Archbishop Jonathan Blake

The Most Reverend Jonathan Blake, Presiding Archbishop of the Open Episcopal Church B.A. (Hons), Dip. Pastoral Studies. Mobile: 07767 687711 www.bishopjonathanblake.com archbishopjonathanblake@gmail.com www.openepiscopalchurch.org The Church is a member of The International Council of Community churches and the World Council of Churches. Married and a proud Dad.

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Location: London, Kent, United Kingdom

Gassed Tehran, seized Kabul, helped Mother Teresa, funded TB hospital, priest 1981, went Auschwitz, wrote on Parliament, convicted, began 1st inter-faith NHS chapel, 12 yrs Anglican cleric/vicar - left, baptised 1000's in homes/Mt Snowdon/at circus, wedding underwater, wrote ‘For God’s Sake Don’t Go To Church’, nailed 95 Theses 2 Canterbury cathedral, arrested, co-founded the Society for Independent Ministry, consecrated a bishop, co-founded the Open Episcopal Church, did 1st gay wedding on morning TV, sued Associated Newspapers, co-consecrated 1st women bishops 4 England,Wales,Scotland, accommodated the homeless, posted Mass/took it 2 sex workers, elected Archbishop, arrested 4 climbing with sons,founded ‘When No One’s Watching',made ICV, did Jade Goody's wedding,invited 2 Downing St, wrote 'That Old Devil Called God Again', conviction 4 campaigning against child abuse quashed on appeal, convicted 4 successful blogging 2 stop paedophile. His Christmas Lights raising £79,000 4 Water in 4 Gambian villages. Published "The Tales of Henry the Lovable Hedgehog", the SAFE New Testament + Psalms + radical Book of Common Prayer, ordained priests for UK,US,Thailand,Spain,Ireland

Saturday, December 26, 2015

MY CRAZY CHRISTMAS LIGHTS - CHANNEL 4

OUR CHRISTMAS LIGHTS 2019

After last year's amazingly successful appeal that has brought clean running water to hundreds in a Gambian village, we are hoping to provide another village this year with the same miraculous provision:

please support us at:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jonathan-blake9


OUR CHRISTMAS LIGHTS 2018


Breaking News!
We have just hit our target of £12,000 for the Christmas lights for the Gambia Water project with the charity Water For Africa.
The most we had ever collected before in a single year was £3,100, so this is a massive achievement.
It is a wonderful, heartwarming and uplifting expression of the genuine and sincere desire among people to care for others. Through the Christmas lights, now 500 children and their families will have access to clean, running water near their homes. It will transform their lives, keep them healthy, feed their livestock and irrigate their crops. A small village, thousands of miles away, has been blessed by the humanity and the large hearts of so many.
I was also very moved by the amount of school children who donated, from their own pocket money, in some cases, significant amounts. 
I can now see the project through from start to finish, and will in time bring photographs back with me from the Gambia of what the Christmas lights have achieved, so that everyone who gave can share in the joy they have made possible.


PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY TO PROVIDE CLEAN WATER FOR THE VILLAGE OF TIABA NYASS IN THE GAMBIA AND KNOW THAT ALL OF YOUR MONEY IS REACHING THE GAMBIA


Our Christmas Lights this year will  provide clean, reliable, accessible and fresh water to Tiaba Nyass, a small village in the Gambia that has a population of 890 villagers. I flew to the Gambia in November ( at my own expense) to visit the village, accompanied by Water For Africa,  and am returning in March, 2019.
The Christmas Lights will raise funds to provide a deep bore hole, solar powered water pump, for the village. The solar panels will pump the water continually into tanks raised high above the ground, that will then feed water to strategically placed stand pipes around the village. The villagers will dig the trenches for the piping taking the water to the stand pipes. Your donations will pay for the digging of the bore hole, by Water For Africa Gambian staff, using their drilling rig, the building of the tower to house the water tanks, the water tanks themselves, the water pump, its control unit, the stand pipes and all the piping needed. We will oversee the project ourselves, from start to finish. I visited the Gambian supplier of all the equipment being installed and costed the project. No money is being siphoned off for U.K. salaries or offices. No one in Water For Africa U.K. are paid for their work. It is all voluntary.  The Water For Africa Gambian staff come from, and their families live, in similar villages in which, Water For Africa have previously installed water pumps. When I visit the village, I use my luggage allowance to take donated goods to distribute.   We also intend to remain involved with the village we assist, to maintain the water pump and help provide other needed amenities.

