How one estate pulled together and how covid could change it forever
We must all look out for one another, to ensure nobody is cut adrift.
We continue to hear heartening stories of how communities across the country are pulling together. The video below tells the story of one of our oldest partners, the Cedarwood Trust in North Shields.
The project usually operates a range of projects from its community centre on the Meadowell estate. But since lockdown, regulars, neighbours, staff and volunteers have been coming together to ensure nobody in the community is cut adrift.
Watch the video above to hear first-hand from local residents Jean, Henry, Adam, Lindsey, Lynne, Andrew and Dorothy, as well as the staff.
The team have been delivering meals, making phone calls, sourcing spare baby supplies or equipment, and holding cherished doorstep conversations.
Wayne Dobson, chief executive at Cedarwood, says the experience of lockdown will change their approach forever. He says there is a tremendous community spirit on the estate, and says:
We cannot just be custodians of the building. We need to be out in the community and that’s one of the things we are going to do differently when this is all over – we are going to continue the community outreach.
A place to call home
Self-Reliant Group facilitator, Laura Walton, remembers the struggles facing those seeking asylum in this country.
A shielding friend visited my back garden this week and even if it had been a bit wild after all the rain, she would have been equally as delighted to be there. She has large windows in her flat and grassy area outside but that was everyone else’s sanctuary so therefore could not be hers. She had a quick coffee and a biscuit but to her it was a taste of that freedom that we are now used to and which will keep her going until shielding people are released.
She, like so many others is waiting for her final release papers, permission to come and go and meet with others, enter people’s houses and ultimately to return home. Her home has been many things over the last few months; her classroom, her church, her supermarket, her gym, her social life, her counselling room and her prison. She has always been safe there, if frustrated, lonely and at times fed up and then lately despondent and cheerless. But her home has been and remains her safe place and is hers.
We know not everyone can say that about the place they live in.
The Red Cross amongst other organisations has continued to offer care, support and practical help to people without homes or safe places to stay. Many people in the asylum seeking process have been living in hotels through lockdown but are now waiting nervously to hear that they will be asked to leave. For them their personal situations within a Covid-19 recovery phase is still very precarious. For many who are new to the country, to the language, the customs and the systems, and who have come out of traumatic and often life threatening circumstances, their sanctuary is about to be terminated.
Through lockdown they have had the stability and assurance of a bed for every night, even if the address was still carried around on a scrap of paper. Most have appreciated meal times and a few the luxury of a chosen particular bar of soap. Being in contact with their families overseas has been a luxury many have had to do without.
And so they are waiting, waiting to hear about losing the only stability in their lives right now, waiting to hear from lawyers, from the Home Office, even for texts that will give them some idea of what lies ahead now for them.
While we have been waiting desperately for the go ahead to go….and come back and go again etc etc, they are waiting and about to lose their place of safety and a room that was just their own.
We are so used to the words, easing and relaxing when related to the upheaval of the last few months. Even those words sound like the opening up of our lives again and a future of opportunities and choices. Let’s spare a thought or even better, say a prayer for those people seeking asylum in this country. Let’s pray especially for those members in Self Reliant Groups here in Manchester who are in the process and have been stuck there for a very long time. Let’s pray that their waiting will soon come to an end. That in losing their hotel room or room in a house or someone’s sofa or a tent space, they will gain a more permanent place that they can begin to call home and begin to make decisions to direct their own lives.
Isaiah 40 verse 31
But those who keep waiting for the Lord will renew their strength. Then they’ll soar on wings like eagles; they’ll run and not grow weary; they’ll walk and not grow faint.
Find out more about Self-Reliant Groups: http://www.church-poverty.org.uk/srg .
Way Maker
Self-Reliant Group Facilitator, Laura Walton, reflects on freedom, anxiety and the lifting of lockdown restrictions.
