Gracemass

11/08/2024

"I believe in a God who healed the soldier trying to arrest him. I believe in a God who died a shameful death in the shadow of empire. I believe in a God whose victory came not through glorious death in battle, but inglorious death on the cross."

Excellent work from 'The Stranger' ✝️

I recently watched Israeli historian Gadi Taub’s interviews. In short, he believes Israel has no choice but to attack its opponents with unrestrained maximal force. The key premise is one of …

28/03/2024

"Holland is not alone as an agnostic trying out church again. In contrast to the usual ageing demographic of many Anglican churches, the congregation of St Bart’s seems to mainly consist of young professionals, both male and female. I noticed a famous politician among the gathered faithful, and was told that a well-known melancholy rock star has also been frequenting the church of late."

Fun fact: I met Tom Holland at St Bart's last year when he knelt next to me at the Lady Chapel for Communion. It was busy - the 900th anniversary service - so I didn't want to draw him into chat. I simply tapped his shoulder, said "May I?" and offered my hand. He smiled and shook it.

Question: is the melancholy rock star Nick Cave?

Tom Holland recently invited me to attend a service of Evensong with him at London’s oldest church, St Bartholomew the Great. Holland, who co-hosts the phenomenally popular The Rest is History podcast, has been a regular congregant for a few years. He began attending while researching Dominion, hi...

24/12/2023

For those who think Christianity abd Christmas is a lovely quaint story on a par with Father Christmas, read this - yet another highly perceptive article by historian Tom Holland on how Christianity and Christmas shape the way ALL of us in the west think today
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-the-holy-land-shapes-our-morals-a-reflection-by-tom-holland-cwfmm5j85

AAnd The Rest Is HistoryTTheTimes.co.uk

To all faiths and none, bloodshed in the Middle East affects us deeply at this time. Conflict in the Bible and throughout the ages can teach us about today’s struggles, the historian writes

31/10/2023

O Death, where is your victory?
O Death, where is your sting?
You're beaten.
You're pathetic.
You're so pathetic that we have a day when small children dress up as you for a laugh
and they are ADORABLE.

01/10/2023

Can't get that earworm out of your head? Annoy your flatmates by singing in the shower? Put spotify on whenever you do any work?

Church is one of the few places other than the shower where you don't have to be any good but you are free to sing. Indeed: encouraged to sing! Here at Gracemass we sing mainly contemporary worship songs from a wide range of churches from Roman Catholic to Pentecostal. Don't worry if you don't know the songs - we have an amazing musician (a classically trained pianist who can also play beautifully in our more contemporary poppy style) and we have some amazing and loud singers who will cover for the rest of us when we sing loudly and out of tune.

Music (and particularly communal singing) has been shown to stimulate parts of the brain other things can't reach and increase happiness and mental health. Of course many of us don't come to church JUST for the music. In Church we have an encounter with God that can be lifechanging. We can go away from a service feeling refreshed and renewed from this spiritual re-charge. But if that is not where you are at, don't worry. We would love to welcome you just to come sing!

https://www.meetup.com/london-pub-church-gracemass/events/296295294/? utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=share-btn_savedevents_share_modal&utm_source=link

Can't get that earworm out of your head? Annoy your flatmates by singing in the shower? Put spotify on whenever you do any work? Church is one of the few places other than

26/09/2023

"Sometimes after mass people will share with me quite deep stuff, and its not uncommon for them to end up in tears" says a priest, "and then they try to apologise "Oh I am sorry" they say as if they should be embarassed about crying in Church. And my response is always "If you can't cry in church, where can you cry?"

Jesus does not want churches to be places of pretence where you have to put on a face - whether it is a brave face or a respectable face or any other kind of face. Jesus wants you to be real with him. And he wants Church to be a safe place for you to do that.

No Church gets that right all the time, but at Gracemass we try hard to be a Safe Place where you can be your real self. You can look at one person one week and see that they are a remarkably gifted and talented and inspiring person. You can look at them the next week and see a very broken person coming with deep hurts. Its the same person - both is true of them, just as quite likely both are true of you. You have to put on a face, just come as you are, and come loved by God.

We hope you would find that many a Church, but if you would like to try us, check us out at https://www.meetup.com/london-pub-church-gracemass/

Inclusive Church

25/09/2023

A clip of - "Come to the table" - This beautiful song by Sidewalk Prophets is one of our favourites at Gracemass Church and we are singing it this Sunday - Come and join us if you fancy singing it with us. https://www.meetup.com/london-pub-church-gracemass/events/296227070/

We love this song because of its message that all are welcomed, even those whom are other people would not welcome. Here is the full lyrics:

