Liturgical comment and prayer diary
The nine days from Jesus’ Ascension, to the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, is traditionally a special time of prayer in the church. At St Mary’s, Barnes, six stations have been placed around the church. These stations are based on the words of the Lord’s Prayer, helping us to dwell on and linger over the words of the prayer as we seek to connect to God.
You can view the prayer’s phrases and suggestions for contemplation below.
Click here to read encouragements from members of Holy Trinity, Richmond, posted a couple of times a week.
A monthly musical community café, 7-8pm at St Andrew’s Church, Ham.
Sacred Space is an informal hour of live music, craft, drinks and cakes, conversation and poetry, based on a universal theme. Drop in, relax, meet others, find rest and inspiration. It is a perfect occasion to bring your friends. Everyone welcome, all ages, all faiths and none.
5th May – Freedom
Katharine von Schubert from St Peter’s, Petersham, is a Commissioned Southwark Diocese Lay Pioneer working across parishes locally and in helping more widely with Diocesan Mission Action Planning.
In September, 2021, Katherine started “Sacred Space” at St Andrew’s Ham. It runs every month on a Sunday evening (see below for dates) and is an informal hour of live music, text and art around a theme, with coffee and cake served. You can stay for the whole hour or come and go as you wish
In February, 2022, Katherine wrote:
It was at a junction in my life a few years ago that an old friend told me her hunch that my future direction might involve music. At the time I was dismissive. However, being a lay pioneer is about being who I am, and I had to admit a consistent love of music.
God had always spoken to me through music – it could unlock my emotions, thaw out anger or disbelief, take me to sublime places, and help me make sense of the colours of mood I experience. Moreover, every time I had played my flute or sung in churches or concerts over decades, there never failed to be someone who came to me afterwards to say how much it had moved them.
Based on these two things, I began to imagine a gathering of people experiencing the power of music together. I was imagining a deep immersive experience, one so beautiful that people could not fail to be touched, a place where people could find themselves and connect with others, and therefore find God their Creator nourishing them in some way. It was a vision of togetherness and hospitality.
I needed a space which was big and roomy enough to match this vision- of welcoming and gathering people, encouraging them to participate and feel at home. I imagined an enlarged living room, a comfortable space where friends hang out, and take it in turns to play their instruments or sing or say something. What after all is a ‘sacred space’ if not a place where we feel special, loved and at home?
The fixed Georgian box pews and tiny space in my own ancient church did not allow for this vision. So I shared it with Alice Pettit, vicar of St Andrews- a church hidden amongst trees in the woods near Richmond Park, with a big beautiful inner space. Alice and Jenny a longtime parishioner graciously greeted the idea with enthusiasm, adding in their ideas of running a café with tables, candles and craft alongside the music on a Sunday evening.
We started in September and grown each month. In February we had over 100 attend, including 15 primary school children and 20 adults from different parts of the community singing in Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilu’s The Rose. We sometimes have a string quartet. I choose beautiful non-churchy music that has inspired me, and hope that we can manage it with minimal rehearsal the day before. It is always experimental and responsive to who is around including partnership with local schools. Once we invited Maryam, a young Iranian women who had just been granted asylum to speak about ‘belonging’ and treat us to Iranian sweets.
The format is carefully crafted to avoid a ‘concert’ atmosphere: people arrive around 7pm and directed to the café and craft table; a sheet with a poem and bible verse explains that everything happens in parallel. At 7.10pm, we perform the main segment of live music during which people can choose to socialise, eat, walk around or sit. There might be a discussion corner on the theme in a musical break and the music is performed again at 745-8pm.
Sacred Space is intentionally informal. It is ‘neither a service nor concert’, a phrase that seems to alleviate the fears of some whom I invite; nothing is expected of them, and they don’t have to ‘do’ anything, or even stay! Many of those who come including musicians do not go to church, and they bring their families and friends. There is a buzz of conversation and lots of positive comments and experiences shared afterwards. People from all three churches in the area visit, and many connections are being made.
This is an experiment and is not without challenges. One is for the whole church community to value this alternative use of church space: a large team of volunteers is needed to help sustain the hospitality each month. Secondly the work of daily inviting the people we know must be taken seriously. Only then will it begin to represent the community. There is room for aromatherapists, environmentalists, yoga practitioners, poets and artists to practice their craft alongside the music.
