27 Sept 2020
Address by the Revd Dr Brutus GreenEzekiel 18:1-4, 25-end, Philippians 2.1-13, Matthew 21:23-32
Friends. St Margaret’s. Countrymen. Lend me your ears.I come to bury 2020 not to praise it.
But no, sadly, 2020 will stagger on these next months as the nation’s, the world’s, annus horibilis. Winter is coming. The students are cowering in their halls, Care homes pull up their drawbridges. Now is the winter of our discontent. And not even a new Archbishop of York can make it glorious. Is there then any encouragement in Christ? Any consolation from love? Any sharing in the Spirit? Any compassion and sympathy to make our joy complete?
Fortunately – to give us a breather for a moment – we are concerned this morning principally with 2019. Let us call it the year of plenty. Church attendance rose by 30% Our Easter figures doubled, Christmas services rose by over 100. After 2018 ran at a deficit of £45,000, 2019 ran at a surplus of £40,000. But we also connected so much more with the community. We built relationships with 9 different schools and nurseries, with Ashmead Care home and DHERA; we opened up for recitals, recordings, concerts and films, music classes, art classes and playgroups. We have raised money for Christian Aid, the British Legion, the Foodbank, the Children’s Society, Sure-start, Regenerate-Rise, Trinity Hospice, SPCK and Glass Door, but most importantly we have built personal relationships with most of these charities and we are focussed on local issues.
No more is this evident than in opening our first Glass Door shelter. Helen has driven this to become inordinately successful, as an ecumenical and community-wide venture, involving fundraising, pastoral care, volunteering experience and providing a tangible benefit to the lives of many. I think it’s not too much to say that we are now one of Glass Door’s favourite and most pro-active churches.
In our ethos we made clear decisions in two areas to become more open and outward, joining Inclusive Church, committing ourselves to stand against all forms of prejudice and to being more accessible, and eco-church, in moving forward in promoting, educating and behaving in ecologically sustainable ways.
My first priority on coming to St Margaret’s was to simplify our worship with a clear consistent structure so people would know each week what they were coming to. With Mark’s excellent apron, decorated by Sonja, our worship has become more gathered and inclusive, especially with the addition of the ramp. The new sound system, with extended loop system has brought a great improvement and, once again, Mark has outdone himself in building an intricate and beautiful cupboard for it. Mark has not received payment for this; it is one example of the incredible generosity in giving of time, talent and resources that enables our church to flourish.
Musically we have graduated from Mark, through some excellent stand-in organists, to Rhiannon leading the carol service, to our now embedded director of music Nick. Nick’s enlarged our worship with the use of psalms, a broader hymnody and new services, and has increased our musical output and reach with silent film showings, recitals and concert series, which at present provides a much-needed boost to morale and support for the Arts. We also have new choir robes and at a safe point will start to use them.
Too many people contribute to the life and worship of St Margaret’s to mention, but it would be remiss not to mention Deborah’s flower team, which has been really so wonderful this year, and Gill’s remarkable addition to Christmas with his wonderful nativity figures. The Sunday School has also had a fine year under the leadership of Bryony and Ben with Jo. A particular highlight was their engagement during creation season a year ago, which continues this year, and we have also been able to expand to cover the older age-group through Jo Beasley and Helen Speedy with our new inbetweens.
There have been various education courses in the last year but it’s been a particularly good year for collaboration. It was a great pleasure to run confirmation classes with Holy Trinity, Roehampton leading up to our hosting of the Confirmation service here; But it was also very good to lead the Churches Together in Putney in returning to a shared Lent course, which was struck down by COVID but will certainly be returned to in years to come.
It’s hard to pick highlights for the year, but an excellent Epiphany carol service, too many concerts to choose from, the 2019 St Margaret’s Day which now seems like another world, the dog blessing, Merry Opera’s Messiah, a packed Jingle and Mingle surrounded by trees, a superb Christmas carols and sweet Nativity Play, and my induction as vicar are just a few examples of a wonderful year of celebration and joy.