How did you spend your Super Saturday? Doing what you’ve been doing nearly every other day of the lockdown so far, be it working at home or working in and around the home? Or were you one of the thousands that truly re-embraced normality yesterday and went shopping, had lunch, met up with a friend for coffee or popped in at lunchtime for a quick drink? Or were you actually working in one of those places, actually doing your job in the place where you get paid to work as opposed to the place where you live?
Since when in our lives has a Saturday been so eagerly anticipated by so many? The FA cup final…..Olympics penultimate Saturday…..the royal wedding…..maybe. Since when have we cheered at the prospect of a colour and restyle at midnight or a pint at 6 am? Our lives still continue to be turned upside down by the events of the last few months. The mundane and the necessary are being hailed as the triumphant stages of us pulling through this thing together. How much would you pay for a hot Gregg’s sausage roll in a paper bag? Or sitting in someone else’s living room drinking tea? Or just going to the park for a swing and a slide with Nanna? The ordinary gets its rebranding on Super Saturday and we get to delight in those many social activities which we’ve lived without for so long now, but which were common every day experiences for most of us.
But wait…….what about Leicester’s 330,000 inhabitants and the 2.2 million people who as “clinically extremely vulnerable” are still living under huge restrictions and whose minute opportunities for that taste of freedom are dependent on the weather. And what about the as yet not quantified, thousands of people who will choose not to rush to the cinema or the local zoo or even the library. Fear, uncertainty, lack of clarity and mistrust of what life is looking like now in public after nearly 4 months, will still hold many thousands in captivity in their own 4 walled prisons.
Even though we are dusting off our calendars, pretty certain all of us have some fears and anxieties about what this new freedom will be like, how long it will last and how pure and exhilarating it will feel……if at all. Within our own shores there is conflict of opinion and advice and as we look to Europe and beyond to where the virus still has a strong grip, nations are operating on different guidelines with a variety of enforcement methods.
Do you, like me, wish there was an overall authority who would guide us all safely through the storm, rescuing those whose boats are already overturned and whose lives are sinking fast?
There is a truly beautiful song which was formed in a Nigerian woman’s heart and has travelled around the world and been translated into 50 different languages in the last 4 years. It is a song of hope and a confirmation of faith in a God who is worshipped and followed throughout the world by millions. This is the God who is a…..
Way maker
Miracle worker
Promise Keeper
Light In the Darkness
This is the authority we are looking for in how to move on in our lives following all the pain, uncertainty and fear of the last few months. He promises to be there throughout our lives, every minute of every hour of every day. He guides us by his spirit, heals us in all our hurts and restores our peace and our purpose for living. We do not know what lies ahead but we can fix our eyes on the light and know that in the morning we will be free.
Find out more about Self-Reliant Groups: http://www.church-poverty.org.uk/srg .
Something to wonder at and ponder on….
As lockdown restrictions begin to lift, Self-Reliant Group Facilitator Laura Walton, remembers those we have lost in the last few months, reflecting on the joy they brought to our lives.
For quite a number of our SRG members there are still huge worries over loved ones living outside the UK. Our countries of origin are spread all over the world….in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia.For many people the battle against Covid 19 is still a daily battle, the same battle but different in each context according to the economic and political situation. Families are still in danger and loved ones, so far away, face daily challenges just to survive.
Within our SRG family there are members who are still shielding, others not, but finding it threatening to be out and about. There are those whose children are back in school already two weeks now and some who are even going out to work again. We are all at different stages in our recovery even though we are being made aware of our vulnerability in terms of a virus spike or a second wave. But for now the worst is over, the NHS Nightingale stands shuttered yet serene, not having got its hands too dirty! NHS rainbows fade and curl at the edges or have been unceremoniously removed, but our hearts are still thankful. For many of us ….faith livers or not, we can say………”Thank God” with real conviction. When we have seen how indiscriminate the virus has been in affecting world rulers alongside powerless babes, newsworthy cases and the Mrs next doors, with equal scariness we can only wonder at how we have escaped or have been affected but mildly. We can only wonder and ponder…..” there but for the Grace of God, go I.”
