Give Aid Direct: a new way to help those in need

When you give to charity, do you worry about how much of your money makes its way to the people who really need it? Do you wish you could give directly to individuals affected by poverty or disaster, so they could have more control over their lives and the resources you give?

Amos Doornbos, a member of St Luke's, has been working in international development and humanitarian aid for over a decade. Last September, he co-launched a groundbreaking new organisation called Give Aid Direct. Using mobile technology, it allows donors to send funds directly to an individual or a project (such as a school or local health worker) in some of the world's poorest communities. This gives the recipient more control over how best to spend that money to improve life for their family or community.

“Give Aid Direct enables person-to-person giving, while providing the dignity of choice to people affected by disasters,” explains Amos. “We believe in the capacity of individuals to make the best decisions for themselves and their families when affected by disasters such as drought, flood, food shortages and the cycle of stresses that come with chronic poverty. We also believe in minimum administration costs and maximum impact, with money going directly to those who need it urgently. Our vision is to make this a reality for 40,000 families over the next four years.”

Visit www.giveaiddirect.com to learn more about this innovative new way of giving, and to view the project and individuals that currently need help.

Photo exhibition and family fun day to raise money for Nightshelter

Every year, St Luke’s participates in the Islington Churches Cold Weather Shelter, opening our doors throughout January-March (the coldest three months of the year), to offer a bed and meals to homeless people. This year’s project was once again a great success, thanks to the hard work of Dan Northam Jones and many volunteers from within the church.

Running Nightshelter costs a lot of money, so St Luke’s has a fundraising event this Saturday, 26 April, 4-7pm, to help generate funds and awareness. The money raised will go towards providing hospitality to our homeless guests, and the facilities needed to do that (such as the new shower).

The centre piece of the afternoon will be a preview exhibition of photographs taken by guests themselves, part of a fascinating project revealing the daily lives of homeless people in London.

There’ll also be a raffle with some great prizes donated by local businesses, live music and entertainment, and family-friendly activities. Plus there’ll be a tea party with sandwiches and cake to keep you fuelled throughout the fun.

Tickets are on sale on the door at £10 each (£5 concessions, children free). We hope to see you this Saturday for a great event, and to raise money for this vital project.

Holy Week & Easter

This year we are very pleased to have Jake Lever's brilliant new large-scale art work as the centrepiece of our Holy Week and Easter celebrations. The Blue and the Dim and the Gold is a mixed-media piece featuring an image of a lone figure in a boat on a gilded lake, dwarfed by a vast landscape of lake, hillside and evening sky. Jake describes the painting as a meditation upon the universal human experience and seeks to awaken spirituality and paths to inner healing, integration and wholeness. During Lent The Blue and the Dim and the Gold has been exhibited in Birmingham Cathedral, so we are very pleased and honoured to welcome it to St Luke's over Easter.

Our services for Holy Week and Easter are as follows:

Maundy Thursday 8pm A bring and share meal with table communion

Good Friday Noon A Meditation focussing particularly on Jake Lever's 'The Blue and the Dim and the Gold' painting and other pieces of art.

Easter Vigil of Fire & Midnight Mass 11.15pm A dramatic experience of darkness and light to welcome Easter Day

Easter Day NB. There will be no 9.15am service on Easter morning 11am A family Eucharist to celebrate Easter

Kabuki UK: a lifeline for families

When Sally and Paul Trewartha were expecting their little boy Harry six years ago, they learned that he would be born with serious heart problems. Friends at St Luke’s prayed urgently for Harry as he went through open heart surgery at just four days old, and anxiously waited for news. We all breathed a collective sigh of relief when he was finally released from intensive care and was on the road to recovery.

It wasn’t until 18 months later that Paul and Sally discovered the source of Harry’s heart problem was a rare genetic condition called Kabuki syndrome, which can also cause cleft palate, learning difficulties, hearing loss, hypotonia (low muscle tone) and a wide range of other complications.

Kabuki syndrome affects only one in 32,000 births, and most people have never heard of it – even those in the medical profession. The families of children with Kabuki are often left feeling isolated, afraid and without the information they need. So last year, after connecting on Facebook, Sally and five other parents set up Kabuki UK. It’s the first UK organisation for people with Kabuki and their families, and it aims to raise awareness, provide information to families of newly diagnosed children, and fundraise – for example, to provide essential equipment for children that isn’t funded by the NHS.

Just as importantly, Kabuki UK is building up a community of families who can meet and support each other. The charity recently ran its first family day and, for many people there, it was the first time they’d met anyone else who shares their experience. You can see a short film about the family day here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf-2bCiX3mg. If you know the Trewartha family, look out for Harry in the film. He’s now nearly six – a gorgeous, bouncing boy who’s enjoying his first year of school, and is a proud older brother to Toby.