This leads to a more fundamental point: Sacred Space will only be sustainable long term if it becomes a space shaped, owned and valued by those who participate in it. My hope is that long term this is what happens and that we learn to be an active partner of the community. Imagine the community setting the agenda, whilst the church continues to host. The theology is simple: God in us meeting and greeting people and letting them be who they are.
Sunday 7th April is traditionally known as ‘Low Sunday’, partly I think because after a long and solemn Lent, the busy-ness of Holy Week with all the thoughtful daily acts of worship and a devotional and emotional Good Friday, followed finally by a jubilant and joyous Easter Day, most Christians naturally feel a little low by the second Sunday of Easter: this week has been a week to reflect, take stock and rest, and I for one am glad of a slower pace.
Part of my resting has included a little bit of TV. One programme in particular has been an interesting if rather challenging watch. Pilgrimage: The road to Wild Wales (BBC 2) follows a group of seven celebrities of different faiths and non, walking across an ancient Celtic pilgrim way in North Wales, starting at St Winefride’s Chapel in Holy Well and ending at Bardsey Island off the coast of the Llyn Peninsula. The search for meaning and purpose is a driving force for most of the pilgrims, and all of them are open to exploring new ideas and experiences, but by the time we enter the second week of walking when tiredness is beginning to set in, it becomes apparent that there is a need for healing – from the pain of separation in particular – and a longing to find closure on issues which have held pilgrims back from living more fully and joyfully.
And so it’s a relief that as we approach the end of the journey the pilgrims are offered an experience which speaks of Easter and a rolling away of issues which have become a barrier and barred the way for them to new life. The final programme sees the pilgrims arrive at the mediaeval church of St Hywyn’s Church in Aberdaron, on the shores of the Irish Sea, where the poet RS Thomas was one time parish priest. Unable to continue to Bardsey Island due to bad weather, the pilgrims settle in the church and are met by the present day parish priest, who invites them to choose a stone from the beach to add to the prayer cairn which sits at the entrance to the churchyard. He kindly and gently prays with them and acknowledges their pain. He explains that the cairn is dismantled at the end of each month and the stones are returned to the sea, a washing away of all that is left behind. And so each pilgrim prayerfully and carefully choses a stone and symbolically attaches to it all the pain they have been carrying, before finally laying their burden down amongst the great weight which has been left here by other weary pilgrims who have also rested here and found healing and peace. Stones rolled away, burdens laid down, new life taken hold of.
Alleluia. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed, Alleluia!
Rev Anne Crawford, St Matthias, Richmond
Reflective Art Afternoons will be taking place on the last Sunday of the month, 3pm in St John’s Hall, beginning in April. It will be a monthly opportunity to respond creatively to a prompt.
Do feel free to invite friends who don’t usually come to church, but would appreciate a space for peace, reflection, and creativity. All welcome
Contact Revd Charlie Middleton for more information charlie.middleton@richmondteamministry.org
On 1 March 2024, many churches around the UK will be holding a World Day of Prayer Service. This year’s theme is “I beg you, bear with one another in love”. World Day of Prayer is an international, inter-church organisation, led by women, which enables us to hear the thoughts of those women from all parts of the world: their hopes, concerns, and prayers. This year the Christian Women of Palestine are calling us to connect with the land from where Jesus came; where he was born, ministered and died – and from where our faith began and is rooted.
Within Richmond and Barnes Deanery, services are being held at
St Matthias, Richmond at 2:30pm. Followed by Refreshments -tea/coffee and cakes. All are welcome.
St Richard’s, Ham at 11am. Followed by Palestinian themed refreshments.
Please keep checking this post for further updates of study during Lent
St Michael and All Angels, Barnes – Fridays in Lent at 6pm
Reflective service of meditations on Christ’s story of the Cross using images from a set of stations by Janet McKenzie.
St Anne’s, Kew – Sundays in Lent at 5pm and throughout Holy Week.
St John the Divine, Richmond – Saturdays in Lent at 12 noon EXCEPT Saturday 9th March.