Mr. Norris Jones of the Windrush era was 87. It was a privilege to have known him as an SRG member with the Limelighters in Old Trafford. He had been a baker in his professional life so was happy to be involved in baking in the group for the coffee afternoon at Limelight where he would enjoy a game of dominoes or bingo. Due to ill health in 2018, Norris mised his Caribbean cruise and after Albert’s suggestion, the group organised and saved for a canal boat trip to Lymm for Norris. When another boat was tethered at the watering hole, Norris crossed via the gang plank to the shore and a very welcome pint of guiness. It was a special day. I thank God for that day.
When walking became too much of a challenge, Norris was cheerful and uncomplaining and everyone will remember his smile and his laugh. He was warmth and sun.
And we thank God for him and for all those we have lost in the last few months who have added joy to our lives. And we remember our SRG family members who are still in pain, physically or emotionally and those whose loved ones are overseas and not yet out of trouble. And as we recognise God’s protective hand over us over these last few months we ask in prayer for that hand to be outstretched to those people now.
Heavenly Father thank you for protecting me and my family and my friends and my neighbours. For those people who still face the threat of the virus in South America, Europe, Asia and Africa we ask you to shield them and provide for them all that they need for their daily lives. In the same way that you showed us your Grace we ask for that Grace to be extended and for peace and hope to be growing in their communities.
Amen.
Find out more about Self-Reliant Groups: http://www.church-poverty.org.uk/srg .
1 city, 8 tales: sudden poverty & an outpouring of goodwill
Our latest podcast episode features some inspiring stories of kindness and solidarity from York. Press play below to listen.
All of us, all over the country, have hopefully seen very clearly the kindness and compassion that have flown through society in recent months.
Neighbours looking out for one another, communities pulling together, people sharing supplies or simple words of kindness and encouragement. In adversity, we have pulled together.
In this blog and in the accompanying podcast, we take a snapshot look at just one city: York. There, community groups and residents tell of inspiring teamwork and solidarity. In the words of one person we spoke to, “there has been a fantastic outpouring of goodwill”. Hopefully, much of this rings true wherever you are as well.
You can listen to some of the people we spoke to on our podcast. If you prefer the written version, read on.
The city’s elected leaders have already been looking at how to harness the kindness and goodwill for the long-term. The council’s own registered volunteers had provided more than 25,000 hours of support by the end of May, dealing with thousands of requests for help. Other projects and informal support networks take that number far higher.
Here are contributions from some of the many people and projects pulling together around the city.
Mary Passeri & Sydnie Corley, York Food Justice Alliance
“We’ve had people come from all over, even from areas that people consider affluent, looking for food. There’s a lot of hidden poverty out there in York.
“We’ve had quite a few emails saying people are struggling, who don’t know the routes of how to get help or they have tried certain routes and not had any feedback or response because everyone is inundated with trying to help people they originally supported, or people who are in isolation.
“The best thing we’ve been able to do is to link up with other little informal groups. This is the beauty of the alliance; it’s made up of lots of different people in different areas of York. So if we get a load of bananas, we’ve been able to swap bananas for rice, for example. We share food out. It’s been amazing how supportive and how quickly people can get help and support.
“It’s put a mirror up to people that, you know what, this could be you. It could be anybody.
“We’re going to be supporting families for a very long time. Hopefully we can get our food market back up and running because we are supporting so many people that didn’t necessarily want to admit they needed extra food, and they may be people who are on the side now and not actually getting support. There’s still that stigma or shame unfortunately, which hopefully is breaking down now.
“It’s amazing how people have come together; people we thought would never support or even understand that food security was a problem have just come round and are offering to help all the time.”
Tony Carson, who lives in the city-centre
“We’re on Universal Credit. I think everybody knows it’s a very flawed system. We just about manage to get by. You certainly don’t live an extravagant lifestyle but we budget as well as we can; we limit ourselves to £2 per person per day food-wise so we can afford to keep up to date with the bills. That’s effectively how you have to exist.”
