The 2020 State of the Union Address

Address by the Revd Dr Brutus Green
Readings: John 11.1-45

I am the resurrection and the life.

 The words have a haunting effect. The words speak of hope, of life. But they are the words of death. The words spoken on the final journey, leading the coffin into church. They’re echoed in an antiphon used during this period of Lent in the Middle Ages and adopted by Cramner for the Book of Common Prayer: ‘In the midst of life we are in death’; but equally they suggest the opposite: In the midst of death, we have life.

In this Gospel we have a whole range of opposites coming together. So the divinity of Jesus is most apparent here. He raises Lazarus from the dead, demonstrating the divine power over life and death. But we see him at his most human. He is ‘greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved at the sight of the women grieving. In the only such occasion, we hear ‘Jesus began to weep’.

But at the same time the scene is calculated.  Jesus knows he will die, and remains a further two days. When he arrives Lazarus has been dead four days. Incontrovertibly: ‘Lord, already there is a stench’. This is the final sign, by which Jesus demonstrates both that he is God and the nature of who that God is. The God of life and hope. The God of resurrection.

‘In the midst of life we are in death’.
In the midst of death, we have life.

Now although our Annual General Meeting is postponed, probably till Autumn, I still want to reflect on our last year. Not least because it’s a story of success, which might give us encouragement in these strange days.

 It’s prosaic, but I want to start with numbers. At our Easter services we had 222 adults and 55 children, up from 2018, 130 adults and 13 children. That’s nearly double. At our Christmas services we went up from 757 to 889, and through the year we averaged 87 adults and 21 children on a Sunday, over 30% more than the previous year. We are a growing church, so much so that when we enter the statistics in the diocesan register at each stage, it asks if we’re sure if the numbers are correct.

 What we’re seeing is a church that is connecting more and more with our community and our neighbours and becoming more and more the centre of that community. This is reflected in the use of the church. Aside from services, we have run playgroups through the year, supported baby music classes, art classes, craft club, run talk run, resident association meetings, and of you might remember collaborating with them for the centenary of the Dover House Estate. And this year we’ve been offering the space for musicians to rehearse, record and give concerts. With particular highlights in Rhiannon’s show and the very powerful rendition of Handel’s Messiah. Before the current situation emerged we were looking at running concerts roughly fortnightly through the year, providing both income for the church, charitable fundraising and a centre of culture for West Putney. But most importantly to me, the church is open. For almost all normal working hours Monday to Thursday you can walk inside and rest or pray or show your children what a building of worship is.

This opening up of our church has brought life. It’s also brought revenue. Overall our income has increased this year by £35,000. A good slice of this has come from a phenomenal work by Helen in maximising the hall income – which itself brings more life and activity to our neighbourhood. But in our stewardship, in your giving, in attracting more people, in more events and more fundraising, we’ve grown our capability. So yes, we’ve got rid of the scaffolding. We’ve mended the porch. We have new choir robes coming, We’ll have a new sound system so people can actually hear in church, hopefully by the time we’re holding services again. And especially for these latter two, we are tremendously indebted to a couple of families who have been particularly generous.

 But despite the fact that this year was always going to be hard, having spent so much on repairing the roof, we’ve also raised money for Christian Aid at the Big Brekkie; for the British Legion at Remembrance, for the foodbank at harvest, along with regular contributions, for the Children’s Society at the Christingle; £1000 from the Christmas Tree festival to Regenerate Rise; around £500 for Trinity Hospice this year from the quiz – and Rhiannon made nearly £2500 for Glass Door from her run and recital, which along with our partnership with Mike’s Table a few weeks back, means we’ve raised around £3000 for them.

 Here we should pause for the most significant development of the last year. There were rightly some concerns raised when I suggested we started the Glass Door shelter. As it turns out mostly over the wrong things! What I had underestimated was the amount of administration it would take. But what I’d also underestimated was the generosity of people. It’s been the most inspiring and heart-warming regular event this year to see the donations come in, food and money, each week, and to have around 80 volunteers eager to help in the evening and morning.

