Ship of Fools: St Olave's, Seething Lane

Thread: St Olave's, Seething Lane Board: Ecclesiantics / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Pangolin Guerre (# 18686) on :

I'd post this in Via Media, but that has gone as dead as Tumbleweed Gultch...

Is it high, low, medium, not too salty, not too sweet?

Regarding the post-blitz restoration, how faithful to the original was it? The internet photos seem quite nice, but it's difficult for me to discern on my laptop.

Hosts are invited to migrate me. Rapturously.

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

I've never been to a service, but I got the impression old fashioned middle of the road.

The interior has the atmosphere as if it was not a 1950s rebuild and has a lot of monumentens, including Mrs Samuel Pepys. (The Pepys monument is an Edwardian addition.)

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

Their website says that services "are conducted using contemporary Anglican liturgies"; the Eucharist is referred to as "Holy Communion". Unusually for a City church, they have "Children's Church". The whole impression one gets is of Low Church/moderate Evangelical.

To be honest, I rather like the sound of it!

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

It's usually known as St Olave's Hart Street as on the website.

There comes a point were placing C of E churches on a high/low spectrum now is not clear.

Not so long ago Mattins as the main service was the litmus test alike for MOTR and evangelical.

Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on :

Just to be helpful, here's their website:

http://www.sanctuaryinthecity.net/

Along with a number of other City churches, they've moved on from the days of BCP Mattins (see Dickens' remarks in The Uncommercial Traveller), and offer (along with St. Katherine Cree) various forms of service.

As venbede rightly says, it's not that easy these days to categorise C of E churches!

I'm tempted to ask a kindly Host to change the title of this thread to 'St. Ghastly Grim' (Dickens again, inspired by the skulls over the gate), but perhaps simply to change 'Seething Lane' to 'Hart Street', which is the correct name, as enny UK fule kno....

IJ

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

Well, this fule didn't!

Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on :

[Hot and Hormonal]

Umble Apologees...

IJ (fule wot used to work in London)

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

I think BT was referring to me, in which case I apologise. On consideration I can see why it might be called Low Church/moderate evangelical. The vicar and different members of the congregation may have different ideas. As I say, I’m not sure these terms are very helpful now but those were the terms the question here was posed.

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

Gosh, we are all getting too polite - I don't require any apology of any kind! (And it was Bishop's Finger to whose comment I was referring, not that it matters in the slightest).

[ 18. March 2017, 15:16: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

I’ve known eminently catholic Anglican priests use the official title Holy Communion for pastoral reasons not to frighten the horses. It is no necessarily a Low Church shibboleth.

St Olaves looks MOTR in the best sense that anyone with catholic or evangelical formation could still be comfortable in the essential points.

Posted by moonlitdoor (# 11707) on :

I don't know the style of St Olave's but I know the vicar from his previous parish. Of the clergy that I have come across, he is my favourite so I think it's well worth going along there if you get the chance. He was certainly someone who saw the value of and was comfortable with a wide range of worship styles, so I would expect what venbede says to be correct.

Posted by Ecclesiastical Flip-flop (# 10745) on :

I have visited both churches for the purpose of bell-ringing (change-ringing) and that is my only "take" about these two churches.

But this discussion makes interesting reading.

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

quote:
Originally posted by moonlitdoor:
I don't know the style of St Olave's but I know the vicar from his previous parish. Of the clergy that I have come across, he is my favourite so I think it's well worth going along there if you get the chance. He was certainly someone who saw the value of and was comfortable with a wide range of worship styles, so I would expect what venbede says to be correct.

Knowing his previous church a bit, I'd go along with that.

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ecclesiastical Flip-flop:
I have visited both churches for the purpose of bell-ringing (change-ringing) and that is my only "take" about these two churches.

But this discussion makes interesting reading.

Two churches? Is there a muddle? St Olave's is on the corner of Seething Land and Hart Street and the main porch is in Hart Street.

Posted by Triple Tiara (# 9556) on :

quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
Two churches? Is there a muddle? St Olave's is on the corner of Seething Land and Hart Street and the main porch is in Hart Street.

Ah, but did you follow the link provided by Bishop's Finger?

