The Parish of Walworth, St Peter

We have a date! Saturday 13th July will be our 2013 Party in the...

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:58:27 +0100

We have a date! Saturday 13th July will be our 2013 Party in the Park! 11am-5pm, and everyone welcome, as ever! In St Peter’s Churchyard and Faraday Gardens, with fun for everyone, and it will be even bigger and better this year! There will be lots to do and a drawing competition again. Look out for posters for more details! Walworth’s best Party in the Park!! ;-)

Pentecost 2013 Novena booklet.pdf

Sat, 04 May 2013 00:30:13 +0100

Pentecost 2013 Novena booklet.pdf:

This coming week we celebrate Ascension Day on Thursday 9th May. Before he ascended, Jesus told his disciples to stay in the city where the Holy Spirit would clothe them with power to proclaim the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ. (St Luke 24, Acts 1)

So Jesus commanded the apostles to pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit. They gathered with the Mother Mary and prayed together for nine days until the feast of Pentecost, when the Spirit was poured out upon them.

In making these nine days, or novena, of prayer, we are following Jesus’s command and the example of Blessed Mary and the apostles.

Novena prayer cards are available in church, or you can find it by clicking the title link above. It is a beautiful prayer to say on your own, or with others, and is suitable for children of most ages. Please let us know how it goes!

Happy Easter! Alleluia, Christ is risen! We had amazing...

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 14:15:53 +0100

Happy Easter! Alleluia, Christ is risen!

We had amazing celebrations on Easter Eve and Easter Day here at St Peter’s with lots of Baptisms and beautiful liturgies in a packed church!

The good news is that Easter lasts for 50 days! The Great Sunday! Come and see our Easter flowers and enjoy the beauty of St Peter’s Church! The Parish Mass is at 10.30am and you are very welcome. Other services are listed here.

Happy Easter!

We’re installing the Royal Coat of Arms in St...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 23:27:15 +0100

We’re installing the Royal Coat of Arms in St Peter’s Church!! Would you like to be part of history and help us make this happen?

Holy Week and Easter Services

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 12:11:55 +0000

Details of Holy Week services:

Monday - Wednesday
9.10am Morning Prayer
6.00pm Said Mass with Reflection
(Wed: 6pm Mass of Reconciliation & Forgiveness)

Maundy Thursday

9.10am School Service with Foot-washing
(11am Chrism Mass at Southwark Cathedral)

7.30pm Mass of the Lord’s Supper with foot-washing

Good Friday

1.30pm Liturgy of Good Friday (in church) & Building the Easter Garden with Diddi Disciples (Age 0-6 yrs, in the Crypt)

Confessions will be heard after Morning Prayer or before the 6pm Masses, or by arrangement.

Easter Eve (Sat 30th)

8.30pm Easter Vigil and First Mass of Easter with Baptism and Renewal of Vows

followed by Champagne break-fast party and fireworks!

Easter Day (Sun 31st)

10.30am Sung Mass for Easter Day with Baptism and Renewal of Vows

Please bring a flower to decorate the Easter cross!

If you cannot be at St Peter’s, please go to www.achurchnearyou.com to find a local parish church.

It's Palm Sunday already!

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 20:30:08 +0000

It really is hard to believe that we are already in Passion-tide and this Sunday is Palm Sunday! This means we’re coming to the end of our pilgrimage through Lent. But it also means a new beginning is coming…

We’ve been particularly busy at St Peter’s this Lent. There have been the usual liturgies and opportunities for prayer, but we’ve also been hosting the Robes Project, a winter night shelter for homeless people.

This Palm Sunday is going to be amazing! We have Bishop Christopher coming to preside for us and as well as beginning with the procession of Palms (we begin in the School Hall at 10.30am), Bishop Christopher and the Worshipful Mayor of Southwark, Cllr Althea Smith, will lead a great procession up the Walworth Road, which will be partly closed to traffic! Lots of people are also already excited about another special guest: Dennis the Donkey!

This begins a week of powerful services, telling the story of the last week of Jesus’s earthly life, and preparing us to celebrate the resurrection of Christ from the dead on Easter Day!

So, are you ready for the final stage of our journey to the cross, and beyond, with Jesus?