Tony and his partner Sue were homeless for seven weeks in 2018, but have been in a flat for the past 18 months, and Tony has been working as a cycle courier and advertiser. That work has dried up, so he is looking forward to finding work again, and to seeing Sue’s daughter’s new baby for the first time.
He hopes also that the drive to ensure nobody was sleeping rough during the lockdown can be a turning point:
“I’m not a great fan of our present Government but on this occasion I think they did a very good job and in actively seeking out the homeless and getting them indoors. There’s an argument to say it should have been done years ago… It’s always been something people have turned a blind eye to. There are still people choosing to be outdoors; that’s their decision, but the greater majority of people who were homeless in the city are now in the Staycity [an aparthotel in the city centre]. It’s got to be a better solution, it’s obviously not a long-term solution, but let’s hope in the long run that lessons are learned by this.”
Nicky Gladstone runs Carecent, which provides hot breakfasts, showers, support and kindness to people who are homeless or otherwise in need
When lockdown began, Carecent switched to a delivery service, making packed lunches for their regulars who were temporarily in hotels and B&Bs, and liaising with other local organisations to ensure further support.
“At the highest point, we were making 50 packed lunches a day and then other amazing groups were providing food in the evenings… Our main volunteer group is largely made up of people from the slightly older section of society, so we appealed on social media and we were overwhelmed by the kindness of people who came forward and offered their help, people who had been furloughed, students who had come back, people who were out of work.
“In fact things changed so quickly that although we had this fantastic second body of volunteers, we were not able to use them and we have a tiny skeleton team of eight now, in teams of two, that make the sandwiches. We have kept it as small as possible to reduce any risk of infection. But we are hoping maybe to make use of some of that fantastic outpouring of goodwill as we look towards reopening.
“I do feel a real sense of positivity. We have all, across York, enjoyed such close collaboration, real partnership working with us, our friends at KEY and other food providers, Salvation Army, the Peaseholme, the council, Changing Lives; we’ve all worked together so closely and shared information where appropriate and looked after each other. I really believe that this is a new opportunity to work together, to work closely, to all pull in the same direction and really make some long-term differences.”
Nicky says co-production with people who are currently homeless is easy to overlook, while projects are rolling their sleeves up, but she says: “It is so important to work in co-creation and co-production with people who genuinely have lived experience and to find out what it is they want and need. So often it is easy to decide we know the answers, but we know there is no substitute for asking those questions and involving people who really know what they are talking about.
“We saw so clearly what was valuable in this lockdown; we’ve seen so clearly the things that matter, the people who really make a difference and it would be wonderful to think that we could hold on to that, that we could carry on celebrating the people who actually keep up going and keep the wheels of society turning – and it’s perhaps not who everybody thought it was to start with. We have looked after each other, haven’t we, and it would be wonderful to think that that could carry on.”
Rosie Wall, Chapelfields resident
Rosie has helped run the Chapelfields Community Association for many years. She has been shielding during the outbreak but her daughters and grandson have been running a pop-up food stall and delivering food to 71 homes locally.
“We are doing deliveries to a list of homes. We get food from various projects – Kitchen For Everyone York, Morrisons, Lidl, M&S and others. We give out what we can. Some weeks we can’t meet all the requests but we go as far as we can. A lot of people here, especially the elderly, are on their own and cannot get out, but we put food on the doorstep and they take it in.
“People have been really kind and some people have given donations so we can buy stuff to hand back out, and we have a facebook page so we can say if we need anything.
“I really hope the community stays like this. There’s a lot of kindness and it’s lovely when someone rings and chats. I don’t know when we’ll be able to open our regular hub again but we are keeping in touch with people. Sometimes if you speak to someone who is on their own, you might be their only conversation that day. So it’s not just about the food, it’s a friendly knock on the door and knowing there’s someone there to just chat to from a distance.
“My 13-year-old grandson, Leidan, has been helping a lot. He is autistic and this is keeping him busy, when his routine is out of synch.”
