A little Christmas light for prisoners’ children

There are currently around 200,000 children in England and Wales who have a parent in prison. Special times of the year, such as Christmas and birthdays, can be especially hard, both for the parent and the child.

Here at St Luke’s, we have two prisons practically on our doorstep. So this Christmas, we took part in the Angel Tree project, run by the Prison Fellowship. The scheme arranges for the children of offenders to receive a Christmas gift from their parent (as long as the parent is allowed contact with their child). The gifts and connection bring joy to youngsters who may be missing mum or dad during the festive season, and helps to support family relationships, which often break down when someone is incarcerated. As well as benefiting the child’s wellbeing and development, family contact has been shown to significantly reduce re-offending rates.

Different members of St Luke’s each signed up to buy a gift for a particular child. These were wrapped and sent to the child with a card written by their parent (confidentiality is essential, so personal details aren’t revealed to volunteers). A Christian story book was also included, if the parent wished. A card was then forwarded to the parent, telling them what their child had received on their behalf, and sending good wishes for the festive season.

We think Angel Tree is a great initiative, and we’re delighted to have been involved. Many thanks to Ruth Skinner for organising our part in the project this year.

Angel Tree is currently running in over 80 prisons in England and Wales. You can find out more and get involved at http://www.prisonfellowship.org.uk/what-we-do/angel-tree/

Comedy gold at St Luke’s to raise money for Nightshelter

If you love comedy, you’re in luck. Juliette Burton’s show When I Grow Up was one of the big hits on the Edinburgh Fringe this year – and on Friday 3 January, she’s bringing the show to St Luke’s! Juliette – acclaimed comedy actress, writer and performer – will be taking When I Grow Up on tour across Britain and Australia in 2014. However, she’s very kindly agreed to give the people of West Holloway an advanced preview of the show, in aid of the St Luke’s Nightshelter (you can read more about that here: http://www.saintlukeschurch.org.uk/2013/12/22/st-lukes-nightshelter-prepares-to-open-its-doors/ ).

Does growing up mean letting go? As a child Juliette wanted to be many things. The world was full of possibilities – it was an exciting place to live, a place where dreams came true. But then life got in the way… Did Juliette have it right when she was a kid? Did she know what she was born to be before she grew up?

In this multi-media docu-comedy, Juliette (of award-winning duo Mace & Burton) realises her childhood ambitions. Artist, farmer, ballerina, baker, princess, pop star, cartoon, Muppet… she’s living the dream – every dream she ever had! In doing so, she explores the question: is what we do who we are? And does growing up mean letting go of your dreams?

All the money raised from this entertaining and heartwarming show will go to our Nightshelter appeal, so round up your friends for a great evening of comedy on Friday 3 January, at 7pm. Tickets cost £10 (£5 concessions). The show is suitable for children aged eight and over (there are a handful of swear words).

To read some of the rave reviews of When I Grow Up, click on the flier above. You can also visit www.julietteburton.co.uk to learn more about Juliette’s work.

St Luke’s nightshelter prepares to open its doors

One of our most important projects at St Luke’s is our annual cold weather shelter. Each January to March (the coldest three months of the year), we join forces with six other local churches to offer dinner, bed and breakfast to a number of homeless people – each church taking one day a week. This year’s shelter starts in a couple of weeks’ time, and we’re running various fundraising activities to cover the costs of the project, and to install extra facilities to make our guests’ stay more comfortable. Meanwhile, Dan Northam Jones, who oversees St Luke’s part of the project, is busy drawing up rotas and making sure everything’s in place to ensure this year’s nightshelter runs as smoothly as possible.

The nightshelter is a project that involves many members and friends of the church, and we’d love you to get involved. Here’s how you can help…

*St Luke’s is currently trying to raise £10,000 to install a shower for our nightshelter guests, a washing machine and dryer for laundry, and an industrial dishwasher to help with catering. So far, we’ve raised over £7,000. If you’re able to make a donation, please visit https://mydonate.bt.com/charities/stlukeswestholloway

*Dan and a number of other St Lukers did a sponsored 5k run a couple of weeks ago. It’s not too late to sponsor them. Please visit https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/danrunsfornightshelter to make a donation – and to see a photo of Dan in his shorts!

*If you have any other fundraising or sponsorship ideas, please contact Dan on daniel.northamjones@googlemail.com

*Dan is now planning the rota for volunteers for evening, overnight and morning shifts every Saturday (into Sunday), plus laundry and other behind-the-scenes tasks. If you’d like to help, or want to find out what’s involved, please speak to him.

STOP PRESS! *Acclaimed stand-up comic Juliette Burton will be performing her Edinburgh show here at St Luke’s on 3 January at 7pm, to raise money for the nightshelter. Book the date now.

