What the judges said:

“Excellent composition and good tonal balance gives this image stand out. There is a connection between the two people and the expressions on their faces are very well caught. It was judged to be powerful, with a sense of movement and several points of interest around the central characters. It’s not just a case of ‘down and out’ or a negative portrayal of homelessness. The photograph clearly portrays a service.”

Find out more on their website and see the other winners.

 ”A Year of Service is a celebration of the practical contribution that faith groups make to enrich their neighbourhoods and improve the lives of those around them, and it is intended to help deepen cooperation and understanding between people of different religious and non-religious backgrounds.

“Thank you to all the faith communities who have contributed to make A Year Of Service in Bedfordshire a success through this Advent lecture, especially Bishop Richard for his thought provoking comments, as we together engage in a process helping to develop partnership and links across different groups.

“The legacy for A Year Of Service should be for all groups to continue working together, building stronger ties and supporting the most vulnerable in our communities.

“I send my warm best wishes to everyone involved in this evening’s event.”

Read more about the Bishop of Bedford’s A Year of Service lecture here.

In his ‘A Year of Service’ lecture at the University of Bedfordshire, he has highlighted the enormous contribution made by different faith communities to those around them. ‘A Year of Service’ has run during 2012 as a year in which, each month, one of the major faith communities has hosted a day or days of volunteering in communities and businesses across the country.

This has been seen in projects ranging from a community clean-up at Sewa Day, a special time of the year when Buddhist, Hindu, Jain and Sikh communities work collectively for the good of all, to a homeless project run by Christians in Luton, or the Qu’ran- and Bible- inspired Golden Pledge sport project of Faith in Queen’s Park, Bedford which expresses the Golden Rule (always treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself) in the context of multi-faith cricket, basketball and other sport.

This contribution speaks of a society that is highly spiritual in many ways, as he observes, but in the lecture, ‘Spiritual Poverty in a Big Society,’ he also challenges those within faith communities and wider society alike to address six areas of spiritual poverty to make this contribution bigger and more effective, to rise to the challenge of the ‘Big Society’ vision which calls for faith communities to do more of what they have always done. He does this addressing “not so much the details of the activity but the spirit that undergirds it.”

The six points are:

To wider Society

1.     “We have lost the ability in our society to talk adequately of values, purposes and the nature of the good.” He calls for a rediscovery of that: “If we can’t speak of morality and values in a shared way, and hear within that the contribution of faith communities, especially the Christian tradition that underlies so much of our common life in this country, then we will be severely lost. As the Church of England response to the current commission on the banking crisis indicates it as much a matter of values and culture, as it is of regulation, institution and structures.”

2.     “We are a spiritual society in many ways. Firstly there is a world of difference between that spiritual journey that is primarily or exclusively about self-discovery and self-realisation – where the focus is the individual; and that spirituality which draws its identity and strength from one’s relationship with others, and in particular from the divine. Secondly, and in some ways related to that, we should have concern when society, and sadly sometimes the faith communities themselves, paints faith as purely a private matter.”

3.     We need to get society focusing more on the needs of others. “In a society where individualism and materialism are so often the guide there is a pressing need to enable the spiritual resources that emphasise love of neighbour, both this generation and the next.”

To Faith Communities

4.     The Regional Faith Councils and Assemblies and local Interfaith Councils set up under the previous Government were “something of a trap that far from extending their contribution was in danger of constricting it. The emphasis on interfaith structures and ‘interfaith’ action –whilst it can be the release of this spiritual energy from each faith – had the danger of developing a new civic good called ‘interfaith’ which was in danger of losing its spiritual roots and representing something that was alien to each part. Interfaith relations are vital but it is the parts that matter, especially when we work together, not a conglomerated whole, and faith communities need to hold onto that.”

5.     He observes that it is the riches of individual traditions that is the wellspring of their service. It is their own social teachings that must empower their contributions to society: “the faith communities must avoid the allure of civic engagement that diminishes their identity and contribution; there must be a renewed confidence in the theological and spiritual resources that equip for public engagement.”

6.     Show bad religion the door: “Faith communities are also warned that distortions of religion undermine the wonderful contribution that faith can make to society. “Religion, like secular ideologies can be corrupted.”

You can read the full text from the Bishop of Bedford’s lecture here or listen to the recording here.

In his lecture, Bishop Richard will focus on specific examples where faith communities in Bedfordshire have created stronger communities and explore how these links might be fostered further. He will also call for a renewed confidence in public theological discourse and the call for government to commitment to a new level of interfaith engagement, rather than at a mere ‘civic’ level.

Among the invited guests attending the event include Professor Les Ebdon, representing Mrs Helen Nellis, Mr Jack Sapsworth, this year’s High Sheriff and Mr Olly Martin, the new Police and Crime Commissioner for Bedfordshire as well as representatives from local faith communities. A letter of encouragement is also being sent by Gavin Shuker MP, the Luton South Member of Parliament.

