This is St Helen's Church in Ore Village in Hastings, an old picture from some years ago. Our notice board is no longer there and the roof is not as good as this any more. I have been out with the folk from St Helens carol singing round their community tonight.
We had a good time, an all age gathering, dreadfully out of tune but good fun, mixing with and laughing with our neighbours.
What hit me was this was the last time we shall go out at Christmas from this building as we are leaving it on 18th September 2016 due to it being so poor and beyond repair. Five years ago the people at St Helens had a definite vision to be church somewhere else and this will happen next year. A lot of the people there tonight have known no other way of being church, no other building to worship in, but they are full of hope and confidence that something will happen next year for them, we have a temporary home from 19th September and we are hoping something exciting might be possible for us to relaunch in years to come if something that is being mooted happens! If not, we will do church out of our temporary home permanently because it is still in the community.
So, next year's carol singing will happen, just not beginning here.
I guess this reminds me that sometimes we just need to stop worrying and trust. St Helens are an inspiration to me - a lot of doors have shut for them concerning partnerships in the future, but I lead them into 2016 with some better ones opening. Perhaps this is incarnation - to take a journey you don't know all the details of, but to go and find out what might be possible is to find God's plan for you and God's blessing. Imagine if people in the Christmas narrative had said no, we like the familiar or it is too difficult. Christmas encounter is about anticipating surprise and believing in a future. Our out of tune ramshackle choir will return next year round our community, and in uncertainty, that certainty feels good.
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