Christianity from the 43 bus: 5. Beauty and the Beast

Continuing a journey through London on the 43 bus route - with a Christian eye.  The whole series is viewable on the '43 bus route' tag below.

It's Hallowe'en so an appropriate day for something a little scary.  This building doesn't look scary to me - but it is very noticeable in a long row of anonymous shops with flats above them as the 43 trundles down the Archway Road towards London.

In bright sunlight it shines as the rays hit the golden statues and surroundings.  It doesn't look like it belongs in its setting, but it generally cheers the place up.

It isn't a church, and has never been a church.  Rather, it is a Hindu temple in what was formerly a synagogue.  As it happens it does not belong in its setting in another sense because the actual Sri Lankan community this type of temple serves does not live in this part of London.  Still, there's not much gold visible from a 43 bus so it is nice to see.

Then there is the parish church, just a block further along the road. 

A critic, upon its completion in the Victorian era, called it the ugliest church in London.  It is quite hard to know every church in London so this seems like an exaggeration.  Speaking for myself I would be inclined to place it on any shortlist though, notwithstanding some of the celebrated architects who helped to design (I use the word loosely) it.

As a Baptist I am not at all of the view that the church is the building.  Nor am I well disposed to golden images on the outside of Places of Worship.  Yet taking a step back from my theology and imagining myself on a search for a God who might welcome me I cannot escape the thought that on Archway Road it might a lot easier to step through golden portals to seek Him than enter what appears to be Europe's first nuclear bunker with its ventilation shaft.

Christianity from the 43 bus: 4. Single Please

Continuing a journey on the 43 bus with an eye on Christian connections.  For other blogs in the series click on the '43 Bus Route' tag.

Leaving Muswell Hill for Highgate the 43 bus joins the A1.  Though its numbering may make this seem like an ancient road into London this is not the case - the Great North Road of olden times is now, in London, the A10.  That is significant because the current A1 owes its existence to the developing new areas north and west of London and into that area was planted Cholmeley Hall.  A fellowship that has had multiple identities, starting as part of the Brethren, and various names - it is today Highgate International Church (much easier to pronounce correctly than Cholmeley [Chumly]).

A striking thing about this church in its heyday - the 1920s (as Highgate and Archway developed) - was its singleness.  It was much remarked upon at the time.

Whereas the nearby areas were developed for families where the husband commuted into London, Cholmeley Hall had this astonishing profile: 253 members; 193 single.   In an era free of divorce, and a new residential area largely without widows and widowers, that is a phenomenal statistic.  Of course it was no doubt somewhat self-perpetuating as a place suited to finding a suitor.

Today there are many University churches with just that profile, but here among the families of North London was an unlikely reflection of that, and possibly an early version of a Christian Dating App.

Christianity from the 43 bus: 3. Dress Smart

Continuing a Christian journey on London's no 43 bus! (for others in the series click on the 43 bus tab)

Into Muswell Hill the 43 bus passes the Church which I work in, but we'll ignore that and look at the next church building it passes.

For sure it looks like a church building, albeit one whose flint-clad walls might more appropriately belong in a Scottish seaside town.  This is, however, not entirely fanciful as it was built to be Muswell Hill Presbyterian Church, representing Scotland's major ecclesiastical form.

It is a restaurant (and its Sunday School rooms now apartments).  This indignity must be put in the context that apparently, for several earlier years before my time here, it was a Harngey Council storage area.  Or to put it another way, a junk yard.

In between it was a pub-restaurant and for a while we held midweek Bible studies in one corner of it.  This felt like a nice resumption of its original purpose.  I find closed churches a constant irritant so you can imagine how often this one negatively impacts me!

In its current iteration it has a fascinating warning on its entrance:

We kindly ask all our guests to honour a smart casual dress code or dress to impress

Mmm.  In fairness, the Presbyterian door steward of former years likely held a similar view or perhaps more severe.  Nevertheless I have yet to see a church that places such a notice on its doors (well, head coverings for women) - and I hope I never will.  The Gospel is for everyone.