Sermon preached by The Reverend Robert Atwell at the Dedication Festival Sunday 10 September 2006

I am a late convert to the Internet, but in an idle moment when I was surfing the web I came across You-tube. This site contains all sorts of video clips, some of which are pretty ghastly, but occasionally you stumble across a gem like a hysterical send-up of the Church of England by Eddie Izzard. He portrays us as either happy-clappy and completely off our trollies; or dull and miserable. He does a wonderful impression of a congregation singing, ‘O God our help in ages past' on Remembrance Sunday.

As with all caricatures there is truth as well as fiction in what he says. But it made me think. Is this how people see the church? What image do local people have of us here at St Mary's? It's not a bad question to ask on our Dedication Festival when we remember the building of St Mary's and its dedication for worship in 1872.

Whenever the word ‘church' pops up most people think of either buildings or bishops. Personally, I like old churches, but I realise that not everyone is into old buildings, be they medieval or Victorian like this one. Why spend your time in a cold, dirty, draughty building when you could be at home watching Eddie Izzard and drinking a glass of Merlot?

And as for bishops, why do they wear those pink frocks and funny hats? We have to face the fact that church culture is an acquired taste.

During the sixteenth century when the Bible was being translated into English, there was a big argument over how best to translate the word ecclesia. The Reformers refused to translate it as ‘church' because they rebelled against the institution of the Roman Catholic Church. They'd had enough of that thank you very much. So they translated it as ‘congregation'. And this gives quite a different feel to some famous passages in the Bible.

For example, Jesus' commission to Peter at Caesarea Philippi now became: "And I tell you, you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my congregation."

Or St Paul writing to the Colossians became, "Christ is the head of the body, the congregation." In the end when it came to finalising the text of the Authorized Version, or the King James' Bible as we often call it, the word church was preferred to the word congregation, and that's how we are used to hearing those texts today.

But the Reformers were right to point out that the word ecclesia literally means ‘called out': the people God has called out of society into community to be a sign of his presence in the world, to make visible his unconditional love for humankind. We mustn't forget that for the first three hundred years Christians were persecuted. They met in one another's houses. There were few church buildings because it was far too risky. The church was people long before it ever had special buildings to worship in.

When I was in Hereford last month I watched the local news one night. A church somewhere in the West Midlands had been burnt down in an arson attack and they were interviewing the vicar. ‘Does this mean,' asked the reporter, ‘that the church is now closed down?' ‘Certainly not,' he replied, quick as a flash. ‘The building may be closed, but the church is open because the church is people.'

We are the church, you and me, and we are open for business: God's business of healing and reconciling people. And today on Dedication Sunday we come to rededicate ourselves to this task by making ourselves open to his Holy Spirit. We're not a club: we are the Body of Christ in Primrose Hill and we have a gospel to proclaim.  As Archbishop William Temple said more than fifty years ago, ‘The church is the only institution that exists for the benefit of those who don't belong to it.'

And here at St Mary's we've a great story to tell.

It begins with two local businessmen building a Boys' Home in Regents Park Road, together with a tin tabernacle in Ainger Road for a chapel. St Mary's has its origin in work amongst the most disadvantaged young people, getting them off the streets, giving them a home, a trade and a future. The Boys' Home closed before the war and the tin tabernacle has long since disappeared, but we know that people used to come and listen to the boys' choir sing and the congregation soon outgrew their meagre premises. As a result this handsome red brick church was built at the top of the hill in 1872.

And what of us now?

Seven years ago when a section of the nave ceiling fell down, not once but twice. We had to ask ourselves as a congregation some very serious questions. Should we abandon this building and move elsewhere? What was God was calling us to be and to do as a congregation? And in our history we found the seeds of an answer.

We discovered that the life of our parish is rooted in three things: the worship of God in the catholic tradition of the Church of England; good singing and music; and working with local children and young people, particularly those who are most at risk. These three pillars are not only our past: they form the blueprint for our future. That's why we called it our Blueprint Appeal. In this vision is our calling as a congregation.

Over the last seven years we have sorted the roof; rewired the church; we've got a new sound and lighting system; and last year we repaired the most damaged brickwork. Three years ago we set up a Social Inclusion Project as a contemporary expression of what those two Hampstead businessmen were doing 150 years ago. We're now employing not one, not two, but three youth and community workers. Tomorrow Jason Allen, our first ever Eirini Project worker starts, working precisely amongst young people who are most at risk of disaffection and getting into trouble.

The word 'eirini' comes from the Greek word for peace. ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,' says Jesus in the Gospel, ‘for God shall call them his sons and daughters.' And we pray that Jason's work may indeed be blessed. It reflects our desire for young people to live well, both materially and spiritually. We want them to experience the 'fullness of life' Jesus came to bring.

As far as music is concerned, the third strand in our parish life, we've had a wonderful year celebrating the centenary of the English Hymnal which was written here; and later this month, Wilson Cheng, our first ever Organ Scholar takes up his post, in tandem with training to be a doctor at UCH.

We're sorting out the building. The new toilets at the back of church, including one for the disabled, were finished on Friday and in six weeks time our new St Mary's Centre will be ready. This will be a fantastic resource for us and for the wider community, which will give proof to William Temple's remark that the church exists for the benefit of those who don't belong to it.

This is the vision but ineed your help to bring it to fruition, because as many of you know in July the bills for the building work rocketed and we found ourselves unexpectedly £60,000 short. Over the summer holidays a number of you have been fantastically generous. I've had £40,000 in donations and others of you have offered interest-free loans to pay the bills. But loans have to be re-paid, and we need to come together now as a congregation, and give one last heave and make sure we don't end up in debt.

At the back of church Christine and Linda have designed a wall representing St Mary's and I invite you to sponsor as many bricks as you can - there are even special blue bricks for children to buy at £1 a time so that everyone feels they've got a stake in this.

In this morning's epistle St Peter says that we are being built by God as ‘living stones' into his temple to proclaim his glory. Well St Mary's is built out of Victorian brick, not stone; so for ‘living stones' please substitute ‘living bricks'. And don't just sponsor a brick, be a brick yourself. Allow yourself to be built by God into his ecclesia, his church, that together we may proclaim the glory of God who has called out of darkness into his own marvellous light.