Filofax 1996
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30.12.96 / 01 / god in the house
Not in the Filofax, but it can't go unmentioned here.
'God in the House' was a series of 6 programmes shown on Channel 4 24th-30th December 1996. Each one featured a 'radical alternative Christian service' and the final one was Grace.
I had seen Jonny and Mike around at Abundant and St. James the Less, and heard talk of Grace and seen flyers, but it hadn't really registered. When I saw the programme and saw various friends there, I realised that I had to go. I got the flyer at Abundant in January 1997 but didn't get round to going until April. And I've been going ever since.
27.10.96 / 01 / first service
I finally went to the evening service at St James the Less. There were people I knew from Abundant, who introduced me to more people, and my friendship circle expanded massively. St James became my church for the next five or six years. For a few months I was still going to my old church in Surrey in the mornings, and then would head up to London in the evening. This would also mean retiring from my old homegroup which met Sunday evenings.
St James the Less is a spectacular Victorian Gothic building. By the 90s it was little used, and was going to be sold to the nearby Tate (Britain) Gallery as an exhibition space. Another church required major structural repairs, the various congregations were sent to other buildings temporarily, and some young adults got permission to hold evening services in St James the Less. They were able to do what they wanted, and invite their friends. Runaway growth ensued, a ministry team had to be appointed and the sale to the Tate revoked.
The congregation was almost entirely 20s-30s. The worship was exciting, the band were professional musicians, the preaching was intelligent and enjoyable. Creatives, lawyers, politicians, charity workers, academics, actors - so many talented people. It was the network hub of a vibrant Christian scene in London at the time. Many Abundant people were there and the nightclub also fuelled growth. When I joined there were about 300, packed into the small church on Sunday night. The new hymns that had sounded lame in a small church were very different sung full blast by 300 people over a rock band. And afterwards everyone went to the pub next door.
Eventually it was a victim of its own success. When numbers hit around 500 the evening service had to be split in two. This made it harder for new people to make friends as they wouldn't see the same people week to week, and the atmosphere was never the same. The homegroup system and the ministry team buckled under the strain. The vicar had to go to a smaller church for his health, many people moved on and it became a more conventional church.
23.10.96 / 01 / charlotte perriand private view
Perriand herself was at the private view, aged 93 and still feisty.
15.10.96 / 01 / james dyson private view
James Dyson private view at the Design Museum. I got talking to a performance artist who was working for Richard Rogers. Dyson was paying for everything so the waiters kept refilling our glasses with champagne. We failed to go upstairs and see the exhibition. Then we went to the pub to talk some more.
Somehow I made it to Waterloo and onto a train. I was sick four times on the train. I was laughing because I found the whole situation absurd and funny. The next day I was very ill with alcohol poisoning. Embarrassing phone call to work. I finally learned, after many years of failing to learn - do not get drunk, the aftermath is not pleasant. I never was really drunk again. I also learned to beware of events where they keep topping up your glass!
12.10.96 / 01 / st james the less
Abundant advertised two half-day workshops at St James the Less in Pimlico:
- Saturday Oct 12th - God, community and tradition in contemporary culture
- Saturday Nov 23rd - worship & liturgy as mission in contemporary culture
These were subjects of interest to me. As we left I looked into the church, where a young man was tying giant inflatable bananas to the columns. What is this for, I asked. Why don't you come and see, he replied. I didn't get back the next day, it took two weeks, so I never did find out.
27.08.96 / 01 / greenbelt
My first time at Greenbelt, partly because Abundant were playing the Dance Tent. I didn't really know anybody to start with, but found my brother was there, and someone I knew from Uni, and interesting conversations started to happen. The feel of the festival was very questioning, there was much discussion of the Nine O'Clock Service which had collapsed the previous August. The people on the platforms seemed important and remote, I didn't expect to get to know them.
And then Ken turned up, pulled me backstage (no pass) to hang out a bit with the Abundant folks, and things were a bit different.
I was introduced to a Greenbelt ritual. On the Monday afternoon you pack your tent and put it in the car. You see the evening acts, and then head to the car and go before the traffic jam after the final headliner. This meant I missed the end of Moby's set, which I still regret. Driving home under the full moon with Ken, and another friend asleep in the back, it felt like a new life had begun. Which was true.
19.04.96 / 01 / abundant
In a magazine at Spring Harvest was a small ad for a Christian-run nightclub in London called Abundant. Next date 19th April, 10 days after I got back, so I went. Music was good, people were friendly, it seemed cool. I enjoyed it. First time in a club since the hearing damage in 1991.
Next day I called into the hair salon, and mentioned it to my friend Ken who I thought might be interested. He knew - the guy who ran it was a close friend of his.
Abundant was an attempt to run a commercial club night on an ethical basis, no drug dealers, sleaze or corruption, avoiding the hassle and edge of many clubs. It wasn't blatantly Christian (whatever that might mean), though the DJs did like a bit of gospel garage or funk. It was in the magazine listings with all the other club nights, but in practice it drew a large crowd of church people as a matter of friendship networks.
09.04.96 / 01 / spring harvest
My homegroup went to Spring Harvest, the evangelical festival in Minehead. It consisted mostly of teaching sessions in various styles, and worship in various styles. Some of the teaching was very arid, nose down in Bibles. I preferred the more TV-style seminars - supposedly for unintellectual people, but it was simply more contemporary and engaging. Worship likewise could be staid or the latest youth stuff.
I had a quiet but intense spiritual renewal, which didn't quite connect to anything that had been happening. I came back thinking, what now? What is this for? I would find out.
24.01.96 / 01 / my first computer
My new computer was delivered at 1:30pm - a Mac 7200/90. At the time this was more powerful than the 66MHz Compaqs at work. It ran System 7.5.3, which I liked.
I liked it even better after adding Aaron, a freeware extension that gave the interface the 3D 'Platinum' look of the supposedly imminent Copland OS. The only issue was that Aaron slowly corrupted the resource forks. After a couple of months the system would start to crash, and I had to run Disk Utility to fix it. Nothing serious was damaged or lost but clearly it shouldn't have been happening. Eventually OS 8 gave the Copland appearance for real.
After three years of watching and waiting, buying a Mac in 1996 seemed like an act of loyalty. Especially around the point at which Sun Microsystems were expected to swallow Apple and leave me with an orphaned machine.
