The church of all nations
THE REV HUGO DEADMAN Curate, St James Church, Milton
What’s the best of British for you – and where in Portsmouth can you find it?
That was the question I asked myself recently. I wanted to show the best of British to two relative newcomers to our city and church. They’re called Ikpemesi and Ogho, from Nigeria.
I plumped for the best of British cuisine: a full English at my favourite café, Kathleen’s in Milton. It was fascinating to listen to their comparisons between their homeland and adopted home.
Ogho is a doctor at the Queen Alexandra Hospital. He told me it’s like a hospital of all the nations. People from across the globe bring their unique skills, perspective and experience to their work. They all learn from one another. Everyone has something to offer. That’s true beyond the QA.
During lockdown I realised that members of our congregation weren’t seeing each other for the first time in decades. So I filmed many of them on their doorsteps sending a message to the church family and posted the clips on our Facebook page. They are brief but moving, especially because most people said they missed their church family terribly.
Everyone’s message had a different story behind it – a story they contribute to the bigger story of our church family.
Everyone has something to offer and we all learn from each other’s experiences. Like QA, every church is a church of all the nations.
That’s central to the Christian faith – and something I thought about last Saturday when I was ordained as a priest at St James Church, Milton.
At the service, lots of big words were said about a priest’s work. One of the biggest is ‘servant’. I serve God and his people – that means everyone, whoever they are, whatever they’ve done.
For me another big word is ‘story’. I listen to and try to make sense of people’s stories. Through them I’ve come to know that people are made in the image of God and that God is at work in them and in their lives. Their stories form part of the story of God’s love.
That’s not the best of British. It’s the best story in the world.