With a little help from friends...

With a little help from friends
Originally uploaded by Lees Street.

you can achieve a lot!

We are putting the finishing touches to our Faith mosaic window. A dedicated group of people have been working hard this year on our second mosaic. It includes a row of terraced houses, with rays of sunshine and heart-shaped trees, representing the church seeking to be the light and breath at the heart of the community. Higher up, there are images of communion, the food we share in faith, and symbols of baptism - the waters of new life - and weddings, and the Bible, with a shepherd's crook reminding us of Jesus the Good Shepherd who guides us. It is a striking picture with a background of blue, which contrasts colourfully with the mostly red Hope mosaic.

So, we are half way there. Watch this space for Joy and Peace...

You can see more pictures of the mosaic by clicking on the Flickr badge

We Are A Mosaic

An All-Age Mosaic
Originally uploaded by Lees Street.

I love this picture - Kathleen's smile, Victor's concentration with the hammer, Lewis ready to help out. It says a lot - particularly that, not only are we in the process of creating our second large-scale mosaic ("Faith"), but we are a mosaic ourselves! At Lees Street, we are like different sized, different coloured, different aged pieces, sometimes a bit broken, sometimes shiny, often with rough edges, sometimes difficult to fit together, but still all coming together to make something more beautiful ... but of course, the difference between the mosaics on the wall and the real-life mosaic is that we will never be finished - there is always room for more pieces, with more colours, more rough edges, more unique gifts to add to the overall picture. So let's celebrate our creative mix! Graham.

Sticking together!

Sticking together!
Originally uploaded by Lees Street.

We recently had a fantastic weekend with some "visitors from the east" - Rev Michael Heaney, the General Secretary of the Congregational Federation, who works in Nottingham, together with Rose and their son Sam, joined us for a social evening on Saturday 21st April, and led worship on the Sunday morning. On the Saturday, we enjoyed 'foods of the world' and three of our members led us in a quiz about their home countries (Denmark, Sierra Leone, and Malawi). Michael also shared stories of his experiences of the family of the Council for World Mission, our global partnership of churches. He particularly focused on how different cultures do meals, not least Communion, to help us reflect on the rich diversity - and the challenge to break down barriers. We closed with singing "For everyone born a place at the table". As several people remarked, it was one of the best evenings we have had at Lees Street. And then in worship the next day, by reflecting on the life of John Newton, the author of 'Amazing Grace', Michael helped us think about "unlocking" our good news, unlocking our gifts, to rid ourselves of the chains which hem us in or hold us back - as individuals and as churches. Afterwards, as pictured, Rose and Michael added to our second mosaic - "Faith". It was great for Lees Street to meet representatives of the wider church, and it was a wholly positive time of togetherness.