Hilary Platt, Bell Farm Community Hall
“Right from the start we have been providing food. We decided to release our funds from our charity to buy food because we knew it could be needed.
“A lot of people round here were stuck inside and did not have money or could not get out, but were not officially shielded, so were not getting deliveries. We have been helping a lot of people. People have been coming saying they have no food and we are providing parcels through the window. We’ve had people coming from all over York, it’s been very challenging. We struggled at first but we are keeping up now. The local Trussell Trust food bank has been very helpful and giving us donations as well.”
Food has been provided through Fareshare, KEY and others, as well as supermarkets, supplanting the tinned and dried items with fresh food.
“The public have been very generous since they’ve been able to go shopping properly again and the community response has been fantastic; if I say we need a volunteer, I have one within five minutes. We’ve always had a good community spirit. Of course some don’t want to know, but most are very supportive.
“We’ve had so many people saying they want to come and help, and we are asking them now to come and help once this is over, when we need to get the hall and the association back to life, and we need to fundraise and recover. We know this is going to last until at least next year and we probably won’t open the hall fully for a long time. The school holidays and Christmas will be tough. The school vouchers decision is good but a lot of people will not benefit. If you are applying now for Universal Credit, it will be five weeks until you get it and you won’t get the vouchers.
“I’ve had five people here recently who have lost their jobs and Universal Credit will not help them until next month at least. We had someone here who was doing fine. She lives on her own and had a good job, self-employed, but now has no money and no food, but she has realised now that food poverty can happen to anyone. We had a taxi driver as well, who had never struggled before but his wife had become ill and now he had no work, and they have a big family. It has completely changed the way they feel about everything. I think this will have a big change on people’s attitudes; it will change how they feel about people who are on benefits.
“York is expensive. We have people paying maybe £1,000 a month in rent, and Universal Credit does not nearly cover that. People who were maybe slamming others before are now realising they’re not able to get this, that or the other. A lot of the poorest already knew where to turn, but there are people who have never had to struggle before and who are finding it really difficult to access anything, and they’re saying “we’ve never had to do this before”. They feel shame and we’re trying to make them feel okay. We’ve been hearing of people at home for almost a week with no food. I was worried people were going to die. A lot of families are covered by other organisations but there are people without children who, if all their income is suddenly stopped, have nothing left. There’s nobody looking out for them; that’s who we have seen a lot of. But the community is pulling together.”
Maya James, Groves Groceries
Maya helps with Groves Groceries, which runs from St Thomas’s Church. The church website notes: “It’s often said that we are all in the same boat when it comes to the coronavirus crisis. But that isn’t really true. While we are all weathering the same storm, we are in a number of different boats.
“Some of our vessels are large, luxurious and relatively safe. Things may be tough for us but we’re unlikely to slip beneath the waves. Other vessels are small and barely seaworthy. They are being battered by the storm, their occupants clinging on for dear life.”
The project is closely supporting local people who might otherwise be unable to stay afloat, including some families from two local primary schools.
Maya recently shared her story with the city-wide volunteering network. She says: “One of the aims of this project was to provide food for families in real need during this time. Equally, we wanted to use this project as a way of staying in touch with people connected to St Thomas’s, who we might otherwise lose touch with as at the moment we don’t meet physically together on a Sunday or in our midweek groups.
“Just over half of the people we deliver to are within our parish. We also deliver five boxes of food each week to two primary schools in the parish. The other people we deliver to live relatively close by, and are either members of our church family or of the church community groups that we normally run, or they have been referred to us by local organisations.
“Over the last eight weeks we have delivered 419 bags of food, 283 separate deliveries and 28 crates of bread (to Door 84 and Tang Hall Primary School).
“We are working with ‘Your Café’ which hasn’t been able to operate during this time and they have long-standing links to the local supermarkets.
“We will run Groves Groceries until July 22nd. After this, Luke’s larder will recommence from July 28 (1pm to 2pm), from St Luke’s church hall on Burton Stone Lane.
