Deeper shade of grey | Faith House 19

 Friendship at Faith House….

I‘m beginning to enjoy getting around London on my bike.

It usually feels great to get to Faith House having had the adventure of cycling from South London. I couldn’t help but see the irony last week as I turned up dripping wet from the 6 mile cycle in torrential rain. Bedraggled, the guys looked on me with mild bemusement and compassion as the puddles gathered in and around by trainers where I stood.

A couple of new guys looked with kindness and with a ‘it’s OK here’ look as they began to make room for me to sit with them! I enjoyed that embrace.

It comes to something when you have to ask if there are any spare trousers at a homeless drop in!!

I had dried off by the time I shared a thought at the end of the evening. Derek was well stocked up on ‘lucozade’ and had his say. Pointing drunkenly in turn at each one of us he declared - ‘you’re my friend, you’re my friend, you’re my friend, you’re my friend…’ until he had completed the circle.

There was something special about that embrace made all the more poignant in that Derek wasn’t at FH last night. He has started a 12 month stretch in HMP Wandsworth for a string of no doubt drunken related incidents. 

Writer: Capt. Gordon Cotterill lives in London, England, is married to Kate and has two daughters Bethan and Eryn. He has been a Salvation Army officer for ten years and ‘cut his teeth’ in ministry with his wife as the corps officers at Poplar in the East End of London. The lessons he learned there in his day-to-day ministry, amid the chaos of the inner city, continue to shape his understanding and passion for biblical and grace-centred mission. His latest appointment as Spiritual Programme Director at the William Booth College, London now offers him the opportunity for the fusion and exploration of ‘mission’ and ’spiritual formation’ while trying to inspire a new generation of Salvation Army officers as to their role in God’s plan for His creation. Gordon keeps a blog where he mulls over themes of mostly, mission and spiritual formation.

Deeper shade of grey | Faith House 18

 The arrogant bravado of intercession…!

I

t is funny how we approach God in prayer as if He is some poor old dear, hard of hearing and clearly in need of us to tell him what He needs to do, as if speaking to a great aunt who really does not understand. I sometimes wonder what we have done to intercession as we approach the creator of all things seen and unseen with our little prayer lists; what we have done as we ‘beseech’ the Sovereign of all with our anxious thoughts for others. We remind Him that he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords but precede with the mindset of giving every precise detail that He clearly doesn’t know.

I am sure He is really grateful with our jogging of His fading memory as He listens to our petitions. “I’m glad you mentioned Aunt Gladys, thanks for your insight I’ll make a note of that one … Iran you say, well I never…!”

It sometimes feels as though we are in the power seat and it is us that is pulling the levers. Omnipresent, Omniscient of course, but Lord let me just bring to attention that I could do with a parking space in a minute!

Unthinking intercession? Before any accusations fly that I have rubbished what for many is a key part of their prayer life let me clarify. I am all for it! I just think that it is all too easy to allow the framework of intercession to look more like a shopping list we write and pass on than rather than a real means of changing lives.

Walter Wink captures this when he points out:

  “All this about our role as intercessors in creating history is arrogant bravado unless we recognize that it is God rather than ourselves who initiates prayer, and that it is god’s power, not ours , that answers the world’s needs. We are always preceded in intercession. God is always praying within us. When we turn to pray it is always the second step of prayer. We join with God in a prayer already going on in us and in the world.”
(Wink, W. (1992:304). Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination (The Powers, Vol 3). Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Publishers.)

Intercession should never be allowed to become a passing of the buck, I wonder what would happen if we made part of our intercession the caveat “and show me how I can be part of the answer…?”As we breathe our heartfelt prayers of intercession how do they change us and align us to God’s agenda? 

Writer: Capt. Gordon Cotterill lives in London, England, is married to Kate and has two daughters Bethan and Eryn. He has been a Salvation Army officer for ten years and ‘cut his teeth’ in ministry with his wife as the corps officers at Poplar in the East End of London. The lessons he learned there in his day-to-day ministry, amid the chaos of the inner city, continue to shape his understanding and passion for biblical and grace-centred mission. His latest appointment as Spiritual Programme Director at the William Booth College, London now offers him the opportunity for the fusion and exploration of ‘mission’ and ’spiritual formation’ while trying to inspire a new generation of Salvation Army officers as to their role in God’s plan for His creation. Gordon keeps a blog where he mulls over themes of mostly, mission and spiritual formation.

Deeper shade of Grey | Faith House 17

Real lives in Kings Cross…   

 “Are you queuing mate..?”

“No … no …. no!” I stammer a little too quickly, I compose myself and continue “be my guest…” I usher the city gent into the space I was holding and realise perhaps that wasn’t what a minister of religion should be saying to a perfect stranger in the reception of a brothel in London’s notorious Kings Cross!