To learn more about Kabuki syndrome and Kabuki UK, visit www.kabukiuk.org.uk. The charity is keen to hear from anyone who can offer individual or corporate sponsorship, to help with its vital work.

Lyrical

Another night of lo-fi poets and hi-fi singer-songwriters coming up at St Luke's on Friday 21st March.Beth Rowley, Katherine Venn, Anthony Wilson and Iain Archer are on the latest LYRICAL bill - with maybe the odd late surprise. Opening around 7.30 and running till tennish - with a break to buy CDs/books and replenish your glass - we'll be raising some funds for Women At The Well, a drop-in centre for vulnerable women in Kings Cross. Tickets £8 (£4 concessions on the door).

PUBLIC HOUSE

Lent in a bar! It's kinda 'Holy Joes' Mk II - bit of input, lots of open debate, chance to explore, no pre-packed answers. Anyone welcome - ideal for non-churchgoers. Come and join in - or just listen.

The villain’s vicar?

Here at St Luke’s, we celebrate the value of every individual, and we’re not too impressed by ‘celebrity’. However, it’s quite exciting when your vicar hits the news!

Dave Tomlinson, vicar of St Luke’s, is already known outside the parish for his bestselling books, including How To Be A Bad Christian. But lately, he’s been in the news for another reason – taking the funeral of the notorious ‘Great Train Robber’, Ronnie Biggs. Suddenly, our beloved priest was popping up all over the websites of tabloid and broadsheet newspapers, where we were amused to see him variously described as ‘the villain’s priest’, ‘unrepentant reverend’ and even ‘trendy vicar’! (Not bad for a cheeky Scouser in a frock.)

Not all the responses were positive and Dave was later invited to write a piece about the whole furore for the Church Times, and was interviewed for the Salvation Army magazine War Cry (plus he continues his regular spots on Pause For Thought on BBC Radio 2).

To be honest, we’re slightly baffled by all the fuss. After all, every person in the country is entitled to a Christian funeral if they request one, regardless of their history – so quite what Dave was meant to apologise for is a mystery to us. However, if you’d like to check out a few of his appearances in the press, you can visit the links below.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/ronnie-biggs-was-an-extraordinary-man-says-the-unrepentant-reverend-who-took-train-robbers-funeral-9052382.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2533283/Hells-Angels-rogues-gallery-ageing-criminals-turn-send-Great-Train-Robber-Ronnie-Biggs.html

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/03/ronnie-biggs-train-robber-funeral-golders-green http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25594688 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2542456/RICHARD-KAY-Widow-Battle-Britain-air-ace-Sir-Douglas-Bader-neglected-nursing-staff-says-daughter.html (scan down halfway).

And here’s the piece Dave wrote for the Church Times: http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2014/17-january/comment/opinion/was-ronnie-biggs-repentant

Well done for flying the flag, Dave. We hope your new-found fame doesn’t mean we’ll soon be fighting our way through paparazzi to get into church on a Sunday morning, and catching reporters rifling through the vicarage bins!

Young St Luker writes about the Nightshelter

Here at St Luke’s, we’re extremely proud of our young people. They’re such a bright, outward-looking and motivated bunch, they sometimes put us grown-ups to shame! (We like to think, though, that growing up at St Luke’s – and especially the input of Susie Holland and her team, who run the children’s and youth work – might have quite a bit to do with it.)

One of our younger members, 14-year-old Joe Mayo, helps out with our winter Nightshelter for homeless people, which is now in full swing (you can read more about that here).

Joe recently interviewed Mark Brennan, who oversees the Islington Churches Cold Weather Shelter, of which St Luke’s Nightshelter is a part. His article about the project appears on the Resistance & Renewal website.

Bravo, Joe! And thank you to all our young people for the wonderful contributions you make to the life and work of St Luke’s.

Justin Butcher back with his acclaimed one-man play

At St Luke’s, we’re blessed to have many creative and artistic members in our community. Justin Butcher, our choirmaster and musical director, is a man of many talents – actor, musician, playwright, author, organiser of the recent Bethlehem Unwrapped festival, and much more. If you’d like to see Justin wearing one (or two) of this other hats, you have an opportunity this weekend. He’s taking his acclaimed one-man play Scaramouche Jones to the Pleasance Theatre, just around the corner from St Luke’s, on 25-26 January.

Justin wrote and stars in the play, which has been a big hit when previously performed by Justin and, on other occasions, by the late, great Pete Postlethwaite.

It’s a stunning piece of theatre – but don’t take our word for it. The Times called it, ‘A fascinating, poignant, funny play’; The Guardian described it as, ‘A mesmerizing piece of storytelling theatre’; and the British Theatre Guide declared it, ‘A masterpiece of solo magic realism, impeccably written, perfectly performed’.

Click on the flier (above) to see more details of the play and the performances at the Pleasance. To book tickets, visit www.pleasance.co.uk or call 020 7609 1800.

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/