The last six months has been a very different story. It was preceded by the loss of some wonderful friends: Christopher Trott, Elizabeth Miller, Ralph Bonnett, Alan Fell, Ian Lechmere and Elizabeth Worth. But since then we have faced an unprecedented cessation of services, Most of our income streams dried up over night. Meanwhile pastoral need grew exponentially and we needed a new way to connect and express our spirituality. In 2020 I have taken 34 funerals, which is not far off the number I took in my previous 10 years of ministry. We gathered a team of 100 volunteers, and have done hundreds of deliveries. When the foodbanks closed we redistributed food to many households and have tied in with the council, GPs, help the aged and others in finding those in need. For morale and sustenance we sent out soup and cake across Putney and received the most wonderful messages in reply.
Meanwhile, our services went online. Nick came into his own and by trial and error our crude attempts improved and on an Easter that for many churches passed as an empty tomb, we came together. It wasn’t the same but I don’t think we’ll forget it. We have said prayers twice a day and, still, up to a dozen are meeting, where Morning Prayer previously had only been the vicar. We even tried to do a children’s church segment. It proved quite popular but mostly, I think, with adults who enjoyed Rhiannon’s impressive selection of puppets. And we had great suggestions of activities and challenges from Sunday School to actually keep our children connected. By streaming we’ve reconnected with some who are unable to make it to our building, and others who have moved away, or are family from a distance. We promised we wouldn’t leave them behind again and have successfully streamed our services since returning to church.
And we continue to press on. I’m sure our St Margaret’s Day Art competition will be repeated, Again, wonderful to see the talents of both our children and adults. And we’re sure to see another festival concert in the garden. Our weekly recitals are providing some help to young musicians and at a time where everything is difficult and fraught with anxiety, we are doing our best to facilitate community and hold our fragile society together as safely as is possible.
This lean year, 2020, is not over. We are better prepared now for what may come. We have networks of volunteers and of those at risk. We know we can provide soup in large numbers. We are ready to bring aid to those affected by homelessness – that begins next weekend and Helen has already raised over £1000. We know we can take Christmas online if we have to.
Is there encouragement in Christ? Yes. Consolation from love? We have pulled together as a church and a community. Sharing the Spirit? God is certainly doing a new thing, and next year’s figures won’t show it, but we’re better connected than ever. Is there any compassion and sympathy to make our joy complete? There is difficulty ahead. We have not said goodbye to our last friend, and we will not be able to say goodbye as we would like. But this is a church where people look after one another and as some move to the completeness of joy found in Christ, we will be there for one another in compassion and sympathy, and in the fullness of time will celebrate the lives of all whom 2020 has taken.
Before the Second World War, the Church had a huge role in education, welfare, care of the elderly and the near death. After the welfare state many in the church were afraid it would lose its sense of purpose, but they quickly realised that in any large bureaucratic system there were gaps and the church must find those gaps. Until recently the system seemed so slick those gaps had shrunk in many people’s eyes. This virus has exposed unprecedented needs in our society. We cannot expect the state to solve the problems. The whole charitable sector is already reeling from the crisis. This is a time when we can make a difference. The shadows of unemployment, mental health, marital strain, loneliness, poverty and despair lie in the wings. These are the demons of our time. We cannot stop Brexit, and I don’t know of anyone in vaccine research at St Margaret’s, but we can make a difference in Putney.
When you are first ordained in the church you are made a deacon. The commissioning of the deacon tells us: They are to search out the poor and weak, the sick and lonely and those who are oppressed and powerless, reaching into the forgotten corners of the world, that the love of God may be made visible. For the next 6 months, we as a church are called to this ministry: to reach the forgotten corners of the world, that the love of God may be made visible. This is a ministry in which we all now share. Good luck and God speed to all of us.
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