Phantom of the opera

Ok not quite but a similar mask is being worn.

Phantom hand mask

Last week in a moment of madness I managed to brake my hand. Since then a rainbow of colours has greeted me over the past week. ( ok that's two west-end shows refered too in just a few words should stop there I think (over the rainbow is a show about Julie Garland) )

I mentioned in a earlier post that I had been on my MA week during the week we were asked what happens when we loose sight of God my friend tapped me on the arm.  A innocent jester of teasing or something much much deeper when we take our eyes of god wether as a disciple or as a community it is then that we start to wither.  Wesley comments in his sermon on the wilderness state (sermon 46)

4. With loss of faith, and love, and joy there is also joined, Fourthly, the loss of that peace which once passed all understanding. That sweet tranquillity of mind, that composure of spirit, is gone. Painful doubt returns; doubt, whether we ever did, and perhaps whether we ever shall, believe. We begin to doubt, whether we ever did find in our hearts the real testimony of the Spirit; whether we did not rather deceive our own souls, and mistake the voice of nature for the voice of God. Nay, and perhaps, whether we shall ever hear his voice, and find favour in his sight. And these doubts are again joined with servile fear, with that fear which hath torment. We fear the wrath of God, even as before we believed: We fear, lest we should be cast out of his presence; and thence sink again into that fear of death, from which we were before wholly delivered.

I'm not sure which really comes first but do understand what wesley is saying. It is easy to slip into that place where we loose peace.. for what ever reason that may be loss of hope and peace is something that is a day to day reality not just behind the front doors on the estate but behind the long gated driveways of the rich. 

Theres many reasons why  we end in a place that we loose faith, and love, and joy and peace.  How do we get back to the place of having our eyes on jesus is what matters. it may be through seeking forgiveness from another and Going to God in prayer. It may mean letting others those mature and trusted into you life to hold you in prayer to challenge and guide to help you focus again on the truth on God's truth that then stops the dripping tap that ground you down. 

Are you am I  willing in your patch to be the person to come along side and be that still small voice to another, or to be at times that rush of thunder both are needed but wisdom as to when is needed to. 

Are you am I willing to let another be the voice of truth and let them speak in to you my life.....

Around My Patch, Lambeth Mission & St Mary's (LMSM)

(LMSM)

Our website says this about the fellowship that meets at LMS

Lambeth Mission & St Mary's is located in a famous corner of Lambeth - just at the junction of Lambeth Road with the Lambeth Walk. We are a united congregation of Anglicans, Methodist (and others) with a proud history......... Today, we form a mixed congregation of different backgrounds and from different religious traditions. We are black and white, rich and poor. We work hard to be inclusive and to make everyone welcome.

I love that  "and others" :)

For the almost the past year this has been home and work. The welcome that I received when I came was amazing. Today Visitors for the first time as they left said how they had felt so welcome it's great when you here that kind of feed back. It's the little things that count more than the big. The lady who does the tea and coffee today came to where I was sat to say she had put a Black Coffee on the side for me. It makes you feel wanted and special when those little things are remembered ( all our teas and coffee are ready made and brought into the back of the main hall ready and waiting for the end of the service, it's a real blessing to have her with us to)

The church  has a long and rich history 

There has been a Methodist presence in Lambeth since the time of John Wesley when he preached at Kennington Common. A short distance from the site of LMSM. The common now the site of kenington park has had a interesting history too


Kennington Park was first opened in 1854 and lies between Kennington Park Road and St Agnes Place. It had previously been called 'Kennington Common', and until 1800 was the site of public executions as well as being the South London 'speakers corner'. Methodist founders George Whitefield and John Wesley are some of the illustrious orators to speak at the Common and are reputed to have attracted a crowd of 30,000.


The site of public executions.. the place where Whitefield and  Wesley preached putting the old self to death and walking in the new life the Christ has for us... fitting perhaps 




The church was known in later times as the IDEAL when Thomas Tiplady, who was also a Hymn writer and wrote "Above the hills of time the cross is gleaming."  used the new medium of Film to put across the gospel message. 

The Ideal

The church was hit in 1945 by a V2 a plaque inside the church   remembers this  and rebuilt in 1950.

The architect for the rebuilding was Alec Gavin, and Tiplady then  commissioned Bainbridge Copnall to provide a monumental sculpture for the front.

officially Called the Word... It's more commonly called the Lambeth Street preacher

What as interesting for me was that when I started at the church I had the idea of starting a group fro the teenagers using movies as the starting point for a bible study or discussion group I had no idea of the background and history of the church. I'm sure rev Tiplady would approve of 3-18 teenagers turning up to the church flat on a friday night.