It was a lovely spring morning in April when many of our friends from gathered at St Mary's to see us commissioned for in our work there. That morning Anne read in the scripture from these verses: “It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.” (Deuteronomy 11.12) She felt it was for Luton! Those verses came again as the daily reading at the church prayer time in early May. As we walked around Luton in those early days it was with a sense of spring in the air in the spiritual realm as well. We have a hope for Luton!
That is not the way many look at Luton. Voted “the crappest town in the UK” in 2004, (the wikipedia article is here) and recently lambasted by the Sun newspaper after the murder of one of our police, it is known best for Islamic fundamentalism, a dreary landscape, a bad university, M1 Junction 10 and its airport – the quickest ways out! “You mean, you moved from Harpenden to Luton?” has been heard more than once as we changed our address.
I think that as well as feeling happy and excited about the new day, we feel rooted. We are privileged that in a town said to be devoid of any sense of history, we worship and work based in a inspiring and beautiful building largely dating from 1121-37, by far the oldest building around. Despite views to the contrary, we and the church belong here! The stonemasons who created St Mary's unique black and white chequered stonework (alternate black flint and honey coloured stone) hundreds of years ago could not have known what Luton's population would look like today. We are proud of the black and white stonework, and equally proud that it is a “prophetic picture” of our town, one of the most multi-ethnic and multi-cultural places in England today. And we hope that our congregation will look like that! People of all ages and from all nations in the town built together as one and following one Lord, Jesus Christ – and all of them belong here. "The black and white church in Luton!"
Unity is not easy in the midst of the diversity of languages, cultures, and experiences, as well as in a world that has been seriously messed around by wars, colonialism, injustices, racism, slavery and the like. Its sometimes easier to live, work and worship separately than to set out on a journey that will bring us closer together.
We have joined the team at St Mary's to play our part in that journey. We have a dream that the church really can work to make peace in this troubled world - just like the prophet Isaiah wrote of in his vision of "turning swords and spears into farm tools". (Isaiah 2.4) We will be working with others in the church, in Bedfordshire University chaplaincy, and the different communities in Luton to make that a reality. Our vision for peace and reconciliation also takes us regularly to China.
This blog will follow some of our journey in St Mary's, in Luton, in the UK and around the world.
