Albert’s Place

Yesterday was an important day in the life of our church. It was Lou’s induction. Lou’s now officially our pastor. I mused… What sort of church do I hope and pray we shall become?

I’ve recently heard ‘Albert’s Place, a Martyn Joseph song, written for and about the amazing work of Andrea Bell, who, with her fellow volunteers, runs a soup kitchen and food bank in Sunderland, serving around a hundred needy folk every day with good food, clothes and shelter.

With head bowed low she walks on through her city
Rain seeps through the only coat she owns
But on High Street West there’s a place
A place she knows

Some days it won’t take much at all
You can fall just a semitone
But it’s enough to make you fold
And break your soul

And Albert’s Place has seen it all
The meat and coal when the big ships called
But maybe now its greatest day of all
Brings tea and a cup of love

See the pensioner and the veteran
The unemployed, the homeless and the lost
The confused, misused, refused
Gathered here

But you’ll be surprised at who’s beside you
A businessman just wants to feed his kids
A nurse ashamed to cross that line
But arms welcome her

And Albert’s Place has seen it all
The meat and coal when the big ships called
But maybe now its greatest day of all
Brings tea and a cup of love
Tea and a cup of love

And it’s tattooed across his forearm
It’s a promise set in skin
Days that tried to destroy him
But Albert let him in
Room at the inn

And the measure of a country’s prosperity
Is not the wealth it holds
But in the absence of poverty and equal opportunity for all

And Albert’s Place has seen it all
The meat and coal and the big ships tall
But maybe now its greatest day of all
Brings tea and a cup of love
Clothes and a cup of love
Shelter and furniture and a cup of love
Humanity in a cup of love

With head bowed low she walks on through her city
Rain seeps through the only coat she owns
But on High Street West there’s a place
A place she knows…

This may describe a soup kitchen. My prayer is that it will describe our church where individuals who feel lonely and alone, folk with heavy hearts and broken souls, can find value and acceptance.

My prayer is that our church will be a place where people of all types and backgrounds will come together in an inclusive Christian community; the businessman, nurse and pensioner, the ‘confused, misused, refused’, are all welcomed with open arms and stand together.

Thinking about the future of our church we remember the Lowestoft revival of a hundred years ago where many came to faith… Do we dare to believe with Martyn Joseph ‘Maybe now is its greatest day of all…’?

My prayer is that God will work in our town and community through an active caring, compassionate church that brings ‘tea and a cup of love’.