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| LunchBreak in June at AFC |
I love
Tuesdays at Amersham Free Church because it is such a busy yet vibrant day in
our community’s life – and yesterday was no different.
Around mid-day people start to gather for LunchBreak. Every week we welcome up to ninety people to the church hall for a snack lunch. Recently our gatherings have been enhanced by groups from local homes for mentally handicapped people attending. We demand nothing of our guests at LunchBreak – they sign up to no creedal statement! Tuesday lunchtime is just the way our church seeks to offer a ministry of hospitality and welcome. Then at 1.10pm every week the second and optional part of LunchBreak is a talk or recital held in the Sanctuary of AFC. Later in the afternoon a different team then takes over the kitchen and sets out a delicious array of home- made cakes for ‘Tea at Three’. So it’s possible to spend almost all of Tuesday at church eating – and I frequently do!
Yesterday, however, also saw two additional events and in a way they couldn’t have been more different – and yet both are vital to our life together. Let me explain:
In the afternoon we held our bi-monthly Book Reading Circle. A small group of us discussed Bishop John Robinson’s ‘classic’ tome Honest to God. Fifty years ago the publication of this small book caused an ecclesiastical storm. Many believed Robinson was undermining the essential orthodoxy of Christianity. Yesterday’s group was far more sympathetic to the book and appreciated its honesty in asking questions about God, religion, faith and language which seemed to us to be as relevant today as in 1963. Indeed we concluded that there needs to be space in every church for seekers after truth to have the un-pressurised opportunity to explore with others what faith In God might look like. My former church in Somerset tried to do this at a weekly Thursday lunchtime Theology Group and yesterday’s Reading Circle is a similar event here in Amersham.
The day concluded yesterday with yet another expression of our life together – our Church Meeting – what a busy day! It was so encouraging to have the church hall full, even on such a hot and humid evening, as we came together and made important decisions about the next stage of our premises ‘upgrade’ and organ ‘refurbishment’. I came away thrilled to be part of a church which could debate such issues with generous hearted courtesy and be served so well by people behind the scenes who had prepared excellent briefing papers upon which we could base our discussions.
Yesterday was a good day! Of course in our weekly rhythm of worship and work Sunday is a special, perhaps unique, day – but I reckon ‘Tuesday Church’ comes a close second!
With best wishes,
Around mid-day people start to gather for LunchBreak. Every week we welcome up to ninety people to the church hall for a snack lunch. Recently our gatherings have been enhanced by groups from local homes for mentally handicapped people attending. We demand nothing of our guests at LunchBreak – they sign up to no creedal statement! Tuesday lunchtime is just the way our church seeks to offer a ministry of hospitality and welcome. Then at 1.10pm every week the second and optional part of LunchBreak is a talk or recital held in the Sanctuary of AFC. Later in the afternoon a different team then takes over the kitchen and sets out a delicious array of home- made cakes for ‘Tea at Three’. So it’s possible to spend almost all of Tuesday at church eating – and I frequently do!
Yesterday, however, also saw two additional events and in a way they couldn’t have been more different – and yet both are vital to our life together. Let me explain:
In the afternoon we held our bi-monthly Book Reading Circle. A small group of us discussed Bishop John Robinson’s ‘classic’ tome Honest to God. Fifty years ago the publication of this small book caused an ecclesiastical storm. Many believed Robinson was undermining the essential orthodoxy of Christianity. Yesterday’s group was far more sympathetic to the book and appreciated its honesty in asking questions about God, religion, faith and language which seemed to us to be as relevant today as in 1963. Indeed we concluded that there needs to be space in every church for seekers after truth to have the un-pressurised opportunity to explore with others what faith In God might look like. My former church in Somerset tried to do this at a weekly Thursday lunchtime Theology Group and yesterday’s Reading Circle is a similar event here in Amersham.
The day concluded yesterday with yet another expression of our life together – our Church Meeting – what a busy day! It was so encouraging to have the church hall full, even on such a hot and humid evening, as we came together and made important decisions about the next stage of our premises ‘upgrade’ and organ ‘refurbishment’. I came away thrilled to be part of a church which could debate such issues with generous hearted courtesy and be served so well by people behind the scenes who had prepared excellent briefing papers upon which we could base our discussions.
Yesterday was a good day! Of course in our weekly rhythm of worship and work Sunday is a special, perhaps unique, day – but I reckon ‘Tuesday Church’ comes a close second!
With best wishes,
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