The man shook as he told us his story of persecution: we could see the scars on his head and his hands. Another man in the group flinched as someone he didn’t know came into the room. I promised him “You will always be safe here.”  A woman cried as she told me how, as an out and proud Christian lesbian, she had been told she could not become a member of the church that she had been attending for months. “I am so glad to be back here” she said. A charity that works with children hired a room in the building we use, to run an event for LGBT people interested in adoption – “Because we saw you at Pride and thought this would be a good space to hold our event.” These three things all happened in the past month at MCC Newcastle. They are part of what we do, week in, week out. We offer hope and light to our community and beyond. Often it is in small, unseen ways – small gestures of kindness and compassion, such as the regular donations of clothing that people give to the West End Refugee Service. Sometimes we are able to bring hope at big events like Pride and World AIDS Day. People who may never worship with us follow us online and through social media. We are observed at a distance by many individuals, who may turn to us when life changes for them and they need a safe place to be.

A good while ago Mikee preached on Micah 6:8: What does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. He suggested that at MCC Newcastle we are good at walking humbly with God – our worship is excellent and we offer many ways to go deeper in our spiritual life. He challenged us to really step up and step out in acting justly and loving mercy. This message has stayed with me and has continued to challenge me ever since. How do we move out beyond our church walls and how do we make it easier for groups to see us as a resource to support them in what they do?

This year’s Annual Congregational Meeting marks a key moment in our response to the challenge to love mercy and to act justly. The Board is proposing only two aims, which will help us to put our faith into action. Firstly, we are now ready to start looking for our own building, choosing a venue that is better suited to our needs and that will give us the flexibility to develop our ministries more fully. Secondly, we are going to focus on developing activities that intentionally reach out and serve those beyond our church walls.  We are called to bring hope and light. This is our time.

God bless

Cecilia    

Have you seen our new church sign? It hangs across the big yellow St James’s sign every Sunday and it reads MCC Newcastle – the church for our community. Underneath it has our mission statement “Be yourself. Find meaning. Know God.” What does it really mean to be “the church for our community”? Let me give you some examples. Being the church for our community means offering our building
for community groups to meet in – we housed the Tyne Trans group when it was first setting up and paid the rent on the church for Proud Northern Voices to get started. Now we host Rainbow Home once a month – our joint project with
MESMAC, to support LGBT folk who are seeking asylum in the UK.

Being the church for our community means that we are out and proud at key events in the life of our community – Pride, IDAHO, World AIDS day. Being the church for our community means that our community know that we are there for them and they can interact with us in a variety of ways. At Pride I chatted with someone. Later that week she contacted me through our Facebook page to say that she had listened to my sermon online and told me a bit about her own faith journey. 
 
Being the church for our community means leaving the comfort of what we want from church, and listening hard to what our community needs from us. Jesus didn’t just sit in a room and wait for folk to find him. He went out there, he looked and listened to the lives of the people around him. He didn’t change who he was in order to serve them. He was authentically who he was, and because of that, people turned to him.

We are at a tipping point in our journey. We can either shrink back or take a big step forward into the next stage of our journey together. Our treasurer Charlotte W has recently challenged us to add the cost of a cup of coffee per week to our monthly giving if we are able. I have already increased my monthly giving by the equivalent of two lattes per month in response to the report Charlotte gave to the Annual Congregational Meeting.  However, since Pride I have become so convinced that we are called to even greater things that I have just increased my monthly giving by another £20 per month.  10% of my income for today’s needs and a further 1% for our future. 

Our community needs us. Let us be their church.

 God bless,

Cecilia

One of the challenging aspects of my life as an MCC clergyperson is trying to explain to others, including family, about how our system works around pastoral
positions. Metropolitan Community Church operates a “call system” – that is, the individual clergyperson spends time in discernment and prayer about whether God is calling them to stay in a position or calling them to move. Congregations
spend time in discernment and prayer about whom they need to call as their pastor. This model is used by other churches too. However many denominations use
a system where the bishop or other senior leader, in consultation with the individual and congregation, makes these decisions.  Sometimes I think people imagine I can just turn up at any church (regardless of denomination) in any location and just become the pastor!

Call is also not about career progression or personal advancement. A colleague of mine says her family despair at her “downwardly mobile” lifestyle. Whilst they think she should be looking for bigger and better, she listens to the voice of God, asking her to serve in all sorts of different ways, which don’t give job stability or a company pension scheme.

