The Parish of Walworth, St Peter

Walworth, London SE17
St Peter's Church has stood at the heart of this community for nearly 190 years, witnessing to the love of God. Come and see - all welcome!


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May 22

Come, Holy Spirit!

Bishop Michael Ipgrave, the Bishop of Woolwich, came to confirm nearly 20 adults at St Peter’s Church last Sunday. He preached on the Holy Spirit and has kindly sent us this prayer written by St Simeon the New Theologian:

Come, true light;

come, eternal life;

come, hidden mystery;

come, treasure without name;

come, unutterable thing;

come, unknowable person;

come, incessant joy!

Come, light unfading;

come, hope which will save all.

Come, resurrection of the dead;

come, O powerful one, who fulfillest, transformest and changest all things by thy will alone;

come, invisible one, wholly intangible and impalpable.

Come, thou who restest always immovable and who, at all times, movest thyself and comest toward us who lie in hell.

Thou standest higher than the heavens.

Thy name so greatly desired and constantly proclaimed, none is able to say what it is.

None can know how thou art, of what kind or species, for that is impossible.

Come, garland never withered;

come, thou whom my wretched soul has loved and whom it loves!

Come alone to me alone.

Come, thou who hast separated me from all and hast made me lonely in this world and who thyself art become desire in me,

who hast willed that I should desire thee, thou, absolutely inaccessible.

Come, breath and my own life, consolation of my lowly heart.

COME, HOLY SPIRIT.


May 21
Come and party, volunteer, meet your local community, win prizes, have fun, celebrate 60 years of devoted service of The Queen!

Come and party, volunteer, meet your local community, win prizes, have fun, celebrate 60 years of devoted service of The Queen!


May 19

Novena of the Holy Spirit: Ascension Day to Pentecost


 

Nine Days of Prayer:

Come, Holy Spirit! 


Pentecost is a very special time of year for the Church and for us as Christians. Pentecost means fifty days, and it always comes fifty days after Easter. (In fact the day of Pentecost is the end of the Easter season.)

Pentecost is when we remember the time when the Holy Spirit came to fill the apostles (St Peter and all the others), and Mary the Mother of God with God’s love. And the Spirit gave them God’s power to share the good news about Jesus with everyone! It’s the Church’s birthday!

This happened nine days after Jesus went up into heaven, after the resurrection. Just before he went, he told the apostles to stay in the city and pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit. So that’s what we’re going to do! It’s called a ‘novena’, which means ‘nine days’.

Daily Prayers for the Novena to the Holy Spirit

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

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May 13

The Wonderful Borough of Southwark!

This afternoon I was privileged to attend the Southwark Civic Association Awards Ceremony at St George’s Roman Catholic Cathedral. I went with the daughter of a member of our congregation who sadly died in March this year. Today, our sister Susan Day was posthumously awarded a Special Award for Civic Responsibility for her work in helping the clean-up on the Walworth Road after the civil disturbance in August 2011. It was a proud moment for those of us who knew and loved Susan, and we would so have loved Susan to have been able to receive this herself; a wonderful recognition for a quiet person who simply got on with serving her God and her neighbour, both people she knew and also fundraising for people she would never know.

The ceremony was a glorious feast of good news stories! Young and old were celebrated for their achievements, both public and hidden; over a short period (like the riots) or over a lifetime of service. But although we attended a fantastically colourful event surrounded with great dignity and ceremony (including a beautifully engraved sword held by a young man leading the procession!), Southwark’s Civic Association was only set up in 1995. Its aim is to rekindle civic pride in Southwark and to honour the civic achievements of residents of the Borough. Well today, you’d have thought this had been going on for centuries.

And perhaps that’s precisely the point. What I felt today was a real sense of being part of a wider human family: Southwark. Celebrating achievements is one way that we form our identity. There are plenty of hardships we all go through, and things to work at improving. But today was simply about celebrating the good in people who have used their gifts to make the world a better place.

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May 11

May 7
[Flash 10 is required to watch video]

Junior Church at St Peter’s have begun reflecting on Bishop Christopher’s call to mission: Faith, Hope, Love! They are preparing the way for the adults in church, as we’ll be receiving our invitations at the time of Pentecost!

We’re really proud of the work JC have produced with Siriol Davies, JC Co-ordinator!


Apr 26
Walworth Diamond Jubilee Party in the Park! Saturday 2nd June 2012: Faraday Gardens, SE17!
We are holding an amazing Party in the Park to celebrate The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee here in Walworth - save the date! From 11am to 6pm there’ll be fairground rides, hot food, bingo, football shoot-out, face-painting, prizes for the best-dressed guests, and much more!! Watch this space for more info to follow!

Walworth Diamond Jubilee Party in the Park! Saturday 2nd June 2012: Faraday Gardens, SE17!

We are holding an amazing Party in the Park to celebrate The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee here in Walworth - save the date! From 11am to 6pm there’ll be fairground rides, hot food, bingo, football shoot-out, face-painting, prizes for the best-dressed guests, and much more!! Watch this space for more info to follow!


Apr 22

Happy St George’s Day!

Father Andrew’s sermon for Evensong for the eve of the Feast of St George:

‘and your words became to me a joy
   and the delight of my heart;
for I am called by your name,
   O Lord, God of hosts.’ 

Words from the Prophet Jeremiah. Today we celebrate St George the Martyr, Patron Saint of England. As a nation, the English are not necessarily very good at celebrating our national heritage or achievements. Among even the countries of the United Kingdom, poor old St George doesn’t fair very well at all when we look at the pride and joy with which the Welsh celebrate St David, or the Scotts St Andrew, for instance.

