My favourite saints’ day is 28 October. It’s the day in the church calendar when we remember Simon and Jude. Who, you may say? Quite. We know nothing about them. We can’t even get their names right. Was Jude Lebbaeus or Thaddaeus? And was Simon somebody other than Simon Peter? Simon and Jude were nobodies. They’re quite like us. We’re mostly nobodies. We don’t command armies or invent vacuum-cleaners. We aren’t big land-owners or aristocrats. We live our lives in obscurity.
Jesus was regarded as a nobody. In Mark 6 we overhear his contemporaries talking of his performance in the local synagogue. ‘Where does he get it from?’ they were saying. ‘Is he not the carpenter’s son?’ Mark comments: ‘So they turned against him.’ ‘What an appalling blunder!’ we may say. But it happens. Nobodies are acceptable but somebody who stands out as more than that becomes a butt of all the rest.
Two nobodies who proved to be pace-setters are now all but forgotten. William Carey was a shoemaker’s apprentice. He persuaded his fellow-Christians that there was a world beyond the UK. He was a Baptist, the forerunner of a great expansion of the Christian faith beyond the shores of the UK and became an accomplished linguist. Seven years a curate, James Hannington was made bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa in 1885 and was on his way to Uganda as an emissary of the Gospel when he was set upon by King Mwanga’s men and done to death. He was 38 years old. He had achieved nothing. But he remains an inspiration –e.g. as the existence of Bishop Hannington church, Hove suggests. In his diary were found the words ‘I am so strained and shattered that it is with the greatest difficulty I can stand; yet I ought to be praising his holy name and I do.’ Two nobodies but they were God’s nobodies.
It was thanks to the nobodies in the infant Church that the Gospel was carried far and wide. In Acts 8.1 we read that violent persecution led to ‘all except the apostles’ being scattered over the country districts. Later (in Acts 11.19) we find that those who had been scattered went further afield to Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch.
Sometimes nobodies get things done. Sometimes nobodies briefly make a name for themselves. When that is the case, their efforts are not always acknowledged. But there is nothing wrong with being a nobody – provided we are God’s nobodies.
TWICE BOMBED
Twice bombed, and beautifully restored, St Helen’s church, Bishopsgate, London sizzles with life. Led by William Taylor, an extensive ministry team is busy with mid-week City contacts and Sunday services. Still active and providing Bible study material of all kinds is GOM Dick Lucas, who was Rector for 37 years.
MANCHESTER SONGSTERS
St Clement’s church, Manchester has a band (not unusual) and a cluster of song-writers – Henry, Sarah, Becky and Tom (possibly unique). It also promotes a new city catechism with 52 Q and As. All in all, together with Martin’s, St Clement’s is a go-getting church with a purposeful and diverse congregation. Leading the ministry team is Paul Jump.
GOAT’S HEAD
They say that Gateshead, on the opposite bank of the Tyne, was originally known as Goat’s Head (meaning hill of wild goats). A town of 120,000, it is linked to its better-known neighbour, Newcastle, by seven bridges. St George’s parish church, part of the HTB network, offers CAP courses, Bloom bundles and a food corner. Rich and Louise Grant lead the ministry team.
FULL GALLERY
A gallery full of people and activities is a winning feature of the Newburn parish church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne website. The church was badly damaged by fire in 2006; the repair bill cost £2.6m. A thousand years ago, in 1067, the wooden church was burnt down. The rest of England had something else to think about at the time. The Vicar is Allison Harding.
PONTELAND PICTURES
All that remains of the pre-Conquest church that started things off at St Mary’s, Ponteland, Newcastle-upon-Tyne is a stone with an inscription but there are excellent pictures of the present church on its website. The Vicar is Paul Allinson.
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