In MCC around the world, we believe in “the priesthood of all believers” – that is, every single person has a call on their lives. God is inviting each and every one of us to be active in ministry. Some people answer this call through their job or through voluntary work. Many answer it through participation in their faith community. No call is better or more important than another. When we used to worship in the church hall, I used to joke that it didn’t matter how great my sermon was, no-one would be listening if the set up team hadn’t put the chairs out!

One of the real joys in my ministry is to sit and listen as individuals in our faith community discern their call. It is wonderful to see them grow into a role, and they become more confident and experienced, to expand that call in different ways. Our call often extends from the things that we find we are most passionate about, and then we use our gifts and skills to live out our passion and answer
our call.

When was the last time you really sat and listened to see if you are really following the call that God has placed on your heart?

Imagine what blessings might await you if do.

God bless,

Cecilia
 

Here I sit, back in the church office for the first time since the end of June. All around me are the signs of all that has been going on in my absence. There is the fantastic artwork from our Messy Church Pride service – “What makes you proud?” – our families have written in hearts what makes them proud – “my two mummies”, “for being my teacher’s top writer”, “my fabulous family and pets”, “singing with the choir”. The powerpoint printout from Sunday’s service sits on my desk, reminding me of our current worship theme
– “Exploring Spiritual Types”. I am SO looking forward to worshipping again with everyone this Sunday! I’ve heard about the wonderful “Write a Psalm” workshop and have caught up with the news from Chill and Grace, our monthly
lunch.

One of the real strengths of MCC Newcastle is that we believe that everyone has a part to play in the ministry of our church. All of these activities, and others besides, are led by members of our congregation, using their gifts and skills.

Of course, the office is full of stuff for Pride this Saturday. Northern Pride is one of our greatest outreach opportunities and this year we have “Fabulous and Beautiful” stickers to give away, as well as everything else. Every year, we have at least one person who starts worshipping with us on a regular basis, because of seeing us at Pride. What is also important is that our presence is part of a “drip-drip” effect. People see us at Pride, at IDAHO, at other events around the region. They repeatedly hear our message of God’s inclusive love and they get a chance to observe – from a safe distance, what we are like as people.

Because of our constant presence at these events, people check out our website, follow us on Facebook and Twitter. We might never see these individuals at worship, but they know that we are here if they need us, and some day, some of them will come and find us in person.

All of us have had to walk through the doors of MCC for the first time. For some, it is an instant homecoming, for others it is a scary step into the unknown. When someone comes to MCC Newcastle for the first time, it is great when they can
recognise one or two faces, either from Pride or from our amazing website. It helps to make them feel more at home straight away. If we can offer more activities and events beyond the worship service, we are more able to support
each person in their faith journey and in daily living. It takes all of us to offer a “safe, warm, welcoming home.”

Happy Pride!!

God bless,

Cecilia

By the time that you are reading this, General Conference will have started and I will be immersed in worship, workshops, fellowship and fun. General Conference is MCC’s international gathering, which happens once every three years. People travel from all over the world to conduct
the formal business of the denomination and to experience what it means to be part of the larger body of Christ.

There are always new friends to make, old friends to catch up with and absent friends to remember. The Founder of MCC, Reverend Elder Troy Perry will preach on Sunday
morning, before we head off to Chicago Pride. During the week, we will hear from several different preachers and speakers, including the current Moderator, Reverend Elder Nancy Wilson, and a good friend of MCC Newcastle, Rev. Pressley Sutherland. There will also be guest speakers from outside MCC who often cast a fresh and challenging light on our ministry. General Conference is always an opportunity to learn – more about our individual faith journeys, more about our collective calling to make a difference, more about the lives of MCCers around the world.

In Celtic spirituality, there is the concept of a “thin place” – where the division between heaven and earth is at its narrowest. For me, when I am at gatherings like General Conference, it feels like a thin place. So many fabulous and
beautiful, faith filled people all in one place and so much evidence of the Holy Spirit at work – it really is a little bit of heaven on earth. 
 
Thin places can be places of healing; they can also be places of transformation and change. They don’t have to be massive events with lots of people. It could just be you and God. For some people, being on our recent church day retreat at St Antony’s Priority will have felt like a thin place, where God is so tangible, you can almost reach out and touch the Divine.

I don’t know what healing and/or transformation will take place for me whilst I am in Chicago. All I know is that I need to be open to whatever the Holy Spirit offers. Angels come in many guises and there always one person who says or does something that is pivotal for me….and they probably will never even know. 