Please try to come to as many services as you can during Holy Week. Why not plan your week around coming to church at least on Maundy Thursday (7.30pm) and Good Friday (1.30pm)? You’ll be joining Christians throughout the world and throughout the generations!

Have a very blessed Holy Week, and Happy Easter when it comes!

With joy,

Father Andrew

Knitting for the Evelina Children's Hospital!

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 23:18:45 +0000

Margaret Goodson’s Pattern for Cot Blankets (Incubator Size)

Southwark News recently launched a campaign to raise £100,000 for the Evelina Children’s Hospital. It’s such a good cause, and so many of us are thankful for treatment we or our children have received there, from the dedicate expert staff. So we thought we’d get knitting, and here’s the pattern!

This pattern, designed by congregation member and serious-knitter, Margaret Goodson, will make a beautiful blanket with a border and a patterned main section, just right for a premature baby in an incubator or cot at the Evelina Children’s Hospital. You need very little experience to knit one! If you get stuck, come to the 10am Mass on a Thursday morning for our knitting clinic!

Why not ask people to sponsor you to knit for the Evelina (per row or blanket depending on your speed!!!), otherwise later in the year we’re going to have a blanket auction to raise money for the Evelina! Right, off to add a few rows to my first blanket…

Materials:

1 x pair of 3.75mm knitting needles

1 x 100 gram ball of wool (suitable colour for a baby!)

Key:

K = plain knitting

P = pearl

Instructions & Pattern:

Cast on 100 stitches

Knit 8 rows

Work pattern rows as follows:

Row 1

K4 (border). K2, P2 - repeat to last 4 stitches. K 4 (border)

Row 2

K4 (border). K2, P2 - repeat to last 4 stitches. K 4 (border)

Row 3

K4 (border). P2, K2 - repeat to last 4 stitches. K 4 (border)

Row 4

K4 (border). K2, P2 - repeat to last 4 stitches. K 4 (border)

…until most of the ball of wool is used, leaving enough to work 8 rows of plain knitting for the border.

Knit 8 rows

Cast off, knit-wise

1 Second Every Day... Or 1 minute?

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 11:05:37 +0000

I was intrigued to see a feature on the BBC News website about an app called 1 Second Everyday which is coming out soon. The creator,Cesar Kuriyama, decided to take a year off work - lucky him! - to travel and spend time with family, and to document this by recording a second of video every day. “After just six weeks, I realised I was going to be doing that for the rest of my life,” he says. This was clearly a life-changing moment for him and I was moved and inspired to read that little sentence.

It looks like fun, and I’m going to try it. I’ve been struck by how many photos I take of our children. We have thousands, literally, from their first few years of life! I’m guessing there’s at least one photo a month even from the busiest times… It’s lovely to have photos capturing so many different moments, expressions, people. The danger, of course, is that in trying to capture the moment, that we ourselves miss the moment.

I’m going to have a go at 1 Second Everyday and see how it works for me - I suspect I’ll often either forget, or spend too long agonising over which second to record: should it be family, work, can I fit all three of my children into the one second and do them all justice, etc, etc!

But what this really reminds me of, is the call to stand and stare. The call to be present to every moment, because right here, right now is the only place I can meet God. Not yesterday, or tomorrow, but right now. Stopping, even for one minute, to pause and try to fully be aware of God’s presence, can help us to carry God’s presence into the busyness of the rest of the time when we’re not able to stop and reflect.

Perhaps we could try to stop for 1 minute every day, or 1 minute morning and evening, and just be fully present, just stop for a minute and be aware of the gift of life, be thankful for the blessings and offer to God the difficulties we face. Perhaps there’s an app in it..! Certainly, the Irish Jesuit website www.sacredspace.ie is well worth a look - right now! Maybe we’ll realise this is something to do for the rest of our lives!

Ok, now, I’m going to set my egg timer for just 1 minute and sit still… … …

On Sunday 6th January, we’ll be blessing chalk at the...

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 20:18:51 +0000

On Sunday 6th January, we’ll be blessing chalk at the Parish Mass for people to take home and mark the lintels of their doors asking God’s blessing at Epiphany! Here is the order which you can use at home, too. If you’d like some blessed chalk, please call into the parish church which is open around service times. Happy Epiphany!

The Word became human like you and me: Happy Christmas!

