Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: animal welfare, animals, carol services, leaps and bounds appeal, rspca, St Francis, st gabriel's weoley castle, weoley castle
One of the joys of this time of year is Carol Services. I spent a lot of last week with schools beginning with classes coming to Church to learn about how we observe Advent and then Carol Services and Christmas Assemblies, joining in with the excitement and happiness of the children; Christmas anticipated early before the end of term. The privilege of telling and singing and hearing again the Christmas story, and of seeing it through the eyes of the very young. Yesterday evening members of St Bede’s and neighbours joined together to sing carols and hear Bible readings in beautiful candlelight.
And this afternoon we have a special Carol Service at St Gabriel’s, Weoley Castle. Since the early 1960′s, the RSPCA have had an Animal Centre and Hospital at the bottom of Barnes Hill. Unfortunately, it has now become outdated and too small. The RSPCA are raising money through The Leaps and Bounds Appeal for a new state of the art centre in Frankley. As you will see, this is needed; in November 22 dogs, 63 cats and 17 small animals were rescued.
We are very pleased to be hosting the RSPCA Carol Service to support this. Concern for animals and their welfare is a key part of Christian faith and discipleship. At Christmas, we hear the words of Isaiah Chapter 11 with its vision of peace and love between animals and humans.
We are drawn to the Crib with the animals surrounding the Christ Child along with Mary, Joseph and the shepherds. The Crib was first used for Christmas devotions by St Francis of Assisi who, as well as being the friend and brother of animals, calls us much deeper, into an essential humility that puts us into a right relationship with God the Creator, all creatures and the whole creation.
We might also remember that the RSPCA, the first national animal welfare society in the world, was founded by the Anglican priest Arthur Broome in 1824. Broome gave up his parish to work unpaid for the SPCA and was imprisoned for its debts.
We would love to have you with us this afternoon. The service starts at 4.30pm and will be filmed by Central News. When it finishes, there will be a candlelight procession down Barnes Hill and refreshments at the Animal Centre. At some point between 6 and 6.30 there will be a live Christmas Blessing of the Centre on Central News.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cuts, justice, Kingdom of God, Lent, prayer, st gabriel's weoley castle, the Cross, the guardian, weoley castle
This has been a long hard Lent, although today is only the third Sunday. The cuts are arriving. Weoley Castle Community Projects, of which I am Chair, was in The Guardian on Friday:
Weoley Castle Community Projects, Birmingham
Cut: £5,000 (15%)
Weoley Castle offers a support service for up to 30 local elderly people every day in a church hall. It provides company, conversation, a proper meal, entertainment and care. Many of those using the service would otherwise be alone during the day.
But a 15% cut – from £33,000 to £28,000 – means the project has had to make two part-time staff redundant and reduce the amount of day care offered, from five days to four days a week. It has had a significant impact on those who have nowhere to go on the fifth day and have little extra care at home.
The project has also had to send out first stage redundancy letters to all its day care staff as there is no word of future funding from 1 April.
Kate Pearson, a trustee of the Weoley Castle project, says: “It doesn’t make any sense at all. We provide value for money. What happens to clients when we’re not there? We’re being honest about the pressures facing us, but the majority of our clients will find it hard to understand because they are in the early stages of dementia. But they have noticed the redundancies and a few are extremely anxious.”
It is going to be a hard and difficult week. Prayers please for the Project, those who use its services, the staff and volunteers, the trustees, and hard pressed Council Officers.
Thanks to the half a million people who Marched for an Alternative in London yesterday. Now is a critical time for working for a creative and just future.
As we journey through Lent, it is a time also for faith, for walking in the Way of the Cross, for hope in the Resurrection and in the Kingdom of God – on earth as it is in heaven.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: estate ministry, urban ministry, weoley castle
I’ve just stumbled upon this superb youtube video made by young people about Weoley Castle.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Camino de Levante, pilgrimage, st gabriel's, weoley castle
On the Camino I walked through unknown territory. The pilgrimage became an exercise in trust. Trusting God, trusting other people (and perhaps deciding when not to trust). It was an exercise in trusting my direction finding abilities, my capacity to make sense of very sporadic yellow arrows, a map, and the landscape I was actually walking through. (I talked to one pilgrim once I had joined the Via de la Plata beyond Zamora who had no map or guide book and who navigated by listening inwardly to the Camino. I was not brave enough to try this method).
I was surprised that I got lost very few times and that the worst that happened was a few miles added onto the route. A year ago I was walking deep in the flat, red, empty fields of La Mancha, walking from Las Pedroneras, with its excellent albergue in the medieval Casa Parochial, to the town of Mota del Cuerva. I was enjoying the solitary walking. A man stopped his car on the earth track to wish me “Buen Camino”. The owner of the bar gave me coffee and refresco. A little later this wonderful man engaged me in a very confusing conversation about the direction of the Camino
I decided to ignore his advice, which as far as I could gather, involved walking a couple of miles to a motorway and then following it. Instead I followed the yellow arrows. As the miles went slowly by in the mounting heat I found myself lost in a maze of temporary paths used for the grape harvest. All I could do was carry on in what I thought was the right direction and be guided by the low rumble of a main road in the distance. I spotted labourers harvesting grapes who agreed with this plan.
An hour later, after dodging heavy trucks, I found a roundabout and stopped to look at the signposts. A Guardia Civil car stopped. While they ran an identity check they asked me where I was going and gave me excellent advice on accommodation for the night. After a shower and dinner I looked up and saw my first windmill.
A year later the Camino continues. The work at St Gabriel’s is new work and unknown territory. I pray for trust, that we will find the Way, for courage, faith and imagination.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: estates ministry, st gabriel's, urban ministry, weoley castle
Licensing of the new Priest in Charge at St Gabriel, Weoley Castle and Rededication of the Ministry of the People of God.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: estate ministry, st gabriel's, weoley castle
For the past eight or nine years I have been Vicar of St Bede, Brandwood and Chaplain with Deaf People in Birmingham. I am about to have a change in ministry, staying at St Bede’s, stopping the Deaf work and becoming Priest in Charge at St Gabriel, Weoley Castle, an outer estate parish about 5 miles from here.
This is because the way of working that I have developed at St Bede’s seems to be one that can be tried intentionally in other estate parishes. Briefly (and if people are interested I can write at much greater length about this and estate ministry more generally) it has been about my empowering the people at St Bede’s to be the people of God and to be the Church, rather than my doing it all or delegating particular tasks.
My Licensing at St Gabriel’s will be by the Bishop of Birmingham at 7.30pm on Thursday 8th July. You are very welcome to come, although please let me know so that we have enough seats and enough food. If you can’t come, I would welcome your prayers.