The evening will begin with a reception for faith leaders and update of the Bedford Faith Audit led by the Reverend Cassandra Howes, one of the Co-chairs of Bedford Council of Faiths. Bedford Council of Faiths in partnership with Bedford Borough Council have been conducting an aduit with faith groups to plot what it happening on the ground. As part of the evening, the Reverend Cassandra Howes will be urging more people to get involved in this initiative.

The reception begins at 6.30pm in The Hub building on the Bedford campus.

The Bishop will speak at 7.30pm and follow with a short question and answer session with the Bishop concluding by 9.00pm.

Car parking at the University will be free to members of the public wishing to attend.

This is a free public lecture working in partnership between faith communities in Bedfordshire led by both the Bedford and Luton Council of Faiths and the Students Union of the University of Bedfordshire.

Speaking in advance of his lecture, The Rt Revd Richard Atkinson, Bishop of Bedford said:

“The contribution of the faith communities in service of their communities is extensive and life-changing across the UK. Much of this involvement is voluntary, offered as an expression of faith and as a means of seeking the common good. As the Church of England Bishop for Bedfordshire, I fully support the ‘A Year of Service’ celebrations taking place across the county, and hope that their legacy will be seen in closer relationship and continued understanding between people of faith. I am extremely pleased that our Year of Service celebrations will include welcoming the Rt Hon Don Foster, the Minister for Integration the following day after the lecture.”

You can see the original flyer here.

The Saint Vincent de Paul Society, an international Christian charity, is dedicated to tackling poverty and disadvantage by providing direct practical assistance to anyone in need. One of their many areas of work is helping the homeless, and this Advent, they are inviting you to share in their work alongside other people of faith. For more information on their work, and ideas on how to support it, go to their website.

30th November: Help us get ready for Christmas

Drop into our Community Shop in Hackney (484-486 Kingsland Rd, E8 4A) at any time between 10h and 20h—we will need help decorating the shop for Christmas, wrapping presents and preparing donations for sale, as well as sorting stock. Refreshments will be available throughout the day, and you are welcome to spend as much or as little time as you have. Any help is very welcome, and do feel free to bring in your own present for someone in need.

11th December, 18:45: Helping the homeless

Meet at St. Anselm’s and St. Cecilia, 70 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, WC2A 3JA . After some refreshments, you will be given an introduction to the work the St. Vincent de Paul Society does with the homeless. We will then walk to Lincoln’s Inn Fields together, where we will help with the weekly soup run, and with distributing “Vinnie packs”, which contain hat, gloves, socks, toiletries and a thermal blanket.

18th December, around 19:00: Helping the homeless 

A similar event to above, hopefully on The Strand—for details, please contact Siobhan Garibaldi.

It began a few years ago with a programme in the Jewish community called Mitzvah Day. Mitzvah is the word we give to a good deed, especially when the love of God leads us to act lovingly to neighbours and strangers. It’s what we try to do throughout the year.

Then the idea was born of bringing together all our voluntary groups one day a year to extend the hand of friendship beyond the boundaries of faith. Almost immediately this struck a chord with the Hindu community who instituted their own Sewa Day along similar lines. Soon other groups were joining in, Christian, Muslim, Sikh and the rest. Until this year it’s become something called A Year of Service, in which all the faith communities in Britain are undertaking projects of social action to help those in need.

It sounds simple but I think it may prove to be one of the more transformative experiments of our time. The reason is this. Throughout history religion has been one of our great sources of altruism, of service to something larger than the self. But it’s often been bounded altruism, limited to the people with whom we share a faith. The track record of religions in relation to people of other faiths or none has been patchy at best, and at worst, unspeakable. It’s led to crusades, holy wars and jihads, until honest believers stopped and said: there must be a better way. But how do you create peace between faiths?

There are two different ways. One is face to face, by doing dialogue, sharing our respective beliefs, but it’s a long, slow process, undertaken by rare and special people, and can easily be undone. The other is what I call side by side, which happens when people of different faiths, instead of talking together, do social action together, recognising that whatever our faith we still need food, shelter, safety and security. Our basic humanity precedes our religious differences.

What Mitzvah Day and A Year of Service have shown is that side by side can sometimes reach deeper than face to face. Through simple acts of helping one another, former enemies can become friends. In this time of turmoil in the Middle East might this not be one way in which Jews, Christians and Muslims together might open a new road-map of hope?

You can listen to Thought for the Day on the BBC Radio 4 page here.

“On the back of the wonderful summer that we’ve seen it’s more important than ever that we have high quality, impactful opportunities, such as these, that make a difference to our capital.  That’s exactly what we aim to do through Team London and I was particularly delighted to hear that we’ve been able to mobilise so much social action through our work together.  I would encourage Londoners to get involved and make this Mitzvah Day an even bigger success.”

This video was originally posted on the Pukaar News site.

“This year Mitzvah day is forming part of A Year of Service highlighting the many community initiatives put on by people of all faiths. This great idea is joining together communities right across the UK with over 160 events taking place this year and I would encourage anyone who can to get involved.”