Big nobodies - happy halloween!

Have you ever searched Google for somebody from your past? Why did you do it? Possibly because that person was important to you, whether it be for good or bad. There's a need among people to be recognised, to be found in a google search, as if by being part of that library you are in some way something important in the world. We want to be celebrated or acknowledged for our achievements, Google our own little epitaph. There are some people who have been in my life who I have searched for, thinking that the world must have in some way be influenced by them. Dr Martin Lawrence, our family GP, the sweetest, most gentle doctor anyone could have wished for their child. I still remember his deep voice and his jowly face. And at the end of a visit you got a little plastic car to take home with you, or a sticker.

Surprisingly though, he doesn't appear on Google. Neither does our wonderful caring dentist, Dr Patrick Masters appear. Both of these great men seem to be very little to the world. Alongside them is Mr Roth my amazing science teacher who stayed late to get me a good grade, Mr Peart who visited us from time to time; my grandparents who meant so much in my upbringing, not merely how they loved me, but how they loved others - they are definitely not indexed. There are many others who have shown great love to me, some of who I didn't even recognise it, but now their words and actions affect me.
The origins of All Saints day is the day when the church would remember the glorious dead - those who are saints. The Bible, if we read it carefully indicates that we are all saints the moment we come to faith, we are set free to become something more than what we have been, but twisted doctrine changed that and made it a title only available to Catholics who got into google search or got some other public recognition. Some of the people I can find from my past aren't there because they were nice. Notoriety is newsworthy. 


Yet we persist in attempting to be something big, to be the front page news as if that is all life is about. I have taken assemblies in a nearby school for about 12 years, told stories to the kids and behaved like a fool for them at fun days. They see me nowadays and let me know how much they enjoyed my acts. At the cafe I'm often entertaining kids and behaving like a little kid myself. I give ears to the little people, both adult and child, who are of no importance to the world, their input is drowned out by big headlines, but each of them is important to their creator. I would be embarrassed to be celebrated for my life, and I'm not unique in these efforts - the world is full of people who are doing little things for people. But this story is about keeping on, remembering you are important on somebodies personal front page news, the gentle word, the loving your neighbour. Jesus says that when you have given even a cup of water to one of these little one's it is as if you had done it for me. Surely the place to be is in the happy stories of children's hearts rather than front page news. So I suggest give up looking for recognition, let go of all your anxieties about success. To succeed you need to let go of your own progress and cling onto the one thing that God gave you, after all he called you for a purpose. You probably will amount to nothing in google search, very few of Jesus' followers ever make front page news - those that do, it seems, quite often is because the world doesn't want their testimony of God any longer. Lets rediscover what it is to be a saint, join with the glorious dead.

Into the Autumn we fall!

Welsh Waterfall

The summer holidays were really busy for the Bellinger family. I booked a property in Wales before summer so that we could go and get some R&R in the mountains. I also remembered I had a friend who had moved to Cardiff and wondered if he felt like a house swap! It's a bit of an unusual idea but I messaged him. He agreed to the plan (house swapping is not for the fainthearted however - we had to do a lot of tidying up beforehand). So now we had two dates in Wales. One of the highlights being a number of beautiful waterfalls we visited,  and watching Typhoons fly-by at Machloop. Besides the Wales trips we also visited Broadstairs for a week and Natalie and the girls also did the Longbarn trip! I was kind of glad when the holidays were over, we had a very busy summer!

The new term was the start for Hannah at Canary Wharf Secondary School and time will tell how well she fits in there; not being inside secondary school systems before except when we were children the institution is very  different to primary. One of the challenges these new year 7's face is mingling ith year 10' and 11's who are watching 16/18 rated films and thinking and talking about more adult content. This is a complicated issue for the children and parents. In my schooling we didn't go into secondary until we were turning 13 years old but these children are going in at age 11. It may be the school or it may be a general thing of secondary but Hannah is finding the way that her peers and the staff are responding quite shocking. The children spend a lot of time on their phones, there's a lot of gossiping and unwholesome talk from years 7's.

In Café Forever we have settled down somewhat, though it is quite a long process of getting new workers to adopt the café into themselves.We had a ministry review in October where the director of mission and others came to understand the work that we do so that they were better able to assess our alignmet with the mission strategy and see if we need adjustment. We don't yet know how this will go,but we believe wholeheartedly that  we are providing a unique service in the area, and that at it's core we are sharing the good news of salvation in Christ.

Bouncing youth group 

City of Peace, our church appointed Hannah Luke as a youth worker in December last year and now we are seeing huge growth in it's youth ministry, for which we are massively grateful, especially in these times of transition between primary and secondary school. There are discussion for the children on confidence,bullying, and self-respect to name a few. In the half-term I joined the youth group who got together for a trampolining session at Zap Space in Stratford. We took about 19 kids with us who all seemed to have a great time. I never think about how the exercise is going to affect me afterwards, always feeling at the time that I'm still a youth myself.

Light party

The same youth group put on a helloween alternative 'Light Party' on 31st October at Café Forever that was very well attended, with two of the young leaders giving a brief message on why physical and spiritual light are so important to us. They lit up a candle and passed the flame from one candle to another but showed that a fake candle with a battery in it was unable to do the same - they encouraging us to be real about our relationships with each other and with Christ. So please, in all these issues, think about us as we continue to bring light into this corner of London.