 PLEASE HELP US RAISE THE NECESSARY AMOUNT AND PROVIDE A CHRISTMAS GIFT THAT WILL TRANSFORM LIVES.

DONATE AT

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jonathan-blake8

OR TEXT
GAMB48
WITH THE AMOUNT YOU ARE GIVING ( TO)
70070
Channel 4

Featured our 2015 Christmas lights display raising funds for Save the Children.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/my-crazy-christmas-lights/on-demand/62609-001


http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/12/24/my-crazy-christmas-lights_n_8873388.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3373589/Inside-extreme-world-Britain-s-obsessive-eccentric-festive-decorators-spend-thousands-pounds-adorning-homes-Christmas-accessories.html

https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/CXA62AFWcAABReV.mp4

https://twitter.com/hashtag/mycrazychristmaslights?src=hash

https://twitter.com/tuesdayschildtv/status/677846948787941376



Thursday, December 24, 2015

LATOYA ELLIS

The hearts that pulse with love that cleanse the world and bring the gift of hope for us all...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/latoya-ellis-family-home_567980d6e4b06fa6887ec89e?358985398538&utm_hp_ref=good-news

THE DIGNITY OF A HAIRCUT

Feeling human again....

http://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news/1454/Hair-Stylists-Spend-All-Day-Giving-Free-Haircuts-To-Homeless-People-The-Results-Were-Incredible

PASCAL'S PRAYKNSTERS

It's so uplifting reading about the good hearts and choices of others

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/surprise-gift-giving-for-hardworking-refugee-leaves-him-teary-eyed-and-changed/

THE STORY OF THE CHINESE FARMER

We must do our best and then surrender to that which is beyond us to know or understand.

http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=5625

A WARM SMILE

A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.

William Arthur Ward

THE UNTROUBLED SPIRIT

“The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.” 
― Marcus AureliusMeditations

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

KENYAN MUSLIMS RISK ALL TO PROTECT CHRISTIANS

Inspirational Muslims stand up for their humanity and their faith and show the world what being a true Muslim is all about.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mbvd/muslims-protect-christians-during-deadly-terrorist-attack-on#.dfJP0EpM4

OFFICER JARED GOULDING

When law enforcement becomes imaginative and compassionate...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/12/22/police-help-shoplifting-mom_n_8865206.html?utm_hp_ref=good-news

SAHAR SPEAKS - THE LIBERATING POWER OF JOURNALISM

Empowering the voiceless.

http://positivenews.org.uk/2015/culture/media/18973/new-journalism-project-aims-to-give-afghan-women-a-voice/

LADY FARDELL

The very best way to say goodbye.

http://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news/1453/Australian-Woman-Leaves-A-4-3-Million-Dollar-Surprise-For-The-Homeless-In-Her-Will

MUSLIMS GIVE ROSES OF LOVE

The fragrance of the true Muslim heart that turns hate to love.

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/muslims-giving-strangers-holiday-roses-respond-hate-love/

HAPPINESS

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking.” 
― Marcus AureliusMeditations

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

THE POWER WITHIN

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” 
― Marcus AureliusMeditations

Monday, December 21, 2015

IRAN'S WALLS OF KINDNESS

As Barack Obama said to Bear Grylls

"It's important to be useful to others and kind...."

http://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/iranians-have-built-walls-of-kindness-to-help-the-homeless#.qwxyONnRP

ABIGAIL MACDONALD AND HER HOT CHOCOLATE FOR HOPE

And the children shall lead them.....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hot-chocolate-stand-syrian-refugees_5672140ee4b0648fe3023a5b?8tfn7b9&utm_hp_ref=good-news