Did I say brothel? I meant to say sauna and massage parlour, the youngish guy looks almost as nervous as me as he looks down a price list. The bouncer helps, “that’s £20 to get in and £100 for the girl…”, the £20 is rung into the till, a towel is handed over and the guy disappears behind a door to have a break in his journey before heading to the home counties hinterland to his leafy suburb. Did I say ‘break in his journey?’

I continue in my conversation with a hard nosed receptionist/bouncer about mining in Yorkshire as the red light outside beckons another punter, another £20 and towel is exchanged, he disappears. It is not every day that you get invited to go on a ’sauna and massage parlour crawl’, I’m being introduced to Faith House’s detached work to some of Kings Cross’ sex workers.

This is how it works Estelle and Anna waltz into the inner sanctum with a wave, a smile and a cheery ‘Salvation Army’, to check that the girls are OK, to have a chat, exchange CD’s, I stay outside to talk with the bouncers. For a year now this special relationship with several ‘parlours’ and lap dancing clubs has developed to the point where the team are welcomed and expected. I learn quickly not to look at the monitors, to keep eye contact, in a friendly but disinterested way, as one of the girls comes for change. There’s something a little bizarre as the bouncer breaks from telling me about life down a mine to open the till for a girl who for a few years could be my daughter.

After walking, praying and chatting for nearly two hours we return. This is what struck me, ‘those pictures’ in the phone boxes that teenage boys snigger at and stuff in their back pockets, are real people, with real stories. Holiday had seen me catch up with the BBC’s The Street, one episode saw Anna Friel as a single mother who would do anything for her two boys, even working in a sauna as a prostitute to afford the larger mortgage to get away from the school bullies. Tonight there was an uncanny resemblance, except this is not fiction.

Here’s where the attributes of God are incarnated into the real lives of those, who for whatever reason, either need to become a commodity, or facilitate an industry for commuters heading off to the suburbs.

Writer: Capt. Gordon Cotterill lives in London, England, is married to Kate and has two daughters Bethan and Eryn. He has been a Salvation Army officer for ten years and ‘cut his teeth’ in ministry with his wife as the corps officers at Poplar in the East End of London. The lessons he learned there in his day-to-day ministry, amid the chaos of the inner city, continue to shape his understanding and passion for biblical and grace-centred mission. His latest appointment as Spiritual Programme Director at the William Booth College, London now offers him the opportunity for the fusion and exploration of ‘mission’ and ’spiritual formation’ while trying to inspire a new generation of Salvation Army officers as to their role in God’s plan for His creation. Gordon keeps a blog where he mulls over themes of mostly, mission and spiritual formation.

Deeper shade of grey | Faith House 16

It’s funny what relationships at Faith House do to you.

Last time I was at Faith House I stood outside with Derek as he drunkenly smoked his roll up, we chatted. I liked being on the door when at youth club in Poplar, it was where discussions happened. This felt the same as we talked about ‘…bl**dy cyclists’! What it is to be a minister, a Christian, and  Derek got to know me a little more and I got to know Derek that little more. We shared something of each other.

I saw his lucozade bottle tucked inside his jacket, it is always there, ready. His supposed life line. He caught me looking at the bottle. I laughed, “Derek I love Lucozade…”

“You wouldn’t like this Lucozade…” his reply sharp.

“It’s a different colour to what I remember, is it new?”.

Derek looks up and says “No…!”,

“…perhaps I could have a sip”,

“NO - you wouldn’t like THIS Lucozade..!”

I snigger and he knows I’m pulling his leg, we share laughter. Later that evening Derek tells us all that he was glad when he was ‘in here’ with us because he wasn’t ‘out there’ with them.

Tonight Derek was cold stone sober, quiet, distant, something was up - but he wouldn’t say. As I left I saw the Lucozade bottle tucked inside his jacket. Tonight as I cycled home and thought through the evening, I was both pleased he was sober but also worried that Derek wasn’t himself, worried that his Lucozade would be too available.

Relationships are funny at Faith House! People quickly become a big part of your life.

Writer: C apt. Gordon Cotterill lives in London, England, is married to Kate and has two daughters Bethan and Eryn. He has been a Salvation Army officer for ten years and ‘cut his teeth’ in ministry with his wife as the corps officers at Poplar in the East End of London. The lessons he learned there in his day-to-day ministry, amid the chaos of the inner city, continue to shape his understanding and passion for biblical and grace-centred mission. His latest appointment as Spiritual Programme Director at the William Booth College, London now offers him the opportunity for the fusion and exploration of ‘mission’ and ’spiritual formation’ while trying to inspire a new generation of Salvation Army officers as to their role in God’s plan for His creation. Gordon keeps a blog where he mulls over themes of mostly, mission and spiritual formation.