And nothing has done more to link us with the community and other churches. Most notably a third of our volunteers come from St Simon’s which makes it a truly ecumenical adventure. We’ll wait till later in the year to properly celebrate this achievement but I’m quite sure there is nothing more central to the Christian faith than feeding the hungry and giving them shelter. And at the heart of it, in what turned out to be almost a full-time job in itself, was Helen. She has managed a food bank, a huge team of volunteers, kept our income above our expenditure and delivered a meal and a shelter that is the envy of the circuit. Each week we’re entitled to claim £50 for food. We have never done so which is effectively an additional donation of £1000. And even after we finished the shelter Helen was still running hot food up to our guests in hotels in Waterloo. It’s a team and we should all be proud of having done this together and putting ourselves on a permanent footing, but there’s no doubt who the medal goes to. So from me it’s a standing ovation for Helen.

 The diocese and deanery’s other central mission effort is making churches more eco-friendly. We’ve taken some big strides here: we held a creation season in September which engaged the children in learning how to protect our environment. We had a creation service, our big harvest festival and of course the dog blessing. We did have two speakers organised to speak on environmental concerns, but these are postponed. There are many things about churches which make them difficult to go green, but we are pushing this forward and, although the garden project will inevitably be pushed back, we had already received some initial drawings and it has not left the agenda. This year we have qualified for a bronze eco-church award, for which we now have the certificate; I will be looking for an eco-champion to push this agenda over the next 12 months and see if we can step forward to silver.

 There is so much to celebrate in the past year. The Community Development Team under Andrew has put on a great series of events, raising money and bringing us together. We had rounders and may still have cricket this year, Harvest, the quiz, St Margaret’s Day and many other celebrations which we hope to get back on track when possible.

 We’ve also had plenty of new services. For children: Good Friday, All Hallows Eve, Shrove Tuesday and this December we will have a St Nicholas Day service. Ben, Bryony and Jo, are doing an exceptional job, and Jo Beasley and Helen have got our older children up and running.

 Then connecting with our music we’ve had carol services at Christmas, Epiphany and Whitsun. And let’s not forget Gil’s wonderful new crib! [And on carpentry, Mark has added a splendid and inclusive ramp to the altar dais, to which Sonja over the summer added painstaking decoration.] Our new director of music has brought in more recitals, silent films and with the introduction of the psalm, and some more contemporary hymns, has added a new dimension to our worship. Deborah’s fabulous flower team has really earned its stripes in the last year, especially with so many baptisms and funerals. Anne has given us Quiet days and we beat the odds to hold together a wonderful and moving deanery Confirmation service, not to mention for me a very important day in my first installation as vicar. Churches Together in Putney and Roehampton, where Clare along with Christian Aid plays a pivotal role, is stronger than ever; and will grow further with two new colleagues joining us in the summer. Our first Lent Course together was going very well until recently.

2020 will be remembered for its challenges. A run of deaths, mostly unexpected, blighted the start of the year. From Christopher Trott in December, Elizabeth Miller, Ralph Bonnett, Alan Fell, Ian Lechmere and Elizabeth Worth. And now we have the gravest threat of a generation upon us. ‘In the midst of life we are in death’. Our Easter services last year brought in 222 people. This year will be single digits. We have lost tens of thousands in lost hall rentals, collections and cancelled events. Worst of all, our people are at risk. You are the church. Any illness, any death diminishes us, so stay safe!

 But in the midst of death we have life. There is no shortage of connecting going on as we look after each other through this storm. Helen Speedy had already revolutionised our social media effort, but now with services online we’re developing new skills and new ways of being church that can broaden our circles and deepen our friendships.  I’m co-ordinating a team of over 80 volunteers across Putney who are running errands, pick up shopping and medicine; and have raised over £2000 to help anyone in need. At a time when Good Samaritans are in need the church is stepping up to the plate. I am confident we will come out of this poorer, yes, but stronger. In the midst of death we have life.

I’m not going to speculate on the next year as we simply do not know what will come. I will save my thanks for our AGM which will probably now be September, but I must again reiterate my own thanks to Helen, and to Anne East, who is always such a sane support; to wonderful Pauline; to the Churchwardens who are asked to stand a little longer than normal. A great deal has been asked of the churchwardens this year and I could not have had a better team both in personal support and for events and the work of the parish. And well done to Tony, Andrew and Helen for getting the accounts together on time.  For the PCC, for Sarah and Evelyn keeping us ship shape, and for everyone who volunteers, leads or simply turns up.

It’s a pleasure and a privilege to serve this community and no amount of pestilence can harm the bonds of friendship and love that hold us together in Christ. We will continue to reflect, connect and grow. We will turn this year from mourning into dancing. We will renew our faith in Him who is the resurrection and the life. 

In the midst of life we are in death. In the midst of death, we have life.

Amen.