We had both our Christmas Lunch and the first of our carol services this week. Both very lovely. Well done to Bee, Jon and Anna for their amazing work cooking christmas Dinner for 70 people, and to Sam and the corner voices, and thank you to everyone who pitched in for this mammoth sunday. YouContinue reading “Christmas Carols”
Author Archives: Mark
Christmas at COTC
What’s on at COTC and in the Parish this Christmas. Download the full size version here. UPDATE The Christmas tree is here!
Be part of the action
This is a great piece of work. I spotted it on the BBC website, it is an oil painting by Andrew Gad for the Church Advertising network who were responsible for The revolution begins. Instead of the traditional nativity scene it imagines Jesus born in a London bus shelter. Not only provocative, it is beautifulContinue reading “Be part of the action”
Advent Prayers
Lovely to see so many of you at our Advent prayer meeting. I particularly appreciated some of the responses to our ‘Advent Hope’ section, where we imagined we were writing a card telling the story of someone we had met, someone who was in need in one way or another and who needed to seeContinue reading “Advent Prayers”
Advent Countdown 2008
We had an amazing opening to advent last night, with the London Vocal Project. We talked about the fact that Advent often gets lost in the preparations for christmas, and that we wanted it to stand for itself. So today we start our series of advent reflections. You can find them here.
The Chapel
Ruth D has been leading a discussion at Church and in Church Council about how we deepen our prayer, and we have been inspired with a few initiatives. One of them is setting apart one of the rooms upstairs as a chapel space, and developing a rhythm of prayer and meditation. We intend to haveContinue reading “The Chapel”
Empire & Kingdom
Our new term starts this sunday at COTC. It has always seemed strange that we still work on academic years, yet september always feels like a new beginning, we are hopefully a little rested and refreshed and ready to get stuck into a new year. This term we are looking at the book of acts,Continue reading “Empire & Kingdom”
At Greenbelt 2008
Welcome to all of you who are visiting after seeing us at greenbelt. Thanks so much for coming to our session, and all the positive feedback. We worked really hard on our set, and it was particularly gratifying to feel the passion with which you all engaged with the liturgy for the city at theContinue reading “At Greenbelt 2008”
Morning service church plant
As of September 2009, we ended our morning service and planted into St Andrew’s – the parish church down the road (map here) – with the hope of helping them to grow the sort of vibrant, diverse, family-friendly church community that would effectively reach out to our parish and beyond. It has started with a smallContinue reading “Morning service church plant”
Kings Cross Redevelopment
Things are changing quickly in our local area. The arrival of Eurostar and the redevelopment of the old railway sidings at Kings Cross is apparently the biggest brownfields redevelopment in Europe. It will mean something like 3000 new homes, shops and offices on the edge of the Parish, and is sure to have an enormousContinue reading “Kings Cross Redevelopment”
Urban Wilderness
Church on the Corner are at Greenbelt this year, very exciting. We are doing a session in the new forms cafe called ‘Urban Wilderness – the spirituality of the city‘. This is our blurb – Christian spirituality has often focussed on escaping the noise and pressure of the city, so how can those who liveContinue reading “Urban Wilderness”
The Drawing Room
This Thursday at COTC we are pleased to be hosting one of Rob Peppers excellent ‘Drawing Room’ workships (as seen in Time Out). It is more than a drawing class, using drawing as a meditation. It is open to all – no experience necessary, and is a lovely non-threatening environment to kick start your creativity,Continue reading “The Drawing Room”
Easter 2008
If felt to me that Easter brought together all the themes we have been exploring over the last few months, themes like Kingdom, justice, restoration & creation. On Sunday morning we reflected on the resurrection account in Luke, and also this wonderful image by Stanley Spencer (click for a very large version). He imagines theContinue reading “Easter 2008”
Lent
We talked yesterday about preparing to enter into the wilderness at Lent to create some space and to seek repentance and humility. You can find the talk on the resources page. And whether you are planning to give something up, or take up some practical discipline our hope is that this is restorative for usContinue reading “Lent”
Surprised by Hope
I was at a fantastic Advent lecture by Bishop Tom Wright before Christmas, based on his new book ‘Surprised by Hope’ [Amazon]. It was a thorough exposition of Christian Eschatology, and a deconstruction of lots of the crazy ideas and bad thinking that dominate popular ideas about life after death. Ultimately it is given withContinue reading “Surprised by Hope”
2007 in Review
We had a fantastic Christmas. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make it special. Last Sunday we had a service looking back at the year that was, and as part of the evening there was a slide show of some of the highlights of the year. Here it is so can holdContinue reading “2007 in Review”
The COTC Manifesto
This sunday we were looking at a barnstorming passage; Jesus’ woes to the Pharisees and Teachers of Law in Luke 11. You can find the sermon on the resources page. I resisted the temptation to have a field day and instead tried to put our own house in order. This critique of the religious institutionsContinue reading “The COTC Manifesto”
L’abri
I just got back from a retreat at L’abri in Hampshire. L’Abri (French for “the Shelter”) is a beautiful sprawling manor house in the countryside and home to a christian community, about 10 permenent ‘workers’ and 30 to 40 visitors or students. They have a nice rhythm of work, study and relaxation, and mealtimes areContinue reading “L’abri”
Jailbird
Mark Stoney borrowed the Cloudsley room upstairs at church a few weeks ago, to record the video for ‘Jailbird’. They put up some very cool wallpaper that I really should have got them to leave, and the video includes a comedy selection of random objects from around church (see what you can spot – IContinue reading “Jailbird”
Pasts Unearthed
Lots of you will know Fiona Fouhy who is a graduate from central St Martins. She uses the hidden stories lurking within the urban landscape surrounding Kings Cross and St Pancras in her triple exposure photographic images. Fiona is showing new work (an installation with historian Alan Dein) for the Arrivals2007 festival celebrating the openingContinue reading “Pasts Unearthed”
Church on the Corner 