Blessings to each of you from General Conference!

God bless,

Cecilia
 

“Who inspires you?” That was a question that I had to answer recently. It was quite a difficult one to answer, as there are many people who inspire me in different
ways. When I was a child, the person who inspired me to want to preach and celebrate communion was our parish priest, Father Puttman.  Over the years, I have been inspired by amazing leaders within MCC, including our Founder, Troy
Perry, our Moderator, Nancy Wilson, and Elders such as Don Eastman, Arlene Ackerman, Darlene Garner and Lillie Brock.

In church every Sunday, I am inspired by so many people in our congregation at MCC Newcastle, who are faithful, committed and amazingly talented. Yet, my experience is that if I tell any of you how inspiring you are, most respond with a rather embarrassed British shrug.

As part of our series on the Psalms “Honest to God”, we recently read together the response “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” from Psalm 139. Charlotte, our preacher reminded us of how difficult we often find it to accept this, even though as a church, one of our core values is
“We value the fabulous and beautiful in each of us”.
 
From 21st September to 23rd December, there is a portrait exhibition at the Hatton Gallery, which is part of Newcastle University. The exhibition celebrates the lives of women associated with the North East who have made a difference.
“Inspirational Women of the North East” (www.iwne.org) includes historical figures, such as suffragette Emily Dickinson and famous names, such as Mo Mowlam and Catherine Cookson. Alongside these amazing icons, there are women who are alive today, and just doing what they do. I am deeply humbled and actually very chuffed to find
that I have been included in this exhibition. If you go on the website, you can nominate other women, who are an inspiration to you and there is also a photography exhibition to enter.

God does not call us to be anyone other than who God created us to be. Then all God asks is that we live our life to its fullest. That does not mean it will be pain-free life, or an easy life always. However, it does mean that we are open to all that God has for us and wants us to be. Being fully ourselves, at home, in work, with family and friends, means that we will inspire others, because each of us is “fabulous and beautiful, fearfully and wonderfully made”. 

Perhaps you could tell someone this week that they inspire you.

God bless,

Cecilia
 

Today a 19 year old man is struggling in hospital to regain his strength. This is a fight he may not wish to continue. If his health improves, the trial will begin where he will be charged with offences relating to the bomb attacks at the
Boston marathon. There have been many shocking aspects to the events surrounding the marathon two weeks ago. However, it is the youth of this man that keeps coming back to trouble me. In the 80’s, there was a song that was number 1 in the charts for many weeks called “Nineteen" – the lyrics relate the fact that the average age of combat soldiers in the Vietnam war  was 19, compared with World War Two, when the average age was 26. 

The notion of “teenagers” is a relatively new one. For centuries, children went out to work, and in many countries today, they still do. Some are the main wage earners for their families. In the West, we aspire to protect and educate our children, to give them a chance to have a carefree childhood, before the responsibilities and realities of adult life sets in.

I think that is what saddens me about the 19 year old who is charged with designing and planting these bombs, which were specifically designed to harm and horrifically maim as many people as possible. The innocence of youth has been
swept away and replaced with a view of other people – including other young people and children - as no longer human, no longer lives of value. Three people have already died and there may be more. Violence is most easily perpetrated when the victim is no longer seen as equal or valued. Even in war, when violence against others has become legitimised, there is still horror when cruelty and torture is revealed. The most recent pronunciation by the G8 leaders condemning sexual violence within war is a good example of this.

All of this might seem a long way from our daily lives. It is very easy for us to slip into the place of not valuing others though, if we are not careful. Perhaps someone who understands scripture differently from us, or holds political views which are unpalatable.  Jesus, of course, understood this human trait. That is why the story of the Good Samaritan was so powerful in its day – it forced the listeners to re-consider how they viewed outsiders, people they did not value and so could dismiss. 

God bless,

Cecilia

This weekend I went to visit my aunt’s grave. Auntie Veronica (or Auntie Barometer as she was affectionately known) was a Catholic nun – Order of the Poor Child
Jesus. This Order was founded to look after poor children – teaching, running orphanages etc. In her time, my aunt was a teacher and also ran the children’s home in Sheffield, the town where I grew up. She also held different positions within the Order over the many years that she served.

When Veronica died, one of the sisters in the convent asked if I would like Veronica’s Daily Office book – the prayer book that she would have used several times a day for over fifty years. When I had a chance to look at this book in detail, I discovered that Veronica had tucked different items into the cover. One piece of paper was a photocopy of a photograph of an uncle of hers who was a monk, with some details of his life typed underneath. She had also placed in there a photograph of her and her parents on the day of her Solemn Profession – the day when she formally became a nun.