“We believe this has been an enormous answer to prayer to us and we are so pleased we have been able to help so many people during this time.”
John McGall, community activist
John has immersed himself in helping anti-poverty groups in York, after an arm operation and then two rounds of heart surgery changed his outlook on life. He co-founded I Am Reusable, which collects and distributes donations to people on very low incomes across Yorkshire, and which also works to tackle plastic pollution and waste.
He has been shielding during the outbreak but has been coordinating city-wide donations, deliveries and distribution from his house and garage.
“As individuals and individual groups, we can do marvellous things, but as a consortium we can do even more – sharing items, looking for bigger items and trying to get one hub together. We all talk to each other every day and if someone needs something, a bed or whatever, we all try to help.”
He praised the Supper Collective, an alliance of some of the city’s best-known restaurants and cafes and 60 volunteers, who have cooked and delivered meals to NHS workers, people who are homeless, or people who are otherwise struggling, every day for three months.
“York has really pulled together and helped the community, it really has. Businesses, supermarkets, community projects have all come together. People who never talked to each other have been talking and there’s been a big rise in the community helping each other.”
John became involved in local community work after an arm operation just over ten years ago. He had been working for the NHS until then but was shocked to see how poor the support was for people unable to work. “People were being treated appallingly, and going from being a professional person to being unable to work was difficult for me, and there was no help there. If I hadn’t been married, and had my wife for support, I would have become homeless, so I started thinking that if I could help one other person every day, that would be good. My experience means I can help people who are looking to access help. Then after my first heart attack, I started wondering what I could do while sitting at home, but now my garage is full of stuff to share around.
“The big picture is still long-term, especially if we get a second wave. A lot of businesses have donated but we don’t how long that will carry on. Unemployment is going to go right up and with York being a big hospitality city, with low pay and with the hotels not yet open, there will be a knock-on effect. I can see more people needing support and we need to keep pulling together for each other. We will carry on and those most involved have become good friends. We know each other and if we do get back to some sort of normality, we will still carry on helping each other out.”
Be in my Bubble
Self-Reliant Group Facilitator, Laura Walton, reflects on 'social bubbles' and the power of just spending time with people
Laura writes a spiritual refection every Sunday as part of the SRG Facebook group’s Spiritual Sunday.
A friend told me this week that she had offered up the services of herself and her family as a ‘bubble’. As a result a single Mum with two young kids are coming to Rusholme for the weekend and it will definitely be “hugs all round”.
Instead of thinking about who they wanted to see and spend time with, INSIDE their house, not in the cold spitting weather of late, they thought of who might need their company, their affirmation, their hugs. The Mum was overwhelmed by this generous and loving invitation and will have a great weekend…..just being with people who have chosen her to just be with.
My friend later realised just how much cleaning she really needed to do. After 3 months of supervising 4 children in school at home, understandably not much housework had been done. When energy permitted, straightening had been just about managed. But she has learnt to be kind to herself….the family would not be making the effort to travel to sit on sofas that had been decrumbed amongst other things, or to admire the clean smear free walls or check that the numerous pairs of shoes were all correctly paired. They were coming because they had been invited by people who loved them and wanted to simply be together with them.
When we get invited places we do make an effort in smartening up, taking a bottle or flowers and even arriving vaguely on time. When we invite people to ours we do have a plan, get ready and even make things look presentable. This is normal. But if there’s one thing we have learnt in lockdown is that “normal” is a thing of the past. We have had time to reflect on the things that are really important to us and now we have an opportunity to create a new order, a new way of doing things, a new norm that’s based on those truly important elements.
One amazing thing about the Christian faith is that God wants each one of us to be close to him and that’s why he invites us to do just that. He loves us and wants to show us that love every day and for ever. His invite to us all comes without a relaxation of legal restraints, certain conditions or a need for careful preparation. His invite is not based on our current relationship with him or whether we need him more than anyone else. And even more amazing is the fact that he doesn’t wait till we’ve sorted ourselves out on the outside and on the inside. He wants us just exactly how we are, dirty smears and all. His invite is addressed to each one of us and signed by his son Jesus.
