Things They Don't Teach You at Theology College

Between us, we have worked out, that Clare and I have no fewer than 20 years of university education - the vast majority of it in theology.
And yet, as we sat in the car park at Mersey Street, waiting for the final skip to arrive, we couldn't help but muse upon the fact that nothing in our academic backgrounds had prepared us for the events of closing the church.
On my first Sunday at Mersey Street - when still a student - St Ida, the then church treasurer - accosted me and told me that I was going to break into one of the congregation's house and help to break up her marriage!
There was a back story of violence and abuse, but I prefer to leave the story as it is for dramatic effect.
A couple of weeks later, I was sent up onto the church roof to try and waterproof the neon cross which was showing signs of leaking. Narrowly avoiding electrocution, I mused on the fact that ministry in Openshaw was not something that Northern Baptist College had really prepared me for.
Fifteen years on, I think I was right.
Incidentally, in the photo, Clare is reading the papers for her NHS board meeting this week.

You Couldn't Make it Up!

According to the Vanderbilt University Lectionary Site, the Old Testament reading for this coming Sunday is 2 Samuel 7:1-14a. For those who don't recall these verses, let me quote:

7:5 Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in?

7:6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle.

Now, how on earth do we make that relevant to our situation?

Hmmm...

The church is not a building...

...the church is the people!

I doubt many congregations ever get to live out the words of the much loved children's song, "I am the church, you are the church" (with actions) and actually leave their building and worldly possessions behind but that is what we did symbolically and publicly on Sunday afternoon when we had the closing service for our building on Mersey Street. At the end of the month we will have a smaller gathering in the car park in which we will actually hand over the keys to the city council's regeneration team so that they can knock the building down and turn it into housing.

A week earlier we had asked the church including our children what they wanted to do as a closing service - so much for our plans of something a little more formal and dignified for our many guests. What the church wanted was a typical Sunday service complete with a play story, craft activities, pictures and pop music and everyone participating!

So our many guests, many of whom could remember back far further into our congregation's history that we could, were treated to a looking back and looking forward service in which Beth and Imogen (7 and 8 years) enthusiastically walked the congregation along our church's timeline which they had drawn as a long winding road and marked on the significant moments in the story complete with lots of photographs from different eras which they had added to the display. At the end of the road leading into the future, was plenty of space which the congregation were invited to fill with post-it note roadsigns expressing their hopes and dreams for us as a community as we continue our life together and our ministry in this community without a building for the foreseeable future.

Joel (age 10) treated us all to The Beatles, "The Long and Winding Road" complete with a slide show of pictures of the church's life past and present. We reflected on the Biblical story of Ruth's promise to Naomi through a play story using various objects such as shoes and tents to remind us of our promise to journey together. But for me the most moving part was the liturgy "Where you go I will go" which Tim wrote and Andrew (our Baptist Regional Minister) led where each member of the local congregation expressed their fears and doubts about the journey ahead and Andrew responded "Where you go, I will go; where you live, I will live, your people shall be my people and your God, my God." The whole congregation were then invited to join us on our intercessory journey with the people of our community the words "Where you go, I will go..."

So, here we embark on a time of journeying and pilgrimage with no real idea of where we are going but a sense that it will be the journey itself which will be important - a journey deeper into our own community - a journey which God shares with us.

A Series of Emotional Events

So, today we said farewell to the pulpit!
Having been told that our oak pulpit was slotted together, we arranged for Jonathon Hemingray to come and dismantle it. The plan being that he would use the wood to create crosses which we could take with us and/ or sell to raise funds. Sadly, he discovered that the pulpit was actually made of pine and far from being slotted together, it was largely nailed.
Many thanks to Jonathon for persevering - about 4pm, he disappeared into the sunset with a car full of what wood he could salvage, and will contact us again over the summer when he has worked out what he can do with it.

On my way home from church this morning, I noticed a workman in a de-contamination suit outside one row of boarded up houses. Whilst I cannot, in any way, blame him for wearing a de-contamination suit given the state of the houses, I am left rather saddened that the view the outside world has of Openshaw is that you need to wear a de-contamination suit to come here!

It feels all the more important that we continue to proclaim that God loves Openshaw.

Worship Material for Holiday Clubs

You may know that Clare writes for Roots on a pretty regular basis. This year they have produced some material for churches who run holiday clubs. Clare has NOT written any of this material but Roots is usually pretty usable, so if you think you might be interested, click on the title to this post and it will take you to the Roots website where you can download the material.

Theology in Strange Places

Over the next few weeks, we have so much to do! We have to de-register for weddings and get rid of the registers before we can sell the safe. We have to get the water/ electricity/ gas etc cut off. We have to sell all our furniture. Get the pulpit dismantled and turned into art...

We also have to relocate all our projects.

Last week Clare arranged for the coffee morning and credit union collections to move into the local SureStart children's centre. They were fantastically keen - and offered to prepare a flier and poster to send out. Could they please have our logo to put onto it?

Of course, everyone knows us as Mersey Street - which doesn't work as that is the building we're closing! So we need a new name and a new logo.

Fortunately, our founders had the foresight to give us the Sunday best name of "The United Baptist Tabernacle, Higher Openshaw." We have done a lot of work over the last few years on the concept of a "Tabernacle." I was gently teasing a friend who is a member of another famous 'tabernacle' - their building is so magnificent that it has even become the name of a bus stop!

We, on the other hand, will be homeless for several years to come. So the image of a Tabernacle works. And when we mentioned this to our church secretary, yesterday, he immediately came up with the image of a circus tent!

And my mind went back to the Brian Wren hymn upon which Dancing Scarecrow is based:

Here hangs a man discarded

a scarecrow hoisted high,

a nonsense pointing nowhere

to all who hurry by

Can such a clown of sorrows

still bring a useful word

where faith and love seem phatoms

and every hope absurd?

and David's circus tent seemed strangely appropriate. So I've tried to link it in with our dancing scarecrow. And this is the result:

Have Congregation; Will Travel

A Word of Explanation

Dancing Scarecrow has rather been put on hold by the fact that Manchester City Council have finally got round Compulsorily Purchasing our church building. I wanted to use the word 'stealing' there, but realise that it would probably be libellous. I'm not sure, though, what you should call a legal process which deprives a church community of its property with only the promise that at some future date they will get round to compensating us.

However, it is clear that the British legal system has little to do with Justice! Manchester City Council now own our building although they are 'graciously' allowing us to continue using it for the next few weeks. We will have to hand over the keys by the end of July at the latest, despite the fact that at the moment we have not even received our surveyors and lawyers fees which they promised to pay up front. Let alone the compensation which they are due to pay us.

If I sound a little tired and jaded this evening, that is because I am feeling tired and jaded, having spent most of my - and Clare's - free time recently putting in place provision for our various projects to be housed elsewhere in the short/medium term.

However, in terms of worship - which after all is what this blog is supposed to be about - I think we have some exciting plans. One week per month, we will worship with the local URC with whom we have been working for over 20 years now. One or two weeks per month we will worship in my front room (as long as it is big enough). And the remaining time, it is a case of "have congregation, will travel."

If you have a small congregation that would like a few more to worship with you one Sunday: send us an invitation.

If you would like Clare and me to lead worship one week: send us an invitation and we'll bring the whole congregation.

If you would like to explore Godly Play - or poetic worship: send us an invitation and we'll bring the congregation.

If you are doing something which you think might interest us: send us an invitation.

Have Congregation; Will Travel