Dearly Beloved in the Lord

Looking Backwards

The New Crown in Southgate weren’t able to have us for the Men’s Breakfast in January, so we moved to a café at Oakwood Tube Station, Zone 5, where more than 25 of us enjoyed a good breakfast, and I spoke about prayer. I encourage more of us to form prayer triplets.

St Thomas’s welcomed the other churches of the Southgate Oakwood and Cockfosters Churches Together to the annual Agape meal on the 21st of January. The meal was delicious, but the best thing was the wonderful service by ten members of the youth group. I read from Ephesians 5 in the 1611 Authorised Version of the Bible, to mark the 400th anniversary.

The International Evening organised by Ricki in aid of Careforce was full of variety, fun, and delicious food. 

 Members of the congregation had donated dishes with an international flavour, so you could choose from a selection including Greek sausages, stuffed cabbage leaves, chicken biryani, oriental stir-fry, sushi, pasta dishes and even snails! 

The desserts were just as bountiful, and left us feeling glad that the entertainment was provided on stage.  We were treated to a wide range of 'acts' with an international flavour: after an introductory talk about Careforce, some of Ricki's Careforce colleagues demonstrated singing and dancing from their cultures - India and Africa being well represented.  They were clearly an inspiration to some of the younger people in the audience, who took to the floor and at times almost stole the show! 

Some of the youth group and their leaders had been trained up by Ricki to perform a 'bamboo dance' - which as bamboo was in short supply was executed as a 'B&Q pipe dance'.  Feet had to move perfectly in time and place if they were not to be sliced off by the moving 'bamboo' poles! 

The finale of the evening was a video of Ricki being interviewed by ... Ricki! Clever camera work and editing made for an entertaining show, and it was clear that a lot of hard work had gone into the whole evening.   Another surprise of the night was the attendance of two of our former Careforce placements - Cephas Masaba, visiting from Uganda, and Jo Benson, recently back from her service in Japan.  Thanks to all who gave and took part: over £400 was raised.

Why should the children get all the fun? Nearly 40 people sat down for lunch together in the middle of a Holiday Club for the over-60s last week.  There was a mixture of light-hearted fun and more serious thought throughout the day, with activities ranging from table tennis, air hockey, bingo, community singing and candle decoration through to talks by Peter Pytches about the Bible, by Robert Calff about the birds of Enfield, and by Sarah Morris about archeology.  At one point, shrieks of excitement and laughter punctuated very ropey piano playing - as the group tried to avoid having to do a forfeit in pass the parcel.

If you missed it, you missed a great day.  Watch out for the next one!