Christmas at St Luke’s

Christmas is one of the most important festivals in the Christian calendar, and here at St Luke’s, we’re looking forward to some wonderful services and social events over the festive period.

We kick off on 15 December with our church Christmas lunch after morning worship – good food surrounded by good friends. There’ll be vegetarian and meat options with all the trimmings, festive puddings and other treats. The church members creating this wonderful spread need to know how many they’re catering for, so please sign up by emailing churchchristmaslunch@gmail.com by 11 December.

That same morning is the final week when we’ll have stalls selling church members’ handmade and fairtrade gifts, from books to jewellery, and crafts to Palestinian olive oil products. So if you’ve got last minute presents to buy, bring your wallet. (Don’t forget our regular Traidcraft stall for Christmas goodies, too.)

That evening, at 8pm on 15 December, we have our annual carol service. The St Luke’s choir will lead us in singing favourite hymns and carols, and wow us with a few of their own stirring performances too. Afterwards, there’ll be mulled wine and mince pies (it’s the congregation’s responsibility to provide the mince pies, so please buy or make some extras to bring along).

The 11am service on 22 December will be given over to the children’s nativity play. The kids have been rehearsing hard for weeks, and we’ve been promised a fun and creative rendition of the Christmas story. Based on previous years’ efforts, this is not to be missed!

On 24 December at 11.30pm, we gather at St Luke’s for midnight mass. We’ll see in Christmas day with a beautiful candle-lit service, and more evocative performances from the choir. There’ll be an opportunity to remember and pray for absent friends, who we often miss more than ever at this time of year.

Finally, on Christmas morning, there’ll be a family service at 10.30am (earlier than usual, so you can get home to put the dinner on). It’s a joyous all-age gathering to kick off the big day with a celebration of the true meaning of Christmas.

Whether you’re a regular at St Luke’s, an occasional visitor or you’ve never joined us before, you’ll find a warm welcome at all our services over the festive period. Season’s greetings to everyone in the parish of St Luke’s, West Holloway – and beyond.

Fight poverty by shopping smart

After the factory disaster in Dhaka earlier this year, we’re all a little more aware of the grim conditions faced by workers in developing countries. Not only that, but people are often paid next to nothing for their labour, thanks to powerful price control from the West, so they remain trapped in poverty and unable to support their families. A decent standard of living is little more than a dream.

‘Fairtrade’ is all about ensuring better wages and working conditions for farmers and workers in the developing world. If a product bears the Fairtrade logo, you know the producers are paid a decent price for their products and labour. This helps to fight poverty and give people more control over their own lives.

There are over 3,000 Fairtrade-certified products on sale in the UK – and quite a few of them find their way into St Luke’s on a Sunday morning, via our Traidcraft stall. Open every week after the 11am service, you can pick up basic groceries such as rice, pasta, sugar, cereal, dried fruit and chocolatey treats. Do check out the Traidcraft stall next time you join us and get into the habit of picking up your groceries there.

With Christmas fast approaching, now’s the time to check out the selection of gifts, advent calendars, cards and wrapping paper. You can browse a catalogue or look online at www.traidcraftshop.co.uk, then place an order with Rachel Blackamore and collect your items at church (saving on postage and packing costs). The final deadline for Christmas orders is Sunday 8 December.

Rosie Sheldon, who currently oversees the stall, would also like to hear from extra volunteers to run it. “It’s designed to be easy, and people quickly pick up the ropes,” says Rosie. “So if you’d like to join the rota, please let me know.”

Vox Holloway raise their voices for Syrian refugees

Don't miss the latest extravaganza by our community choir, Vox Holloway, this Sunday, 1 December, with all profits going to help Syrian refugees.

The event, entitled Songs Of Exile, will include music from around the world, and performances by two world-class soloists. You can read all about it here: http://www.saintlukeschurch.org.uk/2013/10/08/vox-holloway-raise-their-voices-for-syrian-refugees/

Since it was founded in 2009, Vox Holloway has raised over £50,000 for charities around the world. We’re very proud of the choir’s amazing achievements, and are looking forward to enjoying its latest performance. See you there!

Dancing into Christmas

If you’re looking for a magical way to kick off the festive season for your family, you’re in luck. On Friday 29 November, Springs Dance Company will be performing its acclaimed Christmas extravaganza, Journey Of The Magi, right here at St Luke’s.

Church member Naomi Cook (that’s her, in the pink tutu) is assistant director of Springs, and is also performing in the show. It’s an exciting opportunity to see our friend Naomi showcasing her talents in a sparkling production of dance, theatre, song and poetry.

Springs is a highly respected contemporary dance company, which performs shows and runs workshops in theatres, schools, colleges, churches and prisons around the UK and abroad. It aims to explore, through dance, issues of life and faith from a Christian perspective. (Visit www.springsdancecompany.org.uk to learn more, or to book the company for a workshop or event).

