I'm starting on Monday with Gordon Ramsay's Sausage pie!

Just how do you 'sweat off the onions'?! Maybe boiled eggs wouldn't be such a bad idea after all!

'A garden that's bursting into life?'

I was recently interviewed by a guy who is conducting some research into the development surrounding London’s 2012 Olympic adventure. Focussing on the much talked about regeneration promised to accompany the mammoth Olympic project Rob’s question was whether or not the games represent ‘an expensive short-term necessity or a long-term sustainable legacy?’

As a 'representative community leader', alledgely with my ear to the ground and my eyes wide open, he thought I might have a view?!

Acknowledging that for us regeneration was about renewal, new life and energy I shared our concerns that it couldn't just be about moving the 'less desirable' members of our communities out (compulsory re-location of Clays Lane Housing Co-operative) to make room for flash new housing and opportunities for the influx of affluent new residents - that's not renewal, it's displacement and it's anything but long-term or sustainable.

Ultimately time will tell how the Olympic dream shapes Stratford and the surrounding area, but Rob hasn't been the only person to get us thinking about regeneration and renewal. I mean even Snow Patrol when they're out 'Chasing Cars' sing about wanting to see 'a garden that's bursting into life'.

We believe we were given a similar biblical picture of the kind of renewal we were to be part of during our time in E15. It centres upon words written by the prophet Isaiah a few years ago...

'Wilderness and desert will sing joyously,
the badlands will celebrate and flower —
Like the crocus in spring, bursting into blossom,
a symphony of song and color.
Mountain glories of Lebanon—a gift.
Awesome Carmel, stunning Sharon—gifts.
God's resplendent glory, fully on display.
God awesome, God majestic.
Energize the limp hands,
strengthen the rubbery knees.
Tell fearful souls,
"Courage! Take heart!
God is here, right here,
on his way to put things right
And redress all wrongs.
He's on his way! He'll save you!"

Blind eyes will be opened,
deaf ears unstopped,
Lame men and women will leap like deer,
the voiceless break into song.
Springs of water will burst out in the wilderness,
streams flow in the desert.
Hot sands will become a cool oasis,
thirsty ground a splashing fountain.
Even lowly jackals will have water to drink,
and barren grasslands flourish richly.

There will be a highway
called the Holy Road.
No one rude or rebellious
is permitted on this road.
It's for God's people exclusively—
impossible to get lost on this road.
Not even fools can get lost on it.
No lions on this road,
no dangerous wild animals—
Nothing and no one dangerous or threatening.
Only the redeemed will walk on it.
The people God has ransomed
will come back on this road.
They'll sing as they make their way home to Zion,
unfading halos of joy encircling their heads,
Welcomed home with gifts of joy and gladness
as all sorrows and sighs scurry into the night.'

Entitled 'The Voiceless Break into Song' this passage (Chapter 35) seems packed full of wonderful imagery of the kind of transformation that communities of loving defiance should be part of. What does this look like locally? For us, it means..

..ensuring that commitments are kept and Ethel gets the much promised wheelchair that will liberate her from her house-bound captivity.

...supporting a young family facing the spectre of AIDS.

...listening to those hurt by an uncaring and impersonal form of institutional church while hopefully offering and modelling an alternative.

...writing letters, providing references, and going to court to stand 'shoulder-to-shoulder' with Paul as he desperately struggles to keep his life back on track post-prison.

...sharing a grace-filled rather than a hate-fuelled, message of hope with homosexual friends.

...offering an alternative community for Greg who for most of his life only found acceptance and affirmation amidst the drug-fuelled and violent world of biker gangs.

Is this this kind of regeneration that Isaiah was writing about? Will this prove to be part of a 'short-term necessity or a long-term legacy'?

I guess ultimately, only time will tell, but we're happy trying to do our bit.

A wake-up call?

We're generally fans of internet shopping - the promised convenience married with the cash you can potentially save is a sure fire winner in a household with a Scotsman who hates plodding around shops!

But things don't always so smoothly and when they don't I invariably find myself wishing that I'd just gone into a shop a paid a little extra. When something goes wrong it doesn't seem all that convenient to put it right!

Recently we've had a 'mare. Over the last month or so we've experienced a less than satisfactory 'service' (we've arranged and re-arranged numerous times to be around to take delivery while nothing turned up, we've had stuff turn up that we haven't ordered, and when stuff has arrived it hasn't fitted as the catalogue promised!) from a certain company purporting to be 'experts in parenting and babycare'. A company that rather sexistly (that can't be a word but you get what I saying) purports to 'care' for 'mothers' - and it isn't Babies R Us or KiddiCare!

Anyway, I guess these things happen,, but what doesn't help (really doesn't help!) is when the 'customer services' assistant is a stroppy person seemingly without the slightest interest in your predicament!! (it's perhaps worth pointing out that one of my bugbears is 'customer service' that is anything but!!) So you can imagine how we often felt coming off the phone having struggled to explain our frustration and to find a satisfactory solution.

However shockingly bad and infuriating these conversations were, as I put the phone down from one such call, the phone immediately rang - this time with a 'wake-up' call.

It was Social Services who wanted to know if we could do anything to help an elderly wheelchair-bound man who for whatever reason had no money and no access to food. Unable to do anything themselves, Social Services were turning to the Salvation Army.

Details taken we got on the case. Suitably distracted from our Mothercare woes (doh! I wasn't going to mention the shoddy company!!) we were sobered by (and grateful for) the reminder that however appaling and annoying there are defintely more important things to worry about that slack customer services. And there are many, many people living around us who have far more taxing concerns!

The paradox of perspective: so important to keep a healthy perspective, but so easy to lose.

Mission:Incredible completed

Where have the last three weeks gone?!

For a start, our first kids club in Stratford has come and gone and despite some intital worries of saying 'yes' to a few too many things (Under-promise, over-deliver; under-promise, over-deliver!) we managed to keep the balls in the air!
It was great to spend time with a very diverse bunch of kids and to see them drop the fromt and open up over the course of the week.

It was great to play, sing, dance, create and pray with these new young friends.

It was great to strengthen existing relationships with children from our ongoing schools and community work.

It was great to meet the parents and to understand the children some more.

It was great to spend time working with other local Christians.

It's great to think that there may be the possibility of an ongoing kids club come Spetember.

It's great to think we've got a a couple of weeks (now that Sportsweek is out of the way!) to get set and to recharge!

It's like living in a funfair...

... without the fun!

No strangers to the hustle, bustle and hyper-activity of urban life, last night was something else!

On top of the nightly scooter races, incessant traffic and constant chit-chat (generally loud mobile conversations held, for some reason, directly outside our bedroom window?!), our evening 'mood-music' was set by another raucous party, a lower-than-usual hovering Police helicopter (these things really are loud!) and a film crew pitching up to shoot some low-udget Gansta film (the 'director' was not a quiet man!).

Life in Stratford is rarely dull and never quiet!

Who agreed to this?!

One of the hottest weeks of the year and we're doing a kids club! Hot, sweaty and tiring events at the best of times, but all the more so when it's in the 30Cs! Still the heat didn't seem to deter or dampen the spirits of the 40-50 kids who turned up.

Like much of what we do here it's a partnership, this time with a local church we've developed links with, and it's just good to share the load and to work together. I'm sure there's something biblical in that?!