Categories: uncategorized
Date: 21 January 2007 13:54:27
When we found ourselves suddenly leaving our old church early in October, we agreed that we would visit a few others, starting with the one that sounded the most likely place where we could both feel at home. Well, we visited said church, for Spike it was pretty much love at first Mass, for me it's been a gradual sense of belonging. So, total other local churches visited in the last three months = nil, and now, as Road From Nowhere readers will know, Spike is on his way to lay ministry at the new church. However, there is one local church I've always wanted to visit. Some fellow bloggers may know where I mean if I say it's an 'open evangelical' Anglican church, on a hill with a great view over the City of London, and has a lovely Vicar who writes a column on Ship of Fools and looks a bit like Griff Rhys Jones.
So I decided to visit this morning, and it was lovely, very reminiscent of the church I grew up in, holding firm to the Anglican liturgical way of doing things, while seeking to make them relaxed and accessible. I'll visit again. It turns out they're part of the same 'Churches Together' group as our church - coincidentally there's a Churches Together meeting and service at our church this afternoon, which we'll be going to. This CT actually seems active, unlike the one at our previous church, which had ground to a halt in recent years. If I see Rev'd Griff, who knows I'm a Shipmate, I'll have to assure him that I wasn't a Mystery Worshipper!
At church this morning we sang a nice mix of modern and older songs, including that standard of every ordination and confirmation service ever, 'I the Lord of Sea and Sky'. For those (clearly not CofE ;) ) who have not met this hymn before, the refrain goes,
Here I am, Lord
Is it I, Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night
I will go, Lord, if You lead me
I will hold Your people in my heart
A while back on Ship of Fools, the lovely Gill H, musicals anorak and songwriter extraordinaire, offered her own version based on the 'Honesty in Hymnody' principle,
I'm not here, Lord
It's not me, Lord
I am hiding underneath my bed
I can't go, Lord
I'm too scared, Lord
Can't You please send someone else instead?
Is there any Christian who's never sung the first version and thought the second? Fortunately, we also sang one of Tina's Top Hymns of All Time, Tell Out My Soul.
Firm is His promise, and His mercy sure.