‘Journey Of The Magi, based on the T S Eliot poem of the same name, will catapult you into the excitement of Advent and Christmas,’ says Naomi. ‘Look out for my favourite parts: the comic shopping scene, and the beautiful “otherness” of the dream. This evening of dance theatre is a treat for all the family.’

David Bintley, Artistic Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, agrees. ‘Springs Dance Company’s Journey Of The Magi is the best Christmas show I’ve ever seen!’ he says. ‘It looks beyond the tinsel and trappings to reveal the real meaning of Christmas. I was touched, amused and moved to tears.’

High praise indeed! So don’t miss your chance to see this entertaining and compelling show at 7.30pm on Friday 29 November (doors open at 7.20pm, as the show is preceded by a talk on Springs’ work for invited guests). As a gift to the community, tickets are a bargain £3 for adults, £1.50 for children, so you can afford to round up friends, family and your children’s playmates for a special evening out. Tickets are available from Naomi after Sunday services at St Luke’s, and on the door. However, spaces are limited, so to be sure of getting a seat, email info@springsdancecompany.org.uk and say you’re from St Luke’s.

Bad Christian out in paperback

Here at St Luke’s, we reckon we can boast more authors than any other church in the country (although we admit we haven’t done the research). Our vicar, Dave Tomlinson, has written a number of popular volumes on spirituality. In fact, some of us found our way to St Luke’s after reading his ground-breaking book, The Post-Evangelical, which caused a stir in the wider church during the 1990s.

Dave’s latest book, How To Be A Bad Christian… And A Better Human Being, has been a big hit – and not just within the church. After a year of the hardback hovering around the top of the spirituality book charts, it recently came out in paperback. To support the new edition, Dave has lots of speaking engagements around the country. (If he’s not speaking in your area, you can get in touch to discuss booking him for an event.) You can learn more about How To Be A Bad Christian at www.badchristian.co.uk

As if that isn’t enough to keep him busy, Dave is also working on his next book, How To Reinvent God (And Other Modest Proposals). As members of the congregation, we get to enjoy advanced snippets from the book when they make their way into Dave’s sermons on Sunday mornings.

If you haven’t yet read How To Be A Bad Christian, we recommend it – and not just because we love Dave (although we do). Leading spiritual thinkers from around the globe have also enthused over the book. You can buy copies direct from Dave on Sunday mornings, from his website at http://badchristian.co.uk/bookstore/ and from all good bookshops. Your life may never be the same again.

Remembering those we’ve loved and lost

Many people find their way to St Luke’s through the saddest of circumstances –planning a funeral for a loved one. Others have found comfort in the love and support of people at St Luke’s during the dark time after losing a friend or family member. As a church, we often include opportunities during regular services to remember and give thanks for people we’ve loved and lost – perhaps through lighting a candle, saying a prayer, or the shared experience of communion, which symbolically gathers together all people, both living and dead.

However, once a year there’s a special service dedicated to those who’ve departed this world. All Souls Day (also known as the Commemoration of All Faithful Departed) falls on 2 November. St Luke’s will be holding its All Souls service the next day, on Sunday 3 November, at 4pm. It’s an opportunity to pray for departed souls, give thanks for those we’ve loved, and light a candle in their memory. Their names will be read out as part of the service.

The service is particularly popular with people who’ve attended funerals at St Luke’s in the preceding year, but anyone is welcome to attend, and some people make the journey every year.

If you’d like the name(s) of your loved one(s) to be read out at the service on 3 November, you can fill in a form (which you’ll find at the back of the church) and pass it to Pat Tomlinson. Alternatively, if you’re not a regular at St Luke’s, you can email your request to patriciatomlinson@mac.com. We look forward to welcoming you to the All Souls service to remember those you’ve loved and lost.

Getting Lyrical

If you were impressed by the acts at the brilliant Speakeasy last week and would like a chance to enjoy them again – or you’ve heard what a great event you missed and wish there was another opportunity to see some of the performers – then you’re in luck!

Lyrical is a lower-key event this Sunday 20th October, when you can hear some of the top acts from last week performing in a more intimate, acoustic setting. There’ll be music and poetry from the likes of Rick Leigh, Martin Wroe, Dust Jackets and Rhian Roberts, and an appearance by acclaimed singer-songwriter Iain Archer, all live and unplugged.

So for a relaxed and inspiring evening of ‘acoustic words and spoken music’, head to St Luke’s this Sunday at 7.30pm for Lyrical. Tickets cost £8 (£4 concessions), including first drink. Money raised from the evening will go to the Women@TheWell safe house and drop-in centre for vulnerable women in Kings Cross, and the work of St Luke’s in the community.