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 02:15:26 +0000

Father Andrew’s sermon at Midnight Mass 2012

‘The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’

It’s so good to gather together here this evening for this first Mass of Christmas, Madam Mayor, dear friends and neighbours. The shops are all closed, what we’ve bought we’ve bought, what we’ve forgotten, we’ve forgotten. There’s nothing left now, but Christmas! And I did manage to get a bargain on a yule log in Marks’s before they closed! ‘The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.’ We are here in this beautifully decorated church, all the candles burning, because the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us: this holy night.

Saint Matthew and Saint Luke tell us all about the birth of Jesus, about the stable, the shepherds. St John tells us what it all means. We need all of this for a full and beautiful picture of Christmas.

‘The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’

This is St John’s way of describing the birth of Jesus, the Babe of Bethlehem, Mary’s boy-child Jesus Christ. It’s not how you’d normally describe the birth of a baby, is it? And of course, in some ways this was not a normal baby, yet in other ways it really was. ‘The little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes’ – yeah, right!! Silent night, holy night – yeah right!!

But although I am taking the mickey out of our favourite carols, there is also truth in those verses. Yes, Jesus cried and made all the usual noises and mess any baby makes. (And that reminds us that God is interested in our real life, our often messy lives.) But that little baby also brought a way of peace, a way of love that would change the world. That night may have been full of the busy sounds of Bethlehem and the census of the day, but at the same time the universe held its breath as a baby boy was born who would change the course of human history for ever.

‘The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’

A more modern translation of the Bible says: The Word of God became human like you and me, and moved into the neighbourhood.

I like that, ‘moved into the neighbourhood.’ The Son of God became human like you and me, and moved into Walworth, into the London Borough of Southwark.

The Word became flesh – in the Baby Jesus God becomes human, flesh and blood. That’s why the baby Jesus is different from other babies. As well as crying and giggling and laughing and doing everything else that babies do, Jesus is God become human. A cosmic reality, a mystery of faith.

At the heart of this great mystery is the simple fact that God wants to be close to us. On the front of our Mass booklets is an icon, an image of Jesus and Mary. In it, Jesus pushes himself close to Mary’s face, and Mary responds with adoring love.

This Christmas, Jesus pushes himself close to us, reaching out to cuddle us, to love us. Children aren’t ashamed to show love, they put their arms around us and pull us close; they grab hold of our hands and show us the things they love, the things they’re fascinated by. The child Jesus is the same, and he will grow into the man Jesus who opens his arms wide for us on the cross to show that God’s love for you and for me is completely inexhaustible, completely all-encompassing, completely unconditional.

‘The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’ God right here with us, reaching out to us. And here we are reaching out in return. God is close to us, and we are close to God.

I know the year’s not over yet, but it’s been a positive year in many ways here in Walworth and in the UK more widely. So many of us had a fantastic time at St Peter’s Diamond Jubilee Party in the Park, a great celebration of The Queen’s amazing 60 years of service, but also a wonderful celebration of our community here in Walworth. We had such a good time people have asked us to do another Party in the Park next year! And so we will!

The Olympic & Paralympic Games have brought great hope and pride to our nation.

Of course times have also been difficult; in so many ways, both for many of us as individuals and indeed as a community, a nation. And yet, needs are being met. We have had generous donations towards the Robes Project winter night shelter we host here at St Peter’s. Tomorrow, the Tope Project will host a brilliant Christmas Day celebration in the Crypt for young people who’ve been in care.

I believe that God is in all of this. In the natural human response to the needs of others, in the amazing achievements of young and old, of Olympians and Paralympians as well as our own daily acheivements.

I believe that God is with each one of us. And that is one of the Christmas names of Jesus: Emmanuel, God with us.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

We have seen the glory – here in Walworth; a glory which is not abstract but is revealed in human flesh, revealed in a weak dependent baby – God dependent on us, on the Church, on the community. Dependent on us to build a better world. And we start with our own hearts.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us

May we open our hearts this Christmas to know the deep, deep love of God in Jesus Christ for you and me and every single human being. Amen.

Jason (InSpire’s amazing IT tutor) managed to capture the...

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 19:51:52 +0000

Jason (InSpire’s amazing IT tutor) managed to capture the glory of my secret Santa gift of glowing reindeer lights! They went down very well the next day in St Peter’s School at Christmas lunch!! Thank you Secret St Nicholas!!

