The pub is shut!

 For the last 6 1/2 years the Pompadour's pub has been my watering hole. But it has been more than that, it has been the location of many of church 1v23's activities and friendship building.

 I very much felt called to make the pompadour's a pub which I would be a regular. During the first six weeks of drinking there, nobody spoke to me!  But I soon came to learn that this notorious pub had a very soft and caring underside. We have hosted carol services Easter Day events, parent toddler groups, ladies pamper nights over the years. For me personally the Pompadours represented a space for people to come and be. I'll be honest sometimes my Sunday evenings down there were not easy, there seems to be this unwritten rule about drinking in pubs, which I was told often. The rule being you don't talk about religion or politics in a pub. Somehow I always managed to turn the conversation around to both! I was often on my own in my opinions. Sometimes it's debates or hard work and tiring especially if those I was speaking to half cut at the time. I'm not sure of the spiritual impact of my being in the pub for the last six in the half years as had on the locals. I know the effect it's had on me, it has kept my feet on the ground and is deeply humbled me in many ways because often I've not had the answer to many of the people's honest questions.
It is reminded me how far the gap between the white working class man and your average church  is. A gap which I am still unsure how to cross.

As a pub shuts it means that we will no longer have a venue to host several of our annual events.  The church will now need to reimagine and be creative about how we celebrate Christmas and Easter together particularly.

..................... and I will need to consider if I find a new watering hole all use this time differently  for God.