We all start on the outside
The outside looking in
This is where grace begins
We were hungry we were thirsty
With nothing left to give
Oh the shape that we were in
Just when all hope seemed lost
Love opened the door for us
He said come to the table
Come join the sinners who have been redeemed
Take your place beside the Savior
Sit down and be set free
Come to the table
Come meet this mightly crew of misfits
These liars and these thieves
There's no one unwelcome here
That sin and shame that you brought with you
You can leave it at the door
And let mercy draw you near
So, come to the table
Come join the sinners who have been redeemed
Take your place beside the Savior
Sit down and be set free
Come to the table
Come to the table
To the thief and to the doubter
To the hero and the coward
To the prisoner and the soldier
To the young and to the older
All who hunger all who thirst
All the last and all the first
All the paupers and the princess
All who fail, you've been forgiven
All who dream and all who suffer
All who loved and lost another
All the chained and all the free
All who follow all who lead
Anyone who's been let down
All the lost you have been found
All who have been labeled right or wrong
To everyone who hears this song
Oh
Come to the table
Come join the sinners you have been redeemed
Take your place beside the Savior
Sit down and be set free
Oh
Sit down and be set free
Come to the table
Come to the table
Sit down and be set free
Come to the table

You can catch the full song at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXXxLwxfo0U

Sidewalk Prophets Inclusive Church

24/09/2023

London is a wonderful wonderful city, but like many cities it can be a lonely place. According to research, people have on average one less close friend than they did a generation ago and a ffth of people today have no close friends.
So why not join us 4pm Sunday 1st October for "A Church that's not just friendly but where you can make friends"
Gracemass is a church (albeit an unusual one) so you won't be surprised if we talk about friendship with God. But a big part of our agenda is also human friendship. The boss tells us to "love your neighbour as yourself" - which must include doing something about people's need to make real deep friendships.
Our worship (a blend of ancient symbols and contemporary music) is highly interactive. After the sermon we split into breakout groups to share our own takeaways from what we have just heard - and to get to know the people around us more.
We have people come along from all sorts of backgrounds - Christians who have not been to church for a while, atheists, and adherants of other religions like Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. Those who come have not only enjoyed the peace and spirituality of the experience but have commented on the deep new friendships they have made.
Why not give us a try?
https://www.meetup.com/london-pub-church-gracemass/events/296227070/

Friends -TV show

London is a wonderful wonderful city - but like many cities it can be a lonely place. According to research, people have on average one less close friend than they did a ge

23/09/2023

4pm This Sunday - Yu Hng will be preaching to us on Anxiety and Worry - and offering some of Jesus's perspectives on the subject. https://www.meetup.com/london-pub-church-gracemass/events/296122398/

Almost all of us at least occasionally experince anxiety and according to the mental health foundation, in 2022/23, an average of 37.1% of women and 29.9% of men reported high levels of anxiety. So is there any ancient wisdom from the Christian tradition that can help with this?

20/09/2023

This clip is from a beautiful new song that we are singing for the first time at Church this Sunday - "Christ was lower Still" - you can find the full song here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G5U0NDxdxU

This song is written and performed by Porter's G*t, a collective of Christian song writers from different denominations from Baptist to Roman Catholic including Matt Maher. Given that we are Gracemass are a "best of both" church seeking to bring together the symbolism you might find in a Catholic church with the openess to the Spirit and liveliness you might find in a Charismatic church, that is very appropriate.

This is a song off Porter's G*te's new album Sanctuary Songs, all of which touch on the issue of mental health.

The song is inspired by a statue by Guido Gilletti called "Christ of the depths" - you won't find it in an art gallery - rather the statue is at the bottom of the sea. To see it you have to dive down and as you get towards it you find Christ looking up at you with open arms.
Psalm 139:7-10 says
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

Even when we feel so broken that we think sunk to the depths and lost God, Jesus is there already in the depths, looking up at us with open arms.

If you want to join us in singing this song on Sunday the details are here - https://www.meetup.com/london-pub-church-gracemass/events/296122539/?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=yourEvent_savedevents_share_modal&utm_source=link


Sanctuary Mental Health Ministry

18/09/2023

Oprah Winfrey has just published a book on happiness, or more precisely happierness. What does a celeb like her know about how to be happy? Well she has co-written it wih a Harvard Professor Arthur C Brooks who has done extensive (and lived out) academic research into how to make ourselves happier. In a review of their book in the Times, Professor Brookes lists 8 secrets for increasing our happiness level. Number 8 might surprise you.

1) Work out your natural happiness setting - are you a "mad scientist" or a "poet"?
2) Recognise unhappiness as critical to happiness
3) swap resentment for gratitude
4) Limit selfies, social media and how often you look in the mirror
5) Learn to fight for a happy marriage
6) Don't define yourself by your job
7)Nurture the kind of friendships you really need

And what of number 8 that might surprise you?

8) "Have faith"
"New research" (says Professor Brooks) shows that you can stimulate the sympathatic (alert) and parasympathetic (calm) nervous systems simultaneously through religious and spirittual experiences, which is extraordinary because in ordinary life you can only do one or the other." He adds that transcendance helps us feel small and offers relief from our self absorption". "People go half mad thinking the details of their life over and over.
Professor Brookes puts this into practice - he goes to mass daily at a Roman Catholic Church and Oprah Winfrey is a practising Protestant Christian.

Want to find out more about the difference the Transcendant can make in your life? Why not check out Gracemas, the Church that meets in a Pub https://www.meetup.com/london-pub-church-gracemass/

For the full story above: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-be-happy-rules-advice-harvard-2023-dbw3lshff

Oprah Winfrey Show Oprah Winfrey Arthur Brooks