So as we move from level 4 to level 3 in terms of virus restrictions and more things open up on the high street,let’s make choices based on the things that we have seen are really important to us and remember who is inviting us into his bubble.
New wine, new wineskins: theological reflection on ‘building back better’
On 3 June, we gathered theologians, writers and ministers to reflect together on what the church's role should be in 'building back better' after the pandemic.
Opening poem and prayer by Marie Pattison of Katherine House
Our ‘worship and theology collective’ had a fruitful discussion, and we hope some this thinking will influence how we work with churches in the coming months. Here are some brief notes and ideas from our discussions:
Trauma and dancing
- We talked about Shelly Rambo’s theology of trauma and the importance of not rushing from Good Friday to Easter Sunday, the importance of Holy Saturday – the need for a time to lament and acknowledge what has gone wrong before we build anew.
- We looked at the three principles of Liberation Theology:
- Solidarity – including grieving with people. There is a need for healing as well as prophetic voices.
- Mutual Aid – we cannot rely on the government. The phrase mutual aid has now become mainstream.
- Dancing – need to find new ways to celebrate life beyond the pain.
- It’s important not to be too positive about the pandemic as an opportunity for change, because so many people are losing loved ones – the pandemic is not a good thing.
- The prophets, e.g. Deutero Isaiah, wrote out of disaster and exile, woe and hope mingled together. We are in an exile moment. The prophetic imagination of Isaiah might help us – images of the lion and the lamb laying down together, etc.
- But the pandemic has magnified stress and anxiety that was already there. Some people have gone into survival mode. How do we connect with people who could not be further from ‘dancing’?
Voices and power
- Who do we look to to take the lead as we move forward? Children will be among the most traumatised by this pandemic. The climate movement is being led by young people – whose voices do we pay most attention to? We talked about the story of Jesus placing a child in the centre.
- In the story of the healing of the blind man (Mark 8), Jesus tells him not to go back to the village. Do not go back to the old way of life, we are going somewhere new now.
- It has been interesting to see how different churches have responded – some have stepped up, but others haven’t. Is there something the whole church across the UK, across denominations, could be saying? Could the Church as a whole be acting as the conscience of the nation and holding the government to account?
- Members talked about their denominations becoming internally obsessed about losing money and congregation members because of the pandemic, and wanting to make a power grab.
How can we encourage the Church to embrace this crisis by shutting up and listening to the people its not been listening to?
Judgement
- This is a crisis – a judgement on our society; it will take a long time to see what that means.
- Truth-telling is vital at this time. The church seems to be divided between those who want to speak out against the government, and those who criticise people speaking out.
- Fake news or good news? The prevailing narrative is not necessarily the truth. Challenge the churches to listen better and think about whose voices they amplify.
- Jesus gives the disciples the power to forgive sins and to retain them. How do we retain sins and say ‘I am still not OK with this?’
- We shouldn’t be frightened of judgement. We believe in a God who judges.
Fear, Othering and Connection
- Contrary to the stories of solidarity and connection, some members were concerned that we are becoming more fearful of one another and of the world outside.
- One member shared the story of their autistic granddaughter who overcame her fear of stepping outside the front door when her family drew a hopscotch game on the street, making the outside space safe, and she witnessed strangers (including adults) using the hopscotch, being aware of other people inhabiting the same space and being safe.
- We are not all in the same boat, but we are in the same storm. We shared this poem by Kathy Galloway:
Do not retreat into your private world,
That place of safety, sheltered from the storm,
Where you may tend your garden, seek your soul
And rest with loved ones where the fire burns warm.
To tend a garden is a precious thing,
But dearer still the one where all may roam,
The weeds of poison, poverty and war,
Demand your care, who call the earth your home.
To seek your soul it is a precious thing,
But you will never find it on your own,
Only among the clamour, threat and pain,
Of other people’s need will love be known.