An alternative view on our Walworth Christmas tree image! Happy...

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 10:11:48 +0000

An alternative view on our Walworth Christmas tree image! Happy Christmaaaaaaaasss!!!!!

Carol Service homily: Our home in God's house!

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 09:41:00 +0000

Father Andrew’s homily from the Candle-lit Carol Service, Sunday 16th Dec in St Peter’s Church. By candle-light!

I look forward to this service every year! Mind you, I’ve only been coming for three years, and I guess some of you have been coming for many more! It’s a great moment to come together. To hear the Christmas story, and get ready for our celebration of the mystery of Christ’s birth at Christmas. To pray for ourselves, our community, our word.

Christmas, is about many things, and one of them is habits! Good and bad, perhaps!

Well, one good habit I’ve got into is reading the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Christmas message each year in the Radio Times. I’m too mean to buy it so I read it on the Archbishop’s website for free!

You may know that current Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop Rowan Williams is retiring from the post after ten years. He has been extraordinary in many ways, and often at his best in ‘real’ communities like ours. I remember hearing him preach at a church down the road, and he just stood in front of the altar, with no notes and spoke to us about God’s love in the most amazing way.

Well, in his Christmas message this year he is in a slightly nostalgic mood, and he reflects on his Cathedral, Canterbury Cathedral. So taking, his lead, I wanted to offer some reflections on this church, St Peter’s Church; our parish church, which has stood here, as a sign of God’s love since 1825, nearly 190 years. I’m sure you’ll agree with me that it says something about the beauty of God, the glory of God.

St Peter’s church was built by people who believed that this parish of Walworth, like every parish community needed a beating heart of prayer and praise; needed a place where our spirit can breathe alongside the Holy Spirit of God.

St Peter’s Church is certainly one of the largest, and most beautiful spaces in here in Walworth. It is our only Grade I listed building, as it happens. Perhaps our most beautiful building. I know that when we gather in this church to worship, or even sometimes just being in here when it’s quiet and empty; in this building, I find it somehow easier to really know that God is here for me, that like this building, God’s heart is large and beautiful.

This building carries so many stories, so many histories. Every week, I hear one story or another about someone’s connection with St Peter’s – the church or the school. Dear friends, this is our home, the house of God, the God who loves each one of us as a perfect Father or Mother. Our prayers, our hopes and fears, our joys and sorrows adorn the walls of this church and make it beautiful.

I invite you, well really God invites us all, to make this our home. To join in the life of this church, which is here for us all day in day out. The prayers offered here for everyone who lives, works, and worships in this parish are a sort of spiritual beating heart, lungs breathing in and out for all our souls.

And just as this building, this holy temple, this sanctuary of peace and holiness, this church of the living God belongs to each one of us, so too the Christmas story is ours. This baby who will be born, belongs to each one of us; and we belong to him.

May the deep peace of the Christ Child be yours this Christmas, may God’s holy angels watch over you and everyone dear to you, may you know God’s love in everything that you do. Amen.

What’s on during Advent at St Peter’s?...

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 14:56:32 +0000

What’s on during Advent at St Peter’s? Everyone’s welcome!

Here’s our 2012 Christmas image: Wishing Walworth and...

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 20:17:23 +0000

Here’s our 2012 Christmas image: Wishing Walworth and beyond a very Happy Christmas! And a blessed Advent!

Amen!

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 20:15:10 +0000

Amen!

Welcome to St Peter’s, Walworth!

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 00:42:13 +0100

Welcome to St Peter’s, Walworth!

Walworth’s Got Talent 2! We all had a fantastic evening...

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 00:29:00 +0100

Walworth’s Got Talent 2!

We all had a fantastic evening for the second staging of Walworth’s biggest and best talent show! Winner Joseph Chukwu (aged 10) thrilled everyone with his combination of Michael Jackson with afro beats, in a charismatic and highly skilled dance routine. The evening ended with a reprise from Joseph during which young people piled spontaneously onto the stage to join him, and everyone in the packed church was on their feet.

