FAITH IN THE COMMUNITY: Our new lion reminds me of role of the church
The Rev Hugo Deadman at St Michael's Church, Paulsgrove
I don't want to alarm you, but there is a lion loose in Paulsgrove. But nobody’s in danger of being eaten. Our lion is splendid, but wouldn’t hurt a fly.
Because in the garden of St Michael’s Church, Paulsgrove, you’ll find one of the 45 lions criss-crossing our city, decorated by different artists. They are a pride of lions reflecting our pride in Portsmouth on our city’s centenary.
Ours is covered with a collage by Conor Clements, depicting different aspects of our city and is called Pompey: City with a Heart, after a 1970s song.
I love the collages, which show everything from the gabled entrance to Fratton Park to shops on Charlotte Street. It captures something about the gutsiness, resilience and vividness of Portsmouth.
And I love that loads of people are doing the trail to see all the lions and coming to see ours.
It’s brilliant that it’s at St Michael’s Church in Paulsgrove. Churches should be at the heart of their communities. They are for everyone – whether they are people of faith or not.
We make a point of welcoming everyone at St Michael’s – whatever they think, whoever they are. So we’re delighted to see so many people coming to see the lion.
So to celebrate its arrival, we laid on a morning of lion-related crafts recently – and 25 children came, painted their own little lions, and decorated lion fairy cakes. It was cracking fun.
I’ve been thinking about lions too. Because they are a symbol for Christians. Jesus is sometimes called a lion. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis, the Christian God is represented by Aslan the Lion.
Lewis describes Aslan as “not a tame lion”. That says something about how God can do some surprising things. For me, perhaps the most surprising thing is that God always sticks by us through thick and thin.
He always loves us, calls us home and comes back for us, regardless of who we are or what we’ve done.
I guarantee that our lion is more sedate. But I hope that the warmth of the welcome at St Michael’s reflects God’s love for every one of us. So come and see the lion of Paulsgrove – and come and see us too!
ST MICHAEL’S CHURCH, Hempsted Road, Paulsgrove, Portsmouth PO6 4AS www.stmichaelspaulsgrove.org.uk