Every Thursday night Community Church Derby (CCD) run Storehouse with help from Ozzy Road from 6-8pm. In the church lounge/hall Storehouse is a free community meal with an opportunity to sit and talk. Many of those who come are, or have been, homeless and we have had opportunities to help people with housing advice or point them towards other help available at Ozzy Road during the week. This week alone we helped 2 people who were rough sleeping find a place at the night shelter.
About every 2 months, CCD instead help Ozzy Road run a Big Feast. In the church worship area, a Big Feast is a slightly bigger meal and each evening has a theme. Sometimes there is a quiz on the theme, other evenings include a guest speaker or a visual presentation. Always the first Thuesday of the month, Big Feasts 2012:
Thursday February 2nd: “Love”
Thursday April 5th: “Easter”
Thursday June 7th “Summer – jubilee, football & Olympics”
Over the last year we have followed the lead of many other churches in doing “Messy Church”. We start with a choice of crafts on a theme for about an hour followed by a short celebration on the same theme and we finish by sitting down and eating together. Although the whole event is designed to be child friendly, Messy Church is for the whole family. Themes have ranged from “Harvest” to “Bible seasides”. Numbers have increased as we have advertised Messy Church through after-school craft clubs at the local primary school, which we are planning to do again leading up to Easter Messy Church in April.
During school term time, Kids Club (for children on years 1 to 6) runs every Wednesday from 5.30-6.45pm at Ozzy Road Church. On the first Wednesday of each month, Kids club is replaced with Messy Church again starting at 5.30pm. Messy Church is for anybody and children need to be supervised. The next three Messy Churches, all starting at 5.30pm in 2012 are:
We all know how the story goes. Maybe it was read to us at bedtime when we were young, or you remember RE lessons at school. Could have been TV programmes or nativity plays – even if you were playing the part of stable door or the back half of the donkey. Even in a world increasingly embarrassed to talk about any Christian values which may have formed our society, people still know and tell the story. John the Baptist, the angel, Mary and Joseph, the journey to Bethlehem, the stable, baby Jesus in a manger, more angels, shepherds, wise men. This year you can see the story told on “if Mary and Joseph had facebook”, sign up to a daily twitter feed (a natwivity!) or have it told in daily instalments by text to your phone.
The story still seems to have power over people who often take little interest in God, church, the bible and so on. It has power to make people say “ahh”, but also to bring them to tears. I still remember Simon Moore’s family service four years ago which culminated with Joseph leading Mary on a donkey (yes a real one!) around the church. The children said “ahh”, and the grown ups looked at each other and wondered why they felt tears welling up. Of course being Ozzy Road, I only discovered afterwards that the big build up when I played a Christmas carol over and over was because the donkey had made a run for it at the door. We had ordered a donkey called “Elvis” so that Simon could end with “Elvis has left the building”, but got one called “Guiness” instead; and Guiness’ handler had clearly had several on the way. But the moment came as a reminder of the power of the story made alive very simply.
So this Christmas come and hear the story told again in several different ways at Ozzy Road, and take time to share it with others. But above all, be amazed again at the incredible truth that God who was in the beginning became one of us, born in a stable with nameless shepherds as the first witnesses to all of this. Go on, be amazed.
Each year at harvest time we have a special offering. This year we are going to collect in two ways for the “Jubilee Project” (part of Derby City Mission) serving some of the poorest people and families in our local community by offering free debt advice and food parcels. As well as collecting money to help pay for the expert advice given at the Jubilee Project, we are also collecting food from the following shopping list:
Toilet rolls, bath/shower gell, washing tablets for laundry, tins of cooked meat (eg ham, corned beef), sugar, biscuits/crackers, chocolate spread, UHT milk, honey, cuppa soup, tins of dessert, washing up liquid, shampoo, tins of meat (eg steak, meat in sauces), tea bags, coffee, peanut butter, jams, sandwich spread, packet soup, pasta sauces, jelly, tomato/brown sauce, cereals
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy” Proverbs 31:8-9 (NIV)
At the end of May Christian leaders from a great variety of churches and Christian charities in Derby met together to begin considering a response the Governments “Big Society” plan. In addition to representatives from a huge variety of churches and Christian charities in Derby and the Bishop of Derby, some representatives from the council who are in key positions and either share or sympathise with our faith added to the discussion.
