wordsout
< all souls >
The LinkUp calypso
Well some time ago you may recall
I told the story 'bout Pilgrim Hall,
how we went to the leaders' conference
and came back talkin' much more sense,
but I never told you how it fall
I came to be at All Souls at all
so listen now while I relate
how the LinkUp Team has sealed my fate.
It was a cold and winter's night like this
and I stopped at McDonalds for a Filet of Fish.
As I stood outside with my regular fries
I saw a
great big church before my eyes.
It had signs and steps and a steeple too
and a big door lettin' the people through.
I picked my courage up, I put my milkshake down
and I walk right in and I sit right down!
When I hear the message from Richard Bewes
I say, this one's for me, I got nuthin' to lose,
but my spirits they went right down under
when I
walk out into the Rotunda.
There was people here and people there,
yappin' in the hallway and yappin' on the stair,
there was a warden here and a warden there,
here a curate, there a curate, everywhere a Rector...
So many faces I didn't know
that I turned towards the door to go
but then I saw a smile with a yellow badge
and this is what she said:
Information! Information!
The LinkUp sensation!
You follow the advice of the LinkUp song
and it won't be long before you belong!
I said, Tell me what I ought to do—
she said,
The Newcomers' Group is the place
for you.
Where to go to get it right
is the Waldegrave Hall on a Tuesday night!
Don't be nervous, don't feel blue
'cos everyone's as new as you.
Christine and Tony will calm your fears
cos Potter and Trotter gotta lotta ideas!
If you been around and you know the score
what's what the Fellowship Groups are for,
but if you just found out that men is sinners
we put you in a group that's called Beginners
and if you don't agree or you make a fuss
we send you Agnostics Anonymous—
but with the accent that you're talkin' with,
it sounds like you should join ASIF!
(I said, as if what?
She said the All Souls International Fellowship -
when you
join it, it feels ASIF you never
left home...)
Information! Information!
The LinkUp sensation!
You follow the advice of the LinkUp song
and it won't be long before you belong!
Well it was all so good for my spiritual health
I joined the LinkUp Team myself
and I learned by making my own mistakes
just what being a LinkUp person takes.
You need an eye like a hawk for the passerby
who'd like to talk but he's much too shy,
and when
you're shaking hands you need a
steady wrist
and a smile like a Curate Evangelist.
To talk to total strangers takes a lot more nerve
when you gotta break down their reserve
you need the patience of a No 19 bus
and the tact of a Rector Emeritus...
Information! Information!
It's a great invitation
to him and her and you and me
into the All Souls Christian family!
So while
you're queueing up to shake
John Stott's hand
I'd like you all to understand
we're all one body, we share one bread
and Jesus is our living head
but if you want to know where the body ends
it isn't the Rector or the Rector's friends—
the most important member of the family
is someone that you hardly see
for they're sitting up in the balcony
between a sidesman and a member of the PCC
and they're going to walk out on his own
though they'd really like to feel at home
and the person that's they're going to meet
before they gets out in the street
is the person God will surely use
to make them more than just a
bottom to fill
the pews
so we need to pray for the LinkUp crew
and all the work they have to do
but the truth should now have dawned on you—
you're a LinkUp person too!
Information! Information!
It's an All Souls sensation
(but a warning—don't take LinkUp too literally—
you could be linked for life like she and me!)
Performed
in a weekly prayer meeting in the Waldegrave Hall at All
Souls,
The photo was taken at a day or weekend retreat for the team: I date it to 1982 based on the age of baby Daniel McLeod. I recall some but not all the names (please fill in any gaps). Back row: Michael Lawson, ?, Mike Gregory, ?, Mike Elkan, Eric Stonham. Middle row: Neil and Jane McLeod with baby Daniel, Helen MacIntosh, ?, ?, Claire Lawson, Alison Grieve. Front row: Richard Bewes, Paul Weston, Tessa Duckworth (now Rust), ?.