Dedication Sunday
What does it mean to be St Margaret’s, Putney?
This is the first time in recent years – to my knowledge – we have celebrated a dedication Sunday. In a sense, it’s what we’re doing on St Margaret’s Day, but I wanted this year to particularly celebrate some milestones we’re achieving, as a building, as a community, as a church. If you’ve noticed the board at the back, you’ll know we’ve an unusual pedigree in being presbyterian and Baptist before we joined the Church of England. The board says 1859 – I’ve seen that date elsewhere, but The Building News and Engineering Journal records an architect – W. Allen Dixon being taken on by Colonel Croll to construct a new church, completed in 1873. So – ding! – we have a first significant date in that next year will mark our 150th anniversary as a place of worship.
The second half of the nineteenth-century was the time for church building – When Britannia truly did rule the waves – And around a quarter of the world. And so our neighbours: Holy Trinity Roehampton was built in 1842, St John’s, now the Polish church in 1859, and baby All Saint’s, the junior Putney church, built a year after us in 1874. But we were built as a private chapel and it’s not until 1912 that we became dedicated to St Margaret as a new Church of England church on 5th October 1912. So our second ding! This week marks our 110th anniversary in the Church of England.
It took a little while for us to get going, though. When Percy Wallis took my job in 1918 (exactly 100 years before me), he had no vicarage, no organ, no hall, no choir stalls, no license to carry out weddings. His church was also still in the middle of a field, with no school, and no Dover House Estate. All this changed in the first years of the 20s – and as they started building the Dover House Estate next door, St Margaret’s in 1923 became a church with its own parish. So our final ding – next year, 2023 will mark 100 years of us being an independent parish church. Our centenary of freedom from the so-called ‘parish-of-Putney’. The vicarage was also bought in this year – she shows her age – and Percy Wallis was installed as the first vicar in 1924.
So we are 110 years in the Church of England and approaching 150 years as a place of worship, and 100 years as a parish.
Change is a constant, though; Even then the church finished where the congregation now ends. Everything my side was built in 1925 and 1926. And the work continued – The glass in the windows behind is from 1929; Our first church hall 1930, the current one next door 1962. The lower hall and house in 1972 – 50 years of bouncy castle parties. The font to your right was bought in 1965, in which thousands have now been baptised. A charming annotation in the Service Register on 3 September 1939, crosses out the word “sermon” after matins – replacing it with “Air Raid Warning”. Drastically, the sermon at evensong was also cut and evensong thereafter moved to 3pm. If you’ve noticed different colours of glass, that’s because a flying bomb landed in Woodborough road.
There’s a lot more that could be said – The point is that churches are living buildings, adapting, stretching, modifying to meet the needs of their time. I’m told that in living memory, you sat on the side of church that you lived on. Dover House Estate here, West Putney – rattle your jewelry. Which is a little surprising. There is continuity, there is change. In all this the generations have passed through and on. Our duty as Christians is to tell the Gospel afresh in each generation. Our building, our resources, are there to aid us in this task.
During lockdown it was very popular to say that the church is the people not the building – Which was convenient when we weren’t allowed in them. But the temptation then is to think in terms of the people you see each week – or recognise from the Zoom chat – To see church as a support network for Christians. Churches are more than membership clubs. One of my favourite lines about the Church of England, is that it’s the one institution which exists for those who aren’t members. And this is true both in mission and service.
I took a funeral on Friday, and was asked as I often am – do you work at the crematorium. I say no – I’m just a vicar in Putney. And then they ask: why you, and did you know her – And almost always some realises, well she lived there – in your parish. And that’s the reason. It doesn’t matter whether you go to church, the church still has a pastoral responsibility for you. I’ve taken 97 funerals since arriving here – mostly for people I have not knowingly met but to whom I have a simple duty to bury. Those people – or their families – all asked for a Christian service.
We all like to sketch our boundaries of what it means to be Christian – Doctrinal assent, baptism, attendance, sherry consumption, lifestyle – At this funeral – one of the family confessed to me afterwards that he wasn’t religious. His first complaint was that the Christians he’d met were not better people than those without faith. To which the obvious answer is – Well just imagine what they’d be like if they weren’t Christians. I think if we can treat everyone as if they’re one place ahead of us in the queue to salvation, we’re probably starting in the right place.
In today’s Old Testament reading, David is preparing to build the Lord the first temple. But just as Moses – the favourite prophet of God – doesn’t enter the promised land but leads the people up to it – So David – the favourite king of God – doesn’t build the temple but prepares the ground for Solomon to build it.
But to achieve that we see that first the people have to come bringing their free will offering. Historically we are a generous church. Many give regularly. Recently we have had donations which have paid for our sound system, our streaming equipment – which enabled us to deliver services through the pandemic; Our choir robes, now with more bodies to adorn them – the new fencing around the church; And more recently a legacy which will enable us to take a new step in the life of the parish, in building a parish centre.
At the same time we have been sustained by the work, time, gifts and energy of many. The pews only lasted as long as they did because of our resident carpenters; Building works in the spire and the roof, Refashioning our pews, the cupboard to house the sound system, the platform for the altar, the decoration on the front; the radiator covers – But also the tireless hours of preparing for services, welcoming, serving, making coffee, cakes and sandwiches, running bars, fayres, barbecues and quizzes; Assembling a magazine, packing food parcels, making dinners for those without homes, shopping, fundraising, counselling, being a friend; The countless tasks that are necessary to build and sustain a community and place of worship.
This has happened here for 150 years; in our parish for 100 years. To be at St Margaret’s is to be part of something which is bigger than ourselves, to be citizens and saints and members of the household of God. Not in a grand way, but an every-day way.
And I think we can see here the grace of God. Jesus throws out the money-changers to stop the temple becoming a market-place. Our services are free to attend. Our Sunday recital is free to attend. Our playgroup – unlike almost all others – is free. There genuinely is such a thing as a free lunch here on Thursday. What could possibly speak more about a God of grace than a free lunch? After the service we’ll have a presentation about a new stage in the life of St Margaret’s, in which we may be resourced to extend our vocation to serve our community.
Saint Margaret herself was an ordinary young woman who stood up for her faith in dark times. She may or may not have been spat out by a dragon, but like many she was a victim of persecution. Our calling in our dedication as a church to her is to remain true to the Gospel and to live out our faith in worship, service and generosity, In whatever time is given to us, Building on the good work of the generations that have gone before us. Amen.