Revd Anne Crawford will be offering gentle reflective walks on Friday mornings through Lent, beginning on Friday 16th February. If you would like to join her then please register so that you can be sent details of meeting times and places (which will vary each week). All walks will last about an hour and end somewhere nice to enjoy coffee/tea and cake together. anne.crawford@richmondteamministry.org
St Mary’s Barnes are recommending The Nail by Stephen Cottrell (Archbishop of York) for reading this Lent:
You hold in your hands a nail that was used to crucify Christ. If you accept it, this nail is the beginning of a deeply moving and personal journey through the Passion story. In The Nail, key witnesses describe the crucifixion from their viewpoint. We learn how the Roman centurion was just following orders, and that Pontius Pilate merely obeyed the wishes of the majority. By vividly expanding these and other stories, Stephen Cottrell (Archbishop of York) invites us to ask ourselves how we would have behaved in these situations.
The Nail will also be the basis for the Lent group which will meet in at St Mary’s, Barnes, 2.30-3.45pm on Tuesdays 20th & 27th February, 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th March.If possible participants should have a copy of the book, but it is not essential. Each session will comprise a bible reading and the imagined words of the crucifixion witness for that week. There are simple questions for discussion, and we will end with some time for quiet reflection and prayer. It would be helpful to know if you plan to come to the Lent group. Please email office@stmarybarnes.org.
A five week study series based on Stephen Cottrell’s book, Godforsaken.
Sunday 25th February 6pm – 7:15pm
Sunday 3rd March 5pm – 6:15pm
Sunday 10th March 6pm – 7:15pm
Sunday 17th March 6pm – 7:15pm
Sunday 24th March 6pm – 7:15pm
In the Parish Hall
All are welcome. Please do try to commit to the full series of studies if you can. You will need the book to participate in the study series.
To join or for more information, contact saintannekew@gmail.com
The bible study will be following the daily reading plan and Sunday reflections that the Rowan Williams’ little Lent Book, Meeting God in Mark includes, and those hosting the sessions will draw on the lectures in the book in facilitating discussions. There’s no need to buy the book. For more info, contact the Parish Office (office@kewbenefice.org).
Rev Eils Osgood from Holy Trinity, Richmond, writes:
What does it mean to respond to Jesus’ invitation to come to him and find rest? The Rest Is Worship is written for anyone who wants to delve into how “being still” can help us to “know God”, and how we can reject the rush and hurry of our contemporary world. With sections on Sabbath, fun, solitude, digital discipleship, saying ‘no’ and many other practical aspects of rest, intertwined with biblical teaching and stories, arranged into 40 short chapters. I’m planning on reading a chapter each day during Lent, and wonder if anyone wants to join in?
Click here to order your copy.
The closest walk to us is the Kingston and Merton Walk leg on Saturday 24 February:
Walk Leader: Judith Russenberger
Start 10.30: All Saints Church, 14-16 Mark Pl, Kingston, KT1 1JP, gathering from 10 am for 10.30 start from the café in church.
Lunch Stop 12.30-1.30: St John the Baptist, Robin Hood Lane, Kingston SW15 3PY.
Finish 4.30: TBC Christ Church. West Wimbledon 2 Cottenham Park Road, SW20 0RZ
The theme of this seven mile walk in relationship to climate and ecology is the role of government, democracy and citizenship. We begin in All Saints church where Saxon Kings were crowned and will be walking through Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common, with their histories of enclosures and local residents campaigning for access to the land. Register to join Bishop Martin’s Climate Pilgrimage here.
All Saints, East Sheen, are running and Advent course, reflecting on some Christmas Carols, on Mondays 4th, 11th and 18th December at 7:30pm. Please contact Rev Alex Barrow vicar.ases@gmail.com if you would like to come along and to nominate a carol.
The very best carols express our faith and deepen it as we sing them. We will think about the theological ideas that they contain, discuss some of the Bible passages that they draw on, and reflect on other material that is connected to them – including art and poetry.
Please email office@kewparishes.plus.com if you would like to join.
Richmond Team clergy are offering you three meditations on Advent Art via Zoom, on Wednesday 6th, 13th and 20th December, 8pm – 8.45pm. After each meditation Compline will be said together. Please email admin@richmondteamministry.org if you would like to join.
If you are considering a book for Advent, with daily reflections, Richmond Team suggest ‘Stick with love’ by Arun Arora. It is the Archbishop of York’s Advent Book 2023 and comes highly recommended.
Email Revd Anne Crawford receive daily readings, reflections and images during Advent.