Posted by BroJames (# 9636) on :

Yes. It probably means the Post Office decide the Hart Street delivery round was better than the Seething Lane round for postal purposes. Our place is on an Island site with three possible street names. The PO chose towards which our postal delivery point faces.

Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on :

Similarly, Our Place's front door is in X Road, but the post-box is on the wall of the Hall in Y road. Correspondence is therefore addressed to (and delivered in) Y Road.

The two churches mentioned are, of course, St. Olave's and her stable-mate, St. Katherine Cree. It's good to see that both are in Full Working Order, as are most of the surviving City churches. A quick trawl round relevant City Churches websites shows to what extent, and how imaginatively, some of them have re-invented themselves.

IJ

Posted by The Scrumpmeister (# 5638) on :

Their "events" page appears to be stuck in Advent/Christmas 2016.

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
Similarly, Our Place's front door is in X Road, but the post-box is on the wall of the Hall in Y road. Correspondence is therefore addressed to (and delivered in) Y Road.

As a tangent, we have friends who live in a village in Cambridgeshire; but their "post town" (where the sorting office is) is over the border in Hertfordshire. So their postal address is Herts. and not Cambs.!

Mind you, I once had to visit a church near here and discovered that Google Maps placed it in the middle of the Irish Sea! Bizarre, but at least it was a Baptist church!

[ 20. March 2017, 06:55: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Triple Tiara:
Ah, but did you follow the link provided by Bishop's Finger?

Ah, St Katherine Kree. The Mar Thoma church worship there on Sunday mornings, and I attended a few times – the priest assured me I was in communion with them and on a return visit I duly communicated. That was the occasion of a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity presided over by the Bishop of London having a chance to dress as an Orthodox bishop. Bishop Chartres and myself were the only non-Mar Thomas present. There was a backing group of ladies in saris singing “Shine Jesus shine” in Malayam.

http://www.marthomachurch.org.uk/

Posted by Enoch (# 14322) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
... Mind you, I once had to visit a church near here and discovered that Google Maps placed it in the middle of the Irish Sea! Bizarre, but at least it was a Baptist church!

Must have been Strict Baptists, so Strict, even visitors had to have been immersed.

Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on :

[Killing me]

Glad to hear the Mar Thoma peeps are using St. Katherine Cree. They seem to be a wonderfully exotic blend of Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism, and it's great that we Anglicans are AIUI in full communion with them. Our Place did, a while ago, have an inquiry from the Mar Thomas about using our church on a monthly basis, but nothing came of it, largely, I think, because of potential parking problems for a gathered congregation.

IJ

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Enoch:

quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
... Mind you, I once had to visit a church near here and discovered that Google Maps placed it in the middle of the Irish Sea! Bizarre, but at least it was a Baptist church!
Must have been Strict Baptists, so Strict, even visitors had to have been immersed.

Actually they weren't!

Posted by Roman Cataholic (# 18736) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:

Glad to hear the Mar Thoma peeps are using St. Katherine Cree. They seem to be a wonderfully exotic blend of Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism, and it's great that we Anglicans are AIUI in full communion with them. Our Place did, a while ago, have an inquiry from the Mar Thomas about using our church on a monthly basis, but nothing came of it, largely, I think, because of potential parking problems for a gathered congregation.

IJ

Have a look at this

Posted by Ecclesiastical Flip-flop (# 10745) on :

quote:
Originally posted by venbede:

quote:
Originally posted by Ecclesiastical Flip-flop:
I have visited both churches for the purpose of bell-ringing (change-ringing) and that is my only "take" about these two churches.

But this discussion makes interesting reading.
Two churches? Is there a muddle? St Olave's is on the corner of Seething Land and Hart Street and the main porch is in Hart Street.

Is any muddle relevant to what I am saying? I thought we were discussing St. Katharine Cree, as well as St. Olave's Hart Steet, making TWO churches.

By googling, I have checked that St. Olave's is on the corner of Hart Street and Seething Lane.

By the time I respond to this, a bit belatedly, other shipmates have made it clear, that St. Katharine Cree is involved in this discussion as well.

Thus, my matter-of-fact comment, would seem to be unaffected.

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