I am not naturally cynical, but it is easy to go that way when it comes to the “Big Society”. Announcing a time of huge cuts to local services alongside what sounds like a fairly vague call for people to be involved in the voluntary sector in some ways speaks for itself! However, I can see some attitude changes within this which begin to answer some of my long-held frustrations about the way that the Church is viewed in this country. Generally speaking we are viewed as either judgemental fanatics, totally irrelevant or well meaning amateurs who do more harm than good. In the Big Society there is a strong theme of recognition of what we do well, as well as the extent of it. The Big Response is a call for a coordinated response which began with meeting representatives from other churches doing similar things. I knew most of the people in the seminar group I attended and discovered that there is some good communication and a lack of duplication going on; in other groups people discovered each other for the first time in a very positive way.
The overall result was the beginnings of a database of what the Church in Derby already does so that a coordinated response can be made to the City. The hope is that continuing this kind of communication can lead to better coordination and to recognise where the gaps are so that the Church can do what it has always done in establishing projects from free health care to Sunday school to homeless day centres; and wait for society in general to catch up.
PS Thanks to our friends at Derby City Mission who did the time consuming planning which made the day what it was.
Check out this breathtaking video and be inspired by extreme base jumpers in squirrel suits, God’s amazing creation as well as the lyrics of the song by Jonathan David Helser, a worship leader from the US.
Last term we launched a new way of meeting in smaller groups midweek, putting together the following elements:
Family groups in people’s homes meeting together to eat, share bread & wine, pray for each other and pray for a ministry of the church
Deeper interactive bible studies
Family Prayer events
Church meetings
We tried the pattern of having family groups and bible studies after each other on the same night, but found that as the term went on the majority of people were only able to make one meeting and tended to alternate. For this term, which is short because of the dates for Easter, we are going to try a different pattern in which we alternate Family Groups with the other elements. Please see the calendar on the front page of the website for details.
The dream is also to develop what we do with the bible study evenings. We have deliberately started with something deeper and interactive. The hope is in time to add a nurture group in a separate room for people at the beginning of their Christian journey, and then in time an option for people who prefer a more hands on approach to learning and sharing about their faith. Watch this space as we travel the journey in small groups.
We are often told that Christmas is the greatest and most central Christian celebration. I have thought differently for years. While trying to get the message and it’s heart back into the way we celebrate Christmas is so important, there is so much more to the Easter story whether its amazement or heartbreak. There is nothing more central to our understanding of God and his love for us than the death and resurrection of his son Jesus Christ. And in the story are endless human stories about relationships which we can learn from: tragedy, despair, betrayal, denial, cowardice mixed with forgiveness, care, mercy and love. So come and share in the different emotions that the story stirs in us however familiar it may have become.
On Palm Sunday (April 17th) we will be opening the doors at 10am for breakfast before the main part of the meeting begins. Come and praise God like the crowd did when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a Donkey, waving palms and shouting “Hosanna”.
Take time over your family meal on Maundy Thursday (April 21st), and remember the story of the last meal Jesus ate with his friends where they shared bread and wine; and washed his disciple’s feet. Remember the way he was betrayed, let down and left alone to wrestle with what his Father sent him to do.
On Good Friday (April 22nd) we will be meeting from 10.30am to remember the story of Jesus dying for us. There will be time to think and take in what this means for us, and to share bread and wine as Jesus asked us to and remember him.
On Easter Sunday (April 24th) we start at 9.30am for a sit down breakfast followed by a celebration of the resurrection and the promise of new life and hope which it brings. Then we will be joining the other churches in Normanton for a procession down Normanton Road, giving out cream eggs and leaflets which simply tell the Easter story.
Take time this Easter to remember and take in the story of the way God loved us so much that he sent his only son to die for us and rise again so that we can call his Father, our Father.