With hundreds of local residents in church for this community event, there was a fab atmosphere. The youngest performers and those in it ‘just for fun’ had the afternoon session to themselves, and really showed a lot of talent and courage. Cllr Anood Al-Samerai tweeted from the show: “Walworth really does have talent! Amazing performances at St Peters from absolute stars. V emotional, powerful and touching”

The event was in part sponsored by Walworth Community Council, and Cllr Peter John addressed the audience saying, ‘We are pleased that the Council has been able to support this amazing event.’ Members of the Nelson TRA offered free face-painting to children, and local MP Simon Hughes also came along to support local performers.

The other finalists were Zoe and Morgan who sang, and the oldest performer Reg O’Donohughe (80) who performed a comedy dance routine!

Father Andrew said: ‘This has been a fantastic celebration of talent in SE17. We’re so pleased that so many residents and community leaders have gathered together for this event. Walworth has amazing talent and St Peter’s is really proud to have staged Walworth’s Got Talent 2!’

This year’s Judges’ Panel were:

Modupe Adeyeye - Actress, most known for her role as Faith in Eastenders (also former Real Drama student!)
Leanne Pero - Dance tutor with dance empire Movement Factory which teaches and delivers various classes all over South London
Peter Wells-Thorpe - President of the 3003 group, theatre and film writer and director, Peter has also worked in the music industry

WGT2 was produced by Ali Moore, founder of Real Drama. Guest performers were Infecta, who hosted and performed and James Cameron whodanced.

Happy Feast of St Francis of Assisi! Today we blessed a...

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 23:25:23 +0100

Happy Feast of St Francis of Assisi! Today we blessed a selection of local dogs in St Peter’s Churchyard. While last year a little Jack Russell dog bit into a large black Labrador drawing blood (which spattered all over the clergy’s white cottas!), this year was a very peaceful affair! Little Pippa enjoyed singing along with All Things Bright and Beautiful, as did other doggies and owners alike.

Emma from the Southwark News came along to take a few photos and find out more about this, now annual, event. It was a fun afternoon, and nice to get out into the Churchyard for this little service.

However, this evening, on my way to the Walworth Society meeting in church I managed to walk through a pile of dog dirt!! There was very nearly an impromptu service of dog cursing!!! I know none of our lovely owners would have let their well-kept pooches pooh on the path, though!

Perhaps next year’s service will pass without the clergy getting covered in any kind of doggy bodily products!

St Francis of Assisi, pray for us!

Patience: a virtue

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 23:30:57 +0100

The Dutch Roman Catholic priest and spiritual writer Father Henri Nouwen once said that a lack of patience was one of the biggest problems for our generation. I think this was in one of his talks I used to have on cassette tape(!), but can’t remember where. He talked about visiting prison and finding a lot of impatient people. To paraphrase in my own summary: the thief was one who could not wait to have whatever it was she wanted. The rapist was one who could not wait for the mutual relationship he truly desired deep down. The murderer was one who could not wait for a way through a problem relationship, or could not wait for what it was that the victim possessed.

Patience really is a virtue which can often hold the key to other virtues; and the lack of patience can so often lead to a complete disrespect for others.

A year ago we were still engulfed in the shock of the riots and looting across England. The cause has been chewed over by many able people. A theological, or moral answer might be that simple: a lack of patience. A lack of patience which in some respects lead to a possibly justifiable protest, and in others respects led to pure and simple wrong actions. What is clear is that many had lost patience with a society which wanted to leave them behind; which told them they ought to have certain things, but left them disenfranchised from the means to earn them patiently. Some, I’m sure, had simply never wanted to learn the discipline of patience, and so took the opportunity to take what they wanted without the need to wait; and with devastating effect on small businesses not least here on the Walworth Road.

Our lack of patience causes so much human hurt, from the smallest disrespect to another human being who is ‘in our way’ to road rage and beyond. Becoming more patient can be a habit to acquire, but it takes… patience! And plenty of it. We’ll all have different strategies, and can learn from the ones our children are taught in school: counting to ten, breathing deeply, getting out of situations where we might blow our top, and so on. But perhaps deeper than all of that is coming to know that whatever comes our way, we are deeply, deeply loved by God our Creator.

Henri Nouwen said: “We are not defined by what we achieve. We are not defined by what we have. We are not defined by what others think of us. Coming home is about claiming the truth. I am the beloved child of a Creator who loves me.” (my translation)

O God, please give me patience. Now!!