To rest with loved ones is a precious thing,
But peace of mind exacts a higher cost,
Your children will not rest and play in quiet,
While they hear the crying of the lost.
Do not retreat into your private world,
There are more ways than firesides to keep warm;
There is no shelter from the rage of life,
So meet its eye, and dance within the storm.
Kathy Galloway (First published in Bread of Tomorrow, ed. Janet Morley, SPCK/Christian Aid, London 1992)
Reflecting together, 28 May: Whom are we serving in our services?
A report from our 28 May online discussions on what it means to be church on the margins during the pandemic.
Opening reflection from Revd Raj Bharath Patta, on ‘Reimagining Church Today’
How is church being missed today by the community around us?
- Online church is reaching thousands more people than before.
- Are we creating new communities – including people who were not church members before (people who were excluded or marginalised).
- Some people really miss the regular church service.
- God is present in unexpected places.
- Worship, fellowship, communion.
- What is the church for (beyond the church community/friendship)? If the church has no impact in the local community what is it for?
- During C19 we have found God in the community, mutual aid, helping people.
What is our dream if the church has to be reborn? (How do we achieve this?)
- What does ‘church membership’ mean? It does not have to be weekly attendance.
- Church language can be off-putting for new people (e.g. ‘unchurched’).
- Small dreams are important (as well as big dreams).
- Be real, authentic. Walk alongside people. Show God’s love.
- We need a liturgical revolution.
- We need to dream big – a revolution for society.
- Doughnut economics – an alternative to growth economics (see Ted Talk and book by Kate Raworth). People are stuck in the hole in middle, we need to reach out to them.
- Doughnut theology – we need the church to think in terms of people and need, not growth.
- Participation in and with the community (e.g. SRGs, Messy Church). Do not separate the church and community into ‘projects’, see it as a whole.
- Rethink the way we do ministry.
- This could be a moment of transformation for the church and wider society.
- Zoom church is more accessible for some people (e.g. families, people with disabilities).
- We need safe spaces in the community for people of different faiths to come together.
- Reflect on our activities annually and drop one to create energy for something new.
Research and Information Officer
Reflecting together, 21 May: inhabiting the public realm in the midst of lockdown
A report from our 21 May online discussions on what it means to be church on the margins during the pandemic.
Opening reflection by Anna Rowlands
What are we learning about what it means to be human (in all of its complexity)?
- Coronavirus brought back commonality? How we experience the situation is different, but we have a shared public life again.
- We already have being human in common, but we put other things in its place, e.g. TV, sport, etc.
- We’re also learning what we don’t have in common, the level of privilege we bring into this situation.
- How could the church misbehave well in public? To protest against unjust structures.
- How could church identify with those who have be made to feel lesser, not enough?
- The lockdown situation has intensified emotions (up and down).
- Missing human contact, being able to give someone a hug.
- We take our freedom for granted. People in prisons are locked down permanently.
- Some people feel cared for now (previously they felt forgotten). Some people are worried about being forgotten again once lockdown ends.
How do we create a genuinely shared world? (What is the Christian contribution to this?)
- We will have to live in both spheres (in person and online).
- Ideals and aspirations for going forward at the beginning of lockdown are already being lost.
- We need to stay open to a multiplicity of voices within the church.
- We must open our ears and hearts.
- Church often acts like it has all the answers, we should humble ourselves.
- We need to be alongside others beyond the walls of church. We can learn a lot from others / people on the margins.
- We still need to help people to shield, people are already forgetting this as things begin to open up.
- The origins of the word idiot – someone who thought they could survive on their own.
- Churches asking ‘how do we survive this?’ – the wrong question to be asking.
- The Church has to go public – faith in public life.
- The model of church needs to change from having a ‘gatekeeper’ to ‘priesthood for all’.
- Share our work and our journeys with each other, especially people doing the same work in different parts of the country.
- Smaller churches have seemed better connected and equipped for true engagement and connection.
Research and Information Officer