It moved me very much to find these items and to realise that my calling to ordained ministry is part of a thread that runs through my family. One day, I will place a photo of me on my ordination day in with the other photos and hopefully pass on the prayer book to someone else in the family is also called to set their life apart in some way for God.

Many of us at MCC Newcastle do not have children of our own and may wonder what our legacy will be in the world.  One of the things that I love about being part of MCC worldwide is feeling as though I am part of history. Our founder, Reverend Troy Perry, is still alive and well and active in ministry. I still am able to draw on the wisdom and support of many more experienced colleagues. At the same
time, I have now been in MCC for over 24 years and have seen other people grow and develop in their faith journey. Hopefully, I have helped and encouraged some of them in this.

Who is part of your faith family tree? Who has supported, encouraged and challengedyou?  Who are you nurturing and supporting in your turn? This week, perhaps you
would like to thank God for these people and even send them a card or a little message. It is good to be part of a faith family.

God bless,

Cecilia
 

The Church Size Summit is nearly upon us!
 
“What is that?” I hear you ask!

MCC Newcastle is hosting a two day training conference on 8th and 9th February. MCCers from many of our UK churches, as well as from Germany and even New Zealand will be attending. Many of you kindly completed the congregational survey which will give our Elder, Reverend Elder Darlene Garner, valuable information about your church experience.

The Board and I also completed several other surveys, based on our roles and different aspects of our church life together, such as stewardship (looking after all our resources wisely), leadership, our policies and other documents, the different activities and events that we offer.

The Church Size Summit will be an opportunity for us to learn about different sizes of churches and how they need to function, in order to best serve God and God’s people. During the two days, Darlene will give us specific feedback from the MCC Newcastle surveys we submitted and those of us attending the CSS will develop an action plan for MCC Newcastle, based on her recommendations. 
 
All of this process needs to be “bathed in prayer”. The two Elders leading the event, Darlene and Rev. Elder Dr. Mona West, are preparing their work for us. They will need the guidance of the Holy Spirit in discerning what to learn from the many surveys from the different churches that are gathering. Those of us who are attending need to arrive in good order and be willing to hear what we need to learn – even if it feels a bit uncomfortable or challenging. We also need to rejoice in the many positive things about our ministry that we will also hear and hopefully get a real sense of what God is calling us to do and be over the next year or more.

MCC Newcastle is hosting this event because of the excellent welcome, hospitality and technical support we offer. Prayers are needed for the many people who will
volunteer of their time and talents leading up to and during this weekend, to make it a great success for all the churches involved and for the Elders too. 

Please keep us all in prayer, as we lead up to the Church Size Summit.
 
Let’s make it fabulous and beautiful!

God bless,

Cecilia

Happy New Year! Here’s to a year of blessing and good things.

As we start this New year, my ears have been assaulted by all the debate about the Church of England now allowing gay men in Civil Partnerships to become bishops, as long as they remain celibate and renounce previous sexual activity. This has been the stance for allowing gay men to become ordained for some time and just extends the ruling to those called to be bishops.

At the same time as this was going on, there were the announcements about the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list. The Radio 4 programme iPM awards its own New Year’s Honour, to someone nominated by its listeners. This year the award went to Stu Thomson, a youth worker working on a deprived South London estate, to offer the young people there an alternative to drug and gang culture and lives
of extreme violence. You can listen to the interview by clicking here.

 Mr Thomson sounds like a very reluctant hero and clearly is very committed to this challenging work of turning around the lives of young people. What impressed me the most though was his motivation for doing this work. In the same understated manner he used to describe the day to day challenges of his role, he talked about how he believed God had called him to leave retail work in Cardiff and move to London to work with these young people.

At the beginning of the New Year, it was thought provoking and humbling to hear the story of a man so willing to listen to God’s call and to use that as a basis for trying to make a difference in the lives of others, no matter how difficult or
even futile it might seem to others.

For me, this is what being a Christian means. Hearing God’s call in our lives and working with others to make a difference. When so much of what we hear in the media just seems to be about who isn’t allowed to serve God, it is heartening to remember that millions of Christians all over the world are quietly working to bring a bit of heaven here on earth - today and every day.

May you hear God’s call in your life this year and may it be a rich blessing to you.

 God bless,

 Cecilia