November Newsletter! - Eric in the UK

St. Pancras News
November

It has been an incredible month full of new faces, events, and environments. Looking back, it is hard to believe that this all took place in one month! Here are some of the highlights.

Holiday in Saltburn
I decided to take a short holiday away from the chaotic and busy nature of London and come visit my friend Maren (another Lutheran volunteer) in Saltburn for a few days. It was very good to get away and have time to think and explore the beautiful English landscape. Saltburn is a small little village on the Northeast border between England and Scotland. It is a sleepy seaside town of 5,000 people who take life at there own pace.
With it being close to the 3 month marker of my adventure here in England, I have been thinking about where I have been and where I still have to go. I think there are some solid things that I have learned about myself which I more or less didn't expect. The first one is being confident in a large, worldly city and not being afraid. God has really pushed me in this direction of learning successfully not only the culture of a new country, but also learning the language of an inner city ghetto. It takes a lot to not be overwhelmed by it all and to be able to break up all of the activity into chunks that can be successfully processed.
With the curve of learning culture, God has encouraged me to build confidence in meeting and relating to people. In fact, as of now, I think this piece of my job I like most of all. I love to go over to people's homes and hear their stories (and drink their wonderful tea!). There are SO MANY stories to be heard and to be told. It gives me courage and hope not only in myself, but in humanity when I hear of all the struggles that people have persevered through in Camden. Performing On Stage and Dancing the Night Away!!

Last Saturday, the Parish of St. Pancras had a parish-wide Dinner/Dance which was a fundraiser for the Shrine of Walsingham. For those of you who are not aware of Walsingham, this shrine is a special place. There has been a Shrine to Mary the Virgin in this little village since the 8th century. The Shrine was demolished with Henry VIII- but was rebuilt in the early half of this century using images from coins of the era. The Shrine continues to be an important site for European Christians to make a Pilgrimage. The Church in Walsingham is fundraising for a restoration of the shrine and more residence halls to house pilgrims. Our parish decided to hold this dinner, dance, and raffle and see how much money they could come up with. Over 90 people showed up to St. Paul's Church in Camden Square for the event. Father Nicholas wanted to make sure that this was as formal of an event as possible and wanted all of the wait staff (namely the pastoral assistants and church wardens) to wear black and white. I had the privilege of fitting into Fr. Nicholas's old tux which came with the very traditional English boe-tie (one that had to actually be tied!). "We'll turn you into a proper Englishman yet!", Nicholas kept saying.
As part of this whole ordeal, the priests asked Owen and I to perform a type of Cabaret before the dancing would begin. I redid some pieces that I sang from my recital this summer and did some classic American songs as: "Wade in the Water" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Owen and I finished with the famous Fred Astair /Ginger Rogers duet "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" which we rewrote the lyrics to in representing me being from Minnesota and Owen being from Cardiff (Wales). I have never sung at a function where they give you a standing ovation after every piece! What an audience it was! Both Owen and I got many compliments, but perhaps the best compliment came from Shiri'n who immigrated here from Iran. "Your songs made my night!", she said. "It was good to see your true heart!"

After the performance, we had a dance of disco music (Father Nicholas is crazy about Disco). It made me take pause to see how everyone got up and danced. It didn't matter how old you were, how young you were, or whether you were black, white, or indifferent- you danced! Perhaps the highlight of the dancing was seeing Gladis (but everyone calls her "Glad" because she is so bubbly in her personality!), a woman of 84 out dance pretty much all of the younger guys! It was if she left the cloak of age back at the dinner table and showed her true colors. No one could keep Glad from dancing the night away- and what an inspiration it was.

Preaching in the Cold Weather of Advent
Two Sundays ago, my tired and achy self got out of bed and preached a sermon at St. Michael's. It was Christ the King Sunday and the gospel was that of Jesus up on the Cross and ministering to the two criminals. I must say, I found the Church of England's choice of scripture for the Christ the King Sunday odd at first- but then it made sense to me. How backwards is it that our "King" actually suffered and died to the injustices of this world? I think we need to be reminded of that fact more often. So, I think it was a perfect passage for the day.
St. Michael's Church is going through a very hard time with finances. It ,out of the four churches which make up the Parish of St. Pancras, is the poorest. In general however, we are truly starting to see how the rising cost of living in the United Kingdom is affecting the poor. More people are being put on the streets because they are being kicked out of their homes to make way for newer and higher income housing. Job wages are stagnant in London at the moment, so people are left with very horrible situations. No where can this better be seen than at St. Michael's Church where the majority of parishioners are immigrants.
This autumn, we have been having a parish-wide stewardship campaign to try and raise money for needs across the four churches. Out of the average of 65 people who attend St. Michael's every Sunday, 9 have committed pledges of meager monetary gifts. Because St. Michael's has been such a drain on the parish wide resources- especially in the past 6 months- drastic measures are having to be taken. Because of this, St. Michael's has decided that they are going to turn off the heat entirely to the church.
Before I went into the sanctuary to preach, I looked at the thermometer in the Sacristy. It read 9 degrees Celsius. That is about 38 degrees Fahrenheit of wet, bone chilling London cold. Seeing your breath as you give a sermon is quite interesting- let me tell you. I am particularly worried for some of our elderly members as sitting in a chilled church on a Sunday morning is probably not the best thing. However, people are resilient here. Even though there is great fear about how this church will realistically afford it's mounting bills this winter, there is still a unifying energy that will never cease.
So, I ask you this Advent season to pray for the people of St. Pancras- especially for the members of St. Michael's Church. Pray that they may continue to find a spirit that will rally them together. Pray that God may help and comfort this financially troubled church and seek to embrace it with love. I sometimes laugh when I think of this parish raising funds for another organization. I don't think you could find a better example of the poor supporting the poor.