Redeeming a NameSteve Lawton - 6 Aug 2010
According to the Oxford Dictionary of Name Places, the English borough of Thurrock derives it's name from the Anglo-Saxon 'turroc', which means ‘a place where filthy water collects’. Nice huh?
Thurrock is an area in the county of Essex in the commuter belt of London, and for many centuries this was the place that the 'filthy water' of the city collected. At the heart of Thurrock lies the small town of Stanford-Le-Hope which is home to a 24-7 Boiler Room of the same name. And here also is a hope, a hope that the beauty of the kingdom can shine out from from this small community and redefine and redeem the name Thurrock.
Some time ago a member of the Stanford Boiler Room and local artist, Lisa Anderson had a vision to display beautiful things in our humble Boiler Room. Spurred on by the community and with a bundle of help from transit student Angelique Gerber they set out on a mission to make it happen. Much to their surprise they found many people in the area with a similar heart.
Fast forward to 12th of June 2010, and '24-7 Create'. The aim, to give a platform to local artists and to encourage others to dust off their paint brushes, cameras, sculpting tool or whatever form of art that grabs them and create something beautiful. When the day came together 32 local artists representing a wide variety of media including, painting, printing, photography, woodwork, graffiti, poetry, live art work, sculpture and even short film took part.
It was great to see our prayer house full of local people presenting beautiful things and on some level blowing the definition of our boroughs name out of the water.
The bible talks of creation screaming out as witness to Gods mighty work. As expressions of God's creation we too are able to express something of the nature of God in how we create, and God's name was certainly lifted up in the beauty of the day.
This was the first time Stanford Boiler Room had been involved in anything like this but judging by the response it will long continue.
The video clip below was shot by a visiting reporter from a local newspaper.
To read more about Stanford Boiler Room's 24-7 Create day visit the Transformation Thurrock website.