There is probably something quite English about not making ‘too much fuss’, something about keeping your hair very much up, and somehow not being able to let your hair down on these occasions. I suppose you could call it English ‘reserve’. I am sure this can be a virtue, but it hasn’t really left us with much of a sense of real celebration for our national Saint and his feast day.

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Mar 31

This is Holy Week.

Palm Sunday is the beginning of the most solemn and important week of the Christian year. On Palm Sunday we hear the story of Jesus’s amazing entry into Jerusalem - riding on a donkey, with the people shouting ‘Hosannah!’ At St Peter’s we begin Palm Sunday in St Peter’s School Hall with the blessing of palm crosses. We then process through the parish with palm branches (from a congregation member’s garden!) and palm crosses, singing praises, in the spirit of those who greeted Jesus when he entered Jerusalem. 

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week, we have Mass at 6pm, reflecting on different aspects of the Holy Week story. On Wednesday, the Mass of Reconciliation gives us time to reflect on the times when we have failed God, and then focussing on God’s forgiveness and grace.

On Maundy Thursday the evening Mass is very vivid, with the priest washing people’s feet after we hear the story of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet to show us how to love one another. The church is then stripped of all decoration and statues and we begin a vigil of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament until 12 midnight. We do this remembering that when Jesus asked his first disciples to pray with him, they fell asleep in his hour of need. The service is especially suitable for children and young people.

Good Friday is a particularly solemn day of fasting in memory of Christ’s crucifixion. We join other Christians locally for a walk of witness. Then the afternoon Liturgy includes the story of Christ’s death on the cross and we have the chance to venerate the cross. We receive Communion in a very simple way, before leaving the church in silence.

Holy Saturday is a silent day. The whole Church waits as we remember Christ’s descent into hell to redeem even the depths. No Sacraments are celebrated today. We simply wait. But of course, there are also preparations to be made in church, and all are welcome to come and help out in the morning!

Easter Eve! ’This is the night!’ Here we begin our celebration of the single most important day and season in the Christian year: Easter has arrived! The Easter Vigil is a very dramatic service, beginning outside church with the lighting and blessing of the new Easter fire, from which the new Easter (Paschal) Candle is lit. We then hear a number of Bible readings leading up tot he proclamation of the resurrection, and the great joy of Easter, which fills the universe! By ancient custom, new Christians are baptised, and we celebrate with Champagne and fireworks!

At Mass on Easter Day, we celebrate with joyful hymns, more Baptisms, decorating the Easter cross (bring a flower!), the blessing of Easter eggs (provided for kids, but feel free to bring an egg to be blessed!), and joy of Easter continues through the whole Easter season!

Below are the details of times for all the services of Holy Week and Easter:

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Mar 15

Christian faith & the challenge of speaking in the public square

We’re very grateful to Terry Drummnd for allowing us to post this excellent paper given at Cafe Theologique, an initiative of Churches Together in South London

Wisdom cries aloud in the open air,

and raises her voice in public places.

She calls at the top of the bustling streets;

at the approaches of the city gates……..

Proverbs 1: 20-21

The image of a public preacher crying out in the open air in the UK is one that brings to mind an image of the slightly ‘odd’ characters that stand in North end, Croydon with the scriptures in their hand and appealing for repentance. Their commitment is obvious but it does seem to be counter cultural to our way of life. The use of the word ‘odd’ to describe such individuals is in itself a value judgement that stereotypes all such individuals unfairly.

The truth is that most of us are embarrassed by the sight of such individuals and would on the whole prefer them to go away.

The other image is the more sedate one of the Christian leader who seeks to speak words of wisdom and even prophecy to our wider society. The Bishops in the House of Lords, the resolutions and conferences and speeches from Church leaders are all part of the sharing of Christian wisdom and insight to our wider society.

The question for many commentators is why Christians should and people of other faith traditions have a right to a voice in public discourse and debate. In what is perceived to be a secular age, faith is just one idea among a whole collection of what might be describes as public truth.

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Mar 14

‘Gay marriage’, and a God who longs for us to love one another

Father Andrew writes:

There’s been a lot of talk in recent weeks about ‘gay marriage’, both within society and in the Christian churches. I’ve followed some of this in the news and other networks. Until now I haven’t felt any personal need to put pen to paper, as it were. However, some recent encounters have meant that I feel I need to say what I think publicly now. And it’s fairly simple for me. I want to list a number of phrases I’ve heard recently.

“Marriage enriches the fabric of society.” I couldn’t agree more. And therefore it is very plain to me that same sex marriage would simply enrich society further. Indeed, gay friends of mine have sometimes said that it would be easier for gay people to find stability if it were able to be acknowledged and bless by the Church. Not all hetero- or homo-sexual people want to settle down and ‘enrich society’, but many do. The Church must welcome all who want to do so and support them through their life together.

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St Patrick’s Day Party!!!

Saturday 17th March is Saint Patrick’s Day!


St Peter’s Social Committee invite you to a fantastic evening in the Crypt!

Games, competitions & prizes!

 

5.30-6.30pm Children’s Fun & Games

(Children must be accompanied by an adult)

 

7.00pm -10.30pm A night of games and entertainment for the ‘big children’!!

Bingo, Quiz, bar, games!

 

In aid of our community events this year:

 The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee (2nd June) and Walworth’s Got Talent (13th October).

                               

Prize for the best dressed guests (think St Patrick’s Day, Diamond Jubilee, traditional dress, suited and booted!!!) We’d be grateful for any raffle prizes you can bring – especially chocolate gifts (small and large!) for a fantastic Chocolate Tombola on 2nd June!!

 

Free Entry! Everyone welcome!



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