Reflect, React, Resolve.
This is how we learnt about the riots in Bristol! Our son, Adam, and his choir had taken over the vicarage to use their base for the weekend (they sang the services in church on Sunday 4 August) and we were settling into our annual summer holiday in France. Out of the blue Adam sends us this photo of police in riot gear outside the vicarage kitchen window! Less than four weeks' later, the news from around the country (including Bristol) is of rioters being sentenced for their part in the horrendous acts of violence meted out upon some of the most vulnerable people in society.
This you know. And you know how the Redcliffe community (congregation, staff, residents) worked together in those terrifying hours to protect those in danger and to ensure that when we say we are a welcoming, inclusive Christian community, we really mean it. You know this because Laura has kept you (and me) informed all the way through. She was supported by others who were equally committed and who also acted courageously when the easier path would have been to turn and look the other way.
I am unashamedly proud and humbled by the way 'Redcliffe' reacted when the riot came to our neighbourhood. I am equally proud and delighted to live in a city where, a few days later, the truth of what it means to be a City of Hope and a City of Sanctuary was seen on the streets of Old Market.
"And the word was made flesh and lived among us."
I want to share with you some the things you may not know about what Redcliffe did and how it has been received:
- on the Saturday, our community team were already in touch with hotel staff and residents as things were kicking off at Castle Park;
- later, our visiting choir was rehearsing in church and the vergers made sure they were secure inside church and got away safely;
- we had bell ringing planned between 3.0 & 5.0 and vergers made sure they were clear of the building prior to the rioters arriving in Redcliffe;
- as the protestors moved towards us, we were able to warn local residents to stay indoors;
- staff were constantly checking on one another's welfare, especially given that we have staff living so close to the hotel;
- local residents were texting friends they have made in the hotel to check on their welfare;
- community team opened the Hub on Sunday, and a number of the congregation went over to listen and chat and reassure;
- on Sunday, the team crafted a statement which was put online by a member of staff who had the necessary log ins but was on holiday in the middle of nowhere - somehow she managed to find Wi-Fi;
- The Noise organised a street clean up in Redcliffe;
- two girls staying in the hotel have asked Joe about joining the choir and a father and daughter have asked Laura about being baptised;
- colleagues in the diocese have been amazed that we managed to be in touch with the hotel so quickly and were surprised when told that we'd been working with them for over a year;
- one senior colleague has written "I am immensely grateful for a statement that combined compassion, faith, and commitment to people";
- and the bishop has commented that our ability to respond was because of the commitment and hard work that SMR has shown to its parish over the years.
We follow Jesus of Nazareth. Born in backstreet of a nowhere town. Born behind the expected place of hospitality because there was no room for them at the inn. Born in a country under occupation by an external force whose methods of control were brutal. When news reached them that their lives were at risk, that Herod was sending his army to annihilate all those under two years old to assassinate Jesus, Mary & Joseph fled for their lives. There is a technical argument about whether the Holy Family were actually refugees or would today be described as 'internally displaced' - but (to my way of thinking) if that's where your focus is, blimey, are you looking the wrong way.
They fled for their lives from persecution. They fled from a country where they could not live in freedom and dignity. They fled to a place of safety and security.
I am deeply ashamed of my fellow country men and women who behaved barbarically in Bristol and across the country. And I am immensely proud of the way in which St Mary Redcliffe sang the song of faith and justice that weekend. We (well, 'you' actually - I was watching from France!) truly inhabited our calling to be a thriving, inclusive Christian community and a church that makes a difference in the parish and beyond.
And you did it, not to be thanked (though thanks are due); not to be goody-two-shoes (though you were incredibly good); not to be thought of as better than others or showing off or ostentatious. You did it because it was the right thing to do, for the sake of your sisters and brothers, because of our shared humanity.
If you want to wrap that up in some theology - you were incarnational.
"And the word was made flesh and lived among us."
Dan Tyndall
22 August 2024