Deeper shade of grey | Faith House 12

The reality of heaven on earth | Gordon Cotterill

A regular feature at Faith House has been the development of a thought to round off the evening, each of the volunteers take a turn to share something of their thinking. This week it was my turn and I finished my thought by thanking the guys at Faith House and by letting them know how much they bring to my life.

“This has become an important part of my community; I don’t come to Faith House to make cups of tea and give out fish finger sandwiches … I come because I want to be here, I am who I am because of what you share of you with me… together we are community”.

Frank chips in, looks around at the 10 or so of us in the room. 

”I don’t come because of the tea and fish fingers either, I come because it is important that I am with you all as well, you are family..!”

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Deeper shade of grey | lost theme 9

Lost themes of mission… gospel

OK this is intriguing. We’ve heard the ‘gospel’ rhetoric, we’ve preached the ‘gospel’ in the understanding that ‘gospel’ = good news and that good news is that Jesus lived, died and rose again accommodating whatever theory of atonement is in vogue or catches our whim. Paul’s use of the word gospel however, could be and might represent ever so much more.

NT Wright explores the concept to some depth and asks that to get to grips with the concept of ‘gospel’ there is a need to not only understand where the word came from, but also to get an insight as to what such a term would mean to Paul and to his readers.

NT would argue that the term infers an announcement of kingship, of a new reign. The euaggelion, gospel, was announced when a new emperor was declared - ‘Augustus is dead…Tiberius is Lord… on your knees and pay your taxes’ - this was gospel, the announcement of a new reign. Gospel would have been used by Paul and understood by his readers in this context.

NT reiterates this by underlining this double resonance of the word “gospel” for Paul.

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Deeper shade of grey | rupture of rapture

by Gordon Cotterill

I have a love hate thing going on when it comes to using a sat nav. When travelling by myself to new and unknown destinations I find a definite value in their company - but only enough to borrow one.

The danger lies in relying on what you presume to be the destination, only to find that you are woefully short or wide of the mark. 

One trip ending in a field with a cheery voice declaring I had reached my destination now makes me double/triple check the postcode I tap in. Even then, as I get closer I really sweat on where I will end up. I really like to know where I am going and as the miles disappear I often regret not making even a cursory check of the map.

I am neither a biblical scholar nor anything more than a gutter theologian! - but when it comes to eschatology I get nervous with what people rely on. At this time of year when we recognise Jesus as the prototype for the resurrection of the body, we take hope in the potential for new creation when Heaven and Earth will be one. I wonder if tapping in the wrong code can leave us woefully short in any kind of understanding. Travelling blind, without even a cursory glance at the deeper meanings of Paul’s metaphorical points can leave us wide of the mark in our understanding.

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Deeper shade of grey | Faith House 10

Street-level resurrection

Chris never stays long - just long enough.

I saw him leaving on the closed circuit TV monitor as I was putting my bag in the office. I had arrived late - as usual! - to the drop-in at Faith House. As I slipped the rucksack off my back I saw him look vaguely in the direction of the security camera and then disappear in the evening streets of Kings Cross. Chris never stays long - just long enough for us all to see and acknowledge his life.

It was good to see him. Chris had not been seen at FH for most of the summer and we were getting worried. Phone calls had been made to hospitals, fearing the worst; the next stage was to make contact with the morgues. Chris is clearly very ill, it doesn’t take much imagination to think that he is HIV+, for weeks we had seen him deteriorate. So his complete disappearance was a concern for us all.

I came up into the kitchen “heh … was that Chris I just saw leaving…?”

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Deeper shade of grey | facade

Gordon Cotterill | The facade of church

I

took this picture of a church encased in scaffolding its beauty hidden completely covered by plastic with a print of a church on it. It is just off the A4 on the way out of London; not easy to stop and take the shot - this was taken with my phone hanging out of the window as we shot by at 50mph! (obviously I wasn’t driving!).

I suppose the point is that the church didn’t want to lose its sense of presence during exterior works.

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Deeper shade of grey | lost theme 8

Lost themes of mission… judgement

Judgement 

I’ve been spending a bit of time in NT Wright’s writing recently and it has inspired some new lost themes of mission. 

The whole concept of judgement seems to be a pretty loaded word. I remember as a kid watching a guy walk up and down Oxford St in London with a sandwich board informing the tourists and shoppers that God’s judgement was at hand. Hell and damnation, eternal rest the destination of such judgement - the communication of eternal sentence.

NT Wright points out in Evil And the Justice of God (Ed: opens an 89 KB pdf]) that 

”God’s justice is not simply a blind disposing of rewards for the virtuous and punishments for the wicked, though plenty of those are to be found on the way.

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