THE BEST REVENGE

“The best revenge is to be unlike the one who performed the injury.” 
― Marcus AureliusMeditations

Friday, December 18, 2015

THE KNEELING OASIS OF LOVE

That Santa knows so well....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/boy-gets-santa-to-pray-with-him-for-baby-who-was-found-unconscious_5671ad48e4b0648fe301d72a?m81wnrk9&utm_hp_ref=good-news

GOOD AND LOVING MUSLIMS

Hearts of love, hands of care....

http://www.itv.com/news/border/2015-12-13/muslim-youth-group-helps-flood-victims-in-cumbria/

SANTA IS REAL!

That Father Christmas spirit that just lives on and on and on....

http://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news/1447/Secret-Santas-Pay-Off-Nearly-500K-On-Layaway-Items-At-Walmart-Stores

MARTHA FREEMAN

Less of the police state ....mobilise the good grandma's......

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/grandmother-scares-away-trouble-from-her-citys-mean-streets/

ARON ANDERSON'S CHRISTMAS SURPRISE

A heart-warming story.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/britains-loneliest-schoolboy-gets-over-7028442

REPAIRING THE ABUSE

A 12 year old's dream to put right the abuse that shattered his life took 10 years, but he did it! Justice comes slow, but come it does. Evil at times appears to succeed but the good always prevail.

http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=6560

THE JOY OF LIFE

“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...” 
― Marcus AureliusMeditations

Thursday, December 17, 2015

ASHLI TAYLOR AND DR ROBERT GOLDSTEIN

The power of words.....the power of a thank you

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/homework-helps-teen-reunites-with-doctor-who-saved-her-life/

THE PATH TO FREEDOM

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.” 
― Marcus AureliusMeditations

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

DWELL ON THE BEAUTY OF LIFE

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.” 
― Marcus AureliusMeditations

GOOD MUSLIMS SHOW THEIR HEARTS

We mustn't get swept along on an anti Muslim wave....

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/muslims-raise-nearly-quarter-million-dollars-for-san-bernardino-victim-families/

SAFYRE TERRY

When the writing of a Christmas card gains a whole new significance...

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/orphan-burn-survivor-gets-18000-christmas-cards/

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

ANGELS

I met a kind man today.

There was light in his eyes and love in his heart.

Just a man, about his everyday tasks, dealing with the momentary drosses of life, yet alive and alert to the possibilities, within the moving moments of our tired days, to transform the clay to gold. Just by a glance, by a word, by an empathy beyond the given, to weave divinity and release potential.

Angels so often, don't arrive with visible wings; you see nothing, but feel instead the breeze of possibility, the dance of that which lies outside human system and the ordinaries of bureaucracy.

Ours is to be the angels for others as they are angels to us.

xx


SAUDI ARABIA'S TINY BUT IMMENSE PROGRESS

A small but significant step for equality.

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/20-women-elected-in-saudi-arabia-as-females-vote-for-first-time/

Monday, December 14, 2015

FAN ZUESONG - THE SIMPLE WAY OF LOVE

Love looks out for others along life's ordinary paths......

http://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news/1438/This-Flight-Attendant-Saw-A-Man-Struggling-To-Feed-Himself-So-She-Knelt-Down-And-Fed-Him

ALIBABA'S TRUE TREASURES

Nature's wealth

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/chinese-billionaire-buys-28k-acres-of-american-forest-to-preserve-it/

Friday, December 11, 2015

NO STORM CAN DAMPEN THE GOOD SPIRITS

Uplifting photos and stories.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/fionarutherford/wonderful-examples-of-human-spirit-after-storm-desmond#.xu0poPLye

MOHAMAD AL-NOURY AND ATHAR FARROUKH

Canadians show the way...

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/newlywed-refugees-land-in-canada-where-locals-throw-wedding-party/

JUSTIN TRUDEAU LEADS THE WAY

Welcome, you are not a nuisance but a blessing.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/franciswhittaker/tru-love#.nvBPV9GDQ