Compassionate God and Father of all,
we are horrified at violence
in so many parts of the world.
It seems that none are safe, and some are terrified.

Hold back the hands that kill and maim;
turn around the hearts that hate.
Grant instead your strong Spirit of Peace –
peace that passes our understanding
but changes lives,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

This beautiful and unlikely book written by a poet who moved from New York city to South Dakota in 1972 is hard to classify.

It is part a social history, a study of life in the small prairie towns at the heart of America. These communities are famous for their hospitality and friendliness, and yet struggle to tell the truth of personal hardship, financial plight, the sense of isolation and the cost of wrestling a living from the land.

“The plains are not forgiving. Anything that is shallow – the easy optimism of the homesteader; the false hope that denies geography, climate, history; the tree whose roots don’t reach ground water – will dry up and blow away”

It is a reflection on the human condition, and how it plays out in small, often isolated communities. Love and faithfulness, bitterness and betrayal, community and loneliness and how we respond to hardship and disappointment. Small town attitudes are often rooted in an inflated sense of self importance, and a suspicion of the outsider.

“if they were any good they would have gone somewhere else”

And then it is a work of poetry. The plains are a unique landscape, synonymous with the wild west, and the author has a poet’s ability to articulate the beauty and wonder of the vast natural world that she inhabits, where human activity barely registers on vast landscape under an eternal sky, and at the same time to observe the simple beauty of ordinary moments in life.

I’m at a hermitage in high summer. At four this morning a bird began singing in the grove; within an hour he had raised a chorus. The wind comes up, then suddenly is still, in the green flame that is this world.

And underpinning all of that is a gentle but rich spirituality, Norris describes herself as ‘a fledgling ascetic’, and she draws parallels between the monastic tradition and the lives of those who inhabit these deserted places of America.

“Here we discover the paradox of the contemplative life, that the desert of solitude can be the school where we learn to love others”.

Peaceful, soulful , insightful and contemplative. One of the loveliest books I have ever read.

Our Autumn sermon is studying the first of the great Epistles to the global church from St Peter. Written from the heart of the Roman Empire it calls Christians to live faithfully in the midst of an alien culture, and what it looks like to build lives and communities that invest in eternity.

The story so far

In AD64 Peter wrote from the church in Rome to communities of Christians scattered across the empire. And he speaks to them as Exiles; as those who are far from home, inhabiting an alien culture. He reminds them that just like Daniel and his friends taken into captivity in Babylon, if they are to hold onto their identity as the people of God against the cultural and economic pressure of their society, they are going have to live in a deliberate fashion. To prepare their minds for action, to choose holiness.

Living in an great city gives us this strange privilege of being anonymous, not defined by our past, but the danger is we gradually lose sense of who we actually are. If we are only defined by how people see us, we are ironically answerable to everyone. And anonymity generates anxiety. Peter’s antidote to that is that as we learn to call God Father we live in ‘reverent fear’. Not a fear that paralyses us, but a respectful awe. If the God of the Universe has called you to be his child I must live like it matters. Fear God and you need fear no-one else.

And that step of accepting God as your Father, means that something changes in the essential you. Your soul – your psyche in Greek – is a like a child that needs to be nurtured with pure spiritual milk. That is obviously the word of God – but it is more than that. It is ‘tasting and seeing that the Lord is good’ – that day to day experience of the love and kindness of God so that like a child in a loving family you grow up into the person that you were created to be.

And that is not just an individual project – you are part of something eternally significant. Just like the Old Testament people of God rebuilding the Temple, so we are part of building a holy temple –  a community that is open to all and that is all that Israel was intended to be. Of course much building work looks quite ordinary, and it is easy to forget its significance. When you help out with youth work, or sing Christmas Carols in a care home or any number of other ordinary parts of the life of church you are part of building something that will last into eternity.

Almighty God,
who built your Church upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets,
with Jesus Christ himself as the chief cornerstone:
so join us together in unity of spirit by their doctrine,
that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

One of the highlights of the year is Bemerton Soul. It is a holiday club that we run on the Bemerton Estate in the first week of the summer holidays. We talked to three people from Church on the Corner who got involved for the first time this year.

Helen
What made you sign up for Bemerton Soul? I came along to the Sunday service last year and thought it looked really fun, and it’s a good way of reaching out to people in the local area.
What did you do on the day? I was part of the best team (Red of course) and spent a lot of time running round, shouting encouragement in games, wearing lots of red accessories, and helping the team think about the Bible stories we heard and what they meant.
What were your favourite moments? Getting soaked on messy water day, and winning the first ever game of Octopus on the first day!
Any other reflections? As well as getting to know the young people it was a good opportunity to get to know other Christians in the area. Hopefully the effect of Bemerton Soul will continue year round.

Tadz
What made you sign up for Bemerton Soul? I wanted to be involved with something the parish was doing for the community.
What did you do on the day? I supported the youth football group. Helping to set up the pitch before hand, and then welcoming and engaging with young people throughout the session.
What were the highlights/ favourite moments The football mini games were a great way to work together an get to know the young people. After one of the testimonies I asked one of the young people what they thought of it and we had a conversation about God and the Big Bang.
Any other reflections? Bemerton Soul was a great way to raise the profile of the work the parish is doing all year round in the community. I was glad I took part and will do so again next year!

Jen
What made you sign up for Bemerton Soul? I was already involved in the GAP and I wanted to continue to be involved with the community.
What did you do on the day? Bubble station!
What were the highlights/ favourite moments Seeing the younger kids playing together and getting excited over something so simple.  The amount of joy that the kids got out of some soap, water and string was amazing!
Any other reflections? It was really nice to be a part of a community wide event that not only included the kids that participated in Bermonton Soul, but their families as well. Since we attend COTC, we don’t often get to meet and socialize with members of the community that may attend other churches in the parish — or not attend at all!

Bemerton Soul will be back next summer. If you have been inspired to get involved speak to our rather talented children’s worker Steve Mawhinney.

O Lord, you have given us your word for a light to shine upon our path; grant us so to meditate on that word, and follow its teaching, that we may find in it the light that shines more and more until the perfect day.

We used this this lovely gentle video of the Ignatian Examen from St Beuno’s at our homegroups last night. It is an ancient and very helpful spiritual exercise, designed to reflect on the day and to hold its blessings and struggles in the loving presence of God.

We had a delightful time at the Cally Festival this year, met lots of lovely people and got a reputation for oursleves for the quility of our free tea & cakes. There are worse things to be known for! Nice write-up in the Islington Tribune too.

The Barnsbury parish stall was perhaps the busiest of the day as volunteers from St Andrew’s, All Saints’ and Church on the Corner worked non-stop distributing free drinks and cakes.

Thanks to all of you who came along, helped out, distributed flyers or baked cakes.

Join us for the journey through Holy week from the darkness of Good Friday to the new hope which dawns on Easter day.

Friday 3rd April 7.30pm – Service of Shadows

Sunday 5th April 7pm – Easter Celebration