We’re having a great weekend!

This isn’t really news – well it kind of is, well actually, yes this is news. Perhaps it’s more news than what I usually post.

We are halfway through a really really good weekend, and I wanted to pause and tell you what’s happened so far, and look forward to what is still to come.

I’m writing at 2pm on Saturday 1st November, and so far we have had two great events, and there are two more to come tomorrow.

All Hallows Eve

First off – Friday night was Halloween, and we opened the church to serve hotdogs and hot chocoloate, to play a couple of silly games with the kids and to offer them the chance to listen to a ghost story (which was actually – spoilers! – about Jesus)

We wanted to do something different, not simply to disapprove of Halloween and all its ridiculous trappings (which I do) but still to welcome and be kind to the families who were walking past. Some children are genuinely scared by the costumes and the decorations, some are hyped up and full of sugar. Some parents are enjoying the experience, thinkking this is all a bit of fun, a nce thing to do and a chance to meet their neighbours. Others are tired and hassled by the whole thing, and wishing they hadn’t got swept up in it all.

However they felt, we offered a warm welcome, and chance to sit down for a few minutes and munch a hot dog and sip some hot chocolate, to chat and relax before heading back out into the drizzle. We helped one Mum disentangle some fake cobwebs which had wrapped themselves round the wheel of her child’s buggy, locking it stationary the way a supermarket trolley does if you try and push it beyoind the red line. Others were brave enough to try the “potions” I had prepared, which looked disgusting but didn’t taste too bad, or come into the dark church and listen while I told a scary story with the world’s happiest ending.

We gave away 100 hot dogs, families were still queuing up when we had to say “sorry, we’ve run out.” One family even rang up their friends in Hertford and told them to get down to Whitley Road because there was this church offering a welcome. One man even offered to pay for next year’s hot dogs.

So we accomplished our aim: doing something different and offering a blessing to our neighbours.

Well done and thanks to Peter & Pam Raymen, who were dishing out the food, to Anne serving drinks, and to “grumpy Iain” pouring out the potions.

Prayer Morning

Then this morning the church was open again, and Tish & Fran had laid on a morning of prayer, centred around the model prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray. People were free to wander round the church, stopping to pray at the various stations, and then to enjoy coffee and scones and a chit chat before heading home. One person commented that the sense of peace was almost palpable. Another said that it made her think again about how to pray.

Again thanks to everyone who helped: Tish and Fran for the organising, Rowena and Katherine for the refreshments, Ilona, Shirley and Paul for welcoming and guiding poeple as they arrived.

Ann-Marie Wilson

And there’s more to come. Tomorrow at 10, we are looking forward to welcoming our dear friend Ann-Marie for her annual visit. She will bring us news of the vital work she has done and is still doing in protecting women and girls from FGM – a traditional practice in many African countries and in the African diaspora, that can cause lasting harm to girls’ bodies and minds.

A Time to Remember

And finally on Sunday afternoon at 3.30pm, we have our annual service in which we remember all those we have loved and lost. We invite all the familes whose funerals we have been privileged to lead, and we read out a long list of names of those who we no longer see, but never forget. People are welcome to light a candle, to pray and to share the knowledge that they are not alone in their grief.

It’s not too late to ask for the name of your loved one to be included – email me at vicar@ryepark.com today, and I will make sure your loved one is mentioned by name. Come if you can, have a cup of tea and some cake with us afterwards, and we would love to see you.